Our Cuties

Just some great photos of our kids for you to enjoy... They were both helping Daddy rake leaves in our backyard!

A recipe worth posting

Last night for dinner we had Moroccan-Style Stuffed Acorn Squash.  It was apparently a big hit, because Tim's comment was "this is a recipe worth posting on the blog."  I have to admit, it was quite delicious... and it was super easy.  I served it with collard greens that I sauteed with ginger, garlic, red onion, red and green bell peppers, olive oil, a little salt and pepper, and some crushed red pepper.  I love Fall and all the scrumptious foods that go along with it! Try this yourself - you won't be disappointed!

Here's the recipe (from this website)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 large acorn squash, halved and seeded
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 cup garbanzo beans, drained
1/2 cup raisins
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
1 cup uncooked couscous

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Arrange squash halves cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake 30 minutes, or until tender. Dissolve the sugar in the melted butter. Brush squash with the butter mixture, and keep squash warm while preparing the stuffing.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, celery, and carrots, and cook 5 minutes. Mix in the garbanzo beans and raisins. Season with cumin, salt, and pepper, and continue to cook and stir until vegetables are tender.

Pour the chicken broth into the skillet, and mix in the couscous. Cover skillet, and turn off heat. Allow couscous to absorb liquid for 5 minutes. Stuff squash halves with the skillet mixture to serve.

Leaves

Walking home from church on Sunday, we stopped in Buchanan Park to introduce Sebastian to leaves. He had his first taste of leaves - both figuratively and literally - and seemed to think it was just grand!

 

Lil' pumpkin is 5 months old!

Despite my best efforts to stop the clock, or at least make it tick a little slower, Sebastian turned 5 months old yesterday!  Hard to believe!  And even harder to comprehend all that has happened in his short life so far and how much he has changed our lives and brought us JOY in the midst of shorter nights, lots of spit-up, rare fussiness and scares of croup. 
Not only is he growing in size, but he's also developing more and more motor skills, vocal skills and social skills every day.  He likes to try to sit up on his own these days even though he just can't quite support himself for more than a second.  He also rolled over from back to belly last weekend while my friend Tricia was here visiting.  She brought him this toy, and he gleefully chased after it right into a roll.  And then he did it again.  He's also singing and talking lots and loves to laugh his head off when Tim blows bubbles on his belly.  And he really enjoys meeting new people.  He doesn't seem to have fear or inhibitions about strangers, which makes him a lot of friends and I think will be part of his personality as he grows older... just trusting that God will protect him as we teach him good judgment.  We just got him an exersaucer from Craig's List, which he is thrilled about.  He gets to sit up AND play with toys... both of which make him very happy.  It seems ginormous, but at least doesn't seem to have the footprint that I've seen some have. 

Being outside or looking in a mirror or glass seem to be his favorite things to do, especially when he's fussy.  We'll see how it goes with the weather getting colder, because anytime we can't calm him down these days, we walk outside with him and he immediately chills out.  I know I've mentioned this before, but it's an amazing thing to watch.  Just cross over the threshold and instantaneously you have a whole new baby on your hands! 

I had wanted to take Sebastian to a pumpkin patch for some Fall pictures for quite some time now, but we hadn't gotten the chance.  We were hoping to do it this weekend (yesterday), but the forecast was rain, rain, rain.  So, I took advantage of my Thursday afternoon off and tried to take him then, which meant that Tim missed out on the deal, but I had my mom along for some help.  We got to the pumpkin patch and were told that it was closed - only open on weekends - and we could come back on Saturday if it wasn't pouring.  But, I didn't trust the weather report... so for lack of a better option, I took him to Stauffers of Kissel Hill, a local grocery store and garden center, and plopped him down in the middle of one of their displays and did my long awaited photo shoot.  Take a peek at the cutest lil' pumpkin around:

Happy Fall and happy 5 months old!