Backpack

The weather was beautiful this weekend so Chad decided to go for a walk with Maggie and me. Now that she's over 16 pounds he thought to bust out the Kelty hiking backpack he received for his birthday from my parents last year. We walked my usual 3-mile route with her on his back and she talked and smiled and looked out at the world the whole time. In other words, she loved it. Now we're ready for spring and summer when we can go up to the mountains and hike with her in tow.

(Yes, I know she's still in her jammies. It was that kind of day for her.)

Paper Wasps

Chad was working in the yard this weekend and found this nest attached to one of our bird houses. Not particularly great for the birds (or us), but definitely cool to look at close up. The nest is from a paper wasp and is really intricate up close. As the name suggests, the nest really does feel like paper. Neat!

Oranges

As a housewarming gift a couple years back we received two naval orange trees. The first year we had them in large pots but last year decided to plant them in the ground on the side yard. Turns out that was a good idea because this winter they produced oranges for the first time. Three of them, in fact. We let them ripen on the trees for a few months and picked them this weekend. Who knows how they're going to taste. We'll peel and eat them this week.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. She and my dad came for the afternoon and evening to hangout and have dinner. We had a good time with them here and hope she had a great birthday. We love you!

More Food

Yesterday I gave Maggie sweet potatoes and she seemed to enjoy the new taste and flavor. Now, because you're supposed to wait three days before introducing each new food, it'll be a few days before I try her next new meal. With that said, I'm on a food-making kick so I spent yesterday afternoon processing butternut squash and zucchini. When she's ready I'll have them on hand and after a quick thaw we'll be good to go.

fresh & easy

So today a fresh & easy market finally opened in our neighborhood. The store is a mix between Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and 7-Eleven and I can defintely see myself going there to grab a few things when I'm in a hurry. Oh, and if there wasn't enough to like about inside, check below to see what's in front of the store. I'm sold.

Pip Pip, Puree

Now that Mags is six months old and rice cereal is old hat, her doctor says she's ready for baby food. We received a baby food cookbook as a gift and I put it to good use this afternoon. I decided to start Maggie, as suggested by the doctor, on sweet potatoes and peas. I first steamed the organic peas, then roasted the sweet potatoes before processing them both down to a soupy puree. I made enough to freeze so Maggie has a few meals ready to eat. Let's hope she likes them.

Dining In

One of our Christmas gifts this year from my parents was money, and with that gift came the stipulation that we had to spend it. Bummer for us, don't you think? After studying our wishlist for a few days we ultimately decided what we most wanted and, put together with some holiday money from my grandma, we ended up with a new dining room table and chairs. We've wanted to upgrade for a while now and we're so excited to finally have a grown up set. Thank you Dad, Mom and Grandma!

Six Months

Today is Maggie's half year birthday. Six months. Time flies.

Happy New Year!

For Christmas I got a Canon D-SLR T1i camera and extra lens from Chad. Lucky me, right? With no excuses for poor photo quality now I've resolved to learn all about the camera, refresh my knowledge of apertures and f-stops (my last official photo class -after college- was in 2003...a long time ago), learn Photoshop, and take lots of photographs. And the hope is that many of the photos I take will be good enough to put on this blog. My goal is to have more posts than ever these next twelve months. Happy New Year, everyone!