Pumpkins at Smiling Hill Farm

We got a late start on our fall activities thanks to some serious colds, but we're getting there! We made it to the pumpkin patch on Sunday, and the apple orchard on Wednesday, so we're all set on Autumnal produce. 

We Cleavers are creatures of habit and tend to go to the same places every year - so this is LMC's third year at the Smiling Hill Farm pumpkin patch. It's always interesting to see what's different with each round - what is she most interested in? (Answer: rainbow ice cream), what isn't she digging? (Answer: that incident with the turkey has made her nervous about all barnyard fowl).

It's also fun to get the random recaps that she'll spout out days or even weeks later, when she sees something that reminds her of her little adventure. 

I'm hesitant about pulling out the carving knives just yet, so we painted our pumpkins again this year. I didn't put on any sealant first, so they're already peeling, but I think they're beautiful anyway.

We've hung our bat lights and have been watching Curious George A Boo Fest on repeat, which means she goes around wishing everyone "Happy Halloween, hold on to your hat!" We're thinking about making a No-Noggin scarecrow this weekend. I have to admit of all the children's programming, I like Curious George the best (which is good, because LMC loves him).

 I've also been prepping LMC for costume wearing in the hopes that she'll actually wear her costume I'm making (since the wear rate of things I make for her is dismally low). What are you going to be for Halloween? Alice! What's mommy going to be? The queen. What's daddy going to be? The hatter dance! (Close enough).

I love prepping for Halloween.

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Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

I love costumes. It's the theatre kid in me. But to my surprise, LMC was excited to wear hers too. The first thing she said the morning when I got her from her crib was "ears" because she wanted to put on her headband. Gotta love it - and I think she looks pretty stinkin' adorable.

Mr. Cleaver and LMC painted the pumpkins together on Wednesday. The tempura paint is starting to peel a little, but I think they'll make it through the night.

We're planning to eat pizza and hand out candy, we get 80-100 kids a year. We're holding off on treat or treating for at least another year.

Hope your Halloween is fun and fabulous!

• Olivia Dress: McCall's M6913, View B with D collar. All Kona cottons from JoAnn's.
• Pig Ears: Improvised by me. Wool Felt from Z Fabrics.
• Striped Leggings: Target
• Tintin outfit: Goodwill and Mr. Cleaver's closet

Picking Pumpkins at Smiling Hill Farm

We went Smiling Hill this weekend, picked some pumpkins, petted a goat or two and took a ton of photos.  Beautiful fall day and adorable kid? It's hard not to.

Since we last came in the spring, the petting zoo goats have gotten a lot chubbier and LMC's gotten more independent. She wanted to be wherever the bigger kids (3-5 year-olds) were: climbing on the trains and planes, driving the John Deere-a-saurus, riding the mini tractors, going down from the top of the tall slides. She also wanted no help in carrying her pumpkins of choice. Is it any surprise that we've switched to the booster seat from the high chair at home? This girl is ready for her seat at the table.

With the pumpkins brought home and her costume finished last night (she's gonna be so cute!!), we're all ready for Halloween here. The only thing left to do is pick out the kind of takeout we want for Friday night (a Cleaver Halloween tradition).

Do you have a favorite pumpkin patch or Halloween tradition? When I was a kid in California it was Stanly Lane for pumpkins every year and my mom would sew whatever incredibly complex costume I desired that year (as chosen from the back of the Simplicity or McCall's pattern book at JoAnn's) including full renaissance dress. I figure this is probably my last year before LMC has an opinion about what she wants to be for Halloween (maybe one more?) so I'm trying to make it a good one.

Me-Mades: Minoru Jacket, Lamina Sweater

Apple Picking at Ricker HIll

Little Miss Cleaver is, for the most part, a pretty good eater and if there's one thing she loves to eat above else it's fruit (unless it's honeydew melon, because she ain't having none of that).

She is, however, somewhat picky about the quality and seasonality of her fruit. Watermelon in July - gimme more! Watermelon in a fruit salad in September - no way. So it's perhaps unsurprising that her favorite outings seem to be our PYO trips, because fruit fresh off the plant? Nothing better than that!

And I tend to agree, our annual Ricker Hill trip is always one of my favorite days of the year. Beautiful views, fresh fruit, apple cider doughnuts, and Steinbeck gets to come too? And this year they even added a hard cider tasting room.

Its was unseasonably warm this year, but everyone still had a great time (even Mr. Cleaver, who we forgot to get in front of the camera!), but I think LMC had the best time of all!

PS - check out the photos from last year, my little one has gotten so big!

Autumn in Maine

It's no secret that I love Autumn in Maine. Fall has always been my favorite time of year and New England has the best Autumns of them all. And this year I get to share it all with Little Miss Cleaver - which makes it even better.

