Happy Birthday to you, and you, and you...

Sometimes (almost always!) I come up with ideas that complicate my day and take much longer than I anticipate, but this project didn't turn out that way. It is amazing what happens when you have all the materials and the right tools for a project, how easily it comes together. This banner was made with P's help with crayons, construction paper, stencils, hot glue, and yarn. Simple! And oh, so festive! We had a number of birthdays to celebrate last week and this sweet little banner added to the celebration.

my little maker

the finished product

Happy Birthday

Needle and Thread

Sometimes, I sit down at the sewing machine and everything goes right; those days I feel like a master seamstress.

Some More...

On a lovely fall night in middle America, we had a fire, and we had s'mores!

Papa helping with the marshmallow melting

silhouette of s'more making, dadda and papa

by firelight

what is left, just a few smears of marshmallow

We look forward to a few more fires this fall season! S'more, please?!

Pumpkins!

We picked the perfect pumpkins at the pumpkin patch, took them home, and decorated them. We had a fall-fun-filled week last week in Nebraska complete with a trip to Poppy's Pumpkin Patch. So, we check a number of things off the Fall to-do list!

pumpkin patch through the corn maze

Phoebe and her painted pumpkin

Papa carving the pumpkin

The finished jack-o-lantern

Baking

When we got home from the farm we were left with a good question; what were we going to do with all the produce? I made soup with the broccoli and cauliflower, kale chips, roasted beets with Tilapia, and roasted cauliflower all in the first week. Then the apples....it seems clear that the ONLY thing to do with apples is bake and apple pie. So, let me introduce you to my first apple pie entirely made by me. (normally I go with the frozen pie crust!)

I followed this recipe from Smitten Kitchen and added the extra spices like she suggests at the end. I figure when baking something for the first time, there isn't a whole lot of space to veer from the recipe so it is as the recipe says.





The crust is delightful! Crisp but not hard, flaky but it also holds together. The apples are amazing, and the spice was nice against the lemon.

For me the process felt long but worth it. In the future I might make the dough a day or two ahead of time to spread out the time it takes. And certainly part of the fun and added time was due to my little helper; apparently we forgot to put her apron on. :)


During the chilling of the dough, I also made a couple apple breads, this was a simple recipe and OH so tasty! We just finished one bread and the other is in the freezer for next week. The dough seems a little dry but it is perfect for the juicy-ness of the apples, try it.

Apple Picking: Check Check

We started on our Fall List of Fun last weekend with Apple Picking! It was a little frigid but we were committed; the day was predicted to be a sunny mid-50's kind of day and it was about 45, cloudy and wet. We met our playgroup out at Larriland farms for some pick-your-own adventure. Our family picked broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and beets before we met everyone else at the Apple Orchard.

There they are, way up there!

Nina and Phoebe

Phoebe. Notice all the apples that weren't picked!

Next up, baking! Since we brought home SO many apples.

Let us Enjoy the Season

image via: artseachic

I can imagine being able to do most of these things this Fall. In fact, this weekend we are going Apple Picking and we will hopefully be able to check a few things off this list while we are at Larriland Farms!

What do you want to do this Fall?

Changing of the Colors

The leaves are underfoot, they are swirling in the wind, and patches of yellow, red and brown rest against the green. Signs of Fall everywhere. Cooler temperatures can't be too far behind, right?

It's a Blur

When P turned 1 we upgraded our camera, it was her "birthday present"! :) (I actually don't think we got her anything else for her 1st birthday- bad?) The mister and I were both feeling the need to stop her motion with a faster, more accurate camera. Also, we both tend to have a bit of "the photographer" that creeps out of us here and there - wanting to capture certain images to tell a story or remember the emotion of a moment.

The last year or so I have been learning as I go; as a second shooter for Dorean Photography, and working along side Whitney to capture our friends. So, I decided maybe I should learn a bit more. I found a 4 week class (that fits my level of commitment- never could I do a 10 week class!) and it has been fantastic. There is a lot to learn, and I am hoping that as the class ends, the information sticks. The question is, will it be a blur?

