Tag: writing

Christmas Gift Guide: Things Wyatt Has Loved

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized9 Comments

How is Christmas so close now? What is it, 35 days away? I am not even close to being finished with holiday shopping! I did see Amazon started its Black Friday Sale, so I thought I would share a few ideas of things that Wyatt has loved over the years, in case anyone needs a little inspiration. Some of these are Black Friday Deals, others are not.

These links are affiliate links, and I will receive a small commission if you were to purchase anything using a link, at no extra cost to you.

Outfoxed is a game that he got maybe a year or two ago from his aunt and uncle, and he absolutely loves it, as do all of his cousins. It is a mystery game where you eliminate suspects (all foxes) using clues and logic.

Hoot Owl Hoot is a game that we bought Wyatt when he was five. We gave it to some friends with young children a few years ago as he outgrew it, but it is an awesome game. Wyatt played the heck out of it with us. This is a cooperative game, and helps kids learn colors, strategy, and turn taking.

Pop the Pig. I can’t even tell you how many times we had to play Pop the Pig. Every teacher, every therapist I have talked to has said that they have this game in their classroom as well. Kids love it. It is also geared for younger kids. We still have ours and if you could see it – the box is tattered, the poor pig looks like he has been through the wars, but it had a lot of use and love.

This Makedo Discover Set is a current favorite. This is actually really cool, and Wyatt has fun transforming my Amazon boxes into art or tall buildings or whatever he wants to make. And we learned over Halloween that the sawing tool is handy for kids to carve pumpkins with as well! All of it is safe and not actually sharp. Wyatt will sit and create with this for a good while!

Picasso Tiles, all the sets, he loves. He wants a set like this with dragons again this year (and I already ordered it) and it is another thing he will play with for an hour or two. We have taken them with us on vacations, on his trips to the hospital for EEGs, for tests,and they travel well (as long as you don’t bring them ALL lol).

I bought this flower building garden toy for Wyatt when he was in pre-school and we were doing a unit study on plants. It was great to illustrate to him the parts of a plant, but I had no idea that he was going to love it as much as he did, or that his cousins would as well.

Hopper toys were always a winner around here, I mean who doesn’t like to bounce? Plus it is good for core building in little kids, and balance.

I got these little barns and farm animals for my niece’s second birthday this past March, and let’s just say, she didn’t care about any of her other gifts once she opened it. I was told I apparently bought her the winning gift, because she played with it the entire rest of the party. It has colors, animals, and little kids love to put things in things and take them out.

And then a bigger gift, but I would feel remiss if I didn’t share, just in case anyone is on the fence about getting one for their child or grandchild or whoever.

A play kitchen. Wyatt played with his for years and years and when he outgrew it I gave it to a friend for their child to use. This and kitchen toys to go with it – he was occupied for hours. I drank countless “cups of tea” and ate so many pieces of “cake” as did any other family member who came over. It was well worth the money. This is not the same one we had but it is by the same company, KidKraft.

If you search my blog, you might be able to find photos of Wyatt playing with most of these!

I hope that this gift guide gave you some ideas, and I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized23 Comments

Hello everyone! We have been keeping busy but finding a balance over here, finally. I like when we can have down time but also activities and for awhile there, it was either too much or too little. It is finally just right.

Wyatt and I had our monthly book and cookie outing last Friday! It’s such a small little thing but we have so much fun. This time we went back to Barnes & Noble; the local bookstore in our town turned their store in a Christmas wonderland so I want to save that trip for December. Anyway, Barnes and Noble turned out to be a good time – partially because the Starbucks sugar cookies are freaking delicious. Wyatt has been binging the Frog and Toad cartoon, and now wants to revisit the books, so he chose Frog and Toad All Year as his pick. I lucked out and got the $5 Barnes and Noble Cafe book promo, where if you buy anything from the cafe, you get that one particular book for $5! It is a book called Murder at Holly House and I am really excited to read it this holiday season!

The next day was a get-together with my girls for my birthday party. They arranged a whole night out for us and I had such a fantastic time hanging out with them. I am so thankful for their thoughtfulness and friendship. We have all been friends for 20-30 years and I am hoping to have that many years more with them as well.

