Happy Halloween!

Hope you get lots of treats for all your tricks!

6 months old!

Sorry for the lack of updates, we've been without internet at home since last Sunday (after the wind blew our receiving dish sideways). In the past week I hosted a baby Halloween party (extra cute & fun) and Bill hosted an Oktoberfest party (festive & a little crazy). But the big news is that this cute guy is now 6 months old! We visited the pediatrician and L is very tall for his age (95th percentile!) so we may have a basketball player on our hands... Also we've been starting solid foods and he seems to be enjoying it. I'm making most of the food so far, it's so easy with the little food processor that we got for Christmas last year.

Monday

Hanging out with... "one of the cutest babies of all time" (a quote from a couple sitting behind us at dinner the other night)

Admiring... a new quilt, handmade by Great Grandma O that just arrived in the mail today

Listening... new music from Nikka Costa and Ingrid Michaelson, two of my favorite voices.

Working on... a layout with this sweet photo Aunt Bethany took, and a thank you card for the quilt.
Contemplating... finishing the journaling in my "week in the life" album, making a swashbuckling baby pirate hat, doing the dishes, searching for my Halloween decorations, going to the grocery store...

hmmm, let's see...

We had a wonderful time on our little road trip to Decorah. As you can see, the leaves were beautiful, the weather was unseasonably warm, and we got to visit Bethany and see lots of great art on the studio tour. I even brought home a new piece of pottery and an amazing 3D collage piece. We stayed at the lovely Dug Road Inn and ate dinner (and lunch the next day) at La Rana.

Working on the little guy's Halloween costume tonight, which involves sewing a pair of baby pants. All I can say is that I'm not going to be sewing all our clothes any time soon, but they will work ok. Getting excited about all the other costume details, though!

We started feeding L rice cereal last night - he seems to be enjoying it so far. Feeling excited & nervous at the same time about starting solids - I want to make sure we do it the "right" way and hoping he won't be allergic to anything...

Think this is such a cool idea - My Day, Yesterday - I might have to try that soon.

My friends Cindy & Shelly have recently started a kit club called Sweet Tooth Scrapbooking and Shelly is hosting a giveaway on her blog. Check it out!

Looking forward to digging into my recently arrived October RVA kit soon!

for your viewing pleasure

Nothing starts the weekend out right like a baby giggling (you can see him grabbing for the camera at the end - that's a much desired toy, along with my iPhone and the kitty's tail). We're also thoroughly enjoying the "jumperoo" via Craigslist - this video was taken over a week ago and he's already much more skilled at it.

In other random updates -
- We're headed to Decorah this weekend to visit Bethany and take in the NE Iowa Artist Studio Tour. Looking forward to seeing that lovely area in all its Fall loveliness.
- Managed to come down with some kind of sore throat yuckiness - what I feel like is sleeping but unfortunately the sore throat makes me cough = not sleeping = more sore throat.
- I've printed my photos for my "Week in the Life" album but probably won't get to putting it together until next week. Gotta do it soon before I forget everything, since I didn't do any note-taking.
- Enjoying that there is good t.v. again for us to watch after L. goes to bed - especially happy for Amazing Race, Pushing Daisies, and the new HBO show True Blood. Sad that Project Runway is almost over, who do you think will win it?? I think I'm rooting for Leanne, even though she doesn't have much of a personality, love her designs.

Have a good weekend all!

back from Philadelphia

We had a great (but fast!) trip to Philadelphia. Unfortunately, we didn't get to do as much sightseeing there as I had hoped we would - there just wasn't time. We got in late in the afternoon on Friday (no thanks to our confusing Expedia itinerary) and took the train into downtown. Then we met up with another couple for dinner at Morimoto's (of Iron Chef fame). Oh yes, it was delicious.
Lachlan is a great little traveler... He loves looking around and checking everything out - and definitely giving out smiles to anyone who will give him a smile. One of the places we did spend some time was the Reading Terminal Market, just around the corner from our hotel. It was so cool - full of little food shops.
Saturday was the wedding - which was so beautiful and unique. Lots of lovely and thoughtful details. We enjoyed reconnecting with some of Bill's friends from high school and their significant others. (contrary to this photo, they didn't get married at the market, but we did run into them during their professional photo session after the ceremony)
So tonight finishes up my photo piece of Ali's Week in the Life project. I wish that I had taken more photos - especially of the little daily details in our life, but it can get hard to do that with a little one! I am looking forward to putting together a smallish album about our week. Still deciding what form it will take...

Napping at O'Hare

Thursday

The beginning of the day & the end of the day with lots of running, cleaning and packing between. Tomorrow we head out on a family adventure to Philadelphia - hopefully to be blogged from the iPhone. Have a great weekend!

Wednesday

Just a few quick photos before bed...