September Re-cap

Where has the time gone?!? I'm going to do a re-cap of all of the fun that we had during the month of September with this posting, then will have to do a couple others really quick to catch up before it's November. . . .

In September, we had fun picking apples . . .


And meeting a friendly goat. . . .

And picking raspberries (Alexandra and I ate one for every three we picked). We made use out of our water-bath canner and canned batches of applesauce, apple butter, and raspberry-currant jelly. Christopher would prefer not canning late at night, but it's the only time we can guarantee that we won't have to worry about a little one roaming around while literally gallons of hot water are boiling on our stove.

Alexandra had fun playing with her cousin, Finley. We sent her jumper over to his house so that he could play with it for a while. Alexandra hadn't played in it for months (at the end of its lifespan with her, she would scream when we'd try to leave her in it), but all she wanted to do was play in it while Finley was here. Yes, that's her diaper cover coming off in the photo - my baby girl has a small derriere and it can be problematic when we try to have her wear diaper covers, shorts, pants, etc. I'm sure she'll appreciate this problem when she is older, though.

My tomatoes were finally ripe enough to pick! I've gotten to enjoy about 8 home-grown organic tomatoes. Here, Christopher made a wonderful salad for me with homegrown organic basil, mozzarella, and olive oil.

We went to the National Book Festival. It was Alexandra's first outing to the National Mall (can you believe it?!) I'm so glad that this event, started by former First Lady Laura Bush, has continued beyond her eight years! It's one of my favorite DC events.

This year, we had a special treat at the book festival - we saw ELMO in the PBS tent! In the words of Christopher, we were thrilled to see "the real flesh-and-blood muppet!" We saw the actual puppet and puppeteer! The real Elmo! Christopher and I might have even been more excited than Alexandra!

Laura came with us to the Book Festival, and introduced Alexandra to Sid the Science Kid. She only gave her a sticker (which Alexandra is holding in the photo below), but we can already tell that Alexandra is logical and has an aptitude for higher education.

Whew! That's September in a whirlwind. . . .I'll blog about Alexandra's crazy camera poses and my recent crafts next!