"Fall"ing In Love

What’s not to love about fall, especially when you’re living in the Midwest and it’s 75 degrees out! I’m not going to complain.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve had a Fall-apalooza of sorts. It kicked off with East High’s homecoming, which we make sure to attend every year to support the big event Matt puts a great deal of time in as student council advisor.

However, this year, because of less than stellar weather, the girls and I just stuck around for the parade and tailgate. Can’t say I minded much. I was picturing what it would be like to keep Jaisa still for any longer than 5 minutes in the bleachers and it just wasn’t happening. What can I expect from a two-year-old, right? So we let Matt do his homecoming thing – announcing the football game and herding his student council troupe through another successful homecoming.

Ella, Jaisa and I had our own fun—apple picking. This was a new adventure for me and the girls and it went perfectly. We got to the orchard with an hour to spare before closing time. Racing from tree to apple-laden tree, we picked 15 pounds of apples in less than half an hour and had plenty of time for Ella and Jaisa to each dig their teeth into juicy, ripe apples right off the branch. I have a feeling this will become a yearly tradition. Lucky for me, I love traditions and this is one worth repeating!

This past weekend, we meet up with some friends and their kids and continued our annual tradition to Little Farmer Orchard. Because of the amazing weather, it was packed as anyone would expect, but we had a great time picking out pumpkins, snuck a few apples off the tree, climbed the gigantic hay mound, let the kids get us out of a corn maze (I seriously thought we were going to need a rescue squad to get us out of there…worth every bit of the $2.75!), and ended the day with gooey slices of caramel apples with sprinkles.

  

 

 

Yesterday, I looked at my fruit drawer in the fridge and knew I had to do something with the nearly 15 pounds of apples which we barely made a dent in. Time for apple crisp! Remember the recipe I raved about last year? Well, it’s back, baby! I suggest you get your paring knife ready. It's apple peeling time! After a fall cook-out for dinner last night, a dessert of apple crisp hit the spot. Everyone went crazy over it…well, except for Jaisa, but there’s not much that girl likes these day so I didn’t take offense. Seriously, fall is not complete until you’ve tried this crisp!

What’s next for the Hoot’s Fall-apalooza? This coming weekend, we head to another pumpkin patch, but this time with Cousin Jack. Then Matt and I head to Lambeau Field with the Finns for Packers Sunday! Not a bad fall weekend if I do say so myself.

What are some of your favorite fall traditions?

5 going on 15

I know it’s been awhile…seven months to be exact. Pardon my absence. New job, new juggling act, new responsibilities raising a Kindergartner and a toddler. There’s been very little time these days to keep my "little blog that could" chug, chug, chugging along. But I miss it, so I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…


All aboard.

As I alluded to, Ella (our oldest) as reached the elite status of "Kindergartner". A few short weeks ago she was just my little five-year-old waiting to enter the doors of Langlade Elementary. Now, she’s the girl who didn’t want mom to drop her off on the first day, but wanted to ride the bus to school instead. (Really?) I get grunts when I ask her how her day was…or worse, the dreaded “f” word I thought I wouldn’t hear for at least a few more years.

“FINE.”

Most mornings I have to drag her out of bed, kicking and screaming. Ella would rather pick out her own clothes than have mom choose her outfits. No cuddling. She’s just wants to go play with her friends. Somehow Ella went from 5 to 15 in just a few short weeks.

Where’s my time machine?

I still get a big hug good-bye every morning, and I treasure every. single. one.

Bladder Matters: Preschool edition

Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now! That was our family phrase of the past month. As they say, “accidents happen.” But when they happen four, five, six, seven times a day….well, the underwear drawer empties pretty quickly and Mom’s doing a lot of laundry.

This is the tale of a preschool girl who went wee, wee, wee all the way home. The first few accidents threw me and Matt for a loop. Ella hadn’t had an accident (during the daytime hours) for at least six or seven months. But after Christmas break, the hits kept coming. The incidents were very inconsistent at first so we were chalking it up to Ella’s laziness and not acting quick enough to get to the bathroom. So what did we do? We got mad…and frustrated.

