Pumpkin Patch

Saturday we went to a local pumpkin patch at Bobrook Farms.  Not only was it the girls' first pumpkin patch but it was a first for Kevin and me as well.  We went early, as soon as it opened, because of the girls' nap schedule and I am so glad we did.  Most of the time there was only two other families there which made it nice because there was plenty of room for the girls to explore without getting overwhelmed by crowds.   Before we left, bus loads of kids started coming in from church groups and more families appeared so I'm glad we had a chance to have a more relaxed and quiet experience.

 

Look how big they are getting.  Two and a half feet tall!  T's shirt says, "Give me candy or owl scare you" and D's says, "I'm bootiful" with a ghost on it.  They make such adorable Halloween shirts these days. 

 

The girls had a good time wandering around the pumpkin patch.  They got pretty dirty too, which I would have expected if I had really thought about it.  I mean, it is a farm--not one of those lot pumpkin patches in the city where the pumpkins are trucked in and displayed.  I had to do a load of laundry yesterday for all of our clothes and spent the beginning of nap time wiping mud and straw off shoes and boots. 

The girls enjoy their pumpkins.  We picked out two small ones and brought them home.   T likes them but D absolutely loves them.  D gives them hugs and kisses and cries when she has to leave them.  She picks them up and carrying them around the playroom one at a time and sets them on the couch.  They are pretty heavy too, about 3 lbs; so she is getting quite a workout. 

They liked the big pumpkins too but we already had one at home from the farmer's market.  So we left all the big pumpkins at the pumpkin patch.  Ours is sitting out on the stairs in front of the house and the girls can see it from their playroom window.  They say bye to it as we back out the driveway when we head somewhere.  It is adorable. 

 

Momma with her little pumpkins and a nice big pumpkin. 

 

The drought this year killed the corn maze but there was still a sunflower maze.  It was beautiful.  The girls got to watch the honey bees collecting pollen.  It is their first time seeing a real live bee.  When we read about bees in their books, I always do the buzzing noise and then 'sting' them (tickle them).  So its nice for them to be able to associate it with something real, although they will be shocked the first time they are actually stung . . . it's not a fun tickle, that's for sure. 

 

 

Dadda and his girls surrounded by a field of sunflowers.

 

We also got to play in a corn pit and go on a hayride.  The girls were really unsteady in the corn pit, so they mostly just stood in place and picked up handfuls of corn and then eventually fell on their bottoms.  The hayride was a nice ride past the berry bushes that we picked blueberries from this May, and more pumpkins and fields and farm equipment and scarecrows.

 

We had a great morning at the pumpkin patch.  It'll be a lot of fun next year, when they can run around more. 

 

 

Fall Knitting Projects

I have been knitting when I can and have gotten a few projects done over the past few weeks.  The girls are slowly learning not to grab at Momma's yarn and needles so I can get some knitting done while I watch them which is helpful.  Some are gifts, others are for the girls and hopefully soon I'll get to knit something for me. 

 

 

I knitted three basic wash cloths out of cotton yarn for my cousin who just had a baby girl.  I got two and a half washcloths out of one ball of yarn.  I just loved the colors on it for a baby girl: Peaches and Cream Azalea.  I finished the incomplete washcloth with a yellow, green, white of the same brand of yarn.  Wrap them in each other like a rose petals and the odd color washcloth becomes a leaf.  A friend had knitted a few of them for my girls last year and they are great for bath time.

 

 

My nephew turns TWO the day after tomorrow.  Hard to believe it; he's such a big boy.  Since his birthday is in October, I wanted to knit him something he could use for Halloween.  I got the pattern from Jean Adel's book of Knitted Critters.  Some of them are so adorable.  But the sizing seems too small.  It is supposed to be for a three year old and yet it fits the girls just fine.  So I hope Holden will be able to get some use out of it before he gets too big. 

 

I did alter the mittens.  In the pattern the mittens have ears and a stripe which I thought looked silly.  Instead I knitted up a plain mitten and I glued felt paws on with a glue gun.  It turned out adorable.  We'll see if he'll actually wear them though.  You never know how much they will cooperate.

 

 

 

For my mother's birthday, I knitted her a scarf out of a lace weight mohair/ silk blend yarn.  It turned out beautiful and is such a nice deep purple color.  I love how this yarn looks but it is such a pain to work with.  Beautiful but so frustrating.  I have a couple more balls in a deep red that I want to knit up for me, but I need a break from it for awhile.





