Halloween

We went to a neighbours house for hot dogs and chilli before heading back to our place and getting into costume and doing an early trick or treat. This photo is of some other babies in the street. They start at about 6pm. By 7pm, the older kids are out, and by 8pm, the street was quiet. This year was quieter in our street than last year, leaving us with left over chocolate, in addition to what the kids collected. Most people I talk to agree that the candy aspect is getting overwhelming. The plan is to pick out a bit of what we like, and send the rest to the troops, wherever they are. Not sure how it works, but reduces wastage, in my mind.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

This was surprisingly nice - but I am a fan of cheesecake...

Peak Foliage

Peak foliage has come and gone. I think the best week was the 19th - 25th October. The leaves had all more or less changed, but were still hanging on the tree. Then we got a big storm through, with violent rain, and it was obvious that it was the beginning of the end.

I love love love the foliage!!

Chef Moment - Cannelloni

I had to put this up - decided on the spur of the moment to make cannelloni. Couldn't find the tubes at the supermarket within walking distance, so bought lasagna sheets, semi cooked it, pulled it apart very carefully with tongs, and then made my own tubes by roughly rolling with the cheese mixture inside, laying on a bed of savory mince.
I felt disgustingly capable, it was tasty, easy (the mince was premade in the freezer) and the kids ate it without complaining. I don't often cook interesting things without a cook book that work out like this.
After the photo I ended up completely burying the pasta in mince so that it wouldn't dry out when it got heated in the oven for the final cook.

Carving Pumpkins

I'm sad that I didn't realise that you can toast the seeds that come out of these big orange pumpkins and that they're quite tasty. But we have successfully carved more pumpkins with our $2 carving set from last year...

This photo is where you use a drawing pin to put little holes in the pumpkin that outline your face. Then, you can just join the dots with the carving tools.

Here they are installed on the step with the garden in the background. Half of that is the neighbour's garden.

Halloween costumes

This year we feel a lot less nervous about Halloween. Except that the costuming didn't go as smoothly as planned - my plan - little one as fireman (handed down from last year), big one as costume of his choice from shop. Reality - both insisted they wanted to be cows. I thought, easy, stick spots onto T Shirts like we did earlier in the year. Reality - by end of October it is getting pretty chilly at night. So, go for extended drive one Saturday, try to find child onesies, don't exist, found second hand warm white top for Mr 6 that he can wear with black jeans, add spots, a bell, a headband with ears and a tail. Found dalmatian dog costume for baby, convert to cow by adding big spots, make an ear black, add black tassel to tail. Which all equaled about three nights sewing.
This picture is not the finished product. It was take I where I thought gluing spots on the costumes would work. It sort of did for the shirt, but not for the furry costume...I ended up zigzagging around all the spots, and buying more felt for bigger spots for the onesie.

Pumpkin Bread

The last time I tried this it turned out flat and sort of soppy. This is a packet mix, and it is very tasty. We have bought six packets for later (when they're not in stores anymore).

Grandma

Grandma.

Looking through the photos, I didn’t take many when grandma was well, and then she got sick, and I felt weird about taking photos. But, by experiencing other sicknesses, I realised the importance enjoying her company, in whatever form it was, and taking photos regardless.  This photo is a photo from my cousin, and it is how I remember grandma from about Year 12 up until she got sick, with a sparkle in her blue eyes.

I am glad that God has made Grandma whole again in Heaven, but it doesn’t really stop me missing her.

Soccer, again

Soccer is nearly over - but it is tough to get ok photos for the web!

This is our first season with the two boys involved. The baby was heartbroken that he doesn't get a practise night but he consoles himself with wearing ALL his soccer gear to his brother's practise and running around with a parent. He is not so good at listening (New Rule for soccer: today I won't tackle my friend),  but very happy to finally be getting on the field with a soccer shirt, boots and ball. Mr 6 has a new flush of confidence, and is actually getting in there and trying to get the ball.

Fall soccer definitely more enjoyable than spring soccer.

100,000 miles

Hoo yes, we have managed to put about 25000 miles on our car since arriving here... Now we're in the twilight zone of over 100,000 miles, and starting to drive it Into.The.Ground. Happy days!

Hot Toddy

I think I have heard of this in books - having a hot toddy before bed, maybe in a Jeeves and Wooster? I found the recipe in a book that seems to be about hosting and entertaining (can't really explain it more than that).
Hot black tea, brandy, honey and lemon slices.

