A Little Then and Now

Two years ago September we took a little trip up to Ft Vancouver, one of our favorite parks to visit.  Christian was teeny tiny and Daphne was a few months shy of three. 

We went again last week and sort of replicated that picture:

Sweet little squishy Christian!  I just want to pinch those little baby cheeks.   He still has pretty good cheeks, he's just better at getting away from the pinching.  Or he will hit you with a big stick if you try. 

David bought a (gross and disgusting) pumpkin pie from the grocery store so he and the kids could have a little pie picnic.  Christian was with me and pronounced the pie "yucky."  Pumpkin pie isn't really the greatest thing anyways, but then to buy it?  That seems to be a recipe for disaster.  David and Daphne were happy, though.

Then as we were driving away I had the camera hanging out the window like a tourist to take a picture of one of the houses on Officer's Row, because it's a good inspiration house for the one we may be living in soon. 

Isn't it so cute?  (The answer is 'yes.')

You Know the Pumpkin Patch is a Scary Place

I believe October 7th is the latest in our lives that we've waited to make it to the pumpkin patch.  We're getting lazy in our old age.  Daphne has been just desperate to go (she needed more pumpkins to decorate with), poor thing.

Christian also loves pumpkins, and even though he was super excited about the idea of the pumpkin patch, once we were standing in the middle of the field he pretty much freaked out.  I don't know why?  It's not like the pumpkins were unusually large or trying to attack him or anything.  They were just sitting there, being all orange and cute.

clinging to Daddy in terror while sis is blissfully happy

So we went to the little play area where I got scolded by a guy for standing on a tower of straw bales because apparently they're only for sitting on (and I wouldn't want to be a bad example for the oh, no other people who were there at 9 A.M. on a Monday morning).  Finally after riding a horse thing and watching Daphne peek through pumpkin cutouts Christian was ready to be unafraid of the pumpkin field.

If tiny pumpkins were this frightening I'm nervous on how he's going to handle the Christmas tree farm.  Who's raising this little scaredy-cat anyways?

contemplating the horror that is a field of pumpkins

a pumpkin snowman, and never afraid of anything

If You Love Trains, Here Ya Go

It's true David has been working a lot lately, but in good news, he switched over to day shift!!!!  That sentence deserves lots of !!!!!.  He switched two weeks ago, but somehow he got himself some overtime right away so he was working 7 A.M. to 11 P.M.  And I was thinking "day shift totally stinks!" and "this is ALL the day!"  Daphne was sad too; she missed her dad. 

Then he had training, which means he had no weekend and worked for 10 days...so yeah, we're still not sure yet if we like 'day' shift. 

But now he basically gets two weekends to make up for the weekend he lost, so he's on a little 5 day vacation.  Now we are all happy. 

Somehow I found out about the Oregon Pacific Railroad, looked on their website, and found it only costs $5 a person to go for a little train ride.  We love trains, we love $5 (plus they let Christian on for free!), so that's what we did yesterday.

We started at Oak's Park and went downtown kind of by OMSI.  You have a few minute break to go into the little railroad museum where they have the hugest engines of all times.  I never knew they were so big.  Then you head back to Oak's Park. 

It's a really fun little outing and a good way to spend an October Saturday afternoon.

Crazy Chickens (AKA Us)

Might as well check in here and say 'hi!'  We've been running around like crazy chickens with our heads cut off, showing our house, putting in an offer on a possible new place (well, part of a new place.  The place under the new place (hint, hint and yet so confusing!). I'll tell the story if our offer is accepted.  Although if you know me in real life you already know...but still, no need to go on and on about something if it doesn't work out, so I'll just be ultra-vauge and ridiculous right now.) Deciding what bridge to live under once our house sells...you know.  Good stuff. 

No need for photos of what it looks like when I spend every second trying to keep our house looking good for whoever is coming to look at it on that particular day (since that's basically what is feels like I'm always doing).  The children DO NOT help with this, by the way.  

I did manage to get pictures for Daphne turning 5 before the rains came.  (5???  What on earth.)

And struggled to get any of Christian holding still long enough for a picture to be taken.  Finally I realized splashing in water made him happy and got him to at least stay in one place for a minute, so while he's a bit blurry here, that's just how we'll have to remember him at age 2.  As a blur. 

BSF is going perfectly and I love it, I got to join a community-type choir for Christmas, it seems like David is at work ALL the time (poor guy), and I think it's October although it seems like it should still be April at the latest.  Good grief. 

