Saturday, October 17, 2009

Fall Fun

It's official...Fall is here. Living in Oregon, that means lots of rain, but it also means baking, sweaters, crisp mornings, cozy nights, hot cocoa, autumn leaves and ... prep for Christmas (dare I say what I have not yet begun...) Here's a little of this that and the other...what we've been up to lately.

Carter escaped out into the rain this morning...I didn't have shoes on either so I was trying to coax him back into the house without having to go out myself... it took a little while. :) (The rain is too much fun! Especially in bare feet!)

Jemma and I attempted to make wheat bread the other day...it's quite a tedious process since I only have a manual wheat grinder. (Someday, I will have to invest in an attatchment for my kitchen aid that will do it for me!!!) Anyway, after a fabulous arm workout, we had enough wheat flour and turned out FOUR loaves of bread...
It doesn't get much better than fresh bread with a little butter and homemade strawberry jam! :)
A couple other moms and I have been doing crafts once a week with our kids...it fills in an afternoon and keeps their imaginations spry. :) One week we did these "Leaf Crowns" and another week we made swords and shields and turned the apartment play-structure into a castle...I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the castle...probably cuz it wasn't all that impressive...anyway, Jemma insisted on having princesses on her shield...how appropriate.

Here's Jemma and her friends Miles (left) and Trennon (right) in the "dungeon".

Cute kids! (Don't know if I've mentioned this, but Jemma is one of the only girls in the apartment complex in her age range...she seems to do fine playing "cops and robbers", "star wars" and other boy games...it keeps things interesting. :)

6 comments:

Eric and Jewels said...

I love homemade wheat bread with homemade strawberry jam!! I was impressed that you made four loafs I always cut that recipe in half due to the fact that I have to mix everything by hand (yep I don't have a kitchen aid :( but I'm hopeful that it wont be too long before I've got one). Jemma and Carter are growing fast and as always look super cute, I love the bare foot picture of Carter in the rain. I remember doing that, splashing around on our backyard patio where it always flooded :) Love you lots!!

Sharee Gariety said...

I am super impressed that you ground the wheat for your bread BY HAND! I bet you are still feeling it. :) I love the fall too, and love the cute pictures of the kids. That's so cute that you do crafts with the kids once a week. Good job, Jen!

Sara said...

The bread looks great! After having Charlie grind the wheat in our hand mixer, he quickly figured out that if you take the handle off the hand mixer you can attach a power drill that will do the work for you. Do you have a power drill?

Melanie said...

soooooo cute jen! I miss you guys so much! I can't believe how big and CUTE Carter is getting! Also I bet the bread turned out amazing! You'e a good cook! thats halarious that Jemma wanted a princess on her shield, what a little cutie head, I miss her:( am I gonna see you guys during Christmas? I hope so cuz I MISS YOU GUYS!!! I LOVE YOU!

Mel

Brianne Pitts-Wells said...

Good idea! I have MISSED our craft nights and hope that you are still doing it and that I am still invited! Hope so!

Mason & Laura said...

That is one cute lil' boy in the rain! Geesh your kids are so adorable! and yum--i want some whole wheat home made bread :) and you are a good mommy that draws cute princesses (Gwenn's are always stick figures ...)