Cozy

This weekend was spent inside with the heaters on and sweaters galore. It was cozy for sure. I tried some chai tea latte recipes and we even went swimming at the YMCA for a bit. Andy was working all weekend so I decided that it would be best spent relaxing with Mr. Charles. He sure does keep things fun though. 

 He gets so excited when he stands holding onto something. It's like he is the first person to ever do it.

 He also gets very excited to see himself in a mirror.

He is now arm crawling across rooms to get to certain things that he is really not supposed to be getting into.

Grilled Cheese and Applesauce

 This Friday it is just Charlie and I all day so I decided it should be his first day to try grilled cheese. It is an absolute favorite of mine and I was just sure that he would love it too. And he did. I mean, it's bread and cheese with butter, who wouldn't love that? And then I had to give him something "healthy" so I gave him some applesauce I made last year? I'm not actually sure how old it is, but we've been eating it for a while and it's still good.

 Look at the teeth! Do you see them?

This kid is my favorite. His laugh is the greatest.

Manito Park

Coffee and park dates are our go to things to do recently. Mostly because I just want to get out of the house and coffee can be relatively cheap, especially when you make your own iced coffee (which is the only way I'll drink real coffee). Manito Park is the best park of Spokane, it's HUGE and gorgeous. They have rose gardens, japanese gardens with koi ponds, splash pads, and a green house thing that is pretty fun to walk through. We used to hang out at Manito all the time a few summers ago playing frisbee golf and ultimate frisbee, now that was a fun summer. Falls are also fun here because you get to see the leaves changing colors, which seems like it will happen very soon. Yay for fall!

This little boy has the most adorable laugh. and smile. and face.

It was a bit windy so this park escapade didn't last too long.

6 Grain Bread

We have been obsessed with Dave's Killer 21 Grain Bread recently and just can't seem to get enough of it, especially Charlie. The only thing is that it's quite expensive and Charlie can go through a loaf in a week by himself (if we would let him). And not that we don't want to give him good stuff to eat, but he's just a baby. So I decided that I needed to try my hand at baking some and then it would be cheaper. And this bread is actually pretty close, not as many seeds or grains, but pretty close. I'm hoping that I can figure out the right pan to bake it in so it would work for sandwiches too.

6 Grain Bread (slightly adapted from this recipe)

2 1/4 cups warm water
2 tablespoons yeast
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup flax seed
1/4 cup cracked wheat
1/4 cup red oats
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup quinoa
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (the original recipe calls for all whole wheat but all I had was 2 1/2 cups)
3 cups all purpose flour (approximately)

1. Add your warm water and yeast to your bowl (I used my Kitchen Aid); let yeast dissolve. Add the honey, salt, molasses, coconut oil and mix a bit.
2. Add the salt, flax seeds, cracked wheat, red oats, sunflower seeds, and quinoa and mix again.
3. Add flour until the dough pulls away from your bowl. Put dough on a floured surface and knead until the dough stops absorbing flour.
4. Coat a bowl with oil and place the dough in the bowl; cover with a cloth and let rise until doubled in size, about an hour.
5. Punch down, knead it again, and place back in the bowl. Let rise until doubled in size again, about another hour. Punch down, knead it out and cut the dough in half. Place the dough in two oiled loaf pans. Brush the top with olive oil and cover with towel again and let rise; about 30 minutes.
6. Heat oven to 425 and bake for 30 minutes or until done.

Teeth, Coming Through!

This little guy has been teething for the past few days and I'm kind of over it. He hasn't been too bad but it's just thrown him off schedule a bit (I know, I'm all about the schedule). But he does have two teeth coming in and we are very excited for his new smile. Other new things that have been going on around here is that Andy made an awesome desk and we got some new rugs for our living room. I am very excited about both of these because now we can have bright colors in our living room, yay! I stayed up late last night trying to arrange everything and I think we've come up with some good changes.

I just put these two loaves in the oven and I'm very excited to try them. I might just share the recipe tomorrow :)

Ahoy, Matey!

This week has been full. We've had play dates, regular dates, friends over for dinner, and gone to friend's houses for dinner and desserts. It has been good and refreshing to be around people and to start being in community again. It's something I've missed and am very excited to join again. I hope that we never stop striving to invite others in. So, on that note, have a great weekend!

 Those cheeks and dimples. What a cutie.

It was pretty entertaining watching these two as they tried to figure each other out.

Did you get some free doughnuts at Krispy Kreme yesterday? Charlie and Andy dressed up like pirates so we got two dozen, we gave one away and have been snacking on the other. They are just so darned tasty.

Day at the Lake

Fall tricked us into thinking it was here but then summer decided to come back for a few days. So what else do you do? You go to the lake for a day. The water was cool and the weather was hot, which is the best combination ever. Plus no sunburns! This summer was one of the best and although I do love the heat I am very excited for fall to get here. 

 Surprisingly he LOVED the water. It was chilly, but he didn't seem to mind one bit.

 Buddy the dog loves to lick babies faces. Maggie was pretty good at shoving him away and Charlie has mastered spinning around.

 Seems so close to crawling, but so far away...

Fair

We finally got to go to the Spokane County Interstate Fair! I do really enjoy fairs, I know that it is the same thing and everything is overpriced but there is just something about it. The atmosphere of the rides and food and music. I don't know, it's just fun. We got to watch Mutton Busting for the first time and it was hilarious, those kids are very brave. We then got to watch a hypnotist and it was pretty good, I had to watch Charlie and leave a few times so I missed out on quite a bit. But overall the night was very good. I can't wait for next year when Charlie can actually interact with the animals! 

Mama pig and her piglets

 This kid sure does love his dad.

Friday the 13th

Something that has been on my mind lately is community. I feel like I have such high expectations of what it could and should look like, but I am not willing to work for it. I'm not willing to open up, give up my time, space or energy. It's a real shame because I know it can be beautiful. We recently started a small group and I'm really hoping that something amazing happens. Here's to giving it a shot.

 No, he did not pull himself up or climb up the couch. He's just cute when he stands holding onto it.

 And when he shoves his face into it.

 Still no teeth for this guy.

Hike up Stevens Creek

Our first family hike with just us. It was quite enjoyable. The hike was easy and pretty short, I think that it took us a little over an hour to do the loop to the top and back. The hike is kind of in an interesting area because there are farms all around it and then there is this area that is richly dense with trees. It was a nice surprise.

Charlie ended up doing pretty well in the Ergo this time. He lasted all the way to the top with the help of some bread bites. He was extremely tired though and I didn't think to grab his pacifier before we went up. Andy ended up just carrying him on his shoulders the way back. 

 Looks pretty comfy, right?

 I ended up having to go in front of him because Charlie kept trying to turn around to see me.