A little taste of fall

It's been a little cooler, which is a great thing. We've actually been able to turn off the air conditioners a bit. Which is weird because then we have to turn the tv down and talk quieter. haha. This has also given us a chance to play outside more. When Ian is at school learning new shapes like Ovals and Diamonds and new colors like gray and purple and his lower case letters, Erin and I go outside and swing on the swingset and blow bubbles and play on her little plastic slide. And get chewed up some by mosquitos. Erin loves it and loves the dogs. When Buddy gets too close sniffing at her, she pushes his face away and then pets him so his feelings won't get hurt. She even tries to call him. We call the dogs by making a 'pop-pop' sound with our lips. She does a much quieter and cute version. She does it every time we look out the window or go into the yard. It's amazing how much her personality is growing. She is also getting tooth #6. 3 on top and 3 on the bottom. Sort of like Gollum except much cuter. He only had 6 teeth, if you're up on your Hobbit reading.
So for the past 3 or 4 days, I have learned how to air the tires on the bikes and the bike trailer and we have gone for bike rides. Yesterday my HC went too. It was really fun and wears Ian out fast. He is currently having a hard time learning to stay on the side of the road, much to my noisy chagrin. And he can't hear my hollering over the rattle of his training wheels. But I holler anyway.
My HC would put it a little less mildly, closer to "screeching like a fishwife" but I disagree. I prefer "correcting at an increased volume." I'm getting another Look.
Fine then.
I am currently waiting for my cinnamon raisin bread to finish in the bread machine. I modified it a little bit because last time it didn't taste like cinnamon at all, it just had a brown swirl through it and tasted like regular bread. And I didn't add raisins last time either. It is rising. And smelling all yummy and yeasty.
Yesterday I made some pot pourri. It's really easy, but only lasts for a day or so. You need some apple peels and some orange peels in a small sauce pan. Add some cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, etc (or just some apple pie spice) and let it simmer. Just remember to add more water when it gets low or you'll end up with a nasty smell and a scorched pan. Yup. Kinda cancels the whole thing out, doesn't it?
We've also done some cleaning this past week. My highlight was cleaning out Ian's toybox and getting rid of all the broken toys, dried play-doh, forgotten papers, broken crayons and odds and ends. Then wiping the inch of dirt and questionable remnants from the bottom with a quart of bleachy water. Then it was bookshelf time. Now Erin has a lot more boardbooks and Ian has more room on his bookshelf for Dinosaur and Car books. Current book favorites are: "If You Take a Mouse to the Movies" by Numeroff (this is a library book that gets rechecked constantly), "How Do Dinosaurs Go to School?" by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague, and the one we just got from Scholastic Book Club that we've read 3 times a day since it came home: "The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark" by Ken Geist and Julia Gorton.
This is an aquatic version of the three little pigs, complete with "Not by the skin of my finny fin fin!" "Then I'll munch and I'll crunch and I'll smash your house in," roared the shark. It helps if you do the voices.
And another weekend is before us. I will be greeting it with cinnamon raisin bread. Mmmmmm