oops

so, i had lost our camera last weekend. adrianne and shannon were in town, and i had taken some great pictures with them. we had gone to the history museum with mom and adrianne on saturday, and had used it there, but i knew we had the camera when we were home because i took pictures of lunch. but then sunday, we couldn't find it. we had gone out to dinner with mom and adrianne that night, but hadn't brought the camera. it had simply disappeared. we had to figure it had fallen out of my purse somewhere, or oliver had "put it away" at some point. we looked EVERYWHERE (or so we thought). so, not wanting to go too long without a camera, and since we wanted to buy a nicer one at some point this year anyways, we went ahead and ordered this one from fuji. i had wanted a dslr, but bryan did not (he didn't want to mess with lenses), and even though he doesn't actually take any of our pictures, he won. apparently, however, this camera performs just like a dslr, but you cannot change the lens. i am very excited to get the new camera. i was just upset at the cute pictures we lost.

HOWEVER.

guess what i found today? yep, our camera. it was in one of the compartments of the stroller. i forgot that last saturday, after oliver's nap but before going out for dinner, we had gone on a walk. DAMN. since the new camera not only already shipped, but is in this state ready for delivery, we will just now have two cameras.

oops.

so let's get down to business.

wednesday, march 4th: thick cut pork chops, feta wheatberry salad, and whole wheat rolls with salt. mom dropped off some rolls that day, and we thought they would go perfectly with this meal (they did!). i think the feta wheatberry salad will become a favorite summer dish. it was so good, and so easy. bryan and i both love a greek salad of cucumber, red onion, roasted red pepper, parsley, and feta in a red wine vinaigrette, and the simple addition of the wheatberries made it to die for.

thursday, march 5th: pizza and beer, a classic combination. bryan's infamous pizza crust always makes me swoon. schlitz beer has made a comeback, and bryan has decided to switch his everyday beer to that brand. support the home team, and all. it's pretty good. though be sure to get the bottles, not the cans - apparently the bottles is the good, old '60s formula, while the cans is the crappy '80s formula. or something. i don't know about the details of the beer, just the part where it goes well with pizza.

friday, march 6th: pecan crusted catfish with sweet potato hash and tabasco beurre blanc, sweet peas. this had been a dish on this season's top chef, and while we weren't huge fans of the chef that made it (although he did end up winning), the dish itself sounded very attractive to me. it helps that i love hot sauce, i guess. this was fabulous. we almost didn't make the sweet potato hash; i hadn't planned on it, but bryan wanted to make it. and i'm SO glad we did, because it was amazing. of course, it was sweet potatoes fried in bacon fat, how could it not be? we didn't use tabasco brand hot sauce, and we decided not to use bryan's homemade hot sauce either, since it would have been too hot and overpowering (having been made with habaneros). it was scrumptious (and not quite as day-glo orange as it appears in the picture).

sunday, march 8th: roast chicken with pan sauce, homemade french fries, and artichokes with homemade garlic aioli. need i say more? oh, only that i made a compound butter with lemon zest, parsley, and rosemary to stuff liberally under the skin of the chicken. mom and dad joined us for dinner, and there wasn't much left over (the fries were devoured the fastest, i believe). although we are not huge fans of poultry, this meal may be the epitome, to me, of simple, easy, honest, and perfectly delicious home cooking.


monday, march 9th: chicken enchiladas. using bryan's homemade chile paste. one of the dishes that he used to woo me early in our relationship. turns out, it still works.



tuesday, march 10th: shepherd’s-style rigatoni with ricotta and irish country sausage, roasted cauliflower. a very simple dish that everyone loved. keeper!



thursday, march 12th: sweet potato and black bean burritos with brown rice and tomatillo salsa. bryan roasted the sweet potatoes, and we threw everything else together in whole wheat flax seed tortillas, topped with cilantro, and dug in. adrianne was in town and ate dinner with us. not our usual combination, but good enough to become one.


saturday, march 14th: for lunch, i made tomato soup and grilled cheese for us, mom, and adrianne. the soup recipe calls for cream cheese at the end, but since we were having grilled cheese, i skipped it completely. a very delicious lunch. it turns out oliver loves tomato soup!

and now, since we did not have our camera the following week, text only, sadly:

monday, march 16th: chinese lemon chicken with rice, snow peas, and bell pepper. bryan used a crockpot recipe as the idea, but of course used real lemon rather than lemonade concentrate. oliver loves asian food and rice, so this was a hit with him. i love lemons, so it was a hit with me as well.

