When I start a post for the day usually my first goal is to find a picture for the top. I upload all my pictures from the night before, see if I need to crop/rotate/touch up any then start deciding what pictures will be used. I feel a little like my post is a daily newspaper and the first picture is in a valuable spot. I’ve heard of readers who just look at the first post and move on.  Sometimes there are no pictures that seem worthy, sometimes there are several that would be good. I try not to use old pictures or borrowed pictures unless they are necessary. The picture needs to make the reader want to read on before they have read a single word. I usually shoot for narrow and wide pictures to show a lot but not used up to much vertical space. If we did stuff with people I give preference to pictures that show a lot of people so as many people can be on the home page as possible. Ideally the first picture is a good representation of what we did but I don’t always have a good shot. When all else fails I grab a cute picture of one of the kids and move on. All of today’s pictures were front page worthy except the one that I put at the top.

A Bit Cool Out But Not Bad

When I got home last night Pumpkin was snoozing still and the sitter was watching a movie. We talked about Pumpkin’s day then she left and I decided to get Pumpkin up. I cracked the door and she heard it / saw the light and got up. I changed her and right away she started pointing at her mouth and into her hand. She wants to eat and she needs more.

I got her diaper changed and put her in her chair and gave her food. Heath got home and we talked a bit and did some planning for the night. I put together a white cake with sprite 0 instead of egg and stuff and tossed in a bunch of frozen strawberries. Heath left for a run and a meeting and Pumpkin and I went outside.

A Future Graffiti Artist?

Pumpkin and I checked on Berry and used some chalk and anytime we go outside Pumpkin plays the giggle and run for the street as fast as she can and laugh at dad when he yells and runs after you. We moved into the garage and I started a pile of things we need for our ski trip.

Getting Excited for the Slopes

Once I had things from the garage I grabbed Pumpkin and we headed downstairs. First stop was the larger Pumpkin-pack.

Testing Out the Bigger Pumpkin-Pack and More

We carried some stuff upstairs and added it to the pile. We were digging the pack and making sure it would do for some potential long carries so I carried Pumpkin around a while.

Is My Beard Bigger then Pumpkin’s Head?

I put Pumpkin down and we did some more packing from things in the house and checked on my cake and started loading things up in the van to pick up Heath and visit Nana K. Then we left. We were right on time to get Heath and all of us were hungry when we got to mom’s. She was making some Chinese stuff that was really good and we all ate a bunch.

It’s Hard Not to Open Your Mouth

After a great dinner and an ok strawberry cake I helped mom with a few questions about her cell phone then we went through basement storage for ski equipment. Eventually we found some pants for Peanut and the box of ski goggles. It was getting late and Pumpkin seemed tired so we headed home. We decided to check out the DAV thrift store before going home and picked up some warm socks, an Pumpkin snowsuit and some baby puzzles. Once home we got Pumpkin changed, read to and in bed. Then I cut up thin strips of deer steak and we watched some TV. Once 3 big steaks became a big pile of thin strips I put them in a bag with some brown sugar and lemon ginger soy marinade and stuck them in the fridge. Then we headed to bed.

Yesterday I read an article that got me motivated to split wood so this morning I got up early and got busy. First I built up the fire and brought the last of the seasoned wood inside. Then I checked on the gravity readings on my IPA and Dark Wheat beers. They smelled really good and were a little closer to done. Then I headed outside and split wood till it was time to get ready for work. It was fairly easy going and I got a lot of wood split in a short period of time. Here is an example of one large round and all the wood that came from it I should have timed myself and then piled it to show how much of the pile is 1 big round but I didn’t think about it. I did note the same song was playing on Pandora when I started and when I finished.

1 Round = 1 Nice Fire

After splitting I got Pumpkin’s food for the day ready. Our Nanny could not come today and we decided to try out a sub. This meant we needed to have all her stuff ready and Pumpkin could not sleep until 9:30-10 like she is used to. While Heath and I were getting ready we woke up Pumpkin and got her dressed and her bag packed. We used to do this every morning but it has been a while and we are rusty and it felt like she was a big kid headed to school for the day. She was not upset but did not seem too crazy about being woken up 2 hours early.

Where is My Coffee!!!

I dropped Pumpkin off on my way to work and she was pretty curious about all these new toys to try out and I’m sure she was looking for things babies should never climb that she will try.