Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from our little spooks...

9 months and the Witches

Where is the time going?  This little man was nine months old on Sunday- didn't we just bring him home?  Here are some things about Nate at 9 months:

• He is 110% boy- he likes balls and trucks and making noise and torments his sister relentlessly.
• He has four teeth- two on the top and two on the bottom.
• At his 9 month checkup today he weighed 20 pounds 11 ounces (53%), was 28.5 inches long (59%) and his head was 18.5 inches (90%). 
• He climbs the stairs (and anything that he can for that matter-I found him on top of Olivia's picnic table the other day).
• He is a crawling machine and he is quick. 
• He is walking along the couch and the railings, but has not attempted to walk by himself yet.  
• He is a momma boy- I love getting him in the morning when he wakes up because he is always so happy and excited to see me. 
• His smile is contagious.   
• Everything he can get his hands on goes in his mouth- I have to keep the floor extra clean because he finds the smallest pieces of lint or dirt and they are immediately put in his mouth.
• He is busy busy busy- he doesn't want to be held unless he is tired.
• He already loves Elmo- as soon as he hears the theme music he has got the biggest smile on his face. 
• He likes music and I swear he dances to it sometimes.
• He is very determined and if he wants something (a toy on the floor for example) he will do whatever he can to get to it even if that mean crawling over daddy.
• He loves his big sister and wants to be doing whatever she is.   
• Olivia calls him Nater or Nater-Tater. 

On Monday, we met Brittany and Girls at Garnder Village to check out the Witches. 

This is Olivia's new picture poise- she does it all the time when I try to take her picture.

Olivia trying to be like this witch....

Nate and Gracie.

Potato Pancakes and Pumpkins

I grew up in Idaho where we grow a lot of potatoes.  In fact we would have two weeks off during the school year for potato harvest each year- it was awesome.  My Uncle Blaine raised potatoes and he would let us come and glean the potatoes from the field that the crossover  missed. I remember driving our brown station wagon into the field and filling as many potato sacks as we could fit into the back.- Needless to say we ate a lot of potatoes and in lots of different ways- mashed, baked, fried, in  potato salad, french fries... and every once in a while mom would make potato pancakes.  She didn't make them very often as they are a little labor intensive when you are trying to make them for a family of 9, but we loved it when she did

Mom came for a visit this weekend and as we were going through recipes for a family cookbook I am working on we came across the potato pancake recipe.  It has been a really long time since I have had them so I asked mom to make them for us. (I know she comes to my house to visit and I make her cook- what a rotten daughter I am).  They were as good as I remember.

 Olivia thought it was so much fun to help because you get to stir the batter with your hands... grandma's little sous chef.

On Saturday we went to the Red Barn in Santiquin for a hayride, to pick pumpkins and for pumpkin ice cream (Liv's choice).   Liv liked the hayride and driving the old tractor, but was indifferent about picking a pumpkin. Little Nate wasn't sure to think, but was a good sport about the whole adventure.