Our first stop was the Detroit Dye House, where we made tie dye! Kelly had arranged for us to do the class, and with the class you make three things: socks to be donated, a tote bag, and your choice of a few pieces. We all chose the pashmina scarf. I loved seeing where my friends creativity took them in the making of their pieces, what colorways we all went with.

Chrissy went jewel tones, very royal, and it reminded me a little of a peacock. Kelly was more earthy, Jill went for the colors of the ocean, and then I went for a more monochromatic look of different shades of green.

That place is really fun. I also like that it is fun for all ages; this is actually the place we celebrated Wyatt’s birthday this year for his tenth birthday! I threw in a picture of us at another creative get together, that one more than ten years ago! After getting creative, we went to dinner at Ima, a noodle house which was amazing!!

We woke up Sunday to the first snow of the season, and we had a perfectly cozy day, which I blogged about here! It was also the perfect weather for the eve of the anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald tragedy. It went down 5o years ago, 6 days before I was born, and my great uncles helped build it. One of them, Hugh McIlroy was actually the superintendent of the shipyard where it was built as well. My mom attended the launch as a kid, and remembers the surge of water when it was launched that soaked everyone. Apparently the surge of water was so great that one of the workers there actually had a heart attack, poor man. Another tragic casualty of this ship. My cousin Brian invited my brother and I out for a drink (I had a cider that was described as “cozy”) that night, Monday, in remembrance of the crew, and he also surprised me with a birthday gift. He wrote me a very beautiful letter that made me cry, and then gifted me with a first edition, seventh printing, first book club edition of To Kill a Mockingbird and told me that I always reminded him of Scout. He also again made me cry by gifting me a decorative Hummel plate of my aunt’s, that I remember being displayed in her home. I miss her so much everyday, and I am so happy to have such a memento.

The rest of our week was just routine (the balance I needed for all those outings!) and yesterday we had our Blackbirds meeting. The kids seemed to really enjoy our activity! We started with spending some time in the courtyard at the church, doing some stargazing, then we headed inside for snacks, a little art project designing their own constellations, and then ended with potting paperwhites to take home, which was a gift from my stepmom to the troop. I love being outside at night this time of year, I find it so peaceful and I even enjoy the chill in the air. They also all surprised me at the end of the night with a cake and singing happy birthday, and the smiles on all the kids’ faces warmed my heart.

And that is it from over here this week! I hope that whatever you do this week, you do something that makes you smile!

And now for some random photos.

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized15 Comments

Hello everyone!! Today is looking like a low key, read under a blanket rainy day! However, I don’t think my ten year old will let me do that all day. Lol. Maybe I can get an hour or so in though this morning. I did promise him that we would go out for our mother-son book and cookies outing today, which will be fun. The rain will make it even better I bet.

I feel like so much has happened since I last did one of these, which apparently was October 24th!

We carved pumpkins, which is always a tradition around here. Wyatt had a very visceral reaction to touching the pumpkin insides which could have been disastrous, but he held it together. He was very excited to carve them though, and was cracking me up giving his pumpkin kisses before he carved it. He is a super goofball. Last year for Christmas we had given Wyatt a set of Makedo tools (which he loves) and we learned that they are also useful for pumpkin carving! They are designed for cutting and creating things out of cardboard but it was good to know we can use it on different things!

Our Jack O’Lanterns from top to bottom – Wyatt’s smiley happy one, Billy’s classic version, and my dragon/lizard.

The next day was Halloween! Wyatt visited Billy at work in his costume for Billy’s Halloween work party. They go big there for Halloween! Wyatt ended up being entered into the costume contest and won. He was very embarrassed however from all the attention. Ten is a hard age! He did enjoy visiting and they know him there obviously from Billy and from Take Your Child to Work Day. Billy and some of his coworkers dressed together as minions; I didn’t get his entire costume in a picture although it was really cool.

I mean, his costume is pretty amazing. Billy did such a fantastic job making the Toothless head and the rest. I was in charge of the Hiccup/Wyatt while Billy did the rest. Wyatt absolutely loved his costume. My little viking. And strangely, this is the second time that Wyatt was a viking – the first was when he was one. This time it was his choice though.

