Cool, Rainy Fall Day

Normally this would be my absolute favorite kind of day. It still could be, I guess. I kept the girls home from school today as they woke up with snooty noses and coughing. Boo has finally gotten rid of her fever, though, so that's a nice change. We also all slept in our own beds last night - woo hoo! No matter how many blankets I spread out on the living room floor, it just doesn't ever get comfortable. If we spend much more time there I'm going to have to invest in an air mattress. The girls don't seem to mind, but all kids seem to be just fine with sleeping on the floor. I remember being that way. I'm not sure when that changed...maybe when I had kids of my own and realized how precious that little bit of no-kid time is! Maybe it was just at that point that I realized how important it is to delight in the little things. I'm almost embarrassed at how excited I got last weekend when I was able to find Candy Cane Lane tea in the store. Just the prospect of spending a little quiet time with a book and a mug full of tea later relaxes me a little.

In the meantime, though, I plan to make a big pot of vegetable soup with Hope's favorite big fat noodles for supper. I told the girls I'd make some peanut butter cookies today if they'd cooperate. Hopefully that will work out, but we'll see. I had some chocolate mint cookies in the freezer that I made for Christmas last year. We finished off the bag of leftovers Sunday and the girls were a little disgusted that there weren't more. I only make them at Christmas because they're a little labor-intensive, but they're really worth it. I had been making them because Jonathan likes them, but it looks like they have a few more fans this year. I'll have to get that on my Christmas baking list.

My big, exciting news (okay, exciting for me) is that I finally got all three girls to commit to the birthday cakes they want. Even more exciting is that I found the pan that Boo wanted online and it's on its way. Who knew it would be so difficult to find a dalmatian pan?! It looks as though we'll be having a dog-themed party as Boo wants the Lucky (101 Dalmatians) cake, Doodle wants Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Hanny wants a star (thank goodness for the easy child!). Now, I've just got to decide what we're going to take to school for treats...