fall cuddles

it's now officially fall, and the weather finally feels like fall.  leko wasted no time with the new cooler weather.  it's like we flipped a switch and he's ready for fall cuddles.  of course we're not complaining one bit!

have a great weekend!
love, laurie

furry little helper

when ryan's parents were away on vacation a couple of weeks ago, we hung up some peg board and a light in their basement for them while we were catsitting.  ryan snapped these pictures of pepper as she helped out with the light hang project.  what a cute little helper!

love, laurie

pancakes!!!

it's national pancake day today!  we absolutely love pancakes.  we just made a delicious batch of apple fitter pancakes on sunday morning with some of the apples we picked when we went apple picking.

here are some of our favorite pancake recipes . . .

pancakes:
- almond poppy seed pancakes
- apple cider doughnut pancakes
- apple cinnamon pancakes
- apple pancake rings
- banana bread pancakes
- banana pancakes
- buckwheat, banana, and oatmeal pancakes with dark chocolate
- carrot walnut pancakes
- chocolate pancakes
- cinnamon bun pancakes
- cinnamon swirl pancakes with coffee maple syrup
- coconut pancakes
- coffee pancakes
- cornmeal pancakes with rhubarb sauce
- cranberry brown butter pancakes
- greek yogurt pancakes
- honey and oat pancakes
- hot cross carrot cake pancakes
- key lime pie pancakes
- oatmeal yogurt chocolate chip pancakes
- old fashioned pancakes
- orange chocolate chip pancakes
- peach cornmeal pancakes
- peanut butter pancakes
- poppy seed pancakes
- pumpkin spice pancakes
- raspberry oat pancakes with toasted hazelnuts
- sweet summer corn pancakes
- whole grain buckwheat pancakes
- zucchini bread pancakes

dutch babies / puffed pancakes:
- dutch baby with fresh berries
- german apple puffed pancake
- gingerbread puffed pancake
- nectarine dutch baby
- spiced apple puffed skillet pancake

crepes:
- lemon poppy seed crepes with lemon blueberry cream cheese filling
- strawberry crepes

you can even make your own chocolate chip pancake mix to keep for yourself or to give as a give to a friend to celebrate national pancake day too!

happy pancaking!

love, laurie

nosey kitten

there were live flowers used on the set of the show on saturday and none of the crew wanted to take the flowers with them so they offered them to us.  i didn't want to see those pretty flowers end up in the garbage, so i gladly took the bouquet home.  we put them in a vase and secured them safely on top of our china cabinet because that is the one place leko cannot jump.  on sunday morning, ryan pulled them down and put them on our kitchen table for us to enjoy during breakfast.  leko was curious, so ryan picked him up to show him the bouquet.  his little nose was so cute smelling the flowers.  (and he only bit one flower, so we'll call that a win!)

love, laurie

another weekend, another show . . .

this weekend at the theatre we had a neil simon play called "rose's dilemma."  it was the largest set we've had on the stage in a while, and it took a lot to get it all pulled together.  we started loading in the set late on friday night, and then spent 17 straight hours at the theatre on saturday for the lighting, cueing, rehearsing, performance, and load out.  we crawled into bed well after 1am not even knowing what day it was because we felt like we were in a time warp in the theatre.

i never managed to get any photos during the show, so this was it.

this was ryan's view of the sound board for most of the day . . .

on to the next show

love, laurie

happy fall, y'all!

it's so hard to believe that sunday is the official first day of autumn.  i'm not sure if the weather feels like summer or fall because it can't make up it's mind.  it's really throwing me off. 

we have a show in the theater this weekend, so fingers crossed for a good show!

love, laurie

hys-terical

have you seen the news about these two guys who played a great prank on a texas mcdonald's?  i mean, this is genius.  to make it even better, they were on ellen this week and got a nice surprise.  epic.
love, laurie

is it summer or is it fall? no one knows!

the weather is seriously insane.  it's been all over the place and i feel like i truly don't know how to dress myself in the morning anymore.  we've had super cold days, incedibly hot days, down pour rain, and bright sunny skies.

last week, on one of the nights when it got super cold leko curled up in bed with me to stay warm.  even though i'm not a fan of cold weather, that cooler night was a welcomed change and i was thrilled that the cool weather makes leko want to cuddle.  i've missed that all summer!!!