We went trick or treating a few hours and a nap later with his cousins, my brother’s children, Mermaid Girl and Little Bit. Mermaid Girl was Coraline, and she looked amazing as well. Little Bit was Elsa, but we had a little excitement and tears earlier when she fell face first onto the pavement and scraped her nose up horribly. Poor baby. She didn’t let it slow her down or diminish her joy of trick or treating though! Although she did have a really long much deserved cry beforehand. She loves Wyatt so much though that she was distracted from it when her parents told her that he was on his way over. She calls him Wy-ee and was waiting at the door and windows for him. It is so sweet and warms my heart!

We had some much needed downtime after the whirlwind that was October! We did however, teepee my brother’s house for their anniversary on the 2nd. Kids need a little good old fashioned mischief sometimes.

And then my brother is set to repay us, I know it because he was mad he missed when we went out for our anniversary on the 4th! Lol. He had thought we were waiting for the weekend but instead we went out on our actual anniversary. His kids were disappointed they didn’t get to return the favor but I assured him there will be plenty of future opportunities.

Billy and I actually were celebrating our 25th anniversary. I have known this guy a long time I guess! We started dating at 17, got married at 24/25 and here we are, much grayer, a few more wrinkles on our faces, but still all in love and all that sappy stuff. He is my guy and my other half and I have known that since the summer we started dating. We didn’t go big for our anniversary, we didn’t have much time available, as it is hard for us to have anyone watch Wyatt but we went out for dinner together and I was so grateful for it and for him. He surprised me with a unique gift as well. He had bought a silver Indian spoon, that depicts a shadow puppet or puppet, and he built a shadow box for it to hang in. When you shine a light on it, the shadow is cast on the inside of the box and it is really cool. He is so clever! He also got me two little anniversary red cherry shrimp for one of our tanks. (Ok that wasn’t really part of our anniversary but I am saying it was lol)

We went to HopCat which is a place I have been wanting to go, and we had a blast. It was a very fun vibe there. Although my hair looked terrible. I decided to straighten it and it was so bizarre looking.

And that is it for now! I will have more to share soon!

I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Comfy Cozy Cinema: The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized19 Comments

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are back to watching and sharing about comfy cozy (and as we move closer to Halloween, spookier) movies for the fall season. Feel free to join in with us!!

This week’s movie is The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain. A very long title for a cute little movie.

This was such a sweet little movie about one of my favorite things, a quirky little small town that is full of community. Rotten Tomatoes describes it as “With an ample serving of Huge Grant’s trademark charm, a quirky Welsh town comes together to put their town on the map in this feel-good folksy tale.”

And that is a very simplistic way of looking at this film, since there was a much deeper story under it all, but I will get to that later.

On the surface, this movie is about well, a man (and his boss) who arrive in the small town of Ffynnon Garw, Wales. WWI is still raging, and most of the younger men, sons, brothers, fathers, are off serving in trenches in France. It’s a rough time for people, wartime, full of worry and hardship. But one source of pride the townspeople have is their claim to fame -their mountain.

The rug is pulled out from under them however when two English surveyors (Hugh Grant as Anson and Ian Macniece as Garrad) come to town, and remeasure the mountain – and find out it is a hill. It’s almost like the town visibly deflates. And the Reverend and his nemesis, Morgan the Goat, decide that the English are not going to steal this from them (lots of English vs. Wales banter in this movie). Morale is low, and they need every bit they can to keep a stiff upper lip and all that.

And from there the shenanigans begin. The town works together not only to build up the hill an extra twenty feet to put it over the measurement required to make it a mountain on the map, but to delay the departure of Anson and Garrad. Anson is sheepish, adorable, and affable, while Garrad is a bit of a dandy curmudgeon. His outfits and poses cracked me up. The scene where they were going up the mountain and Garrad was just sprawled out on the ground made me laugh and almost wake my child up. He always looked fabulous though despite his attitude.

