Walden Pond, Greek Panzanella, Big Boy Underwear, Museum of Science, and Delectable Pumpkin Cake

On the plate:  Ina Garten's Greek panzanella and pumpkin cake with apple cider glaze

Soundtrack to cook to:  Black Eyed Peas Elephunk - definitely one of my favorite adrenaline pumping and booty shaking albums.

*Ahem, quick note.  I changed the settings on the blog so anyone can post a comment and you no longer have to have a google account to leave a note on the post.  *clears throat* (I'm talking to you, family members and friends.) :) *

Woo hoo!  Last weekend was the Massachusetts tax free weekend (one of my favorite holidays!!).  So, we got up bright and early (based on Alexander's inner alarm clock - that and the fact that he sings NICE and LOUD in his bed early in the morning), had breakfast and were off for a trip to the Wrentham outlet mall in Wrentham, MA.  We got a few things for ourselves, and some fall clothes for Alexander, but the other part of the trip that I was super excited about was that we got to go to Cracker Barrel for lunch!
When my family and I used to live in Indiana, we used to go there all the time because it was right by our house.  It was so lovely to dig into the "Old Timer's Breakfast" (my personal favorite) accompanied with some good ol' biscuits and gravy.  That was some good eating and some lovely food memories.  Before my family moved to Indiana, I was disgusted by the vision of biscuits and gravy, and now I can't get enough of them.  In fact, I get all giddy and excited when we go to a restaurant that actually serves them!  (They're hard to find in New England.)

What a little angel, huh? :)

Alexander enjoying a drink out of his kiddy cup.

We recently had some of our neighbors over for dinner.  It's been so nice getting to know our neighbors  with the added bonus that they have children that are around Alexander's age.  One of our neighbors brought some incredibly delicious red velvet cupcakes (she knew they were our favorite - she's a keeper, huh?) and the other neighbor brought this fantastic Greek panzanella salad (another keeper, right??!).  I became so obsessed with the salad (after the guests left, I had about two other servings of this salad that night), I just had to recreate the salad myself.  She was kind enough to give me the recipe and I promptly made it the next day so we could have it for dinner alongside a nice steak.

The recipe calls for a boule, and I couldn't find a whole wheat
boule, so I got a sourdough boule.  (Honestly, if it were just myself,
I would have eaten half of the boule alongside a nice triple cream
goat cheese and called it a night.)  However, I had to provide some
 type of nutritious dish for the family, so I decided to follow the recipe
and cut the entire boule into cubes.  

Mmmmm!  A mountain of bread - my idea of heaven.  Toast the
bread in a large pan in 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Make sure you have the heat high enough so that the bread will
be nice and crunchy on the outside, and soft and chewy on the inside.

Then I cut up 1 pint of grape tomatoes (each cut in half), 4 small
cucumbers, 1 red and 1 yellow pepper cut into chunks, and 1/2 of an onion
cut into similar sizes.  Isn't the bowl beautiful already?

For the vinaigrette, I combined 2 cloves of minced garlic,
1 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp dijon mustard, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar,
and 1/2 tsp pepper.  (My friend Kate said to omit the 1 tsp of salt
because the salad is pretty salty already.)  Once these are mixed,
whisk in 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil into the mix in order
to make an emulsion.
Then, cut up 1/2 lb of feta cheese into cubes.  Place the cheese
along with 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives into the bowl of vegetables.
Place the toasted bread cubes on top and pour the vinaigrette
over the salad.  Toss lightly and serve!

Ta-daaaaaa!!!  An absolutely gorgeous Greek panzanella salad.
Thanks so much, Kate, for introducing us to this incredibly delicious
and nutritious salad.  You could honestly eat it as a meal itself,
as it's very hearty.  The bread is so deliciously salty, tangy,
chewy, and crunchy and the vegetables give a nice burst of
juiciness with each bite.  So....freaking....good.

On Wednesday of this week, Alexander decided that he was not going to take a nap.  So Joseph and I decided that this little guy would need to run around in order to work off some of this energy that he had.  All of us hopped into the car and drove to Walden Pond.  I absolutely love walking around Walden pond (it's a beautiful and relaxing walk - no wonder Thoreau loved it so!) and Joseph has never been to it.

Alex and Joseph greeting Thoreau in front of a
replica of his house that he built on Walden Pond.

Alexander placing a rock (or rather playing with the rocks) at
the site of Thoreau's cabin.

Alexander was in awe of all of the pine cones and needles on the
forest floor.

Alexander walking very gingerly in the forest.

Although it was overcast that day, our little guy got pretty
tired along the way and asked to sit on some rocks to take a break.

He tried to pick up this big stick and was quite irritated to find
that it was a root of a tree. 