tuesday, march 17th: beef stew with whole wheat molasses bread. mom, dad, and shannon came over to celebrate st. patrick's day with us. the weather turned out to be in the 70s, so not the best day for stew, but it was delicious anyways, especially with the bread. can you believe i didn't even have a beer, though?

thursday, march 18th: thai tofu butternut squash with asian vegetables and rice noodles. bryan and oliver were over the moon with this one.

friday, march 20th: mascarpone chicken with pasta, and spinach with red pepper and garlic. we again used a crockpot recipe as the inspiration, but did it on the stove and changed a few things. bryan made his homemade cream of mushroom soup to use, and i bought mascarpone instead of cream cheese. bryan seared the chicken breasts, simmered them in the soup, and added the mascarpone. simple as that. when i told oliver there was cheese (mascarpone), he got very excited for dinner, and kept saying "cheese! cheese!" until we put him in his chair and gave him some.

saturday, march 21st: bbq buffalo with cornbread. bryan had wanted me to make something with buffalo, and include my cornbread. i decided to go bbq style, and browned the meat along with onion, then added diced yellow squash, diced sweet potatoes, and green beans, and mixed in some annie's bbq sauce. topped with the cornbread batter, and baked. this took literally no time to put together, and was very good.

and what else?

oliver had a bit of a woopsie last week monday. when i picked him up from day care, they had just gotten back from their walk. we took him out of his stroller and let him walk up the driveway with everyone while rachel and i chatted. i carried him over a puddle, and when i set him down, he either tripped over his own feet or thought i was still holding on, and went forehead first into the driveway. ouch. he got a pretty nasty scratch on his forehead, but was over it pretty quickly. i was just glad it wasn't his nose or mouth.


last week thursday, adrianne showed up to spend some of her spring break with us. as i mentioned, she joined us for dinner that evening, and oliver had quite a fun time showing off for her.






last week friday, shannon came to spend her spring break here as well. i had a party after work, which i stopped into for a short time before heading over to mom and dad's house so we could all have dinner together. they grilled chicken, ribs, salmon, and asparagus. oliver very much enjoyed having multiple grilled meats at his disposal.





the next morning, we headed down to the museum with mom and adrianne. i think oliver's favorite part is the butterfly room. he recently picked up the word butterfly ("buy"), so it was pretty fun watching him run around yelling "buy! buy! buy!" although, the butterflies are a little too inured to the presence of humans, which is unfortunate around a 16 month old. we had to do a lot of very active policing of him and his fingers!



we had a blast running all around the museum all morning. i think mom and adrianne wanted to actually look at exhibits, which is hard to do with an active 16 month old in tow. still, we all had fun.









after the museum, we all headed back to our house for lunch and then a nap. after nap time, we went on that walk (whereby the camera was "lost"). the weather was so beautiful, we couldn't resist walking through the park. after a quick run through target (i swear, we can't stop moving), we headed off to margarita paradise to meet mom and adrianne for mexican food (and margaritas - though i ended up having a mojito).


this past week, shannon offered to babysit for us, so we jumped on the chance and met my cousin jamie for pizza at wells brothers. we had read about the place as being one of the top 10 pizza places in the world, and in talking to people who had gone, knew we just had to go. so we left oliver with shannon, hopped in the car, and took a 50 minute drive - for pizza. about halfway there, bryan asked where the heck we were going? haha. :) but - it was worth it. the pizza was outstanding. super thin crust, which i'm not normally a fan of, but this was soft and delicious, and the edges were caramelized. we sat at the bar, and the bartender was very friendly and knowledgeable about the history of the place (opened 1921, making pizza using the same recipe since the 1940s), AND he was able to deal with bryan's silly questions. so, although it was a long drive, we'll be sure to go back. we had a lot of fun hanging out with my cousin, eating after 5pm, and being out after dark (though we were still home around 9:30). i had a few beers to make up for missing out on st. patrick's day.

