September Moments

September 1, 2009

I wasn't sure that our corn would be edible. It seemed to grow slowly. I had noticed that the stalks were shorter than any corn I'd ever seen. To my surprise, however, we enjoyed scrumptious corn. I love the white corn the best & Rilla seemed to agree as she munched on it raw:)
September 3, 2009

Tessa, Nathan, Rilla, & I went on a walk together. Actually, I was the only one who walked. Nate & Rilla rode in the stroller & Tessa rode her bike. She didn't want to leave Dash behind at home so he got a special ride in her basket. Tessa loved all the attention from friends whom we saw on our excursion.
Doesn't Dash seem to love it just as much as Tessa did?

September 9, 2009
Oh, love the baby!

September 11, 2009

As a farewell to summer we enjoyed a backyard camp-out complete with an outdoor cook-out:)
I enjoyed all the campfire fun with the bonus of being able to sleep in my own bed while everyone else slept outside in the tent. Having a baby is nice.

There is something magical about eating a hot dog that you've roasted yourself over a fire. Mmmm! And s'mores for dessert!
Emma accompanied us with her repertoire of two songs: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star & London Bridges.
And, cooking or playing in the fire is a nice time to meditate & reflect or unwind & bond.

September 13, 2009

Nathan was so excited to show me the "S" he made on the floor with his fruit roll-up trash :)

September 19, 2009/Garden Bounty

I am so happy my garden did well enough for me to can some spaghetti sauce. There is something so fulfilling in growing and preserving your own food. My children even boosted my spirits as they asked, "Mom, what stuff did you grow yourself to make the sauce?" I happily answered, "Everything." "Mom, what about the spices?" "OK, the onions, garlic, basil, oregano, peppers, tomatoes, & parsley came from our garden. The salt & pepper did not." :)
And, the jars are so pretty on my pantry shelf :)

We were blessed with three varieties of watermelons. Each one was scrumptious! My favorite was the seedless.

And we also grew some other yummy melons. Wish I could remember what kinds they were...
Ray was kind to make this garden tee-pee for me to grow gourds on. I ended up with pumpkins & cucumbers instead of gourds :) And, they were lovely!
September 22, 2009

Today at preschool, Rilla, proudly swiped an apple off of the table and began to eat it as quickly as possible. Apples are her favorite fruit.
September 24, 2009
The Fall Festival
Before Nathan & Rilla, my yearly commitment to the Elemenary School's Fall Festival was to run the Cake Decorating Contest. My first year out-of-commission the Cake Contest became the Pop Bottle Decorating Contest. This year I was recruited to run it. Having not seen it done I was a bit apprehensive and yet I agreed to run it since I'd been unable to help for the past 3 years. Guilt is a huge motivator in my life. Since I was in charge I felt obligated to have my 3 children participate. To our surprise 2 of them won prizes :) And, I was not a judge :) Now that it is over & the prizes all awarded, I feel a great sense of relief, but a bit curious to see if I'll be persuaded to head it up next year as well...I suppose it could be worse:)
Tessa's Pop Bottle Creation: She was feeling a bit blue since Minnie had fallen off on the way to school & she wasn't re-attaching easily...
Noah made his bottle a Darth Vader. He was quite pleased with it, but refused to be seen posing with it for a photograph.

Emma fashioned her version of Miss Piggy complete with jewelry she made herself. Emma was a bit frustrated with me that I wouldn't purchase false eyelashes to enhance Piggy's look. Both she and Tessa were so attached to their bottles, I caved and bought them back from the school.

September 28, 2009--Our last "Summer Night"

We had a family Harvest Event. The cold was coming and I wanted to pick as many things as possible before a frost. Tessa was hilarious as she helped me pick pumpkins & tomatoes. She would hold each one up in the air exclaiming, "Look! Another prize winner!" What makes it funnier is that her prize winners were the small grape tomatoes and mini pumpkins. I am glad that she felt as much love towards our garden as I do though :)

While some of us worked, others played...

Emma's "Prize Winner": it has to be the smallest pumpkin I've ever seen & so cute.
My prize winner: My Big Max pumpkin proudly weighed in at 55 pounds and courageously hung on from a rope on my 8 foot tepee. Tessa was given a coupon for a free pumpkin at the grocery store and so we picked out the biggest one we could find: It only weighed 30 pounds :)

More canning...Yummy Pears!
A rare sight:
Nathan crashing at the dinner table at the end of a hard day's work :)

September was also the month I finished a quilt for a friend. Thank you Grandma for your expertise stitching assistance! Thank you Kara, Annie, & Kim for help with the embroidering! My only hope is that is somehow conveys all the love we feel for our sweet sister & friend.