Good Mail, A Bloggy Award, and Etcetera

How delighted I was to see a package arrive from Kimberly of Embrace Create! Out of the blue and her natural kind spirit she sent me a little box filled with these goodies. The freezer paper stenciled gnome is incredible--so detailed--and that felted mushroom? That is going to rock our Season's Table. Thank you Kimberly! And while we are on the topic of Kimberly, I'd love to present her with a bloggy award. Kimberly's blog is fairly new, but she is jumping right in wholeheartedly and I love checking in every day to see her crafts and read about her love of life and family. Thanks for being so supportive of my blog and such a nice bloggy friend. I present you with this Blogging Community Involvement Award.



In other news, I've been contemplating baby Rainer's first birthday, which is coming up in only two weeks, and my how the time has flown! Shortly after Dieter turned one, I came across this article in Martha Stewart Kids about first birthday cakes. Each cake comes in two versions: one plain for the babies and a frosted one for the adults. I thought it was a great concept and I filed it away. Lo and behold, we have another baby in the family who could use a plain and healthful cake. This one is whole wheat-banana, baked in mini-bundts and served over banana slices. The adult version is a full sized bundt cake with a chocolate icing. My little guy loves bananas, so I think this is the one.

Also . . .

• it's delightful to see Dieter participating in the Season's Table. Tonight he was so excited to pick up leaves from the yard and run in and add them to the table. He did that several times and was so genuinely enjoying himself. That little boy has a lust for life and it's intoxicating to watch him drink it all in.
  
• I've set up a little basket with the fall books and Dieter is particularly enjoying this one. In it, a little girl goes out on Halloween dressed as a witch and ends up shopping at a real witches' supermarket. It's full of cute details like weird witchy fruits and vegetables, a huge array of brooms, and bizarre candies. We've been reading it a couple times every night and so far he's not tired of it.
  
• I think this is what we're going to do for Halloween. We'll take him trick-or-treating and he'll wear his brown bunny costume, he can eat a little candy, then leave the rest on the front porch for the Green Pumpkin. On Halloween Night the Green Pumpkin will take the candy and leave books in its place. What do you think? So as not to have a lot of candy lying around for Dieter. How do you all handle the glut of candy on that night?