Use those apples 13

A different apple pie

More Thanks

We have been hanging out eating left-overs, seeing movies, eating more left overs, playing games, wreath making, and finally going for a walk since Thursday. Here are a few more pictures from the weekend and our big early Christmas surprise.

Susan has taken me to make wreaths after Thanksgiving for at least the last 5 years, maybe more. Meghan joined us for her second time this time too. I am sure she will have some great pictures on her blog because she brought her camera with us. So check in with her in a while.

Meghan and Corbin sported their vintage shirts. You can't really tell but Corbin's is a Superman shirt. It was Adam's so it really is vintage! He is pretty stylish!

Then the big surprise of the weekend occurred last night. Everyone tried to get Adam and I to go down and play ping pong in the workshop. Adam of course wanted to go, but I wasn't really interested. They tried to figure out how to get me to go down but I didn't comply. So when Adam came back up he and Kevin bought up our early Christmas present from my parents, Adam's parents, and my grandpa Red and Grandpa Dan and Marge. It was the Chariot Stroller that we have been wanting and had thought we had bought through my dad's work! I was so surprised! I had thought that we had ordered but my dad was being so elusive about what he had ordered and when it would be here, or how much it cost! Now I know why! We are super excited about it because it is a stroller, a bike trailer, and a x-country ski trailer! So now I can use it around our house on the trails and in Bend for Christmas! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

So we had to go and try it out today. It's big. Our car is small. We will have to do some finagling to figure out the best way to transport it.

Corbin got all snug inside. Brindzi by his side. And we walked. It was so smooth compared to our other non trail stroller. And then Corbin fell asleep.

We also got in a movie this weekend. Grandpa stayed home with Corbin while we all went out and saw "Bolt". Corbin took the bottle and took a nap without having to be nursed to sleep! Yahoo!

He also had some avocado and breast milk this morning. Yum!

He is also now sitting up completely on his own. He gets a little tippy to the side but can mostly stay up the whole time! Big stuff!

Many Thanks

I have many many things to be thankful for. My baby boy, my husband, my parents, my brother, my in-laws, my grandparents, and extended family. I have a great family. My health. The beautiful place I live. My home. My friends. My dog & cat. And much much more!

Last night as we were stuck in awful Seattle traffic and Corbin had just pooped his pants and we still had more than 45 minutes to get to the ferry because of the traffic and we were biding our time before Corbin started screaming, we saw this....

and I was thankful! Thankful to live in such a beautiful place and see beauty even when I was grumpy.

And I was grumpy and sad when we finally got to BI and Corbin wouldn't go to sleep. But then I was grateful for my wonderful husband. And then when I saw Corbin's smiling face this morning (after having woken up many times over the night and wanting to be awake at 4:30 am and having his diaper leak) I was so thankful for this wonderful little guy who is now in my life! I love his so much!

Here he is eating his first solid food. Although soupy rice cereal mixed with breast milk doesn't seem that solid! He loved it! We had to stop him before his tummy exploded! He will get more tomorrow. And then maybe either a banana or avocado on Sat.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends! Enjoy!

A feast of his own

Beef! [Manly grunt]

This was not a drug bust.

Today, 1/4 cow = 195 lbs hanging weight, cut and wrapped, divided by three = Not much room left in the freezer

Erin headed to the butcher today to pick up the quarter steer we split with our friends Kevin and Becky and Aki and Rich. This is an exciting day.

We're not big beefeaters, really. But we have been reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, and I think it's the end of the road for us, as far as feedlot beef is concerned. It's unhealthy, unhumane, unenvironmental, unreasonable, uneverything. So when I found this grass fed beef available on craigslist, we decided to go for it.

And now it's here, and it's filling up our freezer. Lots of ground, and a roast, a few steaks, some soup bone. Like I said, we're not big beefeaters, but we're excited at the prospect of supporting and consuming healthier, more humane, local meat.

Now we just need to find an in on some free range chickens, since that's a meat we consume much more than any other. Something to work on.

Happy Thanksgiving! Eat well!

New Friends

We have been making new friends! Baby and mom friends. Corbin and I have been doing mom and baby yoga and taking a class through BTC where we have met lots of new moms and babes. It has been really fun to get to know other moms and babies and see them change and grow. One of my goals of being a stay at home mom, is to get out and do things and have adult contact at least once a day. We have been doing a pretty good job of it, whether it's hanging out with Becky and Brody for coffee or a walk, our yoga, our BTC class, and now play group! Some times I almost feel too busy! I decided it would be fun to start a play group with some of my friends and the new moms and babies I have met. So two weeks ago, we had our first one at our house. We have now had two other play dates. The first picture is from last week. Again, I love how babies could care less about a picture being taken. They are all over the place!

It was a lot easier to get a photo with fewer of them, unlike this photo from our last day of class. This is only half of the group! They were way to funny! Babies were falling over, moms were trying to put them back up, the mobile ones were crawling away. Corbin seems to think his sock are pretty cool!

Today at the end of play group, Corbin go to hang out with the ladies! He was the pimp :-) They were both mobile and Corbin kept getting left behind!

This one is fuzzy but I still think it's cute! Addie and Hayden hanging out with Corbin!

Scooter

Sabe's Sweater

5 months!

