Tag Archives: cookies

October 18, 2015

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P U M P K I N!  If you know me at all, you know I love all things pumpkin!  One afternoon Kevin went shopping at our favorite place, Aldi, and came home with all kinds of yummy pumpkin goods. Thankfully, Finn shares my love of pumpkin – and of baking!  We’ve got plenty of things to make around here and Finn wanted to start by making a tower of all our goods.

This week Finn was able to test out his halloween costume at Dublin’s Spooktacular event.  It was a nice and warm fall evening and the crowds were crazy. So much so that when we arrived we headed right to get our “ticket” so we could “trick or treat” through the candy portion of the night and they were all out of tickets!  We got pretty lucky though, as we ran into one of our friends who had extra tickets so we were able to go through the candy line.  We also rode a hay ride, decorated a trick or treat bag, ran into several of our friends, met Minnie and Mickey Mouse, and played a couple of games of Pumpkin Bowling!DSC_0001 DSC_0006 DSC_0009 DSC_0010 DSC_0012 DSC_0015 DSC_0017 DSC_0021 DSC_0019 DSC_0023 DSC_0026 DSC_0028 DSC_0035 IMG_20151015_195619688_TOP-2 DSC_0036 IMG_20151015_200728183-2 IMG_20151015_200735520-2 IMG_20151015_200742201-2Friday was the annual Fall Play Date at Lehner’s Farm in Radnor. It’s a really fun and enjoyable place to visit. There are animals and many activities for the kids. This year we met a few new friends and Finn just loved all of the different things to do including the wagon ride out to the fields where Finn picked his own pumpkin. This time of year I really miss having the farm I grew up on. Even though I work at a plant nursery full of tractors, I long to have a big piece of land with a barn!DSC_0042 DSC_0044 DSC_0045 DSC_0051 IMG_20151016_115011825 DSC_0057 FullSizeRender_3 DSC_0053 DSC_0059 DSC_0062 DSC_0065 DSC_0067 DSC_0068 DSC_0070 DSC_0079 IMG_7785Finn and I woke up on Sweetest Day and baked Kevin his favorite, chocolate chip cookies. We had them in the oven and baked before we left for swim lessons! Of course, he loves to lick the beater. IMG_20151017_093118988Later that evening we headed to the New City Oktoberfest for a bit of food and fun. It’s really neat to see how Finn watches other kids and then begins to play with them. He’s so polite, yet soft spoken, he will regularly ask “please, may I play with you” or “please, may I play with that” in the quietest voice. At the Oktoberfest he had fun playing alongside other friends using a real hammer and nails to pound into a wooden stump. I cautioned him in the beginning that these were REAL tools – as he loves to go a bit nuts sometimes with his play workbench at home! He did great and was really good at hammering away. He also created some artwork at one of the kids tables. He’s growing up and we’re real proud. IMG_20151017_173635648While he doesn’t look super happy here – trust me, he is! Oftentimes when I walk in to get Finn in the mornings the first thing he will say is “can we go make toffee?”. He is the best helper. I sit him on the counter and he then adds sugar to my mug, puts the mug on the platform, empties the old k-cup and drops it into the trash, puts the new k-cup in, and pushes the start button. He loves to help and we have a good system 🙂 IMG_20151018_075951073_HDR

April 19, 2015

DSC_0487This was the highlight of our week – picking up daddy so he could come home from the hospital! Kevin hadn’t been feeling well for about a couple of weeks, but in particular on Wednesday and when he woke up Thursday morning he decided to go to an Urgent Care. He was diagnosed with a sinus infection, picked up his prescription, and went on to work. By the early afternoon his face was reddening and swelling and he decided to go back to the doctor.  To summarize a long story he ended up at Riverside Methodist Hospital with sinusitis and cellulitis (a bacterial skin infection). His nose and cheeks were red and swollen and his sinuses were irritated. He received IV antibiotics and we figured he would just stay overnight on Thursday night, however, it ended up being a 3-night hospital stay.  Ugh! He ended up being treated with 4 different kinds of IV antibiotics over the 3 day period along with a topical antibiotic, nasal sprays and ointments. He was released Sunday late morning and will remain on antibiotics and nasal treatments for about 2 weeks. He’s pretty worn out but super happy to be home, and we are super happy he is back!

