Scotland’s hair has gotten what I like to call floppy and I just love it. It really needs a trim, but maybe I’ll just let it go for a few more weeks because I love this look on him.

I’ve always thought Scotland was darling (That’s sort of my job!) But there have been several times this week where I’ve looked at him and marveled at how simply beautiful he is. His intense brown eyes, his dark lashes and his scraggly teeth combine beautifully with his dirty blonde hair and perfect nose.

We decided last minute to head up to Yakima to watch my sister Adalee’s district soccer game. She’s a senior, and it was likely to be her last game. While the game took us away from our Halloween plans (a total bummer!) I felt strongly that I wanted to support her and see her play one more time. She played a fabulous game and I was impressed by how strong and efficient she is as a defender. And she’s FAST! The game didn’t end in their favor, but as Adalee said it’s probably for the best. Their team is really beat up and are all due for a little R&R.

Scotland is finally starting to smile for pictures. Happy day!

To make the long drive worth it, Scotland and I went up the day before and stayed the day after. We had fun playing in the leaf fort his cousins had made the weekend before, going apple picking, playing with their dog Douglas and clearing out my Mom’s pots. We brought in her dahlias and potato vine tubers- we’re hoping to overwinter them. In line with my canning craze I made 18 quarts of applesauce and 7 of apple pie filling. (What else do you do with buckets full of free apples!) I came home with several more buckets full so they’ll be a lot of apple crisp, applesauce, and apple chips coming our way! (Anybody have a favorite apple recipe- send it my way!)

My youngest sister Dantzel dressed up as Cosette from Les Miserables for Halloween. Isn’t her costume impressive. She just gathered all that stuff from around the house. I love how uninhibited Dantzel is. She had no problem smearing cocoa all over her face and dressing like this for school.

Because we decided to leave so last minute we didn’t get our planned jack o’ lantern carving in before Halloween. Luckily, Dantzel carved one (supposedly her first- poor thing that’s what happens when you’re the last of eight. You don’t carve pumpkins until you’re 12!) Scotland loved watching it glow.

Dantzi is becoming quite an impressive violinist. She practices every morning from 5:00-7:30. One morning I was awoken at 7:00 to Scotland, still lying in his pack and play, but listening to the serenades coming down the hall. Anytime she would finish a piece or passage he would applaud. He loves the music that so often fills Grandma’s home. In fact when we wrote my Mom a birthday card a few months, and I asked him what he liked about Grandma’s house, he said “the music.” (While his aptitude for making music doesn’t seem particularly great, his appreciation is impressive. Nearly everyday he’ll ask me: “Mom, will you get me some music, so I can dance?” He’ll then proceed to get out the egg shakers, tambourine, rhythm sticks, bells, and scarves and dance all over the house singing, drumming, and moving in rhythm.)