october highlights

I love November. It’s the beginning of the holiday season. Everything gets a little cozier. We turn the heat on more often and I snuggle up with a blanket and hot drink to stay warmer. But before I get too much into November, I want to share our October. We spent so much time outside before the rainy days came along. So much wonderfulness to share. 🙂

I captured this picture on the first of October. A rare moment I got Hunter to wear a beanie on a cooler morning, then he posed like a champ for a picture. He’s such a cool kid.

Apple crumble making with my boy. We just love cooking and baking together. And then of course, eating.

19 weeks along here and just finished up my Monday line up of 3 classes. Love the people I get to teach and these for two fitness tops.

Their hand holding melts my heart.

We explored a new to us park near our house and had way too much fun throwing rocks into the stream.

Peanut butter swirl brownies. Go make them and come back and thank me! Recipe –> here.

This baby is ready for #flexfriday. 😉 We had our 20 week ultrasound and got to see this little squish for a full hour. So wonderful. Read more about the halfway point through this pregnancy here.

Wildlife refuge exploration.

Peeking into the plank house at the refuge.

We harvested these two awesome pumpkins from our inherited garden and added a little fall decor to our front porch. Their color is so bright and orange and still look amazing a whole month later.

Ya know when you’re trying to make food and the kids are hungry and loud but you don’t want to give them a snack right before they’re going to eat a meal? This has been my solution lately: water play on the kitchen floor. They both end up soaked and I get a free mopping of the floor. Worth every ounce of water spilled.

Baby girl’s first little half french braid.

No sugar added peanut butter chocolate cups. Yum.

Strata is one of my favorite simple meals to help use up leftovers in the fridge. And roasted veggies (especially when they’re home grown) make my heart and belly happy.

Chicken eggs on the right, duck eggs on the left. Happy to have found a farm not many miles from our house to get amazing eggs from.

Downing the rest of mama’s tea. I’ve been loving herbal chai tea with some half and half in it.

A random walk before getting home for lunch. Their expressions crack me up.

Hunter spotted this praying mantis at the end of our walk and we spent a lot of time watching it move around on the rocks, although I don’t it appreciated being poked by a stick.

Fall leaves.

Everything turns into some kind of shooter.

Pumpkin patchin’!

We had a new window installed in Hunter’s room and dirt had to be dug out so they could cut into the wall. Now we have an awesome dirt pile and it’s one of Hunter’s favorite places to play.

A second kitchen helper. She’s good.

These cream cheese cucumber bites are so refreshing and delicious. Try em out. Recipe –> here.

Twinning with my girl. Photo taken by Hunter. 22 weeks pregnant and the bump keeps popping more and more each day.

Hunter has pretty much stopped napping. It kind of started in September but now he’s lucky if he naps once or twice a week. And I’m okay with it (I wasn’t at first). Normally he still has quiet reading time in his room, but sometimes, we chill on the couch and drink tea. And snuggle. And he helps me remember to slow down a bit more and soak all this wonderfulness in.

Pumpkin goo fun. And prepping to carve.

My kitty carving was a hit with the kids.

We were away from our house halloween evening so we took some treats to our neighbor kids the day before. I love how fun these little ‘pumpkins’ turned out. A little chocolate treat with some goodness too.

And to finish out the month: Hansel and Gretel. THE cutest. The lederhosen were Jacob’s as a child, and I sewed Zoe’s brown linen dress (geranium dress pattern) and white eyelet apron (which was made from an old shirt of mine). The headband she’s wearing was actually a ribbon I used to wear in my own hair, sized down for her. Halloween was such a blast with friends. We trick or treated in the heavy rainy. So very PNW of us.