Since it was hot and the pond water was nice and cool, we let
Alexander take off his socks and shoes and step into the pond.
He was pointing at me and asking me to come in with him.

Joseph helped Alexander step into the pond. 

Alexander LOVED standing in the water.

He looks like such a big boy in this picture, right?
*sigh*  They grow up so fast!

Awww!  He was seriously so happy to splash
his feet in the water.

Our little guy splashing and "petting" the pond water.

Pebble stacks in the pond.

Alexander got pretty tired towards the end of the
trek around the pond, so Joseph had to carry him
for a bit.

As a complete non-sequitor, here's a picture of Oscar,
completely sprawled out on our bed as we were doing
laundry.  I love that his little legs were sticking out.
This dog LOVES to lay in our laundry (preferably
the laundry that has just come out of the dryer).

Any time that we have transitioned Alexander from one thing to the next, we have found that transitions just don't work for this kiddo.  When we switched him from a bottle to a sippy cup, he responded best to just getting the sippy cup and quitting the bottle, cold turkey.  After having some major resistance to using the potty while using pull-up diapers, we decided to get some training pants (which is basically regular underwear with a small bit of cotton padding down the center of the underwear).  Here's our little guy modeling his new and very special big boy underwear.

Alexander's introduction to big boy underwear!

Of course, he's super excited about the dinosaur
undies!

Ooh!  There's more!

Alexander's checking out all of his big boy
underwear while Joseph is getting excited for him.

Joseph was showing Alexander that he even
had underwear with CARS on them!  Lol!
This kid is such a stereotypical boy. :)

Alexander, trying to put the underwear on himself.

Joseph, helping Alexander to put on the underwear.

Alexander modeling his new undies!

Marky Mark has got some major competition!

Slightly bashful...

...now very proud!

What a happy little guy!  He was so proud of himself
and we are so proud of him. :)

Although there's been some accidents (as it is inevitable), the potty training has been going well thus far.  Let's keep our fingers crossed that this strategy works and our little guy keeps progressing well. :)

We usually have a little bit of something sweet after dinner for dessert.  This past week, I was REALLY wanting some cake, but was feeling rather lazy.  I was perusing pinterest and found a recipe for a two ingredient pumpkin cake.  I LOVE anything pumpkin flavored and the two ingredient idea sold me.  Ingredients:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 can organic pureed pumpkin (*NOT pumpkin pie filling, just plain, pureed pumpkin)

Blend the can of pumpkin with the yellow cake mix.

The consistency was pretty sticky.  Place the mix into a greased,
small square pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 28 minutes.

While the cake is baking, prepare the glaze.  Mix together 3/4 tsp
pumpkin pie spice, 3 tbsp apple juice, and 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar.

This is what the cake looks like after it's baked.  It smells
wonderfully spicy - like a lovely, crisp, fall morning.

Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes or so and then flip it onto
a serving plate.  Drizzle the glaze over the cake and dig in!!
We were so delighted to discover how fantastic the cake turned out!
We loved the fact that there was no oil, butter, or eggs that we had to
directly put into the batter.  Normally I like to bake cakes from scratch,
but if I'm ever wanting a quick fix for a sweet treat, I'll make this recipe
again any time.  A must try!  Soooooooo good!

Our little guy loves fresh fruit (but always saves
blueberries to eat last because they're his least favorite).

Our happy little guy :)

On Saturday, we ventured to the Museum of Science because it was raining outside and we had to find entertainment indoors.

Alexander trying out some of the optical illusions.

Alexander playing with the new Pixar exhibit.

We decided to take Alexander to the butterfly garden and then watch an Imax movie called "Into the Arctic" which was about polar bears.  This little guy absolutely loves animals, so this was a great visit to the museum for him AND for us. :)

Alexander clinging to Joseph while looking at the 

butterflies all around him.

This was an absolutely breathtaking specimen.
The colors on some of the butterflies were just amazing.

And here's a few more non-sequitors...

Alexander demonstrating his awesome bike riding skills

on his balance bike.  He's come a long way!

We visited the Larz Anderson park the other day
and I took this picture of the pond because
I just thought it was so beautiful.  Thought I'd share :)

I'm not the type of person who likes to have baby showers and
don't like being the center of attention (unless it's karaoke night - then it's on!).
So, our incredibly thoughtful neighbor had this delectable red velvet cake
made for us as a little baby welcome gift.  Isn't it super cute??
Thanks so much, Roshni!  You rock!

It's been yet another great week!  We're trying to enjoy Joseph's last week of vacation by making the most of ever moment that we have together until he has his cardiology rotation.  I can't believe we're 9 weeks away from welcoming our little William into the world, as well!  Sheesh, time sure flies by!  Until next time...

Love and kisses,

Nikki