8 Months Old Today!!!

"hmmm, what can I get into..."

"Look what I found!"

"I'm ready for round two, butternut squish!"

The Return of the Carrot

Nathan tried solid food for the first time yesterday, well semi solid, maybe more like a mush. We picked up some organic carrots at Harvest Handfuls this week and Laura prepared them for Nathan on Saturday afternoon. A little rosemary, a little garlic, grilled for about 12 minutes with applewood chips for some smoky flavor. If anyone wants the recipe, hit us up in the comments.

Here is the happy baby, excited and eager for his next experience. His facial expressions were priceless.

Part II - The Return of the Carrots

So I guess he didn't really care for the flavor and he decided to return the carrots. I can't wait to see how he reacts to the next one.

Observe & Report

Nov. 7th - Watchpost #5 - Guarding the new grass.

   - 8:54am - It's cool outside.  The ground is moist.  Possibly a light rain fell last night...or maybe just the sprinklers.  All is quiet.

   - 9:01am - Birds chirping, yet they stay away.  Can they still see me?  Must stay still and silent.  Can't let the birds get the grass seed.

   - 9:09am - The first bird arrives.  Must be a scout.  Will wait for main group before springing the trap.

   - 9:10am - A second bird arrives to investigate the grounds.  They seem to be communicating something back to the rest of the group.  Can't understand their chirpy-chirp language.

   - 9:12am - Multiple birds arrive.  OMG I can't believe they can't see me...this is so cool.  So many birds and no one knows I'm here. hee hee hee

   - 9:15am - I've been still for 5 minutes now and the birds have no clue.  I'm so sneaky.  I should be a ninja.  Ninjas are so cool.

   - 9:17am - Wow, these flowers are nice.  They have a lovely scent.  And they're purple.  I like purple.

   - 9:18am - What was I doing....

Halloween

For the last several years, we have created a haunted house in our garage.  Mainly because it is fun to do while passing out candy.  But there's also the side benefit of getting to scare little kids and the occasional adult (Liz).  I mean seriously, why would you just sit inside trying to watch a movie when every 18 seconds the doorbell rings with kids at the door begging for candy because their parents don't feed them and never taught them not to take candy from strangers.  Besides, there's nothing more beautiful than seeing a little child's eyes light up with fear just before he begins shrieking at the top of his lungs while his parents can't help but laugh. 

But alas, no haunted house this year.  We just didn't have the time to set it up now that we have the teenie guy.  Instead, we decided to have a casual party.  We opened up the garage and put out a fire pit and kicked it with family and friends while passing out candy to all of the ninjas and princesses and vampires and other assorted creatures. 

Nathan, after attacking the candy.

Surprisingly, several trick-or-treaters really missed our haunted house.  Some even looked visually devastated, though that may have been make-up.  But really, 10-15 people asked what happened to the haunted house because they were looking forward to it all night.  Instead they had to settle for a measly, little candy bar.  Well, maybe we'll be back in full force next year.


Anyhoo, here are some photos from Nathan's first Halloween.  As you can see Nathan was a bee.  Laura was a butterfly, Sonoma a lady bug.  And Gary?  Well, Gary decided to be a flower.  Yeah, a flower. So wassup?!?!?!  You want a piece of me?  You want a piece of me not.  You want a piece of me?  You want a piece of me not.

Help! The bee is attacking me!

So yeah, I'm a flower - I thought it would be fun if we matched and since bees like flowers and I was likely to be holding him at some point...  Besides, wouldn't it be weird if you saw a vampire holding a bee?  I mean, c'mon, they're allergic to bees.  However, I think I made my flower petals a bit too big.  But, hey, large petals run in my family.  All in all, not to bad for a homemade costume, if I do say so myself.

*So I tried to put the last two pictures side by side - anyone know how to do that?