Corbin is 5 months old today! Where has the last 5 months gone? Wow! We had a busy last few days. First we hosted our first Baby and Mom group that I started with friends and moms from mommy and baby yoga and my BTC baby class. It was a hit, about 15 moms and babes were all in our house. It was crammed full. We had car seat parking in our office. Ha! Then we headed down to Seattle for the first leg of a two part weekend. We crashed at Nikki and Mark's house for the night. Then Adam headed to Olympia to celebrate his friend John's 30th birthday by roasting a pig. While Corbin and I caught a ride down to Portland to surprise my friend Sam for her 30th birthday! It was fun to hang out with a group of my girl friends from College. Sam was super surprised by the party that her girlfriend Ali threw for her. It was a quick trip and Corbin was a trooper in the car!

Mmm...yummy cupcakes!

Our college friend Sara and her little girl Gracie were also there. Here King Mark holds little ninja Corbin.

Sam was sporting some pretty sexy sunglasses for the night.

When we got up to Seattle Corbin got some more family love from his BI grandparents and aunt and uncle. It was nice to let everyone get their Corbin fix and let Corbin kick his little legs around before having to get back into the car for the ride back to Bham.

Island Grannie couldn't resit a cute little gift for Corbin's high chair. Of course, Corbin thought one of the best things about it was the wrapping.

But then he saw the gift and that was pretty cool too!

Corbin is growing so fast. He had a set of shots today at the Doc's office. He has to go in every month because we are spreading out the vaccines. He was such a brave little guy this time. He only cried for a very short time and then was ok. He weighs 16 lbs 3 oz. Almost double his weight! And he has gained more than a pound in the last month. He can almost sit up completely on his own. Especially when just barely supported by a pillow or a hand. And when he is sitting up, he really is sitting up, not all hunched over. He grabs for his toys on the ground and brings them to his mouth. He can pick things up one handed. Of course EVERYTHING goes into his mouth. This weekend he got a fist full of Mark's granola and yogurt. Luckily I got to it before it went into his mouth. He also knocked over my coffee. He is getting fast and his reach is growing! He laughs all the time now. And shreaks! He loves to see how loud he can make his voice go. It's so cute! He also wants to roll over from his back to his tummy really badly. He did it by himself on Friday but hasn't since then. But he will get all over onto his side and just cant't quite make it over the rest of the way. It's so amazing how different each baby is when it comes to this. One baby in our class is a month youger and is just flipping around like crazy. Corbin can also scoot his way while on his tummy. He will go in a 45 degree turn using his arms. He has been sleeping pretty successfully not swaddled again. We had a momentary laps back to the one arm swaddle. He is still waking up 2 times at night. He will sleep for a 7-9 hour stretch and then wake up every 2 hours till morning time. I guess it's getting better, it could be much much worse!

A little show

Corbin had many visitors this weekend. First his aunt and uncle, Kevin and Meghan wanted to come up for a visit. And my dad will be here tonight. Wow! What a lucky guy. We captured some good video of his great faces he is making lately. What a funny little guy!

Where's the Grub?

Corbin is liking his new high chair from his great grandparents. And now he is ready for some food. Or so he thinks! He watches us eat. Moving the food from the plate to our mouth. When you put something in front of him, he opens his mouth. He tries to grab at our food, he can sit up on his own with help, and he loves to put spoons (and most other things) in his mouth. He is saying "I'm ready mom, where's the food"? They say somewhere between 4-6 months for introducing solids. He is getting close. We are thinking maybe Thanksgiving. He will be almost 5 1/2 months old. Until then, he just gets empty spoons and good old breast milk!

Use those apples 12

Apple cake with brown sugar glaze

Great Grandparents!

Remember this photo! Corbin got to do it with his great grandpa Dan! The original photo included my mom's dad, Dan 27 years ago, now Corbin gets to do it with one of his living great grandpas! What a lucky guy to still have great grandparents!

My grandpa Dan and Marge came up from Southern Oregon to visit Corbin for the first time. Grandpa Dan is a pretty amazing guy. He is 91 and still runs track, cross country skis, and plays badminton competitively. Corbin is lucky to have his genes.

Again, Corbin isn't always sure about getting his picture taken when we want it.

They came to watch Adam play soccer.

And bought Corbin a high chair, getting ready for his first solid food in a month or so.

Corbin is a pretty luck guy to not only have 2 great grandpa's still alive and have wonderful grandparents. Hopefully next summer he will get to meet his other Great Grandpa Red, in NH.

Vote!

Don't forget to get out and vote! Here are some other inspiring thoughts for today...from other friends Kelcey and Caren.

Use those apples 11

Apple crisp a la mode

Tricks and Treats

No this is not a trick! Adam indeed did shave his beard! For the first time since spring break 1998! It's been over ten years since I have seen that face!

Hmm.... Adam edit: "What the hell happened to my face?"

Corbin is thinking...who is that guy? You sound like my dad, you smell like my dad, but you don't look like him!

We went to Adam's classes Halloween party! Corbin is either a chicken or a duck, depending on who you ask... He was a hit!

The fan at Jill and Paul's is always more interesting than mom with a camera.

Brindzi and Mojo check each other out. It was Brindzi and Corbin's first experience with cute small little kittens!

Corbin was pretty excited when a package arrived in the mail for him on Halloween. Inside he found a scary pop up book with scary sounds from his Uncle Jed! Jill decided to read it to him, it was hard to tell if he thought Jill was more scary with those eyelashes or the book.

Last week at play group, Brody and Corbin got to test out their costumes! It was pretty cute! We had our own little farm.

Today Corbin gets to meet one of his great grandpas! Grandpa Dan and Marge on coming for a visit! He is pretty lucky guy to still have two sets of great grandparents!