The Last Few Weeks {InstaFriday}

Here’s what we have been up to the past few weeks – I’m MomsGonnaSnap on Instagram if you want to follow along!

We took a few Super Hero family pics in October – thanks to our friends J & E for helping!  I also got to take a few photos for them that day too.  They have a super cute little boy – love taking pics of him!

Anthony and I met my parents for lunch and some fun in LaCrosse, WI.  After lunch we went up Grandad’s Bluff to check out the view.  Then off to Anthony’s favorite place – Cherry Berry!

The view really is pretty impressive!

The next day, Anthony and I went to a local apple orchard and picked out some pumpkins!  Hubby was working in San Jose, CA that week, so he missed out on the fun!

They had a teeter-totter set up at the orchard – we spent a LOT of time at the playground!

We also went on a wagon ride through the orchard.  We didn’t pick any apples (maybe next year?), but we did buy some from the shop before we left.  Fresh apple sauce and apple crisp that week!

Our official pumpkins.  Superman logo and a ninja.  Love the paint job!

Heading out for trick-or-treating.  This guy LOVES ninjas!  And candy.

I chaperoned a 2nd grade field trip to a local science/nature center for some science lessons on dirt soil.  As part of the lesson, we went into the cave (made of limestone), so we could check out the sand in the cave.  In case you wondered, 29 second graders is a lot!

We have been waiting to adopt #2 for 3.5 years (UGH), and decided that (once again) we should update our letter that the birthmothers see.  We went with bright, fun colors!  Here’s to hoping that we get picked soon. We are so ready to expand our little family…

Leaves!  No need to say anything else here…

We woke up to this on Monday morning.  Yes, we live in Minnesota, but still…  In my future, I foresee that I will be doing everything I can to have the opportunity to escape the cold winter season!  Hubby, we better start saving!

Tuesday night. Eight 2nd grade Cub Scouts came over to use hubby’s tools to build display stands for their Pinewood Derby cars and fulfill some of their skill requirements. It was amazing. And frightening. No lost fingers! In fact, there were no injuries!  It was a big success!

Went to Target one morning this week, and came home with an overloaded cart. Our Christmas tree has been giving me the business and hubby actually wants to be able to put it back in the box, so it was time for a new one. I don’t like to spend much on trees, and like the idea of using it over and over. Why not a real one? Honestly, I have never had a real tree (I know!!), and I had hoped to get one for our basement this year. But… I just found out I’m allergic to pine trees, so I’m not going to bring one into my home. I also picked up a few home décor items. Way too much money gone as a result of that trip.  Definitely a love/hate relationship with Target!

The Cub Scout wreaths have arrived!  Too early for the front door?

Made this for dinner.  Yes, those are pickles on top!  I’m not a big casserole fan, but this wasn’t bad, and I loved the pickles – the more the better!

What have you been up to?


Linking to: Life Rearranged, Lauren Elizabeth

The Last Few Weeks {InstaFriday}

Here’s what we have been up to the past few weeks – I’m MomsGonnaSnap on Instagram if you want to follow along!

It has been tricky finding time to put this post together each week, but I do enjoy having our day-to-day lives documented, so I’m gonna try my best to share IG photos at least monthly.

Playing in the backyard. Life is good!

Have you tried any of the flavored Oreos?  I had to buy them! The birthday cake ones are much better than the banana split ones.  I definitely prefer the original version best though!

It’s officially fall in Minnseota!  Loving all the colors! (This was the middle of September before this tree turned RED)

The tire swing gets some great use by the neighbor kids.  Apparently rollerblades also work great in the grass…??  Shoes are over-rated.

It took some time, but I finally finished up these nightstands for the basement. Lesson learned, when using white chalk paint, you should still use primer. It was a never ending paint project!!!

On a family movie night (most Friday nights) we introduced Anthony to Goonie’s. We had forgotten so much of this movie and it was fun to watch it again.  As I mentioned yesterday, the basement is usable, even though it’s not finished yet…

We went to a traditional shrimp boil at a friends. This meal was AMAZING!!  Shrimp, Andouille sausage, potatoes, onions and lots of spices with Louisiana hot sauce. Seriously, it was crazy good!  Then we introduced them to Cards Against Humanity. It was a fun night!

Again, this is fall. Our neighbor’s have the perfect tree.

We parked our camper in Grandpa’s shed a few weeks ago. It’s always an adventure to explore Grandpa’s shed. He has been collecting things over the years and he stores a lot of things in his shed. Including several old tractors. Anthony likes them!

The boys on Grandpa’s tractor – aren’t the cute?!?

I thought they were both gonna kill me when I suggested we stop for a few pictures by a corn field. I think hubby was worried that someone he knew would drive by and think he was crazy. We were surrounded by corn fields, so it just seemed like something we needed to do.