our weekend is shaping up nicely. bryan wanted to check out some garden statues, so after oliver's morning nap (necessitated by a 5:45am wake up, grr) we headed out to waukesha to check out a place i had found in the yellow pages. um, turns out they just had headstones. oops. so we grabbed some coffee/tea instead, and went to visit our friends maggie and enrique. it had been forever since we had seen them, so it was really nice getting to visit. they are dog-sitting for a friend's miniature cocka-poo, and oliver got a total kick out of seeing a tiny dog! we stopped at culver's for lunch, checked out the new menards (a local hardware store) - 2 stories, including a ridable cart escalator, similar to the one at ikea, which had oliver so excited (he kept calling it a "choo choo"). then home for a nap (for everyone). after nap time, we headed out to get bryan and oliver hair cuts. oliver usually does very well, but started to freak out a little when she sprayed water on his head (he, like his father, has a very weird fear of water in his face - although he will dunk his face in water) SO he ended up getting a sucker so he would sit still. his first taste of candy, and he was not disappointed. back home for dinner, and then a walk through the park (and finding the camera). gorgeous weather, fun, fun day.

tomorrow morning, we're meeting mom, dad, and shannon for breakfast. then, oliver and bryan will spend the day together while i get the day to myself. i plan on hitting up macy's, going to the library, and just generally hoping both my boys are alive when i get home in the evening.

check out more pictures in the march gallery.

hopefully monday i'll have a new post with pictures using the new camera!

eating well

friday, february 20th: chili dogs. not sure what placed the idea in my head, but i wanted chili dogs. which is kind of funny to me, seeing as how i've had them all of probably once before in my life. bryan made a slightly spicy chili using the Red Gold diced tomatoes with green chiles. they added a little bit of kick, but overall weren't very hot. still, spicy enough that oliver didn't get any.

sunday, february 22nd: mom and dad joined us for dinner. i made country style pork ribs in an egg lemon sauce with mashed potatoes and celeriac. the meat recipe was from Lobel's Meat and Wine. it was very, very good, and combined two of my favorite things - pork and lemon. for dessert, i made a flourless chocolate torte, which i served with fresh blackberries. i used a new torte recipe, which didn't set quite right, so it was a little more pudding like. no one had any complaints, though - just second helpings.




tuesday, february 24th: crockpot mongolian beef with udon noodles and asian vegetables. this didn't turn out tasting quite like i thought it would, but pretty close to mongolian beef, and still very good either way. oliver really loved it as well, especially the noodles coated in the sauce. he really seems to like asian flavored dishes!

wednesday, february 25th: with bryan too sick to eat, i was able to make a meatless dish for ollie and i, so i decided to throw together a quick pasta primavera style dish. i sauteed a can of Red Gold tomatoes with onions and garlic, added some white wine, oregano, and vegetables (peas, carrots, and beans), heavy cream, and parmesan, and tossed all that with pasta. it turned out even better than i expected, and it was a huge hit with oliver as well.

saturday, february 28th: winter greens lasagne, to which i added some sweet italian sausage made at the outpost, and served just with some garlic bread. this is one of my favorite pasta dishes, and everyone else liked it as well (though oliver wouldn't eat the greens this time, whereas last time he gobbled them up just fine). for dessert, i made some butterscotch chip cookies, which i then used to make ice cream sandwiches, along with some brown sugar ice cream. oliver was not allowed to partake in dessert, being the mean mommy that i am. they were good, though i am assured the cookies were the best part. bryan and his dad, who was staying with us, continued to nibble on the leftover cookies.

sunday, march 1st: shannon had emailed a pancake recipe which she swore was absolutely delicious. it involved buttermilk, wheat germ (which she substituted flax seed for), and no sugar (just honey). mom had some extra flax seed she gave me, and i endeavored to try the recipe for sunday breakfast. the recipe also calls for whole wheat pastry flour, which i didn't think i had (but it turns out i did) so i used regular unbleached all-purpose flour. shannon didn't lie - these were very good. oliver ate 2; actually taking the last half of his second to the museum with bryan and bill, refusing to let it go, and snacking on it all while they were there. i had lunch waiting for them when they arrived home: tofu coconut curry. bryan had wanted to use up the small amount of brown rice we had left, so i made that and made up the rest. using the wok, i sauteed green onions and garlic, then the red pepper, snow peas, and tofu; added coconut milk, red curry, and lime. topped the brown rice with the curry, and a sprinkling of cilantro leaves. oliver, who normally is a huge fan of peas, wasn't too keen on the snow peas, but he loved the tofu in the coconut curry! for bill's last night in town, we decided on a lamb dinner: mustard crusted pork chops, mustard greens with walnuts and lemon, giant lima beans with onions, lemon zest, and parsley, and pita bread. bryan and bill, the resident lamb lovers, were very, very happy. for dessert, i made cottage pudding, which is a cake with warm lemon sauce. this is definitely one of my favorite desserts, and a strong childhood memory. my mom made it, and her mom before, and her mom before that... needless to say, this recipe has been in my family for some time.

monday, march 2nd: anasazi enchiladas. i already knew i liked this recipe a lot, and bryan and ollie became big fans, too. i used feta instead of ricotta, and topped with a local raw milk jack cheese instead of monterry jack and cheddar. oliver loves beans and tortillas, and i'm sure the sweet sauce didn't hurt anything. bryan liked it so much he forgave me the abuse of serving him a meatless meal.

tuesday, march 3rd: chicken gratin with onion sauce and gruyere, wild rice, and roast squash. the chicken recipe was also from the Lobel's cookbook, and i loved it. the sauce was onions, dijon, and creme fraiche, and the addition of a lovely local, aged gruyere didn't hurt anything either. oliver loved the wild rice, as he loves all things rice, but wasn't a big fan of the chicken (silly boy). i am contemplating ice cream for dessert.

WFD tomorrow: thick cut pork chops and feta wheatberry salad.

we have some delicious meals planned over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned! also trying to find good uses for those Red Gold tomatoes.

we haven't been up to much lately. oliver has had a string of colds (hello, winter in wisconsin!) with some pretty serious coughing (though the pediatrician assures us it's just a cold). bryan was near his death bed with some flu-like symptoms recently as well. keeping busy with housework, errands, and playing with oliver, mostly.

bryan's dad, bill, flew in this past saturday for a quick weekend visit, leaving us yesterday. it was nice getting to see him, and having him see how much ollie has grown since he saw him last fall. we didn't do a ton while he was here: he accompanied us to the outpost to do our shopping saturday, and sunday, he and bryan took oliver to the museum while i had some alone time (during which, instead of lounging and reading as i had planned, i did more laundry, baked a cake, made the marinade for the lamb, vacuumed, and folded yet more laundry).

this weekend, bryan is taking me out on a date to the the watchmen. we both very much enjoy the superhero movies they have been making as of late, so we're both looking forward to seeing this. plus, i never thought going to the movies would be so darn exciting. see what having a baby does to you? mom has agreed to tend to little oliver.

and now for the cute baby pictures:



the disaster zone (monday, february 23rd)






my little musical prodigy (tuesday, february 24th)






i swear the cabinet's not empty yet, dad (tuesday, february 24th)




and some museum pics from sunday:

learning about indians with grandpa bill

and dinosaurs too

posing with dad

be sure to check out the additional pictures in the february and march galleries, especially the videos of oliver dancing to lucinda williams here and here!

5 christmases

christmas has come and gone, and with it, lots of full bellies and fun times. christmas is my favorite holiday, and was especially wonderful this year having oliver to celebrate with. having a child makes you see the world through new eyes, the holidays being very special. oliver was positively enchanted with all the christmas lights everywhere. it delighted me just to watch his little blue eyes go wide as we drove home from day care in the dark. i am so excited for christmas this year, when he'll understand the concept even more.

christmas eve, we made our traditional dinner of shrimp and grits with bacon and sherry, as well as some carmelized brussel sprouts. since oliver is but a babe, he had fish sticks instead (they were organic, so does that count for something?). he did help me finish my grits, though; a true southern gentleman.

after dinner, we opened one present each. bryan, eager as always, likes opening a gift on christmas eve. i prefer to do them all on christmas day. i buy the family new pjs every year, so our compromise is to open those on christmas eve. i sent hannah hers in the mail, so we could all wear our new pjs on chritmas eve. oliver wasn't entirely clear on what to do with the gift, so we helped him open it. we all got changed into our new cozy pjs, and cuddled up to read some bedtime stories.

after oliver went down, bryan and i set up all the presents (just a few, you know). then we crawled into bed to wait for santa.

christmas morning, oliver woke up around 6 as usual, and took a little time to wake up fully. i had bought him a stuffed blue from blues clues, his most favorite show, and he was throwing a hissy fit sitting about a foot and a half from it. he finally saw it, stopped crying, got a big grin on his face, walked up to blue, squeezed her, and said "boooooooooo." CUTEST. THING. EVER. that pretty much made christmas morning. then he walked around the house for awhile, dragging blue, and saying "boo, boo, boo!" we got him interested in opening presents, and by the 3rd gift, he had it down pat (and once he made it through his presents, he proceeded to help us with ours, then go after hannah's).






