Fall Time!

I love fall and I am so excited it is finally cooling off (a little) and I look forward to the leaves changing, going to Witches Night Out, wearing cozy sweaters, taking Dawson trick or treating, baking yummy goodies, and making soups and comfort foods. I love to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and muffins, caramel apple crisp, enchilada soup, and chili. Which brings me to the point of this blog. I am always looking for yummy baked goodies, soups, chili's, or warm comforting fall food recipes, so whoever reads this if you have a yummy recipe will you post it in my comments? I would love to try something new! Even if you just have a recipe that doesn't fall into the "fall" food category but you think it's a good one, go ahead and pass it along! The other great thing is, if everyone posts something then everyone can also look at the other recipes and get some new ones themselves. It's like a mini recipe exchange! Here is one I will give you, it's one of my favorites and my friend Brandy gave it to me.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins:
4 eggs
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
1/2 t cinnamon
2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 15oz. can pumpkin (not pie filling)
1 bag chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs and sugar. Add oil and pumpkin, combine. In a separate bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix. Mix in chocolate chips. Spray or line muffin tins. Fill 3/4 of the way full. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until done. ENJOY!

I Like The Way You Move!

I have really enjoyed watching Dawson play and move. As he gets older he learns more and more how to move his body and how to do things and I just love watching him. Here are some of the things that he does that makes him look like such a little person:
1. He can hold on to the couch or some sort of object and walk.
2. As he is holding on to something he can bend down and grab something with one hand.
3. He can drink his bottle sitting up holding it with one hand.
4. He will start to "dance" if there is music on and you dance.
5. He can pick up tiny little things on the floor with his thumb and first finger (which scares me.)
6. Using the shower curtain, a blanket or something he will play peek-a-boo with you.
7. He will sit on his knees with his legs tucked under him and play with a toy (he looks like such a little boy when he does that!)
8. He can open the cabinet his toys are in.
9. One day at gymboree, we were by some foam stairs and he started to climb up them all of a sudden.
10. He can put the balls in his giraffe toy's mouth.
Among that he does lots of other funny goofy things, like the other day he figured out he can shake his head back and forth so he sporadically does that as well. He is just such a cute funny little guy! P.S. We thought the picture enclosed was funny, he was just playing there drinking his bottle on his stomach!

Six Aunts and An Uncle

Dawson has six very cute and adorable aunts and one uncle, so you could say that his uncle Jeremy is one special guy! Dawson's aunts all are so cute with him, they coo and cuddle and fawn over him like any aunt would do, but uncle Jeremy will play and play hard with Dawson! I know Dawson always has a ton of fun with uncle Jeremy because uncle Jeremy with lift him high in the air, tickle him, roughhouse, make sound effects and play all sorts of fun games with him. The other day uncle Jeremy was pushing Dawson all around the house on his giraffe toy making "car" noises. They would go super fast then all of a sudden skid to a stop then start up again. It was so cute to watch and Dawson loved it! Even though he probably doesn't realize it, I am sure Dawson is excited to have at least one uncle to do "boy stuff" with!

Nostalgic...

Every now and then I like to look through Dawson's picture file on our computer to see pictures now compared to when he was first born and I always get a little saddened at how fast the time has gone. Just yesterday it seemed he was a little newborn that just laid in my arms and as of tomorrow he is a ten month old crawling, babbling, standing, and getting into everything. I remember when he was just a couple months old I would think "it will be so much fun one day when he is crawling and playing" and now here is that day and I miss him being a newborn! On the other side of it, the other day I saw this little 3 year old boy talking and laughing with his mom and I thought "it will be so much fun to see what kind of little boy Dawson will be." I had to stop myself because that day will be here before I know it and I will be missing today! I have learned I need to try to enjoy every minute with Dawson and enjoy each stage to the fullest because it will only happen once. It's crazy how time flies, but I have loved being a MOM!

Anybody Got Any Toilet Paper?

I had to laugh and take a picture the other day because Dawson was crawling around with toilet paper stuck on his foot! When ever I am in the bathroom getting ready in the morning, Dawson always ends up playing with the toilet paper. He loves to unwind it, rip it, ball it up, and stick it in his mouth (yes I have to pull little bits of toilet paper off his mouth.) Most the time I think ahead and pull it off and set it where he can't get to it, but every now and then I forget. So the other day after I was done getting ready and he was done playing with it, we headed out to the kitchen and I looked down at him and he had a piece of toilet paper stuck to his foot. I had to laugh because what is usually a "public embarrassment" he had no clue and just smiled and went about his own business. Can't we all just be like babies and not get embarrassed over anything??

Sarah and Dawson's Wonderful Wednesdays!

I love Wednesdays! Dawson started a Gymboree class a few weeks ago and we have so much fun going to them! For those of you who have never heard of Gymboree, it's a play gym and you can take fun classes divided into age groups (for example, Dawson is in level 3, 10-16 months.) There are about 8 or 9 other babies in his class and we sing songs, play games, play on slides, tunnels, foam wedges, and lots of other stuff. They have bubble time which Dawson loves, and they also have a big parachute that the babies sit on top of and under as the Mom's wave it up and down. Afterwards we go out to lunch. After all that he zonks out during the car ride home. Today we tried a new place called Paradise Bakery and Cafe for lunch and it was sooo good! For those of you who know Panera, it's a lot like that. They have a bakery with cookies, muffins, breads, and they also make breakfast to order. Then they have the lunch area where they make sandwiches and salads right there in front of you and they also have soups. I recommend the turkey artichoke panini with chicken and wild rice soup...yum! Your lunch also comes with a very yummy cookie. I think Dawson and I are going to have to go there for lunch every time now for our little Wednesday outing of Gymboree and lunch. What a wonderful Wednesday!

Park City!

Christopher, Dawson, My sister in law Jen, her husband Jeremy, my other sister in law Heather, cousin Selina, and I all took a last minute planned trip to Park City for Labor Day. We went Sunday night and stayed in a condo down there. We had a ton of fun! We went out to eat and then played games and watched a movie on Sunday. The next day we made a yummy breakfast then went to the outlet malls (it was super busy) and hit a ton of great sales. After that we walked on Main street a bit then sadly headed home. We all had a ton of fun and a lot of laughs. I love having Park City so close, it's a great place for a quick getaway. If any of you want a fun vacation, I recommend it! Pictures will follow later tonight! I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend!