I made it two a month - Oct #2!

It's Halloween!  Sunny then cloudy and fifties, I think...not bad.  Tonight some of our neighborhood families organize a 3-block trick-or- treat from 6-7:30 - it's dark and on Halloween so it's a little more authentic and reminds me of how it is/was? done when I was a youngster in Madison.

Jason has been honing his omelette skills.  This episode he added the spinach to the egg instead of wrapping it after the egg is cooked.  He cooks the eggs is a small skillet then bakes it and wraps whatever fixings we have on hand - here it's aged white cheddar, ham and fresh tomatoes from our garden.  Totally fantastic.

Sticking with the beloved roasted broccoli - shoutout to Jay and Ken - and Jason made whole wheat cous cous with asparagus and our dinner staple - sliced baguette with olive oil and this time balsamic v.

Chops from the pig Jason's Aunt Dar buys from a cousin who raised and showed it for 4H and shares the different cuts with the whole family!  So thoughtful.  And keepin' it local!  With it is tasteful carrots sauteed in honey, garlic powder and soy sauce and some fingerling potatoes.  Right on, real good.

Want to stick to my word...Oct # 1

Whoosh, this month went by fast...this day did not.  It was somehow slow paced and seemed not rushed nor did it seem to go by so fast like most - especially weekend - days.  This post is dedicated to today.  It was so nice. 

{Coming off a leisurely, pleasant and fun Friday and Saturday in Madison (Jason made a lot of headway on the upstairs bathroom [it's been demoed for 18+ months - wow] and the kidlets and I went to Madison to visit my Mom and Aunt Kathy) We went to the Cave of the Mounds with Nanny and my sister Brynn's service/therapy dog, Rocker.  What awesome, unique and fun stuff for kids to do.  Graham was giddy.  Not only did we go through the magnificent cave [complete with t-or-t stations (gems and fossils were the 'treat')] but there was coloring, a scavenger hunt, a dig, and we bought a bag of what looked like sand, ran it through a sluice, only to find dozens of awesome gems, rocks and fossils!  What a treat.  With Kathy, we had a favorite breakfast - crepes - and walked to the Vilas Zoo.  On our way out, I picked up my absolute favorite - fresh bagels from Bagels Forever - and Kathy took Graham to find an organizing box for his rocks.  Thank Nan and Kack!}

Back to today, Jason made waffles (his Grandma's recipe) as he occasionally does and they were seriously the best I've ever had, we played around, went to BBC for lighting in the bathroom, to the bike store and got Graham a great bike we've been eyeing at a really good price (his chain fell off every time he rode it of late and the last time we didn't even make it up Newberry before it snapped), had leftovers for lunch, Graham had us all bobbing for apples, we carved four pumpkins, handed out treats for the 3 hour city trick-or-treat, roasted the pumpkin seeds, made our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and ate in the dining room and decided to have dinner there every Sunday.

Jason's dinner this evening entailed parmesan and spinach stuffed chicken breast, fingerling potatoes and summer sweet corn - prepped and frozen by Jason's mom.  All so good.

Thank you God for such blessings.  Help us to recall these and also know that though sometimes seemingly unbearable, life becomes richer when we have days on the other end of the spectrum and rise above, persevere, grow and become better.

Graham gently? trying to make Estelle look for the picture

The farm was a another day but Octobery-Halloweeny - picking apples and pumpkins