Vacuuming

2011

2015

Not that the vacuuming is anything special, although we still love our vacuum cleaner! But I remember back in Australia, when he was littler, he was pretty enthusiastic on vacuum cleaning too.

Renn Fest!

Our second year to go to Renn Fest (Rennaisance Festival), and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. People go to extraordinary efforts to dress in their version of rennaisance, and some people just dress up (we saw Lord of the Rings characters and a Drizzt).

My happy points:

• The military precision of the parking in the morning (think, steady stream of cars, directed into specific spots in big open field)
• The man in the wheel of death - haven't seen many street performers who just give an enjoyable performance with no crudities involved.
• The drumming group called The Drum Runners
• The (loosely) celtic (I think they're channeling some sort of shaman celtic vibe) group called Cu Dubh (again, lots of drumming and some lovely non traditional harmonies with bagpipes, who would have thought?!)
• The street mime artist who could blow bubbles with soap on her hands
• The glass blowers who give a demonstration every half hour
• We also saw an elephant this year! Giving rides! but the line was very long and it was the end of the day, so not for us.
• All the people dressed up.

Not so happy points:

• Queues - everyone comes out to play, around about 12.30pm, so there are queues for the bathroom, the atms (just bring cash, people), the food and the beer
• The crowds - it got a bit difficult with the pram. We didn't go into any of the shops, because it would have just been too awkward. But after this visit, I'm really curious to try to look next year.

Croissants

A while back, I discovered the corner of Trader Joes where the frozen croissants hang out... Yes, frozen croissants, that just need to be left out a day ahead of cooking to prove.
This has proved very helpful for chicken pot pie, as we always found puff pastry hard to find (someone in Trader Joes even mentioned it was a 'seasonal' item!).

Easy Craft - flags

This one came from school - requires a bit of tissue paper, sticky tape, scissors and a stick for the flag pole. Huge entertainment value!
I don't know why you have to chop holes in it (a la snowflake style). I was told it was something traditional, but I'm not sure where from.

Fall Colour

Despite my doom and gloom about fall colour, these trees are turning beautifully! I love looking down the street to see the leaves.

2016

We have actually got our diaries and calendar Before the New Year starts... Just sayin'. Feeling slightly like if we keep paddling really fast, we might have a chance.

The colours of Fall

21 Oct 2014                                                            9 Oct 2014

I started noticing that the colours of Fall don't seem to be as widespread as I remember from last year. Trees just seem to be going brown and dropping their leaves. After a tip from a friend and a bit of research, turns out that many things effect fall colours, one of which is soil moisture, which causes the leaves to drop early!  Apparently we had a dry summer, which may mean our Fall foliage isn't as spectacular. http://www.fs.fed.us/fallcolors/2014/science.shtml
The photos above are not taken on the same date - we have another 11 days, but my observation is, the leaves at the bottom of the tree this year are not turning red, they're turning brown. I'll try to remember to take a photo in 11 days to show a true comparison.

The fountain near work

Fountain is closed for the season...Beautiful day, sunny but not too hot. Great for a jog. Loving this bit of the year.

Gardening - planting our 'mums!

This is the boys mixing some good soil into our front garden, in preparation for the planting our our 'mums - which are behind them on the step.

Beautiful Tree

We went for walk after the school bus run and found the one tree around the place that got the memo about Fall.

Fall has started!

This is my favourite stretch of path. Always peaceful and beautiful, and starting to be dappled with yellow foliage!

Birthday Cake

So, this birthday cake was organised by Mr 6, for his dad. I made a bad attempt at boiled chocolate cake, and we put cream and fall coloured M&Ms on, with one strawberry in the middle for the birthday Man (probably the last of the strawberries for the season, sniff).

We also had meat pies (found in our supermarket, expensive, only two per packet). Very tasty. The kids were suspicious.

 I forgot to take a photo of the cooked version. The uncooked version is not very appetising.

Splashing in puddles

What is better than splashing in puddles? Splashing in puddles on the bike.

It has basically rained for a week thanks to a 'nor easter sitting off the coast, and then the outskirts of the weather from Hurricane Joaquin, that didn't end up being a problem at all for our part of the world, except that we had to postpone family photos.