It's a M.U.S.T.

Pinterest of course :) You know who you are if you need to join (uhum....Melissa, Jaime, Lisa...) 

I know there are more of you!!

It was addicting in the beginning, then I was kind of in a lull for a while, and now...I'm obsessed. Yesterday I whipped together these yummy little things because apparently I think I have all the time in the world-ha! I happened to have everything on hand, so I just went right for it, just from looking at the picture, without a plan or anything...see, obsessed I tell you.

In keeping with the theme of "It's Fall and 90 degrees outside" (last blog post) I was browsing the crafty section on Pinterest and came across these adorable creations and just had to make at least one of them. I don't do Halloween decorations really, but they were just calling my name. The spider web seemed like way too much for Noah at this point so I opted for the "Boo" one. Seeing this on Pinterest made me remember a sweet art project I found on a blog I read. At the time I loved it and I was thrilled that I remembered it. It's a precious Fall tree. 

Where am I going with all of this?

So on Tuesday, I watched Jenna for Jaime and Jared and I thought that would be a fun day to do these crafts. I knew I could get Noah to do the simpler one, but I really wanted to do the Fall tree canvas too [insert Jenna]. She was the perfect and willing toddler I was looking for. She loved having her hands painted, and was so very patient throughout all the steps. I didn't even attempt the Fall tree with Noah as I could hardly get him to stay still long enough to paint one foot-he was not so much a fan of the cold, tickling paint. 

We had a blast being all crafty and such! I'm usually more the type to admire the crafty things and the craftiness of those in the blogging world, but today I went for it, and surprisingly, it went really well. Next time I want to add a few more hand prints to the tree, but other than that, they are keepers! 

Here are a few pictures of the finished products:

Jenna

Noah

Jenna

In summary, join Pinterest if you haven't-it's a must!! It will suck up every ounce of little time you have, but it's SO worth it.

Is it, or isn't it?

You be the judge, but either way, we are doing it!

Doing what you ask?

Decorating for Fall!

September 21st has come and gone and we are going for it at the Langlois house.  Justin has been beyond excited about his pumpkins and I just love this time of year and all the decorating. 

Despite the fact that our forecast looks like this...

We are doing it!

We are loving the smell of cinnamon spice, the view of pumpkins as you walk up to our house, and the added cheer that Fall decorating brings to our home. Plus, we will most likely be in the pool this weekend-heehee hahaha!

Noah had a blast harvesting the pumpkins with Justin yesterday, although I'm pretty sure the excitement came from riding in the wheel barrel, and not from the pumpkins themselves.  "Matoes" (Tomatoes) were also close by people-duh!

Disclaimer: He is not naked, just minus a shirt as we were also in the water!

Look at that pumpkin! And that sassy face on Mister Noah. That's one of our "prizewinners." 

Justin ordered seeds online this year and he was crazy excited about them. I must say, they did very well and his hard work paid off :)

Organizing our front steps from ALL homegrown pumpkins :) 

Hip Hip Hooray for Fall!

We are even doing Fall crafts today-more on that soon!

Haircut

Noah has had his hair trimmed a few times, mainly just around the ears and on top, but this time I really wanted a good cut! His hair was just getting too long. I wasn't ready for him to look older (like I knew would happen), but I was VERY ready for the "I look like a girl" hair to go bye bye! Nothing wrong with girls, or long hair for boys, I just wanted Noah's cut shorter. 

 [Insert Nonni]

When I was up at my parents house the other day my mom and I made a plan to cut his hair. The plan involved a lollipop and playing in their deep kitchen sink (it has a hose nozzle and Noah is obsessed with hoses). It worked!! Without those items, he says something to the effect of "Stop it!" as he grabs at the scissors. A big thank you to Nonni for her patience!

Here he is with his big boy haircut! 

Pa (Grandpa) thinks it makes him look more like Daddy :)

Frustration

Buckles, buckles, buckles

Noah loves them, but they can cause him some very loud frustration. Frustration is a big part of growing up I'm learning, and each day we try our best to help Noah work through it and learn the appropriate skills. It goes a little like this...

Giving it a try!

Whining about not being able to do it (the scream didn't make the camera)

He kept trying...

Then, pure excitement over doing it!

Some days we feel successful as parents and that we are helping Noah learn everything about this world, and then there are days where we go to bed deflated and feeling like we failed. I guess it just comes with the territory. 

PS-We are borrowing the Hello Kitty helmet from Jenna. We aren't that crazy!!

Our First Date

The other day I had my first date...no, not with Justin...with Noah!

We go on play dates quite often and go out and about together all the time, but this day was different. I can't exactly put my finger on why, but it just was. 

