Life lately has looked like evening family walks, our big kids spending time on wheels, and some homemade donuts! Add in a few baby snuggles and it’s safe to say our days have been sweet (and a little sticky from those donuts 😉).
Family Walks and Wheels 🛞
With the weather cooling off a little, our evening family walks feel like a taste of fall. I can see the light is shifting and it’s getting darker earlier. I’m a little sad about it but looking forward to the coziness of the upcoming season. I was just telling Jimmy that I can’t wait to pull out our warmest bed blanket and light candles more often!
We’re taking advantage of getting outside as much as possible before we start having to bundle up with jackets, hats, mittens, and such. Mordecai? He took advantage of all the puddles some recent rain made. He absolutely loved riding his bike through those puddles!!
His joy over a simple puddle is the sweetest. My prayer is that our kids always enjoy the simple joys in life–a good puddle, yummy treats, books, and time together 🫶
Sadie girl is so fast on her bike that she rides circles around us as we walk. It’s so neat seeing her have a skill that she worked so hard on learning and truly enjoys. She is always down to go for a bike ride!
The kids also pulled out another set of wheels for a walk this weekend: Mordecai’s dump truck! Yep, they ride that thing through our neighborhood 😂
Our little Ko Ko’s set of wheels is me for now! She enjoys facing out in the baby carrier on our walks. As we like to say in Pittsburghese, she’s nebby! Also, we were cracking up at her little tuft of hair blowing in the wind!
Homemade Donuts 🍩
Our kids love donut holes. I mean, who doesn’t?! I woke up early on Friday morning and decided we needed to make them homemade together. We don’t have a fryer or any sort of donut pan, but I think they came out pretty darn close to Dunkin’ Munchkins!
We made a simple batter with flour, sugar, cinnamon, butter, eggs, oil, vanilla extract, milk, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. After that, we scooped the dough into a mini muffin pan and baked the donut holes. While they baked, I melted butter in a bowl and stirred cinnamon and sugar together in another bowl.
We dipped the freshly baked donuts into butter and then rolled them in the sugar mixture. They were a win! I’ll definitely share the recipe soon 😊
Snuggles and Parachutes 🪂
Sadie ate a chocolate truffle at our neighbor’s house and came home with the wrapper. She was toying around with it and really quiet. I asked her what she was thinking about and she replied “I always feel like these wrappers would make a good parachute.”
So that’s what we did. We made a chocolate truffle wrapper a parachute for her Lego character! She and Mordecai literally spent hours experimenting with where they could drop the parachute from (off her bed, the mantle, the table, our front porch, etc.!) and it was adorable to witness. I love that homeschooling has allowed the kids to have the freedom to explore and follow whims like that and I really love that they get to do it together 🥰
Meanwhile, Dakota slept off her cold. Sometimes after I feed her I just sit and snuggle her and soak in her sweetness. Taking a few minutes to pause and do nothing aside from holding my baby is good for my soul.
I just realized her snot is all over my shirt 😆 These poor shirts can’t catch a break!
The “big kids” also did some snuggling! They were playing a very elaborate pretend game of some sort 🤷🏼♀️
Sunday 🗓️
When we left church on Sunday morning, Mordecai said “Take my picture!” so we took one together (with his monster trucks, of course!).
And I got really excited to look over the lesson I’ll be teaching Sadie’s Bible school class next week–Job! You know I love the book of Job.
Other Notes and Thoughts 📝
- Niva escaped our house the other night and ran to a neighbor’s house. We picked our naughty dog up and these sweet neighbors gave us salmon and invited the kids over to read books. What a blessing. They inspired me to try and find a way to go above and beyond in blessing someone this week 🤍
- Jimmy’s mom and step dad went on an Alaskan cruise(!!) and brought back Russian nesting dolls for Sadie. She has been having a blast playing with them. We’re going to read this book that tells the story of Matryoshka dolls.
- Taking the kids in the hot tub isn’t always relaxing because they want to swim and do flips. Jimmy and I had an idea: hot tub movie night! We brought out Jimmy’s iPad and watched Tarzan and the kids were more calm than usual. Tarzan came out in 1999 and I can still remember my dad taking me on a special date to the movie theater to see it 🥹
- I ordered grocery delivery from Walmart and they accidentally sent me two pints of blueberries so I’m going to make blueberry pie this week!
Okay, I’m signing off here! This week shouldn’t be too busy for us. Just the usual homeschooling and Sadie has kids club at the library and I have to get my blood drawn to check my iron levels. I’m sure we’ll find all sorts of fun to get into 😉
Living My Full Life 
The homemade donuts look delicious! Have you ever had gulab jamun? They’re an Indian donut and look similar to yours, except they’re always dowsed in sugar/honey syrup. Delicious!
I’m the same – sad about the dark evenings and shorter days but looking forward to making the house feel warm and inviting. I just got some new bed linen in a terracotta shade. Warm colours help when the weather is cooler!
Have a great week!
Thank you! I haven’t heard of gulab jamun, so now it’s time for me to go down a rabbit hole of research on these hahah! They sound delish!
We’ve got to make the best of every season, right?! I love the idea of getting cozy bedding in a warm shade! I bet your bed is so pretty and cozy now!
Hope your weekend is great 🙂
That’s hilarious Mordecai liking to ride in the puddles! And Sadie can ride circles around you guys! Dakota look ed like she was having fun too!
Love You!
Dad
🙂
It’s the best when they all get out and have fun! Love you!