Yesterday Davey turned 4.
At about 7:30, he charged down the stairs ready to start the celebration.
Presents.
Smiles.
An early morning Skype conversation.
Davey chose a Mickey Mouse cake.
Then it was, “Mommy! Can’t I PLEASE test the icing????!!!”
His friends arrive.
We sang, had cake, and then Davey, Ashley and Logan raced around the house playing and having a heck of a time.
Great birthday.
It’s been a busy week. Halloween/David’s Birthday extravaganza to be capped off by Davey’s birthday celebration which will take place tomorrow.
On Friday, Davey and I had picked out a few things for David’s birthday. We’ve started a tradition (Davey’s idea) where we buy something (a toy) that they can do together. So we got this little lego guy for them to build together.
Davey wanted Daddy to open it immediately when he got home (early birthday present). So he did. Davey was so excited.
Then he carefully watched and helped David put it together.
On Friday evening, we went to Boo at the Zoo. It was cold, but Davey had fun trick or treating.
He either was not cold or would not admit to it for a long time. Finally, he wanted his coat, and then he was ready for a lollipop!
On Saturday we got “booed”. Someone in the neighborhood left a bucket of Halloween candy on our doorstep. Davey thought this was just the coolest thing ever.
Sunday we celebrated big David’s birthday.
Davey loves blowing out candles with Daddy.
And of course he loves to lick the icing off the cupcake (and to not eat the cupcake).
On Halloween, Davey had great fun trick or treating with the little girls from across the street. I did not time my picture taking well, and by the time I grabbed the camera, Davey was about to explode out the door. So I got a few not so great pictures.
Little Captain America has had a fun several days.
So this morning we went for a snowy walk.
We took our second annual “in the snow” family photo.
Davey saw a cleared path along the sidewalk, so we had to follow it. It is amazing to me how fast they clear the trails in this state. It’s great. But Davey of course (and me too) would rather walk in the snow.
I don’t know if I could have been wearing any more different colors if I’d tried.
“Daddy. Will you make me a snowball?”
Daddy hands it off to Davey. Davey gets the snowball all situated just right into his hands.
His intentions are pretty clear.
bam!
Yesterday we got our first big snow. I don’t guess I’d ever experienced snow before Halloween. The poor trees. The leaves have not all fallen yet, so a lot of branches were breaking.
Davey tiptoed around abit before he ventured into the snow.
It didn’t take long though for him to start with the snow angels. He needed a bit of a refresher course however, as he went in tummy first.
Koko was not thrilled. At all.
She’d quickly had enough of this snow.
I was trying to get some pictures as fast as I could before I left for school. (I put my coat on soon after.)
So since I was gone most of the day yesterday, Davey and I are now getting ready to head out for a snow walking adventure.
I made the best soup the other day. I think it might be the best soup I ever made. I have got to get the ingredients written down so I don’t forget how to repeat it.
I’d been talking to a friend about kale soup with beans and chorizo. I also looked up a recipe on the internet, and then I kinda made it my own.
Ingredients:
Chorizo (I think I used about 8 ounces.)
Chard (it’s what I had. I am not sure how much I used. One rubberbanded bunch. You could use as much as you want since it wilts down so much.)
2 cans of Cannellini beans. (I drained them.)
1 onion
1 green bell pepper
1 box of chicken broth
a little Tony Chachere or whatever seasoning you want.
salt and pepper to taste
I think that’s it. (I feel like I am forgetting something major.)
Chop the onion and bell pepper and saute them in a little extra virgin olive oil. Add the sausage and brown it. Add the beans, chard, broth and seasoning. (I think I wilted the chard a little on top of the chorizo and onions. I can’t remember for sure and I’ve no clue if this would be at all necessary. Probably not.)
Let it cook for an hour or so. It was a very thick and hearty soup. You’ll want to double the recipe if you want leftovers or have more than two people. We had plenty for one meal and then a small bowl for leftovers. I did this on purpose as it seems like I always make this huge pot and we get tired of it before it’s gone. I don’t think we would have gotten tired of this though.
I was reading some cooking blog the other day and I learned about what I think is the crowning touch to this soup. A fried egg on top. I like a fried egg on just about everything, but it really made this soup. David is the expert egg fryer in our family. He can get the white done and the yolk is still perfectly runny. I’m not as good at it.
So anyway, it was really really good. I have only a horrible picture to serve as reference. There was just a little soup left so the egg dwarfed it.
I ended up focusing on the ceramic bowl and left the soup dwarfed by the egg blurry.
And on the knitting front, I’m working on the sweater for Holly. The name of the pattern is “Hulda” and my sister in law is Holly, so I’ve dubbed the sweater the Hulda Holly.
Unfortunately, I had a bit of a mishap with Hulda Holly.
I had to cast on 326 stitches in this laceweight yarn. Somehow when I joined it in the round, I twisted the stitches. I thought I was so careful not to get them twisted. The lovely part was that I didn’t notice this until I finished the ribbing (3/4 of an inch) and about 3 of the beginning stockinette rows. How did I not notice? I don’t know. It was a bunch of stretchy stitches winding around a 32 inch circular needle.
So I unintentionally created a moebius.
All I could do was to try to take a neat picture and cast on again.
So last night I cast on again and I am a row or so into the ribbing. I was very very obsessive about making sure it was not twisted. Hopefully it’s not.