Here’s a better picture of the trunk/coffee table I mentioned yesterday. It was a flea market find and we just spray painted some casters to match the finish. They raised it up off the floor to the perfect height for the couch.

My computer… So with all of my playing in Photoshop and all of the pictures I take, my computer became extremely low on memory and space. The first upgrade is complete (doubled the RAM) but now I’m waiting on a new hard drive (to double the storage). I’m not in the market for a new laptop yet. We are saving our money for vacation, not a new computer. (Beautiful sunny beaches, here we come!)

We had some good friends visit this past weekend. Their son is 2, and he loves to play with all of Anthony’s old toys. His love for cars is adorable. Anthony did a great job playing with him!

While working on some projects, hubby found a walking stick on one of our windows!

Oh Jimmy John’s… Anthony LOVES JJ’s and can eat an entire sandwich!  He and I have a nearly weekly dinner date night on Wednesday’s before piano lessons. We often end up at Jimmy John’s. The #5 unwich (lettuce wrap – no bread) with hot peppers is my favorite!

That’s a quick snapshot of what we have been up to. 

What did you do this week?


Linking to: Life Rearranged and Lauren Elizabeth

This Week… {Insta-Friday}

Here’s what we were up to this past week (and the two weeks before that) – I’m MomsGonnaSnap on Instagram if you want to follow along!

Once again I missed a couple weeks, so there are lots of iPhone photos to share!

One Friday evening we were going to have sweet corn. When I stopped to buy some from a local farmer, I convinced myself that it we could quickly and easily cook and freeze all of this corn. And still have time for other things. A couple hours and 75 ears of corn later, this was all in our freezer! And it was Anthony's bedtime. So much for family time!


Riding bike through the sprinkler – that’s what all dad’s do, right?!?


Different day… out for a family walk/bike ride. We walk and Anthony does circles around/through us.


We spent Labor Day weekend camping on some family land in northern Minnesota. It’s a beautiful place!  So quiet and peaceful. We took our kayaks too!


Hubby is pointing over to the “sandbar” – if you look near the top right part of the water you can see the lily-pads that stretch across the lake. They headed over there and did a little swimming.


Hubby’s dad has a fishing boat (they were there too!) and the boys spent a TON of time out on the lake fishing. Over the 4 days we were there, between the 4 people fishing, they caught over 60 bass! Crazy!


Another big bass! Grandpa set Anthony up with the same lures the big guys were using, so Anthony brought in some big bass with his kiddie pole!


The boys out fishing – like they did all weekend!  One morning while making breakfast with hubby’s step-mom, they were close to the dock and we got to watch Anthony bring in a fish. We could hear him yelling, “Fish! Fish! Net! Net!” He was giving orders like a boss.

My favorite quote from the weekend up north was when Anthony had trouble casting his line out and hubby said, "It happens to the best of us" and Anthony said, “Don't you mean the REST of us?”  HA!


Last week I went for a walk with my neighbor. There are trails throughout our city, and we walked from our neighborhood down to the trails and just kept on walking. When we reached this bridge, I had to take a photo to text to hubby – he used to run this trail all the time! We walked five miles that morning!


We went camping at a local county park last weekend. The weather was crazy hot – in the 90’s in September! We spent a few hours at the beach. Yes, that water is green, but it seems like I’m the only one who really cared.


Anthony had a blast digging in the sand!


We decided to hit up a small town restaurant for some pizza. On the way through town we drove by these chairs. Free. I was holding back, when hubby said something like, “Did you see those? Looks like something you’d want” and we went back and got them. They are my next project, waiting patiently in the garage for the last one to be completed.


Our camping season has come to a close – yes, we could still camp over the next month or so, but our schedule is too full. We had to savor this fire last weekend!


Yes, that says 0 MILES TO E, FUEL LEVEL LOW. No, I was not driving! We have no idea how this happened. Both of us had driven our truck the previous day, and neither of us noticed the gas light on. Luckily we were only a few miles from home, and we had no trouble hauling our camper home!


Bedtime reading! It’s part of our (almost) daily routine!


Again with the Superdad. Look how serious he looks! This cracks me up!! The boys were having a water balloon fight – making the most of the crazy September heat we experienced earlier this week!

Several times during the summer we heard, “When is Cub Scouts going to start again?”  The wait is over. As of this week, Cub Scouts is back up and running!

This photo was shared on Instagram on 9/11 by Persnickety Prints. I requested permission to re-post, although I’m not sure who took the actual photo. This week America remembered 9/11. I was student teaching at a high school in Rochester, Minnesota. Where were you that day?



What did you do this week?



Linking to: Lauren Elizabeth, Life Rearranged