Tuesday, October 22, 2013

A Visit from J, A, A, and W!

Michael's sister Jen, her husband Andrew, and their cute-as-can-be kiddos came to visit us.  It was our first time seeing 4-month-old Wyatt alert and awake, since the last time we had seen him, he was a one-month itty-bitty, curled up in a snooze.

There's trouble!
But this time, he gave me a happy, big-boy smile when I reached into his car seat to unhook and scoop him up.  I think I held him the whole time they were here, except those few moments when I had to serve dinner and during those 30 minutes where Jen and I attempted to navigate this around the neighborhood:


Two dogs; three kids; awkward vehicles to push; leashes that wrapped, twisted, and tripped; and just barely enough poop bags, we were a sight to behold.  (And, yes, my over-use of semi-colons there was appropriate, right, Wendy?)

Kids in the neighborhood literally stopped their playing to watch our entangled ensemble like entertainment.  We might as well have been a parade.  But Addie and Liam loved every second of it!

So where were the daddies?  They were furniture shopping at the Pottery Barn.  And when they returned successfully from their bring-it-home mission, they snapped this one of us:


Back at the house, I served ricotta-stuffed dates wrapped in bacon as appetizers.  It was a new recipe given to me by my mother.  Here's what they looked like before they went in the oven (and before I realized that the skewers should go fully through the dates):

Chalkboard artwork by Britta, B.F.F.
Now while they might sound and look a little gross, these unique little wraps got a unanimous thumbs-up from my guinea pigs.  (And they fought over the last one like...something much more ferocius than a guinea pig.)

When you bite into one, you somehow feel like you're at a breakfast buffet, eating buttery pancakes, drizzled with maple syrup and a side of bacon, since the sweetness of the dates paired with the creamy cheese and salty bacon make your taste buds think just that.

Yum, yum, yum.  I think I'll be making these again for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

After dinner and just before they departed for home, we did a little photo shoot of all the kids together in the yard beside a pumpkin.  I promise to share those pictures soon.  :)