Cake Week

A new season of the Great British Baking Show started last week, and my sisters and I thought it would be fun to watch the shows and bake things inspired by the weekly theme. The first week was cake week. Mary and I had just harvested a bunch of rhubarb, so I decided to make a lemon rhubarb pound cake. It wasn't as lemony or as rhubarby as I hoped, but it was still pretty tasty.

 

Got Mail

 

Mary got some special mail from Aunt Heather and Natalie that she loved. Two paper frogs and a sheet of stickers. She exclaimed over each piece as she pulled them out.

Two Hair Ties Please

Mary wanted two ponytails at breakfast this morning.

 

Indoor Fun

This little guy loves to play.

Just a Quick Hello

Mary called Grandma to tell her about making breakfast this morning.

Smoked In

There were high winds on Labor Day, and in the space of about an hour the valley filled with smoke from the nearby fires in the mountains. We woke up Tuesday morning to orange light, ash everywhere, and hazardous air quality. It was eerie.

We had weird lighting because of the smoke. Sometimes it was orange, sometimes it was yellow, sometimes just grey.

The air filter on our air purifier quickly got dirty, but when Joshua went to buy a replacement they were sold out of almost all the air filters. He found this AC filter and rigged it up with our box fan, then he ordered a replacement filter online.

Sometimes the smoke was low enough that it looked like fog. The sudden lack of sun and being unable to go outside has been hard on all of us.

 After a week without sunshine, we were pretty excited to get a little afternoon sun today, even though the air quality is still hazardous.

Seven Months

How does this little guy keep getting cuter?

David is seven months now and full of energy.

He loves exploring and climbing; his favorite thing to climb on is his mama.

He still mostly army crawls on his belly, but can crawl on his hands and knees too.

He just recently learned how to pull himself up to standing and loves to practice his new skill.

He's starting to babble recognizable sounds, mostly "mamamama."

 David has the sweetest laugh and loves spending time with people. He is a wonderful little boy.

Super Mary

 Mary has mostly mastered the skill of dressing herself. This means multiple outfit changes during the day and some unusual results. Today's outfit reminded me of a superhero.

Apple Picking

We got to go apple and pear picking at our friends' house. They have two huge apple trees and a pear tree. It was fun to see them and spend time picking fruit. We've been enjoying the apples; Mary discovered that she can eat them whole.

Outdoor Fun

 A common part of our morning routine lately has been Mary playing outside while I clean up the kitchen after breakfast. She loves spending time outside. Some of her favorite things are picking berries and watering. It's so fun to watch her out there having a good time.

New Recipes

 Cooking is more of a challenge nowadays, but as we are getting into the swing of having two kids I've been getting a little more adventurous in the kitchen again. We've tried a few new recipes lately; one of them was this Italian Couscous Salad that my friend Janelle recommended. We thought it was good. We've also enjoyed rhubarb chutney, Gong Bao chicken with noodles, and goolash.

Phone Time

 This little guy is too cute, and he likes to chew on everything.