This year we crammed both of the Cleaver Family fall favorite field trips into one gloriously busy week: the Fair (Cumberland County) and apple picking (Ricker Hill). Miss Cleaver was wide-eyed at all the new things to look at (but not allowed to put in her mouth) and Mr. Cleaver and I loved watching her take it all in. Steinbeck was just happy to be there.

For years now, Mr. Cleaver and I talked about how some day we would take our future children on these annual adventures with us and what a thrill it is to be actually doing it now. We met in the fall and married in the fall (6 years this Sunday!), and the return of the season each year serves as a reminder of how this little family, my greatest joy, made its start. Small wonder that Autumn's my favorite time of year.

PS: Miss Cleaver just turned 6 months old (how time flies!) and mastered sitting the day we went apple picking.

Or should I say, almost mastered?

PPS: Thanks to those of you who voted for the Pride's Corner Drive-In. Unfortunately they didn't win a new projector, but another Maine Drive-In (in Saco) did!

A Little Bit Country

One of my guilty pleasures in life is Time-Life Music infomercials. There's something endearing about the standard formula of past-their-prime musician + woman-of-a-certain-age co-host + those 5 second clips of unforgettable hits of the 60s and 70s. On a lazy Sunday afternoon Mr. Cleaver and I will merrily let it run for the full half-hour and our ultimate favorite collection is "The Golden Age of Country."

My costume this year is a tribute to the Golden Age of Country, the Grand Olde Opry, and fantastic country songbirds of the age like June Carter Cash, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and Dolly Parton in all their big-haired, chiffon-clad glory.

I came across Simplicity Pattern 2180 a few weeks back, and thought it would be the perfect starting point for my costume, but it was out of stock in my size. However a kind friend in my knitting circle picked it up for me on a trip to Augusta, so I was in business!!

I knew the dress would have to have a gauzy chiffon component, preferably in a pastel shade and this Jenny Lewis video inspired me to pick up some lace trimming as well. I treated the seafoam-y tafetta-esque base fabric as an underlining, and sewed the two layers together before making the darts/seams/etc. which made dealing with the top layer chiffon a bunch easier.

It's not the best sewing job I've ever done, I skipped a few steps like the waistband facing and replaced the sleeve cuffs with elastic, but for a Halloween costume, I think it turned out pretty swell.  I'm racking my brain for occasions/places I could get away with wearing this dress in ordinary life, because I kind of love it (and I'm definitely remaking the pattern in a more casual fabric at some point).

Mr. Cleaver joined in on a more modern take on the theme, thanks to a cowboy hat from Target and some clothes from around the house. Our first thought was to do a more "rhinestone cowboy" look (like Buck Owens), but this was easier.

We went to a Halloween party over the weekend, where Mr Cleaver claimed to alternately be Toby Keith and/or Hank Williams Jr.

Even Steinbeck got in on the action (he is from Texas after all).

I even tried to keep the pumpkin in the country theme, though it looks more like a Holstein pig than the cow I was going for.

But while we may look country on the outside, inside we're both still rock ' roll.

PS - thanks to Bristol (and her dad) for the loaner cowboy boots!!

Spin-o-ween

Mr. Cleaver and I had a pretty low-key Halloween evening, which largely consisted of eating Chinese take-out and handing out candy.

I spent most of Sunday afternoon at Maggie's celebrating what I shall now dub "Spin-o-ween." At Rhinebeck,  a number of our group picked up spindles and Maggie needed to get started on making the yarn for her 2010 knitolution (yep - I'm making up new words left and right here). So we gathered together with our roving and our pie - a treat indeed!

Portland Pumpkin Tour

Happy Hallowe'en!

This is my costume for today - not so much a costume as my actual clothes, but hey. Whatever works right?

It was really nice earlier this afternoon, so I'll take you on a pumpkin tour of our neighborhood.

Roadtrip: Ricker Hill

With four apple picking adventures under our belt, I present the Cleaver's Guide to a Successful Apple Harvest Trip:

1. Pick a beautiful fall day

2. Get apple cider doughnuts first. It's no good picking on an empty stomach.

3. Eye your prey

4. Don't be afraid to use tools to get the best fruits.

5. Pick the Most Photogenic Wagon to Haul your Harvest

6. Don't be so focused on the apples that you miss out on other marvels.

7. Waste Not, Want Not. Rotten apples explode fabulously when flung from a slingshot.

8. You're never too old for a petting zoo.

9. And never too big to stop being silly.

10. Pick up more apple cider doughnuts on the way out. It's only once a year!

The Witching Hour is upon us...

Happy Halloween Everyone!

(p.s. for those following my job hunt: I got one!)