Hi HI HI!!!  How are you guys?

Did you have a nice autumn?

We certainly did.

Harvey was a bumblebee for Halloween, I was red riding hood, and Evan was himself.

After experiencing my second apple harvest in washington this fall, I bought one of these fancy peeler, slicer, corer contraptions.  It's changed my life.  I have dehydrated a million apples (sprinkled with cinnamon, yo!), and made a sour cream apple pie for thanksgiving (yum).  And I still have half a box of apples left.  Help.

It snowed today!  Which for here is a very big treat!  Last year the only day it snowed was the day after Harvey was born.  It was so cozy.

 

I've been doing a little Christmas crafting.  I felted a family-friendly nativity scene (and Harvey has already tried to eat Joseph's face), and I'm thinking a nice wool-y lamb would be an appropriate addition.  Maybe I'll make him tonight?

Harvey's little Christmas tree!  It makes me happy.

After only ever thinking about it in years past, I finally committed and bought one of Posie's ornament kits.  The red coat will be for me, the polar bear is for Harvey (you can't really see it that well, but I embroidered his name and date in light grey thread.  Also, my knitting machine (mom) knit his wee scarf).  I saved the best for last....those cross stitched mittens will be for Evan.

Our Christmas card diaramas!  You can catch a sneak peak of this year's set-up....

And this baby speed crawls up the stairs. Oh boy.

In conclusion:

Merry December to you!

october coast

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October is our favorite time to visit the deserts of southern Utah.  It is amazing and perfect and just really the best time to go.  We've been missing it especially this year, which is sad because we live so far away.

But we are making the most of our new tradition of going to the Oregon coast in October.
I mean, okay, it's pretty nice there too :)

last year :: cannon beach

hello october!

“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” 

― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

I haven't posted in so long!  I remember back when I was pregnant, making a pledge to myself to not let the Hollyhox blog die once I had a baby and got a thousand times more busy.  And I don't think it's dying, but maybe it's on life support?  In critical condition?  In either case, I'm posting!  Look at me!

Here are a few snapshots of the things that are going on.  I'm not feeling particularly organized, so don't get dizzy while trying to keep up, okay? 

We spent a lot of September in the rocking chair working on some baby teeth.  And HALLELUJAH, they are finally here.

^^ this is not a real bear.

 We have been exploring the northwest lately.  And I'm pretty sure I'm in love with it.  It takes a lot more work to get out of the house these days, but I'm learning that all good things take work.  And I'm training myself to enjoy the work part of it more, because work = fun trip.

I'll be honest, I wasn't super pumped to move to a town known for vineyards and onions -- not mountains and streams..... 

.....but there are lots of magical places nearby.  And so we go.

The fog is back.
No comment.

I've had a MAJOR sweet tooth lately.  Do you think I could blame it on the changing season?  My sister-in-law Anna sent me the recipe for these cookies and I finally had to send them to work with Evan because I could not.stop.eating.them.  So yummy.

These two love each other.  It makes me really happy.

We painted our green family room last week (yeah......I got sick of it) and Harvey and I accidentally matched the walls on painting day.  A tribute of sorts!

I don't think I've mentioned it here, but over the summer I started teaching an art class.  I don't get on my soapbox about too many things (debate was never one of my stronger qualities), but one thing that I do feel really passionate about is that everyone needs a place where they feel like they belong.  And where they feel like they're awesome.  And when schools don't have art programs it makes me really sad.  Because art class was where I felt awesome.   Math class?  Not so awesome.

This was one of my favorite projects we've done so far -- a little styrofoam printmaking. 

 

 My hands were overflowing with Gesso hair after a morning brushing session.  I had Evan snap this picture in case I ever think about getting another dog.
I vacuum a lot.
I think maybe a well-behaved goldfish would make a great next pet!

So there you have it.  High five, October!

father's day

You remember Father's Day?  Back in June?  Ahem.  Trying to play catch up around here!

Sometimes I think I have an advanced sense of humor. I often find myself having to explain my hilarious jokes to those around me, because they are just not clever enough to figure it out on their own....

Really I'm just super weird.  Nothing advanced happening over here!

And for father's day I wanted to make Evan a little something special.  So I settled on making him a Darth Vadar shirt.

Because he's a FATHER!
hahahahaha
 Get it???!  (don't feel bad if you didn't, no one here got it either....)



It seems that I'm in a bit of a freezer-paper-t-shirt making phase.  It really is so simple and yields impressive results (here's a tutorial for it, if you're unfamiliar).

So happy belated Father's day to all ya'll!

p.s. we are CRAWLING over here!  (backwards crawling is still crawling, right?!)  Oh dear, time is moving much too fast these days.

blueberry hunting

We had heard rumors of wild huckleberries growing in our local mountains and over the weekend we decided to do a little foraging.

And wouldn't ya know it, we found ourselves a giant blueberry field!  p.s. I'm not sure why we were so surprised...they are called the Blue Mountains afterall!

They were so tiny and delicious and I was not mad about the lack of huckleberries at all.

So we picked and picked and picked until the sun went down.

And the next morning Evan whipped up some blueberry pancakes.  I found a new recipe to try because I wanted incredibly fluffy and delicious pancakes, with no trace of healthiness in them at all :)

And they were out of this world delicious!  I know that pancake recipes are everywhere, but I thought these were special enough to share.  Like if I ever open up a breakfast restaurant, this will be the pancake recipe I use (that's how good they are).   And if you don't happen to have some freshly-picked-wild-blueberries on hand, well I suppose you could use store bought :)

Fluffy Pancakes

from allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter, melted

cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour".

2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into "soured" milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

* we used 3/4 c. + 2 tablespoons buttermilk instead of combining milk and vinegar and it was scrumptious.  This recipe made 8 pancakes and I was left wanting more... next time I'll double it for sure :)

in the summertime

Oops.  Has it really been that long since I last posted?

We've been a little busy over here.

I try not to play favorites with the seasons (remember?).  I really do like them equally.

We've traveled far and wide, soaking up every bit of sunshine before winter comes and the sun goes into hibernation again.  I'm hoping that I'll be more prepared for the foggy winter this year, because last winter was kind of a doozy.
 (p.s. I am taking suggestions (or plane tickets to Hawaii) on how to survive on no sun for weeks on end!)

So I think that summer is our busy season.  Busy in the best way.

There are lots of things to celebrate.

Lots of places that need visiting.

And most of the day is spent outside.

*tangent
you can sort of see Gesso's new bark collar in this photo.  Say what you will about them being inhumane, but I will argue that they're way more humane then wanting to throw Gesso out the window every time he wakes the baby up from his nap.  It's been good for everyone.
end tangent*

Also, this baby?  Sweet as sugar.

We've been eating our weight in berries (and sugar).  burp.



And some of us have had the luxury of long afternoon naps :)

We've had so much fun taking Harvey into the mountains,

and dipping our toes in skyscraper lakes.

We've played with tiny cousins.

And spent most weekends escaping the heat.

 

So what I'm trying to say is that I didn't mean to neglect this space.....I've just been a little busy enjoying summer :)

Hope yours has been fun as well!