“Why was she doing this?” I wondered. Even Ella said it was because she didn’t want to stop playing. But then the accidents started happening at school. As week two of these charades came to a close, the next step was obvious—time to see the pediatrician. Much to our relief, Ella wasn’t just being lazy; she indeed had a bladder infection.

Being the inquisitive parent that I am, I wanted to know how she could have gotten it in the first place. In my research and in talking with her doctor, I learned that girls are more prone to them than boys (joy), and they could come back again (double joy).

According to sources on WebMD, about 8 out of 100 girls and about 2 out of 100 boys will have a bladder infection or urinary tract infection (UTI) as a child. Many factors contribute to children contracting a UTI.

• Not wiping properly, especially after a bowel movement – “repeat after me, front to back”

• Not drinking enough fluids

• Constipation

• Not emptying the bladder completely

I could check everything but constipation for Ella, so I knew we’d need to have several talks about proper bathroom habits.

So why didn’t I know sooner? Ella wasn’t showing many of the tell-tale signs other than having numerous accidents. She didn’t have a fever, lack of appetite or pain when urinating—all classic symptoms.

Watch your child! If she’s having accidents out of the blue, chances are there’s more to it than just laziness. Hold off on digging out the potty-training sticker chart and take her to the pediatrician for a simple urine test. Pees be with you.

Any tips on how to prevent such bladder matters? I'm all ears.

“New Year, New You” – It’s True!

The New Year is here to stay, at least for the year anyway. Gone is the tree, down are the lights and eaten are the last of Mom’s cookie delights (good riddance!). Big question: So how’s the resolution going?

If you’re like me, you don’t even remember the resolution you made last year. Come to think of it, I’m not so sure I made one. But that’s the beauty of the New Year—it’s a time to start fresh, turn over a new leaf, try to make this year the best one yet, and don’t look back. Whatever mishaps, hardships or roadblocks we stumbled upon in 2010 are behind us, and 2011 is our chance to make amends, find peace and shoot for the moon. Not to sound cliché, but the world is our oyster! Instead of bogging down the New Year with daunting to-do lists and lofty goals, I’ve decided to create a wish-list of fun things to look forward to this year instead.

It kind of seemed like a no-brainer once I read that nearly 40% of people typically break their resolutions by the end of January, while a third more only keep them up for six months. That was me to a “t.” Why are we so hard on ourselves? Human nature….or is it marketing? Think about it, how many ads for the gym did you see on TV or hear on the radio during the first week of the January? “I pick things up, and I put them down” come to mind? (A fan of Planet Fitness or not, this ad is hilarious!)

Sure, we all know that we overindulged during the holidays and it’s time to get back on track. Don’t worry, we’ll get there. Now is the time to appreciate the phrase, “it’s the small things that make the biggest differences,” and move on to the things that fulfill your life with happiness and joy. Let’s face it; you’re much more likely to have those memories stick in 2012.

Some fun things I’m looking forward to this year include:

• Running a few local 5K races, the Bellin 10K, and maybe, just maybe, the Cellcom half-marathon (I’ve yet to decide if that’s “fun” or “torture”)

• Watching Ella start Kindergarten (where does the time go?)

• Preparing Jaisa for potty training (again, not sure where this fits on the fun-o-meter, but it’s a milestone nonetheless)

• Seeing the musical Wicked for the first time

• Enjoying an annual Girls Night with my girlfriends from college

• Taking a long, overdue trip to Door County with Matt, just the two of us (Alleluia!)

• Spring breaking it to Blue Harbor Resort & Waterpark for our 4th consecutive year

• Heading to Wisconsin Dells for a summer vacay

• Hopefully doing some camping, even if it’s just in our backyard

• Packing up for a big move? Time will tell, but a house with more room to hold our stuff would be nice…or maybe we just need to get rid of our stuff…hmmm

• Scheduling regular mother-daughter days with the girls

• Spending time with family and friends, because that’s what it’s all about

And that's just the beginning...
Enjoy the New Year for all that it is – a chance to start anew and appreciate all that you have!

What’s on your list of fun in 2011?