Sock thief

Abby shot this clip of the kids when we stopped by their place last week...

How to eat cereal

We've been holding off on giving Madeline solids until the 6 month mark. Tonight we tried out rice cereal for the first time and it was a huge hit! Below is Madeline's guide to eating (you can double-click on the picture to view it at true size)...

6 months

We still can't believe that she's 6 months old. How did that happen so fast?!?

(Yes, her feet are indeed lifted off the floor -- the camera caught her just as she tipped over backwards -- no one was injured during this spontaneous stunt)

In honor of this milestone, and because there is always a reason to have cake, I made a "half" birthday cake and we had Adrian, Abby & Linus over to join in the celebration. Madeline was a true party animal and slept through most of it. And the cake was enjoyed by all the grown-ups.

Thankful

We're so thankful for our families, near and far.

This year's Thanksgiving celebration was a change of pace for us, and not just because we're a family of three now. Typically, we spend the 4 day holiday in Beatrice, NE with the extended Bartel family, but this year we decided to stay here. Grandma and Grandpa L hosted us on Thanksgiving Day and we did our American duty by eating more than we should have. After we recovered from the excess, we returned home with an extra little lady in tow -- we had our niece Beth over for a couple of days to belatedly celebrate her 11th birthday. While we missed the traditions and the camaraderie of being in Nebraska, it was nice to have a 4 day weekend of relaxation here at home.

Our punk rock baby...

All she needs is a black onesie...

Fall has fallen

Now that Madeline is such a champ at sitting, we thought it would be a good time to start using her wagon. The wagon is made from walnut harvested from my Grandpa's (Herbert Funk) farm and Grandpa B helped with the construction. It's a beautiful thing. The wagon ride wasn't long -- just across the street to "help" Josh corral the neighbor's runaway puppy -- but Madeline seems to really enjoy this new perspective on the world.


This weekend we also took advantage of the moderate temps and did more work in the yard. What started out as a simple project to plant bulbs and transplant some flowers and shrubs to the massive area under our pine trees has turned into a multi-week effort. Somehow Josh convinced Curtis to come over to help remove the many layers of pine straw in that bed so that I could begin planting the bulbs. So now the daffodils are planted. The transplanting and the re-mulching remains to be completed. And I still have two other flowerbeds to prep before the winter sets in. Egads - I hope the warm-ish weather hangs on for a few more weeks!

Birthday dinner

Grandma L was so nice and came over last night for some quality time with Madeline so that we could have some time for ourselves. As has become our tradition, Josh took me out for a very nice dinner to celebrate my birthday -- 31 for those who need help counting. The destination is always a surprise (yay, I like surprises) and always a new place (yay, I like trying new places). This year, he braved the rush hour traffic and drove us into Raleigh for our reservation at JK's. It was delectable, delicious, delightful -- I could go on and on. I ordered the 14oz ribeye and, after commenting on how big it was when my plate arrived, I continued to eat the whole thing. Child-rearing apparently requires a lot of protein. Josh had the ribs (dry rub style). He, who only sparingly gives comments other than "it was OK" or "it was fine" to even the most tasty meals, said, "These ribs are seasoned perfectly," and I swear his eyes rolled back into his head from the joy he was experiencing via his tastebuds. JK's did right by us. Then we came home, curled up on the couch under a quilt, and watched Heroes and Bones on Tivo. It was a happy birthday.

Happy Halloween!

We were gifted a ballerina tutu and slippers by a neighbor, so that became Madeline's costume this year. It's been a little chilly here so she started out wearing a hat and tights, too.

Abby hosted the playgroup for an afternoon Halloween party -- good times were had by the moms and the kids alike!

The playgroup dressed in their Halloween finery:
Wyatt the sweet pea, Gavin the bee, Catherine the Duke cheerleader,
Linus the skeleton, Madeline the ballerina, and Hayli in her festive onsie

We ended the day at Grandma & Grandpa L's. It was a yo-ho-ho kind of Halloween there with Cameron, Dawson and Beth all dressing as pirates. The older kids went trick-or-treating while Peyton and Madeline stayed behind. Madeline was so enthralled with the gauzy layers on Peyton's costume.

Cameron as Captain Hook, Dawson as Captain Jack Sparrow,
Beth as Elizabeth Swan (in the third Pirates movie when she's
held captive by the Chinese pirate lord), Peyton as Tinkerbell,
and Prima Ballerina Madeline.