Homemade Crackers

I ran across this easy recipe for homemade cheese crackers and made some last week. They are yummy and, as I mentioned, so easy! And depending on the size of your cutters, you get as many as 48 crackers out of each batch.

Benjamin is still deciding whether or not he likes them. I’m hoping he will eventually because then I will simply freeze them and thaw out a few at a time.

Here is the recipe for the Crackers.

The finished product! Fluffy and crisp

Window play

I think my son is beautiful, especially in natural light and when he is enjoying himself. I paused in the middle of making chicken pot pie on the 24th to take these pictures of him delighting in play.

Doesn’t he look like such a big kid?

Tunneling with Dad

I forgot about these photos from the beginning of the month so here they are now.

Donnie got out the tent and tunnel for the first time in a long while, and Benjamin could barely control himself! He was crawling through the tunnel with Hobbes and then playing peek-a-boo in the tent until Donnie started “tossing” him in there, which he became obsessed with. Then Benjamin and Donnie started playing with the tent vertically, and Benjamin even walked around inside the semi-sheer tent for awhile. Funny boy!

Benjamin wrestled Hobbes in the tent for awhile, and we managed to capture some of it on film. I love hearing him laugh

And here’s a video of Benjamin walking in the tunnel. Turn your volume down if you don’t want my woo-hoo’s and his squeals to deafen you.

BBQ & Bounce

Our church group has an annual BBQ & Bounce to help kick off the Bible studies, and we went for the first time this year. Because it’s chilly and dark here in the evenings, the bounce house was set up in the sanctuary lobby. The kids played until we ate and then played some more. It was Benjamin’s first time in a bounce house, and considering that he can’t jump yet, he had a great time!

“Hi, Daddy!”

Tumble!

Tumble again!

Benjamin also had fun playing with Bryan Rhodes.

Isn’t he doll with all that orange?

Apparently he’s practicing how to be a helpful big brother. First, he picked up Bryan’s rattle. Then, he dropped it on the floor, exclaiming, “Uh-oh!” And then, he handed it back to Bryan. Fortunately Bryan didn’t seem to notice or care

And here are some pictures of just some of our friends who were also there.

Isaac Jackson Sadik! He seemed pretty frustrated about not getting to bounce. Poor Isaac.

Carrie & Isaac

Carrie, Isaac, Patrick, and Dave

Erik, Becca, and Luke Hammagren

Off to the Pumpkin Patch

On Sunday, October 9th, we headed to the Davis Family Farm with families from our church group to pick us some pumpkins! This was our first time at a pumpkin patch, with Benjamin or not, so we had fun taking the hay ride to the patch, slogging through the muck, holding the (surprisingly!) prickly pumpkin vine stumps, and watching our pumpkins be weighed on a cool old scale.

Benjamin wasn’t as impressed by all the mud. The combination of his rain boots still being a bit too big and the layers of muck, I’m sure made it hard for him to walk. But he is also a boy who, so far, prefers no “yuckiness” on him

Benjamin and Autumn bonding over their identical green rain boots.

Horses and chestnuts on the way to the patch.

Off the wagon, into the mud!

“This pumpkin is heavy…and prickly.”

“Still heavy. Oh and there’s mud on my boots!”

“I don’t know if I can go any further.”

“Okay, I can do it.”

Our pumpkin loot.
(Sorry for the weird exposure.)

The man driving the tractor asked us if Benjamin would like to take a turn driving (2 different kids got to “drive” it on the way to the patch and back). We enthusiastically volunteered Benjamin for the job, so he and Donnie got into the driver’s seat. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get Benji in the picture, but just trust me that he’s there.

Semi-proof that he was on the tractor!

The whole tractor driving event left quite an impression on Benjamin. Now, whenever we see tractors–which is often since we drive past many fields on the way to Corvallis and there are two tractor lots on the way out of Albany–Benjamin points and says, “Daddy” and points far away. Of course, this translates to: “Ooh, ooh, Daddy and I rode on a tractor together!”

Next to the tractor at end of the hay ride.

Weighing the pumpkins.

And just to remind you we’re in Oregon, this is a picture of the truck parked next to us at the pumpkin patch. It wasn’t broken down and wasn’t rusted out. Just another vehicle that sees a lot of shade time.

Playing in the front yard

This is the highly anticipated post about how different it looks when Benjamin plays in the front yard. Funnily enough, he actually does play quite differently. Most of it involves mowing up and down the yard. In the few weeks since I took these pictures, his affinity for regimented mowing has decreased.