What We're Eating

I noticed I had left off at post number 666 and obviously that meant it was time for a new story.  Or how 'bout some new recipes?

Since today is the first day of autumn I suppose it's time to come out of denial about summer ever leaving and embrace the pumpkins.  Do your kids love pumpkins as much as mine do?  Every time we see a pumpkin Christian tries to hug it and Daph's just super festive about all the holidays in general and already has trick-or-treat outfits picked out her and Christian.  Apparently we're going for a theme this year, because what she's got decided is very specific and matchy. 

We made these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins quite a few times last year so they were the first fall-ish thing I brought out this year.  They're good.  Really good.  I make them gluten-free,* and although that doesn't make them 'healthier' for folks who tolerate gluten just fine (because of the starchiness of the replacement flours**), they make them easier on my guts and that is appreciated.

This recipe for Pumpkin Waffles has been floating around Pinterest a bunch lately so we gave them a try.  You guys, these could be served at a restaurant they are so good.  David said I could make them everyday.  A big winner, these waffles are.  I also make them gluten free.

Breakfasts can be a little hard around here just because of the way we eat and the fact that I have to make almost everything from scratch.  How did Ma Ingalls do it?  Cook EVERYTHING they ever ate?  She's my hero.   Anyways, having ready-to-eat breakfasts that don't come from a box can be a little challenging if you don't want to start cooking at 5 A.M. every morning.  (For the record, I don't want to start cooking at 5 A.M. every morning.)  Shelley gifted us with some homemade granola the other day which succeeded in putting us in a granola mood.  Then yesterday I found Peanut Butter Granola  on Pinterest and gave it a whirl...it's delish.  And takes approximately 17 minutes to make with 5 ingredients you probably already have in your cupboard.  The author is not lying when she says double the batch.  This stuff goes fast. 

lunchtime on the front porch

I'm always on the look-out for good recipes, so feel free to share with me what you know.  We're about to get 80lbs of Zaycon chicken, which means 80lbs of un-frozen chicken that I want to freeze in creative ways to make cooking it easier later on.  Like, marinades that I can mix up in a bag, put the chicken in with it, and freeze it all, ready to cook later.  Also, we have loads of hamburger and I run out of ways to cook hamburger.  I need help.  (In more ways than on how to cook beef, but we'll just cover that one issue for today.) 

*It's pretty easy to do an internet search for homemade g-free flour blends.  A lot of them are similar and I'm no expert on how flavors differ between flours, but I get my blend from the cookbook Gluten-Free Baking Classics.  This book was a lifesaver when we had to change our diets so drastically last year for Christian's health as it gave me recipes for baked goods that tasted perfectly 'normal.'  I keep her flour blend in my cupboard at all times now and use it for almost every recipe that calls for flour.  

**Potato, brown rice, and tapioca flours.  And don't forget the xanthan gum. 

What We're Reading

I've been on a serious fiction kick lately.   I think I'll blame the summer lazies on my recent desire for so much easy reading. 

I stumbled upon the author Charles Martin recently.  This is going to sound really weird, but I'm usually scared of reading fiction written by a man.  I don't know why; maybe I'm nervous the stories will be about blood and guts and war?  Or about the old west?   But his books caught me by surprise.  First I read When Crickets Cry.  It is a beautiful story, poetically written and full of thoughtful insights from the medical field.  Then I read The Mountains Between Us.  Also wonderfully written, although the story line made me sadder.  He has quite a few books out so I'm excited to plow through all of them. 

Meeka introduced me to Kate Morton.  Holy cow.  After I finished The Forgotten Garden I closed the book and literally felt like I was coming up for air.  Like I had been gone for a few months and had to take a few minutes (hours) to reorient myself as to where I was and what I was supposed to be doing.  I own three of her books now (because I love reading books over and over again).  Two I got at Powell's and one I got for FREE from the paperback exchange at the library.  If you like books you need to try this author.  The only sad thing is she doesn't have very many books out yet.  I say 'yet' with a hopeful tone.  I would be so sad if she never wrote anything again.  Although I imagine her brain has to get very tired coming up with the stories she does. 

I just checked out Desperate:  Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson.  Ann Voskamp wrote the foreword and she wrote, "I've been the mama who punished when I needed to pray.  Who hollered at kids when I needed to help them.  Who lunged onward when I needed to lean on Jesus.  I've lain in bed too scared to get up and ruin another day- ruin my kids."  So yeah, that spoke to me. 

