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.

Garden Tomato Soup

I'm pretty disappointed in our tomato crop this year.
We planted cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, Roma tomatoes and then plain old beefsteak tomatoes.
Someone in our house LOVES tomatoes after all!
But the only plant that really did well was the yellow pear tomato.  In fact the other two plants (in the same bed) got blossom end rot!  Really sad, and I guess next year we need to feed them some calcium early!

When we planted 4 tomato plants in May, we were hopping for a huge haul and some serious canning.
After the nice hot weather we've had the last few weeks we had about 3 lbs of ripe tomatoes. Not nearly enough to can with!
So, I made tomato soup tonight instead!

In know we've been really slacking on the whole Sunday Supper thing.  (But Gabe was in NC all week and it was tough being a single working mom all week!)  I do promise we'll be back to hosting Sunday Suppers again before the year is over.  Things will settle down a bit here after Gabe gets back from hunting with his dad next week!

Anyway...the soup was really easy!
Saute up some red onion and carrots.

Then add garlic, fresh tomatoes, some sugar, a little bit of tomato paste, chicken stock, fresh basil and it looks like this:

After some simmering...
Put it through a food mill, add some cream and enjoy!

We had to top ours with a little more basil and chives.  Levi said he didn't want any "green stuff" on his.

Since fall is officially here we also made pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin bread today.  Autumn is the yummiest season of all!

First Day of School!

This big kid started preschool today!

He was so excited!
I'm going to be honest, Mom and Dad were a little nervous.  Levi's never been left with new people so we weren't sure how he'd handle being left at school.  We've visited his classroom twice and talked a lot about school.  He must have been ready because he walked right in.  Found his cubby.  And went right to the table to play with the RED play doh.  Gave us kisses and then didn't even care when we waved good-bye.

First Day of Preschool Interview:
Levi (age 3)

What's your favorite color?
RED

What do you want to do when you're a grown up? (like Mommy and Daddy)
I think...I will maybe...um...I might like to do something...like do a project.

What's your favorite song?
The wheels...you know that song.

What's your favorite book?
SkippyJohn Jones

What was your favorite part of school today?
Playing with kids

Good-Bye Summer

I'd say we spent our unofficial last weekend of summer finishing things off right!

Friday, we got out of town early to get to Eugene and listen to Gabe's dad play music here.  Good beer, great music and time with grandparents.  Perfect!  Then Saturday afternoon, Tom had another gig up in Oakridge, so we went up to hear some more music at the park.

Levi got to ride around the bike path, throw rocks in the river, see Grandma Winnie and enjoy Grandpa Tom's harmonics.  Good times!

Yesterday we went down to the Oregon State Fair.
Levi's first trip to the fair was full of fun.
He loved looking at the animals (but not the petting zoo so much).

He loved the rides!

This roller coaster he did with Daddy was his favorite.

And he loved the food!  It wouldn't be the fair without food.  A lunch of hand dipped corn dogs, curly fries and strawberry lemonade was topped off with Levi's first taste of cotton candy.  (Mommy and Daddy didn't share their deep fried Snicker's bar with him.)

Today we've been hanging out at home, getting some much needed yard work done.  And I'm slowly trying to wrap my brain around the fact that another school year starts tomorrow.  I'm not ready to say good-bye to summer.  It was such a great one!

Introducing...

our newest little friend:
Addison Grace

Levi and I have been talking about her arrival for about a week.  Alexis and Eric are a few of Levi's favorite people, he's been know to call them his best friends.  So when she finally arrived on Wednesday, Levi couldn't wait to meet her and asked me several times when we'd be able to go.  Then he got a little shy when he finally did get to meet her on Friday evening.  Silly kid!
Levi has made several comments to both Gabe and I (separately I should add) about wanting a little sister.  Maybe Addison can bee Levi's "little sister".  After all she won't ever have a big brother, and Levi will never have a little sister.

That introductory meeting was the kick off of our weekend.
We've also spent the weekend getting stuff off the to-do list.
Hanging out at Jen and Rich's BBQ.
Driving out to the gorge to do a quick morning hike to Upper Horsetail Falls.

Levi loves this Lego headlamp we got him for his birthday.  This "cave" behind the waterfall is why we let him wear it on the hike.  But honestly, it's on him much of the day at home anyway.

