1st Grade Field Trip to Grand Isle Park

Friday I joined Langlade Elementary's 1st graders on a nature walk in Green Isle Park. It was a little chilly but once we started walking we warmed up in no time. Savannah was so excited I was coming with them, it was priceless to see the smiles on her face. The kids were to find "interesting" things and put them in their Ziploc bags. They were so cute and had big imaginations about the sizes and shapes of all the leaves they found. The class made pictures out of their leaves later that afternoon and brought them home.

I am really glad I got to go. I met a couple of moms and was able to get to know them. They were very friendly and nice and asked a lot of questions to get to know me too. I hope for more chances to get to know them better through out the year and I am thankful the school put together a contact list so we can easily keep in touch for play dates. What a fun fall event! Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Savannah, Ella, Rachel and Brooke 

Walking in the woods! 

Beatuful scenery 

Serenity! 

Savannah and friends eating granola bars. 

Autumn beauty! 

Happy girl! 

Owen, Debbie, and Ian. I found out her family lives in Utah too!

I can't wait for the next chance to get out there with the kids and the parents, it was fun.

The joys I have of living with a little girl named Savannah

Savannah has had a loose tooth for a while now. This is her third. She lets everyone wiggle it. Well the other night she was letting Daddy wiggle it. He wiggled it more than she wanted and she was screaming for that split second until she realized it was out. It was like an instant replay from an AFV show where the kid is crying and then in an instant changes to super excited with screaming for joy as if it were Christmas. Well when she ran to the bathroom to grab some Kleenex and to look in the mirror, she accidentally dropped it down the heater vent. She was then crying again. Daddy took the flashlight and opted to pull the vent out but would need to pull out the floor board to do so. I said no to that. Not in my new house anyway. I reminded Savannah that the tooth fairy is so small she could get in there and get it, that all she would need to do is leave her a note. And that is what she did!

Well the next day she was pretty bummed that she got a golden coin. She wanted a dollar bill. Guess she'd never seen a dollar in coin form before and we had to convince her that it was a dollar and not some silly Chuck E. Cheese game token. She added that to the dollar Grandma gave her when she was visiting and well now she is that much closer to buying that ballerina Barbie she's been wanting. You see she gave all her Barbie's away before we moved and now she is really missing Barbie.

Next morning, Savannah came into my room with a sad face. She said, "The tooth fairy didn't give me 5 dollars." So come to find out Savannah thought if she put another note under her pillow the next night that the tooth fairy would find it and obey any thing she put on that little piece of paper. Trying not to laugh I told Savannah that the tooth fairy won't come again until she loses her next tooth and that she will simply need to continue to earn more money for her Barbie. She understood and we put the note away for safe keeping. I think her 4th tooth will be out sooner than you know!

Each day while walking to and from school, Savannah has been aching to jump in a leaf pile. I have to explain to her that the neighbors pile them up by the roadside per the city to pick up for fall clean up. She hasn't seen so many leaves in her life. Where we lived in Utah it was a new neighborhood and not very many trees were tall enough to have many leaves. Well now we are in a for a treat. So she asked if she could rake up a pile. And of course I said sure and tried to convince her to put them on the side of the house. But nonetheless any of them being raked was my goal as I was putting off getting it done myself. Here is a picture of here swimming and having great fun. She did lose her gum in there somewhere though. Reminds me of Linus from the Charlie Brown cartoon. Good ole leaves, nothing like making memories! I remember my first time of jumping in the leaves too!

Another Year gone by...

Sad to say no birthday girls day out this year, but I did spend the Sunday before my actual birthday with my family enjoying a ride to Suamico and to Michigan. The fall colors are just gorgeous!

We stopped at the Pumpkin Place for a bit of fun. Who can resist playing on a farm? They had pumpkin bowling - Savannah broke open the pumpkin and Daddy got a strike. We went through a corn maze where Savannah led the way out. There was a petting zoo and the animals were so cute, especially the farm kitties. We made sure to get some home made coffee and pumpkin cookies before we left too. Really makes me wish I was raised on a farm or had one of my own. (until I think of all the hard work LOL)

Charlie and I

The most beautiful pear tree I have ever seen! 

Huge! So big they had to move it here with a fork lift! 

Meet Farmer Rose!

After the farm we took a drive to the Michigan border, took our pic, and then turned around again. I can now officially say I've been to Michigan. Will have to mark that one off my list.

We ended the night with dinner at Olive Garden. I know it is a chain but its one I was craving and just needed a good fix for, that and Jacob had never been.

