pumpkin time! we had friends over Fri night for a fun night of chili and pumpkin carving! We did it early this year to ensure it would get done!  The next morning we got up and drove to an orchard in Maryland where we met my aunts for apple picking. I expected the boys to be over the excitement pretty fast but they loved picking. When we got home we made a big batch of applesauce and a dutch apple pie.

little pumpkin update: she isn’t looking so little. Based on my sono this morning girlfriend is measuring big and long like her brothers. My amniotic fluid is too high so that will be monitored but other than that she looks great…and nearly ready. I have started to dilate and she is head down and good to go! Off to walk a few miles!

As I savored a pumpkin muffin yesterday morning it hit me that it was a truly amazing feat to live in Bogota for two years where they did not have pumpkin. I mean we could hoard from the commissary if a shipment came in or we could happen upon it in a random shipment, this is in a can. But when you think of mums and large, happy pumpkins they just didn’t exist. I so missed the seasons shifting and the fall abundance! Come to think of it while Seth is allocating US monies for South America I should really help him see the need for aid workers to be teaching Colombian farmers the pumpkin growing trade. Great for the country’s economy, or maybe just for morale of Americans in the country.  Multiple news stories have advertized Colombia getting more and more attractive to tourists and expats alike. But let’s be honest, a world without pumpkins is still not fully seeing the light.  Sending you Bogota folks lots of pumpkin love!

Last week I made Edie’s (from Life in Grace) soup that I shared with you last year. It’s Chipotle Pumpkin Soup with Barley and Chicken!  When you read the recipe it will sound strange but it is oh so delicious! And even the boys eat it and love it! It’s kind of like a fall curry.

Trader Joe’s is hopping with pumpkin goodness these days!! I grabbed a box of their pumpkin cranberry scones.

Next up on the pumpkin docket are…

Frosted Pumpkin Cake 

Pumpkin and Sage Sausage Pasta

and of course there will be pumpkin bread and pancakes as the fall months go on!

Speaking of pumpkins, I feel like I have a large one growing inside me. Her limbs often feel like a pokey pumpkin stem! 35 weeks on Wed and counting down!! We were worried on Friday night that I might be in labor but things slowed down. I am slowly lowering my caseload numbers and really crossing my fingers that my water won’t break in a patient’s home.