Fall Weather Part 2 and a Baby Bump

Since I didn't have any pictures to go with the lentil soup recipe, I thought I'd post a few from yesterday when Lucy and I were out enjoying some beautiful fall weather:

And here's a shot of Lu admiring our fall porch decor, with our gigantic white pumpkin in the background:

Some pretty baby curls:

Dancing in the street with mama:

And, I actually snapped a shot of my baby belly! Okay it's not great and my face is hidden, but at this point it's better than nothing! This was 22 weeks. I promise I will get Joel to take a better one sometime in the near future. But now you know I'm not making this up! There really is a baby in there (and she's a kicker). 

Fall Weather Fever: Lentil Soup

There are so many things I love about fall, but making lots of soup is very, very high up on that list.

I don't have a picture to accompany this post because I haven't made dinner for tonight yet, but this recipe was given to me by a good friend, and it has become one of our favorite soup recipes. I included her parenthetical notes because they make me chuckle when I'm preparing this soup.

So here it is:

Jill's Lentil Soup Recipe

2 tsps oil
2 onions diced
3 carrots grated
3/4 tsp marjoram
3/4 tsp thyme
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes w/juice
7 cups broth (if you use chicken broth then it's like it has meat in it..)
1 1/2 cups lentils- rinsed and picked over
1/2 tsp salt
1/4-1/2 tsp pepper
6 ounces dry white wine (guzzle the rest while the soup simmers)
1/3 cup chopped parsley
4 ounces shredded cheese (we usually use cheddar)

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan and saute onion, carrots, marjoram and thyme. About 5 minutes.
2. Add tomatoes, broth and lentils. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 1 hour.
3. Add salt, pepper, and wine. Simmer for a few more minutes.

Serve with cheese and parsley on top.

I do have one side note and that is that I often am too lazy to buy parsley and since Joel is not a big cheese fan, we usually don't serve this dish with cheese and parsley on top. I imagine it tastes even better that way, but it is still so yummy without!

Fall days

Have I already mentioned how beautiful Fall is here in Eugene? The trees really take their time turning red, yellow and orange, and the weather has very slowly become cooler, easing us into the darker days of Winter. It hasn't been very rainy yet either, although I think this week is going to be the begining of some cold, wet weather. But that just means more time inside making forts and pretend baking with my little cute friend, and that's alright with me!

Here's a picture of the bush outside our window.



And the view from my back porch:

With all this nice weather and a child who loves walking, we've spent a lot of time outside playing with leaves and exploring.

Lucy is not content to stay in our backyard for long, she wants to get out and see the big world.




So many new textures to learn about like leaves and pinecones, it's such an adventure!



I think she found a ladybug on the wall. (Also known as a "cat-cat").

Happy Fall everyone!

Fallish Things

Happy Late Halloween! Here's a picture of our little Lu enjoying herself some marionberry pie at our pumpkin carving event.



And here is the pumpkin we carved. (Mom, I know you're probably shuddering right now.)




And our adorable little Piglet! She actually did have a blast going around to some of the stores in the 5th street market and getting to pick out a candy from the different merchants.




Also, in other fall news, tonight I made something amazing, and I think you need to go out, buy the ingredients, and make it also.

Stat.

Bree calls it Sea Salt and Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce. I call it nectar of the gods. So enraptured was I by this stuff that I didn't even pause to take a good picture. So here is the one she posted with the recipe. One thing you can do with this sauce is pour it over ice-cream. But I'm also envisioning it in coffee. And on these blondies I'm about to go make.

Lone Pine Farms

Today Joel and I decided it was time to do something Fallish. So after finding the website for Lone Pine Farms, we drove over to Junction City with the Lu-belle to see what they had to offer.

And it was fantastic. Seriously, Eugene locals, if you haven't been before you should check this farm out. There were tractor and horse-drawn rides, a huge corn maze, a magnificent farmer's market, a hay-bale maze for the little 'uns as well as a playground, goats to feed, and a huge pumpkin patch. Lucy had a great time and we came away with several different pumpkins, gourds, and some indian corn.

Lucy loves this little display of the old lady in the shoe:

She helped us pick out a pumpkin:

It had to pass the "can I whack it hard with my palms" test:

The chosen pumpkin:

Isn't that a fabulous display?

We tried to get Lucy to pose in their photo-op standups but she didn't really get what was happening.

So Joel tried to show her. Doesn't he make a splendid witch?

The horse-drawn ride (we didn't go on it, Lucy loved petting the horses but would have gotten bored quickly):

Off to pet the goats!

The over-exposed quality of this picture makes me laugh. Doesn't it look like a floating goat-head?

And here's the baby at home, thrilled with her outing and her new pumpkin friend!

It's October!

When October 1st arrived last year, Joel and I were thinking, "We're going to have a baby this month!" It's crazy what a year does.



I've always loved Fall for its changing leaves, crisp weather, pumpkins, spiced smells, and holidays. And I keep finding more things to love about this season. Like festive, footie pajamas, for instance.

Happy October everyone!

Lucy's First Bath and Halloween

A while ago we gave Lucy her first bath, and she seemed to like it! I was prepared for much wailing since she usually hates having her clothes taken off, but I guess the warm water pacified her.





Dad helped towel her off which she also enjoyed, while staring adoringly up at him.


And, of course, yesterday was Lucy's first Halloween.





Granted she didn't eat any candy, go trick-or-treating, or even know what she was wearing, but we had fun with her.





I crocheted her a pumpkin hat before she was born, only to realize how very much bigger her head was than what I had anticipated. Thankfully I just had to add more rows to the bottom of it and it turned out just fine. I didn't get a great picture of it but it has a cute green stem and vine on top.


We went over to the Williams' house and played Speed Scrabble and Settlers of Catan, passed out candy and ate great food (and lots of candy).

Lucy with Lesley:



And her first Settlers of Catan game. Unfortunately even Lucy's shrewd insight could not help us win.

Spooky Decor

To prove that I meant what I said about branching out past Lucy updates in my last post, here's a shot of the decor above our tv armoire. I found the cool vase and spooky crow on sale at Michaels the day before I was induced, and just had to get my halloween decor in order before she came!

Here's a better shot of the crow.

I will admit though, it has given me the creeps at 2 in the morning when I'm up feeding Lucy. But I suppose that's part of the fun! The good news is Whiskey has not decided to stalk it just yet.

Fun in Fall

Fall soup: sausage and pasta with spinach, yum! Plus I made homemade buttermilk biscuits for the first time and they turned out wonderful!

Fall flowers from my friend and coworker Ellen to celebrate my last day of work (and baby's due date):

And a little bit of the fall decor around my house. I was in a hurry and only got these two shots but I also have some adorable mini pumpkins on the dining room table and various other fall items sitting around:

And of course, what makes this fall the most fun: