Orange Belt

So the Fall semester is just about 1/2 way done. I have my 2nd of 4 tests in my Employment Law class due on Saturday night. I currently have an A, so I hope to continue. I've had 3/7 Marketing Assignments done, and currently holding an A down in that as well. I think I figured out if I pretty much get all A's in my remaining classes and retake my Psychology class and get at least a B in it, I'll graduate with honors! (3.75 or higher :) ) Scott has his final in his Windows 7 class due on Friday, and I think he will get at least a B if not an AB or A! Then next week he starts his PowerPoint Class.

So yesterday at Karate Connor upgrade from the white belt (what you get when you first start) to his orange belt. Scott said he could barley see the "ceremony" because right now the Park & Rec program in Sun Prairie has a class going on, so there is like a dozen kids in Connor's Karate classes during the week. But it's super exciting! I wish they would have given it to him on Saturday so I could see it, but I guess they probably wanted to do it in front of as many kids as possible. He's been going for about 2 months and most weeks he goes 3 times a week, so yay! I'm super excited. The price is so much more worth it than gymnastics was. Not that gymnastics wasn't fun for Connor, but for $10 more a month he gets 2 extra classes a week, and I think Karate will end up being a very good thing for Connor. Oh, and FYI he goes to Karate America, don't know if I mentioned that before or not. I highly recommend them if you are interested in enrolling your kids!

Nanny Returns

So Savannah slept almost 7 hours straight last night, yay! I really needed it. The night before she got up 3-4 times so I was dragging really badly yesterday. She went to bed right after 10 and didn't get up til about 5 a.m. If we can get her to go another 2.5 hours that would be perfect. Go to bed at 10 and wake up at 7:30! That would be the ideal situation for us! But even so, if she just gets up 1 time every night I could live with that for awhile....... it's when it gets to be 2+ times every night that I want to scream! The sleep deprivation is really getting to be these days.

On Sunday I finished reading Nanny Returns by Emma Mclaughlin and Nicola Kraus. I read the first book a few years ago, and I picked this book up at Borders when they were closing for 56 cents. It wasn't my favorite book, but it was pretty fun to read. I wish I would have re-read the first one to remember the characters a little better, but oh well. There were parts of the story that I really didn't understand, but oh well. I don't feel like I've gained anything reading this book, but I don't really think I expected to. So I guess I'll say if you read the first one and enjoyed it, it won't hurt to read this one. I wouldn't go out of my way to read this book, but I didn't hate it. Now onto reading another Danielle Steel book (since I still have a bazillion that I picked up from the St. Dennis Festival this past July).

Fall Festival

Way to go Cardinals!! World Series Baby!! So glad they made it, sorry Brewers, not your year! I'm so glad we got to go to one of the games (even though it was one they lost). You just can't mess with the Cardinals!! WOHO!! Now time to kick Texas butt in the World Series!

So Friday was Connor's Fall Festival at school. The parents were invited to come watch the kids paint pumpkins, decorate cookies & play outside for awhile. Unfortunately it was pretty windy so I was a little miserable standing around, but it was fun to see all the kids. It was fun being able to put faces to names that Connor has mentioned. We now have a wonderfully painted pumpkin sitting on our front steps!

Apple Butter

It's finally Friday! WOHO! :) Today is Connor's Fall Festival at school, so Scott has the day off and we're going to go meet Connor there in a little bit. After that we're going to head to McDonald's for lunch, and then I'll have to head to work while the rest of the family gets to go home and take a nap.

So after picking apples and making applesauce this past weekend, we used some of the applesauce to make Apple Butter. Apple Butter reminds me of going to my brother's grandma's when I was little, I remember eating it all the time. It was SO GOOD! I really hope mine turned out 1/2 as good as I remember it being. we cooked it down for about 24 hours (we were going to finish it Sunday morning before the baseball game, but it wasn't finished yet so when we got home we had to finish it). I can't wait to try it, and I will also be giving some of it away to a few select individuals for Christmas.

Game 1 - NLCS

So it's just a month and a half away from Savannah's 1st Birthday, can you believe it? Where the heck did the time go? So today I started working on her birthday stuff. Filled out a few invites and worked on putting the gift bags together. It's all so cute, I can't wait! Oh, and her party theme is Care Bears if you didn't know already, can't remember if I mentioned it or not before.

So this past Sunday was Game 1 of the NLCS, Brewers Vs. Cardinals, and I got to go! After both teams won on Friday night I was online purchasing tickets within 2 minutes of the Cardinals winning. I knew we had to be there! So we dropped the kids of Sunday afternoon and drove to Milwaukee. We met up with Derrick & Nikki before the game since they were there too. We sat in section 404, which isn't the greatest, but you could still see almost everything. The game was a lot of fun (even though the Cardinals did lose), and I'm glad we went. Scott and I haven't had alone time since we went to the Gary Allen Concert back in April, so we were due!

