Lola came to visit this afternoon, but Meryl decided to sleep the day away! She did eventually wake up. But Meryl must be growing:)

Zac came over tonight for dinner, unfortunately without Emily, who was consumed by a cold and a late work meeting. That said, they made tortilla soup for Taco Tuesday tonight, as well as fresh pico de gallo with tomatoes from their garden. We're missing Emily, though, because Meryl wore her special, "I'll take a bottle of the house white," onesie (thank you, aunt Sasha!)...Emily loooves wine:)

 Chelsea and Allecia came over tonight for girls night, and I couldn't resist not having this picture of Chelsea holding Meryl cuddled up in her arms.  

Lola and Tito Edward came by for lunch today, and brought homemade teriyaki chicken. We 'thought' they were going to pick-up take-out on their way here, but Lola knew she could make it better. And she was right:) 

Kel stopped by tonight with a quintessential fall meal...meatloaf! He made his Grandmother's meatloaf recipe (jazzed up with a little of Kel's special sauce), roasted potatoes, and perfectly blanched crunchy green beans. Meryl, on the other hand, decided to draw some attention to herself by giving Kel a vocal performance of her own. 

This morning's match-up began with an Erin and Meryl stare-off:) She and Kristi came over to watch the Seahawks game and hang out. Frank made Orange Julius smoothies, arroz caldo (congee) with chicken and topped with an egg, and plum torte muffins (the regular plum torte is better, but we had to try it). Us ladies probably asked Frank more non-football related questions about football players than Frank could have imagined, but I'd like to think we enhanced his football watching experience.

Kristi captured this gem of a gem:) 

These days, I find myself sounding like a combination between Dory's whale impersonation (from 'Finding Nemo') and Charlie Brown's school teacher. The lower the tone the better. Add in a lip flutter for some vocal texture and my soundtrack is complete.  Oh yeah, and 'shooshing.' Definitely, 'shooshing.'

Meryl's first trip to Costco. 

Lummi loves Meryl:) 

Kristi and Erin dropped off Erin's homemade enchiladas on their way to watch the UW vs. Stanford game. So cheesy and delicious! (Plus, I love red enchilada sauce.)  Of course, we had to capture a pre-game pic with Meryl in her UW socks.

We all worked out! Frank went to bootcamp, Kel ran, and I walked Meryl to the top of Queen Anne hill and back today, So, naturally, we had to gain back all the calories we burned off.

Last night we were treated to dinner at our neighbor's across the street. So we went 'out' for dinner! (Jenna and Scott just remodeled their kitchen, so I invited ourselves over to see their hard work. It's gorgeous!) Jenna made tacos with fresh guacamole, and Amelia scooped ice cream for dessert. Bonus, Jenna held Meryl the whole time and fed her too! I must also say, we learned a few tips and tricks from Jenna's stories about Amelia and Trevor when they were Meryl's age too:)

We met up yesterday with Mouni and Jordan (one week Meryl's junior) for coffee and a stroll. Lucky us, Meryl and Jordan decided to cat nap and let Mouni and I catch-up!

 ...Because Meryl wore this onesie, right? 

Frank and I joke that there is nothing more beloved in Seattle than Ellenos yogurt (even over the Seahawks), and Lummi agrees!  Somehow, from the furthest possible place in the house, she can hear us opening the container and trots on in to sit sweetly in her spot and await a spoonful...today, she got to lick the container clean:)

While Little Miss. Fussbudget demands quality snuggle time (we think she's going through a growth spurt), Frank has the following on his docket for today: tomato soup (a combo between the Dahlia Lounge and Nordstrom recipes), gluten free pasta, and pastitsio (a Greek lasagna with béchamel).  When my hands free up, I'm going to make banana bread (a re-do from last week because it was so good) and granola. Lummi is lounging like a pro.

Allecia, Seth and Silas came over tonight with ribs! Seth is a meat smoking extraordinaire and made us Memphis style ribs that he seasoned overnight and smoked for four hours today. They were downright delicious! And, with steamed artichokes, homemade mayonnaise, and quinoa n' cheese. While Seth isn't in the picture, I must say the ribs are a solid alternative.