Monday, the next day and my actual birthday, Jake gave me a lovely candle and candle holder from Yankee Candle Company. I think he remember how excited I was when we found that store in the mall that he took notes. And he did good. He'll make a good husband someday. I was glad he chose the Thanksgiving Theme. I am not too much into Hallowe'en decorations. .

Later that day, I came home from work to find my hubby in the kitchen whipping up a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Bless his heart, he wasn't feeling well as he had pulled a muscle in his back, but he still knew my one birthday wish. I guess my dad always made sure there was cake for every birthday no matter how old or small so that is why it is important to me. Savannah gave me one of her stuffed animals and my husband spent almost two hours finding the perfect card that brought a smile to my face. They lit the candles and sang happy birthday to me in the dark. I made the perfect wish of course.

My mom sent me a lovely set of dishes. One of the cup handles were broken so she let them know and well now I have two sets. Good for entertaining, so I'd better get to inviting people over yeah? People that don't have to drive over 1500 miles that is.

We have our housewarming party this weekend so it will be good to have extra plates, but not sure if I want to let them use them they are so nice.

A call from my friend Jodi, a card in the mail from my sweet ex-co-worker at DWS, Aubrie, and about 60 happy birthday's on Facebook later, I'd say all in all it was a great birthday! Thanks everyone!

Happy Harvesting!

So staying at home more has given me the privilege to shop sales! What I mean is that for the first time in my life I have started a food storage system. In the past I have always planned a menu around what was on sale and what sounded good and then went shopping for that two week period of time. Now the only difference is is that we purchased a bunch of meat and other items upfront so now that we have a stash of things I can focus on what is on sale instead and just stock up.

We did have to purchase some shelving and a freezer, but this is what we have so far.

I know it is funny to be so excited but when I was working full time I never took the time out to try this, nor did we have a freezer! So now that our freezer is full and we have plenty of food for a month out, what I get to do now is purchase solely what is on sale whether we need it or not! Bad thing is I think we will be tempted to eat more cause we have it.

Only thing is, is that I can't pass up a good sale now. This week Shopko has some amazing things for dirt cheap. I hope I can get there before the others and what I save in the grocery budget I will be able to use for other items on sale that we need.

Yeah I get excited. Working these past 10 years has made me appreciative of the things I didn't get to do at home when I wanted to, so I am enjoying the moment!

Update on our life here in WI...

Just got out of the hot tub and am totally relaxed. I don't think I've ever sat in a hot tub this early in the evening, we are feeling totally spoiled, but don't ge me wrong, it took a lot and still taking a lot of hard work!

So the house in Utah isn't sold yet and there are still some things we need to take care of, but all in all I am enjoying life here in Wisconsin. I do miss my family and wonder if they will ever get to visit us or when I will get out there to visit them, but my nephew, JJ and his wife and kids are coming out for Thanksgiving. I am excited for this.

We have also set up our small housewarming party. We don't know a lot of people yet, but those that we do we want to have them over to visit. Church has kind of been on hold for a while, Charlie has had to work most weekends and with the move and all we've only been once so far. Savannah loves Wednesday night Blastzone activities and I have signed up for the women's Bible study on Tuesdays so we are working our way slowly into the weekly events.

Speaking of Savannah she went to her first bowling game with the other kids in her school, she loved it - well lets say she loved the socializing and the snacks. I swear she is on a growing spurt lately always so hungry! She is also signed up to start Daisy Girl Scouts next week.We found out that one of the girls from church attends her school so I am happy that she will be able to attend church with some of the girls at school too, so this is something that we didn't get the chance for out in Utah being that everyone is pretty much LDS and all those in the same neighborhood were only those who would end up in both church and school together.

I start a new part time job next week too. It is a long term temp job until April working as a Data Entry clerk. I am excited cause it will be the hours I want and will still be able to take care of Boo's in the morning and continue to take her to school as well as get some stuff done around the house too. No more babysitters! In fact I am signed up for the PTO and am baking and cooking next week for the parent teacher's night. I may even be helping out in the library soon too.

I am keeping positive during this large change. We found that Jake will not be able to stay at his job as permanent as we thought, but we stay hopeful that he will still find something soon. Charlie continues to work hard at work and with his overtime we will do fine, so I really appreciate all he does. Until our house sells we are kind of stretcthing things now that my income from Utah has ended and we are back to a budget, so I am really thankful when he gets the chance to work extra even thought it takes a toll on him.

The fall colors out here are awesome! I guess cause there are millions of trees everywhere. I really need to get my camera and take some pics. I hope you all are excited for the new fall season. HAVE A GREAT DAY!