Autumn has clearly arrived in full force here in western PA. However, due to the fact that we had a "dry" summer, the leaves seem to be turning from green straight to brown. Yet some trees are turning their golden yellows, oranges, and reds. I guess we better find/buy a rake.
Classes have been in full swing for about a month and today was a quiet day for all students. Dave's doing very well with his classes and manages to balance home life with work and school. Ben and I have been changing our routines around the house so often that I don't know if it's even worth trying to write a weekly schedule. He's growing and changing sooo much.
Ben now has 2 teeth, the 2nd one just broke thru this morning. He crawls with ease and was quite entertaining yesterday. He began to crawl in a circuit around our living room four times, making sure to stop at every station, everytime. Looking back, today has been quite full... 2nd tooth and he managed to climb all our stairs, with ease. (Being a new mom, I guess I assumed that the stairs would take at least 2 tries, but no, Ben managed to crawl over to them and figure it out on his first go.)
I have been keeping myself quite busy these days. Of course there's always home stuff that needs to be done. On top of that I go to chapel every Wednesday, while Ben enjoys playing with Ellie and others at the nursery. Then we go to coffee/doughnut hour on campus to meet up with the other seminarians and their families. Sometimes I get the privilege of attending Dean's hour as well, without Ben. Thursdays I meet up with some friends in the AM, then head off to a mom's group, followed by family lunch on campus. In the PM, I watch a friend's daughter (6mo.) while she attends class. Then Ben and I head off to the farmer's market. Fridays and Saturdays are generally family days and date nights, depending on when Sbucks needs Dave. Church is Saturday nite and that frees Sunday up for a lie in, finally. Then Monday/Tuesday is back to running errands, cooking batches of food for Ben, laundry, chores...and ends in the evening with TGIT. All in all it's a full week.
We did receive an email, with a fun and addictive game, from a neighbor. I'll put the link here so you can enjoy it as well. Hope it works. And hope I don't wait so long again to update this blog.
Tuesday, September 26
Saturday, August 26
just curious
Thought I'd look up some local images and this is what I came across today. Interesting. Crazy to think they launched that on the Ohio River.
Going Mobile
August has been a great month. Weatherwise we left the hot, sticky July days and life began to cool off again. There's a distinct change in the sunshine these days that reminds me that September and fall are just around the corner. This year I love that feeling more than ever. Usually the joy of knowing my favorite season is on its way is tainted slightly by the fact that school is once again starting (as only teachers can understand, for it's a different feeling than starting a year as a student). This year however, no new class, no new school, no new staff, no bulletin boards, no inservice days...nothing...for me that is.
Dave starts round 2 of his time on Trinity's campus, and I think both of us are much better prepared for this semester than the last. This time things are a lot more familiar, and I for one am having a much easier time of getting around. Speaking of getting around...Ben has become mobile. Look out mom and dad!!! We love watching his newfound skill of crawling. I would call it more of a leapfrog inchworm kinda crawling, but it's still effective. The first thing he went for??? the remote control. Guess he's his father's son. He (Ben) also loves crawling towards shoelaces, food, momma, daddy, and cell phones currently. As if that weren't enough, he's also started pulling himself up to a standing position, going from sitting to crawling, rolling over into a sitting stance, and I'm sure a few other things. Life here is definitely changing, and I assume neither Dave or I truly understand just what we're in for now that our child can independently move, but just like with everything else, we seem to adapt with the season we're in.
Tuesday, August 8
Baby Ben
In honor of Steelers season 2006 beginning, here's a photo of Ben, only 3 days old, getting ready to watch the finish of the 2005 season.
GREEK is OVER!!!!
Monday was Dave's final in Greek, which took 3 1/2 hours, and now it's done. Although there were many tears(yeah right) we found time to celebrate the end of summer languages with Mike, Heather, and the girls. G&Ts were very nice and very cold on a very HOT day here in humidity city. However, with the rain we received, it has turned today into a gorgeous 85. Thank the Lord for breaks in the weather and breaks in terms. Now we have some time to catch up with friends and little "jobs" that we've been putting off for this week and next.