 

Colder days are here and my babies need protection from the chill.  So I set to work on these basic roll brim hats to keep their noggins warm.  I used Lion Brand's Amazing yarn which is really pretty with its changing colors. 

 



 

I ran out of the ball of yarn I was using called Pink Sand so I switched over to Vineyard to finish off the hat that Tess is modelling.  It looks a little odd but still nice so I'm leaving it.  

 

 

And then there are pumpkin and acorn squash seeds.  I did not knit them, or eat them while knitting since the oil would make a mess, but I did bake them and enjoy them so much. Thought I'd throw them in here.

 

Happy fall and happy crafting!

October is Here

Even with the slightly cooler days of September, it really doesn't feel like fall until October.   That's really when you start to notice that some trees are starting to change their leaves.  I can see one of our oak trees out the bedroom window and one branch has begun to change.  It makes me smile every time I glance out an see it. 

We have had some cooler days.  The girls and I have been wearing socks in the house during the mornings and evenings.  And I've started drinking tea in the mornings again.  I miss tea during the long hot summer months when it is too warm outside to enjoy it. 

October 1st is also when I allow myself to put up fall decorations, although I cheated this year.  I saw that the neighbors across the street had put up their decorations the last Saturday of September and since Kevin was home to keep an eye on the girls, I followed suit.

I'm excited to take the girls to their first pumpkin patch in a couple weeks. 

Little Rock Zoo in Fall

We had beautiful weather here in Little Rock on Sunday.  To celebrate, we went to the zoo.  And thanks to the wonderful Central Arkansas Library system, we were able to get the girls in free with our library cards this month.  That saved us $14.   

 

 

The girls got to watching monkeys play around and koi swimming in the moat.  Some of those koi are really big.  And the girls made the 'ooh ooh' monkey sound.  Momma's little monkeys.

  

The girls liked watching the penguins and kept saying 'wa' for waddle even though the penguins were swimming, not waddling.  It is a neat exhibit.  Both times we've gone there have been penguins swimming right in front of us at the glass.

 

 This male gorilla was putting on quite a show for us, charging back and forth.  He kept looking up at all the people watching him.  Something in his look made me feel guilty that he is penned up and exhibited for people's pleasure.  With the other animals, like the tiger, I looked in their eyes and it didn't bother me.  But the gorilla's gaze held too much understanding and it just didn't feel right. 

Last time we went to the zoo the girls were only 9 months old so they did not get much from the trip.  This time though they were much more interested in the actual animals (instead of other kids watching the animals although they were still occasionally distracted by them).  We were also able to let them out of the stroller more so they could toddle around and explore that way.  D got to watch a giraffe bending down to eat some leaves off the ground.  The giraffe looked very awkward doing it, but it was neat to see.

 

The lion family were all resting right by one of their enclosure's windows so we let the girls out of the stroller to watch them. I thought this was a good shot of T looking at the lioness.

 

We had a wonderful time at the zoo.  I think in the spring we will get the year family pass so we will go more often.   By then they will be walking a lot better.

Birds of a Feather: Halloween Costumes, Early Stages

After asking everyone on Facebook for good story character costume ideas for the girls, I naturally decided to go with something entirely different.  Thank you to everyone who contributed ideas though, I may use them in the future. 

 

I saw this beautiful peacock costume on Pinterest and decided that the girls should be birds.  T will be the resplendent peacock (and we'll just ignore the fact that the male peacocks are the colorful ones, not the females).  And D, since she now says "ow"  and "hoo", will be an owl. 

 

The base of both costumes will be the same, just different colors.  Following the peacock costume tutorial I made a shirt pattern from one of the girls 2T shirts I bought for the fall and winter.  It was my first time making a pattern from one of their existing shirts and I'm very proud of  how well it turned out. 

 

It was also my very first time really sewing with a stretchy knit fabric.  Although the stitches are a mess, the shirt actually turned out great.   I needed to buy special ballpoint needles to work with the fabric which helped a little.  I think having the special foot for my machine would also be helpful but I haven't gotten it.  Perhaps I should, since the knit fabric turned out so well, I may want to make more cloths for the girls and myself out of knits.

 

 

Here is T's shirt all done except for the neckline and hood. I decided to go with a hood for two reasons:  I think the hoods will be less annoying than a mask and if they pull them off, at least they are still attached.  They won't get lost and I won't be bending down to pick them up every few seconds. 

