Ah, my friend, you are here

Fall has arrived here in VA. Looks to be gorgeous this week, mostly highs in the 60's and low 70's with a few high 50's tossed in for fun.  I am excited to break out the striped and polka dotted tights for Teagan and the snuggly clothes for me, especially since I only have to teach one day this week at the PT gig :)

Hubby is off tonight which I am SO looking forward to!  I was down a kid last night since Haven was at a sleepover, so this morning the other three and I went and finally got the paint for the playroom, looked at and I think chose carpet for in there and then did a run to CVS.  I had a bunch of coupons that I wanted to use, including some BOGOF Glade Plug Ins and they had my favorite apple cinnamon scent!  Grabbed Haven from her friends house then came home, opened all the windows wide, plugged in the smellies, lit the candles and started dinner.  Tonight I am making a beef minestrone soup with loads of fresh veggies and thyme and some maple corn muffins on the side (made with VA Maple syrup!).  I am going to try to post the recipe on my other blog since I have gotten lazy about keeping it up, and because sometimes I will want to remake something and cannot remember what I did the first time.  I rarely use a recipe when cooking (baking I do!), I mean I read them all the time as inspiration, but them always go about it in my own way to match our tastes. 

Oh, and just to jump subjects, I have a HUGE list of Christmas cookies I want to make this year.  I am not sure how I will accomplish it since I will be having a baby just after Thanksgiving, but I am bound and determined.  I promised the kids that after Columbus Day Weekend, we would start baking at least one kind of cookie a weekend and then freezing them so we have them come December.  I always start with traditional chocolate chip, and will again this year, but hope to make the dozen or so kinds we are drooling over :)  I also plan to make four trays of cinnamon rolls that I will freeze before baking.  These are a favorite of the kids, and if I make them and freeze them, we just need to take them out and bake them off for an easy, hot breakfast when it is chilly outside.  I am really hoping to be prepped for Christmas and the early parts of Winter by mid November so we are all ready when little Finn makes his appearance!