10 Things Pumpkin

As you may have figured out by now, Monday Listicles is the bright spot at the beginning of my week.  This week the topic was a no-brainer: Halloween!  And what's more Halloween-y than pumpkins, I ask?  The answer is... nothing.  At this time of year, we can't get enough of them.  And lucky for you, I'm willing to share.  Here is my list of ten things pumpkin:



1.  First up?  The pumpkin patch, of course!



2. The Pumpkin Princess at said pumpkin patch.

3.  Carving pumpkins and frolicking elbow deep in pumpkin guts.

4. Daddy's pumpkin. 5. Lilah's pumpkin. 6. Mummy's pumpkin.  Can you guess which is which?

7.  Roasted pumpkin seeds, fresh out of the oven.

8.  Lilah's trick-or-treat basket.

9.  Pumpkin seed cookies. Recipe here.  (Okay, so they don't look quite as good as the originals.  That's because I let Lilah help.)

10.  And finally, my favourite little pumpkin of all:

Red

Introducing this week's colour in the Shades of Autumn Photo Challenge... 

You guessed it. Red! 

I've never really had a definitive answer when people ask me what my favourite colour is. But I think I've found it. I'm in love with the reds we're seeing around here these days - everything from Amaranth to Crimson to deep, dark Burgundy (and yes, I do think they deserve to be capitalized).

 

  

Lilah isn't quite as excited about the foliage as I am, but the firetruck sure turned her crank.

And one more, just for fun:

This is what happens when she chooses her own outfit. She's into the layered skirt look.

Showoff

Linking up with

 

because I just had to share this one of Lilah's cousin.

He's just recently started mugging for the camera,

allowing me about 2.5 seconds to nab a decent shot before he's moved on.

I'll take what I can get!

Wednesday of Few Words: How to Host a Tea Party

One of Lilah's favourite games these days is "house." She's not at a very sophisticated stage of this game, however, so mainly it involves dragging a whole bunch of toys and boxes into some tiny corner of our tiny condo and using them to create an even tinier space which is then considered her house.   (On this particular day it was the front hall - the two square inches of tiled floor where we dump our shoes and coats upon coming home.  Not the most attractive backdrop for photo ops, but we take what we can get.)  The  space she builds around herself is often much too small to contain both a toddler and an adult.  But if she invites you in, she can always move the walls to accommodate.  And once you're in, you're really, really in.

In her house, she is in her element.  She is the gracious hostess with the mostest. She will make you any drink or dessert your little heart desires, and will even hold your straw for you while you drink.

Her specialties include coffee, tea, cupcakes, and cookies.  (Okay, so she doesn't always make them from scratch, and the ones pictured below were from a box.  But please don't hold that against her.)

Such are her hosting skills that she doesn't judge if you dip your cookies in your tea or coffee.  In fact, it's encouraged.  And every bite of cookie must be accompanied by a corresponding "cheers."  Is that the way to eat cookies, or what?

Oh, and by the way?  The best way to cheers with cookies is when they're already in your mouth.

Tips for New Moms

It's Monday again, and you know what that means.  Monday Listicles at Stasha's place!  Cookie's Mom chose today's topic, and she wanted us to share some advice with new moms.  Well, I already did that on a more serious note in Letter to Myself.  So, for some inspiration and a fresh take on this theme, I started looking back through Lilah's newborn photos.  What I realized is we took a lot of shaky, blurry photos of Lilah with our point-and-shoot when she was brand new.  Part of it was probably due to sleep deprivation, but man, our camera skills have come a long way since we got a D-SLR!  The other thing I noticed is we spent a lot of time on the couch.  In any case, I had fun going back through old photos and writing this list.

1.  Your baby may look a little like an alien at first.  Don't worry, she will go from this

to this

in the blink of an eye.

2.  For the most part, I fully subscribe to the "sleep when the baby sleeps" school of thought.  But sometimes you just gotta catch up on your email, you know?

See? I was addicted to the internet long before I started blogging and tweeting!


3.  Never underestimate the power of matching outfits.

4.  Your pet(s) will likely feel neglected when the new addition arrives.  Don't forget to show them a little love from time to time.

5.  Two words: milk coma. So. Awesome.

6.  Don't let anyone make you feel guilty for indulging your inner couch potato from time to time.

7.  Practice your posing.  We all know the camera adds pounds, and you don't exactly have pounds to spare shortly after giving birth.  So find some sassy poses that flatter your new figure, and find your inner top model.

8.  Prepare to fall in love with your baby daddy (or partner, or anyone else who helps you take care of your new babe) all over again.

9.  Whenever you are in the vicinity of other newbies, take the opportunity to line them all up on a couch for a photo.  Bonus points if each and every parent there is also frantically snapping photos.  The more pictures, the better.  Because once they are mobile, there is no way in hell you will get them all to sit in the same place at the same time.

10.  All the sleepness nights and projectile poop and sore nipples and spit-up and mewling cries and blood-curdling screams (yours and the baby's) and anxiety and feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt will soon fade to a distant memory, and what you will be left with are these moments:

Patch It Up

Consider this my obligatory October pumpkin patch post. It's an annual tradition.  If you were expecting something less predictable, you've come to the wrong place.  This is, after all, a mommy blog.

Last weekend, Lilah arranged a trip to the pumpkin patch with some of her besties.

(I know, I know, only one of them is looking at the camera, but I took about a dozen and this was the best of the bunch.  You try getting four two-year-olds to look at the camera at the same time!  The fact that we got them all sitting for the same 30 second period was a feat in and of itself.)

It was a beautiful fall day in Vancouver, and it appeared that the rest of the city had the same idea about heading to the patch.  The place was totally bumpin' by 10 am.  But once we made it through the ticket line-up and got inside, the fun began.

The pumpkins weren't the only things looking good on this particular visit.

 

 

There was music and there was dancing and there was a giant cob of corn with questionable rhythm.



But then, I guess it's hard to dance when your range of motion is restricted by a costume like this.

Lilah's friends danced their little hearts out and repeatedly stuck their little hands through the railings of the stage, patiently waiting for one the giant corn and pumpkin mascots to take pity and offer them a high five. Apparently the secret to achieving true rock star status is donning a giant corn suit.

 But there was one little girl who preferred to dance and admire from a safer distance and the protection of Daddy's arms.  Yep, you got it, that was my li'l Lilahbility.  It's times like these when I see so much of myself in her.

She may be shy when it comes to mascots, but girl throws herself whole-heartedly into the task of eating, and the farm fresh apples included in the price of admission were no exception.

 Neither were the donuts offered by a friend.

Once again, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  (A terrible pun, for which I am simultaneously gleeful and apologetic.) 

It was a great trip, made all that much sweeter by the extra-long nap it induced. 

Have you made your trip to the patch yet this year?