Sunday, October 24, 2010

things we've been enjoying lately



clouds and rain. love the stuff. especially when it rains for about 3 days or so, and then the sun breaks out a little bit, and then it rains a little bit more.... its just the perfect way to enjoy rain and it makes it truly feel like fall down here.



apple cinnamon scented candles by glade. this is the only scented candle that doesn't give me a headache every time i burn it. i only burn it for 30 minutes at a time, mind you, but i've used it for a few years now right around fall/christmas time, so the scent immediately brings to mind christmasy things.



childhood stories and songs. i remember listening to these big old records when i was a kid. my mom would put the record on the turntable and i'd lay on the floor on my tummy next to the speaker with the record cover in front of me. back then, many of the kid's lp's had a bit of a book inside the cover, showing pictures to go along with the songs. a few years ago my parents got all of their lp's burned onto cd's and when my dad visited, he brought a few for tristan along with the old covers. it makes me nostalgic to see tristan intently listening to the story of "antshillvania" while following along with the pictures in the cover. samuel's favorite is "bullfrogs and butterflies" because it is all music and he can dance along with it.



chile picante flavored corn nuts. i got over the nutella addiction only to be taken in by this one. they are sooooooooo good!



warm, snuggly snugabye jammies. i bought a blue pair of 18 month ones for tristan when they were marked down on clearance years ago, but i remember getting them home and trying them on him and realizing that they were way too small for his chubby little body! i kept them anyhow, reasoning that perhaps one day we'd have another boy to wear them. they now fit samuel perfectly. my favorite feature is that i can choose to have his feet exposed, or fold the bottoms of his pants down so that his feet are covered, depending on how cold it is at night.



homemade apple butter. my dear friend j'lene gave us a jar last year and i've been keeping it in the fridge, savoring it slowly. i used to just spread it on my toast, but i've found that if i mix it into samuel's plain yogurt, i can control the sweetness and he just loves it. i also spread it onto graham crackers for the boys for a treat once in awhile. i'm still hoping that this year we'll be able to make it into julian to pick our own apples and i'll get to make some apple butter of my own.



reading books to my boys. nothing beats snuggling together on the couch with my two little men and a pile of fresh-from-the-library books. samuel's attention span isn't long enough for more than a few pages, but once he hops down to play on his own, tristan and i read book after book together. some of our latest favorites have been: "don't forget i love you" by miriam moss, "emmett's pig" by mary stolz and "dogger" by shirley hughes.



my husband. the longer i'm with him, the more i realize how blessed i am to have him in my life and i hope that he is someone i never ever take for granted. our weeknights have become filled with so many things lately, so its always nice to know that the weekend evenings are pretty much reserved for just him and me. and oh, how i have enjoyed that time with my best friend. God sure knew what He was doing when He brought the two of us together.

...what are you enjoying these days?

8 comments:

M.R. Tumnus said...

A "count your blessings" start to my day Heidi, reading your blog. Thank you. I started my day by telling God how thankful I am for the man sleeping in bed beside me - together for almost 36 years and amazed at how deep our love for each other can go. Then oh, the children, what blessings they are, mine all grown up and giving us GRAND children. Blessings overflowing. XO

Julie said...

I remember Bullfrogs and Butterflies! Aww Im so glad that you found yourself a great husband :o) Mine has been working crazy hours (with Thanksgiving coming up) so the time we DO have together we make sure to enjoy to the utmost!

kelly ens said...

i love this post :) my parents have all those records too, and I am hoping to burn them onto CD soon so that our kids can grow up learning them too :)
I also have been enjoying the rain the past few days...it's so cozy! same here in the hubby dept - the longer i'm with him, the more and more i see how much i've been blessed with such an awesome man!
crunchy leaves (prior to the rain) - I probably look like a fool walking along the sidewalk as i step all over the place trying to get the crunchy leaves...
building train tracks with the kids - their latest obsession and it's so much fun! :)

Claire said...

oh my goodness, I just saw you are reading 'created to be a help meet' - I didn't read it, but the excerpts I read made me want to scratch my eyes out. lol...I'm curious what you think? I have a couple friends who liked it and 1 or 2 friends who graciously took a couple good things away from it...

Suzy krinski said...

Heidi, I have such great memories of my records as a kid. I also had a tape player of my very own with tapes that had books you could look at and follow along. I would spend hours and hours...

Also, I'd love to make apple butter w/you. Sounds delicious! I planted an apple tree this year, pink lady, my favorite, so maybe in a year or two I can make it from my own organic apples!

Lovella ♥ said...

Oh I was at HoJ's the other day and held the bullfrogs and butterflies CD in my hand. .wondering if I should get a few for stocking stuffers. .that's it. .I'm going back to get it. Even I still remember all the songs that are so fun and teach so much.
I am enjoying caramel apples..way too many of them and the sun is shining right now with the leaves coloring beautifully.

Jessica LaTour said...

I am so in love with this post. What a great idea! There are many things I'm thankful for, but after reading this...

Thankful for a friendship with someone that I feel like I've known since childhood. You are an amazing lady! Love ya.

Danielle said...

I still have my bull frogs and butterflies record too! I've just discovered the chili pacante corn nuts as well! Hello my sista from another mother!