I mentioned a couple posts ago that two weekends ago I went to spend a little time with my parents. They're currently traveling and my mom is having surgery next week, so I figured I'd come for a day before all of that got going. My mom had set aside my graduation gown from high school for me to take home (hello, Halloween box), but I knew I had more there so I also brought home my college graduation gown, my prom dress, and my bridesmaid gown from my brother's wedding. When I got home I decided I needed to try the latter two on, just to see if they even fit. The bridesmaid dress was very snug and I had to be careful zipping it. It's really just my upper body, oddly, so either my chest is that much bigger, or I put on a disproportionate amount of weight in my back and shoulders, or I'm just that much stronger from years of lifting children and doing housework. Take your pick. The dress wasn't as flattering anymore, but at least it fit! That was 18 years ago, after all. As for the prom dress, I caught a break because the dress is a halter and the zipper only went about halfway up my back, just to the point where I normally have trouble zipping. It, too, was tight, but if I wore some Spanx I'd probably be fine! I couldn't help but snap a pic just to prove that a dress I wore at 17 still fits my 40-year-old body...
I can't say I plan to wear either anytime soon, but it was fun anyway!
We had one nice day that weekend where I was able to go out and finally break down my garden. Between the cold, the rain, and the early darkness over the past month, I just hadn't been able to do it. As I pulled out the fencing and worked my way through a mile of cucumber vines, I found the only two viable cukes those vines produced this year, along with a bounty of additional grape tomatoes! Somehow they all survived the cold! The cukes were little, only about three inches long, but they were perfect for a couple salads! The tomatoes are still ripening.
I also managed to get my pumpkin seeds roasted that weekend. I had a ton from our two pumpkins and ended up trying them four ways:
1) Cinnamon sugar (top) - cinnamon, sugar, salt, and butter
2) Montreal (left) - I had some Montreal Chicken seasoning and figured it was made up of flavors I'd use anyway, so I just used that with some olive oil
3) Salt (right) - Primarily seasoned salt and olive oil, with some coarse sea salt
4) Savory (bottom) - This was a Pinterest recipe with some regular seasonings and Worcestershire sauce
They're all good, actually. Jacob says the salt ones are his favorite, and I think Carter liked the savory ones. I probably prefer the savory ones for my palette among the non-sweet ones, but the cinnamon sugar ones are addictive! The glaze ended up perfect and the salt gives them just the right balance. So good! I have one small batch of squash seeds and am currently weighing my options. I need to do it fast before they mold!
This past Saturday the weather was pretty miserable. It was cold and windy. So, when Sunday actually featured slightly more moderate temps and a tiny bit of sun, we had to get outside! Carter had played in leaves at school last week and really wanted a leaf pile to jump in. So, rather than letting Craig just mow over the leaves, I raked a giant pile for him. That is love, folks.
I actually raked up another one in case the boys wanted to play when they were off on Monday, and I managed to clean out our flower bed, too. It's amazing how leaves will pack in there with 40+ mile-per-hour winds! We also played some family football, at Jacob's request. It's always a bit challenging as Carter takes offense to everything and Craig is at least a head taller than everyone and I'm not the most athletic and Jacob has some very specific ideas of how things should go. Oh, and we'd like to escape without injury, too. We played for a half hour or so, with many touchdowns scored between us. Jacob and I trailed by a touchdown during the last drive of the game, and in the end Jacob insisted he got the ball across the plane of the end zone, but without instant replay it's tough to know for sure. He suggested a Go Pro camera for next time. Yup.
While we played ball, this lovely thing was cooling off inside...
Ahhhh, my mom's crustless crumb-top apple pie recipe. I can't seem to perfect the recipe just yet as I think I used a little too much liquid, but it still tastes wonderful, even gluten-free!
So, now we're in the home stretch to Thanksgiving. We can't wait, for a lot of reasons--most of which involve being off of work/school. We have a lot of lacrosse going on in the meantime, with Jacob playing games for his winter club team on Friday and his new box league team on Monday, then practicing for the club team on Tuesday. It's a bit of a challenge keeping him interested since he'd rather be playing basketball, but we're managing. His club team had a really rough first game last Friday, which was a little surprising until we found out their goalie doesn't want to play goal anymore! His box team lost last night, but he had a lot of fun and really likes his teammates. He even got to take a penalty shot! He didn't score, but it was fun to watch. We just need for him to get his confidence back after a rough eight months or so, and I think the love of the game will come back with it.
And Carter...well, he's developing quite the interesting personality. Sometimes he makes us crazy, but I'm so thankful for that snuggly, sweet, silly boy!
Thanksgiving, indeed...
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