Birthdays and Cakes

First off, a great big Happy Birthday to Great-Grandma Giuliano, who turned 100 yesterday!

And speaking of cakes, my BFF Anne recently took a cake decorating class and I got to watch her in action over the weekend. She made a football cake to have at a party, while she cheered on the Steelers and her hubby rooted for the Giants. I was really impressed! She mixed up her own frosting, whipped out a whole toolbox full of decorating tips and food coloring, and made this super cute cake! And she managed to do all of this while keeping her toddler's fingers out of it! Skills, the girl gots skills!

No Go At the Pumpkin Farm

We were supposed to go to the pumpkin farm today - our annual visit to Binghamton to visit with Anne & Keith. But for the first year ever, we got rained out. It's been steadily raining all day, and we just couldn't justify going out. It's so depressing!

But I will not be thwarted in my desire to have pictures of Xander with pumpkins. Maybe we couldn't get to the farm, but Anne has some nice pumpkins on her porch that filled in. Not quite what I had in mind, but no-one ever said I wasn't flexible!

This Boy Can Eat!

Some days this boy doesn't eat enough to keep a bird alive. More frequently now, though, he'll eat a ridiculous amount of food, and still come back for more! While I'm happy he has an appetite, I can't help but think of the jeans in his dresser that are getting smaller and smaller.

We got some pizza for dinner the other night, and Xander surprised me by eating an entire slice (excepting the crust) and coming back for another! Wow! And of course the main meal is followed by a snack. There's always a snack.


When I peek into the future, I see higher grocery bills. More frequent buying of clothes. And a boy who is growing much faster than his mommy wants him to!

Fall at the Farm

This is one of those pictures I'd been wanting to take since the leaves started turning. I drive past this farm every day on my way to work, and I just love everything about it - the white fences, the brown cows, the very cute Halloween milk jugs...it's just very quaint! Friday I saw my chance and grabbed it, pulling over on the side of the road and getting out to take pictures like some kind of downstate tourist. But who can argue with results?

Addicted to the Library

Hi, my name is Cassie and I'm addicted to the library.

I never used to be this way. My whole life I've been a book OWNER, not a book BORROWER. If I read a book and liked it even a little, I had to have it. This is probably why my mother's house had so many bookshelves in it, and there were never enough of those.

Now that I'm older and live in a much smaller place, I don't have the luxury of book ownership. Truth be told, I don't even really want it. There are some series that I keep adding to, and those are generally books that I'll reread a couple times a year. So I have re-discovered the joy of the library and borrowing books. Even better, since the local library is so small, I have discovered the joy of inter-library loan. Woo hoo!

Lately all I do is read. I've been to the library three times this week alone, and will be back again today to drop off four books and pick up two. I stay up way past my bedtime reading, and I gotta say not much housework has been getting done. Scrapping has been suffering as well.

My latest literary finds: Catherine Coulter's FBI series, and the works of Janet Evanovich (this woman is hilarious!).

Keeping In Touch - Daycare Edition

For the last five years, Xander has gone to the same daycare. Every day that I worked, he'd be there, from the time he was six weeks old. As you can imagine, we've built up a rapport with his providers and consider them to be part of our extended family.

Now that Xander is in school, he'll only be going there for the occasional school break. For instance, he'll be back at daycare next Friday because all of the local school districts are having a conference day. It will probably be weird for him to be there, because now there are a bunch of new kids. But some of his old pals will be there too, because their schools are also closed.

As a way to keep in touch with Donna and Jeni, the daycare providers, we've started having monthly dinners together. Last month we hosted, and this past Saturday we had dinner at their house. I brought along some of Xander's school work to show them, and Donna did two projects with Xander that she'd saved. It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad we're working at staying in touch - and not just on a professional level.

(And see, Jeni! I didn't post the "bad" picture!)

Frosty Mornings

It's only the beginning of October, but already we've had two mornings of frost. Xander was excited the first day because he thought it was snow. And I'm hoping the early frosts don't mean that we'll be having early snow, because that will just make me way too sad. (You better pack warm clothes, Mom!!)

This frosty weather means that Xander has been bundling up more to wait for the bus. I've been making him wear the liner to his winter coat, and a hat. Might need to get some new gloves pretty soon too! I'm dreading winter mornings already!!

Autumn in New York

Well, it's that time of year again. The leaves are changing color and falling off the trees. T-shirts and sandals have been exchanged for long-sleeved shirts and socks. The air is chilly, the days blustery, and I've had to grudgingly turn my heat on. Out comes the crock pot for those cold-weather-only meals like chicken and biscuits, or pot roast. The BBQ will get one last run this month, then spend all winter indoors. Xander and I put up the Halloween decorations. It's official - it's Autumn.

I don't actually mind this time of year too much, except that I know what comes after and I'm DREADING that. Still, with everything so crisp and colorful, there's a lot to enjoy.

ROFL Razzi

The people who bring you Caturday, ICanHasCheezburger.com, have introduced a new feature, ROFL Razzis - basically, celebrity photos that have been captioned. Some of these are hilarious, and I thought I'd brighten up your Sunday by sharing my faves! You can even create some of your own. Enjoy!

Kindergarten Open House

Yesterday was Open House at Xander's school. I was really looking forward to it and brought my camera along to capture as much as I could. Oddly enough, I was the only one taking pictures!

This is Xander's teacher, Mrs. Henry. She's great! She told us how well Xander's doing, what a nice boy he is. And she has solved the nurse problem. See, Xander's been spending a lot of time in the nurse's office, complaining of stomache aches. Turns out he's mostly doing that at clean-up time, or when he gets tired of whatever activity he's involved in. Little stinker!

This is the teacher's aide, Ms. T. She's also very nice. Ms. T told us that Xander hasn't picked out a best friend yet, but instead seems to play with everyone. This is a good thing! She said it's also funny that he seems to like everything. All of the kids had little posters hanging up, with an important thing about themselves - like enjoying helping dad or playing with stuffed animals. Xander's said he likes everything. And that's so true! He does!

This is Xander showing us one of the reading games on the computer. I was amazed at how he was able to log himself right in, just typing and clicking away! He's used the computer at home a little bit, but nothing like this.

The best part of Open House was seeing how comfortable Xander is at his school. He knew his way around, he talked with all his art and music teachers, and he showed me all around his classroom. He didn't want to leave! Sigh. My little boy is growing up!

Happy Birthday Braden!

It's my nephew Braden's 6th birthday today, so a big shout out to the little man! Xander and I attended a little party for him yesterday at his house, which included a delicious dinner cooked by my sis-in-law. One of Xander's soldiers did double duty as a hunter on top of Braden's cake, which was very cute!

Braden is a great kid to buy things for, because he gets to excited...even when he doesn't know what something is! Krissy had wrapped one of his presents up in a Capri Sun box and while he was a bit dubious about getting juice for his birthday, he was still nice about it. It was pretty funny!

Xander had a great time with his grandpa, and with Braden's grandpa. And I made him sing God Bless America a couple of times, because he just learned it in school and he sings pretty good for a five year old.

So a good time was had by all! And it never ceases to amaze me how the little peanut I saw get born can be such a big boy now! Happy Birthday, Bray!