We promised more pictures... we deliver

We just got back our first roll of film from our new manual focus camera and wanted to share some of the results with our blog audience. We are very, very impressed with the way it takes pictures. On the actual prints the colors came out gorgeously, and the images are all very crisp and clear (where they are supposed to be).

Patty took this shot of one of Gabe's toys in the sunlight

And this one of Gabriel

We also picked up a set of photographic magnifiers so that we could use the camera to really get down close to things and take some detailed shots. They look like this: ...and they work great!

Gabe's toe Have we mentioned lately we're going to Peru? Yeah, we're so excited that we're taking pictures of the guidebook. We're going to set up a new shared album on Shutterfly with the rest of the pictures. If you want to be able to see them, send us an e-mail. Everyone who saw the last shared album will be able to see this one too.

We Go Live In 5...4...3...2...

This is our first video from Google Video, and since it's free, we plan to make many more.

Rolling the Dice

There is a new Yahtzee champ in town. Feast your eyes on this doozy of a score. And yes, that's three (3!) Yahtzees in one game. Beat that, Mom A!

Goin' Commando

Hallelujah! After a two-day hunger strike, he finally ate something! Well, to be fair, he had a little bit yesterday, like a teeny tiny little piece of bread and a yogurt and some diaper cream, but other than that he hasn't eaten anything since Monday. We're on Day Two of the Commando Method Of Getting Your Child To Eat Something Other Than Baby Food, Oatmeal, and Cheerios. The Commando Method (our name for it) entails providing healthy, well-rounded meals for the little one and sitting with him and eating the same thing. It also means no snacks and no letting him fill up on milk or water before a meal. At dinner time, he ate tator tots and chicken tenders, our usual Wednesday meal (because P has to leave at 6:30 for tutoring). We also let him have a go at drinking from a regular (but plastic, we're not stupid!) cup, and he did brilliantly. We were so happy that we let him have TWO cereal bars AND yogurt before bed!

The day even started out on a good note, because Gabriel's hives were completely gone. Let's back up for a minute. Last night, the Chipster was looking for anything he could eat that would not meet our approval, so after eating moisturizer, diaper cream, and chewing gum, and after refusing eggs, chicken, raisins, and penne pasta, he found a plate with salt and cajun seasoning on it and got to work. Within an hour, he was covered in hives. His doctor and Gramma said not to worry as long as he was breathing fine and not under any distress - in fact, he was the happiest he'd been all day - so we gave him some Atarax and put him to bed. By the morning, he was all better.

We just found this thing called the Mechanical Contrivium, and it's hilarious. At least it can be, if you put the right thing in the box. Try "my butt."

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

By the way, have you heard about silent dating? Speed dating is so yesterday!

Extra Special Double Monday Bonus Post: Wildlife Edition

You may recall that a few posts ago we showed you our backyard visitor, this guy:

Duplicate picture, not a repeat visit

At the time, we speculated that our hawk was actually a falcon, or maybe it was a hawk after all. Truth is, we had no idea what it was. Thankfully, a lot of people in our family are smarter than we are, or have better bird books, or both. Over the weekend, a very informative phone call was placed to us by Mom Angle and Nick. Nick found a description in one of his books of the Northern Marsh Hawk, also known as the Harrier. No, not this Harrier; while they are certainly cool one of them would have done substantially more damage to our backyard than our feathered friend. When Mom asked if our backyard visitor had a head that looked like an owl (even though it clearly wasn't an owl), we knew we had a winner. The striped tail, the spotted back, all key features. They can range into Georgia during the winter, and often have variations in head color which would explain why ours was buff in the head while most of the harriers you see in pictures are brown.

So there you have it, mystery solved. Not a falcon. Yes, a hawk, but specifically a marsh hawk, also known as a harrier.