Summertime...

It's been a while!  I'm noticing a trend with this favorite second son of ours.  We had much fun cheering a friend on for her first race- bright and early on the 4th of July.  (Thanks for inviting us!).  And then we hung out at a nearby park for a while.  

Sam is 5 1/2 months now... and not colicky, per se.  He is a bit of a mama's boy, which surprised me because I didn't think that separation anxiety kicked in just yet.  But there are days (or nights!) when all he wants is for me to hold him. If only that 'power' could last...

He is doing all sorts of  things lately, rolling over, grabbing stuff, laughing at his brother.  He has re-started his newborn habit of smacking his lips, and it's quite possibly the cutest thing he does.

 And while he likes to sleep- he's got no discernible pattern. Some days it's a quick 30 minutes, and other days it's 2-3 hours of zzzzz's.  But we never know which is coming, so that's fun.

PA is pretty in the summer.  I'm still astonished that I can be cold in the early am or late nite, but the days are great.  Even when they're hot!

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's 1,000 Superheros!

This past weekend, we had one of our most fun days ever.  Well, the boys did!  I would certainly prefer a later wake up time, but that's race life I suppose.

There was a Superhero 5K and Kids Fun Run, about 40 minutes away.  Kaden was all in.

We didn't pre-register (I have a lot of ideas but rarely commit in advance!).  So we showed up by 7:30 am- and then had two hours between registering and race start.  Thankfully, there was a good bit to do!

Kaden had fun trying his spidey-strength out.  And of course, we were checking out everyone's outfits. There was no official count, but we saw ONE adult Robin (guy), two adult "Robin Girls", and one wee Robin.  Yes, we were counting.

 Every single Robin came with a Batman.  The life of a sidekick, I suppose.  In the photo above, check out their socks- with capes!

Our guy started running around as soon as he got his number- and cape.  That's right, part of the kid racer's goodie bag was an actual cape.  Genius.

Above, you can see a bit of the outfits.  Most involved t shirts.  Some involved masks.  Some were full blown costumes (The Incredibles with muscles, for instance).

There was also this huge inflatable obstacle course.  Kaden was begging to go on, even though I wasn't sure he was big/old enough.  I finally let him, though- and WHAM- he flew through it.  I'm not sure, in the pic above, if he can even see through his mask.  But below, look at Spidey climb!

Usually, he was racing against a bigger kid, who would finish and run off before he came down the slide.  But since he didn't see it, he claimed victory every time.

Below, he's getting warmed up.  By posing, not stretching.  Apparently, that's how superheroes roll.

Have you seen anything cuter than this?  The youngest boy division lining up for their race.  It was 40 yards, I think.  Notice - Kaden is standing next to Robin.

Unfortunately, when they took off, I failed to get a good photo.  Between all that red and blue, and actually cheering, I only have photos of the sky or other people's kids!  He did really well- and earned another race ribbon.

On the way home, we passed an Amish buggy.  I still get a kick out of seeing them.  (But visiting Chocolate World is wearing thin!)

We headed home and took a much deserved nap- then headed up to 'the cousins' for a pig roast. Never mind that his grandparents and aunts and uncles live up there too- it's always referred to as 'the cousins'. Kaden had a blast.  Swimming in Uncle Dave's pool...

Roasting marshmallows on the fire...

He didn't actually eat though, until we started to leave around 8:30 pm.  Then he claimed he was hungry, so we grabbed some fruit and a quick pork sandwich.  Made him happy enough to fall asleep on the way home, but not before seeing the moon rise over the river.

Good days, my friends.  Tiring, but good.

Still Thankful (long post about pumpkins and races)

There may be all sorts of stuff happening, but today is still the last day of Thanksgiving break.

Do you remember, a month or two ago, we went up to Pennsylvania and enjoyed Grandma and Pop's garden?  Here's a refresher of the mini harvest for the day:

The specimen (fruit? veggie?  I feel like I should know this...) that Kaden is holding below is a "neck pumpkin."  As in, it has a long neck.  It's also called something like a "dutch crooked neck pumpkin" and there's an official name for it.  Anywho, it pretty much grows only in central Pennsylvania. And it's perfect for baking pies.

Which is what we worked on down here in Florida, with one of Grandma's pumpkins.  Kaden was so excited to help - here he is carrying it across the kitchen:  "Mama, this is BIG and heavy."  (Yes, it DOES look like butternut squash on steroids.  But it ain't.)

Then we started cutting it up.  Well, I did, while Kaden manhandled one piece with a butter knife.  Anyway, here's WHY neck pumpkins are so good at baking pies-- the neck is pure pumpkin meat!

The little bump at the end is where you'll find the seeds, but even still it has a lot of meat there too.

Here's our yield-- one small dish of pulp and seeds (far left), one small plate of the skin for composting, and two large dishes full of chopped up pumpkin.  I think about 10 cups total.

Next step- cook it in a bit of water until a little soft.

We also spread the seeds out to dry.  We're going to try a few down here and see if we can get a plant or two growing...

Other steps included: draining well, storing in fridge until bakign day (within a week), then putting in food processor to get rid of the stringy bits, then measuring and baking.  We made about 24 mini pumpkin pies (think baby quiche), one pumpkin custard (think pie without crust), two pies and a loaf of pumpkin bread.  Pure heaven.  I forgot to get photos of those, but trust me.

And here is our little turkey on Thanksgiving day- this shirt has his handprints from 2009 and 2010.  I forgot to put one on this year, so I guess we'll add it when we do Christmas crafts...

Thanksgiving day we also did a "Turkey Trot" as a family.  Jim did a 5k first, with his personal best time (go Jimdad!), and then Kaden, Jim, my mom and I all did a 1 mile "fun" run.   We all gathered together, and when the race started, Kaden honestly took off and was in the middle of the back of the pack.  He ran for about a block or so, then started walking (My energy is gone, Mom). 

Kaden did a half mile in this walk/run/walk fashion.  We were in the absolute back of the pack, near a old guy with a cane (more power to him for going out!) and the peeps walking their dogs.  After a half mile, Kman took a break and rode in the stroller for a while.  Then, about 2 blocks (quater mile ish) from the finish line, we started to talk him into finishing the race on his own.  A nearby teen girl heard us and asked Kaden "do you want to run in with me? I'll run with you." Kaden said YEAH and jumped out of the stroller.

Poor girl.  We should've warned her that the toddler was faster than he looked.  He *took off*, people! The teen gave her friend a startled look, and then ran to catch up.  With the teen beside him and encouraging him, Kaden ran the rest of the way!!  When he turned the corner for the final homestretch, the crowd cheered for him!! and then he got a nifty ribbon and a bottle of water when he crossed the finish line.

Later, I asked him how it felt to cross the finish line and finish his first race.  His reply?  "It felt sweaty."   So then I asked how it felt when the crowd cheered for him:  "It made me feel happy."  Aww, that's the sound of my heart bursting with pride.

See?  Lots to be thankful for!  And this long post is just a few things :)