Happy Fall Y'all {Random Round-Up}

Sorry I couldn't think of a better title for this post. Usually when I start a blog post, I've already begun it in my head. For this post though, I don't really have anything in particular to say, so I'm just wingin' it.


Everything is going well at the Grooters household. I have now been a stay-at-home mom for about 1 1/2 weeks {did I say 1 1/2 weeks, geez feels more like 1 1/2 years!?} Monday was a trial for sure. I think I passed, but I think I've learned a valuable lesson. You can't try to do it all in one day. I cleaned the entire house from top to bottom. That may not seem like a lot to the seasoned housewife but, I haven't cleaned in about two years {since we started paying someone to do that for us}. I forgot how laborious cleaning is. I dusted, vacuumed, mopped and cleaned all three and a half bathrooms in the house to a sparkle. I also, cleaned out the fridge and freezer, grocery shopped, did four loads of laundry, picked up Jack from school, showered, made dinner, ate and made a mad dash to a 7 o'clock Junior League meeting, then came home and cleaned up the kitchen from dinner. Oh and I also managed to squeeze in 2 hours of work {I'm still a contract employee at Rowland Publishing until I finish up two more projects}, all while taking care of Paige. It was a full day for sure and I've learned not to take on that much in one day again...ever again! This little face always brightens up even the toughest days.



Today I baked. Just because I think that is what stay-at-home mom's are supposed to do.



In honor of Fall, pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting. The one below was the end of the frosting in the piping bag, so it got messed up and needed to be eaten by me. One thing I've learned from Top Chef is to always taste your food first.



Looks delicious, huh? Well, they weren't. I used whole wheat flour because I didn't have any regular flour. And I didn't have baking soda so I tripled the amount of baking powder {per one website's instructions}. I also had to sub 1/2 cup of olive oil because I didn't have enough canola oil. That'll teach me to stray from a recipe. The whole wheat overpowered the pumpkin flavor, so they basically taste like cardboard muffins. Know anyone that could use 23 cardboard muffins with cream cheese frosting?

I am truly loving my time home with Paige. Jack is still in school full-time at Little Lambs. Since he is starting kindergarten next year, we really don't see pulling him out of his routine. He is used to it and loves it anyways. This time alone with Paige has been great though. I feel like the last 10 months have flown by, so it's been great to have this one-on-one time with her {since Jack was the first, he had lots of one-on-one time and Paige, being the 2nd is deprived of that, not that she knows the difference}. We've been really getting to know one another and her personality is so playful and fun, I could just eat her up with a spoon! I'm learning that I need to schedule in playtime into our days. Too often she is following me around wanting my attention and it's really not easy to get anything done and displeases her greatly. Here's a little video that we shot Monday {in all my spare time} of her silliness.



And another of her kissing the baby. The day before she really had it down, but she was clearly confused on how to pucker and make the kissing sound. My parents watched her for a bit yesterday and said she had it back down again, so we will continue to work on this 'cause it's just plain cute!



Oh and she's also learning musical instruments. She is self-taught on the kazoo and recorder. Here is the kazoo the first time she figured it out.



Kind of hard to play the kazoo with hiccups!

I almost forgot to mention the little peanut wore a bow in her hair for the first time. It didn't stay long, but it was there long enough for me to capture it on camera.




I keep trying headbands, bows and barrettes, but I wish someone would have told me to start this before they get grabby-hands. I can hardly keep anything on her head without her yanking it off immediately.

Paige's first birthday is quickly approaching {December 19th}. How has it been almost a year already? I know I say it often, but truly time is flying by with her. Much quicker than I remember with Jack. Below is a sneak peek at the birthday invites and link to my theme inspiration here.



Jack is getting revved up for the holidays. Recently, the toy catalogs started arriving in droves to our house. I had an idea to give him a pen and let him circle a few toys that he would like. Low and behold, he circled almost everything in the catalog. Instead of making it easier for me to tell "Santa", family, friends and grandparents what Jack wants for Christmas, I'll have to tell them what Jack doesn't want for Christmas. Seems to me that I need to work in a little lesson on how it is better to give than receive this Christmas.


Last weekend we attended the Nutcracker show {or so he said}. It was actually the Kingdom of Sweets, a children's event to kick-off the holidays and to promote The Tallahassee Ballet's Nutcracker. His favorite part was the face painting.


He did quite enjoy the large Nutcrackers, too.


And the little lady, Logan...


I've told the executive director that the Nutcracker and Mouse King {or King Mouse, as Jack calls him} are a must at this event. Jack was so disappointed that they weren't there. Only the little boys would notice that.

Ben is working on another batch of home brew. This recipe was modeled after one of his favorite beers, Fat Tire. You can't find it anywhere down here in Florida. Atlanta would be the closest city that you could buy it. It looked kind of like apple cider, but as it sits in the bottles {and carbonates} it is starting to settle and look more clear.




Mmm...this is the hardest part...waiting.

So this is what happens when you wing a post...you get very long-winded. I think that's about all of the Fall fun for now. Now get outside and enjoy this beautiful weather. I know I am!