Happy New Year

We had a great bike ride on the trail today! Looking forward to doing it again soon. Happy new year everyone!

Pumpkin Fun

We went to the pumpkin patch last night to get a pumpkin for Halloween. Cady had so much fun running around and picking out pumpkins.

Happy 4th of July

We spent this morning and afternoon in downtown Morgan Hill for the annual 4th of July Parade. The town has been doing the parade since 1896, and it's always so much fun. It's the kind of thing you see in movies, the textbook, small-town, 4th of July parade. Cady really enjoyed watching the people, horses and floats go by. You can see her watching and waving here.
Midway though the parade, she got a little tired. She actually sat through the whole parade. As "on-the-go" as she is right now, we were both shocked at that.

Here's the start of the parade with El Toro as the back drop. Lots of fun!

Independence Day BBQ Fun

We spent July 3rd at a BBQ in the country. Cady had a great time playing in the water and she really enjoyed the tri-tip. She's getting good use out of her new 1-year molars. Here she is running around the yard. She was on the go ALL day!
Here she is with Kenzie. This is the $1.00 chair we found at a yard sale earlier in the day. It was perfect. We'll take it to the parade tomorrow. And in case anyone is wondering, yes, we reapplied sunscreen 3 times.

These two had a blast at the end of the day, playing in the playpen. They would stand up, fall down, and laugh, over and over again.

Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night!

Happy Christmas Eve! We just finished up our traditional x-mas eve dinner of Hawaiian Steak (like the one from Houston's restaurant). This year, we paired it with tarragon mashed potatoes and tomatoes in ginger soy dressing. It was excellent.

Each year at Christmas, we'll take a picture of Cady with this book her GG made for her. It'll be fun to see how much she grows.

Here we are, wishing you and your family a very happy holiday!

Cady and her tree

Too cute. She loves being in her room and crawling all over it, from corner to corner and back again. She's trying really hard to pull herself up to standing. I'm sure it'll happen for her very soon. We put a tree in her room and she loves looking at the lights before she goes to sleep. We don't let her watch TV, or have any of those toys with crazy lights (not yet anyway), so this is kind of a special treat. Thank you GG for the ornaments!

Happy Holidays from our crib to yours!

We started decorating last night and finished most of it today. The trees are up, decorations are out and the baking was in full swing today. I made pumpkin cheesecake muffins and the first batch of what has become my signature holiday sweet, nutty chocolate toffee crisps. Lots more batches to do.

We did a little rearranging in Cady's room today, and in the midst of that, we decided to play around with her and some lights. We love the way it turned out. She's wearing our favorite PJs too. You may remember them from this post. We loved them so much that we found them in a bigger size and bought them. Lucky us, they were on clearance!

Thankscamping Weekend

We spent Thanksgiving weekend camping with our neighbors at Silverwood Lake in the San Bernardino National Forest. We are thankful to have such good friends in our neighbors, especially when we can't be with our families. We are lucky in so many ways, and have so much to be thankful for. We're so glad Cady's first Thanksgiving was something fun and memorable, maybe we'll make it a tradition!

We hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving, with friends and family! Here's a few shots of our weekend. Clockwise from top left: 1. The Thanksgiving table with campfire cooked ham and turkey, fried turkey, stuffing, yams, potatoes and gravy, broccoli casserole, corn casserole, salad, green bean casserole, rolls (with homemade herbed butter with herbs from our back yard), pumpkin and pecan pie. 2. Dan with a sleeping Cady at the table. 3. Claire and Chico overlooking the lake. 4. Half of our group on a hike: Maddie, Lisa, Claire, Rod, Garrett, Jack, Mike, Connor, Danny, Kevin and Denise. 5. On the hike.

Cady's Cincinnati Debut

Our trip started with a redeye flight from LAX to CVG, where we sat behind LA's mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa. When we arrived early yesterday morning, we took the shuttle to pick up the car, and we realized we left a laptop on the plane. Luckily it wasn't a turnaround flight, so we went back and got it. It was 32 degrees when we got in the car. By far, the coldest weather Cady's seen to date.

After a quick nap for all of us, Cady went to her first Gamma Phi Beta event, a Founder's Day luncheon. It was nice catching up with these ladies!

Then, we went to Mike and Stephanie's house where Cady met her cousins. She didn't cry the whole time, but she was pretty crabby after a short night's sleep on the plane and very little nap time during the day. From left to right in the back: Josh, Zack holding Cady, and Jake. In the front: Kelly, Jessica (Josh's wife) holding Maura, Alana, and Kelsey. She also met the majority of Dan's mom's side of the family. Yes, that's a whole lot of people. Needless to say, Cady slept very well last night.
Look at this adorable cake! Thank you Stephanie, we loved it! Today, Cady is six months old! We took a few pictures from Mt. Echo Park, with quite possibly the best view of Cincinnati.
We went to another family gathering late this afternoon. This time, Dan's dad's side of the family, also a whole bunch of people. They get together this time of year to celebrate Thanksgiving so that everyone can do their own thing for the actual holiday. Cady was really good, and her cousins were really helpful. They pushed her around in her stroller and did what they could to entertain her and keep her happy.

There will be two recipes to follow...once we get them from Kelsey and Stephanie. One is a spicy chicken dip and one is a Halloween candy leftover cake.

Happy Halloween!

Whoops, it's been over a month since I posted something on our blog. Terrible! Anyway, we were pirates for Halloween, and Cady was our parrot. She makes such a cute little parrot, don't you think?

