This weekend we had guests again! One of Mike's childhood friends and said friend's wife came to town. We had a lovely time seeing them, and we hope they come back soon!
(These pictures were all taken just before they left for the football game, hence all the purple. Our guests didn't dress like that the whole weekend. Or maybe they did. I'll never tell.)
Our guests also took a brief side-trip to Austin while they were with us. They brought
these back:
(I did mention they could come back any time, right?)
Natalie isn't walking yet, but she does stand independently for longer and longer stretches of time.
Here are a few other action shots of her:
And here are some less mobility-focused shots (blah, blah, blah, all baby, all the time):
Cheerios remain Natalie's go-to snack:
Natalie's first word was definitely kitty cat. "Ki-cah" means kitty cat, but it also seems to mean all other animals, too. The other day, a friend's dog came over for a few minutes. We had the dog in the house and were supervising very carefully - the dog wasn't overly interested in Natalie, but Natalie kept wanting to crawl after the dog, saying "ki-cah, ki-cah". The next morning, as we were coming down the stairs, Natalie suddenly, hopefully said "ki-cah? ki-cah?" It was like she remembered the dog in our living room! How adorable is that?
We have, though, been working on teaching her "dog", which pretty much comes out like "dah". Our success has been mixed: yesterday, I was wearing a shirt with a photo of a dog on it, and she looked right at it and said "ki-cah"; however, today on our walk, we ran into three dogs and their owner - this got "dah, dah" over and over again, plus lots and lots of laughs.
As an aside, I'm realizing that it must be really hard to decode the various different images of the same animal and map them back to a master form - looking at the variety of ways in which Natalie encounters dogs and cats (different illustrations in picture books, photos, real live animals, video, etc.), I'm just in awe of her little brain!
The interest in animals, though, is no indication that Natalie has mastered "gentle touches" enough to be a good animal/baby companion.
I've been cooking a little, too. In preparation for our annual pesto ice-cube production (the way in which we've opted to preserve all the basil our garden produces), I've been cleaning out the freezer. I ran across some frozen pulped persimmons. These were left from last winter when my arm was broken and I wasn't doing much in the kitchen. What to do with them now? Some quick internet searching revealed a
recipe for persimmon bread. Our house lacks both bourbon and whiskey, so I subbed in what I had, which was brandy. It was awesome - and might be even better with a little brown sugar caramel frosting and some toasted nuts on top, if one wanted to go that route.
One more picture of Natalie. As some of you know, we're going to Hawaii this spring. Here's Natalie getting ready for the trip by wearing her sunglasses (yes, we put them on her; yes, she pulled them off 10 seconds later).
Later, dudes!
Our little animals may have learned a new trick: walking! We saw her take three steps together a few days ago, but since then, it's been crawl city. So we'll see.
Natalie continues to enjoy her cabinet:
I bought a pumpkin this weekend, but Natalie sort of thinks of it as a new toy.
Also, I know this picture isn't as good (except of the bashed-up pumpkin), but I just wanted you to see her shirt, which I love. The shirt says "I whaley love you." I find this hilarious.
Okay, so about the two new things we did this weekend proper. First, Mike and I made a genuine Mexican fiesta: red enchiladas, Mexican rice, and ensalada de noche buena. Note that this was the first time making all these recipes for us, and we served the meal to company!
The enchiladas really did take the cake, though. Here's the before shot - Mike made the sauce from scratch. And, yes, those fresh chiles in front are from our garden, thank you for asking!
I don't actually have any shots of us eating the enchiladas, but here's Natalie with leftovers the next day:
Clean-up here actually required baby wipes, not just the washcloth we normally use.
It wasn't as a-maiz-ing as the big one we once went to in Washington, but it was fun. Also, it wasn't maize, but sorghum - just so we're clear.
And here is some lettuce that looks like Christmas trees.
(These pictures were all taken just before they left for the football game, hence all the purple. Our guests didn't dress like that the whole weekend. Or maybe they did. I'll never tell.)
(I did mention they could come back any time, right?)
Here are a few other action shots of her:
And here are some less mobility-focused shots (blah, blah, blah, all baby, all the time):
Cheerios remain Natalie's go-to snack:
Natalie's first word was definitely kitty cat. "Ki-cah" means kitty cat, but it also seems to mean all other animals, too. The other day, a friend's dog came over for a few minutes. We had the dog in the house and were supervising very carefully - the dog wasn't overly interested in Natalie, but Natalie kept wanting to crawl after the dog, saying "ki-cah, ki-cah". The next morning, as we were coming down the stairs, Natalie suddenly, hopefully said "ki-cah? ki-cah?" It was like she remembered the dog in our living room! How adorable is that?
I've been cooking a little, too. In preparation for our annual pesto ice-cube production (the way in which we've opted to preserve all the basil our garden produces), I've been cleaning out the freezer. I ran across some frozen pulped persimmons. These were left from last winter when my arm was broken and I wasn't doing much in the kitchen. What to do with them now? Some quick internet searching revealed a recipe for persimmon bread. Our house lacks both bourbon and whiskey, so I subbed in what I had, which was brandy. It was awesome - and might be even better with a little brown sugar caramel frosting and some toasted nuts on top, if one wanted to go that route.
One more picture of Natalie. As some of you know, we're going to Hawaii this spring. Here's Natalie getting ready for the trip by wearing her sunglasses (yes, we put them on her; yes, she pulled them off 10 seconds later).
Later, dudes!
The visit really didn't have as much crying as the above picture suggests. Although, you may want to check with the Seattle guests for their opinion . . . .
Here are "my two best girls" (as the stupid workout video I've been doing lately puts it):
Here's the one-year-ago picture, for contrast. In the intervening year, I have - perhaps - learned to take straighter pictures, although I'll admit that while the subjects are great, the composition is, uh, lacking.
We played a lot of this fairly complicated card game called Glory to Rome. Everyone, it turns out, has his/her own style of holding the cards:
She's also reading - no comment on whether this first work goes in the fiction or non-fiction pile. The second, I'll allow, is pretty clearly non-fiction.
And here's some other random cuteness:
