Costume Crazy

So today was the big day... the debut of the Halloween costumes.  Chris has been piecing together his Jack Sparrow costume since June (and maybe earlier).  He loves putting together a very authentic costume.  To go along with Daddy, Ledger dressed as a pirate too.  Pictures are below.

Chris (left) and Captain Jack (right).

As you can tell, his costume is pretty authentic.

Chris' costume, full-length.

Captain Chris' little deck-hand, Ledgaaaaargh.

 

Trick-or-Treaters

Our little pumpkin...

As you know, our family won't be home on Halloween.  I am a little disappointed that we're going to miss trick-or-treaters... especially when our friends bring their kids over to our house to show us their costumes.  Tonight we had a big surprise when the Murdock family trick-or-treated at our house.  Nash dressed as Angus Young and Brandon dressed like Brian Johnson from AC/DC -- Chris' favorite band.  Hollis was dressed up like the family dog (Roadie) and Heather was dressed like a dog-catcher.  The Murdocks always have creative costumes.  While they were here, we took Hollis out of her costume and put her in our "baby pumpkin" and took pictures.  It was so much fun to have the babies together  Hollis is almost 9 months old -- Ledger likes the "older" women.  We took lots of fun pictures.  I am posting a few of them below.

 Hollis and Ledger together.

 

Hollis in the pumpkin suit.

 

Nash and Ledger.  Nash is so good with babies!

Nash smooching his li'l sis.

An armful of baby.

Pumpkin Seed Recipe

So tonight, I actually roasted the pumpkin seeds and I promised my top-secret recipe.  So, as promised, here is my pumpkin seed recipe.  If you don't like butter and salt, you should just cease and desist right now!

1. Separate the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin pulp.  I like to do this manually.  Nothing better than getting your hands in the pumpkin slop! :)
2. Wash the pumpkin seeds in hot water.  I usually just fill a bowl with hot water and float the seeds in it.  Then I stir it with my hands to remove extra pulp.  When seeds are washed, drain the water.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Melt 1-2 sticks of butter in the microwave in a small bowl or liquid measuring cup.
5. Pour washed seeds into melted butter.  All seeds should be covered.
6. Use cooking spray to coat cookie sheets.  Put a layer of popcorn salt on the greased cookie sheet.
7. Using a slotted spoon, remove seeds from butter and lay them flat on the cookie sheet.  Lightly salt the layer of pumpkin seeds.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes.  WATCH THE SEEDS -- they burn easily!
9. Remove from oven when seeds are light brown.  Salt lightly.  ENJOY!!

The Elusive Tooth

We finally managed to snap a picture of Ledger's new photo-elusive tooth.  Yay!  You can see the tooth next to it just under the gums. :)

Naked Baby

I realized today that I haven't taken enough of the traditional "naked baby" photos.  So now that Ledger is sitting up all by himself, I took the opportunity to snap some pictures.  They turned out better than I could have imagined!

The new photo header at the top of our blog came from today's little impromptu photo shoot too.  :)  I think it turned out awesome.

Another Weekend

I had to work again this weekend, so it was another short weekend.

We have recently found out that our storage shed in the backyard leaks, which has resulted in the moldy ruin of lots of our possessions -- including the 9' Christmas tree we just bought last year.  I am not very happy about it, but I also don't want that stuff sitting out there just growing more mold.  Since it's starting to get cold here, we finally had the Michels come out and babysit Ledger, borrowed a truck from Buddy, and stole a couple of surgical masks from work to get the job done.  It didn't go smoothly, but it is finished.

We drove to Lindsborg on Saturday afternoon to return the truck.  We ate Mexican food from Jalisco's (Chris' favorite) and then were invited to play cards with Oma and Papa.  So we had a repeat card session from last weekend and had just as much fun!  Here is a photo of Oma and Ledger -- we actually took the picture last weekend, but it's so cute, it has to be posted.

