14 month photo shoot

Whew! That took longer than expected. I was all ready to post the rest of her pictures Monday morning, but what do you know, we found ourselves trekking down the mountain in a blizzard to spend the day at Primary Children's. But don't worry, we're home safe home and everything is fine.

On to the real purpose of this post - the little Pee Wee!  So when Reese turned one I did something that no respectable mother should do. {It's like really awful and Reese will probably hold a grudge against me for the rest of her days.} It's kind up right up there with recording major mile stones and providing food to eat.

I completely bombed the 1 year photo shoot. Didn't even have them done.

As in, the one picture that everyone from the Hamptons to Hillbilly's manage to get. The ONE professional picture that is a must.

Oops.

Chalk up my neglect to packing, moving, renting our place out, getting our new place ready to go, and countless other little things.

And so, Reese will forever and always have 14 month pictures instead of 12 month. Cry me a river.

Now, before I show them to you, you have to keep in mind that we did the shoot entirely on our own. As in, they aren't even professional pictures. And we are in NO way professional photographers or photoshoppers. And the lens we have isn't even a digital lens, even though our camera is (which means, blurry pictures).

I know. You didn't think it could get much worse. Our poor deprived offspring.

Anyhoo, without further adieu, the goods.

Check out those pearly whites. She has FOURTEEN teeth at only 14 months. Wowsers.

My favorite:

Love it in black and white too:

Love her to pieces.

sneak peak of reese's 14 month photo shoot

once upon a halloween

Reese and I took our semi monthly pilgrimage to the valley the weekend of all hallows eve. 

Our last snow storm  buried any trace of what remained of Fall, so it literally took my breath away when we descended from a full blown winterscape down to a wonderful, beautiful, vibrant Autumn fairyland. And what an Autumn weekend it was. Temperatures in the 60's and brightly colored leaves still kissing the mountain benches and taking over neighborhoods.

Sigh.

Absolutely gorgeous.

I've decided that a large part of any holiday spirit, whether it be Halloween, Christmas, or the 4th of July we owe to modern day commercialism. You see, up here I toss up my Halloween decor, fill my kitchen with smells of warm baked goodies, and watch old school Halloween cartoons via YouTube. Yet still, something seems to be missing.

Then it dawned on me. I realized I craved the whole in your face, miles of candy, tacky blow up decoration, here-I-am gluttony of the nearest friendly supermarket. And chintzy newspaper adds.

Is that pathetic or what?

Pathetic or not, I luff it.

Luff, luff, luff it.

Any-hoo. The Rooster and I were down for my family's 2nd annual Halloween bash. Some of the attendees (wish I had more of everyone!)....

 (Could there be a better Yoda face out there? )

Others in attendance include a pink troll doll, Mr. Vampire gone green, Spiderman, the cutest newborn pumpkin in the world, and Paul and Cami dressed as themselves :). In other words, the party was a grand success!

Mr Hotstuff Husband joined us later on Saturday after work for the trick or treating.

I'm usually not a cat person, but holy smokes. This little kitty's the cutest little thang I've ever seen.

Her curly hair seriously kills me.

Kills me.

And that cleft in her chin? I'm sorry, but I really did give birth to the worlds cutest daughter. Next to yours, of course.


So there you have it. We had such a delightful weekend. Five days of Halloween bliss. And not to mention the pretty stellar families we were able to hang out with too.

Hope you and yours had just as grand of a time.

Now bring on the Holidays!

haul out the holly

Halloween Shmalloween.

We've been plummeted to the edge of the world, otherwise known as Winter.

I don't know what all this talk about pumpkins and leaves and ghouls is. We might as well call it the 4th of July, whip out the lemonade, and go prancing around in our swimsuits.

Come to think of it, I'm sure Deek would love it if I went prancing around in my swimsuit. Too bad all I'm sporting right now are my long johns, and they don't seem to have quite the same effect.

This morning to celebrate the first official dusting dumping of snow we whipped out Reese's new wooden sled for it's christening and went trekking out into the balmy 28 degree weather.

I'm in love.

She's in love.

It's perfect.

(speaking of winter... Santa Baby, would you pretty please bring me a new lens for Christmas? One that's actually made for a digital camera and that doesn't turn out blurry every. single. time?. Kthanksbye.)

Though I must say, I'm going to have some killer buff arms this winter. And some buns of steel - hauling that thing through hill and dell. Who needs P90x when you have a wooden sled?

Reese was giggling and smiling the entire time, giddy with love over her new ride.

How did I make it through my childhood without a wooden sled? This thing is the bomb. Thank you LL Bean for being brilliant and Mom for the birthday gift.

Many happy Winter days ahead!

if this isn't scary i don't know what is

Please don't ask what's going on in this picture.

Turns out, we've always had a little too much time on our hands.

Happy Halloween week everyone!

ze bread

 Today, I may call myself a handful of names:

Pooper Scooper

Resident Snow Shoveler

(online) Shopper Extraordinaire

 Kisser of Reese's Cheeks

However, I get to add one title I've never been able to call my own:

Baker of Homemade Bread

I did it!! And it surprisingly came out looking like bread. A success indeed.

Why is it that homemade bread has always sounded so intimidating? For me, it's right up there with Creme Brulee, Flambeed Whatever, and 524 Layered Salad. And I always assumed that if you didn't have a bread maker, it wouldn't turn out right or something.

But today was my first attempt ever in the history of Jen to make homemade bread. (excluding last Friday when I started making it, but totally forgot that I had left it rising in a warm oven. Yikes.  2 hours later....  A deflated Jaba the Hut.) Something about the cozy winter-like day and the fact that we ran out of bread gave me the courage. And it's the end of the month which means the budget is ready to burst. And with gas, a trip to the nearest store to grab that loaf of bread would cost me 15 lousy buckaroos.

So. Not. Worth. It.

So I rolled up my sleeves, put on my best 50's housewife persona, and faced the yeasty beast face to face.


The results:

Don't worry - I'm becoming more and more granola every day. Shirking preservatives, shunning plastics, loathing the microwave and baking my own bread. I'm even coveting a steam cleaner. My grandma would be so proud. 

I used this recipe, but I can't wait to try Deek's Gram's recipe. She makes the best wheat bread - Thick, hearty, and fulfilling. Kind of like a lady Viking opera singer, but in bread form. Unfortunately, I didn't have any dough enhancer or gluten whatever stuff that it calls for, so I just had to use good ol' honey, flour, and yeast in the basic recipe I used.

It still turned out better than I ever could have hoped.

My home was filled with the rich smell of wheat bread, and my belly was stuffed to the limit with warm homemade goodness.

I think I could get used to this.

holy sunset batman!

I have a few things to say about this picture:

This sunset could kick Hawaii in the pants any day of the week.  And I know because I lived there.

I really love my front porch.

I realize this is not a professional photo. You may be stunned to find out I'm not a professional photographer. (All those blurry photos had you fooled... Mwah ha ha ha haa.......)

I wish I could catch those colors in a Mason jar and keep it on my kitchen table. A vibrant, breathtaking sunset Mason jar.

I love chocolate chip cookies.

And that is all.

Word.