The other supporting characters and actors in this were fantastic as well. Colm Meany as Morgan the Goat, was a bit of a slimy character who I didn’t really care for. But Betty played by Tara Fitzgerald was my favorite, besides Hugh Grant, of course. I am sure they are everyone’s favorite characters though. (also adding I love her in I Capture the Castle) She was drawn into the plan to stall the two surveyors by Morgan the Goat, who wanted her to charm and seduce Anson, whose head was turned but he “was a gentleman” which melted Betty’s heart in turn. She made me laugh as well, with some of her comments, like when Anson and Betty were talking about the beauty of some flowers and Anson said they were pretty, and Betty replied with “Not as pretty as me… YOU’RE supposed to say that.” It was just a cute little moment.

There were some serious issues however tackled, regarding the war, especially the PTSD, or shellshocked as they referred to it back then, that the returning men suffered. Johnny Shellshock just about broke my heart, and doubly so knowing that this is such a real thing, then and now.

This whole movie is based on a folktale, and I legit thought it was true because of the ending of the movie, but after reading about it this morning, I learned it is not. Which I am sort of sad that it is not, although I was a little weirded out by one part and was glad that it didn’t really happen.

And now, just some gratuitous images of Hugh Grant because he is adorable.

Overall, this movie is a fun, charming, sweet movie. One for a night when you need a bit of cozy and happy to fill your soul.

You can find Lisa’s post here!

Next week is our last movie this time around, and we are watching The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.

I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Top Ten Tuesday: The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized49 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Today’s Prompt: The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf

So today’s prompt is so random and fun! I unfortunately don’t own as many books as I once did, I use the library most of the time so I didn’t have as many books to choose from here but it was still a lot of fun!

We were supposed to “stand in front of your book collection, close your eyes, point to a title, and write it down. If you have shelves, point to your physical books. If you have a digital library, use a random number generator and write down the title of the book that corresponds with the number you generated. You get bonus points if you tell us whether or not you’ve read the book, and what you thought of it if you did!“

So, let’s get started!

Shady Hollow: I listened to this once on audio, and now I am excited to read the physical book. I want to read the whole series and need to remind myself about it.

A Natural History of the Hedgerow: I have not read this yet! Maybe this winter.

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands: I have not read this yet either. I think I will next month.

Inkspell’s Enchanted Holiday: Not yet, I am saving it for December. I don’t know much about it but I bought it from a book festival of independent authors last month.

The Honey Witch: I did read this and I loved it!! This was a gift from an internet friend.

Nancy Drew The Bungalow Mystery: I did read it and I am going to read it again I think for Lisa’s Nancy Drew November. (I am not sure if this is linky event or if she is just doing it) Or maybe I will just get a new one since there are so many. Lol.

The Echo of Old Books: Jeesh, another no! But now that I have had it in my hand again I think I will soon!

Seacrow Island: Yes! I loved this book! I definitely recommend it.

The Blue Castle: Another yes, and another recommendation. And, another book gift from a friend!

The Salt Path: Yes, I read this and I enjoyed it. I did not however like the second book, sadly.

And there we have it!

Hello November!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized15 Comments

Hello November!!

We had a whirlwind October, and so I am looking forward to a less busy November. I want to fully embrace a slower fall, now that Halloween and October is over. We went all out for October because Wyatt had such a crappy summer, and we definitely had a blast. But, now we are ready for relaxing!

Most of the month should be pretty quiet, although we do have two milestone events this month. First, happening Tuesday, is Billy and my 25th wedding anniversary. It seems unbelievable that we have been married that long, but I guess it is true. I am pretty sure we are still only 17.

Which leads me to the next milestone – guys, I turn the big 5-o this month. What the heck? I really really can’t be that age. It sounds insane to me, but again, here we are. Honestly, I’m not really that hing up on the number. I feel every year is a privilege. I am not sure what sort of celebrations we will be having, but I am sure they will be pretty simple affairs. I do know that my besties here are planning a night out, with a bit of fun at the tie dye place downtown followed by dinner at Ima, a noodle house I have been wanting to go to for awhile now! I am the oldest of our group, by one year. Jill is a year younger than me, Kelly two, and Chrissy – well. Nine. Nine years younger than me. I am very much looking forward to our night out though. I miss my crew and life gets in the way a lot of us hanging out. Kelly has a senior in high school this year, and is busy with all of the events and different things happening in her daughter’s life, Jill works so hard – she is a respiratory therapist at two different places, a full time job during the day and then some night shifts at the hospital. Chrissy works and has two children, one of which is a toddler. So it will be nice for us to have some time together, hanging out and having fun.