after we got through all our presents, we sat down to breakfast - pork pie and sour cream twists, courtesy of mom. this is the traditional christmas breakfast from my childhood. true to form, oliver gobbled up the pork pie. i'm pretty sure he has a genetic predisposition to love pork.

we spent the day playing with oliver's new toys. he received an adorable chef's outfit, and wandered around the house in the full getup for awhile, which was pretty much ridiculously cute. at some point, he lost the hat, mits, and apron, converted the spoon to a sword, and picked up the lid to our hamper and used it much like a shield - it was sir oliver in action! he even chased the dogs around for awhile. i couldn't tell if they were his trusty steeds, or the dragons.

after oliver's afternoon nap, we loaded everyone up in the car (including the dogs) and headed to mom and dad's house for christmas dinner and even more presents.




christmas dinner was perfect. mom made glazed ham and her rolls, and we helped shannon with roasted asparagus and roasted green beans. shannon made mashed potatoes and butterflied fresh polish sausage sauteed in butter with onions (yes, it's as good as it sounds). bryan and i agreed it was the perfect amount of food - usually for holidays, there are so many options, you eat but a tablespoon of everything. this was the perfect amount of variety, resulting in a true meal. for dessert, shannon made a flourless chocolate cake with pomegranate gelato and a warm chocolate sauce, topped with fresh pomegranate seeds. it was positively divine, and so we all found room to have a hearty helping.

after dinner, there were more presents with dad's family, playing with toys, drinking wine, and chatting. oliver was fascinated with my cousin's son, ryan, who is 2 weeks older than him. although oliver has 6 young children to play with at day care, they are older than him, so i think kids his size are an exciting thing. at one point oliver was petting ryan and giggling wildly. cute kids!



the next morning, hannah arrived! while she was prepared for how much oliver has grown since she last saw him in august, we were not prepared for how much she had grown in the same amount of time! the girl had a serious growth spurt. she's going to be a tall lady. i can't believe she'll be double digits in august. we came straight home to open presents.

that night, we had mom, dad, and shannon over for dinner. at hannah's request, i made her favorite macaroni pie, a baked pasta dish with ham, peas, and plenty of cheese. i even made a dairy free version of a cream sauce for dad, using lactaid milk and a cornstarch slurry. it was a big hit with everyone. after dinner, hannah got her presents from mom and dad.



we spent the weekend hanging out. shannon had us over for dinner that saturday night, to make pizza (another request from hannah). shannon makes a macaroni and cheese pizza, which sounds like carb overkill, but it's really just very scrumptious. shannon, ftw.

sunday was mom's family christmas party. hannah had a blast running around with all the cousins (they spent a lot of time outside even though it was about 10 degrees), and oliver had a blast cruising around the party, trying to make friends with the older boys (and their toys) and generally charming everyone. some of the aunties even slipped him some chocolate treats, much to my chagrin. i had a lot of fun chatting with my cousins.

i had taken the week off of work, but monday bryan took oliver to day care since i had to get a few things done for work, including a 2 hour afternoon conference call. first, though, hannah and i made our own homemade marshmallows. they are very easy to make, and infinitely better than store bought ones. where store bought marshmallows are dry and spongy, these are rich and creamy. i'm pretty sure that i will never again buy marshmallows. the toughest part was cutting them into cubes ones they had set, as they are very, very, very sticky. a quick roll in confectioner's sugar helps deal with that for storing. i finally got around to trying some with hot chocolate just yesterday, and they puff up and melt into a delicious goo all across the top of the drink. jen, ftw.

monday evening, hannah got sick. my cousin jamie was also sick so we think they picked something up at the party on sunday. poor girl was up most of the night. luckily, it was a 24 hour thing, and passed relatively quickly.

the following day, tuesday, mom came to babysit oliver while bryan, hannah, and i went downtown to the history museum to check out the titanic exhibit. while some of the things they had were pretty neat to see, and we read some interesting facts, i was very glad that as members we paid a discounted admission price to the exhibit, because if we had paid the $60 or so it would have cost us full price, i would have been very disappointed. hannah got to touch a large piece of ice simulating a glacier, though, so she was thrilled.