Today is Sunday and Ledger and I are home alone.  Daddy went to the Chiefs v. Chargers football game in Kansas City with one of his co-teachers, Beth.  I'm sure they are having a good time, despite the fact that it's raining there and the Chiefs are losing 0-20 at halftime.  :)  While Daddy is out, we are home playing.  We are also prepping to make beef jerky and roasted pumpkin seeds for our trip to Oklahoma next weekend.  I am hoping that Chris and I will carve pumpkins later this week.  Maybe, if I'm feeling generous, I'll even post my amazingly delicious pumpkin seed recipe.  Here's a hint: it involves lots of butter.  In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of one adorable little kid.

Tooth #2

I was surprised this morning to see Ledger's 2nd bottom incisor already trying to come in! The little white stripe is visible just below the gums. By next week, our little baby might have 2 teeth already!! I am trying to take a picture, but getting Ledger to hold still so that I can hold his mouth open and snap a photo is not very easy.

UPDATE: This is one of the pictures we got while trying to take pictures of his new teeth.  The teeth don't show up, but the picture is pretty funny.

Ledger's Turn

I wrote an entire post yesterday all about Mommy and Daddy's trip to Tulsa. So today I will post a little update on some of the fun little things that Ledger is up to.

1. Grunting -- Ledger started out grunting when he was trying to poop, which his Dad and I found hilarious! Now Ledger grunts quite a bit. I think he just likes the attention it gets him. And he's gotten better at it -- now he can grunt loudly for about 10 minutes straight. Here is a little video clip of him grunting. :)

2. Eating (sorta) -- This week we are trying baby food carrots. He doesn't seem to hate them as much as the rice cereal. We've only tried it a few times, but when I fed him this morning, he definitely swallowed more of the food. There were only a few drops on his bib this time. I don't have pictures of this yet, but will post some soon. The orange carrots all over his face is a pretty adorable little site.

3. Jumping -- After months of using his jumparoo, Ledger has finally learned how to JUMP in it. He really gets his little feet working and thinks it's pretty funny. This is a video of him jumping around. It's a little long, but I think his little faces are just priceless.

4. Fake Cough -- Ledger is now using his fake cough noise very frequently. It is quite amusing. Apparently he thinks it's amusing too.

5. Holding his head up -- Ledger does not know how to relax his neck. When he is layin on his back, he will hold his head off of the ground. It is hard to photograph, but those of you who have been around him lately know what I'm talking about.

Despite the occasional teething fussiness, he continues to be the sweetest baby with lots of smiles and cuddles to share!

Star Wars: In Concert

Yesterday, Chris and I went to Tulsa to see Star Wars: Live! It was this awesome mixed media presentation of the Star Wars saga -- including a live full symphony performance, laser lights, movie clips on a HUGE screen, and narration by Anthony Daniels (who played R2-D2 in all six movies). They also have a lot of the original props on display in the concourse. Here are some of our photos:

Some of the real movie props on display prior to the concert:

Yes, we posed with all of the backdrops and props!

The show itself was a combination of full orchestra, film, lasers, pyro, and narration. Very cool!

And, of course, there were people that dressed up. We sat right behind Princess Leah and Obi-Wan Kenobi!! :)

OK, I have to admit... I'm hoping that no one is still reading this post. But, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to tell the rest of the story. We left Tulsa at 10pm to head back to Salina. I was particularly exhausted, since I was up with Ledger teething the night before. But, I had taken the morning off of work and Chris hadn't, so I volunteered to drive. He stayed awake with me for a while, but about 45 minutes south of Wichita, I was too tired to continue. So Chris took over and drove while I napped. I woke up at Wichita and took over driving duties. I really felt pretty good, so Chris went to sleep. I left the radio on scan so that it was changing music every 5 seconds to keep me awake. But at McPherson, I looked down to fiddle with the radio and the policeman saw me cross the mid-line... so I got pulled over. He really just wanted to make sure we weren't drunk and was willing to let us off with a warning, until he discovered that my driver's license expired!! I never changed my address on my license so we never got sent the renewal package. Turns out, driving on an expired license is a misdemeanor!!! Holy crap.

Don't worry, I renewed my license this morning. I called the McPherson county courthouse and they told me to pay the fee and they will drop everything else. Crazy.

Anyway, we made it home around 2:30 in the morning. Grammie and Grandpa Michel had taken wonderful care of Ledger while we were away. We are all very tired today. :) But it was worth it.

First Tooth - It's Official!

