Junior Firefighter

Sunday was the finale of Fire Safety Awareness week here and the local volunteer department had their open house.

Hot dogs, cotton candy, free hats and balloons for the kids and more! They got to ride in the bucket truck, use a hose to put out a bowling pin fire and see lots of demonstrations like how sprinklers make a difference and how fast they can get into full gear.

Notice her T-shirt? A gift from Cousin Eric, the Denver Fireman - it made her look like a pro on the hose, LOL!

Enjoy the pictures!

Howl

Howl is the class mascot... he is a stuffed owl. We got the honor of his visit this weekend. He came with a bag of owl books and a journal. We are supposed to write about the visit and maybe, draw a picture or two in that journal.

We decided to do a photo essay of sorts, We took a bunch of shots and I just ordered the 8x10 collage photo to put in the book.

Howl sat outside in the bush for awhile, hid out inside the mailbox waiting for the mail, wore a pink tu-tu and came to ballet class, rode in the shopping cart at the store, played on the swing set with Sarah, and got his teeth brushed. He was feeling a little under the weather last night and we got a photo of him snuggled under a blanket on the couch with a box of Kleenex and a can of chicken noodle soup.

We made some owls on my Cricut Imagine to embellish the journaling we are going to do tomorrow night...it should be cute!

Here are some pictures...Sarah LOVED this idea and should have a blast sharing it with her class...

Scrapbooking

I have gotten a ton of stuff done lately (I had a weekend crop that I escaped to!) Here is the layout that is for the entry of Scrapfreaks Guest Designer contest of September - we had to use banners.

I kept it fairly simple due to the magic of this moment - her attention is totally wrapped around the Veterans leading off the parade.


I used my Cricut, ribbon, bling gemstones and gitter glue (Stickles). Thanks for looking - we will see if it is what they are looking for in a week or so when they announce their winner!

Fall is here!

One of the boards I like to visit was talking about fall traditions...and it got me thinking!

I make a different kind of soup each week...and really get into baking. Seriously, Sunday is baking day for bread, sweet rolls, muffins and cookies. We made cranberry muffins just yesterday and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! I have to figure out gluten free versions this year...

We take a walk down picnic point to see the changing colors of the leaves...over the lake it is beautiful!

We go to an apple orchard and get a few bags so I can make home made apple butter...and caramel apple pies for the freezer!

Beef pasties -- real ones...with ground sirloin with carrots, potatoes, rutabaga onion and a little cheddar cheese in them. Mom and I make 150 of them (each holds one cup of filling) and then bake and freeze. They zap beautifully from frozen state in just 2 minutes. (Yes, I eat them with ketchup....)


Today is the day to change out the household decor for fall/harvesty themed items...and get those apples in the crock pot so we can whip up a batch of apple butter.


What are your big fall traditions?

First Day Of School

It's that time of year again...the chill of fall is in the air, the leaves are starting to change colors and the kiddos are back to school! Share had her first day and LOVED it! She is doing mornings, five days a week just up the street.
We made a fun teachers gift: the fall mums in the pencil vase. She was so proud to take them to school and give the teachers.The first day was soooo exciting! The artwork, the meeting of old friends and making of new, the large motor activities, reading of the book "Don't Eat The Teacher" and more were enough to tire any little peanut out.

Catching you Up...

We have been so busy the last few months that I haven't been very good at updating this - sorry!

Here is a picture medley of what has been going on around here, enjoy!

Greek Fest...




A surprise birthday party for Sarah's Godmother...

Fun and games!



Fun at the new Madison Children's Museum...



Time at the Memorial Union...


Hitting a few end of summer garage sales...


I think that brings you up to speed in our life, what have you been up to in the month of August?

Cabin Time

Every year, we go for a little over a week with my in-laws to a resort up north. This is a great way for them to be immersed in their Grand daughter's life and for all of us to have some fun - enjoy the pictures of our vacay this year...

We went to Jim Peck's Willdwood Zoo, Paul Bunyan's, many supper clubs and more!