October Outtakes, Part 3

proud of her pigtails

this is a learning moment

this is also a learning moment

she said she was full and handed me the box

this is on one of our better jobs

Laura stepped on this

We drank these

Is that enough purple for ya?

Like I said, he's happiest when his Mommy is holding him

What Aisle Is The Softshoe?

(from October 9th)

We can't just go grocery shopping, can we?

Buggy Baby

eggs, milk, bread...



...check!

Baby Loose On A Construction Site

Boy that's a dangerous title. But the photos on this post will prove that there was minimal "construction" and maximum baby/kitten play.




A few things we learned yesterday.


#1: It is hard, but not impossible to dig post holes in our driveway. We met some rocks who never expected to meet the light of day, and they were less than appreciative.



#2: Babies like kittens. Kittens are afraid of babies. The whole interaction is adorable.



#3: You can never have enough Schiff's tea biscuits.



#4: Laura is capable of holding a baby in one hand, leveling a board with the other and drawing cut lines with her mouth.



#5: It is not a good idea to befriend the yogurt organizer (official title?) at the Weis market on 611 because while it is impressive that he knows "Hungry Like A Wolf" was released on Duran Duran's 2nd album, Rio by EMI/Capitol in 1982, the whole encounter will get quite creepy as he expands the conversation into how, to him, the song sounds like a tractor trailer jackknifing against the divider in the left hand lane of 80 east in between mile marker 3 and 4... he cleared the dairy aisle. He is not good for the yogurt business.



#6: Wasps like the Amish.

No Way To New Year

Mess! Amber alert! This place is tragic. The coffee table is at the back door. There's baby clothes everywhere with no discernible sign as to whether they are clean or dirty. The bedroom still has suitcases from when we went to Georgia full of clothes. The dining room has refuse everywhere, there's a sink full of dishes and the daybed is still open in the backroom. The cleanest spot is the top of my nightstand, and even that is a random trash pile.

So today, New Year's Eve will be dedicated to cleaning up. This is no way to welcome in the new year. How embarrassing for us. How thoughtless of 2010 to leave such a mess for 2011. Hopefully we find the proper motivation to start somewhere and end soon. Right after this episode of Weeds of course. We've whizzed thru seasons 3 & 4 in three days and onto season 5. Pretty crazy.

Hopefully I can make it back later on today to spew some year-end priority. In the meantime, here's a few photos...

Yuula taking some Christmas gifts for a spin

The closest I could get her to the bok choy.

Good morning New Year's Eve.

Swiss Chard A Rhubarb?

Today is probably the most productive day either of us have had all year. Up before the sun, to beat the holiday traffic, and get the best cream corn, we got to the grocery around 6:30am. We took our time, strolling down each aisle, scanning all the shelves, and leaving no list item unturned. It was a long list. Double columned, both sides of the page. The only thing we didn't find is rhubarb. Guess we're not having that pie this weekend. We even checked another store, but all I found was swiss chard. Close, but opposite.

We came home and prompted by the lack of sufficient pantry space, tore the kitchen apart and redid all the cabinets. So much so that Laura uttered the words "I love my kitchen!". It's usually not the story. She refers to it as the dungeon. Cleaned up the yard. Haven't picked up since Laura's baby shower in June. That's shameful. I finally cleaned up the sawdust city I had made while building these shelves, and did the shed switcheroo, things that don't need to be in the house out, portable heaters in. It's an annual ritual.

Oddjobs abound, but tonight we even finally ordered our stroller. We have a stroller, but it's not terrain friendly. We went with a three wheeler, big wheels since all our roads are rock at best. It's got a hand brake for those downhill tumbles and an iPod dock, called the iBaby, so we can jam out on our nature hikes. It'll be here sometime between the 24th and the 1st. Then daily walks will ensue. Snow be damned. If the snow ever decides to show itself. Coward snow. This has taken an ugly turn. It's time for bed. Another early day tomorrow.

Good At Rainy Days

Laura finally found genuine Southern boiled peanuts

how long since you think anybody's been down here?

She don't want none of these

ricebowls only on the weekend? what's that all about?

see, she's sleeping

small sandwiches = more room for dinner

an influential dining experience

Mom needs a new pair of shoes

can I keep her busy long enough?

biggest smile on film

never seen so many pomegranates

Hey! Exciting Yes (Not Boring) WooHoo!!

Yesterday started out as a normal day. We had a few errands to run and really didn't expect anything adventurous.

Laura & I left the house with some recycling to drop off. The recycling station lies in the middle of a large cornfield. We never thought anything of it. We dragged some plastic bottles to one dumpster. A bundle or two of broken down cardboard to another. We were about ready to hop back in our car when we heard the faint buzzing of a single engine cessna and it was coming right at us! We took off into the cornfield, narrowly escaping its machine gun fire. Weird huh?



Then we went off to Laura's ultrasound. Just a quick checkup but we could never be prepared for what we found out. The nurse was just starting the checkup when she suddenly shrieked and ran out of the room. She locked the door behind her and we were stuck. We looked up at the screen and this is what we saw...



Then we started to smell smoke and sure enough moments later some grey smoke started to seep under the door of our exam room. The nurse had lit the offices on fire! We had to escape to save ourselves and our little alien. But how?! I used my brute force to break down the door and Laura I just barely avoided the inferno that was climbing up the walls. The heat was unbearable and the building was coming down around us. Another too close for comfort. I sure hope they refund our copayment.



We got back on 33 and headed back towards home knowing we had to make one more stop at the grocer. The highway was pretty open considering it was around 3 in the afternoon, but all of the sudden we spotted a little green sportscar flying up from behind us. I mean this guy was trucking! Then all of the the sudden BANG! BANG! gunfire! At us. We floored it. Weaving in and out of traffic, taking the shoulder on occasion, and topping out around 120mph. Don't worry Dad we had our seatbelts on. After jumping a few curbs and a little off-roading, we managed to run him into the embankment and get away without any scars. Phew.



We finally got to the grocer and we started filling our shopping carts with all sort of goodies. We got to the cereal aisle when all of the sudden the power went out in the building and it was dark. Some faint emergency lighting flickered on and off and we thought after the day we had we should just get out of here and head home, but we'd come so far and didn't want to leave this beautifully stocked cart behind so decided to stay. But that's when we heard the rumbling. We looked down the aisle and there it was. A giant boulder barreling down on us! We grabbed what food we could and ran down the aisle, Lucky Charms flying everywhere! We crashed out the front window of the store and jumped in the car. As we drove away we saw the building go up in a humongous explosion. Just in the nick of time.



We got home, thinking our adventure was over, exhausted and ready for some rest. We saw the cats gathered in the backyard all staring in the same direction. Odd behavior for these guys who are usually asleep or eating. We thought they must've caught a mole or a bird or something. We thought there could be no harm in checking it out...

Morty Buys A Cuke

Yes, those are pink pants.