Fall Food: 2 cozy things I have made + 3 on my wish list

 I have already made PUMPKIN MUFFINS so we could bring some to Jack, and they were as delightful as I imagined they would be-- hot take: THEY MUST HAVE CHOCOLATE CHIPS.

I also ADORE this salad, and it was perfect with arugula and chicken mixed in the next day and as a stand-alone side dish the first day. I think beets would be an excellent addition.

I have big plans to make these pumpkin oatmeal cookies from NYT cooking

I also really want to slot in these enchiladas

And! For some reason, it does't really seem like fall to me until I make spicy chicken and sweet potato stew with apple bread.

Dorothy and I have big plans to go to Trader Joe's and buy a bunch of pumpkin and fall things for a big snack board dinner on Saturday, so we can watch Toy Story 5 with Ben and Minnie while Cooper and crew goes to HOCO. SO COZY, you guys!! Will report back on fall treats.

What food screams fall to you?

(Minnie's class can finally bring books home from the library-- kindy has to leave their books at school-- and Minnie snagged a cookbook with big plans to make the cake below).

5 on a Friday: FALL THINGS

 1. We are eating lots of things on huge trays. Definitely a time saver.

2. SPEAKING OF SAVING TIME! Cooper has been eating the same car snack every day lately, so I made an entire week's worth and put them in the fridge downstairs. Next week, he can decide once on something else-- love this idea and will definitely do it for Dorothy next week, too, when dance starts. Because she dropped tap she only goes 3 days a week this year, so I am looking forward to Tuesdays and Fridays when we all have a little breather. (Cooper's new club DOES practice on Fridays, though, so it's only a little breather). I might even do this for Minnie's swim team nights because she needs to eat quickly before practice, so maybe I could make one thing for both Tuesday AND Thursday.

This little snack box is 690 calories with 8 grams of fiber (mostly from 2 applesauce pouches) and 62 grams of protein. Are Goldfish and summer sausage the best nutritionally? Erm. BUT HE EATS THEM.

3. An excellent decide once: ONE morning a week, I do all the dumb errands I have been putting off all week and go to campus slightly later. And! I wear athleisure while doing it because I leave the house straight from the kids going to school. That's like 3 decide-once in one: the clothes, the batched errands, and the leave time.

4. Dorothy has ONE MORE baby tooth to lose and then it is ROUND TWO of braces for her. Who doesn't want to go to high school with headgear? (J/K-- she won't have to wear headgear to school. But she is looking at like 2 full years of braces). Also, she lost the note excusing her from class between the ortho office and her school (a 6-minute drive).

5. Even Annabel is leaning in to fall cozy season, you guys. Closed-toed shoes, sweatshirts, pumpkin spice-- IT'S ALL HAPPENING

5 (quick) things

1. Minnie went to a birthday party at the cutest play place in the world. WHERE WAS THIS PLACE when I had little kids?????

(we will be back on rainy mornings for sure)

2.  We are leaning all the way into driveway fires and also fireworks.

3. Last week was our first FUN FUN FRIDAY, and Minnie was delighted to pull "splash pad" from her paper lunch sack of destiny. SO much fun, fit neatly in between dropping Coop off at lunch with his friends and picking him up, and was freeeeeeee

4. Ben asked for this ludicrous toy for Father's Day, and the boys are Very Excited to play it with him.

5.  Who knew that the World Hamburger Headquarters was right in my own backyard? All I had to do was click my ground beef slippers together three times...

 

5 on a Friday: Dance mom things

 Can you even believe that the regional dance season is behind us? All Dorothy has left is a recital (Minnie too!!) and a week-long trip to Navy Pier in Chicago for nationals at the end of June. A few dance mom things:

1. Everything is better when Dorothy does her own makeup. All I am here for anymore is false eyelash assistance and the some hair help and to tell her she is beautiful.

Thank goodness I signed Minnie up for team auditions this summer because I need to be needed again.

SHE EVEN DOES HER OWN QUICK CHANGE PONYTAIL

I DO still have to help bobby pin her bandana and attach it to her hat ad then PIN HER HAT TO HER HEAD via a hair ball we are supposed to make at the very top of her head. So there's that. (Also this is easy to do if it's the first dance of the day but brutal for a quick change. At one of the competitions this year when the kids only had 2 dances to change costumes and hair, 3 girls lost their hats mid-dance and as the dance captain (a mom who is in charge of any props and of making sure everyone is dressed according to the styling directions and gathering all the kids at the call time) for that dance, I knew it was all my fault.

