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 :)

11-11-11 means....

a) Happy Veterans Day

b)  a few photos

c) not much else

d) all of the above

Above and below, "glitter pumpkins".  Super easy, fun and messy.  We painted glue on them, then dumped glitter on them.  Then dumped glitter in the glue, mixed it up and re-painted.  Then left the pumpkins outside :)

Yes, that was from a few weeks ago.  I'm slow posting these days.  Notice the emoti-pumpkins- Kaden's request was for a "mad one" because he likes mad best.  I'm hoping this is a phase.

Above, just a random play photo.  But doesn't he look so... big?  and all concentrated-y?  *sigh*

And here, the boy took photos while we were cooking (the infamous neck pumpkin is on the right there).  There's a few that aren't too bad.  Out of maybe 100.   He's quick, that one.

Ah, and tonight his dad was going off to a race, and Kaden says to him "I bet you'll get first place."  Jim chuckles, and says I don't think so.  Kaden responded, "Yes, you can because I think you have fast legs."  :)

Random October-ness

We once again bought an annual pass to a butterfly place (thanks, Groupon).

Here's hoping we use it more than once this time.

Kaden came home with the following 3 scratches/cuts on his face.  He told me that he was tickling a friend while they were getting a drink at the water fountain, and his friend fell and he fell and hit his face on the water fountain.  But it didn't hurt.  Later, he told my mom his friend pushed him at the water fountain and he hit his face on the step- but it didn't hurt.  Still later, when a lil' friend asked him :"hat happened to your face", Kaden said "I don't know."

This was on Wednesday, and the photo is from Friday. I took it after I called the daycare and asked 1) did anyone know what actually happened and 2) why didn't I get an incident report?    The woman in charge is new- she didn't actually remember/know who my son was, nor did she know what happened as she "wasn't on the day crew."  I used to work at a daycare, so I get this, but still:  would you be upset at this?  BTW, later I asked Kaden if he told the teacher about getting hurt and he said, no it was a secret.  So we had another chat about the importance of NOT keeping secrets from teachers or parents.  But I think 4 yr old boys who wear superhero shirts are starting to have more influence than I am.  Sigh.  It's almost enough for me to quit working right now.

And the pic above is a random fireman.  We were at a school gym one weekend, to see a friend in a karate tournament, when the fire alarm went off.  Someone checked and assured us it wasn't a real fire, but since I remembered the recent station visit (where we learned that it takes less than 5 minutes between "fire starting" and "house-consumed-and-everyone-dies", I talked our boys into a stroll outside to look for the fire trucks.  And then they showed up!  Very calm but quick, grabbing axes and shrugging into oxygen tanks.  The driver stayed near the truck, and let Kaden go in to explore a bit.

I love this philosopher pumpkin photo.  Not scripted (exactly).  I also love the avocado peeking out, just to the right of kaden's hat.  Well, that and the palm tree.  We've actually gone to this church "pumpkin patch" for many years-- but I can't find the other pics of Kaden as a wee one next to the orange globes right now :)



Yet Another Fire Station Visit

Our city had a special "visit the firehouse" kind of day recently.   The places were CLEAN (nice going, fireguys and gals) and they had all sorts of vehicles and equipment on display. 

Look closely below, and you'll see a junior firefighter driving the truck.

We had a "tour guide" for a little bit- first a volunteer and then a fireman nicknamed Scout.  But after the usual tour, with our boy still enthralled and interested, they just sorta let us roam around a bit (!).

Which is how Kaden figured out the built in truck steps on engine 9 below, and started climbing.  He was a little miffed we wouldn't let him go on the top of the engine.

They also had these awesome ATV type vehicles. Kaden jumped in, flipped the key and a switch and wa-la: lights and sirens went off. All in less than 20 seconds. No, I'm not kidding.   In another rescue pickup truck, he actually called someone on the CB- which Scout deftly turned into a siren test call (they were expecting those all day).

I think the firefolk were pretty lenient with him because he was decked out in full fireman gear. He had a fire truck shirt on (thanks Grandma), a firefighter jacket (thanks, Annette) and fireman boots (thanks Nana).  The volunteers and firefighters kept saying things like, "oh, he's ready to go if we get called" and "hey, we've got a new recruit"  

Kaden seemed to like spraying the water hose the best.  He did it three different times.  The first time, the Chief had visited and was driving away-- Scout and Kaden adjusted the water and hit the Chief's truck.  Niiiice.   The second time, Scout showed him how to change the water spray from a stream to a fan.  The third time, Kaden had picked up the hose and turned it on  before Scout was near him.  Basically, the firefighter was just holding the hose while Kaden worked the water.  Seriously.

Later, when we colored a page for a thank you, I asked Kaden what were we thanking them for (thank you fireguys for letting me in your house) and what he liked best (spraying the Chief's truck.  And driving the truck.).    Good times.