Go back to bed!

Little N has always stretched out her bed time. She will get up many times after we have tucked her in and see if she can talk us into letting her stay up. This evening, was no exception.

Over the baby monitor I heard whispering and rustling, usually an indication that we will see a small child in a minute or so. The rustling stops and is followed by the creak of the door. This time, I heard something new. Big N says to Little N, "Mommy is just going to tell you to go back to bed. Go back to Bed!"

Little N ignored him and came out attempting her usual stall tactic. She was one of the following: thirsty, hungry, not thirsty, not hungry, tired, not tired, scared, chased by dinosaurs, looking for a hug (this one usually works for her, I am a push over at times), wanting to tell me "something." The list goes on.

I repeated what Big N had said, "Go back to bed," and she sulked and stomped back to the bed room.

Over the monitor, I heard Big N tell her, "I TOLD you! Now, go back to bed!"

Jack O lanterns and Christmas trees

It is the day before Halloween and the month of October has flown by. We have yet to carve our pumpkins, let alone finish putting up the decorations Big N picked out. He has noticed, which means I cannot forget to put them up or I will have them up for Thanksgiving. This evening will be busy as we try to finish decorating and carve 2 of the pumpkins for the kids.

With so much to do, it is surprising that I am still thinking of what happened on my way home. Yesterday evening I stopped for gas just east of Seattle, well past the Bellevue traffic jam. I am predictable and I picked this gas station because it is cheap and it has a coffee stand. Pete should be able to tell you which gas station just from that statement. I of course went inside to grab a cup of coffee. I was in a hurry, which is nothing new for me. I am always in a hurry. I wanted to get home and I was already late enough that I would miss the kid's bedtime. I was running through my mental list of things I needed to get done around the house and not really listening to the barista or the background chatter as I smiled and nodded, ordering my usual. I had to remember to set out Big N's frogie Halloween costume so he could wear it to preschool. We need to pick up a little candy in case we get a few trick or treaters that brave the walk down the dark gravel road to our house. As I was waiting for my Mocha and adding to my list, a beautiful male voice sang "the First Noel" over the store stereo.

Listening to "No-oh-ell-el, No-oh-elll..." I realized I was staring at a small teddy bear on the counter. The little bear was wearing an orange sweater with a black jack o lantern smile on the front, the price tag attached to his left ear. Here was this beautiful Christmas song, one of my favorites, the warm tenor tone punctuating the fake cobwebs and plastic spiders on the wall. It was out of place. Forced. Fake.

It is fall and the forces that be, the companies and stores that see Christmas as a boost to their bottom line, are trying to start off their Christmas season with a bang. They want us to think about Christmas. Perhaps the longer we think about Christmas, the more we will spend on Christmas. The more we spend, the better their end of year will be.

I'm not ready for Halloween, I'm really not ready for Thanksgiving, but Christmas, I don't even want to think about buying for Christmas.

We're rushed enough, why can't we enjoy the season as it comes instead of trying to hurry up the Christmas spending?

Apples from our tree

It is really cold at night now and we had not picked the apples from our tree. Big N helped Pete finish that today. The puppies even helped, but they have been stealing the low hanging apples for weeks now.



We were surprised with the amount of apples off of the little tree!

Big N was fascinated with the size variation among the apples. He found one that he could fit in his hand. The tiny apple made his day, he put it in his pocket and kept it warm when he was helping daddy pick apples. Big N was very concerned about the little apple. He went to great lengths to tell me his apple would need a lot of sunlight and fresh water so it could grow as big as the rest of the apples. We talked some about what it meant to pick the apples from the tree and he was sad for the apple.



Little N helped me make apple sauce with the apples that didn't look as pretty. She ate a few that I cut up and hit the button on the food processor once I had cooked down the apples.

Big N gave the apple sauce a try this evening. He gave two thumbs up on taste. The sauce has a really strong apple flavor compared to commercially made apple sauce.

I also had to make an apple pie.

I'm sure that is surprising to everyone who reads this blog.

Little N helped me roll out the crust.


It has been a great, apple filled day.

More apple sauce and perhaps another pie for the freezer tomorrow.

I only made one cupcake

I just had enough batter for one cupcake.



I think they were very happy with only having one cupcake.