Fall Traditions

Another year at the orchard! Last year was unseasonably warm and we were all sweating and somewhat uncomfortable, so this year Mama decided to even things out and leave the kids' jackets at home and let them freeze on an overcast and chilly day. But we all had a great time!




And last year's...

Hunter's Prehistoric Birthday Bash

Hunter's 4th Birthday was a perfect opportunity to throw him a really great party. We had never done anything party-like for him outside of the family dinner and cake routine. For his first birthday, we drove Mimi home and he had peach ice cream at her house, and I baked him a cake. For his second birthday, we were down at the shore and we had a little party at our house with Grammy and Pappy when we got home. For his third Birthday, I gave him a four month old sister and we went to Grammy's for dinner. You get the jist.

So for the fourth, and to celebrate going to a new school, we decided to throw him a dinosaur party and invite his new classmates along with his old friends. There was much talk of dinosaurs pre-party, and we studied his dino books at length. I had so much fun designing his invitation and planning the food, it reminded me of the old days when I was catering in college. We even made a recon trip out to Jimmy Johns and picked up the best hot dogs on the east coast, after doing some sampling and playing with the trains, of course.

On the big day, the farm was transformed to a prehistoric site! The dino bones I cooked, (really, I am still traumatized and will not discuss them at this time), looked great in the garden, the moon bounce was inflated (and much quieter than I thought it would be), and Heather was ready and decked out in her Dino saddle cover, (she was thrilled to be giving pony rides, ask her). I finally got to do the picture collages of Hunter that I've always wanted to do for a birthday, and I hung them around the old pin oak.

Mimi and Bunny were in attendance to help keep an eye on everyone, and Pappy George enjoyed himself in all of the excitement. The kids had a good time and it was fun for the parents to meet each other and enjoy the summer day!

These are just a few of the highlights of the day...

Pumpkin Pie

At school, Hunter takes a class called Stripes, it's an integral part of his school. This month he is learning about his Faith Stripe, and on parents night his teacher explained that Faith is laden in tradition, so talking about tradition with little one's can help them begin to identify Faith.

I thought about the traditions that I am trying to practice with our family. Some traditions are new one's, like taking Hunt and Beck to the town Halloween parade in homemade "Pairs" costumes. Some are old traditions; my mother used to hide the baby Jesus figurine from our creche in the drawer of the dresser where the bucolic scene rested year after year. Her theory was that Christmas was Jesus' Birthday so He should not make an appearance until Christmas morning. Now, I just need to remember whose turn it is to take out our baby Jesus for our creche scene that Mimi gave us.

This year I decided that our new tradition could be baking pumpkin pie from scratch. Hunter loves pumpkins, and I thought this would be a good way to get him to eat something with a more sophisticated flavor. They say if the kid is involved in the making of the food, they are more inclined to eat it. I wasn't holding my breath though, pumpkin pie was a bit outside of Hunter's current palate. I also thought it would be a good opportunity to show him that pumpkins, a lot of veggies for that matter, come from the vine before they end up on the table, they don't necessarily come from a can or the microwave.

Enough foolosiphizing!

Getting started, Hunter has a selection of pumpkins and a can of pumpkin, he said, "Just in case we need it"



Ready for the oven!




Mixing it up!



Finished Pie...



Hunter ate his whole piece, and declared it "Delicious"



Let Pie season begin!