silly silly

Enough plum product to keep you going. Har har har... 

Look, firewood for the winter! Oh, nope, those are just a bunch of zucchini hanging out by the front door.

What Mama looks like, except I couldn't find a big enough ball to give the full effect.

"Mama, I want to go to bed." 

tourne tourne petit moulin

I was cooking (actually, canning) and Isaac started singing a really sweet little song in French (on Tuesday). I asked him if he could sing it again, but instead of repeating the first song, he sang this one, complete with hand motions. So cute!! 

Also, we need to say that we love Nana so much. She always goes back and comments on all Isaac's blog posts that have no comments. If it weren't for her I'd probably think no one cares about Isaac's little goings-on besides myself. She calls to check on us when we are sick. She even comes to take care of us sometimes. We know that Nana loves us. Yesterday Isaac asked, "Mama, are you my friend?" and I said, "Isaac, I am your Mama, so I will always love you no matter what." Then I asked, "And do you know who else loves you?" His very first answer: "Nana."  

ecole

Isaac has started preschool during the last two weeks. It is a French immersion preschool and although every morning he complains that he doesn't want to go, he has told me he loves his preschool teacher and he seems to be picking up on average one French word or phrase per day. So that is good. There are not nearly enough boys in the class for me, and the girls are all several months younger than Isaac. But Isaac is fast friends with the one other boy, although he cannot name any other children in his class when I ask him. 

He knows Bonjour, Au revoir, how to count to six in French (not sure he actually knows how to do this in English, so I am doubly impressed!), l'oiseau - bird (also one of his first words.... just now re-learning it), and a few others I can't remember right now. Papa and Isaac impressed me yesterday with a lot of words Isaac has learned. I think it is helping remind Papa and I to speak more in French too. I can tell Isaac's attitude towards French has definitely changed.

Also, I have to pack him a lunch, and he has been doing very well eating almost everything I send with him!

I guess that is about it for now on preschool. There is a cute saying I have to add - Isaac has been trying to "bribe" me (unnecessarily) to do things on empty promises - it started out with "I'll give you some candy..." then turned into something else for one day that I can't remember.... then turned into "I'll give you some vegetables...." :)

Mt Pisgah

On Labor Day, we went on a little hike up Mt. Pisgah. It was fun. It was mostly an ego boost for Mama (I hiked up Bald Hill in Corvallis when I was 8 months pregnant with Isaac so wanted to try some hiking at 6.5 months... maybe I can still be hiking in another month and a half..) but we all enjoyed it. For some reason we have not been hiking as much this year.

 The reason I don't need to get a tan anymore. Any efforts are futile. Pale is cool too. I mean, I think I have gotten a little sun but you couldn't tell from this picture.

A nice day walking. And as a bonus, no one got poison oak, although it was quite abundant.

a short garden update

As it comes time to plant garlic again, I wanted to share a picture of an interesting find we have had this year. Several of our garlic cloves are like this. Just one, perfectly round, clove under the wrapper. I think they are from a particular plant that had an extra, smaller head partway up the stalk. I will try again this next year as I got another one with the extra, smaller head bonus garlic - and I will keep better track of them this time.

 Isaac has been in to taking pictures lately. There is lots of grass in our garden. We just finally finished clearing out a new bed to plant some winter crops in and mixing in some compost. I might mix more compost in this weekend before I stick those garlic cloves in the ground. 

 Thanks, Isaac, for taking a picture of my saggy pants so I would know just how much I need to be sure not to wear these anywhere besides the garden. Oh, and the unidentified gigantic squash continues to produce in the background. It better be good. It better at least be edible.

 This is totally not from our garden, but it is a Piel de Sapo melon from the Eugene Farmer's market. I am loving all the delicious melons and eggplant this time of year. 

lamb shank

Look at this big piece of meat Papa got. Wow. It is a really big lamb shank. Papa went with his friend Ben today (and Ben's oldest daughter) to go kill a goat. When they got there, they decided to also kill a lamb. Mmm. Tasty.

Isaac and I got to spend time with Katie and the kids. Isaac loved it - there is Josephine who is about 5 months older than Isaac, and Freeman, who is a year younger, as well as two other older sisters (that were home). They had lots of fun jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler, and Katie and I had fun catching up. It had been too long! Isaac and I were originally were going to go with Papa to kill the goat but I'm glad we opted not to. I am fine with killing animals to eat, but I just don't feel a compelling need to be involved with the gory details with these larger ones, especially when it is hot out...Give me a fish to filet or something.

I had a funny moment I wanted to share - at least it is funny to me. Papa is always better at finding expensive things for way cheaper (or free), while I like to save little bits here and there. I guess overall it is a good strategy, but sometimes I just feel like Papa wins. 

Case in point: I went to Fred Meyer for what felt like the millionth time today to get freezer bags. Yay! Hefty freezer bags were on sale (through today) for 10/$10 (regular price $2.89). And I found a coupon in my purse for $1 off 2! So I got 7 things of freezer bags (13 bags each) for $5.95 total (I brought my own bag, of course, because those 5 cents add up over time). I told Papa about this monetary victory. Later, as we were packaging our meat in said freezer bags, Papa brought up how much they had paid for the goat and lamb (and divided the cost in half since each one took half of each). They paid just under $200 total, which is pretty good considering that just the lamb shank in the above picture would easily cost $75-100 in the store. Then he said apparently the lamb he caught (they had to catch their own - like u-pick with livestock??) - the farmer made a mistake and the lamb was supposed to be worth $300, but since they had already made a deal, paid, and slaughtered the lamb and goat at this point, the farmer would just take the loss. Saving a little over $10 long term on freezer bags, versus getting an animal for $200 less... yeah, Papa wins, again. :)

wading pool and a new park

We went to this little wading pool on Friday that great-great-aunt Christy told us about. Isaac loved it! Unfortunately, it was the last day it was open for the season. A great little place though - free! 

 The park was fun too. Isaac did not balk at the climbing structures designed for 5-12 year olds, although he chose not to go down the spiral slide.

 A truly silly face. Can you tell he is almost laughing as he makes it?

Loving this time with my little mister.