happy halloween!

the pumpkins we carved

last tuesday we carved the pumpkins that we picked the week before.

everyone was so creative!

i think ours turned out great for being done in an hour while (carefully) holding mateo. the best part was how much he enjoyed it. he laughed and laughed and kept stretching backwards to see the pumpkin while i carved away.

(ours is the one next to the heart ears)

this is very serious

mom & baby yoga 2nd session

we just finished our 2nd 8 week session of mother/baby yoga. above is his new favorite position, on his tummy checking out all the other babies and mamas.

i won't say too much since i've talked about it before. but it was another amazing 8 weeks of class, learning and practicing with mateo and other mamas. i'd definitely put it on our top ten best things we've done with mateo list.

there's another session starting in a few weeks. and i know we shouldn't/can't spend the money and treat ourselves to another (our 3rd) 8 week session but i'm still dreaming about it.

but seriously, if you're in the area with a new little one, go to the center for yoga for stephanie's class! it's amazing!

too perfect

just today i found this site, using our photos.
they gave us the photo credits, but we had no idea they were being used. so timely!

anyways, thanks so much, friends, for your input. we really appreciate it. good thoughts and good ideas.

we are going to explore some options: watermarks, language, etc., and see how it goes. and think some more.

thanks for your help. :)

public or private

we've never worried too much about our blog being public. we don't hide many details. anyone can see our faces, names, neighborhood, etc. from this site. and we've never worried too much about it. but of course we all know people do. it's one of those things i put in my mind to think about when i have time.

this week, this article came out in the new york times. about people who blog publicly and others who blog privately and why. one woman's blog photos of her child were used (unknowingly) in an advertisement. kind of creepy. definitely not right.

in general, i try to crop out any faces that are not my friends/family who know that we blog. and i would absolutely take something down if someone wanted me to. but our faces of course are plastered all over this place. :)

we like that our blog is super accessible. you can find it on google. family and friends who aren't tech savvy don't need to type in passwords to read it. love that.

by going private, we could control who our readers are. definitely the safer option.
but part of me likes not knowing. and i loved searching pregnancy/crafty/birth/baby blogs while pregnant and i like that ours can be used in that way as well.

sorry for the rambling. obviously we still have some thinking to do. thoughts?

urban gardening

so i've been taking an urban gardening class. i ride my bike there which is so nice since i can never ride with mateo. this was taken on my ride there this week - the leaves are changing so quickly!

the class is every tuesday, and held in a local greenhouse just a few blocks away. it's 6 weeks long and was only $20 with a promise of some greenhouse volunteering and volunteering to be a resource to our surrounding neighbors. it is offered though our neighborhood center. i really recommend it!

stepping into the greenhouse is super refreshing - so nice to breathe in all the air and smell all the green things. great place for a class.

our group is pretty diverse in gardening experience from experts to people like me who are at an extreme beginning level. we go through so much material each week and i'm just hoping i'll retain SOME of it next spring. we've done several little labs, like planting lettuce (see mine in the box below), potting up, watering, pinching off, composting, etc.

i look forward to it every week, so much so that luke is talking about taking the next session offered in the spring. love the sense of community being there drinking tea and learning alongside some neighbors.

our street

our first fall living on this street. we didn't know the shrubby bush next to the stairs would change from green to red. or how bright the trees would turn. so nice.

a party

we finally got it together and hosted a little party for our family in michigan. luke made homemade butternut squash soup (with the ingredients above), we had whole wheat turkey-avocado sandwiches, a yummy michigan salad, and i made two pumpkin pies from a real pumpkin.

we had a yummy cheese area set up too. our favorites these days: robusto, trugole w/ a fig spread, and classic parmesan.

we set the table with our entire stock of fiestaware. still need to work on making those placemats. i haven't used my sewing machine since last november. :(

our version of a michigan salad. (yeah, it's in a mixing bowl).

luke's yummy sandwiches.

la familia: uncle, aunts, sisters, nephew, nieces.

we were surprised to see mateo showing his first signs of stranger anxiety. but we've never had so many people (and noise, excitement, etc.) over at once, so it makes sense. he wasn't his normal happy self. (see pre-cry pout, above).

luke and rachael made whipped cream for the pies, so of course, they got to snack on some of it.

the pies were yummy, but did the real pumpkin make a difference? i couldn't tell, but everyone said it did. maybe they were trying to make me feel better for spending 4 hours on them.

my sister christy made luke's favorite birthday dessert - a giant cookie - for a late birthday surprise, and he opened a few surprise gifts.

overall, we think our first time hosting went pretty well! i guess hanging out with family we never see and eating yummy food is always a good time. :)

this tuesday: a pumpkin

one of the groups i've joined recently is called every tuesday. it's one of msu's international programs and it's meant to be a sort of social time for international women. most of them are the wives of grad students and are unable to work in the usa. officially i'm a volunteer, but really, i'm just like them (newer to michigan, moved here for my grad student husband, looking for friends), except i'm from arizona instead of abroad. every week there is a different craft or cultural activity to do. fun.

this week we went to the farm of one of the other volunteers. she grows corn, soybeans, raspberries, asparagus and... pumpkins! we had lunch and then we took a hayride to the pumpkin patch.

here's mateo on his 1st hayride:

we walked all over the field looking for the perfect pumpkin for us. he should have been sleepy at this point but instead he was wide awake and laughing at all the pumpkins.

a little self-portrait while searching:

and here is the one we finally chose:

next week we'll be carving them. :)

we took a hike

b & a in lansing!

luke's brother brian & his girlfriend ashlei came to visit us from seattle. for a whole week. it was great to hang out with just the two of them, since we usually only see each other at big family events. they are so much fun, super hip, and planning a long trip around the world together next year.

we had a few ideas in mind for things to do and were hoping to go camping and hiking up north... but it was freezing. luckily, on their train ride here they found a lansing visitor's guide - and memorized it. they now know way more than we do about michigan. so we made up a long list of things to do and places to eat and had a great time hanging out with them.

in no particular order:

taco cart lunch (we ate at lamai's and the msu dairy store too)

detroit for the day to eat at mexican town, see the downtown,

and the old destruction

ann arbor for the day to visit the artisan market and walk around

these were taken at a coop coffee house in ann arbor. brian discovered that mateo loves being dangled above dessert displays - he would smile and grunt and laugh a ton.

does anyone else see a possible resemblance in these photos?

we made birthday cards for family members

checked out roma bakery, a little italian shop close to our house with yummy pastries.

mateo loved playing with them.

luke & brian built a fire pit in our backyard.

and of course in our new house tradition, we took photos the morning they left.

a few days after they left we got some great news.

they're engaged! congrats brian & ashlei!
thanks for coming!