We held a pumpkin carving party this weekend with lots of friends - a bigger crowd than we expected for our little house, but luckily the weather held up for outdoor carving. 

Cute kiddos in costume, no knife injuries, good food (the pumpkin tamales were good but the recipe needs tweaking) and some great looking jack-o-lanterns...what more can you ask of a party?

and then there was Master Yoda...the cutest Jedi in the universe

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Nanny Kat is back

...and so to welcome her back I put her to work with what else - tamale making! This time, however, we made a seasonal (and highly experimental) recipe of pumpkin tamales with black bean and cotija cheese filling. They will make their premiere at our pumpkin carving party this weekend and I'll know better then if they are as successful as I envisioned!

IKEA

We were in Phoenix for the weekend, and Phoenix for us means big city shopping...IKEA, Trader Joes, Food City, REI, Changing Hands bookstore, and any other establishments that may catch our eye. We didn't fit them all in this time, as we find it a bit harder now with the little one. Getting in and out of the carseat and disrupting naps is just too hard on all of us.

But, to SG's chagrin, we did fit in a trip to IKEA. I try to make it as efficient and painless as possible by shopping on-line first to establish a list of things to look at and things I plan on buying so to not drag out the trip too long. God knows I could spend hours in there, while SG would rather gouge out his eyes with a spoon - and that is a direct quote.

shopping list

• baby utensils
• check out/price butcher block countertops
• fabric
• gray rug
• large flour container
• kitchen towels

Well fed (we dined at the Barrio Cafe - YUM!) we arrived a mere 1.5 hours before IKEA closed its doors for the night. Eek! will we have enough time??

A mixed bag of results for this shopping expedition. We wasted a bunch of time lingering around the kitchen design station waiting for a lady who was hogging the staff. Grumpiness peeked out of his hiding spot and off we went to babyland, with much better results. Alas, by the time we got to the rugs we all three had our grumpy pants on, and the loudspeaker kept counting down the minutes we had to get to the checkout counter before the doors closed for the night. How'd we do on our list?

• baby utensils
• check out/price butcher block countertops
• fabric
• gray rug
• large flour container
• kitchen towels 

Not too bad. The highlight?

 We now qualify for front row parking at IKEA!

The other highlight of SG's trip to Phoenix was that the GPS led us to the Trader Joe's right next door to Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe. After fighting with his satellite radio and missing Sunday NFL updates all morning, this was one of the few thing that put a smile on his face.

I'm a slacker...no excuses for my hiatus.

Here's E in another handmade creation that is still a little too big, but I am impatient and it is cold here in the mornings

 and another one just because of his sweet smile!

baby clothes on the line...how can it not put a smile on your face?

handmade love

It is so fun to finally be able to dress E in some of the little knits I worked on during the pregnancy. It makes this newly developed tendonitis in my thumb almost worth it.

Working on a set of chompers

We woke up Sunday morning to realize that ERG has cut his first teeth. There they were, out of nowhere. Does this account for the awful month of sleep we had for the entire month of September? I hope this doesn't set a pattern for each and every tooth he is to get. This momma and daddy cannot ride this roller coaster!