Books and pumpkin

Today was a beautiful fall day. Two things got me in the mood for fall today. I just found out yesterday about this huge book fair put on by a consignment shop that supports various local charities, held at the British International School. Austin and I had already planned a date together to the nearby donut shop, so we decided to drop in. WOW, definitely a good decision. It was HUGE. I didn't know that many English books could be found in one place in this city. They were really cheap too- ranging from 1 rmb to 20 or 25 for nice, hardback ones. I ended up with 30 books for 200 rmb (about $30), averaging 6.6 rmb/book. I only bought children's books- there were so many to look at I really didn't have time to venture to the adult section, but I have a Kindle anyway. So I was pretty excited about that and so were the boys. We will have to spread out the books over time, savoring having so many new books!


This afternoon I stockpiled pumpkin. I love pumpkin and it is really cheap here. Xiao Chen picked me up a big one for about $2 today. She peeled, cut and steamed it for me. Then I mashed it up, used a 2 cups of it in pumpkin muffins and divided the rest in ziplocs for the freezer. Now when I need pumpkin puree for soup, pumpkin bread or scones, pie etc I can pull it out in 2 cup portions. I also wonder if I am starting to "nest"- that pregnant urge to bake, clean, organize or otherwise get things ready before the baby comes. I don't know if it is the hormonal kind, but I am realizing I have 2-3 weeks before Mei Mei is here and want to get things in order.



We finished the evening with a dance party- at least the boys danced. Actually half way through dinner they got up and started dancing to U2's "Get on your boots"- both boys laughing and running around like crazy (especially Bennett). See the craziness for yourself! They were having so much fun I actually just allowed them to keep going on despite the fact they left the dinner table before they were done.