Billy has plans for our anniversary, dinner out at an old favorite of ours, and he took the day off to hang out with Wyatt and I. We are hoping for a hike somewhere, full of fall colors and brisk weather.

Outside of these two big events, the rest of our month should be quiet, with the exception of Thanksgiving, of course, but my brother is hosting so I just need to provide a few dishes, including my Nantucket cranberry pie.

I want to try to repair my vintage quilts this winter. I don’t know how though. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. I plan on making a post about this, with photos of them as they are. I love them so much, they are so soft and warm but they need some help and I don’t want them destroyed. But I do want them to be used.

Wyatt also wants me to make some mini-felt animals. He found a book at the used book store with photos and patterns, don’t ask me how, of little animals and wanted me to sew a few. So I am giving that a whirl to this winter. He wants to sew too, but I can’t figure out how to do accommodate that for him yet. He has full use of his left hand, he is a lefty, a natural one so that is good, but his right hand is more of a helper, and he does not have much in the way of fine motor skills with that hand. More like big movements that are sort of clunky. So I do plan on researching that a bit for him.

I also have some other goals, that are pretty small but I am looking forward to. I want to make really good cinnamon rolls, for one. I am not a great baker but I like to try and focus on something until I can perfect something, and have it be like, my good version. I have the nantucket cranberry pie, chocolate chip cookies, scones, and gingerbread cookies under my belt, and have my sights set on cinnamon rolls next.

I am also thinking of doing a little Soup and Saturday Stories feature on my blog. Doesn’t that sound cozy? Maybe make it a link up, and we can all share the soup we are eating, the recipe, and the book we are reading? I love soup. It is one of my favorite things about fall and winter, that it is soup season! And I have Billy reinvigorating his sourdough mother that has been sleeping all summer, because sourdough pairs perfectly with soup and stews.

I am of course thinking about Christmas. I would like to try my hand at painting some Christmas cards, but if that proves to be too much for my talent, I am going to just purchase some. I have been listening to the podcast In the Meadow, and Vic has been talking about how analog and doing things the way we did just two or three decades ago, can make such a difference in our lives. Screens, quick information, the digital life, has its good points, but it is also good to step away sometimes, do something like send Christmas cards again, or letters. Maybe use an actual clock or watch. A radio. You get the idea. I am going to start small – Christmas cards. What better way to connect?

So that is where I am mentally tonight, on this cold dark night already, the day after Halloween. I am sitting in the den with my husband and son, Billy watching some documentary on tv, Wyatt playing with his magna-tiles on the floor, my cat purring asleep next to me.

How are you doing?

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized10 Comments

Hello everyone!! it is actually cold here this week, and temps next week will be cold as well. I think it is safe to say autumn is here for real.

And it seemed to blow in all at once. We were having a warm sunny day the other day, then all of a sudden it was overcast, gray, and a storm and rain moved in. And that was that. Fall was here in a flash.

We have just been moving along over here. We had a few Halloween events last week, where we gave Wyatt’s costume a trial run, and then a family get together with my brother’s family and my cousin’s family. Billy, Wyatt and I also went to the apple orchard, one of my favorite outings of the season, if not my very favorite.

Let’s start there. It was sort of a neat moment – we went on the same day, October 18th, that we went to the very first time we went to this orchard with baby Wyatt. When Wyatt was a baby, I wanted to find an orchard that we could make our tradition, like I had when I was a kid. The one I grew up going to has turned into a circus, with too many bounce houses and people with tables selling things – it’s just too much. I wanted a more simple experience. Pumpkins and cider and doughnuts and apples – we don’t need anything else. I found one online, Bennett’s Orchard, and off we went with tiny Wyatt. And we have been going there ever since. So this past Oct. 18th was our ten year anniversary of sorts, of going, and it was ten years to the day.