after the museum, we headed to glorioso bros. italian deli. this is the kind of store bryan and i love. meats, cheese, wines, dry goods - all sorts of things to get excited about. it's the kind of place where we have to constantly remind ourselves not to get too carried away in. we bought some aged provolone, coppa, calabrese, dry salami, prosciutto, olives, octopus salad, and a red table wine for our new year's eve meal.

i also went to the greek deli around the corner, and picked up some freshly baked pita bread, feta, grape leaves (which bryan stuffed with rice), tzatski, and kasseri cheese and ouzo, for bryan to make a saganaki with.

for dinner that night, we had homemade chicken fingers with homemade honey mustard, homemade thick cut french fries (i'm noticing a pattern here), and spaghetti squash, another of hannah's favorites. turns out oliver is a fan, too. and yes, i eat my fries with mayo.

hannah helped give oliver a bath after dinner, and he finally got the mohawk bryan's been begging me to let him have:





the following day was new year's eve. mom, dad, shannon, and her boyfriend david joined us for dinner. in addition to the aforementioned goodies, we had some dried fruits and nuts, an italian pickled vegetable salad, roasted red peppers, and hummus. mom made rosemary foccacia and ciabatta breads. everyone stuffed themselves. for dessert, mom brought a gluten free berry pie, to celebrate dad's birthday. we gave him a frame with pictures of me and oliver, and poems about being a dad and grandfather. no one made it until midnight. hannah crashed around 9:30, and i think we were in bed, asleep, by 10:30. what can i say, we're boring.

the next morning, we celebrated by having french toast casserole for breakfast, at hannah's request, along with sparkling grape juice and bacon. i made a blackberry sauce (instead of raspberry, as called for in the recipe). we all liked it, but i think i can make it better. i have the distinct feeling that bryan won't mind me practicing. once again, oliver delighted in his bacon. really, who in their right mind doesn't delight in their bacon??




for dinner, we had our traditional new year's day meal, to bring luck: corned beef (homemade), greens (mustard this year), black eyed peas, and sauerkraut (also homemade). shannon and david joined us, and brought the makings for blackbery mojitos. they can come over whenever they like.

friday, we headed back to the museum, this time with oliver in tow, to check out the normal exhibits. we got to check out the hebior mammoth, a pretty cool local find with some serious historical significance. we let oliver out of his stroller to run free for awhile, and run free he did. he had a blast running up to each display case to peer in for about 3/4 of a second, then run off to the next one. bryan likes to take his time in museums, and thinks i'm fast. oliver put me to shame. we also went into the butterfly room again, where one landed on hannah and two landed on oliver (presumably they didn't know he is a 14 month old boy with a penchant for exploring things in detail). he had a LOT of fun running around the room trying to catch them all - again, very, very cute!








as it was shannon, david, and hannah's last night in town, we went to mom and dad's for dinner, where shannon made her most awesome pesto lasagna, using some of bryan's pesto (made with basil from our garden). cheesy goodness, that's about all i can say. so good. oliver scarfed down a whole piece himself. he had fun chasing the cats around both before and after dinner (in his super cool new rock star pjs).




hannah's flight left early the next morning without a hitch. as always, we were sad to see her go - she is fun to have around, and such a BIG help with oliver!

that night for dinner, i made a taco soup. i had gotten the idea from a crockpot recipe, originally intending it for an easy weeknight meal, but since i was making it on a weekend, i changed it some. i did the entire thing on the stovetop, and instead of using ground beef i used a chuck roast, which was cubed and coated in a seasoned flour before browning (the better to thicken the soup with, my dear). i also added a can of beer. i omitted the kidney beans called for in the recipe, since that seems more like a chili ingredient to me. the pinto beans broke down and helped thicken the soup as well. so it turned out close to a chili anyways. the chiles lent a good kick to it, but some sour cream, cheese, and lime-y tortilla chips helped with that.

yesteday, our friend dirk drove in from madison and gave us both massages. i really can't think of a better way to spend a sunday afternoon. i have a feeling that we may need to hire him on full time.

many more pictures in the december and january galleries, of course.

well that took me roughly FOREVER to post. i need to do this more often i guess. someone make an extra day in the week for me to do that, k?

i'll leave you, as usual, with some cute baby pictures. happy new year, everyone!