We Heart Mondays

Mondays I don't ever feel obligated to do much. It usually ends up being a day where we are really lazy in the morning, pajamas until lunch time, lunch with dad, then we (me) decide to be productive and put on real clothes and maybe do some grocery shopping or cleaning or something else that will make me feel like I am making my day worthwhile. However, showering is usually never involved.

Today to make myself feel productive I tried a new recipe (chicken cordon bleu casserole) and canned apple butter! Yes, apple butter. Do you see all of those apples in the above picture? We picked them almost a month ago. A friend of Cason's grandma has the most AMAZING apple tree. You stand in one spot and can pick half a laundry basket full.  After using 1/2 the apples in one laundry basket and producing 12 quarts of apple pie filling I knew I was in trouble. So I found friends who were also eager to can apples and shared the bounty! All in all I made 24 quarts of apple pie filling and 7 pints of apple butter. (I still have 9 quarts of applesauce left from 2 years ago- so I wasn't doing that!)

The kids of course had a fabulous time using the apples as balls. Creighton also tried to stack as many as he could on top of one another and Macey Jo tried to use her one tooth to snack on them.

Fall is canning time and this year I did tomatoes and peaches and pickles. Pickles for the first time!

Have you heard? Macey Jo LOVES pickles! We think it is because Grandma Chambers introduced her to lemons when we went out to eat with them at Cracker Barrel. She must be fond of pucker-up foods! Cason is obsessed with the pickles I canned and always giving Macey Jo one when he eats them. 

Speaking of the Chambers grandparents... We were able to visit them over General Conference weekend! Cason got us tickets to the Sunday morning session, his parents had the same tickets, so we all went together! However, the President got AWESOME seats and Cason and I were super far away. Still it was really fun (my first time) and I loved all the messages!!

We are happy that they are not too far away and that it is easy to visit!

Macey Jo is 9 1/2 months and growing very well. She is a happy girl, but contemplative.
Her hair is growing fast and Grandma Wilde put a pony tail in it for the first time a few days ago!
She is quite the talker! She says mommy and daddy but sometimes it sounds like she says so much more. She is good at imitating us with the sounds she makes.
She is so curious! I thought Creighton got into it all... Cason and I have agreed that she is worse! We are trying to teach Creighton to shut the bathroom door after he uses the potty. She loves the bathroom!
She also loves dog food so the pantry doors (where the dog food bowls are) must be always closed.
She has eyes like a hawk and can find the most disgusting things on the kitchen floor. She is constantly reminding me the floor needs swept or mopped.

But I am becoming more of a believer in the above statement... Don't judge.

It is her lucky day when she manages to find a blue peanut M&M on the kitchen floor left behind by a brother.

M&M's or Lucky Charms... both require a good tub soaking to ensure full sugary-mess removal. Especially when marshmallows are stuck in the hair!! I think she makes such a mess on purpose because she loves the tub!!

She loves to crawl but we are already taking bets as to when she will start to walk. She can pull herself to a standing position without any help but when she realizes she is standing without support she falls. 

She loves to eat "real people" food. She only likes a bottle first thing in the morning or at night. During the day she wants to eat solid foods.

And what about Creighton?

Well he has decided to get over the "anti-photo phase" because he doesn't like mommy to only take pictures of Macey Jo so he says, "Mom, take a picture of me while I walk away..." hehehe 

His milestone aren't as noticeable as Macey Jo's until one day I think, "Oh my heck! Look what he can do! I can't believe how smart he is!"

Right now I am trying to teach him how to dress himself. Who would of thought it was so hard? 

He can tell some WILD stories! He has such an imagination! He will take 3 things that really happened, 1 thing he wishes would happen and combine them into a story that he tries to convince us is true. 

He wants to know what everything is and usually remembers and tells me again the next time we see it.

I took him on a date last weekend to the movie theatre to see Turbo (for the 2nd time). We got popcorn and candy and soda. When we were sitting waiting for the movie to start,  in-between bites of popcorn, he said, "Mommy, thank you for bringing me to the movie theatre." It melted my heart! And daddy told him on our date Creighton must hold my hand and he sure did! We are trying to do more one-on-one with Creighton now that Macey Jo is here. Dates with Creighton are so fun!!

Oh, and he MUST have his zipper zipped up every time he wears his coat. 

Not a lot of big announcements from our family, just every day life. And I am totally ok with that. But sometimes I think, "It is almost Halloween? Where did September go? And most of October? What do we have to show for ourselves?" Guess I should stop spending so many Mondays being lazy!

But I do have most of our family's Christmas shopping done. Seriously, all but a few minor gifts. Jealous? I feel awesome.

Have a wonderful week! And try to do at least one thing productive...