Benjamin continues to grow and change. He turned six months old last week and can sit very well on his own for good periods of time. Ben's still working on crawling, but is so close that we can tell he's frustrated. (He keeps reaching for toys and just about the time he nearly touches them, he flops back on his belly.) Ben continues to try new foods and loves everything so far.
Steeler fever has hit in Pittsburgh, which we started to notice at the Pirates game, when during the rain delay, everyone began chanting, "Here we go Steelers. Here we go." Training camp at St. Vincent's has been underway, and hopefully we'll get a chance to visit there as well, now that our schedule's more flexible. I guess they'll also be changing the Steeler's song this year. I mean we can no longer sing..."this is the year we'll get that one for the thumb."
It will be nice to see the Steelers playing in Glendale's new stadium, as we watched it being built from afar for so long. Once again Dave's will face off against various friends and family members with his NFL fantasy team, The Wanderers. And now we're both facing off against fellow seminarians and family with our fantasy football teams (soccer). It should be good fun.
Benjamin continues to grow and change. He turned six months old last week and can sit very well on his own for good periods of time. Ben's still working on crawling, but is so close that we can tell he's frustrated. (He keeps reaching for toys and just about the time he nearly touches them, he flops back on his belly.) Ben continues to try new foods and loves everything so far.
Steeler fever has hit in Pittsburgh, which we started to notice at the Pirates game, when during the rain delay, everyone began chanting, "Here we go Steelers. Here we go." Training camp at St. Vincent's has been underway, and hopefully we'll get a chance to visit there as well, now that our schedule's more flexible. I guess they'll also be changing the Steeler's song this year. I mean we can no longer sing..."this is the year we'll get that one for the thumb."
It will be nice to see the Steelers playing in Glendale's new stadium, as we watched it being built from afar for so long. Once again Dave's will face off against various friends and family members with his NFL fantasy team, The Wanderers. And now we're both facing off against fellow seminarians and family with our fantasy football teams (soccer). It should be good fun.
Sunday, July 30
The Rain in Pittsburgh falls mainly on PNC
This week hasn't been all that exciting, it's just been life as usual. However, this weekend, Dave's been able to spend a lot of time with us, which has been greatly needed since when we usually see him he's looking over his Greek grammar book or talking to us in between flashcard revising. So, this weekend has been fantastic. Ben's typically been going to bed at his usual times and sleeping for 12 hours each night, which we love because then Dave and I get to catch up.
Since we had today with "daddy" we decided to go, as a family, with friends to see our lovely Pirates take on the Giants. This was Ben's first ball game and my first game at PNC Park. I know it will not be one I forget. The boys decided to get seats under covering, since both families had little ones we didn't want to burn to a crisp. It proved to be a life saver in the 7th inning, when the sky opened up, in a matter of 2 minutes, over the park. It rained for 45 minutes. Most of which - it chucked it down. We could no longer see the city. We could barely make out the other side of the park. It was A LOT of water!!!! The outfield literally became one huge puddle. Lightning struck, and cracked loudly, several times around PNC. In fact one strike hit the rod on the Highmark building. (Truth) At this point the wives looked at our loving husbands and said, you get the cars. That never happened.
Mainly because we're such devoted fans... Dave, Ben, and I all stuck out the 2 hour 5 min rain delay and finished the rest of the game, which went into an extra inning, just so we could be sure that we got our money's worth.
There was something mesmerizing about watching all that rain fall. There were literally sheets of it falling at similar angles, but at differing quantities. There's something about seeing the sun hit buildings, trees, colors. It's a different color, quality of light. The air is clear and crisp, not hazy anymore. The American flag, though thoroughly soaked, still waved in the lights of the park. Then, as the rain cleared, it was educational to watch how the field crews got the field ready for play. We were watching people dance, in a sense.
Later the players came out to warm up, and the 25,000+ who stuck out the rain returned, with food, to wipe down their seats, and get comfortable again. I believe we had one out in the top of the 7th, when the rain took over. So we finished that inning and went onto the 8th, still scoreless until Todd Linden homered for SF. Which is when we all thought, great another loss. Yet, just as we thought we were a few outs from driving home to put Ben to sleep, Jose Castillo tied the game and we went into extra innings. Yea! (As if we hadn't been there long enough already.) Finally, Jose Hernandez got the Buccos their 2-1 victory in the bottom of the 10th. We didn't even stay to see him run. Once the winning run scored, we were up and on our way home.