2. We are going to have to buy a new dance bag because Dorothy's is ripping. It has had 3 hard years, so I guess it's been a good purchase. I might also get a Hulken bag for peripherals and times when I do not want to be lugging the whole huge bag. I have been saying for years that I want to upgrade her garment bags, too, but so far I just keep using the ones the studio sends us home with.

But! This bag has lived a long life, and we have appreciated her.

3.  Dorothy has fun the entire time we are a competition, rom the stage to the dressing room, to the hallways.

Last weekend was her last regional of the season, and we even had fun as a family

4. My favorite dance mom friend moved to another studio, and I haven't found someone I enjoy snarking with in the same way, but! Dane weekends are also really fun for me because it's lovely to spend time with people we have known for years at this point who are all in the same weird boat.

Just imagine Minnie on the mini team next year and all the new friends we'll both meet!

5. Every season, I get so used to the dances and costumes that is heard to imagine what the next year will look like. Dorothy is not trying out for tap this summer (so she says right now...), and I will miss it-- but this is her least favorite costume because it is so tight

My favorite costume is lyrical-- it's just so pretty

Dorothy likes all her hip hop costumes the best because they are so comfy

Next up: recital, followed by nationals in Chicago :)

RANDOM FRIDAY THINGS

1.  I do NOT know how I managed to get up in the DARK and RUN in the COLD every day (mostly every day-- I have a few notes that I ran on the elliptical in my work out dungeon during the very coldest months)** because I CANNOT get out of bed these days. My alarm goes off, and I have coffee. And I read. And I have more coffee. And all the sudden the kids are up.

2. To be clear, I am still running-- every day since 9/1, in fact. That's 235 runs in a row. But I have been more creative with working it in lately since for some reason I cannot get up. (Which is weird-- it's not super cold in the house when I wake up. It's light before 6. WHAT THE HECK? Can I still blame the time change?)

3. I was putting Chobani creamer in my coffee-- just a splash!-- along with the Fairlife chocolate milk - another splash!-- I always use, and I realized the creamer was a YUGE calorie trap. Soooo, I have started using a splash of chocolate milk and a splash of Premier Protein chocolate peanut butter. Less sugar! Fewer calories! A bit of protein! It takes me about 4 days to use 1 drink, so that's about 35 calories and 10 grams of protein a day.

4. The end of the semester is so close I can taste it, you guys. And it tastes a lot like course prep for fall while the kids are in school. I LIKE IT. I am also teaching a giant comm theory lecture in the spring which is a class I have not taught since pre-COVID times, so I for sure need to look ahead to that prep as well. Yikes! (But I have S I X  W E E K S of kids in class and me with tons of prep time, so I am CONFIDENT I can for real get my shit together before kid summer.)

5. Finally, apropos of nothing, here are some lewks I've loved lately

Minnie in her KPop spoils

Mask chic at a double kid sick visit 

Dorothy and Cooper twinning a bit

Fresh from ballet to eat pizza and watch the end of dive practice

OMFG it is STILL WINTER WHAT THE HELL

Spring? Is that you? ARE YOU ON THE WAAAAAAY?

** I have been tracking my workouts in my weekly planner, and I love it. I make 4 little boxes for 7 runs, 7 yoga sessions, 5 20-minute weight sessions, and 7 days of walking for 60+ minutes, and then I fill in the date and what I did. I also keep track of my walks in my daily planner, so I can make sure to grab that last 12-16 minutes with Annabel after Minnie goes to bed. I open my Apple Fitness app right before I retire my phone for then night (no phone after about 9 when my alarm to take my progesterone goes off***) and choose a weight workout for the next day so I can have the appropriate equipment ready to go in the morning-- less friction!

***9 is about the time the everyone is home for the night and I can stop waiting for them to text me if they need something at an activity or if there's a carpool hiccup. Ideally, I would retire my phone earlier than 9, but what are you gonna do? (That's rhetorical). (I am going to continue to obbssessively track my middle schoolers on Life360 until they come home. I AM WHO I AM).