Pumpkins

The other day, we loaded up our three pumpkins and went pick out some carving pumpkins.  I like taking the to Don Abel's, a locally owned hardware store.  Each year before Halloween, they decorate their garden center into a sort of pumpkin patch.  It's the closest thing our kids will ever have in Juneau to going out to a farm and picking a pumpkin. *sigh*  I have fond memories of my own kindergarten field trip to the pumpkin patch.  I suppose instead of farm experiences, our kids will have glacier, bear viewing, halibut fishing, and mountain climbing experiences.  Not too shabby, just different. 
Anyway, back to the pumpkin picking...here's the photo results.

Hot Chocolate Triple Chip Cookies

About two weeks ago, I made these lovely cookies. 

Tall glass of milk required.

Here's the recipe:
Hot Chocolate Triple Chip Cookies

Mmm, mmm, mmmm.  Totally delicious and they may just be my new favorite cookie.

I also made these again tonight to take to the Teen Retreat with the youth group from our church.  We're taking 17 teenagers to a camp Sunday afternoon through Monday (Mon is a teacher in-service as well as Alaska Day) to play games, sing songs, have devotionals, and hopefully encourage and strengthen their faith.  We're gonna need lots of chocolate for that task! :)  Good thing this recipe makes plenty.

I also made some Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies.  They turned out well and I would recommend them to interested bakers.  Especially those who are looking for more ways to use pumpkin in their fall baking.

Happy baking or eating!

Party Pics

The other evening we celebrated the little man's 3rd birthday with friends.  Since most of his little friends have a couple of siblings each, we decided to have the family party at the annex (fellowship hall) at our church building.  It gave the adults plenty of room to enjoy each others company and room for the kids to play.
We went with a construction truck theme since our little guy loves to watch them work.  It was a great theme for a little boy and pretty easy to plan, especially since I found a great party goods website this time around. Birthday Direct has low prices and a flat rate shipping fee--even to Alaska!  Plus, my order arrived FAST!  So I highly recommend them.

This is the cake I made for the occasion.  The little orange cones are the candles.  Aren't they cute?  And other than those candles, everything is edible.  The bulldozer blade was a granola bar and the "bars" connecting it to the front were pretzel rods.  The bulldozer itself was chocolate cake.  And yes, those back wheels were Ding Dongs.  I couldn't find them at the store, so I had to ask a clerk, "Um excuse me.  Where are the Twinkies and Ding Dongs?"  I felt so silly asking for something that is so...well, let's just admit it...unhealthy.  I know from childhood experiences that they taste good, but they can't be good for you.

 This is the cake that inspired the one I made.

 The boys--and the girls--enjoyed playing with the bucket of giant legos and trucks.  I was almost surprised with how long it occupied so many of them.

 There were also coloring sheets.

 There were also lots of babies.  Many of these families have had new additions in the past year.  This baby is all mine, though. :)

 Aunt Rachel had the magic touch.

 These three dads always crack me up at our get togethers.  They each have a three year old boy who are within three months of each other in age.  At every birthday party or get together, they "circle up" and exchange the latest hunting stories.  I guess it's no coincidence that the three little boys get along just as well as their dads do.

 After we had (moose) sloppy joes for dinner, it was time for cake.

 Followed by present time.

We had a great time celebrating and just hanging out with friends.  Thanks to all those who were able to come to the party.  And a big thanks to many family who sent cards and well wishes.  I really think he enjoyed his celebrations.

2 Months

It's been a week already since the little babe hit this milestone.  He's generally a happy baby and pretty easy to please.  In this past month he's moved on smiling, cooing, and recently laughing.  Daddy got him to start that.

By my rough calculations (bathroom scale with and without him) he's about 15 lbs already.  But really, is anyone surprised?  I'm definitely not.  But I'm very glad he's a happy, healthy boy.

The Little Man Turns 3

I suppose this may border on sounding cliche, but I truly can hardly believe that this little boy is three already.  Where does the time go?  This little guy is so much stinkin' fun.  He's definitely "all boy" and keeps us on our toes for sure.  I'll be the first to admit that he was not exactly an "easy" baby.  (Especially now that we have another baby in the house to compare his baby stage to.)  But he is a pretty easy little boy.  He obeys well, loves his brother and sister, plays pretty well with them, and generally aims to please. He likes spotting taxis, helicopters, and construction trucks as well as going to the park, helping momma cook, helping daddy work, and watching Dora. :)  Oh and he likes to help care for the chickens, especially petting them which they hesitantly tolerate.

