Life Lately: Thanksgiving Time

I’m including the week beforeThanksgiving too — documenting life simply here to look back on has been wonderful. I hope you enjoy the snaps too.

Someone got her own sunnies!

And then pulled them off for this picture, haha.

Savoring these golden light beach evenings…

Visiting her clucking friend at the farm.

Highly recommend Les Gamins sweats for this cozy season :).

My mom (nana) came to visit for a few days, Riley gets so excited when she is here (and sad when she leaves). Enjoying French toast together this morning.

Trail mix snack chosen by Riley this afternoon for a walk to the park: raisins and cashews.

The golden light and trees this time of year make me so happy!

Prepping kichadi dinner outside during Riley’s nap.

Kichadi served with steamed red cabbage and lemon. A favorite amongst us three, Riley calls this “Indian!” and is very excited about saying it out loud throughout her dinner, haha.

Trying to cheer up this love bug on a sunny morning walk.

Admiring the flowers she picked :).

Golden sunset walk before dinner with this little rock climber.

White bean winter chili with toasted tortilla and steamed red cabbage.

Took Riley to the mall for only the second time in her life to see the lights — she was enamored but also didn’t know what to make of the place (I’m okay with that, haha).

I kind of love that she doesn’t understand the concept of purchasing things yet. She simply played with the ornaments then set them down to go home, it was so sweet. She loved the deer :).

Finding a warm spot for my weekly loaves of sourdough. We are toast monsters in this house.

Within minutes of waking from her nap she had her beanie and boots on, wanting to do some “dawing”.

This little wanna-be gardener is in over her head and totally okay with it! Excited to see what will actually grow.

Happy happy mama this day, bread baking and gardening with Riley all morning :).

Best garden pal, I built her a little gardening station of her own to partake in while I prepped the larger beds.

Her exploration of the gardening space and attention to detail (so focused!) melted my heart and kept bringing me back into the present moment.

BBQ chickpeas are a house favorite (over rice with cashew cream and steamed broccolini). Simply make the recipe from my site here but sub in chickpeas and leave out the bell pepper.

Ready to garden, bike, and possibly ride a horse all at one time. Her outfits crack me up and entertain us always.

Pre-park time snack from Dad’s view.

Little monkey always wanting to try the sketchy bars.

Dad’s little helper, she loves to fix things and will walk around the house with various objects saying “broken!” and then “all fixed!”. Haha.

Playing blocks with her grandparents (Scott’s parents) after a few tears and some shyness this morning.

Beach afternoon every Saturday since the weather and light shifted for fall — best family decision of the season yet.

Would run into those waves every time if you didn’t catch her ;).

Thank you time change for my sunrise morning walks once more.

Installed little hooks for Riley over her shoe bench.

The first thing she wants to do every morning since we planted is to “gowden” and water everything oodles with her little pitcher.

Scott: You know that you two match? Me: Nope! Haha.

Another park walk, another bowl of trail mix! This was a favorite combo of mine while in my third trimester carrying Riley. Such a sweet moment to give it to her this afternoon.

A little Riley lunch :) herby tempeh, sourdough avocado toast, tangerine, berries, and steamed Brussel sprouts.

My caramel apple snack bowl I’ve been into lately with a glass of EdenSoy.

A little dinner prep: set out as many ingredients as will be helpful, and pre-chop the sweet potato to sit in water until ready to cook later.

Also makes me feel better when I have all the pots I know I’ll need already sitting out. Brain power is low by dinner cooking time, haha!

Favorite pre-dinner tea to sip on while cooking, with Christmas music in the background :).

The result of dinner, such a great red lentil pasta dish. I’m working on a cozy dinners number two eBook (!) pray it happens, I’m really excited about this new batch of recipes.

Riley’s first time to FedEx and I think she has her Christmas list sorted.

Such a simple bowl of beans, potatoes, carrots, and greens in an herby coconut/veg stock broth for dinner.

Now finally on to Thanksgiving!

This morning’s gardening outfit was a winner :).

So grateful for you my sweet, silly girl.

Playing with her cousin at the park while we visited with Scott’s side of the family on Thanksgiving Day.

Riley was less than enthused to be socializing this morning, and even less so to take a family photo at the end of our time together! Lessons learned: take a photo in the beginning of meeting up when she is shy and clinging to me — and do not stage the photo in front of a distracting playground (!). Regardless, thankful for my husband and his sweet family and their love for us and Riley girl!

Making a holiday farro salad we’ve made for a few years running that I’ll be sharing the recipe for here in a week or so (thanks to my sweet aunt for sharing this dish with me!).

The lentil loaf from my Cozy Dinners eBook is a favorite that returns every year. Prepped this ahead of time.

Didn’t bake the pumpkin pie ahead of time enough for it to set, so I got a jumpstart on holiday baking and made peppermint m&m cookies instead! Recipe from my Christmas treats eBook :).

Our small Thanksgiving dinner we had just us three. Riley wasn't a fan, surprisingly! Had to pull a few things out of the fridge for her partway through so she would eat. Parent life with a toddler, haha.