I love fall!

I've been thinking for awhile that life is too short to live in the same place your whole life, but I can say that I absolutely love fall in Ohio. Not only do Jason and I both have birthdays, but it's definitely the prettiest time of year. These pictures don't even do it justice.

We can start getting out cozy sweatshirts

There are great nights to sit out on our deck with the firepit....and no mosquitoes

We have random days of Indian Summer

Love to get ready for Halloween

Enjoy our apple cider.....hot or cold

And, even though they're having a bad year, Ohio State football.

It doesn't get much better than this.

Bonfire

Every October the city where Jason works has a community bonfire. Last year we tried to take the kids and it didn't go so well, but I figured this year maybe we'd go early and things would be better if we didn't have to wait in long lines. The kids enjoyed meeting up with Daddy when we got there.

Okay, I'm not gonna' lie, I enjoyed meeting up with him too. He looks cute in his uniform.

The kids got the first train ride of the night so they were pretty excited to sit up front in the lead car.

They also got on the inflatable slide and rode the Whirlwind.

After the rides we waited in just a small line for hot dogs, donut holes and apple cider. It was the kids' first time having apple cider and they loved it. We went to the playground for a little bit and got a glow stick, too. Then we found a spot by the fire for a little bit before going home. It was really cold, but a great fall night.

Jason turns 3-III

I only had one "3" candle but a bunch of individual candles, so we put the "3" and 3 single candles on his cake this year. He hates the candles and singing and all that jazz, but I used the kids as an excuse to make the moment celebratory.

The kids had fun making and eating the cake. I had some trouble with the writing gel and Xander had some trouble with the colored sugar, but it's the thought that counts, right? It was LSU colors at least.

We even had success with signing the card. Xander used lowercase letters, which has been very difficult for him. And Jordis wrote her first two words....Jordis and Daddy. I was shocked. I just told her how to make each letter and she did it. How grateful I will be if teaching her further skills continues to be this easy.

The pumpkin patch

Last month I took the kids to the pumpkin patch we typically go to, so today we decided to try somewhere new. Living close to some rural areas is nice because it gives us multiple locations to choose from. The first thing we did was go on a hayride.

Then we navigated our way through an 8 acre corn maze.

After the maze we went to the front of the property where the kids jumped in an inflatable, sat on some tractors, grudgingly posed for pictures, and picked out a few pumpkins and some homemade black raspberry preserves.

After leaving we decided to go check out a new BBQ restaurant that came to town. I didn't want to go there because I hate that their name is Dickey's, but Jason wanted to try it so we were going to go get something and take it home. Turns out that kids eat free on Sundays if you dine in, and they also have free soft-serve ice cream. So it ended up being pretty economical.

The kids even sat next to each other without fighting. It wasn't amazing food, but it was good enough that we'll go back. Especially if it's somewhere that the kids will cooperate. We had such a fun time!

This girl

Miss Jordis is developing quite her own sense of self. Not only does she like to wear a variety of different clothing styles all at once but she's becoming quite vocally inquisitive of things out in public. She's tomboy with a touch of diva and a splash of attitude. Everyone seems to ignore the attitude part though because her little voice is so cute. Here she is conversing with the Halloween decor at the grocery store.

She found Xander's old shoes that I was going to donate in her closet, but has decided that they are hers now. They fit her perfectly and she wears them everywhere. This particular day she was also wearing his old jeans. They're fairly unisex so I passed them on to her. Bulky sweatshirt and don't forget the princess hat.

She's also started wearing mis-matched pajamas. Never mind if the whole set is clean, she likes to mix and match the tops and bottoms. Here she is doing Wii yoga with a cupcake top and Minnie Mouse pants.

And on Tuesday, even though she has a closet full of cute girly clothes, she wore her brother's old dinosaur shirt, his socks and his shoes. I think the jacket used to be his as well. The brown pants are hand-me-downs from her neighbor friend, Megan. And don't forget....a princess hat, but backwards because she can't see with the bill facing forward.

Yesterday Jordis looked very cute and girly and an old woman at Kohl's was charmed when, as I was looking at something Jordis asked, "is that on sale?" "Oh, isn't she cute" the woman said. "I see you're teaching her early." I'm sure she would have changed her mind if she was the woman in the restroom stall later when Jordis peered under the door and asked, "Mommy is that lady makin' poops?"

Happy Birthday to Me!

I blog about everyone else's birthday, so I figured I may as well blog about my own. I am only child after all, so it's always been a pretty important day. The festivities started last week when my friend Jen took me out to dinner at this great place in the Short North. One of the things I like best about Jen

is that she is low maintenance and will pretty much go along with whatever. She also shares food, which is rare. We've traveled together and been to many a restaurant and festival, and Jen is one of the few people in my life (besides my mom) who will split food with me. I love splitting food, that way you can each try two things. So we split two dishes: a grilled cheese on whole wheat with 3-cheeses, Roma tomatoes and pesto with a side of skillet corn and grilled chicken with Dijon cream sauce, garlic redskin mashed potatoes and skillet green beans. The food was incredible. I love eating at independent restaurants, so I hope I can go back there again soon. After dinner we walked to Jeni's ice cream which I've always wanted to try. After sampling about 4 different flavors I settled on Thai Chili, which was so good. Now that I just got on their website to post the link, I see I was a week too early for some great seasonal flavors: Apple Cider Sorbet, Pumpkin Spice and Chocolate Marshmallow. Check out her flavors....you'd be surprised at how all the listed ingredients could equal great-tasting ice cream.

Speaking of ice cream.....


Max & Erma's loaded my dining card with a free order of their hot chocolate chip cookies. Jason had to work 2nd shift the night before my birthday, and being the cool mom I am I figured I'd take the kids to eat cookies and ice cream for dinner. What kid doesn't want an ice cream sundae and chocolate chip cookies for dinner, right? Apparently my kids. They also roped me into chicken nuggets and fries because they felt they needed a meal. I guess in the big scheme of things I should be happy they weren't satisfied eating dessert for dinner, but I would have been all over that as a kid.




My mom had offered to watch the kids on my birthday so Jason and I could do something, so he planned a surprise for me....we went to Kentucky for lunch at my favorite Italian place, Pompilio's. Most of you will recall it from previous blog posts, as we've eaten there the past two summers on trips down. I had the toasted ravioli and Jason had the tortellini with chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke cream sauce. It was fabulous as usual. Then with a little time to spare we stopped at IKEA on the way home. I've always wanted to go there and it was so much fun to walk around and look at all the cool decorating ideas. While we were there I bought this pillow.
It's so tacky, isn't it? But I had to have it. Not only is it the same color as my kitchen walls, but the kids always pick me dandelions when we go on walks, so it reminded me of them and makes me happy. It was a long drive just for lunch, but it was great alone time without any distractions and going out of state felt like a mini-vacation. We had fun!

I came home to find that my mom and the kids had made me chocolate cupcakes, and I had fun kitcheny presents from my mom and step-dad. Tomorrow night my dad and step-mom are taking us to dinner at Carsonie's to celebrate mine and Jason's birthday. What a great birthday it's been.