Photo dump, part II

You know how some people, like, do laundry before they go on a trip? Well, I'm cleaning up by pulling all this week's photos off our various cameras so that we'll have lots of space for when we go to San Diego. Also, I am doing laundry.
So here's the best of the last week or so. For those who are worried, I am continuing to get better - the latest diagnosis is more asthma than illness, so, alas, it will take a bit more time to get that under control. But I'm hoping the nice, clean air in San Diego will help. And how do I know the air will be nice and clean? Because Southern California is currently having some kind of serious "winter" storm. No snow, of course, but lots of rain. You know what this means? We'll be one of the few people who can actually say the weather is worse in San Diego in December than it is at our house (the temperature when I left work this afternoon at 4:45? 80 degrees and sunny. Eat your heart out, rest of the country!).

Holiday party dress (actually a gift from last year that still - barely! - fits):Natalie has, of late, become very into tote bags:We've also been taking lots of walks:And, of course, eating healthy foods:And, bundling up in our winter gear:And taming tigers:Tigers!Well, not real tigers. Also, not real fish:And reading stories: Okay, ready for something different? Variety is the spice of life, right? The other morning, we just happened to be up for the sunrise. And it was beautiful. Our part of Texas may be short on scenic beauty, but this was, really, quite lovely.And, now, a wish for the season. Be good:Or just slightly impish.

And stay hydrated:

Photo dump

I've been pretty sick for the past few days, so this will be a photo-heavy post. Natalie was acutally patient zero for sickness (surprise!) early last week, but she recovered quickly. This left me getting sick, getting better, and getting sicker again (Mike, magically, got only a touch of this). I've now been to the doctor and expect to be on the upswing shortly.Here are some shots of Natalie and Mike making banana buttermilk pancakes on my birthday:(note the matching socks and hat combo in the picture above!)

And these are just some gratuitous pictures to show off the new shirt I bought Natalie:One super-sweet thing Natalie has started doing lately is giving hugs (or, as we call them sometimes, snugs). If you're sitting on the floor, she'll actually run up to you and drill her head into your chest, pressing her body into your trunk. Sometimes this is accompanied by her wrapping her arms around you, sometimes not. And then - quick as it started - she's off again, a drive-by-sunggler, if you will.

Thanksgiving

I've been meaning to write about Thanksgiving for a few days now, but it's been hard to sort through all the pictures (as it is, I'm declaring video bankruptcy and letting Mike handle all the files from the video camera).

So. Thanksgiving. We had Mike's parents and sister in town. We did a non-traditional Thanksgiving (with some important elements of the traditional meal), serving enchiladas, quinoa, salad, hummus, olive spread, roasted root veggies, and pie.

Here's a before-cooking shot of Mike's enchiladas:
Alas, I don't have a comparable after-cooking shot, but here's the whole table:Here's a close-up of our pies. The top one is my first attempt at gluten-free, dairy-free baking. It needed some work (perhaps better next time to just go for straight baked apples?). The bottom one is Cook's Illustrated's Pumpkin Praline Pie (which did not disappoint).And then? After Thanksgiving? It was time to hit the Black Friday sales!Kidding (just in case you don't know us well enough - please hold the hate mail!). That's really just our messy front hall (it's like I clean it up every night, and then someone just comes along and scatters everything everywhere).

Bubbe and Gramps actually got Natalie the little shopping cart push toy. And, for Natalie and Gramps, assembling the toy was half the fun.Natalie also got lots of other lovely gifts.And lots of snuggles from everyone.We did venture out to the park the day after Thanksgiving, though. Now that Natalie's a walker, this was really the first time she toddled around the park, doing her thing. Before, it was sort of like we carried her to the swings, we carried her to the slide, etc. Now, she was like a little self-directed, strong-willed person checking everything out. It was totally adorable.Even the big kids had fun at the park:One last cute shot: