Life in the fast lane

I say life in the fast lane as if we're going somewhere, but in actuallity we're still here just going a million miles an hour.  Life is finally getting back to normal after the many trips we made up north and this is going to be our first weekend here at home (without company) since July! 

Here's a recap of our fun the last few weeks here at home.  The 1st weekend of October Grandpa Smith came to visit.  He was here on his birthday week so we decided to celebrate it up for him.  Eric and Jonner took him golfing, we had a big steak dinner and I made him an angel food cake with fluffy frosting - just like Jeanette used to make!  Here's Jonner licking the frosting from the beater!

He thought it was pretty good!  Licking the beaters was always my favorite part of my mom's baking! 

My parents always come to visit the 2nd weekend of October for the annual Share Walk.  It's a walk to remember all babies gone to soon.  It's a nice time to remember and honor Kye and all of his angel friends during a ceremony with speakers, song, each baby's name is read aloud, balloon release and a memorial walk.  The walk is lead by a banner that all the families sign a message on. 

This las one is my favorite.  Jonner saw everyone writing on the banner so he picked up an ink pen and said he was going to write a letter to his brever (aka brother) Kye.  Look closely and Jonner wrote his name all by himself!  Yay Jonner!  All caps and backwards and when he ran out of room he put his upside down/backwards R under the rest of his name.  I'm glad I have a picture of it and that he was able to share this new "mastery" with his brever! 

Our balloons sent with love to heaven!

                        
Last week I started a Monday craft shared on Tuesday.  Well this week was a wee bit Cra-ZEE, but we did complete several crafts and just stuff in general.  All of it kept me away from the computer!  Our Monday craft as promised.

Felt Jack-O-Lanterns:  I cut a "pumpkin" from a sheet of orange felt and a bunch of facial shapes from black felt.  When 2 pieces of felt are pressed together they naturally bond and hold onto one another.  So we were able to make several different jack-o-lantern faces during our craft playtime.  Ton's of fun and Jonner's made several funny faces and really enjoys playing with the felt.  I'm thinking this will be a fun activity to make seasonally.  I see snowmen with different hats, scarves, mittens, Easter Bunnies with baskents, eggs, flowers and just fun things like cupcakes, cookies, felt dolls to "dress" for the weather....so many possibilities! 

Jonner Jack-o-Lantern

Mommy Jack-o-Lantern with the "lipstick" and eyelashes!

Daddy Jack-o-Lantern with eyebrows and a moo-stach under the nose! 

You can see Jovie is really impressed with Jonner's creations.  In reality she's probably just happy to be able to sit and rest without Jonner chasing her or tattling on her "Mommy, Jovie is in the same room as me" what will I do when we have another one!  The tattling has already started and it's with a dog! 

I finally completed Jonner's Halloween costume and have begun working on Eric's and mine.  We're going to be a family of Pirates and will host a Halloween party for a few of Jonner's friends here on Smith Island - Arrrr! 

Jonner and I also completed his thank you notes to send everyone who loved on him for his birthday.  I cheated this year and bought some Halloween stickers and pre-made witch hat cards on clearance last winter.  It worked out fabulously.  He get's to help with stickers, and we're done in an afternoon.  But since he can write his name now I'm having him sign each card....it's going to take forever! 

Lastly, I've recently started stalking my friend Erica's photos.  She "introduced" me to Bento lunches.  When school started she posted some uber cute pictures of lunches she created for her boys.  I've always tried to make a fun lunch for Jonner using cookie cutters to cut his sandwich but little did I know the extent of what can be done to fun up a lunch.  Bento is basically a Japanese term for cute, fun and HEALTHY lunches.  I'm addicted and FAR from making anything remotely close to the art of what I've seen some mom's make for their kiddo's.  But I have improved and have a few pictures of two of his lunches this week.  

The picture is horrible - after the fact I now realize I had the camera on the wrong setting.  This one went to school with him and was a big hit.  One of the little boys in Jonner's class didn't get two hand stamps at the end of the day because he kept trying to take Jonner's lunch away from him!  Anyway it's a ghost in a cheesy pumpkin patch (cheese sandwich on wheat) with witch fingers (carrot sticks) in a silicone spider cup and goblin guts & eyes (mini oreo's & yogurt raisins) in a silicone pumpkin cup with a juice box and an apple. 

This was a lunch I made for him here at home on his Boo plate.  A jack-o-lantern sandwich (nutella on wheat), witch fingers (carrot sticks) in a spider cup, sliced banana, pumpkin marshmallow's & bat gummies with a Frankenstein pick in a pumpkin cup.  I'm finding that anythink with a pick tastes better and I can limit a few yummies with more fruit/veggies if it's on a pick!  Jonner has always been a good carrot & apple eater.  Giving him a banana or grape was unheard of, but now he asks for them if he can pick a pick to eat them with. 

Dork alert!

Lastly, my big accomplishment this week.  I baked my 1st potato(es).  I know what you're thinking....she's never baked a potato before....the answer is "no".  Until now, and I have to share.  I knocked it out of the ballpark.  Not only did I bake the taters I made them into twice baked taters and froze them.  Slowly but surely my freezer is getting re-stocked for the winter with easy, pre-made meals.  We had our twice baked tater's with oven baked bbq ribs the other night and they were delish. 

Again...camera on the wrong setting.  I think it's time to just hand this camera over to Jman and get myself a new one! 

So that's just a peek of our week in a nutshell. 

Vroom, Vroom!