I have always loved music and the fact taht Kate found an old disc-man brought home a few facts about how different life is for my children.  My daughter has never seen a walk-man or a tape.  A disc-man is an equally odd thing, because after all we just download songs to an ipod now.

I think it’s great that the loves to listen to music and even better that she’s finding joy in things that are so ‘outdated’ by today’s standards.

I came home from work today and was greeted by a super enthusiastic Kate.  She had made this necklace for me today and was so excited to share her creation, and of course I just had to photograph it as it was truly a fun surprise.  I think that best part about the transition we are all going through is that MOST of the time when I am home I have more time for the kids.  There are exceptions, but overall I spend less time here but not here!

I mentioned that I loved to bake in the fall, but another fall favorite is to make crock-pot roasts.  They come out so tender and juciy and they are plain easy to do when you are a busy working Mom.

Kate loves to help peel the carrots and did a pretty good job, no body parts got in the way and the carrots were clean and ready for me to chop up!

When I was little I loved to dance.  I was blessed enough to take dance lessons in Hawaii where I learned the the hula and to play a ukalali  After that I was just about the only one in my class who could do the  Hawaiian war chant with feather gourds.  Since she was two Kate has been begging asking to take dancing lessons.

In fact dancing is in her blood, her Grandparents, my parents, were ball-room dancers. In fact, I bet my Mom could still do a mean chi-chi or jive if she had to.  So it’s no surprise that our favorite show on Monday nights is dancing with the stars.  We don’t always get to watch the entire show, or even the results, but she loves it all the same.  Last night she wanted to wear her ‘skirt’ to watch and dance along with them.

She always sits and waits for the scores, even though she has no idea what they mean, she cheers for each contestant equally.

This has to be my favorite it’s like she wanted to tell Bruno — you are wrong- see I have a pretty skirt and can dance with the best of them!

One of my favorite things to do in the fall is bake. This year with my transition back to working outside the home, I have not had time to bake as much as I would like.  So today I managed to make two loves of Pumpkin Bread AND try out my new fish measuring cups!  They are so fun and bright, I love how they make baking even more fun for the kids and I!

I will share the recipe another day, but for today I am sharing photos of the new measuring cup!

OK anyone who knows me knows that I have a problem, I am addicted to Diet Coke. I have managed, at times, to stop drinking it all together.   Do they have a 12 step program for Diet Coke?  If they do I really should try it – because the second life get’s stressful I am headed back to drinking it again.   I have said that come November 1st, I am going to stop again, but we all know that I will be back.  Thank goodness for My Points (at least I can save for rewards).

I wish I could say that I took a photo everyday, but I haven’t.  I have done more then one on some days, because life has gotten hectic. I also wish I could say I am posting things daily, but again I am not.  Today’s post reflects that.  These were images taken the same night as the one’s of John with the lightsabre, but then it was Wednesday.  Wednesday is a busy day around here and I didn’t take photos.  The thing is while the GOAL is to take a photo everyday, I don’t think I will until I have a point and shoot as I don’t take my big camera everywhere I go.

However, for me this project is more about capturing the things I love to photograph and getting the photos edited and then printed at the end of the month. I have years of backlog to do, but if I can keep up going forward, I can slowly pulg-away at Kate’s baby photos and John’s first three years of school.

I love that it’s nearly the middle of October and the kids still were wearing flip flops at night — without freezing their toes off!  I love those brief moments before the cold weather comes and we feel like all we do is run from a building to a car and little else.  While John played Star Wars, Kate was busy writing her name in chalk.  I love that I was able to capture that little moment — the one where she’s discovering writing.  The next time it’s warm enough to play with chalk, she probably wont’ write it backwards and with extra lines in the letter E.