What’s that in the sky?

Oh right. It’s one of the many, many little planes that fly overhead every day!

Running around with his new, one and only train!

Time for a ride on the truck, or as Benji calls it, his “ckkkkk!” (That’s my transcription of the hard “k” sound combined with a rumbling engine imitation.)

Trucks are fun!

And he’s off! (I had to trim the bush on the right side to help save the little bush next to the ferns on the left. This route is Benjamin’s preferred way to enter the grassy yard.)

Oh yeah. It’s hard to ride the truck on the grass. Time to mow!

Makes me want to pop a wheelie with my CR-V!

So doesn’t playing in the front yard look different than playing in the back yard?

 

Last of the Cosmos

Cosmos being the flowers, not the universe.

 

There are still a many on the plants outside the back door, but since all of the rain over the last week, the blossoms are a bit bedraggled.

Fall Festival 2011

Two weekends ago, we headed to the Corvallis Fall Festival and met up with our friends, Brett and Hannah. (Note: I realized we forgot the camera as we were leaving Albany and decided it wasn’t worth it to turn back. So the only photos of us were kindly taken by Donnie’s phone and by Hannah on her iPhone. Thank you, Hannah!)

East Entrance to the park (courtesy of Corvallis Parks website). We actually entered this way. Of course, it was crowded with tents and hanging baskets of flowers for sale.

(Courtesy of festival event website.)

The festival is arranged as two big circles of vendors and then some around the outside of the circles. And there’s lots of yummy carnival fare. After munching on cinnamon-sugar-encrusted hazelnuts (thank you again, Hannah!), we ordered a plate full of curly fries for $5 so Benjamin could have a safe snack (since I forgot to pack one!). I initially cringed at the price, but it ended up being an entire potato, fried-to-order! I watched them twirl it into curly strips and then fry them. They were quite tasty without salt or any other seasonings. Mmmm!

There are lots of artists, of course. This festival is the art one and the Da Vinci Days festival in July is more science-focused.

This year, I actually bought a piece of artwork from the festival poster’s artist, Jennifer Lommers. (A print, not the original.) She is a local artist, which made it even sweeter. Many of her paintings and prints featured poppies (my absolute favorite flower next to tulips, and fortunately they’re in different seasons so I’m happy half the year ). She has an etsy shop, too.

I also bought two girly hair clippies/headbands at Donnie’s encouragement from the A House in the Woods booth. She has an esty shop too. She’s a very sweet mother of a two-year-old who started making all of these cute baby things so she could stay home with her daughter.

Here are the pictures we managed to snag. Benjamin did great in the stroller for about half the two and half hours we were there…as long as we kept moving, which was easy to do.

Benji looking a little unsure about this photo op.

Finally got him to smile, kind of.

Playing on the big climbing rocks by the southwest entrance to the Park, near the big playground. I think he was just amazed he was allowed to climb on these things. Could it be true??

We ended the day at Brett and Hannah’s mansion (aka, the Kappa Delta sorority house where they are the house parents). We dined on yummy leftovers that the chef made throughout the week–pulled pork sandwiches, crisp green beans, and baked beans. Mmmm. (Side note: the other night, the chef made individual chicken pot pies for all 52 of the live-ins. I want to live there!)

We can’t wait to go back next year with Baby Girl in tow. I anticipate more running around and less shopping for the next two years!

Doesn’t he look like such a big boy?

Excitement to come!

I’m realizing, as I look at the photos I have and the blog posts I can make and have made with them, that we haven’t done anything exciting since camping back in August. Well, after this next promised post, which will be about Benjamin playing in the front yard (Trust me, it’s different than him playing in the backyard.), we will have a post about our time at the Corvallis Fall Festival. It happens every fall and we’ve been to it each year except two years ago when we were in Bend with my parents. We love it and are excited to share it with an aware Benjamin!

Hobbes needs to eat, too!

 

Apologies for the poor lighting. But as you can see, Hobbes is about to get a good mouthful of nothing! And I, of course, got the camera out too late, and getting a 19-month old to reenact almost anything is an exercise in futility. What makes this picture fun to me, though, is that Benjamin thought of the idea of feeding Hobbes all on his own. The wonders of independent play and imagination are beginning!

And here the flash went off a little to well. Oh, Hobbes. You’re such patient friend and bear.