Fall is almost over, so we're milkin' it...

(For some reason Blogger is giving me grief when I try to post videos so I'll try again later.)

Yellow is the new pink...

...as far as the trees are concerned. So many beautiful leaves the color of gold are fluttering around that we decided to take some pictures on our bike ride. We put Caleb in the bike trailer and off we went. I have a lot to learn about Alaska and I was afraid that winter would come on as suddenly as summer did. With "green up" happening in a matter of days, I worried that there would be a "green down" where all the leaves would fall off in a matter of days.
Fortunately we've had a full month of beautiful fall weather. There is a path behind our houses that is wide enough for a bike and short enough to take the little guy out without him getting too restless. Usually he falls asleep anyway.

Red Rider would be proud

These boots were made for dancin'!! Ha, ha!

He likes 2 things for sure..

Oreos...

...and Lolly's bed! We call our guest room "Lolly's room" because she was the first guest. We use her bed for the clean laundry that needs to be folded. There should be a comforter on the bed, but I'm sewing a new blanket. Mostly I'm ripping out the stitching and starting over...not a lot of sewing, just seam ripping. Caleb loves to just hang out in that room, usually hanging over the edge of the bed. This morning he fell asleep that way and it was unusually early in the morning for him to be taking his nap. In this pic he's not alseep, just hanging out, or over...

Obviously he's asleep in this one...

Snoring buster...(video just for Lolly!)

The Piano is Tune-ed (said like Inspector Cluseau)

Buster makes a fine Beathoven, that's right BEAT-HOVEN.

Fall leaves+crisp air+sunshine=Homesick?

I haven't experienced a Fall season for years and today was the perfect Fall morning. Brilliant sunshine peeking over the huge Chugach range, spilling onto it's hills and valleys, already painted intense hues of red, yellow and orange. The air is crisp but not cold and the clouds are fluffy like meringue. So I found myself at the grocery store, shopping for items which would be used for creating the ultimate Fall smorgasbord. Frozen noodles, crisp pink apples, chocolate, bananas...I came home and stirred up some semi-homemade chicken noodle soup (if anyone has a GREAT recipe for the stuff, send it my way). My totally homemade soup always tastes bland....
...then it was on to some chocolate pudding (totally homemade) from www.joythebaker.com There are no words to describe it's decadent, divine texture and flavor. As I was stirring, I called my sis and it turns out she was making soup too! We realized that we are homesick!

Homesick? Yes, homesick! For some reason Fall makes me homesick and I've deduced that it's because somewhere in my definition of Fall the words "cozy" and "comfort" are found...two words that also = home (and family and friends *sigh*). So my sis and I are going to do our best to make our own homes as comfy and cozy as the home (in AZ) that we long to be in right now! And I'm headed back to the store to get some caramel for those apples...and later today I'll be baking up some whole wheat banana bread. Mmm...Fall!

Sniffles

Buster woke up with the sniffles, or to put it delicately, "the crud". I'm sure I'll get it in a matter of hours...it's kind of inevitable, no matter how many Clorox wipes I use around the house.


And what is it with highlighters? I've got electrician tape on it now, but had to capture his "I'm perfectly pleased" pose first.

Laundry basket busyness

I was on hold with our phone company and decided to fold some laundry. Whenever I do this, Caleb finds a laundry basket and promptly dumps out the clothes and uses it as a mini-play pen. He is limitless in his uses of the basket. First, he found that empty "Emergency Chocolate" bar that I mentioned earlier and took out the wrapper, biting it, trying to get whatever chocolate off the wrapper he could find--he is truly a little bear cub.

He gave up with that idea (did he really think I'd leave even a shard of chocolate?) and threw it out of the basket, then started babbling to me about his disappointing situation. I caught him making an adorable face as he was babbling to me! This captures his personality perfectly!

After standing for a few moments, it was time for him to take a nap...nigh, nigh!

After his 10 second nap, he decided that chewing on the blanket was the best thing to do.