They also have this gentle Lab who will sometimes join you in your wanderings. He has to be getting up there in age now, and is such a sweetie. I love when he joins us.

We had such a good morning at the orchard, although I couldn’t talk Wyatt into wearing a pumpkin hat for old times sake.

The next day was the party at my cousin’s house. He and his partner had it all set up for the kids, and it looked so good! They did a great job making a nice party for our kids of all ages, from 16 years down to 2. There were pumpkins to paint and sticker, doughnuts, pizza, and we brought a jug of hard cider from the orchard to share, while my brother brought different chips and dips. It was such a nice time!

I also picked up my new glasses this week, and just in time, because I broke my only pair! I really like my new pair but I got progressives for the first time and I am finding them confusing. I like them when I am doing stuff around the house, because I only need them for reading and I don’t need to take these on and off all the time, but when I am just sitting and reading and not multitasking I am having a difficult time. So I bought a pair of $7 readers from Amazon that work perfectly for that. It however made for a slower week of reading until I figured out I could do that.

It was a week for reading and hanging out with Brian, my cousin this week, because I hung out with him again on Wednesday! We tried out a place in Detroit called Sip N Read, which is like a bookstore bar. It was cold and rainy and really the perfect night to sit somewhere warm and read. Sip N Read is so pretty inside too! I loved the velvety furniture in shades of green and burnt orange, the space itself was so inviting! There is a small bar when you walk in, and then on the opposite wall are bookshelves. The books are there to be perused and read while you enjoy libations, and they offer wine and mocktails to their patrons. You can either choose to buy the book or not, or just read from different books, or whatever you choose. We had so much fun just reading and hanging out with our drinks. It reminded me of an adult version of when we were kids and would go to the library, check out some Stephen King, and head to his house where we would drink Capri Suns and read together. It was pretty empty but I am chalking that up to the night – it was a Wednesday, and it was so cold and rainy! We had a great time, reading and chatting, and then Brian treated me to the book I was reading as an early birthday gift!

I also did some baking this week – I made cinnamon apple scones, and chocolate chip cookies. I think I am going to be baking more since life is so expensive these days, and the groceries I am buying look different now too. I bought a whole chicken yesterday to turn into a few meals, as it was a better cost value than buying anything else. We are also having meals that turn into leftovers, like chili and stew, and Billy is going to start baking his sourdough again this weekend. Every bit helps!

It’s been fun baking again though. I am not great at it, but I have fun bopping around the kitchen to Oingo Boingo, Taylor Swift, Yaelokre (an Icelandic band my brother introduced me to that has really cool story and lore behind it), and also listening to the In the Meadow Podcast.

All in all, it’s been a pretty darn good week! The leaves are finally turning to fire, the weather is fully fall, and things are getting pretty cozy around here!

I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Friday Morning/Afternoon/Evening Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized15 Comments

Good morning! I am trying to drink my coffee at super fast speed this morning, as Wyatt has two appointments back to back. One for a wheelchair eval, since he is growing so fast, and the other because he either lost a tooth or broke part of it yesterday. So a trip to the dentist for him! I have to leave shortly but wanted to get this started.

We have a new pet! It is a tarantula, so if you don’t like spiders scroll super fast past its picture. We named her Dungeon Crawler Carl after the books, and because Carl will be living in Billy’s office in the basement after he makes room for her.

She was abandoned and then turned in to a pet store, where she was left in her really dirty enclosure, which was way too small for her. My friend saw her week after week in this condition and finally talked me into taking her if she paid for her. So, we now have Carl! She was in terrible condition when we got her, and I was worried she was going to die – she was in the death curl position, which indicates death is coming or severe dehydration. It appears Carl was dehydrated because she drank so much water after we moved her into her new, spacious home. I have to say, I never wanted a tarantula but Carl is endearing herself to me. She loves to watch Sid the fish, who is her neighbor, and sleep in her little burrow. We have had her a week and she looks so much better already!

We have been working hard at home and in school when we can around appointments this week. It was just one of those weeks. I will be grateful for when things settle down and we can just get to our work and routine. Wyatt kicked butt at therapy again this week, and stood assisted again but with less assistance, so he is getting stronger and stronger, week by week. We are pretty faithful with his exercises, and he is really good about doing them which makes it easier.

