It is cocoa with maple syrup time now that the weather is cold in Pennsylvania. That is what I am drinking this morning but later I will be sipping tea because I use real cocoa powder for my hot cocoa and if I have too much it trips my tachycardia issues a few hours later. Weird, I know.

We lit our first fire earlier this week and it was nice to have the house nice and cozy during the day and comfortable at night.

It is not lit yet today and I really need to get on that because it is going to be chilly again today, though not as cold as it was earlier this week. I am writing this blog post, though, so the fire will have to wait.

My almost 17-year-old (Tuesday he will be 17) will have to man the fire this afternoon because The Husband will be at work and Little Miss and I will be at my parents’ house making apple pies for The Boy’s birthday. He and my husband are not huge cake fans so my mom makes them pies. Now that Mom is 79, it isn’t as easy for her to make the pies on her own so Little Miss and I help. We will help again in a couple of weeks for Thanksgiving and my husband’s birthday, which are the same day this year.

Little Miss and I picked out the apples for The Boy’s pies yesterday at a farm store near us. My dad sent me a link to a website that helped us figure out which apples are best to use since previously we used Macintosh and they were too runny. We picked them up during a run to get groceries and to take my mom to get her license photo taken. It was so fun to look in the store with all its natural food and treats but I didn’t want to blow our budget so I got the apples, a small amount of chocolate, and a natural soda.

My mom can’t drive anymore but for some reason she still wanted her photo taken for her license and I wasn’t about to argue with her. Mom has suffered from Fibromyalgia for years and there have been times when getting around even at her house has been hard for her.

A few years ago she lost over 100 pounds with diet and she was able to get around even better. Her right shoulder is in bad shape, though, and surgery isn’t an option so there are days she is in total agony and can barely lift her arms. She walks with a walker and does well around the house now. Yesterday she was going to have to walk a bit to get to the bathroom at the DMV and then to get her photo taken and that made me nervous at first. I worried about what I would do if she fell or needed to suddenly sit down. I had nothing to worry about because she did amazing.

She might be hurting today but yesterday she got everything that she needed to get done without needing a wheelchair or to sit down. I was very proud of her. She shows me how to push through even when we are struggling.

Earlier in the week, Little Miss, The Boy, and I took advantage of an offer by our wonderful county library to attend a field trip at a reptile zoo about an hour away.

Little Miss absolutely loves reptiles so I kept this a surprise for more than two months and managed to keep it a surprise despite talking about the logistics of getting there with The Husband in front of her more than once. She thought I had a doctor’s appointment and that’s why we were driving so far but when we pulled up and she read the sign she was so excited.

She was also overwhelmed. There were so many exhibits with snakes, geckos, lizards, turtles, and alligators she could barely contain her excitement. She ran from exhibit to exhibit, her eyes wide.

In the courtyard, there was also a dinosaur display with animatronic dinosaurs, which we enjoyed seeing and interacting with.

The library paid for the tickets for everyone who signed up for the event, which was really amazing of them because the tickets are $20 a person for anyone 12 and up and $16 for those 2 to 12.

The prices are steep but the place allows you to stay as long as you want, see all the educational live programs they have going on during the day, and bring and eat your lunch in the pavilions they have there or inside their gift shop. I am sure we will be visiting there again in the spring. Most of the exhibits are inside but running between buildings was a little chilly that day.

I’ll be sharing more about this trip in a separate blog post later this week.

It was a long day when we went there because it was an hour’s drive down and then an hour’s drive back, plus the three hours we spent there.

On Thursday, Little Miss had gymnastics and I sat in the car and tried to work on the next book I am writing that comes out next year.

Next week I don’t have as much planned, other than celebrating The Boy turning 17, so I am looking forward to some calmer and cozier days.

How was your week last week? Did you do anything fun? Anything exciting planned for this week?

Let me know in the comments.