love, laurie

roba family farms

after we went apple picking on saturday, we headed over to roba family farms.  it's a tradition of ours to visit roba's farm each year in the fall and we absolutely love it there!  it was teacher appreciation day which meant we got in for free and didn't have to pay admission which was awesome!

love, laurie

. . .

previous trips to roba's: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

apple picking

we always look forward to apple picking every september.  this month has been a wet one with rain almost every day, so we were thrilled to have a bright, sunny, dry day on saturday to head out to roba family orchard to spend some time among the apple trees.

even though it was incredibly hot outside (which made it feel more like summer than fall) we had a great time walking up and down the rows of apple trees picking and tasting the apples.  we picked a variety of different types of apples and look forward to eating them!

ps: today just happens to be national apple dumpling day!

love, laurie

. . .

previous apple picking adventures: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

seven years old!

this month our baby boy turns seven years old!!!  my goodness, we sure do love this guy and we can't even believe that he's seven already!  it makes my heart burst to look back at photos from when we first brought him home in january 2012.  we'll be celebrating his birthday all weekend long with lots of tuna, of course!

have a wonderful weekend!

love, laurie

a new toy

ryan has been wanting an impact drill for forever.  he has been saving up gift cards and tip money from work to buy one and was like a kid at christmas a few days ago when he saw an ad online saying the set he wanted was on sale.  before i knew what had happened, he ordered it and it arrived on our doorstep.  he couldn't wait to try it out and put it to good use hanging a peg board in his parents' basement.  

i was letting him have his fun with it, but he insisted that i give it a try too.  he thought the image of me standing on the step stool using the drill with a matching outfit was pretty funny and couldn't resist snapping a photo.  

i can't wait to see what projects he has in mind with this new toy!

love, laurie

behind the scenes

behind the scenes snapshot from me running the light board for a senior photo shoot done on stage at the theatre over the weekend.  i can't wait to see how those photos turn out. 

love, laurie

patriot day

we had the opportunity to visit ground zero five years ago in september, just after the 12th anniversary of 9/11 and it was a moving experience.  the waterfalls and the reflecting pools that sit within the footprints of where the twin towers once stood are a lovely tribute, and the freedom tower is quite a site to behold.  our thoughts and prayers go out to anyone who lost a loved one on this day 17 years ago.

love, laurie

dueling pianos

on saturday we kicked off the fall season at the theatre where i work with a show called "new york, ny dueling pianos."  it was a request-driven, sing-a-long, comedy dueling pianos show and the audience really enjoyed it!  it was a stressful one for me, so i'm personally glad it's over.  now i need a nap!  on to the next show!

love, laurie

fun links

it was a short week since we had a monday holiday this week, yet there was a lot packed into the last four days.  our fall show series kicks off this weekend at the theater and i'm looking forward to the first show.  fingers crossed for a good audience!  (check out these two articles in the paper that i was interviewed for about the shows: here and here!)

since it's friday, here are a few fun links i found around the internet recently . . .

1. i took this quiz and it told me my favorite subject in school is lunch - yup, that's accurate!

2. funny hidden messages on products.

3. a little too close for comfort if you ask me!

4. what on earth washed up on a beach in russia???

5. yum, these homemade bagels look delish!

6. a look back in time at woodstock in 1969.

7. if you're traveling any time soon . . . gross!

8. this looks so good and i just bought peaches this week at the farmer's market!

9. and because everyone's back to school this week.

have a great weekend!

love, laurie

mr. crab

my parents returned home from vacation over the weekend and brought home with them a bunch of fun gifts for us and for leko!  when we brought the bag of gifts into the house, we set it down on the kitchen floor and let leko pick his new toy out of the bag.  my parents bought him a cute orange crab toy filled with cat nip.  we keep finding this cute toy in different rooms of the house!  ;-)

love, laurie

a labor day weekend bike ride

it was so incredibly nice to have a little bit of free time together over labor day weekend.  we soaked up every minute of being able to see each other and took advantage of the decent weather on saturday afternoon by going on a bike ride. 

we loaded up the bikes on the car and headed out to a new-to-us trail.  it was a little bit damp and buggy on the trail, but other than that it was so nice to be able to enjoy the breeze on the bike and explore a different trail. 

a few photos we snapped on our phones . . .

love, laurie