Sink Bath!

We just got back from a long weekend over in Seattle with Andy's grandparents. We originally went because Andy took a test for the Seattle Fire Department and then we stayed a few more days just for the fun of it. Of course we didn't end up taking any pictures, except in the car on the ferry ride home (best time to take pictures, right?). So here are some cute pictures I took of Charlie last week when we decided to start giving him sink baths. And I think he's pretty darned cute. Here's to a great week!

First Farm Visit

Andy's family sold this farm to a sweet couple a little over a year ago now and this is the first time I've been back since having Charlie. It was pretty odd to see the house and how different it is now that somebody else is living in it. We never lived at the farm ourselves, but we did come out to visit and Andy worked for the farm until he was 18. Unfortunately Andy was working the day we went out, but he's not very sentimental about things so it didn't bother him at all. Sometimes I daydream about having a farm and growing my own garden and raising chickens (which I hope to do some day) but I'm glad that we are close to the city and friends for now.

 These two are inseparable.

 Chasing the kitty cats.

The kiddos loved Maddy.

Cousins

This week we were lucky to have Andy's dad and step mom in town for a few days before they head back to the east coast. They are going to be moving to Europe for two years to be a part of missions organization. We had a few get togethers with the rest of the family thats in town and tried to take some pictures of all the cousins together, which non of them turned out to be fantastic (but what do you expect with three small children?). Also I realized I didn't get any pictures of the grands with their grandkids. Oops.

 Charlie loves to stand at your feet and hold onto your legs. And open his mouth as wide as possible.

The best one.

Those socks are my favorite. 

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Browne's Addition Tour Part 2

We finally got to finish the walking tour of Browne's. Charlie might have just woken up from his nap and was not impressed with the stroller (I think this is one of my favorite photos of him). The second half of the tour was beautiful, mostly because of the leaves changing color, but some of the houses were very pretty too! I'm very glad to finally check this off my list.

 This was our favorite house of this half. Loved the chimney stacks. Awesome.

 Fall changings

Line's Donut Party

Line is four. That is crazy. I love that little girl. She is so fun and crazy and says the absolute best things in the world. Seriously. We celebrated her birthday by having a donut party for her and it was very relaxed and fun. 

Yummm...those maple glazed were fantastic.

She decided to open presents as soon as the guests arrived. It actually was pretty great.

Her gigantic donut.

and Daniel needed to be sung to as well.

And at the end of the party the Legos came out.

Ham, Spinach & Dill Soup

This soup is one of my all time favorites, it might actually be number one. I just love it, all of it, the best. We got this recipe from a friend and have named the soup after her. I'm not sure if that was because we didn't know what to call it or what, but we refer to it as Esther's Soup. But seriously, I think I'm going to make this at least once a month if not once a week. 

Ham, Spinach & Dill Soup (aka Esther's Soup)

1 Medium Onion, chopped

2 Garlic Cloves, minced

1 tablespoon Oil (I use extra-virgin olive oil)

5 cups Chicken Broth

1 1/4 cup Potatoes, chopped

1/2 cup Rice

1 teaspoon Chicken Bouillon

1 teaspoon Dried Dill

1/4 teaspoon Pepper

2 cups Cooked Ham, cubed

6 ounces Fresh Spinach

1 cup Half & Half

1. Saute onion and garlic in oil. 
2. Add broth, potatoes, rice, bouillon and spices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered for 30 minutes. 
3. Add ham and spinach; simmer covered for another 2 minutes.
4. Stir in half & half and heat through but do not boil.

And this is what Charlie does while I make dinner. Lies on the floor and shoves his face into the ground. It's pretty awesome.

Good Ol' Comstock

Our go to date (other than coffee shops) is to bring iced coffee to one of our local parks and sit and read/talk about a book that we've been studying. Comstock park has been the one that we've been to the most, it has lots of park tables and benches and plus a playground... and swings, which is what we put Charlie in every once in a while. He's a big fan. This particular trip we brought Charlie's dinner and he gobbled it down pretty quick.

 Eating some green beans and bread. The best combo ever.

Maggie Marie

Our Maggie is one! Her actual birthday was two weeks ago but we finally celebrated it last weekend. It has been so much fun watching her grow and learn to crawl and walk (almost!) and now she's saying words all over the place. This little girl is adorable and I'm so glad that we live so close and get to hang out and all the time. Plus it is always entertaining to watch her crawl over Charlie :)

 Looks like somebody is going to be a reader :)

What a sweetheart of a baby.

 Grammy with her kids and grands

Harvest House

The great grands were just in town for a quick visit; but mostly to celebrate Maggie and Line's birthdays. One of the days we decided to go to Green Bluff and pick some apples. We went to the Harvest House which was celebrating the Apple Festival (which is pretty much every weekend) and so they had some guy singing karaoke, hay rides, pony rides, and this huge blob thing for kids to jump on. The kids loved looking at the pumpkins and eating their apples right from the tree. We all sat down and devoured pumpkin donuts, apple cider, and caramel apples in about 5 minutes. They were wonderful. Seriously.

 Trying to lift the pumpkins.

 He obviously wasn't impressed.

 Great Grandma Esta is the best!

Pumpkin Pound Cake

Now, neither Andy or I are huge fans of pumpkin things. I decided to get a can of pureed pumpkin to see if Charlie would eat it and also to try my hand at a few things pumpkin. Well, it turns out that Charlie was not a big fan of it so I ended up with a whole can of pumpkin to try and use up. I did make some Pumpkin Oatmeal cookies that were delicious and then I found this recipe for Pumpkin Pound Cake. It turned out great! I didn't have an hour to bake the cake so I ended up putting the batter in two pans rather than one and baking for half the time, but it still tasted wonderful. I also made some Pumpkin Pancakes this morning and they turned out quite delicious as well. Maybe I've been missing out on something wonderful? 

Pumpkin Pound Cake (Adapted from this recipe)

1 1/2 cups Sugar

1/2 cup Fat Free Vanilla Greek Yogurt

3 Egg Whites

1 cup Canned Pumpkin

1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Whisk together the sugar, egg whites, and yogurt until well combined. Then stir in the pumpkin.
3. Once that is combined add the dry ingredients. Mix well.
4. Pour batter into a greased bread pan and bake for 60 minutes. (I didn't have an hour to bake the cake so I split the batter into two pans and baked for half the time).

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Walking Tour of Browne's Addition

One thing that I've wanted to do for a while is take a walking tour of Browne's Addition. The Museum of Arts & Culture has a handy walking map with information on about 50 of the historic homes in the area and a little bit about the area in general. I heard about the guide last year and it has taken us up until now to actually do it. The information was more about the architecture and the names of the people who lived in the homes, which is nice, but we were hoping for a bit more information about the people in particular. Or weird facts about the homes, such as one of them had a ski hill, which is pretty fascinating. We only got through half of the homes and are planning on going back to finish the rest. 

 For lunch we went to the cafe inside the MAC and it was pretty delicious. I got a gyro pizza and it was wonderful.

On our walk we ran into 4 deer that were just wandering through the neighborhood.

 The Patsy Clark Mansion was our favorite house of our walk.