October Random

Some random notable (but not necessarily exciting) adventures from October:

We made pumpkin cookies to mail to Grandpa H for his birthday. I think Cumorah ate about two little bowl fulls of raisins. I kept having to refill it for her to make the pumpkin faces.







Cumorah has been more into drawing. She very carefully makes tiny circles on everything. She also started telling us what it is that she draws on her paper. She drew nice pictures on a birthday card for Grandma T.












We went on a date in the middle of the month. It was a very nice, very enjoyable $100 free dinner. $80 for membership dues for Sigma Sigma Phi and $20 for the babysitter. The Sigma Sigma Phi induction dinner was held at and catered by Palmer's Deli. We went and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and the delicious food. It was fun to sit near and chat with friends. All of those attending with babies seemed to gather in one spot.:) I'm really proud of Brian. I don't express that very often. He is doing well in school. He is working so hard. I'm really grateful for him. Even with all his studying and crazy test schedules, he still finds the time to be a fabulous husband and an exceptionally good father. Good job honey!



We had an amazing family Saturday on the 25th. We went to the last downtown farmer's market of the season. Unfortunately the two things I was hoping to get, violet jelly from Blue Gate Farm and medium salsa from Juan O'Sullivan's (the best salsa I have ever tasted, ever) were all out. I'll have to wait until next year for the violet jelly, but I can get my salsa in November at one of the two winter markets they are having. Or I could just call them and go pick it up. He even offered to deliver my order for free but I forgot to call him. We did however enjoy an amazing breakfast sandwich and Cumorah got to make a face on a little pumpkin at the booth that does free crafts for kids. I am definitely going to miss the farmer's market when our stay in Des Moines is all over. After the market, we ran a few quick errands, ate a picnic lunch in the car and made baby girls comfortable enough for napping in preparation for a two hour drive to Omaha to attend the temple. It was Brian's turn to go inside. The girls and I spent the first 45 minutes nursing and changing diapers, then we went outside as the weather was actually pretty nice, a little blustery but above sixty. (It had been much colder in the morning at the farmer's market. We had the girls all bundled up in their strollers.) Cumorah enjoyed running and climbing and being outside and Rivers practiced sitting up a little. After the temple we ate dinner in Council Bluffs at The Cracker Barrel. Tasty greasy-spoon-country-kitchen kind of fare. Not something they have in Cali. They had fried okra. Mmmmm. Brings back childhood memories of the Flower Mound Elementary School Cafeteria in Texas. I LOVED the fried okra. I would peel the fried crumb coating off and eat it, piling up the okra slices. Then I would eat the okra. Oh, the snotty slimy goodness of okra. I really like okra. But that is off the subject...



We enjoyed the swing during the last of the warm weather. We have a lot of swing pictures. What is it about the swing that makes one want to take pictures? We only have video of Rivers swinging, no pics. It's a little hard to see, but she smiles more as she swings back, going forward makes her uneasy. It's funny to see the quick change in facial expressions. Cumorah is telling Daddy that Rivers is all done swinging. Cumorah is still learning to share and take turns.







Cumorah went to her first ever dentist appointment. We met the tooth fairy in Babies'R'Us while we were out playing with our friend Aupreille in preparation for her new baby. The toothfairy made us an appointment to see Dr. Rob. I tried to prep Cumorah as well as I could. She knew she was going to the dentist and she knew he was going to check her teeth. The toothfairy gave us a coloring page of Dr. Rob in a super dentist cape. I think Cumorah was pretty excited. The actual visit went really well. Everyone thinks she is so cute and treats her really nice. Dr. Rob was really fun and gentle. He sang while he was checking her teeth out. They have flat screen monitors hanging down above the dentist chairs playing cartoons or you can bring your own movie. Cumorah would not lay down on the chair so she sat there looking straight up until the dentist came in. He has the parent hold the child and lay the child's head on his knees to look in their mouths until they're around four years old, so it didn't matter that she wouldn't lay down. The dentist was impressed that she doesn't have any binky or bottle or juice habits to break. He said her teeth look great. We have already been brushing Cumorah's teeth every night, but now we floss them as well, because as Cumorah says, "Dr. Wrob says floss teeth." Now both Rivers and Cumorah have an appointment for next Spring. I didn't even know that they wanted to see kids so young. I thought the funniest part of the visit was when the hygienist excitedly gave Cumorah a Dora the Explorer toothbrush. Cumorah stared at her blankly. She asked if Cumorah knew who Dora the Explorer was, I told her that Cumorah doesn't watch much TV. So the hygenist got a toothbrush with ladybugs on it. Cumorah instantly became animated, saying, "Laybug, laybug."



While we are on the subject of teeth...Two little teeth surfaced in Rivers mouth. They're on the bottom, side by side.



I finally got to go to SAA knitting club! Because I offered my home as the meeting place for two weeks when the regularly scheduled home was unavailable. Yeah for knitting! It would be fun to be able to do that more often.






Brian is perfecting his pizza chef skills. He was super proud of this pizza. He rolled the edge of the pizza dough and sprinkled a little cheese on it to make it look "professional". (Thanks Sara for the mashed potato pizza idea.)
















Cumorah learned how to do a somersault. It's really cute. I really should video it. She also got new slippers. We skipped bath one night and the girls and I went to the mall near our house to check out Target and Old Navy for slippers. We found them at Old Navy and even got to play on the play place for a little bit even though it was pretty much bed time.

Oh, and we're growing her bangs out, which is why they are in her eyes in so many pictures. I keep clipping them back and it's pretty cute, but she keeps losing the clips.






And I almost forgot...I made a couple batches of applesauce and spiced apple jelly. We bought apples at the apple orchard in September, but then we got several bucket fulls for free. They were imperfect apples, with some worms, but they were free and they were good. It just took a little extra work to cut out the worms. I showed Cumorah one. I poked at it to make it move and it crawled right out of its hole and towards Cumorah. It was rather big and juicy looking with translucent skin undulating across its squishy wormy fatness. Cumorah ran away. She really isn't the bravest little girl I've ever met. Confident, yes. Brave, not so much.

Spiced apple jelly is my concentrated domesticity in a jar. It fascinates me that I make it. I don't add pectin. I feel like Meg in Little Women, when she is very frustrated trying to make jelly but it won't gel. Sometimes I end up making spiced apple syrup and sometimes spiced apple jelly gummy candy. But sometimes it is just right and I admire my little jewels all stacked up in a row ready to give away as Christmas gifts.