Billy has been busy too! He has been working super hard on Wyatt’s costume, and it is unbelievable. Like seriously. I have to brag on him a bit here. Wyatt is going as Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon this year, and I was like that meme, following Billy around with my bag of ideas, and said to him, “You know what would be really cool? If it looked like Wyatt was riding on Toothless.” So, Billy made our dreams come true, turning Wyatt’s wheelchair into Toothless. Here is a preview. Has my house turned into a war zone, filled with craft supplies and art stuff? Yes, yes it has. But it is worth it. I can’t wait to see it all come together on Halloween. Like Billy literally made that Toothless mask, out of foam and paint. It is crazy to me. He is so talented.

Our Halloween decorations served a practical purpose the other night when we suddenly lost power! Sunday night, the entire north end of town lost electricity and it was right at dinnertime, and the sun was getting ready to set, and in fact already had begun the process. Billy ran up to McDonalds for Wyatt, and I ran outside and gathered all of our pumpkins from the trees that Billy had put solar lights in last weekend. They made perfect little lanterns for dinner and inside until the power came back on. It was hilarious to eat by pumpkin light and later read by the same light.

We are back from the dentist’s office and it’s all good. He has lost two teeth that they said were probably already loose as they could see the new teeth erupting already. So thank goodness that turned out well. We were having ice cream of all things, when it happened. Wyatt had chocolate peanut butter with frozen tiny Reese’s cups and they were apparently rock hard. I heard a crunch, saw blood, it was a mess. He was fine though, and was more upset that I wanted to look inside of his mouth than he was about the teeth. I am assuming the ice cream helped, perhaps made the area cold and slightly numb.

And that is it from me today! I hope that whatever you do this weekend, you do something that makes you smile!

And here are just some random photos from the past week!

Comfy Cozy Cinema: The Young in Heart

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized12 Comments

 Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are back to watching and sharing about comfy cozy (and as we move closer to Halloween, spookier) movies for the fall season. Feel free to join in with us!!

This week’s movie was The Young in Heart, starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Janet Gaynor.

This movie was such a cute little movie.

It starts off with the Carleton family – Sahib, Marmy, George-Anne, and Richard – working their charms on the unsuspecting rich vacationing in the Riviera. George-Anne and Richard are pretending to be people they are not, while hoping to score a rich partner. That is, until their plans are foiled by the police. They are ordered out of town, practically run out on a rail(way) as they take the first train out.

Once on the train, George-Anne tells her suitor, who I thought was much cuter than Douglas Fairbanks (sorry Lisa, it was the Scottish accent), that she is not good enough for him, and for him to just leave her alone. She meets the sweetest elderly woman, named Miss Fortune. Billy and I both were like, hmm, Miss Fortune, or … misfortune? Well played, movie.

However, this train has an accident and their train car derails! Wyatt was watching this movie with us and he yelled “Whoa!!” when that happened and it cracked me up. Then my favorite line of the movie came up. Duncan came over to see what George-Anne was doing with the unconscious Miss Fortune, who had been injured in the accident and the family rescued, and he notices George-Anne actually appears to be helping someone! George-Anne however tells him to go away, saying “I am up to no good, and you are interfering.” I just loved that line.

The Carleton family winds up living with Miss Fortune, in her big mansion and off of her recently acquired wealth. George-Anne smells potential however for a bigger grift – they should pretend to be upstanding citizens, so that Miss Fortune chooses one of them or all of them to inherit her fortune when she dies. She tells Sahib and Richard to get jobs, when they have never worked a day in their lives, and says that she and Marmy will become caregivers.

However, jokes on them, because it seems living with the kind and gentlehearted Miss Fortune has grown their hearts at least three sizes. After a particularly adorable scene between Miss Fortune and Richard, where she nurses him through a rough morning after a night of drinking, Richard makes it his mission to find a dog like the one that once so captured Miss Fortune’s heart. A white dog, with a black spot like an eyebrow. This was probably my favorite part of the movie, because so many puppies!!!

