Fall color

We live across the street from a tree farm. The color of the maples in the fall is pretty spectacular. I couldn't ask for a better view. We took a little walk in the afternoon sunshine to get a closer look.





In order to let me take pictures of him, he gets to take pictures of me. It's only fair.

Always on the run

We sure know how to pack a ton of stuff into a weekend. This one was full of birthday celebrations – 8-year-old Emma and 21-year-old Eddie. There was also a visit to the farmers market, soccer practice, a little gardening, chicken care, and some honey bottling. We got another four and a half gallons from Ramona, which wraps up the harvest for the year. And on top of all that, we ran. Nate is just a couple of weeks away from running the Chicago marathon, so he put in a long run this morning. I did a nice little sunset run last night. (My favorite time to run. It's beautiful out here.) And Walter participated in his first race event today at the zoo. He was runner number 86 in the Roo Run Run. Honestly, it was kind of a disorganized mess of people, but he had fun and we supported our zoo. He wore his finisher medal all day. I didn't bother hauling my big camera around this weekend, so I just have a few Instagram photos to share. "The best camera is the one that's with you."

Fall knitting

Funny how the weather gets a little cooler and I get the itch to knit and knit and knit some more. It started with a hat – a baby gift for a friend. The yarn for that hat was so lovely that I decided to use the rest of the skein to knit up a little something for me – a pair of fingerless gloves to keep my hands warm on Saturday mornings while I'm shivering on the sidelines of the soccer fields. The pattern is Blue Monday and they were a super quick knit. It helped that I had a day off and got in a little knitting time while Walter played in his treehouse.

Turns out that photographing gloves on my own hands is harder than knitting them. After several failed attempts with the timer and the tripod, I finally handed the camera over to Walter. He did a great job!


I don't have any photos of the baby hat because the baby decided to join us a few weeks earlier than scheduled. I handed over his hat before I got a chance to take pictures of it. But I've got some something even better. Welcome to the world, Parker! Isn't he a cutie?

Soccer Saturdays

He got up this morning, had a high-carb breakfast of waffles with sprinkles, pulled his shin guards over his skinny little legs, and headed to the field. He has been waiting for this day for so long. And he loved it.

Triple word score

Walter chooses his own clothes each morning. He has some very strong opinions about what he will and will not wear. So when I made him this shirt for his fourth birthday I wasn't surprised when he said he liked it, but then said he would NEVER wear it. Once he decides he will NEVER do something, he pretty much sticks to that decision. But today he surprised me. Exactly three months later, he appeared in front of me this morning wearing his new birthday shirt!


It seemed to work well for all of his adventures today. Now for the real test: will he wear it again?

Tomato, tomato, tomato

There are things Nate will help with in the kitchen, but canning is not one of them. So I picked a weekend when he was working and I recruited my mom to help me can tomatoes. The tomatoes in my garden failed miserably, so we went down to the farmer's market and bought our supply from the local farmers with real tomato-growing talent. Two boxes of romas, 25 pounds each, and a 25 pound box of round red something or others, for a grand total of 75 pounds of tomatoes. Yowza! About 25 pounds in we had one of those "what were we thinking?" moments, but we kept on. Scalding, peeling, seeding, chopping. And a measly 10 hours later, we were finished! Sounds crazy, I know. But a day spent hanging out with my mom in the kitchen was a pretty great day. And both of our pantries are now stocked with tomatoes and sauce. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. Even Walter had a pretty great day. He helped as much as he could and busied himself with puzzles and art projects the rest of the time. I don't think I heard a whine from him all day. And the kid doesn't even like tomatoes. 

Back to school

Walter had his first day of 4K (4-year-old kindergarten) today! 4K is held in the same classroom that he's been in all summer for preschool, so he was familiar with his surroundings and knew some of the kids already. But he had two new teachers and a bunch of new kids to meet. And he had a great time!
Here he is on his first day. 

He's got the same cheeser smile that he had last year. 
This was the "real" Walter this morning. "Are you done, Mama? Can we go now?" 

Why is he in such a hurry to grow up?

5 weeks old

Since it's nice and warm outside, the chicks have been spending their days in the (totally finished!) coop. Ok, ok. There are still some tiny finishing touches to be done, but it's totally habitable, and that's the most important thing. We worry about it's security, since we have so many predators to worry about out here, but Nate has done everything he can to ensure their safety. Today, one last window adjustment to be sure the critters can't get in.

In other chicken news, we have some names that seem to be sticking. Walter's favorite is now "Love."

My favorite is "Marshmallow Fluff," but we call her "Fluffy." The Buff Orpingtons are both "Chirpy." I say both because we can't tell them apart.

The Rhode Island Reds are both "Charlie Shortino." Charlie Shortino is a local meteorologist at NBC 15 News. I don't know how Walter came up with that one, but it made me laugh, so I say we stick with it.

We still don't have names for the Australorps (the black ones). But we are open to suggestions.
Walter is so great with the birds. He loves to help with all the chicken chores. He handles them gently and talks to them sweetly. He used my phone this morning to take some shots of his own.

He got this one of Fluffy, with a very curious Molly keeping a close watch on her.

Sorry, Molly, no chicken for you. But we'll throw a little extra love your way.