I'm curious to read the J.K. Rowling book The Casual Vacancy, and also Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn because I feel like everyone but me has read that one. 

Christian likes any books with good pictures of trains, trucks, or tractors.  Sometimes cows and horses, but mostly he prefers machinery over animals.  His reading choices are really not that interesting. Moving on. 

Daphne really likes Pinkalicious.  I admit I'm a little torn on it because I really don't like that Pinkalicious disobeys her parents and sneaks cupcakes after she's told not to.  She seems a little whiny and bratty.  But Daph's pretty cute reciting the book:  "You must eat a steady diet of green food!"  We don't own any of the books but have gotten them quite a few times from the library.  The pictures are engaging and fun. They keep her entertained during her after-lunch-quiet-book-rest (that thing you do to kids who stop napping by age two).

Daphne can also almost completely recite Llama Llama Misses Mama, a story of little llama going off to preschool.  One afternoon I went out to get my haircut and Christian started crying like crazy, so Daphne told him, "Never fear, when day is through, she will come right back to you!"  It was sweet.  I highly recommend this book in particular if your child is having separation anxiety about school.  All the llama book by Anna Dewdney are charming and fun and have little nuggets of wisdom to pass on to kids.  We only own Misses Mama and Red Pajama, but they are classic enough that I would love to own all of them. 

I've heard a lot of great things about The Jesus Storybook Bible.  So many great things I kind of want to get it.  We have Read and Share Bible and I appreciate the Biblical accuracy in its stories.  Daphne told me that her Bible Study teacher told the class they only had to read a little bit of the Bible, but Daphne is determined that she needs needs to read the whole thing.  She's had this Bible with her almost constantly lately to prove that she can read the whole Bible.  She got this Bible for her 1st Christmas and hasn't tired of it yet, so I can definitely recommend it.  I would still like to try out the other one, though, too.

It's hard to imagine that in a year or so Daphne will be reading for herself.  I have a feeling she's going to be a little bookworm, and I try to picture her curled up with a book, quiet, for a few hours each day.  For some reason I don't think I will mind. 

Starbucks Reads My Blog

Almost exactly one year ago I found myself tiring of saying Pumpkin Spice Latte every time I talked about one (because I talk about them a lot), so I cleverly shortened it to PSL.  You can read all about that profound moment here.   Now what is all over Starbucks this year?  PSL this and PSL that.  And I STARTED it!  I really did!  What that means is somebody from Starbucks reads this blog.  And I should've copyrighted PSL. 

This week has been our first full week with our new schedule.  Daphne has school on Tuesday, BSF on Wednesday and school on Thursday, so she kind of thinks she gets to every-other-day this schedule all the time.  I picked her up from school today (Thursday) and she told me she's so excited to go to Bible Study again tomorrow.  I had to let her down gently that it doesn't quite work that way. 

She's learning stuff, though.  She told me there used to be a big blob and then God said "let there be light!" and now we have earth.  She tried saying "let there be light!" herself to see what would happen...and apparently she's not God because nothing happened. 

She is just getting slammed with the disappointments lately. 

Wednesday was Daphne's first day of BSF for the year, and the last year she gets to go with me.  Sniff.  David started going to the men's Monday night BSF so next year Daphne will go with him for the school age class.  We are one of the most BSFed families around.  I hope they put us on a poster. 

Christian started BSF on Tuesday because this year I get to be in leadership and leaders meet on Tuesdays.  Now he gets two days of crying hysterically as I leave him in classrooms instead of just one day.  He's so lucky.  We've started doing a "Yay BSF!  Yay teacher!" cheer to get him pumped up and excited.  I don't really know if it's working.

trying to get a First Day of BSF photo; it's not so good

First day of Mommy as a group leader, Christian in the 2's and Daphne in 4-6:

there's some first day panic in my eyes

And finally...I suppose this is big news...we're putting our house on the market at almost any time. Maybe even today if I get organized enough.  Tell all your house-hunting friends.    Do you think anyone will want to buy it?  I hope so.  Daphne says she wants to live here forever and ever (she wants everything 'forever and ever' these days) but she says she'll go with us to the new house if she can have bunnies there.  Bunnies?  Why does she think we're getting bunnies?  Please no bunnies. 

Once it sells we might be homeless for a time while we get things in order for our new house, so if you want us to live with you let me know.  I'm sure we would make the most excellent of roommates.