Labor Day 2011

We enjoyed our holiday weekend with company. My Dad does quite a bit of business in Arkansas, so sometimes he coordinates it where he can just drive on over here afterwards and spend a few days with us.

He got here Friday evening and we all headed out to get some dinner. We wanted something new so we went to a BBQ/steakhouse type place… That had a giant slide! Huge plus if you have kids ;)

We didn't get there til nearly 7:30 so it was a long night for the kids. Luckily they both had late naps, so they were pretty good.

I didn't realize until we got to this restaurant that LSU was playing Oregon this week in Texas Stadium. This place was PACKED with LSU fans! And, go figure, I had Hadley dressed in purple… Fail.

We started out Saturday morning with the Pioneer Woman's Breakfast Burritos. (Yes, I've had it pinned…) And then we headed out to the Children's Museum for some fun!

Knox loves the museum! Mainly because of the dinosaur exhibits and the big dinos out front. He's obsessed. Hadley had her share of fun too..

Yes - we let her have her pacie here. Only because we knew it'd be a long day out. We're not quite cold turkey yet, but almost there!

Dad and I went to see Tornado Alley at the iMax. So incredible! And I've never been to the one here. Back home our iMax is basically just a glorified big screen. I was shocked that this one was like an entire dome that basically surrounds you. Tornado Alley ended up being a bit much for Knox, so James had to take the kids out. Maybe he and I will have to come back for some movie showings though…

After the museum it was off to our favorite fajita place - Joe T's.

We go here almost every time we have guests in, but always when dad is here. It's his favorite too!

We got home from our fun day out just in time for naps… And football!!! It is not truly fall until college football opening day. Unfortunately our Longhorns weren't broadcast and we didn't get the Tennessee game, so we ended up cheering on Ole Miss and then LSU. Neither teams are particularly favorites but I will ALWAYS root for an SEC team over any other ;) Speaking of…

Did you know there was an SEC App??? This is exciting for me because we don't always get all the games here in Texas. It has schedules, standings, coverage, news, etc. Pure awesomeness.

Since we had a big lunch we didn't do much for dinner Saturday night. Since we had a ton of fajita leftovers from Joe T's, James made them in to some nachos and we snacked on that. Then I made a Pineapple Upside Down Cake…

Mmm - I can't remember the last time I had this. I'd picked up the Pineapple Supreme Duncan Hines cake mix a while back, so I got on their site for the recipe. It was basically the same as I remember my mom making it except she just used a yellow cake mix and this one had me bake it in a cast iron skillet instead of a cake pan.

Dad left Sunday morning and we headed to the mall. Which of course was hell on earth. But I needed to go to Stride Rite to find some fall shoes for Hadley. They didn't have what we needed but I'm not lying - Hadley TOOK HER FIRST EVER STEPS (2 of them) in that store. Wearing a pair of Stride Rites… That needs to be an ad or something.

Monday was glorious. Only for the sheer fact that we woke up to 67-83 degree temps… It was like being able to breathe for the first time in months. (I'm sure many of y'all can relate.) We let Knox play outside from the time he woke up until he went down for a nap. And James and I, well we spent our Labor Day WORKING. He took care of the yard work and started repainting our room. I tackled some deep cleaning. I'm starting a new cleaning schedule this week…

I got this cute editable schedule off Etsy, and this is the rough draft I'm starting out with. I'm sure I'll shuffle some things around the first few weeks, but when I finally get it how I want I'm thinking I may print it on card stock and laminate it so I can use a dry erase pen on it… But I like it because it lays out everything I have to do each day in somewhat the order they should be done in. I need this to stay on task. And I can add more specific things if needed. I added the *Week Projects* under Sunday to list our bigger goals for that week. Which, for this week include painting our bedroom and bathroom… And the meals section is lovely.

Of course this new cleaning schedule is in-light of something very important happening tomorrow… SCHOOL STARTS!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. Knox has been so hard on the house lately this will at least give me 10 hours a week to recover. I honestly don't believe I will be able to send Hadley tomorrow. I think I'm going to tell the coordinator to move her to the bottom of the waiting list and we'll reevaluate after the new year. I'm just not ready to let her go yet. I figure our one-on-one time has always been limited, and will only become more so in the future…

I almost forgot - we tried another Pinterest recipe today - Southwest Style Crockpot Chicken.

Super easy and good. The only thing I did different from the recipe is use 5 med-sized chicken breasts (instead of the tenderloins) and I added a tsp or two or taco seasoning for flavor. Suggested to serve over rice or on tortillas…

We tried it both ways.

In honor of our first burst of fall weather we broke out the Halloween jammies tonight. Knox still fits in to his from last year, so I picked up some for Hadley to match. Knox thinks they are "dinosaur bones" and I'm just letting him go with it… I figure for the kids who's afraid of shadows, skeletons may be just a bit much right now.

Anyway - that's enough for now. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some cute first day of school pics to share!