My calendar says it's October, but with temperatures hovering around 90 degrees for the last week, it still feels like summer here in Houston! Here's a quick peek at some of what we've been up to lately:
Henry's class held a funeral for the word "Said" last week. It was precious and the kids and teacher hammed it up with a eulogy, pretend tears and tissues galore. The kids all wore dark clothes as we said murmured goodbye to our dear overused friend, Said. It was a fun way to encourage the second graders to choose new words in their writing.
Also last week, our school held a Pete the Cat book talk. James and Kimberly Dean, the authors of the Pete the Cat series, came to visit our first graders and they were phenomenal! One perk of my new job as library volunteer coordinator is getting to meet all the authors. I even grabbed Henry from lunch to introduce him to James Dean! Pete the Cat was a favorite of Henry's in kindergarten and he loved meeting the authors.
Henry had a playdate with one of his best buddies after school on Friday, so Will and I grabbed some frozen yogurt at Menchie's and then came home to bake cranberry nut bread. We are bound and determined to celebrate fall even in the heat!
Our weekend was PACKED! Gene did some pro bono work on Saturday morning, so I took the boys to the farmers market and the library. The farmers market in October is amazing; watermelons are stacked next to pumpkins and butternut squash is piled next to zucchini and eggplant. We come home with bags and bags of fresh veggies, Gulf fish, eggs, and pasta for the week.
We bought carving pumpkins and sugar pumpkins and the boys got right to work scraping out the seeds.
Two pumpkins and one sweet potato, ready to roast!
Gene loves the pumpkin seeds, which I roast up with paprika, garlic salt, cayenne and pepper. They are addictive and Gene is already asking me to buy more pumpkins just for the seeds!
We turned our pumpkins and sweet potato into pumpkin pie. My dad always used a sweet potato in his pie, so I do the same. I reduced the sugar a bit, and Gene even ate a piece and asked for seconds! Gene is not a fan of sweets at all, but we've found a low-sugar dessert that he likes!
After a morning of cooking, we donned our Cub Scout uniforms and set out down the street to sell popcorn and raise money for our Cub Scout pack. We met some new neighbors and the boys had a successful outing.
On Sunday, I had my first real photo shoot with Katy and Jaime at the Houston Arboretum. I am by no means a professional, but we had fun and I think I captured some wonderful photographs of their little family. Check out the beautiful colors in the meadow.
And finally, we have a Cooper's hawk in the neighborhood again. We've seen him down the street a couple of times, and Henry was awakened Sunday morning by blue jays squawking. Henry peeked out his window to see the jays and the hawk in his holly tree. On Monday, as I was leaving for the grocery store, the hawk was standing in a puddle in front of my neighbor's house. I turned off the car, ran inside to get my camera, and spent about 15 minutes snapping photos. Isn't he beautiful?
I hope you're enjoying fall treats even if it's still hot where you are!