Ledger's lower left front incisor has officially broken through his gums and produced a (very) sharp little tooth that is just barely above the gumline. He wasn't super fussy, but we did have a rough night where he woke up screaming and needing to be comforted for a while in the middle of the night. Usually, when he wakes up at night, he just needs to be fed and we both go right back to bed. He didn't run a fever and didn't have a snotty nose... yet. There are still a lot more teeth to go! :)

Peek-A-Tooth

As of this evening, I can officially feel a sharp little tooth just beneath Ledger's gum line. It hasn't peeked through yet, but you can see a little white stripe under the gums. This will be his lower, front left tooth. I know that lots of time, these teeth float up and then disappear back down again... but it's so exciting!!! He's been teething for months now, so maybe he's actually going to produce some teeth soon!

Out and About

Since we had such a lazy, home-bound Saturday last weekend... this weekend, we were out-and-about all day long! Chris spent part of the morning at Jarod and Briana's house to help tear off their old roof, so Ledger spent half of the morning with Mommy at work.

We spent all afternoon out at the Smoky Hill Bison Farm's corn maze and pumpkin patch. The Kinion family went with us and we had a really great time! They have lots of kiddie activities, including a slide, corn cannon, corn kernel sandbox, rope spiderweb, and zipline. Ledger isn't really big enough to enjoy all of this, but we are already looking forward to going back next year and making it a family tradition. We spent about 90 minutes in the corn maze -- it was the first time either Chris or I had ever been in one. At the end of the day, we walked through the pumpkin patch. I really LOVED the monster pumpkins out there, but just couldn't bring myself to spend the money on one. Both of the Kinion girls picked out small pumpkins -- it was pretty neat to cut them off of the vine! There were just WAY too many good pictures of our trip, so I've included a few of the photos, but am also putting a slide show at the bottom of this post with all of the pics included. :)

Afterwards, we met Oma and Papa Hensley in Lindsborg for dinner and cards. It was really enjoyable to have some grown-up game time after Ledger went to bed. We even learned a new card game that is similar to Phase 10. Of course, by the end of the day, we were exhausted!!

Flu Fears Have Subsided

OK, OK... so I got a little freaked out about the flu thing. After "sleeping on it", I realized I didn't need to panic about it, I just need to be sure that we are practicing standard hand hygiene and try to keep people from touching Ledger's hands.

Oh, and Chris was feeling much better after a good night of sleep. Thank you to everyone who inquired about his health. :)

Flu Fears

So the H1N1 flu has officially interfered with our family sphere. Yesterday, we found out that some close family friends (a family of 4 -- including 2 kids) of ours as well as my 12-year old cousin have tested positive for Influenza type A. The doctors are no longer testing for H1N1 unless someone is hospitalized, but if they test positive for Type A we assume it's probably H1N1 since it's really too early for traditional seasonal flu. So it is officially scary now.

I'm worried about Ledger coming down with the flu. I'm getting worried about taking Ledger out of the house.... especially when people that we know are being affected. Of course, I am a smart person. I am washing my hands and using germ-x constantly. I always get my seasonal flu vaccine, and I will get the seasonal and H1N1 vaccines when they become readily available. I will drag my husband to the doctor's office to get his vaccinations too. And as soon as Ledger can get vaccinated, he will. But, in the mean time, I'm still scared.

UPDATE: Literally, as I was writing this blog entry, my husband announces that he can "feel" that he's getting sick and went to bed early. Hopefully this is just the normal crap he gets every school year and not something worse. :(

5 Things I Love... But I Shouldn't

1. My Laptop: I really hate how attached to my laptop I am. Most every night, after Ledger goes to bed, Chris and I sit on the couch using our respective laptops. It is pathetic and sad, but I love my stinkin' laptop.

2. Craiglist: If I lived in a larger city, like KC or Tulsa, I would be seriously broke. Seriously. I am completely addicted to finding used baby stuff. We do have a Salina craigslist, but it's new and totally lame. But that didn't stop me from buying a high chair on the Salina craigslist just this week.

3. Naps: I love to nap. Any time of the day, in any weather. My ideal nap is a cold/rainy Sunday afternoon, cuddled up with Ledger, Chris, and Barkley. But I'll take any nap I can get.

