Ah Fall...

Well, this past week has been a good one overall.  Fall has arrived and we've got great fall weather.  We are really starting to see trees change color and lose their leaves.  With all the rain we've gotten the past few days there are even some bare trees already. It is difficult to believe how much change happens so quickly.  Last week A and I went for a walk at the prairie.  I realize how much I've missed the prairie this summer and it was nice to get out and enjoy the crisp morning when I went.

playing with shadows on the fall flowers

Ready to walk with the fun sunglasses

I also managed to finish my quilt.  It isn't perfect by any means and I think only a few of the corners match up right, but it is done and A likes to drool all over it. I will never quilt with the gingham that I used again, but may use it for future bindings.  I like the pattern, so you will probably see many iterations of it. 

A is continuing her drooling and hopefully we will get to see some rewards to the teething soon.  We shall see as always. She has really started to work on sitting up and crawling. Today she was kind of doing a "downwards dog" (if you know yoga, it is basically having your hands and feet on the floor, with your rear end in the air, and looking toward your knees) but no real movement to speak of at that time.  As opposed to "army crawling" she is more "army pushing" with her legs. She is working on these skills enough that she jars herself awake at night sometimes. Here she is sitting up all on her own.

As we wrap up September we really don't have much going on.  Chris and I are continuing to put applications in and resumes out places, so hopefully something with break soon.  We are at least one day closer to landing a new job, so that's hopeful at least.

One other very fall thing I did this week as create a pumpkin pound cake.  It is quite tasty, recipe as follows:
3/4 C butter
1.5 C sugar
2 TBS vanilla
2 C Flour mixture (I used 1 C sorghum, 1/2 C oat, 1/2 C tapioca, 1/4 tsp gelatin, and 1 tsp guar gum)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
about 10 ounces of pumpkin
4 eggs

Cream (mixer on high setting) the butter and sugar for about five minutes -- make it creamy! Add the vanilla and cream a bit more.  Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing about a minute after each addition to ensure complete incorporation to existing batter.  While the butter and sugar are creaming, mix up the flour, baking soda, and spices in a separate bowl.  After adding the eggs, gradually add in the flour to the wet mixture. Add in the pumpkin as a last step.  Scrap down the sides of the bowl occasionally, but let it beat at a medium speed for about five minutes.  Distribute in muffin tin or bread tin, or however you want to cook it.  Cook it at 325 F for 30-60 minutes depending on tin used.

I prefer to use muffin tins for things because that gives up easy single serve portions that are easy to freeze/thaw.  Also, if I have to take bread/muffins/cakes etc on a trip it is super easy to have muffin sized things made.

I'm sure that this is the first of many things I will be exploring the use of pumpkin in.  I didn't quite use up my can of pumpkin, so I may try to make pumpkin waffles or something, we'll see. 

I hope that you all have a good week! See you in October!

Shots Part 2

We went to see the doc again today and A got her second round of shots.  She fears the needles and the team of nurses that come in with them.  She was kind of apprehensive of them this time around, so she may be learning to fear them. Her basic stats were quite good -- she had grown about 2 inches, so she's now over 2 feet tall! She's also 13 pounds 6 ounces, so she's long and skinny.  Big surprise.  She is now consistently rolling over whenever she wants.  She can go both front to back and back to front, but prefers to be on her stomach, so if you lay her down on her back it doesn't take long for her to end up on her stomach.  She is also starting to sit quite well if you place her.  She hasn't really started sitting up herself, but she's can sit there if you want her to for a bit.

I finished her quilt this week.  It took me a month to complete the project, so I feel good about that.  It is super cute and I'll make another one or two probably because it was fun.  It was also interesting that some of the sewing tricks don't work with quilting because of the precision needed for quilting. In reality I've been sewing a lot lately -- I've made A a jacket, some pants, a shirt and Chris a cape.  I'm starting a vest for Chris and a cape for me.  I hope to have them both done relatively soon so that we can be a wizard family for Halloween if the need arises. 

Chris is now done with the fourth week of school.  One of his minions left so it is just him, an undergraduate, and another fairly worthless minion. We have a fairly mixed up schedule these days so it is hard on everyone's sleep schedule.

That's really about it.  I need a nap and since A is asleep and I haven't heard which train Chris is on, my warm cuddly baby and I are going to sleep some.  :)

St Louis Pictures

Playing in Patterns

I've been doing a bit of sewing lately.  A year and change back I told Chris that if I had the time to make a Lucius Malfoy costume for him I would do it.  Since I'm home with A these days I have decided to work on it. I've finished his cape for the most part so I only have the doublet let to make.  Hopefully I can get it done by Halloween.

A seems to like to put paper things and cloth things in her mouth and this piece of pattern paper made a great tent for her.  She also discovered her toes in St Louis this past weekend.  She is also continuing to talk and regularly rolling over.  She prefers her stomach, so any time you lay her down on her back she will roll over to her stomach.  She then kicks her legs in sequence and tries to crawl.  She is also working very hard on sitting up unassisted.  She can sit with the boppy quite well these days, and with only back support for a few minutes.

Learning Rocky Top

Riding along

Reading the Lorax with Mama Sue

Bridge across the Mississippi

Family picture with the old courthouse

St Louis Arch on its side.  The photo doesn't seem to want to orient properly...

Arch shadow

Top of the Arch

Looking out over the Mississippi

These are some pictures from our Labor Day excursion to St Louis.  We were there because Kelly ended up back in the hospital for unknown pain.  She had some biopsies done but everyone seemed to be scratching their heads.  To get out of the hospital some (and since I've been wanting to do it for a while now, especially the past four years of driving through St Louis) we went to the arch.