Newsworthy

Jack discovered newspaper for the first time today. He seemed particularly taken with the sports section (a portent of things to come?!) and ended up getting a good scrub down in the bath after being covered in newsprint. Here's to many more enjoyable evenings reading the newspaper Jack Boy!

Bestest Buds

Best friends are wonderful things. Treasured and comfortable and good for the soul. If you know me, you know I have a best friend, who lives far far away in Aussie land and who is all these things for me.



We were both born in October 1979, "met" that Christmas and have been fast friends ever since.



And today is HER BIRTHDAY!!



Kirsty, here's to you girlfriend...



...to your thoughtfulness, faithful heart, and teachable, strong spirit.



You are one of the most beautiful people I know.



I love and admire you always and hope you've had a WONDERFUL birthday!

School Lunch

This week the posts have been a bit thin on the ground due to general busyness. Since I have photos from today, I'll document our picnic :)

Jack and I headed out to enjoy the beautiful weather and visit Aunty Rachel at the school where she works. We met up with Vanessa and her girls too and we all had great fun eating lunch together and then showing off the babies at school :). It's amazing how proud (and terribly old) one feels to have high-schoolers oohing and aahing over one's child!

The Cousin Twins

Ness and Rach with the kiddos

Jack getting cuddles from his aunty

Visiting Aunty Rachel in her classroom

Hard to get all of them looking at the same time!

It's such a lovely day and I'm tempted to go and read outside while Jack naps. I think I'll be lazy instead and have a little shut-eye on the couch. Going to school wore me out!

Church Picnic

So, Hannah, you guessed it...I'm posting tonight :)

Today was the Fall Picnic at church and we had a really fun and relaxing time. The weather was gorgeous and Jack did so well, despite being well past his nap time by the time we got home! He loved all the dogs there, as well as all the kids. And he got to try out the swings for the first time. He also had some lovely play time with his Aunty Rachel and Uncle Steve but I didn't get my camera out in time to capture them together.

Jack with a new friend

Lots of people at the park

Me and Hannah

Hannah's husband, Steven, and Jack

He LOVED his first swing experience!

So, that's what we were up to on this beautiful Fall day!

Ha!

"Formula Powered"

Couldn't resist. Old Navy on clearance. CUTENESS!

Charlie Brown and the Lost Keys

So today started out favorably, with Jack sleeping until 8:30 am (although he was up twice in the night as he's teething, poor thing), which meant we got a little bit of a sleep-in. Our friends, Myriam and Conrad, came down from Chattanooga for a visit and took us to lunch at Alons, one of our favorite spots (the lamb sandwich with caramelized onions is fabulous!!).

Thanks for a lovely time together Conrad and Myriam!

We then headed home for Jack's nap before attending the musical theater performance of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, that our church was putting on this weekend. Andre has been helping with the lighting for it, so he left early and I waited for nap time to be over. Jack slept well, woke up happy and we were out the door. Only to realize, as I was ABOUT to close the locked front door, that I hadn't grabbed my keys. Good thing I looked, because they weren't in my bag or hanging behind the door as usual. I then remembered that Andre had had them when we went out to lunch, decided that I probably didn't need them and locked them in the glove compartment of the car. And never took them out again. It seemed as if Charlie Brown was not to be.

Thankfully, my sweet Husbie phoned during intermission, wondering where we were and told me where the spare was kept (I now realize, with some dismay, that perhaps we need to communicate more. I found the passports hidden where the spare key was...who knew?!). And so Jack and I rushed off to the play, and were able to enjoy the last 40 minutes or so. The cast did an amazing job, so I'm glad I was able to see some of it. Note to self: keep keys on self AT ALL TIMES.

Jack seemed to enjoy himself as well and was able to get in a cuddle with Miss Penny, who dotes on him and asks after him whenever I see her. He was fascinated with her riding wheel-chair and cried when I took him off her lap!

Riding with Miss Penny and LOVING every minute!

Just to prove we were there!

A Humble Solution...

...to a messy problem. So our fridge has been a source of angst in our family for quite some time. The outside of the fridge, that is. It's always covered in magnets, photos, coupons and various scraps of paper that are somehow supposed to equal my grocery list (yeah, don't even get me started on how much angst grocery shopping gives me. Or preparing for grocery shopping. Or even thinking about grocery shopping. I try to avoid the whole process whenever possible. We don't eat much. Ok, just kidding, but it's the bane of my life).

Anyhoo, so back to the fridge. We have a really tiny kitchen space and it's open plan onto the living and dining areas, so when the kitchen's a mess, the whole house looks like a train smash. Or at least it makes me feel crazy! Having an untidy fridge front only adds to the feeling of clutter (not to mention that Andre mutters under his breath every time something falls off the fridge door as he opens it...poor man!) so I decided that things needed to be contained. And the only way to do that was a cork board. But the beautiful ones at my favoritist craft store EVER, were slightly too pricey, as well as far too heavy for the fridge door. So I made one.

And yes, it's a humble little creation. Pretty amateurish and all that. However, I did come up with it all by myself (although I'm sure these have been made many times over, many times more cleverly and tidily). Actually this post is just to prove that I am not completely obsessed with my child and CAN write about and show photos of other things...ha ha :)

Ingredients for my bulletin board
(I used an art canvas instead of cork)

Stretch fabric and pin
(I didn't use glue on my fabric in case I wanted to switch it out sometime)

Hot glue magnets

The finished product

I had fun finally doing something crafty again, during Jack's nap, and now my fridge is orderly and my Husbie is happy.

On to conquer the ever-looming grocery list. Ugh!