autumn ari is awesome

i always forget how much i love autumn until it arrives: the abundant harvest (translation: delicious soups & hearty meals), the brisk mornings and cold evenings, the colorful outdoors, and fun sweaters (& hats). ari makes autumn even more wonderful and so i thought i would share a few pictures that really make me smile:

see? smiling already - even though the picture is blurry

sharing free pizza on an afternoon walk feels so nice

who wouldn't want to wake up to this every morning?!

how is he so cool?

sweet birthday morning hugs from my favorite little person

fun with quince and ari

p.s. when ari was 'peeling' the quince, he was not under my supervision, but i thought these pictures were pretty cute...

a couple months ago, i found a woman on craigslist with a quince tree who didn't know what to do with the quince, but didn't want it to go to waste. so, never having heard of quince myself, i researched the fruit and discovered that they are apparently quite magical. ari and i went and picked 2 large boxes of quince, and slowly have been making things with them. they are a bit tricky, since you cannot eat them raw, but they have a great flavor and don't require any pectin when you can them for jelly. here are a few things we've made so far:

membrillo (quince paste) - it begins this color & magically turns into this:

it is delicious eaten with manchego (a spanish) cheese

baking/poaching the quince with cinnamon and cloves

then making them pretty with rosemary (from our garden) and star anise

pumpkin patch for realz

we took ari to his first real pumpkin patch a couple weeks ago. of course, we rode the hay ride, visited the animals in the barn, grocery shopped in the market, and picked out the biggest pumpkins we could find. ari did a pretty great job spotting likely candidates and since the pumpkin trip, he must point and investigate each pumpkin we come across.

spooky ari

not really spooky, just cute actually. ari loves his poncho, pumpkins, and rain boots. and he loves buying 5o lbs. of tomatoes to can with.

inappropriate bathroom pics

......................

that last post & kathleen's comment inspired me to exploit my siblings' and my childhood toilet times. you're welcome, siblings.

potty? new table is cooler

a moment of excitement...over the book...

sweeping attire

this is how ari likes to do his weekend chores...

knit beanie and adios pantalones.