In other news this week, Cady started eating baby food! She had her check up on Friday and weighs in at 17 pounds and 27 inches. She seemed to be way more into the spoon than the food. We'll see how it all goes. Maybe we'll try sweet potatoes next, and then some avocados from our tree!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dia De Los Muertos

Mom and Pop are out for a visit, so we decided to take them for a train ride to Olvera Street for Day of the Dead.

Dia de los Muertos is celebrated throughout Mexico and the Southwest states, and coincides with the Christian All Souls and All Saints Days. On November 1st and 2nd people remember those who are deceased. November 1st is considered the Dia de los Angelitos—the day to remember children that have died, November 2nd is the traditional Dia de los Muertos (day of the dead). Pictures of the deceased are placed on Dia de los Muertos altars (ofretas) with their favorite food and drink. Candles to light their way home, and soap and water to freshen-up after their long trip back are also often placed on altars. Trinkets they were fond of, symbols they would understand, and gifts are left to communicate to them that they are always in the hearts of those they left behind, and that they are still part of the family even though they aren’t physically with us any longer.

Families often spend time at the cemetery with loved ones, bringing food and drink along with all the other necessities for a picnic. However, at this picnic the deceased is the guest of honor. Dia de los Muertos is a time of joy because we know that we are surrounded by those that we love—both living and dead. People often compare Dia de los Muertos to Halloween, and while at first glance there may appear to be a similarity, in truth the two celebrations are quite different. Halloween is a European holiday that is based on their concept of death, which is vastly different from the original Aztec meaning. The Aztecs beliefs were very similar to the Aboriginal beliefs of Australia. This life is considered to be a dream and when you die, you awake to your real life. Halloween, on the other hand, is celebrated with witches, demons and monsters and none of these are shown in a positive light.

Easter Festivities

We had a fun time over at Mike & Deneen's, where we spent our Easter. Look at this wonderful spread...it was all excellent.
Our lovely hostess with the most-est, in her kitchen where she works her magic.

They have the best back yard set up, it's the most inviting, welcoming space. We're so lucky to have such great friends and neighbors. I'm sure I've mentioned that before, but it's just so true.

Valentine's Day at Olvera Street

For Valentine's Day, we took the train downtown with the neighbors. We went to Olvera Street for lunch, and to do a little shopping. It was such a good time.

The indigenous people of the Tongva nation, the aboriginal tribe of the Los Angeles Basin had long been established near the river when King Carlos the III of Spain ordered the settlement of the territory by Felipe de Neve thus sending 11 families (44 people) on the long journey from Mexico to Alta California to start the pueblo de La Reina De Los Angeles in 1781.

Olvera Street is located on the general site of the birthplace of the city of Los Angeles (Mexico), near the Plaza, and the Plaza Church. Originally called Vine Street, in 1877 it was renamed after Agustin Olvera, the first judge of the county of Los Angeles (then USA).

This cross is across the plaza, at the beginning of Olvera Street. It reads "The town of Our Lady Queen of the Angels," now known as Los Angeles (the angels).

Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's Eve day working on our new kitchen floor, which is looking great! We rang in the new year with the neighbors, as we did last year. Our hosts, Mike and Deneen have the best parties. The food is always amazing, and last night was no exception. Deneen made pasta, MADE the pasta, rolled it out herself. It was unbelievably good. I'm sure it's been mentioned on our blog at least once, but we love our neighborhood, and the people in it. We know we're lucky not only to know our neighbors, but to have found such good friends in them.
This is how we get around the neighborhood, especially when we have a lot to carry. We got the wagon idea from Jared last new year's eve. Since then, we picked up our own. It comes in surprisingly handy on nights like these.
Our toasting champagne (actually it's sparkling wine, since it's from California - Champagne isn't really Champagne unless it comes from the Champagne region of France) was from Wilson Creek Vineyards in Temecula. So good. We love our almond champagnes, this one, and a slightly sweeter version from Rapazzini Winery in Gilroy.

Happy Holidays!

We hope that whatever holiday you and your families celebrate at this time of year are happy, healthy and full of laughter and love. We didn't get around to sending out holiday cards this year, maybe we'll send New Year cards!

We started our morning early with a little egg nog french toast, which might be my new favorite breakfast. It was excellent, if I do say so myself. Pretty darn simple too. Mix up 1/4 gallon of eggnog with an egg, cinnamon and nutmeg (for 8 slices of bread). Drench your bread with it, and put it in a nice hot frying pan. Let it get nice and brown, then drizzle it with whipped eggnog and some powdered sugar.
We don't really "do" gifts at our house. Mostly because there is really nothing we need, and that is perhaps the greatest gift of all. Somehow though, a gift or two always seems to sneak up under the tree. My Pop loves his Bah Humbug Certified Scrooge t-shirt. When I saw the Golden Humbugs at Harrod's in London, I knew I couldn't pass them up. Chico got a Bengals jersey, he really likes it.
Dan and I made our traditional Christmas dinner, Hawaiian Steak (inspired by the one at Houston's). He's such a great griller, dinner was fantastic. Seriously, fantastic. For dessert, an apple crumble that was so good that while reaching for seconds, Dan spilled his glass of red wine on the rug under the dining room table. So we ended the meal with the shop vac running, and we saved the rug.

Here was our Christmas wine, we'd definitely recommend it. At $12-15/bottle, it's a deal. You can get it here if you want to give it a try. http://www.mariposawine.com/yosemite-view/wines/ You know me and wine labels. You can see why I picked this one.

A Day of Baking

I spent Sunday baking treats for our friends and co-workers. I really enjoy baking, and should do it more often. Maybe once we get our kitchen updated, I will be more motivated to spend time in there.