Applesauce

Sad news today.......... I tossed out my favorite pair of shoes....... I've had them for over 6 years. You may ask, why did you toss them then? Well they were a pair of chunky black sandals, and the tops of them were starting to peel really bad, so I really couldn't wear them out anywhere...... so in the trash they went. Probably should have tossed them a long time ago, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

So after picking apples this past Saturday it was time to make all those apples into applesauce. 42 pounds of apples takes a long time to cut, core and cook. Then we ran it through a meat grinder, and since we don't have the type of grinder that separates the skins from the good stuff I (well mostly Scott) had to run all of it through a food mill. It took awhile and we didn't finish until almost 10 p.m. I sure hope it turns out better than last year. I didn't realize the skins weren't taken out last year, so they were left in. I realized it when I finally opened a jar this past week. I'm so sorry to those who I gave a jar to, if you get one this year I promise it'll be a heck of a lot better!

Apple Picking

Can't believe it's Monday already. Isn't time suppose to slow down after summer? Well it sure doesn't seem to be! It almost seems like it's going even faster! AHHHHH!! What are you going to do though about it??

So this past Saturday we went to Door Creek Orchrard to pick some apples to make apple butter & applesauce. We had to get about 35 pounds so we knew we'd be there for a little bit. So we headed out with Jessica & Justin and went to town. We decided since we were getting so many that we would save the 30 cents a pound and pick most of them up from the ground. The kids have fun knawing on some apples and after 2 huge bag fulls we were done.

Zucchini-Chocolate Chip Muffins

Mondays always come around to fast, don't they? After dropping Connor off at school I've been doing some homework and cleaning around the house. Savannah has been sleeping all morning (unlike her, but maybe she's finally try to get better from this stupid cold she's had for 3 weeks). I'm in the process of going through all the totes of kids clothing that I have. Only 1 size per tote, and if I have more than will fit I'll have to put some of it in the garage sale next year and give some of it away. Have to draw the line somewhere, right?

So for the Zoo on Saturday each family was in charge of bringing something to eat, along with their own sandwiches and drinks. So I decided to try out a new recipe from allrecipes.com - Zucchini-Chocolate Chip Muffins. I followed some of the comments advice and used a little bit more of a few ingredients (chocolate chips to be precise). I think they turned out great. I was a little disappointed in the fact I think the in-laws took the extras home with them! I wanted to eat 1-2 yesterday! Oh well I guess, lol, I still have lots of zucchini left over from this year so I'll probably make these again!

Milwaukee Zoo

Enjoying some "alone" time right now. Scott & the kids are over at his sister's house, so I took a nap, worked on the in-laws Christmas Present, now I'm eating an ice cream cone & watching Criminal Minds. Can't believe the weekend is almost over..........they go by way to fast!

So yesterday we headed to Milwaukee and went to the Zoo. I thought I had never been there, but was correctly by Aunt Lori saying I was there when I was 2..........so.......that doesn't really count, lol. So we went with the Moore's and the in-laws and Betty. We headed out around 9 a.m. and didn't get home until about 4ish. We had a pretty fun time. I wish it would have been a little warmer, but it wasn't to bad, since I had Savannah in my BabyHawk, we were all nice and snugly. It was nice being able to see Elephants (since Villas does not have any) and also some other animals I haven't seen in a long time. It's not somewhere I'd have to go every year, but maybe every few years we could take the kids.

10 Months Old

Brewers just won the first game of the play offs and now we're hoping the Cardinals do the same! Wouldn't that be awesome for the Cardinals and the Brewers to face off in the play offs? If they do, Scott & I already decided we have to figure out a way to go and see one of the games! It'll be hard though for the Cardinals to beat the Phillie's, but right now they're winning 3-0! (but it's only the first inning....so there is lots of game left to play)

So today Miss. Savannah is 10 months old! And what a month we've had! First off, she's had a nasty cold almost all month, boo! She has also gone from 1 tooth to 5 teeth in a matter of 2 weeks! So it's been a pretty miserable month. However, she has learned many new things this month! She learned how to pull herself up, she learned to sit up from laying down and she also learned how to crawl!! Connor didn't crawl until 12.5 months, so this is awesome! She's so tiny so she looks even cuter when she crawls! She isn't very fast yet, that'll take a little time, but she can definitely get around. We just bought 2 new baby gates (one for the stairs and one for Connor's room), and I'm in the process of "baby proofing" the rest of the house! Her favorite "new" foods of the month were probably ice cream & salmon. Hoping this next month isn't quit as eventful, cause we could all use a break! Only 2 months until her first birthday, and all the decorations have been ordered!