Justin was out of town and Noah and I were hanging out at the house in the morning. At around 9:30 I felt like doing something with Noah so off went all bundled up to Howarth Park-it was like a ghost town!! We played there for a good hour and a half. After the park I thought it would be fun if we went out to lunch together. We headed over to our favorite sandwich shop, Port Of Subs, where I ordered Noah his very own sandwich based on things I know he likes (I think this is what made it feel more like our first date ;) It was SOOOO much fun ordering a sandwich just for him. He chowed down with his fork like the biggest boy and seemed to be loving our date as much as I was.  We came home just in time for nap and as Noah drifted off as quick as you can say sandwich from our fun morning, I sat down and wrote in his baby book about our first date and all the future dates I was looking forward to with my little man.  I didn't take many pictures/videos because my phone was just about full on storage, but I managed to snap a few while we were on our Mother-Son Date.

He was "riding" it saying "neigh neigh" 

Ummm, take a look at my...wait is it a he or a she?? Can you say...Haircut!!!

More about that later!!!

These were the best photos I could take-he was really into his sandwich. 

Ha!

"Those" People

This morning as we ran an errand to Home Depot, which is Justin's favorite errand to run in the entire world, we were totally those people. We found one of the super cool embarrassing ;) carts that kids just flock to and Noah had a blast driving around the store using the steering wheel. I'll tell you what...that cart is tricky to push around.  This was our first time using a different kind of cart and I think we will have to make it a tradition at Home Depot for now...there's just no going back-he had too much fun!!

Jalapeños

You might remember last year when we had 750, 456 (or so) jalapeños that we harvested from our garden. We made gaggles of jalapeño jelly (YUM) and cowboy candy (Justin's favorite).  And when I say we, I mean Justin and his parents :) Noah was still a wee one! This year we got smart and only planted 4 jalapeño plants and it was the perfect amount to make more cowboy candy-we are still swimming in jalapeño jelly! Last week after Noah went to bed we got to work and made the cowboy candy. It went much smoother than our attempt last year and Justin is happy to have his stash replenished. It was fun, just the two of us in the kitchen, working with veggies we spent the summer growing.

You can find the recipe we used here.

Recipes

If I could, I think I would love to experiment with recipes and blog about it for a living, but I probably don't have the talent, and well, I'm not much of a risk taker...but anyhoo, I have tried a number of new recipes lately that have either been pinned on Pinterest or come from one of the many blogs I read. Most of them I make for Noah (I'm a big fan of making easy things to freeze and have on hand). Here are some of my favorites!

Chicken and Rice Bake

I pinned this recently and made it super healthy with non-fat plain Greek yogurt, and this Brown Rice and Red Quinoa mixture that I bought at Costco (it's a must folks, I've been using it for so many things). It did NOT taste healthy!!! I added a few more spices as well as diced jalapeños for some heat. (Justin is rubbing off on me :)

Yumminess

These are super easy and take no skill, but boy are they a sweet indulgent treat! They are a little messy to make, but well worth it. Keep them in the refrigerator and they can be a treat throughout the week. 

Almond Butter

I make this in big batches and this is what Noah eats instead of peanut butter. I don't have a problem with peanuts, and he's not allergic or anything...I just like that it has 3 ingredients and is homemade.

Zucchini Pancakes

I make these and freeze them for Noah. I use whole wheat flour and you'd never know. I also add spinach and more zucchini than the recipe calls for. 

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes

These are a staple in our house for breakfast. I freeze these as well. The amount of cinnamon in them is yummy!! I use even less sugar than listed (there's hardly an in them) and I usually always add blueberries to the batter. 

Eggs in Muffin Tins

I also make these and freeze! They can be changed in so many ways. I don't usually turn them in to a breakfast sandwich, but I'm sure that would be good too. I just love how different I can make them and Noah gets eggs in a snap with different veggies many mornings. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ok, so I haven't made this since this past winter, but I'm looking forward to making it again :) It's pretty good for a crock pot soup and it is so so easy. 

The kiddo is up from his nap, gotta run! I hope you enjoy some of these as much as I do!

Great, now I'm hungry for something sinfully sweet :)

Noah's "First" Drawing

Noah has been "drawing" for a while now, but never with as much enthusiasm as today. He humors me and draws for a few minutes most days, but spends more time organizing the crayons than actually drawing, and of course, if he's really not into it, the crayons end up on the ground within a matter of minutes. Today was different though. He spent a long time drawing (with lots of organizing too :) so I decided to use today's as the one to frame and call his "first" drawing. I had colored paper that Stella gave us from her 2nd birthday party so it just seemed fitting.  

Noah was all smiles as he colored...

Mixed in with just enough silliness...

and some time dedicated to the serious...

But then back to all smiles for...

his final product!