Pop was here this week. We tired each other out. We went rock climbing:
played tennis:
and built bird houses:
Not to mention, went to the library, went to the playground, played soccer and basketball, and more. Of course, with all that activity, we worked up quite a hunger. So, we ate Mexican food:
donuts:
and gelato:
For Thanksgiving dinner, we brined, spatchcocked, and grilled a heritage breed Narragansett turkey, and had an apple tart for desert:
As soon as Thanksgiving is over I bust out my Christmas shirts, decorate my room, and start the holiday season. We hung our lights on the porch:
Well, here it is. My kindergarten school picture. I thought we were going outside for snack, not pictures, so I took of my sport coat (to keep it clean) and they took my picture. At least I had a collared shirt on!
The Mother finally brought out her Galileo thermometer (it was away to avoid toddler carnage). It always reads 64, so I thought I’d warm it up a bit and see what happens.
Will you look at The Mother? Copying my turtleneck and camo pants?
I guess they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
We, and the rest of Oregon, hiked Black Butte this weekend. We could see all the mountains.
You may think I just get dressed up for picture day. No way. I roll like this all the time:
We didn’t do much this week. Mainly yard work and listening to The Bigs whine about how bad they feel due to their booster shots.
Mom read somewhere that if you plant garlic, you can keep aphids away. We had a major aphid problem this summer, so we planted THIRTY garlic plants. It won’t work, but I humored her.
Guess what came in the mail this week? This year’s Hess Truck. I think the folks at Hess may be confused because it is a cargo plane, not a truck, but either way it’s awesome. Thanks, Pop!
The weather is cooling off, so I’ve been trying out different hot drinks. This week – herbal tea. It pretty much tastes like water.
I leave The Bigs reading challenges now. I make up sentences and see if they can read them. Sometimes I add a picture to give them a clue.
The other day I came home with a button I had sewn to a piece of cloth at school. The Bigs were impressed. When I told them I wanted to sew a stocking and wanted to know if I should use a running or blanket stitch, they were amazed.
I made pumpkin cookies, reading the recipe myself.
I also made bread for dinner. The Bigs have started whispering words like self-sufficient and saying things about going away for the weekend, and he’d be ok on his own, right?
Mom picked up some beer to celebrate this year’s Halloween costume:
This ill-tempered gnome had Halloween day at school on Tuesday:
Why Tuesday? Because we had parent-teacher conferences this week, so no school Wednesday-Friday. That meant I had to entertain the Bigs, while making sure they did very little work. Here I am helping rake the leaves in the back yard:
I carved two jack-o-lanterns. Posing with pumpkin #1 before heading to my swim lesson:
Prepping pumpkin #2 for carving:
It was not all hard work. We also made time for some fun and games. Tiddlywinks is AWESOME!
It was a pretty big mail week. Along with the Tiddlywinks and cookies from Nana, there was a FUNNY card from G. Auntie Cheryl, and Cars, Trucks, and Things That Go PJs from Nan. I am one lucky dude. Thank you!
I took the Bigs for a hike up Tumalo Mountain on Saturday:
It was cold and foggy:
Snowballs!
On Halloween, I led the Bigs in some crafts:
I prepped craft kits to make things easy for them:
They are not the most artistic, but I was able to guide them in the creation of pumpkins:
spooky caves:
and, of course, garden gnomes:
Heading out to trick-or-treat:
Food from the week. Sunshine bowl:
Banh mi noodle bowl (bun chay):
Lentil salad with winter squash:
Roasted squash with brown butter and roasted hazelnuts:
Chimichurri cauliflower bowl:
Kimchi:
Pumpkin spice cookies with hazelnuts and chocolate chips:
