Tuesday Tunes

Boy Falls From The Sky

Picking Time

We managed to hold the kids off until the first weekend of October. I think that's a pretty respectable start, especially considering that Ben has been wanting to pick a pumpkin since mid-September. He's been pushing to take out the Halloween decorations too - so it might be time to start digging out the boxes in the garage. Anyway, our first Halloween activity this year was a success.

We visited a local farm and had a decent crop of Pumpkins to choose from. They did not have any apples though, not many of the farms in the area do this year. I love apple picking each fall, I look forward to it every year. This year however, thanks to an early warm up in the spring and then a sudden frost in May, a huge percentage of the crops at all of our local farms did not make it through the growing season. In fact, at this farm that we visited on Saturday, they had to have their apples brought in from another farm so they had some to sell in the gift shop area.
We won't give up though, there is a farm about 40 minutes away with a great crop this year and tons of PYO. Now to get ourselves in the car and head over there when it's not raining!

The boys each picked out their own pumpkin, and Nate generously picked out a smallish one for Sydney. She thought the stem was very tasty. We'll hold off carving them for a few more weeks, and in that time focus on putting up decorations, narrowing down costumes for trick or treating and even pick some apples. I'm sure we'll probably end up with a few more pumpkins along the way too. Our favorite holiday is coming up!!!

The Present

Tuesday Tunes

Grow up now
My darlin
Please don't you grow up too fast
And be sure, darlin
To make all the good times last

For the soon-to-be Birthday Girl! I can't write anymore than that because tears are blocking my view of the monitor.



My Darling - Wilco
Go back to sleep now
My darlin
And I'll keep all the bad dreams away
Breathe now, think sweet things
And I'll think of all the right words to say

Because we made you
My darlin
With the love in each of our hearts
We were a family, my darlin
Right from the start

Grow up now
My darlin
Please don't you grow up too fast
And be sure, darlin
To make all the good times last

Because we made you
My darlin
With the love in each of our hearts
We were a family, my darlin
Right from the start

Homemade Day

It's officially Fall here. I know that for a couple reasons.

1) We've just had a stomach bug go through the whole family (with the exception of Syda, thank you Breastfeeding!) and 2) It's rainy, cool and dreary here and will be for the next three days or so. I take these as classic signs that the fall has begun and it's time to take refuge inside more often.

To entertain myself and the kids today, I pulled out the homemade stops. I started the day making Play Doh at 8am. That only took about 10 minutes to make and has given Nate close to two hours of enjoyment. We then went on to making Chocolate Chip cookies. Not the easiest thing with preschool and toddler assistants, but fun and yummy in the end!




We'll finish the day up with some homemade pizza for dinner. This crust is our new go-to recipe. The whole family loves it! It's really tasty and super easy, even though bread machine dough is easy to begin with, this one is just perfect! Now, the rush to finish up some homemade birthday gifts for the young lady of the house - that'll start long after dinnertime though.

Tuesday Tunes

I'm going to knit myself a sweater.
A sweater that will keep me warm at night.
Just how many days here must I weather?
Just biding my time...

The Knitting Song - Sophie Madeleine

I'm going to knit myself a sweater.
A sweater that will keep me warm at night.
Just how many days here must I weather?
Just biding my time...
'cause when I call you on the phone,
I'm still lost, I'm still alone.
Who's going to make it right? (Oooh wah ooh)
Who's going to make it right? (Oooh wah ooh)

I'm going to write myself a letter.
A letter that will make me feel alright.
I'll read it to myself five times or seven.
But I can't deny
I'm going to need a little more than just some thought that I adore to keep me warm at night. (Oooh wah ooh)
To keep me warm at night. (Oooh wah ooh)

Nine days don't amount to much when you cross them off a wall.
And I thought I was out of luck 'til you came along and made me fall.
Now there's nothing more to say, since you left and gone away.
And I just don't think I'll get through the night.

Because I need a little more than just some thought
that I adore to keep me warm at night. (Oooh wah ooh)
Oh keep me warm at night. (Oooh wah ooh)

Because I need a little more than just some thought that I adore to keep me warm at night. (Oooh wah ooh)
Oh keep me warm at night. (Oooh wah ooh)

Partying

Well, we're in the thick of it now folks! It's the middle of September, which means two birthdays down, one to go. But who's counting? Well, our little boy was up until a few days ago. Actually, he's still counting, the question has just changed from, "When will I be four?" to, "How many days have I been four?"

First up was Dada's birthday which featured Monster Cupcakes. We honor all cake requests on birthdays and Tim decided he wanted monster related cupcakes (NOT cake) for his celebration. He and the boys did a fine job creating some funny, creepy and weird looking dudes. I think it's safe to say they had more fun decorating than eating them because each monster was stripped of his/her decorative marshmallows, twizzlers and candies before being consumed. My guys are purists I guess, frosting and cake only.









Nate's cake was furnished by the Dada bakery. He did all of the frosting and decorating. I had fully expected Nate to go for the Perry The Platypus cake that I was planning to make him, but the week of his birthday he changed his mind and insisted on Batman. I'm really not sure where the sudden interest in Batman is coming from. He doesn't watch Batman cartoons (or ask to) but this year, a Batman cake was a must. I'm still hoping for a Perry cake sometime, maybe I can talk Ben into it.





Nate's Brobee Hat
I had also expected he might ask for a Yo Gabba Gabba caek, but no. At least he didn't ask for a Batman hat, I'm not sure what that pattern looks like, but I'm sure it involves charting and I am not up for that yet.

The best present of the day (tied for first with his Buzz Lightyear) was this scooter that Tim & I found. The week before Tim & I went shopping for Nate's presents he asked for a scooter for his birthday. Specifically, he wanted a scooter with three wheels and Spiderman on it (again, not sure where Spiderman comes from, assuming he snuck in with Batman). We didn't promise anything, and honestly, we weren't even going to look for one because we had just bought bikes for both boys in May. Also, we live in Maine, so there's not a long season of bike and scooter riding and we're nearing the end of it. We set off on our shopping adventures, and we went to Goodwill looking for Halloween costumes to fill up a Dress UP Box for Nate. No luck in that department but what did we find in the Toy section? A Razor scooter with three wheels for $2.99! Yeah, we're cheap like that and proud of it. Because really, does Nate know or care that it was three dollars? Does it lessen the joy that he'll get out of it? Did it leave more money in our wallet so we were able to get him some other rocking presents? This was the score of the birthday season in my book. He loves that scooter, loves it! I mean just look at the proof below.