It was a great simple craft perfect for little kids, and definitely one to remember.
Golf-daddy
Gardening Momma
Fallish Maddie
G'dwummer Bobe
I made pumpkin cranberry pancakes one morning for breakfast. Yum!! I used my normal pancake recipe, but upped the flour by about 1/2 cup and added about 1 cup of pumpkin puree. Then as they cooked, I sprinkled a few cranberries onto each pancake. 
This was such a great fall recipe--it's definitely a keeper!.jpg)
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"the ocean"
"pearly shells"
And there's nothin' like a little on the spot Hawaiian dancing improv! What can I say? She's a performer!
quilt (we're almost done!),
leis (This picture is so Maddie!)
...and several other items. We feasted on kahlua pork and cabbage with rice, ahi tuna, tropical fruits & drink and haupia (coconut milk pudding). It was all delicious!
You can always count on Granny to enter in to whatever fun you're doing--she came wearing her own leis and flowers in her hair. For brief moments, Caleb wore his feather crown.
Braden was kind enough to wear the hat with the feather band the kids made for him.
We're keeping this picture handy, for when our kids are old enough to read Mr. Bridges' books. May they read many, benefit much from his wisdom, and know God better as a result!
Mr. Bridges asked Braden if he had a book he could sign for him. Well, most of Braden's books are at his office but he scanned our bookshelves in hopes of finding one. And he did. Mine. So he gave my copy of 'Trusting God' to Mr. Bridges to sign but never mentioned that it was my copy. So now I have a lovely inscription to Braden on the title page of my book. :)
A few days ago, before our first frost, I went out to the garden to gather the rest of everything. All the green tomatoes, all the rest of my herbs, even the tiny peppers and eggplant. I also picked the tiny watermelon that had been hiding under my huge marigolds for a long time. I was getting ready to throw it out when I thought, maybe I should just check it to make sure it's bad inside before I throw it out. I almost didn't, but I did. And surprise surprise, it was a perfectly sweet, red ripe watermelon. It was only a bit bigger than a really large grapefruit, so I quartered it, and gave a portion to each of us. It was delicious, but it sure felt funny eating watermelon in November!
All told with gorgeous watercolor illustrations!
I hope to buy this book soon for my kids. It's a keeper!
Maddie, Caleb and I made feather crowns, another traditional Hawaiian craft. This was a great activity for Caleb, who was really able to enter in. What kid doesn't like glue and fancy feathers?! Of course Caleb chose all black. :)
My mom let me take a few bags of them home with me so I could make a pinecone wreath. I even used an antique wreath form that was my grandmother's. Since the pinecones were all small, my mom ran out into her yard and gathered some large white pine cones for me to use as a base. 
A little lumpy-bumpy and more than a few drippy glue spots, but what a special wreath it is to me! I'm spraying it with a preservative spray so I can keep it to hang every fall.
I helped La finish off the design of the cake, while Caleb helped finish off the icing.
Braden led us in song, as usual.
Mom made an awesome German-ish dinner featuring kielbasa. Yum! And Dad blew out the candles so we could finally dig into that awesome cake.
Maddie wrapped Caleb up in wrapping paper.
And then we called it a night and went home!
...saw all things space...
...did experiments...
...peeked inside things...
...and they also got to watch an IMAX movie and a planetarium movie!
