Eat like a Pilgrim!!

Before it fades into the past, pushed by Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday sales, and putting up the Christmas Tree, I figured I should post about the "Eat Like A Pilgrim" dinner that we went to last weekend!

It was a dinner at Thanksgiving Point celebrating the first Thanksgiving Day, complete with "hosts" dressed in colonial garb and speaking with cool accents and phrases. As usual, Mara was afraid of the "strange man"- the master of our military matters had her looking to her daddy for help.

We had oil and vinegar to put on our salad greens instead of fully mixed salad dressing, and no forks to eat our salad greens. Luckily, we had enormous napkins to keep us clean. The menu also consisted of corn pudding, pumpkin, pork, turkey, mixed berry cobbler, and apple cider. (We had the option of trying some raw oysters, but we voted no...)

There was a guy there writing people's names with a quill pen, traditional games to play, and even a tiny goat and a calf inside for petting.

It was super fun, and Mara thoroughly enjoyed the animals.

No, really...

Maybe because it was her size,

but that goat was her favorite thing!

Mostly she just enjoyed being a pilgrim for a night- with tons of stimulating sights to see, room to run, and of course, modern cooking, indoor heating, and a fancy restaurant-style high chair. Being a pilgrim is fun!

Halloween Pictures

As promised, here are the pictures from halloween.

We had a cute little sheep outfit for Mara, but it was too small, so she only wore it for story time at the library.

On Saturday we went to a halloween party at our friends house. (Ian was a mechanic, and I was a tree.) We borrowed a cute little bug outfit for the party, and unfortunately, this is the only picture we took. Mara woke up from a nap right before the party so she looks a bit out of it, and she wouldn't even wear the hat that went with it. Sad day. Oh well, there is always next year.

Mara was terrified of everyone in costume, but the party was really fun. And I even got a prize for being the most creative costume :) woohoo for halloween!

Catching up, again.

Re-doing the blog header counts as an update, so I'm done here, right? :)

I've waited long enough (and been scolded enough) that, as usual, I have a smattering of catch up to attend to. We'll just start where we left off the last time.

Mara had a birthday party! Ian had some leftover dry ice at the lab, courtesy of Boeing, so we made homemade rootbeer to go with our pizza. It was delicious!

Mara got tooth number 2 at 10 months, and has since then been working on teeth numbers 3 and 4. It takes FOREVER for these teeth to finally break through!! Hence, Mara has become a druggie.

She also likes to play on the shelf with the baking supplies and has found a favorite. (After the bag was punctured by the afore mentioned teeth, we switched it to a bag of dry kidney beans.)

Ian also had a birthday. He requested texas sheet cake (thanks for the recipe Patience!) Everyone loved it and my soon-to-be Aunt Cheryl even said it was the best she's ever had! I gave her the recipe too, Patience...I hope you don't mind :)

Speaking of Ian, he made a new fairing for the car. He made one last year in his Plastics class, but this one is prettier and better. Experience is a great thing, isn't it?

Oh, so sexy! (Its carbon fiber, and its on a car...I'm allowed to call it sexy...)

This cute little kitty was rescued by our neighbor, and Ian wants her to be his. Tara was about 7 weeks old with a broken femur when we met her. Now her leg has healed, and although she's got a bit of a limp, she's got no trouble winning over the whole family.

The kitty didn't really like to play with yarn (until the leg healed), but Mara did!

Oh, and this is why kids aren't born with....bumps. They'd never get anything done!

For Halloween, Mara was a sheep and a butterfly buggy thing. (Pictures to come later.) She really enjoyed Halloween. Especially the candy.

In early November, we had a rose bloom. It was so pretty! We've had such a warm Fall this year.

Mara's favorite season is definitely Fall. She loves the leaves! But she doesn't mind sharing :)

She also loves listening to records,

and, uh.....playing with her pencil!

And today she fed herself from a spoon for the first time. Ah, what fun!