First Day of Autumn

First Day of Autumn
Days until Thursday, September 23rd, 2010 56

Preparing for Fall

We have begun preparing for fall in the Quinn home.

Here's a little list we've begun:

Kelly - Working through winter boxes - taking out jeans and light jackets. (one year I will be smart enough to pack these separate from the heavy winter sweaters and coats - right now it's just all a big pile of anything warm clothes)

Children - Trying above jeans and jackets on to see what still fits

Kelly - Packing too little clothes in Goodwill bags

All - Straightening work room and cleaning behind all winter boxes as we go

Kelly - Packing up bathing suits, beach towels, tank tops, sleeveless shirts and sundresses

Troy - Gathering from storage - football chairs

Kelly - Make a "to go" menu plan for football nights

Artie - Deep cleaning porch

Kelly - setting out fall mums

Artie, Bobby & Terry - Weeded front flower beds

Artie - Grass cut and trimmed

Kelly - Setting out fall dishes (just a couple of cute ones I ended up with last year - not a whole set) A house with 6 children - who has a whole set of anything? :-)

Kelly - Cooking the last of everyone favorite summer foods - Saturday we fixed a big cold plate and followed it up with homemade milkshakes. It was so yummy. The kids love doing cold plates. We had several kinds of meats, sausages, peppers and pickles, crackers with pimento cheese, cheeses, croissants, deviled eggs - seems like I'm forgetting a lot, the table was over loaded!!)

Kelly - Gather all Scout uniforms

Kelly - Lay out cozy throws in living room on couches and chairs

Kelly - Turn the air conditioner off and open the windows

Artie and Troy - Cleaning gutters at Mimi and Granddaddy's

What are you doing?

Kelly's Thursday

It's a quiet morning here at the Quinn home. It has begun a hard rain outside, blowing leaves everywhere!! We have two beautiful trees in our yard. I hate to see the leaves fall. Here's a picture I took a couple of days ago.





I had been working in the kitchen this morning washing up a few dishes and wiping down the counters and had Dr. Phil on in the background. It got so disgusting, I had to turn it off. Ever now and then they have a show I like - talented kids or inspiring people. I don't know why I deal with the possibility of goodness when most of the time it's trash. I've got WLFJ - my local Christian station (you can listen online if you don't have a great one) playing now. It's always good to uplift and help me keep my eyes on Jesus. I I especially love it when they play - Third Day.

Talking about good Christian music, Brenda is going to see Toby Mac tonight in Greenville. She is so excited. I guess DC Talk was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. I'm sure Toby will be great too.



We are still recovering from a wide variety of illnesses. Bobby came home from school Monday morning sick. He seemed better all Tuesday, but the came home sick again yesterday. Today I kept him in, hopefully to conquer this totally. He's sleeping now. Very sweet, like a baby again. :-) Everyone else is hard at work or school, at least for a little while. I am fixing to go and pick up Troy and Brenda for a dentist appointment. How old do they have to get before they are thankful that you watch out for them and do the right things? They are still whining about going to the dentist and I am trying to talk Troy into getting braces. He doesn't want to mess with them and needs them very bad. I had hoped (0a couple of years ago) when the dentist first started talking about them, that when he grew up a little, he would be more responsible and ready. Unfortunately we haven't hit that place yet. The orthodontist said if waits until his adult life, they will probably have to break his jaw to set things right. Kids......



So, after the dentist and getting the kids back to school, we will be getting ready for Emily chorus performance tonight. I have to make sure and get my camera ready!! :-) I think they are suppose to be singing patriotic songs and dressing in red, white and blue.

Fall Days

I think since I've stopped homeschooling, it's been hard for me to blog regularly. It seems like I would have so much more time, but now I don't seem to have near as much interesting to post. I'm going to work on turning this more from homeschooling to homemaking and see how that goes.

I've just this week started up my new fall breakfast. ~ HOT CHOCOLATE ~ I love it. I went to Goodwill and bought a special new hot chocolate mug for my mornings (a great .50 splurge). :-)

Our microwave died last week, so it's added a new element of heating water on the stove (I think I would rather get a kettle than a new microwave right now, I'm enjoying my stove.) My favorite is plain ol' hot chocolate with marshmallow cream on top. When the hot chocolate is good and hot it will melt the marshmallow cream to a frothy topping. It's so yummy, I have to hide it from the children or it will all be gone in one day. I guess we will have some special afternoon snacks of hot chocolate for them. :-)

It's been a little cooler here lately - today I don't think it's suppose to get much above 50 degrees today. We had a good warm homemade vegetable soup with crackers last night. It was mostly potatoes, corn, carrots and tomatoes with a few beans scattered in. If there are too many beans, they kids will protest. I just try and stick them in where I can. :-) There was enough left over for Artie and I both to have some for lunch today.

I've lost one of my favorite recipes - Baked Ziti - over the past month or so. I've looked online and can't find the exact one we used. I know most of the basic ingredients, but not any of the measurements of the spices. I am going to try and get my recipes posted on line so somethings like this doesn't happen to me again. Tonight we are going to have French Dip - recipe to follow...

Fall Leaves

The fall leaves are so pretty this year!!!
This is my favorite tree in our yard. It is a sugar maple. Wow, we will have lots of raking in a couple of weeks!!