4. KC Chiefs: They haven't been a winning team in a really long time... but that doesn't stop me from getting dressed up in my red and yellow game gear every Sunday. I wasn't a Chiefs fan before dating Chris, but now I really love rooting for the underdog team.

5. Icees: Everyone else had a food product on their list, so here is mine. I absolutely crave Coke icees. I've always loved them. My first email address (when I was 17) was icee1@hotmail.com. I had one of those huge light-up icee things that you used to see in convienience stores as my "night light" in my vet school cubicle. I have a 64-ounce mug that, more often than not, is filled with icee daily. Yup....

Ahhh... what a sad little list. :)

Blog Crazy

This weekend I've been a little blog crazy! We've had a very lazy weekend at home, which has afforded us some extra time hanging out with our favorite little man -- which has resulted in a lot of extra pictures and video. Here are 2 cute videos from this weekend. He is being very vocal and has suddenly remembered how to blow raspberries and spit everywhere.

On Sunday, we made time to visit Chris' grandparents in their nursing home in Marquette. Neither of them are in very good health, so it is important that we try to visit often -- seeing Ledger really brightened their spirits. Grandpa just kept commenting on how happy he was and grandma was pretty mesmerized by his big blue eyes. Here are some pictures of him with his great-grandparents.


And I'm just including this photo because I thought it was funny. :) Ledger with "the king".


If you haven't checked out the blog this weekend, make sure you look at all of the other posts to see what we've been up to. :)

Something New...

Seems like everyday, Ledger does something new. On Saturday, he started doing his own "drummer boy" impression. He is also leaning and reaching out for Mommy or Daddy when he wants one of us to take him. And, of course, he will throw his body towards whatever his object of desire is... the remote control, food, toys. We definitely have to keep a firm hold on our little wiggle worm now!

First Snow

Today it SNOWED!! We braved the cold weather outdoors to take a few pictures of Ledger in his first snowfall. He didn't like it much.

Ledger's First Food!

Today we decided to see how Ledger did with a little bit of rice cereal. We mixed it with breast milk and he only got about 2 tablespoons of rice cereal total. We don't have some of the required equipment... like a high chair or a baby spoon, but we made it work. We are not planning on making this a regular occurance just yet... but we thought we'd just give it a try to see how he would react. He was definitely interested, but I can't be sure he actually swallowed any cereal. Most of it ended up on his bib! :)

PS- This post marks my 100th post on blogger!! We sure have enjoyed sharing our lives via the internet. Hope you've enjoyed reading about us too.

Back to Manhattan

Chris got home from work yesterday and mentioned how the cold weather reminds him of our weekends in Manhattan when we first started dating. He offered to buy us dinner if we drove to Manhattan, so we hit the road in a spur-of-the-moment decision. We love the Valentino's Italian buffet there (not to mention they have coke icees to drink!!). Of course we couldn't go to Manhattan without calling the Buchanans to see if they could join us! I was really happy to get to spend some time with Ann and Brody -- even if it was just a short dinner. Here are some pictures of us:


We also took a little extra time to drive around Manhattan to see all of the changes that have been made since I left there. It is really amazing to see all the changes that can take place in just 3 years! There are a lot of things I really miss about living in Manhattan -- the dog parks, the liveliness of the town, and the K-State spirit. Manhattan has also added a lot of shopping and nice restaurants. We will definitely have to make an effort to visit more often!

Brrrr.... It's Getting Cold

Yup, it's getting really cold here now! It was 46 degrees outside and spitting rain during my drive home today. Yuck! We had planned on getting out and about on the town -- with plans to go to the Hyllningsfest parade in Lindsborg and then to the corn maze and pumpkin patch at the Smoky Hill Bison Company. Unfortunately, the HIGH for Saturday is 39 degrees with a forecast for rain with possible snow! SNOW!!!! So instead, I guess we'll just hang out at home and curl up with some blankets and watch some movies and eat popcorn. :)

The only up-side to the crappy weather is that we get to dress Ledger in his adorable cold-weather gear -- including a hoodie and jeans and a little hat. Daddy and Mommy both LOVE their hoodies, and Ledger seems to like his hoodie too. :) Isn't this the most adorable baby you've ever seen?!