the summer is fleeting..............

I do love the season of Fall.

Pumpkin spice lattes (I'm making this one at home in my crockpot!),

jeans/boots/scarves (my favorite combo),

 trips to the pumpkin patch,

and, in the words of Graham, cozy snuggles.

But I am also SO sad to say goodbye to warm sunny days.

Here's thanks to very beautiful months of August & September.

mid-air

 

thanks to Kristin for grabbing the camera & snapping. :)

oh sleep. I miss thee.

So it's been a little brutal in the sleep department around here. Of course, if I went to bed at 7 when my kiddos did, I could be getting much longer stretches here. :) I do believe a certain little girl is teething. Last week she decided she needed a 5am feeding again. This week she decided, no, it needed to be 2am instead. So I feel like I've gone back to newborn stretches of sleep. UGH. We've had a couple of mornings where she's gone till 6, so hoping we're past the worst for now!

And then there's Gman..........the boy who slept for 12 hours without a peep for 2 straight years is suddenly finding it necessary to get up almost once a night. Sometimes it's a bad dream or a drink of water or something else of great importance.

I usually don't agree with its urgency. *wink,wink. 

The other night I had fed Eden around 2 am and then could.not.fall.back.asleep. Boo those nights.

 2 hours later, I finally dozed off....5am Graham comes wondering into our room in need of............a kiss and a hug.

oh my.........can you really be mad about that?

Women constantly say "oh these are the best years....I wish I had them back....savor them................" I will admit when I haven't had more than 6 hours of straight sleep for 8 months, it makes me a teeny bit crazy. =)

But then you have these moments...........and I know exactly what they mean.

• The other week Graham comes up beside me, puts his arm around my shoulder and says, "you're my best friend." I don't even know when/where he learned that phrase.
• Yesterday he came up and gave me a huge hug and said "I love you". The first time he has ever done that uninitiated.

Yes, my boy.........you can still melt me in an instant. :)

And you, my girl, are still as sweet as ever! 

I am reminded to be so very grateful that I have tears to console, noses to wipe, diapers to change, kids to wake me up at all hours.

These precious gifts from God are also a daily joy.

Does anyone else ever get choked up singing You Are My Sunshine? The ending seriously takes my breath away. I guess that's the mom in me.

Thanking God for his grace & mercy.

And my hubby for understanding when the crazy-i-just-want-to-sleep-lady comes out. =)

And dear Sleep, when you're ready to be friends again, I'm here.

museum day

It's the annual Fall freebie frenzy here in the 'Burgh! All the local museums & attractions are offering free days......the only problem is that they all seem to happen at once. :-/ But it's one of the things we love about living here. We've been able to visit so many different venues all for free here in the city.

On Saturday we went to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. It probably sounds boring, but  Graham actually loves it! They have lots of real-like stuffed animals as well as dinosaur skeletons. So he almost feels like he's at the zoo. :)

Our favorite friend joined us!

the paleontologist, who is obviously large & in charge

 

lunch in the courtyard on a beautiful day!

 

Tea Collection

Oh my heart. These clothes. Too adorable.

UPDATE:  The Tea Collection has started a referral program and the reward is fabulous! Click here to set up an account and you'll get a discount code for $25 off a $50 purchase! Then you should get your own referral code that you can give to friends, and when they make a $50 purchase, you'll get a $25 certificate! If you check out their sale section, it might be totally worth it!

BUY 3, GET 15% OFF

It's as easy as 1, 2, 3. Take your pick of 3 items and you'll get 15% off your entire purchase. Enter promo code YAYPICK3 in your shopping bag or mention this offer at a participating store. Now through 9/25!

FYI.....they sell woman's clothing as well as infant-12 yrs. old.

I won't lie, it's pricey.

But they do have summer close-outs going on now!

I think Graham would like their summer tees.

I have now started using affiliate programs for Momtourage.

*Hoping* to earn a l.i.t.t.l.e. compensation for the time I give to it. :)

But it allows me to come across some pretty cute stuff.

And my favorite thing is when they send me a product to review. =)

 We'll see if I'm so lucky with this company.

piano time

singing his little heart out. =)

Psalm 62

I love this song, particularly verse 3.

My soul finds rest in God alone,
My Rock and my salvation,
A fortress strong against my foes,
And I will not be shaken.
Though lips may bless and hearts may curse,
And lies like arrows pierce me,
I’ll fix my heart on righteousness,
I’ll look to Him who hears me.

O praise Him, hallelujah,
My Delight and my Reward;
Everlasting, never failing,
My Redeemer, my God.

Find rest, my soul, in God alone
Amid the world’s temptations;
When evil seeks to take a hold
I’ll cling to my salvation.
Though riches come and riches go,
Don’t set your heart upon them;
The fields of hope in which I sow
Are harvested in heaven.

O praise Him, hallelujah,
My Delight and my Reward;
Everlasting, never failing,
My Redeemer, my God.

