We experienced something that I think every new busy mom should experience while her children are still small. When life feels like a chaotic whirlwind of sleep deprivation, time out enforcement, and blown out diapers its so easy to lose track of the preciousness of those little critters that are consuming your every waking moment.
For a few weeks we had all four of our nephews staying with from the ages of 7, 6, 3, and 10 months and let me say when the dust cleared from that visit all I could think of was how many moments with my babies had been swept under the rug in he midst of dealing with "life" and the loss pained me. When I said before that they consumed my every waking moment I meant that in all of the wrong ways. I had totally neglected enjoying the gift that God had given me through their beautiful lives. So in an effort to recapture the moments Aria and I went on a date. Nothing big. Just a few moments to call ours.
The day was a balmy 70's treasure in the middle of October and so we took advantage of the local play ground one more time before winter set it. All of the lady bugs were gathering, slightly annoyed at the heat wave disrupting their hibernation. I had to painstakingly pick the ladybugs off the slide lest Aria have the traumatizing experience of squashing one on her speedy dissent. I'm not sure she would have recovered from such a tragic event. The fallen leaves however were definitely the highlight and after being trapped inside for the last few weeks Aria enjoyed romping like a wild child.
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| Wait for it... |
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| Yipee!! |
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| Common, with the little belly sticking out.. <melt> |
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| What did she find?... |
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| One last clover defying winters inevitable reign. |
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| We couldn't have a proper date without getting one last "smurf" cone before the ice cream shop closed for the season.
Totally expecting for have hordes of trick-or-treater's knocking at my door I figured I had my excuse to attempt some pulled taffy. I ended up having zero visitors that night but I wasn't entirely bummed and I could now scratch one thing of my "to try" list. Strawberry, buttery, chewy, deliciousness!! Here's the recipe if you're feeling adventurous! Or if you missed "Arms day" at the gym.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2/3 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons strawberry extract red food coloring
DIRECTIONS: 1. Butter one 8 inch square pan; set aside. 2. In a 2 quart saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water, butter, cornstarch and salt. Mix together well and bring to a boil. Heat without stirring until a candy thermometer reads 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). (I boiled longer until "soft crack" temp) 3. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla, almond extract, almonds and food color. Pour into pan. Let stand until cool enough to handle. (Taffy should be lukewarm in center as well as at the edges.) 4. At this point, fold, double and pull the taffy until it is light in color and stiff. Butter hands lightly if taffy begins to stick. Cut taffy into pieces with scissors and wrap the pieces with plastic wrap to maintain shape.
Beings as we are talking candy...
Next fall you must go out and find these little season beauties. Caramel Apple Candy Corns rest my case that all other Candy Corns should not exist and should stop trying. Yumo!
And here are some highlights especially for Grammy :)
First food
First crawls 
My little beauty after hr nap
   Shes also a fantastic helper |
Awe, you did a good job to reclaim some of those moments! You're such a wonderful mommy!
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