happy halloween!

"It's a barn house."
"A bone house?"
"No, a barn house."
"A bird house?"
"No, a BARN house."
"Oh! A barn house. Made out of bones."
"Yes. It's the bones of a barn house that died."

pumpkin hunting, part three

I think all our energy this year definitely went to pre-Halloween celebrations, and now that Halloween is almost here I'm a little partied out. Focusing on food is so much more inspiring to me right now than costumes, but it might also be because on the costume-front, I definitely peaked last year. Sorry, Oscar, but you were there in utero at least.

So our final pumpkin hunt was at my parents house out in Sherwood, where they had grown their own little patch of gigantic Cinderella pumpkins. They're idea was to have this patch for carving for the grandkids, but then they decided to go out of town for all of October and I started telling them about how great Cinderella pumpkins are supposed to be for eating, and the story unfolded from there.

I wanted to experiment with cooking pumpkins and Sarah wanted to carve some pumpkins, so we put our plans together and threw a big harvest party. We practiced the weekend before with splitting open a pumpkin and baking it in the oven for homemade puree, and between the two of us we turned that puree (followed by the puree of several more pumpkins) into a table full of delights:

crackers with pumpkin herb cream cheese dip
pumpkin gougeres
pumpkin muffins
black bean pumpkin soup
fettuccine with pumpkin cream sauce
pumpkin gnocchi with sage butter sauce


There was also spiced apple cider and hot goat cheese and pork with cider and prunes that was cooked for hours and gobbled up nearly the moment it hit the table (and I'm not embarrassed to tell you that I was not the only one picking bits of well-done meat from the bowl of skimmed fat long after dinner was over).

Then we sat by the fire and rubbed our bellies. Or, that's what I did.

It was really good.

missing nana and papa

Nana and Papa have been on a month-long adventure to Vietnam since the end of September. We've checked out a few books from the library about Vietnam, and we've Skyped a few times, and we've talked a little bit about how since the earth is round (we saw a gigantic globe at OMSI) it is morning time for us when it is night time for Nana and Papa.

As we were leaving Sauvie Island a few weeks ago after the first pumpkin hunting, Lucy looked down over the river with the long grassy bank and a few docks, pointed and said: "That's Vietnam!"

It took a little while since we don't see them every day, and since some other exciting things--like Gramme and Grandpa and preschool--have happened this month, but about a week and a half ago Lucy really started to miss Nana and Papa. She found some stationary I have around and asked me to dictate a note, then she found a stamp and put it in the mailbox for the postman.

Nana and Papa are flying back today, so I can finally post her letter without ruining the surprise:

Dear Nana and Papa,

I miss you. Can you come back today? Do you want to come back now?

Do you really want to come back?

Please can you really really really come back now?

Nana and Papa, do you want to go on a trip with me to OMSI? Do you really want to go to OMSI with me?

Do you want to come to my house again with Titi? Do you really really really want to come back with me to Titi?

Santa Claus is going to come to your house, dear Nana and Papa.

I love Nana and Papa, I love Nana and Papa, I love Nana and Papa I wish that they were here because I miss them.

Do you love me, do you love Mama, do you love Daddy.

Lucy

what celebrity DO YOU look like?

pumpkin hunting, part two

After the weekend trip to Sauvie Island with neighbors and friends, we followed up later that week with a farm tour with Lucy's playschool class. Farmer Don gave them a talk about farming and growing vegetables, all of which one particular 4-year old in her class could identify by name (so that is who has been eating Lucy's share of Brussels sprouts!), then we took a wagon ride out to the sugar pumpkin field where each kid was allowed to pick two pumpkins to take home. Lucy wandered off to the far edges of the field by herself, and eventually a new friend Fern ran after her. She wasn't that interested in selecting pumpkins, so we helped her out.

Later, she and Fern and Cora had a great time splashing in the mud puddles, though Fern clearly showed the most dedication with her absolute glee after a full drenching in mud (Lucy, who had been lockstep with the celebration up until that point, looked on suspiciously as Fern's mom helped dry her off).

