You know it's fall when

The first thing our little family wants to do when fall has arrived is head to our favorite orchard, Apple Jacks. With the weather being pretty cool the last couple weeks, Jackson decided fall was here and thus it was time to take our annual trip.

We always go on a Saturday morning because they have fresh carmel apple rolls and apple doughnuts on the weekends. I can't say how good the apple rolls are....words just wouldn't do them justice!

After devouring our delicious sweets, we took a walk down to the Crow River to snap a few pictures.

Our usual spot was half sunny half shaded, so we decided this spot would have to do.

Max spotted a toad along the way and thought he should be in the pics.

Sadie wasn't too keen on the idea of having a four legged friend join our family just yet.

......and the best part of the trip is coming home and making a year supply of applesauce!

I'm a sucker for celebrating

Jackson came home from school on the first day and deemed it a success. (and that is a MAJOR feat!!) To celebrate he quickly suggested that we whip up something from the Wookie Cookbook. I think he knows me all too well, and knows that I will use any excuse to celebrate. We flipped through the book for a while and settled on the idea of making little R2D2's.

For any trying to pack on a few pounds, here are the glutenous directions:

Roll a Twinkie in melted white chocolate and immediately roll in nuts of your choice. Place kit kats on each side, and enjoy...that is if you like having your stomach ache from the sweetness of it all.

Here we go again

It's that time of year again. Back to schedules, routines, homework and carpools. Back to school time!! Woo Hoo!!

Most kids are happy to go back, but from the looks of things, I'm a tid bit more excited than they are! I just can't wipe that smile off my face.

Jackson is heading off to Mrs. Flatgard's 3rd grade class. Big changes in life are always hard for him to adjust to. I hope his first day of school wasn't too hard for my crazy little man.

Here's Max before heading out the door to 1st grade in Mrs. Raja's class. Max told me he only wanted to smile a little because he is just a little excited. I hope his smile is bigger when he gets off the bus from a great first day of school.

As for Sadie, well she doesn't need to go school just yet. She's a self taught genius. Here is something she learned just the other day! It's always a crowd pleaser and she loves to show people everywhere we go her knew trick.

Time to get back to my bon bons.

NYC baby

One of the perks of John traveling so much is his ever growing stockpile of frequent flyer miles. They are a beautiful thing. A couple weeks ago John found out he would be traveling to NYC for business. Normally he's in Wisconsin, Ohio, Arizona or Florida. When he said NYC, I decided then and there that I needed to figure out a way to go with. I am lucky enough to have awesome friends, (or should I say naive, mu ah ha ha ha!!) who agreed to watch my kiddos while I was out of town.

John wasted no time in researching some tasty restaurants to try while we were there. One of my favorites was this little French eatery that we went to for breakfast. The atmosphere was beautiful, and the nutella croissants were heavenly.

John did have to work during the day, so I took the opportunity to shop in the rain. Yet again, it was a little piece of heaven on earth.

One night we hit Times Square and saw the broadway show American Idiot. Should have gone for Phantom or a classic b/c this one was not my cup o tea.

On Tuesday we had planned on spending a good chunk of time at the Museum of Modern Art. We found out Tuesday morning that it is closed every Tuesday...oops! We decided to go on a city bus tour. I wasn't sure I would like it, but it ended up being one of the highlights of the trip, even in the drizzle.

The tour bus stopped frequently and you could choose to get out and spend as much time as you wanted and then wait for another bus to come. We stopped a few places including Central Park. It was beautiful and the weather cooperated with us and stopped raining while took our stroll.

You can't go to the Big Apple without having a slice. John and I scarfed down a whole pizza together, it was so good!

I mastered the fine art of self portraits while I was there. I think I took about 20 pics of myself when I was shopping on 5th ave. Here's one of John and I on the subway.

I love NYC and was so glad to be able to go and spend some time with John before he starts up grad school again in a couple weeks. Thanks Cecia, Cameron and Jack for holding down the fort while we were gone. You are rad.