As I usually do when I mess something up – I kept reminding myself that it’s about the process. And I do love knitting with this yarn.
We are waiting for snow to hit Denver tonight. Davey just went to the window to look for David again and to see if it has started snowing – again.
Yesterday, David carved the pumpkin. It’s become a great annual tradition.
Davey always intently watches the process.
After awhile, Davey started wandering and playing while David was left to carve. Next year, I vow to get him a nice pumpkin carving knife. Every year, he uses a knife that is just not quite right.
Davey’s eyes are a little tired, but I like this picture and his expression.
He returned when David finished carving so he could put the “lid” on the top. He’d decided that this was to be his responsibility.
Then it was time for the annual slightly violent “stab the jack o’lantern” photo.
I always like to take a picture of David, Davey and the jack o’lantern as well.
Happy almost Halloween!
Davey and I tried out a new craft project the other day. I’d learned about it on pinterest. I can get on pinterest and spend about a year there. So much cool stuff.
So we made a leaf garland.
Davey and I went outside and gathered leaves. A big bowl. I had big plans for a big garland.
We arranged our necessary supplies: yarn, scissors, straws, tape and leaves.
My little helper was at the ready – lollipop hanging out of his mouth.
We cut up the straws. When you cut straws, they go popping and flying all over the place if you are not careful.
Davey helped me for awhile. We had to cut the straws and tape them to the back of the leaves. Then you ran the long length of yarn through. After awhile, I realized that it would be easier to run the yarn through the cut straws first and then tape in place so that I could tape more securely. It requires having an idea of how much garland you want to make. While this was kind of fun, I quickly realized that I didn’t want to make that much garland.
Davey quickly grew weary of the process. His little hands were not quite ready to tape bits of straws to backs of leaves (with small bits of tape.) He handed me leaves and straw pieces for awhile though.
The garland turned out pretty.
The leaves are drying out pretty quickly. I guess we will need to remove it before it crumbles everywhere. Although it would add a little color to our general state of Davey-messiness that fills the house.
I’ve not blogged about knitting much lately. I’m still knitting. I just don’t find quite as much time to do it as I’d like!
I am starting a new sweater. It’s for my lovely sister-in-law Holly. That’s the plan anyway. If it turns out to be a disaster, I will not try to force her to wear it.
It’s going to look like this:
There is some color blending between the stripes which is subtle but really pretty I think, so I wanted to use the same yarn as was used for the above sweater.
I could only order it from Iceland which I thought was very fun. It’s an Icelandic wool. When I first opened the package and felt the yarn, I was not sure. It’s not incredibly soft. However, knitting with it is really nice, and it is supposed to soften up and “bloom”. (Now Edelweiss is going around in my head. “Bloom and Grow”).
One of the challenges of this sweater is that the yarn is laceweight and I am knitting it on size 2 needles. Yikes. The body is in the round though so that should be a definite plus!
I’m also working on a scarf. The pattern is called Candle Flame.
I’m knitting with Panda Silk. It’s a wool/bamboo/silk blend, and it’s so nice to knit with!
It should block out really nice so that I can get some better definition of the “flames”.
Finally I knit Davey a little ghost finger puppet. Poor little ghost’s eyes are kinda crooked, but Davey loves him.
(I love Davey’s little blurry face in the background of the pic!)
Today Davey and I took David to a trail that Davey and I had first explored on a letterboxing trip. Davey wanted to show David the letterboxes we’d found before. I wanted to show David this pretty trail along this small creek.
Everything is just golden around us right now.
Davey had found the letterbox here, and he was reaching down for it. I just loved the light in this picture.
David and Mr. Expressions walking onto the next letterbox.
We stopped by the creek for the snack. Davey wanted me to take a picture of the “beautiful water”.
As usual, Davey found a stick to wave around.
On the way back, Davey found a big fallen log that he wanted to play on. There was lots of big chunks of bark around which he thought was great fun.
Every walk usually includes a “ninja tinkle”. This one was no exception. Here, they were running back from way deep in the woods.
I tried to get Davey to walk down off the trail abit so that we could get a picture in front of this beautiful golden tree. Davey decided to try it out, but as you can see from his expression, he changed his mind.
Walks also often end with Davey on David’s back.
I’m sure loving Fall!
My brother and his wife stayed with us the past couple of days. They came through on the way from New Jersey where they lived, to San Francisco, where they are moving to. Quite a haul across the country, and we were glad they could stay with us for a short time.
They have a young dog named Nora, and Davey had so much fun playing with her. All day long it was, “come on girl. here girl. let’s go girl. good girl. go girl.”
So on Wednesday evening we went to Green Mountain so that David and Michael could do a hilly run. I had had to teach most of the day, so I met Holly and Davey there, and we went on a nice walk with Nora.
It’s hard to tell exactly what he is doing here, but he is shaking Nora’s hand, which he loves to do.
Davey liked playing on these rocks, and he agreed to pose for a shot for me.
We were trying to work a picture with Aunt Holly, Nora and Davey in it. Holly was very cooperative. Nora and Davey took some work.
But then he wanted to have fun with it. “Take my picture Mommy!” Here’s Davey being so silly in silhouette.
David will readily admit that he is a show out (Before David, I knew this as “show off”, but he calls it “showin’ out”). It seems that Davey has inherited these show out tendencies.
He looks just like David in this picture!
Goofy
Funny kid.
Cpeezers 