Fall Harvest Party

Some people have baby showers. We have wine tasting parties with friends. With local cheeses from Murray's, a good selection of right and left bank wines from Bordeaux, Keely's homemade butternut and acorn squash soup, pumpkin risotto, roasted veggies, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin cheesecake among other sundries, you can see why we called it a Harvest Party instead of a baby party. This was a celebration of Keely and the large bump in her belly as well as the last fall party before the holidays over take us all. Local family and our close friends showed on a day with blue skies and colored leaves.

How we managed to cram 13 people into our little living room space is beyond me. Especially since we had a cradle taking up wall space for the first few hours. The cradle was quickly filled with onesies, blankets, and stuffed animals. Also, I forgot to take any photos until the end of the night, so please pardon the poor quality.

Jack's bot fly story in action

Allen ponders which bottle to try next.
Should it be the 1995 St. Julien, or the Shiraz from down under?

Once Dan and Mike got started on sports, well,
let's just say they had their own party.



To the Oona!

After everyone left and we successfully convinced ourselves to leave clean-up 'til morning while Tucker and Keel tried out the new stroller. I can safely say the Bugaboo is the new favorite toy in the house. We've been thinking about sneaking out at night to push it around Campwoods in the dark. I don't really want to be caught pushing a luxury stroller around with our cat in it, but Keel can't wait much longer.

Halloweeeeen

Given all the hullabaloo going on right now, we took the losers' way out of Halloween this year and skipped all parties and didn't even get properly dressed up. You probably know this is Keely's favorite holiday of the year, so it was a big deal to skip it. We also had a good excuse. We now live in a place where the kids actually come out expecting mountains of candy. So, we stayed home, carved some pumpkins, and hid behind the front door with a big bowl of candy until the little ones rang the doorbell.
I only managed to snap pictures of a couple trick or treaters, but they were cute. We had gangsters, geisha's, princesses (obviously), clowns, and many more. It was also a good night to reconnect with neighbors. All the parents with small children came around. And once the trick or treaters were mostly done (well after dark), we shared dinner with our close neighbors, Mike and Rene.

Some recent pics of the house:

Keely's pumpkin art

Trick or Treat!

Also, our new stove is doing it's job. The amazing feat of keeping the whole house toasty without turning on any of the other heat sources. Hopefully this will keep the bills down this winter. That and all the other insulating winterizing I'm doing around doors and windows and in the basement.

The newly decorated entry space with ventless natural gas stove.