September Days

Fall is such a beautiful season! The girls helped me gather this bittersweet that grows down at the end of our lane and around the mailbox. We thought they looked nice tucked into our wreath.

This post is going to seem probably like many different unrelated topics. I suppose that is because this post covers several weeks of my life and activities I’ve been working on! For so long I have wanted to make a cover for my sewing machine. I thought it would keep dust away and also keep little hands away from the knobs. Since my sewing machine currently lives in the kitchen, there is always the temptation (especially for Ian–he loves anything electric that has buttons or knobs on it!) for someone to switch a lever, turn a knob, pull on the bobbin thread, etc. So, I finally pulled out the pattern I’d had for years, grabbed some fabric from my stash, and went for it. I was pretty happy with the results.

We made some seriously long paper chains to hang in the kitchen/dining room. I attached all these chains together to make one long chain and hung it from the ceiling. It looks very festive.

I’ve found that all you have to do to make a meal special for children is get out the candles. So we frequently light candles or an oil lamp just for fun.

Another thing that helps is dessert! Grandma made these cupcakes and we all enjoyed them.

Some days it was cool enough for a sweater. We have spent a lot of time outside the past few weeks.

My husband brought home a huge bag of locally grown apples and I just happened to have some pie crust that I had frozen…

So it was a relatively simple matter to make this pie. I didn’t quite have enough dough to make it really pretty…this one is rather… rustic!

My oldest daughter enjoyed learning how to make a book cover. She’s growing up so much and learning so many things. She can now follow a recipe for quick breads almost completely independently! That’s a real blessing! One day she made zucchini bread and then a day later she made banana bread. I was on the phone while she was making the banana bread, so I wasn’t sure how she would do on her own, but she did a great job!

We decided to have a fall party. The menu was easy for Mom and very kid-friendly! We had hot dogs, steamed green beans from the garden, popcorn, whole grain bread, and cookies! Very interesting, I know.

Afterward we had apple cider.

I’ve wanted to learn how to can for years. I went over to a friend’s house and watched her can some pear butter. It looked simple enough, so I came home and made some myself. The small batch I made isn’t lasting very long, though! We’ve already eaten several of these.