And I am going to wreck the end for you all – so skip this if you want – but the family turns their lives around and become the fine upstanding people they are pretending to be. I won’t wreck it too much for you, you will have to watch the movie to see the ending, which is super sweet and adorables.

I mentioned I loved that line that George-Anne says to Duncan, but he also has some of my favorite lines. Lines like these:

“You’re a bad-mannered, bad-tempered, outrageous female… ..but I have discovered I cannot live without you. It’s a shameful confession for a sane man to make.”

So I saw that Lisa already talked about the car, which was Billy’s favorite part of the movie. He did a deep dive during the movie to read about it, because it was a spectacular looking piece of machinery. It must have been quite something back then, because it still is beyond impressive today. The movie called it a Wombat, but you might know it more as the Phantom.

Overall, this movie was just a fun delight to watch. It had plenty of funny moments, and it was nice to just decompress too after a long day.

Make sure to read Lisa’s post here.

Our next movie is Coraline! I LOVE this movie, and it is beginning our little trend to spookier movies for Halloween. Little bit of Erin trivia – I once dressed as Coraline for Halloween, and this year, Mermaid Girl is going as Coraline!

Comfy Cozy Cinema: The Five Year Engagement

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized6 Comments

 Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are back to watching and sharing about comfy cozy (and sometimes, chilling) movies for the fall season. Feel free to join in with us!!

This week’s movie was The Five Year Engagement, starring Emily Blunt and Jason Segal.

So this one was my pick. I apologize. Lol. I don’t watch a lot of comedies, but I remembered this one took place partially in Ann Arbor, Michigan and that the soundtrack was all Van Morrison songs, which are two things I liked. I also remembered that professor’s house which was really cool. There is a Frank Lloyd Wright House in Ann Arbor, and now that I am writing this, I wonder if they used it for the movie. I however did not remember the humor or language all that well.

The synopsis: When a series of setbacks interfere with their wedding planning — and their lives — a couple starts to question their commitment to each other.

I mean and that is really it in a nutshell. Jason Segal (Tom) is an up and coming chef in San Francisco, and his girlfriend turned fiancée Emily Blunt ) Violet is a psych grad waiting for a doctorate program. She is waiting for Berkley, but then gets an offer from the University of Michigan, and this uproots their whole lives, despite Tom’s assurances that moving would not be a big deal for him.

I think the point of this movie is that Michigan sucks the life from you, and destroys all hope. It’s these gray skies man, I tell you!

No I am kidding. Although the Michigan parts were not super flattering I still found them funny because they are exaggerated truths, a caricature of Michiganders. The hunting season being a big deal, knitting, making homemade beer and mead and foraging. The crazy facial hair.

I live about 45 minutes from Ann Arbor, and it is the city where Wyatt’s hospital system, Michigan Medical (U of M) is located. We spend a lot of time in Ann Arbor, and it is a pretty cool town. It is very diverse, and you can find million dollar homes interspersed with frat houses and sorority houses and student housing. It has a lot of great restaurants and parks, with theaters and bookstores and in general, it is just pretty neat. It was cool to see places we recognized in the background, and of course the restaurant where Tom ends up working, Zingerman’s Deli, is pretty famous for their sandwiches around here.

This movie is pretty simple, but it has a great ending. I also love a scene where Violet and Tom are arguing, and Tom says he needs to be alone, and when Violet gets out of bed to sleep on the couch he tells her not to leave because he wants to be alone with her there. It is so something I would say.

Overall this movie is about the journeys a relationship can take, from the very high highs to the not so greats, and back again. With maybe some drifterish, serial killer facial hair, knitted tuxedos, and old stale doughnuts.

And I was “wright!” It is the Frank Lloyd Wright House!! According to the blog upstaged by design, it is known as The Palmer House (and you can rent it if you have the cash) and was built in 1950. They have lots of other neat trivia about the design and architecture in this movie on their blog, so it is worth a read to pop over there too! You all know I am sucker for the setting and details like that.

Again, I apologize. This movie was weird. I didn’t remember it too well and I should have watched it again before picking it. Lol. It was much raunchier than I remember!

Next up is The Young in Heart, starring Frank Sinatra.

Don’t forget to pop over to Lisa’s blog as well!