Fall

We are well into fall around here and I am loving every minute of my favorite season of the year.  Cooler weather and leaves changing colors mean more time outdoors for our family.  Pumpkin has begun to once again find its way into many of our baked goods and eating them under a big blue sky makes them that much better. A trip to a local pumpkin patch was a recent field trip for my little 6 year old filled with lots of hay, best friends, and pumpkins for our doorstep. Oh, and soups galore have made their way onto our table to help warm us up from several recent weekend cold snaps.  Yes fall is in the air and we are doing all we can to try and keep it from passing by too quickly.  Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

*For those who might ask here is the Chicken Quinoa Soup (pictured above) recipe from Big Oven...

Ingredients

	2 tablespoonsolive oil
	1/2 cupcarrots; chopped, optional.
	1/2 cupcelery; chopped
	1/2 cuponions; chopped
	2 cupswater
	3 cupschicken broth or stock
	1/2 cupquinoa; rinsed
	2 cupschicken; cooked and diced
	1/4 cupparsley; chopped fine
	1/2 teaspoongarlic powder
	1/2 teaspoonfresh black pepper
	1/2 teaspoonSalt

Directions

In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add ½ cup chopped carrots, ½ cup chopped celery, and ½ cup chopped onions or scallions to the heated oil and fry for about 5 minutes or until the vegetables just start to brown. Stir in 2 cups of water and 3 cups of chicken stock or broth and bring to a boil. Stir in ½ cup of rinsed quinoa, 2 cups of cooked and diced chicken, ¼ cup finely chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon black pepper, and ½ teaspoon salt. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 20 minutes. Adjust the seasoning if necessary and serve. This recipe yields approximately 8 one-cup servings.

{this moment}

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Hosted by soulemama.

Farewell September

What a whirlwind of a month!  Adjusting to school, the beginning of dance classes and piano lessons, first tests, allergy flareups, and all things in between have kept us quite busy.  Thankfully home has been a bit of a respite from the hectic pace of life on the outside.

Here is a little of what our September held around the house...

* Accomplishing little house projects that have been a long time coming like painting our back doors and installing new hardware.

* Harvesting our okra that is still growing with gusto.

* Using some of the applesauce that we canned at the end of the summer for some fall baking.

* Continuing to appreciate the end of summer peaches in some yummy fruit leather made in our kitchen.

* Appreciating little hands that help with some housework while she and I are at home together.

* Loving the play that comes when she has had enough and she looks up at me and says "Come on Mommy it is time for a break" :)

Hope you had a great September!

Wee K begins!

Can someone please tell me where September has gone?  Obviously little time has been spent here at the computer and so I have some backtracking to do with my blog posts.

Hannah was not the only one around here to start school recently.  Several weeks after Hannah started 1st grade Lily began her first days at the Our Lady of Sorrows School.

This is such a big deal to us all but, as you can tell by her big smiles, no one was more excited than Lily.  She is now a part of the real school that she visited many days a week for the past several years of her life to pick up and drop off her sister.  I have to say though that this excited feeling was mutual for Hannah.  The two of them spent much time in discussion of the possibility that they might see each other in the hall.  Lily is only in school 2 days a week and the Wee K program is somewhat separated from the rest of the school but each week they do go to the library and music in the main school. This means, as my girls have figured out, that there is a small chance that they might bump in to each other in the hall.  It actually happened the other day and when I picked them up the first thing out of each one of their mouths was that they saw each other AT SCHOOL!!  :)  Oh the fun and excitement!

As I am typing this and looking at the picture of Lily walking up those steps by herself I have to say it seems like just yesterday that I was carrying Lily on my hip up those same steps to drop her sister off.  Time goes by so quickly and it is a wee bit bittersweet.

My little Lily you are growing up so fast...I love the joy and determination that is at the center of who you are and I am so proud of the big girl that you are becoming.  I love you so very, very much - Mommy

{this moment}

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Hosted by soulemama.

This morning

Lily and I were the first ones up this morning.  We decided to let the others sleep in a bit and slip outside to the porch to watch the rain that was steadily coming down.  Lily brought along a book and an umbrella (just in case there was a puddle that she needed to jump in) and I brought my cup of tea.  The stillness of the morning is always so nice, especially when the pitter-pat of rain is added.  It was a good start to the day.

{this moment}

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Hosted by soulemama.