Then on on to a snack of pumpkin muffins and several rounds of chase, ring around the Rosie, and hide and seek. Then hugs (I'm sure gonna miss you, Cora! I'm sure gonna miss YOU, Fern!"), some more chasing, and some Oscar smiles, and we all made our way home.

friday cute shot

pumpkin hunting, part one (happy Oscoberfest!)

This year we joined our neighbors once again for their annual October breakfast and trip to Sauvie Island to hunt for pumpkins. This one was scheduled for October 13, so we decided to call it Oscoberfest, in honor of Oscar's half-birthday.

I realized that morning that this was the first year of pumpkin wearing when I haven't been able to pick out Lucy's outfit. I was pulling for a Gunne-sax style prairie dress that I thought would look really cute with dirt and rainboots, but she chose her tutu dress (you may have seen these dresses in a lot of pictures around here lately) and a pink hoodie which, as is typical, turned out to be a very stylish and photogenic selection.

There was some puddle-jumping, which reminded me of last year.

 

While we waited for the hay ride, Lucy rode her second pony ever with unbridled excitement. (Hee!) She had a bit of a stubborn pony, but she was patient, and one of the horsewomen walked right next to her and gave her some tips on how to give the pony a little kick with her heel to encourage him to move. So it was kind of like her first horseback riding lesson too. And also, probably her last, because I cannot afford for her to be very into horses.

After we lost patience waiting for the once-an-hour hayride and decided to just walk out the pumpkin patch, Lucy got another ride: this time on her Daddy's shoulders.

When that got boring, they switched places. Sort of.

The first field we came to was full of tiny pumpkins, which Lucy immediately started loading into the wagon, starting with the ones closest to her feet. An older girl that was with us, Savannah, took Lucy and Luca under her wing to guide a more discriminating search.

After awhile we decided those pumpkins were too small and kept moving. The final pumpkin patch itself was pretty great, definitely the best one we've been to since Lucy was born. The pumpkins were still attached to the vines and the field was in a state of slightly spooky decay, and there were wonderful tiny tree frogs hopping everywhere.The kids chased frogs and the grown-ups found sufficiently large or gnarled pumpkins, and then we all went home.

(On the way out Lucy said: "All the vines are dying!" I told her it was okay, it was just the time of year when the vines die because the pumpkins are done growing, but she said "But I feel sad for the vines!")

halloween costume ideas

A dinosaur skeleton.

I'm going to be a ghost!

I'm going to be a big bad wolf and you're going to be little red riding hood and Oscar's going to be a talking sandwich.

I want a tiger candy because I'm going to be a hungry tiger. We're all going to be hungry tigers.

A talking pumpkin.

A great pumpkin.

A great princess that lives in a castle. Oscar can be a great pumpkin, and you can be Great Sausages!

A skeleton princess. We could dig for dinosaur bones!

 

apple picking

Fall is here, and I kind of feel like we've taken October by storm. So far we've roasted plums, picked apples, had a few fires in the fireplace, slow cooked pork and short ribs, and visited a pumpkin patch twice.

Here are some pictures from our apple picking adventure with friends. Lucy and Lilac had a great time running around the orchard grabbing apples and throwing them into the wagons. Oscar took a nap and Mazzy tried to keep up. Lilac was big on tasting each apple before putting it into the wagon, so Chip and Rachel ended up buying a bunch of apples with tiny bites taken out of them. Fortunately for us, Lucy's lack of fruit-love paid off again as our apples were sometimes bruised by enthusiasm but mostly whole.

Later, at dinner, we were all saying what our favorite part of the day had been, and Lucy said hers was picking apples and eating them. I told her I didn't remember her eating any apples, but she said Lilac ate them which was apparently practically the same thing.

We came away with a bag of concord grapes and about fifteen pounds of apples but without my cellphone which I dropped in the makeshift overflow parking field. Someone turned it in but it took me a week to get it back, during which time I missed almost no calls and texts. Being largely antisocial pays off!

friday cute shot