Warm Up to Turkey Day

Tonight's Sunday supper was sort of a warm up for Thanksgiving.

Gabe made chicken in a pot with thyme and a lemon sauce.  Yummy!  And to complete the meal I roasted some rings of delicata squash and cooked some banana fingerling potatoes in a pan with butter, salt and pepper.  It was an easy and delicious fall meal.  What really made it feel like Thanksgiving was the pumpkin pie and whipped cream our friends Drew and Paula brought over for dessert!

Just in case you're wondering...yes we've already had Drew and Paula over for supper.  We've gone through our short list of friends already and are now inviting people over for a second round to finish up the year.  (I think that's part of the reason we've been having trouble getting Sunday supper rolling again!  We sorta feel silly inviting people over again.) Oh well, I'm determined to finish up the year strong!

Pumpkin, Pumpkin

Celebration of fall (and Halloween) is in full swing around here!
Levi had a great time with Daddy and his classmates at the farm.  It was a rainy, cold morning but it looks like the baby cows made everything worth it!

Levi trying to "feed" the cow.

A hayride, apple cider, baby animals, pumpkins, and mud puddles...our kid was in heaven.  In every picture Gabe took of the kids together, Levi's sitting next to a little girl.  What's funny about this is that there are 10 boys in Levi's class and only 4 girls.  Yet he manages to sit by one every time!  In the group shot (which was blurry...unfortunately) Levi has his hand on one little girl's leg.  I'm afraid we're going to have to keep our eyes on this kid!

This morning we carved our pumpkins!
Levi was so excited.
It wouldn't be pumpkin carving without doughnuts and spiced apple cider.

Levi loved helping daddy get the guts out!

Gotta love this smile!

Once our jack-o-lanterns were finished, we went over to the Harvest Party at Grandpa and Grandma G's church.  I cannot even describe how excited Levi was about this "Halloween Party"!

He had a great time playing games, jumping in the bouncy house and eating cookies.
Plus, they had pony rides and face painting!

Levi specifically asked for a red dragon fly.

I have to conclude this post with a video we took at the pumpkin patch last weekend.  Grandma G taught Levi this pumpkin song and he's been singing it for weeks.  Soooo cute!



Happy almost-Halloween!

Squash Sunday Supper

I love fall for many reasons.  But a reason that is in the top 5 is...squash.
I love squash.
I love it so much my son informed me at lunch today, he didn't want squash.  He's tired of it.
But when I saw the New Seasons ad this week had a recipe for Squash & Bean Enchilada Casserole, I was instantly interested.

We invited my sister Becky over to enjoy it with us.
It was great!
And even my son, who earlier in the day informed me he was tired of squash, liked it!

1 cup onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 tsp Mexican seasoning (I just used some taco seasoning, cumin, and Mexican oregano.  And I didn't measure any of them.)
2 tsp salt
5 tbls olive oil
2 14oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
3 1/2 cups enchilada sauce
12 corn tortillas
4 cups cooked squash, cubed then mashed  (We used a buttercup squash.)
28oz can diced tomatoes, drained
2 cups pepper jack cheese
(We also added 2 roasted poblano peppers to put on 1/2 of the casserole)
Sour cream and avocado for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large skillet over medium heat, saute onions and garlic with the Mexican seasoning and salt in olive oil until the onions are translucent.  In a medium bowl, combine onions with beans.  Spread a layer of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a baking dish.  Place a layer of tortillas (6) on top, followed by half the squash, half the bean and onion mixture, and half of the tomatoes.  Top these layers with 1 cup of pepper jack cheese and cover with enchilada sauce.  Repeat layering with remaining ingredients.
Cover and bake for about 25 minutes.  Remove cover and bake an additional 10 minutes.  Serve with sour cream and avocado to garnish.

We've been having a hard time getting Sunday Suppers going again.  Part of that is because we've had several friends return the invitation and join them for supper.  It's been nice to join our friends around their dinner tables too.

Weekend with Georgie

Every kid in Levi's class gets to bring Georgie the monkey home with them for the weekend.  They have fun with Georgie and then share the adventures they had in a little binder so all the kids can see what Georgie did at home with their friends.

So, Georgie spent the weekend with Levi!
The first thing Levi and Georgie did together was take a nap.  Levi quickly informed Grandma G that Georgie knows the sleep rules at Levi's house.  But after nap, Levi did tell Grandma G that Georgie wanted to jump on Levi's bed.
Levi told us that Georgie likes race cars, just like Levi.

Levi also told me that Georgie likes SkippyJohn Jones stories, just like Levi.

Levi and Georgie (plus Mommy) did a puzzle together.

Of course, Georgie had to come with us to the pumpkin patch!
Together, Georgie and Levi led Mommy and Daddy through the corn maze.

And Georgie helped Levi pick out a great big pumpkin.

Georgie also came with us to the farmer's market this morning.  Levi and Georgie picked out purple carrots.

Sure was fun having Georgie with us this weekend!  Hopefully he'll be back again before the school year is over.

Pumpkin Patch Tradition

We went out to the pumpkin patch on Saturday morning.
It was cold.  It was rainy.  It was muddy.  But one little boy was sure excited to be there!

And then magically, the sun came out!  And we found a great pumpkin to carve.

Levi also wanted to do the rides this year.
He loved the barrel train.  (You might notice a "special friend" riding in his barrel.  I'll tell you more about him later.)

And Levi really wanted to ride the pony this year.
He was super brave and LOVED it!  So wish he had a hat and boots.  Next time we're in Nashville...

We ended the morning having lunch at one of our favorite spots out that way.  And we were lucky to run into friends there who were headed out to the patch to shoot pumpkins from cannons.
We love our fall traditions!
And Levi gets to go on his first school field trip to a different farm tomorrow morning.  He's very excited!
So check back later in the week for pumpkin patch outing #2.

Speeding right by...

I keep telling myself things are going to slow down.
But it's just not happening!
Between work, a bi-monthly class I'm taking, evenings out with friends, and projects we're trying to finish up before winter...the week has been a blur.  And more of the same is lined up for the coming week!

In order to document some of the things going on around here I'll share a few photos.
First up, Levi's current obsession.

And it's not sitting around in his underware.
He loves these books.
Like loves them so much he listens to them on tape as often as we'll let him and has lines memorized.  Even lines that are Spanish.  And he's taken to saying "zero, nada" anytime he can.

My friend Peggy (and her little men) are here visiting from LA.  We tried to take the boys to the zoo yesterday, but it happened to be the first day we've had rain in months.  And it wasn't just a little rain.  It was pouring.  We made it about an hour and decided we all needed some dry clothes and lunch.  So, a lunch play date at our house instead.

This was the best photo I got of the boys.  I love that the only one actually looking, and smiling, is Zane who is 1/2 the age of the other two. 
And who does that kid on the right belong to?  Why didn't his mother wipe his lunch off his face?

 Gabe's been busy trying to finish the deck railing this weekend and we've been grinding up massive amounts of breakfast sausage.  And shopping for materials for some one's Halloween costume...it will be Monday again before we know it!

Apple Picking

We are having the most beautiful fall.
The sun is out, the clouds are not.  It's cool in the morning and 70 degrees in the afternoon.  Perfect!

We went out to Hood River to pick apples this morning.
It was a perfect morning.

We picked (and ate apples) until we could carry no more.  And our friends Alexis, Eric and Addison joined us for the fun too!

This kid ate three apples and then we had to say enough!
But really, this is what fall is all about right?

 Amazing smells will be coming from our kitchen tomorrow.  We'll be busy making apple sauce and apple crisp.