Poof!!!! PUMPKINS EVERYWHERE (For Zsuzsi)

I love being here. In this space. Where everything is usually pretty and uncomplicated and even nostalgic. My thoughts just come out that way on this beautiful white sheet of 0's and 1's. It is simple. And I love it.

So, hello. I have missed you.

So much to say. So much to record.

Our baby has turned into a cute, active and certainly contributing member of the family. She makes us take note of her point of view, giggle with her, and gasp often at all the odd places she tries to crawl into or onto. She gives us kisses and high fives and waves us the most enthusiastic bye byes from behind the family room window each morning as we leave...

Our little girl has turned Five years old. It seems that increments of Five in a human's life are noteworthy milestones. And we have certainly felt a milestone in ways she has changed her expressions of thought, of disappointment and excitement and friendship and ... I must say that coming out of the parental brain blur of experiencing Three and early Four, where any sort of limit shakes the emotional foundation of a child in a loud and expressive way, it is refreshing and touching to see the transformation to Five.

A never ending source of amazement in our life this past year has been our little girl's capacity for love and compassion and patience for her baby sister.

Fall has arrived in Los Altos Hills, but we still feel the warmth of summer and spend many of our afternoons and weekends outside. To savor the season, we have embraced pumpkins like no one's business... This year, our girls and I have seen (and brought home) more beautiful pumpkins than any other Fall.... we have been baking pumpkin cakes, eating pumpkin granola... The other day I got a funny feeling though that Mr. Urban, with his never ending enthusiasm for whatever we do, is reaching a pumpkin breaking point, when grabbing the pumpkin crackers I had served on the cheese board, he said "OH BOY, I can't wait to see what else they can put pumpkins into..." with not one but two eyebrows arched way high! I tried to engage him in a conversation on the Fancy Food Renaissance we are currently in as a society... but he wasn't biting...

Happy Fall!

I hope you are getting plenty of seasonal inspiration to make your days special!

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