Six on Saturday

This week's recap is a pretty random assortment of events. :)

1.  We tried some new-ish food this week.  We discovered the restaurant Melt in Cleveland shortly before we left Ohio.  Well, we actually discovered it over a year before then, but we had to postpone our first visit until Anna Reaghan weaned.  Melt is a gourmet grilled cheese bar; that would not have worked well with AR's dairy sensitivity. ;)  The first sandwich I had there was the Turtle Pizza Roll Melt.  It was created for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle themed movie night at the restaurant and was such a hit they kept it on the menu for awhile.  I decided to try recreating this mozzarella, provolone, pizza roll, marinara, pesto cream cheese delicacy on my own.  It.was.delicious.  We will be repeating this sometime. :)

Before cooking on top, nice and melty on the bottom

2.  Asa left school early on Tuesday with a climbing temperature and lethargy after I asked his teacher please not to hesitate to call if he didn't feel well--I'd been up with him for hours in the night thanks to an ear ache.  He seemed fine in the morning and really wanted to go to school, so I took him and scheduled a check in with our doctor for right after school.  He didn't make it quite until lunch time, but I was already at church for a Bible study so whisking him home to rest until his appointment with our favorite Miss Rachel could not have been easier.  She confirmed an ear infection (common after croup), gave us a hint to try to prevent AR from having a follow-up ear infection as well, and Asa is now feeling MUCH better and loving his "bubblegum" medicine.  He asks for more throughout the day.  That may or may not be just like his mommy when she was a little girl. ;)

3.  On Thursday Asa was thrilled to be feeling well enough to return to school for FIRETRUCK day!!  This week was fire safety week, and Asa's school arranged for a firetruck and fireman to visit.  I do not have pictures from the actual day at school, but Asa was decked out in a firetruck shirt, firetruck legwarmers, and his school gave all the children fireman hats (which he LOVES).  He got to sit in the truck and even try on a fireman coat (we've heard a lot about that)! :)  AND he learned to dial 9-1-1 if there is a fire, never to go back into a house that's on fire, and to stop, drop, and roll if his shirt is on fire (all his words).  When did he get so old??  I dressed Anna Reaghan in support of her brother's big day (I'm a Southern  mama now, what can I say??); she wore a red gingham dress with dalmatians smocked on it, a big black bow, red socks, and her black and white spotted shoes.

4.  On Friday we met friends at a pumpkin patch for a playdate!  Asa had been looking forward to this for over a week, and AR was almost shaking with excitement as she exclaimed, "PUMPKIN!!!" Friday morning. :)  First we all went on a hay ride to a pumpkin field (actually, truth:  it was a bit of grass with pumpkins dumped on it..... a BIT less authentic than the pumpkin patch in Ohio where you sometimes had to ask the wagon driver for a knife to cut your pumpkin off the vine).  Asa picked out a pumpkin after a bit of wandering and kicking (lol--I had to ask him not to kick the pumpkins.  He wasn't being rough, but still.  It struck me as such a BOY thing to do, like kicking tires or something).  Anna Reaghan didn't really seem to understand she could pick one out to take home.  So after a LOT of wandering and pronouncements of, "YUCK!" when we passed the occasional broken and rotting pumpkin, she acquiesced to Mommy picking a pumpkin for her.  Then the challenge was loading a 2 year old, 4 year old, 2 big pumpkins, and my 6 months pregnant self back onto the wagon!  Ha!  Thankfully, a friend's husband offered to lug our pumpkins and load them into the van for me once we were back at the main farm area.  Thank you, Josh (and Rachel)! :)  The kids tried some slides the farm had set up.  Asa enjoyed the slide, and Anna Reaghan smiled until the little girl next to her sobbed the whole way down.  Then she started crying, too. ;)  We went back to the slides later, and she couldn't get enough of them. :)  We visited a few farm animals--the baby goats were a HUGE hit because they would let the kids pet them.  Anna Reaghan also like the "sleepy bunny" that was in a little house and did seem to have its eyes closed, and the "mouse!! mouse!!" that was actually a guinea pig.  Asa's second favorite activity (those baby goats pretty much won him over) was a giant sand pit.  Both kids took their shoes and socks off after seeing a school group of children in the sand whose teachers had made them do the same.  Asa didn't mind at all, but Anna Reaghan announced, "Me no like," when she felt the sand under her feet and decided to sit on a bench with me and eat a snack instead.  Before we headed home, we were going to get some popcorn for a treat, but popcorn was not among the snacks offered at the concession stand.  Instead we got funnel cake fries (Anna Reaghan loves fries, but Asa could take them or leave them.  As soon as I told him they were CAKE fries, everyone was sold).  The kids both enjoyed them--Asa especially--and then it was time to load back up for our drive home.  I'm so glad we could go to the pumpkin patch (we didn't get to last year as we had JUST moved), AND that we were able to enjoy it with friends!

 Anna Reaghan, Mommy, and Asa on the hayride

 standing with a bale of hay painted like a pumpkin

 the best pumpkin patch shot of Asa, with the mouse we take pictures with each year.

 AR's best shot--it's hard to get a smile without Daddy behind me making silly faces ;)

 Some of the friends we went with

 Can you tell he loved the goats?!?

 Anna Reaghan really warmed up to them, too

 Digger man Asa in the sand pit

 Asa taking a break from the sand for a smile

AR eating her snack with our mouse friend

 At the top of the slide, side by side

 Here comes Asa!  His calm body language here cracks me up.  As EXUBERANT as Asa can be, new experiences often bring out this serious side of him.

 There's the smile that shows he enjoyed it :)

 Asa's arms at his side are especially funny to me in light of Anna Reaghan's outstretched arms

 Smiling and running back to the top for more!

After the "cake fries."  They were both worn out, but Asa still eeked out a smile

5.  I am a bit excited about a few transactions I am making today.  I'm on a buy/sell/trade board consisting mostly of local young moms, and we've found some great deals on there (to buy and to sell!).  This morning I am picking up a giant artificial Christmas wreath for our foyer that has a huge glass window above the door, and this afternoon I am picking up a set of Disney princess dress ups for a STEAL.  When they were posted, I hesitated for just a moment and ended up second in line to buy them.  The first buyer fell through, so the seller offered them to me!  Anna Reaghan has only seen Cinderella, and of the princess movies I think it will stay that way for (quite) awhile.  BUT she knows a princess when she sees one.  And with two little girls under this roof (still hard to believe!!) and I imagine lots of little girl friends, I thought the dress ups were a good investment for years to come.

From what I can tell, we're getting Snow White, Tinkerbell, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, and 2 others :)

6.  Matt has done some traveling this week.  He attended a conference in New Orleans at the end of the week, leaving Wednesday and returning on Friday.  Then he turned right around and headed off to a men's retreat with some guys from our small group at church for Friday evening until Saturday evening.  While he's been gone, we had a fun dinner with G-Pa, G-Ma, and Sarah, I attended a girls' game night with some of the other wives whose husbands are on the retreat--and others who just wanted to come :), and I tested a pattern for a designer!  It was good to dig back into sewing, and taking something from a flat piece of material to an actual garment never gets old!  Here is Anna Reaghan in her sweetheart peplum top.  I'll link to the pattern when it goes live in case anyone would like to make one.  There is going to be a sew along for the pattern as well to celebrate its release.

 I woke her up from her nap so she could see Matt before he left for his retreat.... she wasn't feeling very smiley as a result