 

I haven't sewn D's shirt yet but it is all cut out in the tan color and pinned.  I still need to decide how I want to do her costume's feathers and tail.  I think she should have the nylon tulle and felt feathers as wings instead of a tail like the peacock, or maybe with a smaller tail.  I'll have to play around with it and see what looks good. 

 

I drew the pattern for the hood by getting ideas for the rough size and shape online. I cut out and sewed a mock up that turned out too small and had a funny bulge in the back. But it was easy to fix.

Now T's shirt is finished except for the neckline.  I have also cut out the peacock's beak and tail feathers out of felt.  I'll need to sew the tail feathers together, sew them to the ribbons and attach them to the half tutu tail.  I also have to cut out and sew the skirt.  And get going on D's owl.  Lots to do and a little over one month to get it done.

Farmer's Market Bounty

We have been spending our Saturday mornings at the River Market while we can. Our bounty last week was beautiful, juicy peaches and lots of vegetables for a healthy stir fry.

 

I made peach crumble out of most of the peaches, adapting Ina Garten's plum crumble recipe.  Her recipe is one I have used countless time over the years adapting it to what ever fruits I have on hand.  The peaches were so flavorful and juicy.  They make me resent the flavorless store bought peaches we get most of the year.

 

The crumble crust is mixed up with butter and the peaches are all set with lime juice, flour and sugar. 

 

All put together and ready for 40 minutes in the oven.  I really should have used more peaches because the crumble crust was pretty thick but I wanted to save a couple for the girls to eat throughout the week.  And they really love the peaches!

Add a dollop of ice cream and you have a delicious summer bowl of fruity, crunchy perfection.

And the vegetables . . . let's not forget about the vegetables.  Organic carrots, green beans, red bell pepper, and bamboo spinach.  So fresh and colorful.

 

Eggplant, red bell pepper and bamboo spinach all prepped for the pan.

 

To fry with all the veggies, I rehydrated chick peas (garbanzo beans) over night.  I boiled them in a frying pan with water until it all evaporated.  Then I added a tablespoon of canola oil and fried them.  Frying them instead of just boiling them really gives them a better depth of flavor and more pleasing texture.

Kevin made the stir fry so I can't tell you all the went into it.  I know he added onions and probably soy sauce, the rest is a mystery.

But it turned out delicious, so flavorful.  Served over a bed of rice, it made a delicious and healthy meal.  We'll continue going to the farmers' market on the weekends that Kevin is off until the season is over. 

Pinnacle Mountain

We used to go hiking every so often up to the peak at Pinnacle Mountain State Park before the girls were born.  We'd bring Anna with us even though some of the rocky areas were a little slippery at times.  The views from the top were beautiful.  That of course stopped when I got pregnant.  We had seen pregnant women hiking to the peak every once in a while and I thought I'd be doing that too.  But there was no way I could make it up there even at four months along, no way. 

 

But now we get to go back to Pinnacle Mountain and have a much different experience than we use to have.  There is an nice little playground right off the parking lot for the west summit trail.  The girls had a lot of fun experiencing it for their first time last week. 

 

Here is D playing around the mushroom stools.  I went to the playground again today with a friend and actually sat both D and T on those stools without hovering over them terrified they would fall . . . very proud of myself. 

 Miss T is thinking about climbing up.  She later decided stairs were easier and went up another way instead.

Most of the time they toddled around.  They stumbled up to the different play structures and would check them out then waddle on to another one or just plunk down and examine the wood chips and foam pathways.

Playing with the wood chips.  And eating in too.  Why does everything have to go into the mouth? 

Miss D sat on the stump stool all by herself. It is amazing how fast they learn new things.

Next to the playground is a 1/2 mile paved loop trail that I never realized was there.  I had vaguely thought something was over there but never paid enough attention when we were going up to the peak.  It is a nice little trail though showing a wetland habitat.  Some of the trees are amazingly huge and have all sorts of interesting shapes.

 

Have to be careful to check for ticks afterward though.  I found one crawling on me when we got back to the car and subsequently bathed the girls and combed the dog when we got home just in case.

 

Today my friend and I ran into an angry snake crossing the path.  It wouldn't move so we turned back the way we came instead.  It was similar to a rattlesnake but shorter in length and sans rattle.  I'm thinking it was most likely a cottonmouth.  It was definitely not a happy snake.

Pinnacle Mountain is nice area and I am so glad we have found a way to go back there again with the girls.  As they grow we will tackle the more difficult trails again.