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Acorns and Olaf

This week, G was studying the letter "O" at daycare. This means that we had to really brainstorm ideas for toys that begin with the letter O (they bring toys each week to share with the class.) I came up with a toy orange, but...that wasn't good enough. We don't have a toy owl, or orangutan, or ocelot. Or ox, for that matter. Thank goodness Scott said, "What about Olaf?" (You know...the snowman from the movie "Frozen".)

Ava wasn't really happy with this suggestion because G doesn't have an Olaf toy, but...she does! It's the tiniest little Olaf you could imagine; it was rescued from inside a chocolate egg. I finally told her that if G lost her Olaf, I'd buy her a bigger one to replace it. Needless to say...the Olaf made it home safely on Thursday night!

Ava and I have been collecting acorns to use in fall craft projects. I found a method of preserving them, so we can use them year after year. Hers are in great shape, but I picked up some that had bugs in them. Yuck. Apparently maggots can pop right out of them when it's time! (All maggots were contained and did not get loose in the home, for the record.) So, yesterday, as I was working in the afternoon, I decided it was time to start the preservation process. I got rid of any with holes or cracks, washed off any dirt, and then baked them for two hours at 200F. That should ensure that no more maggots make a surprise appearance. Today, I'm going to hot glue any loose tops back on, spray them with a clear coat, and then they'll be ready to use. It's been a while since I've done anything crafty, so I'm looking forward to it. I bought a really cute table runner on Etsy, so I'm excited to see how this all comes together!

Last night, Ava and G had the very last overnight at Grandma Deb and Grandpa Whitey's house. They are moving to Florida in the very near future, so it's a bittersweet time. We will miss having them in MN, but know they will enjoy their new location...especially while it's freezing in MN!

Scott and I enjoyed our child-free night...we had a belated anniversary dinner, and then spontaneously decided to go to a movie (with online reservations available for movies now, "spontaneous" isn't always successful when it comes to seeing a show!) We saw Kingsman: The Golden Circle...and it was good! It's not one that we could watch with kids as it's pretty violent, so I'm glad we could see it in the theater (I bet it's been over 9 months since I've been to a movie with just Scott.) There are some scenes with a meat grinder that had me gagging at Scott's suggestion to have grilled hamburgers tonight. I guess we'll see...!

The restaurant brought us a red velvet cupcake to share for our celebration...yummy!




My parents are coming over for dinner tonight, so I'm looking forward to a productive day, and a fun night. Happy Sunday!

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