Nora Hart Leaps. ISO 200, Shutter Speed 1/50, Aperture 20. Intention: to Blur Motion

What is IT?

This little one is healthy, growing, AND IT isn't an IT any more- well at least to us, IT is a BOY! We are thrilled! Phoebe doesn't quite know what to think as she wonders, "Maybe it could still be a girl?!". (We have some work to do there.)

Bacon

I love when there is that one little piece left, everyone is being so polite to not take more than their share. Don't worry the toddler snatched it up; she doesn't know any better! I love that too.

Bell Pepper

This week Apple (Apll) is about the size of an Heirloom Tomato (mmm, yummy!), but last week it was measuring similar to a Bell Pepper.


I am almost halfway through this pregnancy! Next week we will have an ultrasound to see if the baby is growing on track, all the pieces and part are there and in the right place, and hopefully to see the gender. P already calls this one her little sister, so to help with the expectations we are going to find out the gender this time around.

What is your best guess? Leave us a comment with your prediction!

Day 2

Day 2: She ran in, hung up her jacket and bag, then ran off to play. I would say school is a hit! P seems to love it!

Phirst Day of School

Day 1:

Out the door by 8:30 with a quick photo shoot. Phoebe showing us her bag, Phoebe looking less than thrilled (even though she was so excited!), Phoebe sidetracked by the metro zooming by.

Parked and at school by 8:50, time for another picture! Phoebe was cold so I had to lend her my sweater, oops!

By 9:00, already playing!

At 9:15 I peeled myself away, holding back the tears, and now I am at home with some new found freedom. Time to do the dishes, clean off the table, and of course blog! I know all of our loyal readers are dieing to know how it went! However, the real story will come at pick up; how did our little girl actually do at school, and does she want to go back? Only time will tell.

melting into Fall

Pesto and Tomatoes feel so tired by September; Hearty Stews and Roasted Chicken start filling the weekly menu. Somehow the bright green of Kale keeps finding its way to the stove.

working together

This week I have been working on a project for my Sister-in-law, she is the ever talented glass artisan who reigns from Kansas City.

She gave me a number of her new pieces to photograph for marketing purposes. I had lots of fun, using all sorts of backgrounds; sand, rocks, trees, cork, metal. Each day I snapped a few more shots and now at the end of the week, I have over 700 images to weed through and spend some time in post production mode. But here is one of my faves, just about the last picture I took and of course once I saw it, I tried to recreate it with others but I should have ended with this one!

Another Project

Apll {apple} ; Another Project Little Luecke is well under way. The estimated completion of this project is January 30, so by now we are 15 weeks in, so the baby is about the size of an apple.

Though, last week the little one was the size of a lemon.

is that a lemon in your dress, or are you just pregnant?

Phoebe is thrilled. She can't wait to meet the baby in mommy's belly. She is already calling it her baby sister, so we have to remind her daily that it could be a boy or a girl. We all are overjoyed with the news of our growing family.

{this moment}

Signs

Signs and labels fascinate me for lots of reasons. For one, it turns out that it is often very hard to actually convey the message you intend to convey. And often the person who creates the text has no idea where it will be placed or how it will be read.

This evening I tore open the box above...made me chuckle.

This sign, which is a few blocks from our house, has for months been greeting tens of thousands of hungry and thirsty morning commuters coming into DC. It is true that you can get a Frosty here until about 2 a.m...but the sign doesn't do a great job getting that idea across.

tights

P clearly gets her sense of style from me....or at least from my 3 year old self. I am told by my aunts and uncles that I had some flare back in the day. I think I have settled a bit sense then. ;) Lately, Phoebe's choice in tights has caused a few chuckles around here.

In the last picture, riding her bike, you can see that all she has on is tights, these are her "biking pants" and "biking shoes"; all in one! She is very insistent that when she goes biking she have the appropriate sporting attire.