Then more standing and bellering...
Followed by some nose smashing and head slapping (couldn't get the slapping on camera)...

Then some rubbing of tired little eyes...


More faces and chomping on fingers...
Pretty soon, "Hey ma, I'm giving you all the tired baby signs..turn that thing off and put me down for a nap!"

He's sleeping peacefully now in his real crib and if he's any son of mine, he's dreaming about a place where the streets are paved with dark chocolate. (Older pic from this summer at the cabin)

It's one of those days

Actually, it's kind of been one of those weeks. And in talking to my sisters, they've had that kind of week too. Nothing hugely traumatic has happened....watch, now that other shoe is going to drop...and it isn't like I've had major breakdowns. Basically, it amounts to the kind of "hit and miss" week where mostly I've missed. I missed 2 of the 3 days that I was supposed to meet my running partner. And we're running buddies so it aint like we're going to wait around for the other if she's late--we're going to go running. One day it was Caleb's fault (and if he could talk, I'm sure he would claim full responsibility). This morning it was Cannon's fault for getting home so late and waking me up! I was so tired that I even slept through my alarm for 32 minutes--which is a huge feat because Cannon has it set to NPR. I HATE waking up to NPR in the mornings. It grates on me like crazy and I always wake up before Cannon does. And I've been driving around Anchorage, trying to find a quilt shop that doesn't exist. The building was vacant when I got there...I'd been on 3 separate trips to find it. Found one this morning but was an hour early. Nothing opens up here until 10am. Not even the DMV. And the DMV is another story--after waiting for 45 minutes and watching 3 people get helped AND after the DMV folks announced that it was lunchtime, so things would be going even slower, I walked out. Still don't have my DL. It's their fault, idiots!(said like Napoleon Dynamite) Like I said, I did find a quilt shop today but they didn't have any poofy batting, just cotton junk. I asked the lady about their thin batting selection and she said "Fine quilters like to see their work so we prefer the more thin batting. If you're looking for fluffier, go to Walmart!" Really? Are you kidding? So I was snubbed by the snobbish old quilting bat...the old batting bat. Oh, and we're paying through the nose for this fitness club up here. I took Caleb swimming last night at the club and the locker room was a rusted out, dingy joke. The water was loaded with chlorine and too cold for Caleb, who really can only float around. He isn't active enough to keep warm in the water yet. So it was a lot of work getting him in the pool and out of a swimsuit, then into warm clothes in a wet, dingy locker room. Not to mention me trying to change while chasing him from going under an occupied bathroom stall door. I'm just waiting for us to get athlete's foot or something. I'm cancelling our membership, stat! The toughest thing is that Cannon came home from work yesterday and announced that he had scuba certification last night and tonight. He's gone by 5:30 and home at 11:30pm. So really, it's like he's gone again. He travels enough as it is...can't he just be home when he's home? It's just been one of those quirky weeks...but in the big scheme of things, there will always be chocolate, so I'll never be totally distraught. Thank goodness for First Aid bars.

Caleb enjoys trucks and giving kisses...

I found this truck at the Anchorage Market and had to get it! It says "Alaska Trucking" on the side.


Finally got Caleb on camera giving kisses!

Eventful week/end

Cannon came home this week and it was a happy reunion! He left when summer was ebbing and came back to full fall weather. I found a free piano on c-list so we picked up the little gem and brought her home. She is the perfect addition to this little house.  A good tune up is all it will take to get her sounding great again.  Yesterday we picked blueberries.  It was a gorgeous drive and a simply beautiful day, hiking hills and filling our buckets (barely).  We look forward to doing this every year.  We hope you are all enjoying the wrap up of summer (or for Arizona family and friends, your equivalent of our summer is just starting!)

Labor Day Laboring

I've already outgrown my overalls...but look at those cute buns!

I can almost reeaach it...

While mom is hammering, I'm busy in the kitchen...

I volunteered to help her sweep after she brought the broom out. She calls me a "keeper of a sweeper" whatever that means...