And since we were out that way, we had to do a quick stop at Multnomah Falls.  I'm hopeful Levi will be up for the hike to the top next year.  Very hopeful.

To conclude the weekend Gabe made the most amazing Kalua pork.  I'm being totally honest when I say it was better than some of the Kalua pork we've eaten in Hawaii.  It was that good!  He rubbed it with green tea, salt and pepper.  (Thanks for the recipe America's Test Kitchen!) Smoked it in the BBQ for a few hours and then braised it in the oven for a few more.  Seriously delicious!  If only waves were crashing out our window...maybe next summer.

Oaks Park

Levi and I decided we needed to end summer vacation with a BANG!
So on Wednesday we spent our last day of summer vacation at Oaks Amusement Park.  I heard from a friend that they open early two days a week for kids under 6 so we decided it would be fun to try it out.  Levi was excited about the bumper cars (which it turns out he's too little to do.)  I was glad Levi and I could do one more big fun thing together before I go back to work.

The rides were pretty scary for Levi at first.  (And the first ride was on the carousel.)  But once he got comfortable, and saw how much fun everyone was having, he did too!  Some rides he could go on by himself.

On others I got to join in on the fun!
Here we are on the Tilt-a-Whirl.

We had a blast.  Oaks Park will definitely be on our list of summer adventures next year!

I'll be back tomorrow to share some things about our weekend and introduce a wonderful new friend we met last night!  After that, I might be MIA for awhile since I'll be back to the grind.

All good things must come to an end

Thankfully, not quite yet!

Levi and I have one more week of summer vacation.  Next week at this time I'll be gearing up to head back to school.  Prepping my classroom and planning lessons to welcome 200+ new 8th graders to American History.  (Technically, 4 days.  I have to go to a planning meeting all day on Thursday! Yuck!)

We've been making every moment count.
Here's what we've been up to over the last week:
Levi had to go in for his yearly check up at the doctor.  I'm happy to report he's almost 40 inches and almost 39 lbs!
We went to the zoo with friends.
We finally filled up Levi's pool to splash and swim in the 100 degree afternoon.

We picked peaches at the farm.  (Well, I picked while Levi played in the dirt.)

Took Levi's first MAX ride down to Saturday market.
Bought the most amazing Chester blackberries from the farmer's market.
And of course we had to play with all Levi's new toys.
Here is our young scholar at work learning his letters.  Levi can identify about 10 letters in the alphabet but we haven't really worked at writing them.  (We aren't even sure yet if he's a lefty or a righty.  He uses both hands for so many things still.)  At dinner tonight we started talking about things that start with "F" so I decided after dinner I'd show him how to write "F".  I showed him, wrote one with him, and this is the one he wrote all by himself.

He's saying: "F".  Having him say something is about the only way I can get him to look at the camera.

I just noticed how bad this guys buck teeth are!  Guess we should start saving for corrective orthodontic treatment now.  Braces aren't covered in our dental plan...

Levi's 3rd Birthday

Fishing and Crawdads

We joined Grandpa Tom and Grammy Joey down at their property near Yachats this weekend.  On the agenda was a great weekend fishing, chasing down crawdads, and spending some great time with  grandparents.
Levi and I were ready for some fishing on Siltcoos Lake.  Here Levi is showing off his fishing shirt, proof that he's ready catch fish!

The captain and all his crew enjoyed a beautiful morning on the lake.

The morning was beautiful but the fish just weren't biting.  We didn't do much catching.  Gabe (and Levi) were the only successful fishermen.  Gabe caught 2 newts, a little squawfish and this little trout!  Like a true fisher man, Levi will tell you he caught a fish on the lake...and Daddy helped him.

After an unsuccessful morning on the lake.  We headed to Indian Creek to find our dinner!  Thank goodness the crawdads were plentiful.  In just an hour and a half in the creek, we caught 277 crawdads.

There's a tradition of kissing crawdads on this adventure.  Levi would only follow the tradition of kissing the crawdads after they were cooked.  (Not sure that should really count!  The risk of having one hang onto your lip is part of the "fun".)

Dinner still took some work.  We had to shell those 277 crawdads before we could eat them.

Of course we also spent the weekend enjoying camp fires and munching on roasted marshmallows.
And taking a walk (or ride for one of us) down at the beach.  Levi was loving all the little pools made by the low tide!

It's so much fun to see Levi making memories.
Grandpa Tom and Grammy Joey, thank you for having us!