Yesterday was his official birthday and we celebrated between sister getting home from school and daddy leaving for work.  Fortunately, Aunt Rachel's sleep and work schedule coordinated as well, so she joined us for the festivities.  It's so nice to have family in town.

 Getting ready to blow out the candles...breath in...

 breath in some more...

 and blow!

His cake is called a turtle cupcake pull apart cake.  I hadn't ever made one of these before, but it was pretty easy.  Just 12 cupcakes iced like one big cake.  I tried the vanilla cupcake recipe from this site and was pretty pleased with it.  Decorated with Betty Crocker's vanilla and chocolate buttercream frosting recipes.

 opening up some presents with Aunt Rachel's help

 Thanks Uncle T and Aunt Sharon

 Thanks Grandpa and Grandma!

And because I LOVE comparison shots and reminiscing, I browsed through our picture files and found some to mark the years this little guys has been in our lives.  What a true blessing he is.

BIRTH day 2007

 First Birthday...2008 

Digging into his cake with his chunky cheeks!

Days before his 2nd birthday...2009.

Happy 3rd birthday...2010.

Indian Summer

Just over a week ago now, marked the beginning of the end.  The end of a fabulous Indian summer in Juneau.  It was a summer ending that we've never experience here.  Sunshine, upper 60's to low 70's and a record breaking 12 consecutive days without rain!  The previous dry spell record for September was 10 days set in 1973!  That's quite the long standing record to break.  But don't worry, being in a temperate rain forest meant we still had plenty of rain...6.42 inches of it to be exact for the month...and we were over an inch behind normal.
But while the weather men kept track of the details for us, we worried about which pair of flip flops to wear or which park to visit that day.  They were wonderful "problems" to have in September. 
The only unfortunate part about the warm weather meant that it made for poor hunting conditions for Shawn who was on his annual moose hunt during most of the great weather.  Warmer temps pushed the moose to higher, cooler ground and also encourages their nocturnal side--at least that what my outdoors man husband tells me.  So alas, no moose this year.  They didn't even see one!  Fortunately, he didn't come back empty handed.  But now I'm dabbling into another post topic.
Back to flip flops and parks.... This was what we did on one of the days before the clouds rolled in and dropped their loads of water.  After school, we stopped off at the park and played for a bit.  What more could a kid want? Well, maybe an ice cream cone to go with it, but momma didn't give in this time. :)

Mr. Dare Devil.
He got quite confident and was climbing things his sister couldn't bring herself to conquer.  I was spotting him, but there was still a moment when he got out of my immediate reach and I would have had to catch him if he'd fallen.  That's when I was thinking, "What have I let him do? He's still just 2!"  He's such a big boy and talks so well, that sometimes I forget that he's not 3 just yet.

And when his sister tried to follow him up the same way he got to the top, she got scared and decided she wanted me to help her down.  When I told her that her 2 year old brother had done it, she said, "Well, I bet he'll be scared to go that way when gets to be 5 [years old]."
Ummmm....yeah I don't think so! :)

 

The little miss did work up her courage to get to the top in another creative way.

She got nervous at about this point, but she pushed on and made it to the top.  I'm proud of her for being brave.

So now that the weather has turned into a more typical fall pattern for Juneau--which means rain, rain, and cloudy with a chance of rain--our summer ice cream making is giving way to some baking.  I hope to have some kitchen adventures to share soon.
Hope you're enjoying fall.

Photo Shoot--Part 3

I'm so glad I asked my friend Beth to help me get some itty bitty infant shots of our little babe.  She's the one who took the photos of our other two kids.  Since we wanted some indoor shots of this child, Beth suggested that we have her friend, Erin, take the photos.  Erin is another photographer in training and has crazy good natural light in her house and some great photography skills as well.  I'm SO pleased with the results.

This photo at the top just made my heart melt.  I think I fell in love with this boy all over again.  So precious!

Enjoy them all.

(He was 6 weeks in these photos.)