I’ll set my gaze on God alone,
And trust in Him completely;
With every day pour out my soul,
And He will prove His mercy.
Though life is but a fleeting breath,
A sigh too brief to measure,
My King has crushed the curse of death
And I am His forever.

O praise Him, hallelujah,
My Delight and my Reward;
Everlasting, never failing,
My Redeemer, my God.
by Aaron Keyes and Stuart Townend.

Be encouraged today ~ listen to this beautiful song here.

bath time

family visit

We enjoyed having Andrew's brother & family (minus the triplets!) come for the weekend.

We first headed to one our favorite local spots, the Strip District.

Turns out, by filling out a survey, you could get $5 in market cash.

So we were able to get lunch (yummy Greek wraps!) as well as a bakery stop for cannoli's ~ all for free!

 Graham & Uncle Joel

Jack & Graham

(and not me in the short-shorts) =)

 SIL's

 Pirates game

and what a pretty sky!

 cousins

They predicted rain all weekend and we ended up with sunny, perfect weather.

It was a great weekend!

the determined

There should be a rule about being allowed to pull up this early. :-/

(Though my mom informed me I was cruising at 7 months.....so looks like she might be following her mama's footsteps!) agh!

She is definitely proud of herself. =)

homemade yogurt

We have now added a 4th yogurt eater in our home and I started doing the math.....realizing I could easily spend $12-15 a WEEK just on yogurt. To the rescue: my friend Joy who recently started this yummy food blog. Come to find out out...........you can make yogurt in a crockpot!

super simple.

super yummy.

super healthy.

super cheap.

do I need more reasons?

Homemade Yogurt
Ingredients:
4 cups nonfat milk (you can use whatever milk you want for a higher-fat-content yogurt. Purportedly, this even works with soy and other non-dairy milks.)
1/4 cup dry nonfat milk solids (optional)
1/4 cup plain yogurt (with active cultures - to start, this basically just means some kind of recently purchased store yogurt; it should say on the side whether it has active cultures or not. Once you've made yogurt at home, you can just use that.)

Slow-cooker Method:
1. Mix the dry milk (if using) with 1/4 cup of the liquid milk in a small bowl, making sure there are no lumps. Pour into 3.5-4 qt. slow cooker and whisk in remaining milk.
2. Turn slow cooker to high for 1.5 hours.
3. Turn slow cooker off for 2 hours, or until milk is lukewarm.
4. Remove 1/4 c. milk and mix with yogurt. Stir the mixture back into slow-cooker. Replace lid, and cover with an opaque dish towel (if your lid is transparent).
5. Wait 6-8 hrs. or until thickened and then put your quart of yogurt in a container in the fridge (don't eat until it's been refrigerated at least 4 hrs).

I did not use the dry milk, so that may make it a tad thicker. I have found that is thicker if you use whole milk, more runny the less the fat content in the milk. You can also put it through a strainer to make super yummy Greek yogurt! However, it does not make much quantity once you do that!  It definitely is not sweet, but it's super good and if needed, a tsp. of honey or jelly or some mixed-in fruit would probably do the trick! It certainly could not be easier (or cheaper!) to make.

I'm a convert. =)

Snippet #1

So I seem to not be able to sneak in much blogging lately. I do miss it, and I miss reading other blogs as much as I would like. And since scrapbooking has long ago flown out the window, :) I also want to preserve these days for all of us. But for now, especially for the sake of several family members who only get to see us through this page (hi!), I am going to try to put up more frequent, though shorter snippets. It might be a sneak peak in our day or something I'm making or something just for fun.

So for today....................

pants on the floor, pants on the floor.................. :)

Graham loves looking out the windows in our new home where he can watch everything from trash trucks to lawns being mowed to school buses to deer!

yes to seven

yes, I am seven months old!

 yes, I enjoyed being a beach babe.

yes, I am that limber.  

yes, mommy wishes she could keep me in a basket forever.

I have other plans.  

yes, I am CRAWLING, trying to pull up, and lots of other fun things that no one else is ready for me to do yet. wink*wink.

yes, I am 26 inches and 17.5 lbs. 

But surprisingly lower percentiles than you might think!

Length = between percentile 25 and 50
Weight = between percentile 50 and 75

 yes, I have a little {ok a lot} of sass & spunk in me. =)

yes, Rock Me sent me this snazzy little outfit.

other tidbits:

*Finally was successful in dropping nap #3.

I can now stay awake from 3-7! :)

*Sleeps 7pm-7am (ok, it's too often 6:30ish!)

and naps 8-10am & 1-3pm.

*Obsessed with peek-a-boo. She loves it.

*Does not like for mommy to be more than an arm's length away too often. :(

*She is surely a go-getter and seriously trying to pull up already. Slow down baby!

*She is driving Graham crazy with her new-found ability to come get in the middle of whatever he is playing with. The sibling fun begins, agh!

*Is loving food. Except my spinach quiche. She spit that out. I still have a hard time getting Graham to eat eggs, it's the one food they both seem to naturally disdain.

yes, I am a happy & sweet girl!