With the germ factor, and since I’m pregnant, Kevin didn’t want me going to the hospital and risk being exposed to all kinds of things there. Fortunately we were helped by many friends and family. Pat, Brett, and Christy visited Kevin on Thursday night after he arrived at Riverside. Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong stayed for a couple of nights and Finn loved playing with them and providing good entertainment. Thanks to Cam and Christie for watching Finn (or the house as it turns out Finn was in bed!) and taking a bag of things to Kevin at Riverside, and thanks to Jim, Chad, Deven, and James for visiting Kevin at the hospital and bringing him yummy food.  We’re thankful for all of our family and friends who checked in often and prayed for Kevin and our family during this whole thing. It was far more serious than we had anticipated and a much longer hospital stay than we had ever imagined.  Thank goodness for skype!

Finn sent daddy some flowers in a cool ceramic Jeep that will go in his room after the flowers are done blooming. DSC_0494 DSC_0492

And when we picked daddy up Finn gave him a goodie bag with the chocolate chip cookies and some Reese’s eggs 🙂 He was happy to help daddy eat one on our drive home. DSC_0488 DSC_0490

I’ve been working until about 11 pm most weeknights and working Saturdays so all the days kind of blend together. I was able to go meetup with Andy, the kids, and Mom and Dad for a pizza dinner on Friday night while they were in town helping the Bethune’s.  Finn got a good bear hug from Roro and Graham.

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On Friday night Finn and I made Kevin’s favorite, chocolate chip cookies, in anticipation of his coming home. Finn is such a great helper and loves to count while we measure and dump the ingredients. He also likes to turn on the mixer (he actually moves the piece that locks the mixer in place!). And of course his favorite part is cleaning the beater at the end! It’s been a good weekend though catching up around the house with laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping. IMG_20150418_190815263_HDR IMG_20150418_193550925 IMG_20150418_193648207Sunday morning Finn woke up a hungry and happy boy. Here he was showing daddy, over skype, how much of his banana he had eaten. Along with two powdered dodo’s!IMG_20150419_075813858IMG_20150419_080924212

Finn had a fun week enjoying the warmer weather at the park, feeding the ducks, and painting some spring art!photophoto(1)photo(2)

February 15, 2015

DSC_0405Our little man likes to read books.  And he likes to be independent.  Lately it’s been a bit of both. Saturday I asked Finn if he wants to read books – I said “do you want mama to read you a book” and in this case he said, “no, mama, self” and took up a spot on our rug in the front hallway. It’s one of his more favorite spots to lay down on the floor with the “pilpow” (aka pillow) and lately he’s all about reading books by himself.  It’s kind of cute, actually, to watch him flip through the pages and mutter words or count numbers.

Our week was a pretty low-key, uneventful one. On Friday Finn began having a bit of a chest cough, and unfortunately on Saturday he had a slight fever, runny nose, and was pretty fussy, whiny, and clingy.  We spent the morning lounging around as a family and he actually fell asleep on our bed for his nap, about 2 hours earlier than normal.  I don’t think he’s slept in our room since he was about 3 months old! It was sweet, as he fell asleep on me, and I loved every bit of the cuddles. Though I don’t love how I look here, I want to remember the cuddles!IMG_20150214_130946104_HDRDSC_0356IMG_20150214_140319385_HDRLater that afternoon he was feeling a bit better and we all sat down to enjoy the Valentine’s cupcakes Kevin brought home. Yummers! Here are the many cute faces of Finn eating his. His blue eyes look so beautiful here – no touchups!DSC_0387 DSC_0382 DSC_0384 DSC_0388 DSC_0389 DSC_0391 DSC_0392 DSC_0395 DSC_0397Kevin brought me a beautiful flower arrangement which smells wonderful and really looks pretty in our kitchen. And Finn made me a necklace (he put every bead on the string all by himself!) and Kevin a clay heart that he painted this week with Debbie. She also helped him make us a card. She always does the most thoughtful arts and crafts with him and he really enjoys it, and we really appreciate it!DSC_0366 DSC_0401 DSC_0400 DSC_0399Earlier in the week Finn and I made Valentine heart-shaped cookies one night. He really has fun and wants to help every time I bake something. He gets a chair from the kitchen table and pushes it all the way over to the island in our regular “spot” to begin helping me. IMG_20150211_195407157 IMG_20150211_195415844 IMG_20150211_195419156_HDR IMG_20150211_195452328 IMG_20150211_201802554He was really fussy and whiny today too and wouldn’t take a nap unless one of us held him, then he would fall asleep on us. But if we tried to put him down he would scream and cry. We’re hoping he wakes up tomorrow feeling better and on the mend. He went to bed about an hour earlier than normal tonight.

And here are some of Finn being silly this week as he enclosed himself in a box from Amazon, hides behind the curtains, and being silly with daddy and giving Lily some love. IMG_20150210_195248776 DSC_0411 DSC_0407 DSC_0354 DSC_0352