High 5 for Friday

TGIF.

I don't know if I can be grateful for Fridays while I'm on maternity leave. I mean, I'm not working right now so is it fair that I am excited about the fact that it's Friday?! Of course it's fair. Fridays take on a whole new meaning when you're (currently) a "stay at home mom". Now, to me, Fridays mean the last work day for my husband. It means that when he walks in the door at 6 o'clock that he gets to take the reigns and I (for maybe a millisecond), get to sit back and relax. In reality though, it means that I get catch up on some things while he spends time with the kiddos.

In the midst of my favorite season, we stay quite busy on our weekends. Fall is my FAVORITE time of year. I'm sure you have heard many a blogger say that before, but when you live in the Midwest, it's fabulous (and I don't think I need to explain why).

So here is my first "High 5 for Friday" (and because I'm new at this and gathering inspiration from the bloggers that I follow, I may not be giving credit where credit is due--I'll figure that out as I go along).

1.) Tonight, my mother-in-law has graciously taken on the role of babysitter while we go to "License to Cruise" in downtown Appleton. This is a kick off to good ol' Oktoberfest. It's a large car show with great food vendors, music and fun. Stay tuned, because I'll blog about it (I feel so cool that I can say this now).

 

 

This is what Appleton Oktoberfest looks like (as an FYI)--There's a reason it's also known as "Appleton's largest Block Party":

 

 

2.) Tomorrow we are road trippin' it to the capital to visit my cousin, Bethany. If you have never been to Madison, Wisconsin--GO! It's a beautiful city with so much to do. We are going to meet at the Capital for the farmer's market. This particular farmer's market surrounds the capital building and is full of fabulous LOCAL vendors. No really, everything is LOCAL. Not only is there food (classic farmer's market fare), but local artists of all sorts. I love all things fresh and homemade so I am very much looking forward to this. After we do that, it's fair game. I'm sure we will eat some delicious food at one of the MANY phenomenal restaurants in the area. And at some point we will go to a one of the several orchards for apple picking and hayrides galore. I can't wait!

3.) My husband plays recreational hockey and this starts on Sunday. It's too bad that his first game is late(r) because we cannot attend as little #1 (Noah) has school the next day. I have to credit my husband for introducing me to the world of hockey. I mean, I don't live in a cave, so I know what hockey is. I just had never been interested in it prior to meeting him. Now it has become one of the few sports that I actually enjoy watching. We frequent games at one of the local colleges--they are so good. My hopes is that Jason and I can attend a professional NHL game this year. I'd like to see the Chicago Blackhawks or Minnesota Wild.

4.) Next week is my last FULL week of maternity leave. I have had such a wonderful leave with little #2 that it is going to be HARD to go back to work. So I am going to enjoy EVERY minute of it. Fortunately...I will be returning only PART TIME. This means working three days per week (10 hour days). So that means more time with my littles while still working, doing something I am VERY passionate about (more on that another time as well).

5.) I am looking forward to starting my blogging journey. I'm starting it more or less to be therapeutic to me and documenting memories as I go. If it turns into something more than that, great! If not...that's okay too.