Ben was such a blessing the entire day. He was so good other fans commented on him to us. Poor guy...every time he fell asleep for 5 minutes, the crowd would cheer and wake him up again. I figured he'd just sleep thru it, like he did with the fireworks on the 4th and worship at church, etc, but he didn't. He stayed awake the whole time basically. He loves to people watch though. His eyes were HUGE and he smiled and flirted with all the people around us. So, we left the game, fed him his last meal for the day, bathed him, and he played and babbled himself to sleep. I guess we'll see if he sleeps in, since he missed his nap. I doubt it.
It was a long day at the ballpark, but we wouldn't trade it for the world. We were together. We were with friends. We enjoyed some cool, refreshing rain. We saw a show on and off the field. We came home and relaxed together. These are the little treasures that help keep us going.
Since we had today with "daddy" we decided to go, as a family, with friends to see our lovely Pirates take on the Giants. This was Ben's first ball game and my first game at PNC Park. I know it will not be one I forget. The boys decided to get seats under covering, since both families had little ones we didn't want to burn to a crisp. It proved to be a life saver in the 7th inning, when the sky opened up, in a matter of 2 minutes, over the park. It rained for 45 minutes. Most of which - it chucked it down. We could no longer see the city. We could barely make out the other side of the park. It was A LOT of water!!!! The outfield literally became one huge puddle. Lightning struck, and cracked loudly, several times around PNC. In fact one strike hit the rod on the Highmark building. (Truth) At this point the wives looked at our loving husbands and said, you get the cars. That never happened.
Mainly because we're such devoted fans... Dave, Ben, and I all stuck out the 2 hour 5 min rain delay and finished the rest of the game, which went into an extra inning, just so we could be sure that we got our money's worth.
There was something mesmerizing about watching all that rain fall. There were literally sheets of it falling at similar angles, but at differing quantities. There's something about seeing the sun hit buildings, trees, colors. It's a different color, quality of light. The air is clear and crisp, not hazy anymore. The American flag, though thoroughly soaked, still waved in the lights of the park. Then, as the rain cleared, it was educational to watch how the field crews got the field ready for play. We were watching people dance, in a sense.
Later the players came out to warm up, and the 25,000+ who stuck out the rain returned, with food, to wipe down their seats, and get comfortable again. I believe we had one out in the top of the 7th, when the rain took over. So we finished that inning and went onto the 8th, still scoreless until Todd Linden homered for SF. Which is when we all thought, great another loss. Yet, just as we thought we were a few outs from driving home to put Ben to sleep, Jose Castillo tied the game and we went into extra innings. Yea! (As if we hadn't been there long enough already.) Finally, Jose Hernandez got the Buccos their 2-1 victory in the bottom of the 10th. We didn't even stay to see him run. Once the winning run scored, we were up and on our way home.
Ben was such a blessing the entire day. He was so good other fans commented on him to us. Poor guy...every time he fell asleep for 5 minutes, the crowd would cheer and wake him up again. I figured he'd just sleep thru it, like he did with the fireworks on the 4th and worship at church, etc, but he didn't. He stayed awake the whole time basically. He loves to people watch though. His eyes were HUGE and he smiled and flirted with all the people around us. So, we left the game, fed him his last meal for the day, bathed him, and he played and babbled himself to sleep. I guess we'll see if he sleeps in, since he missed his nap. I doubt it.
It was a long day at the ballpark, but we wouldn't trade it for the world. We were together. We were with friends. We enjoyed some cool, refreshing rain. We saw a show on and off the field. We came home and relaxed together. These are the little treasures that help keep us going.
Friday, July 21
Sweet Taters
this week i had my first big boy meal. mommy and daddy made me some yummy sweet potatoes, and i loved it. i've been eating them a lot this week. mommy says next week we may try a different food, but this week it's sweet taters for me.
Wednesday, July 19
Congratulations!!!
To Aunt C and Uncle B - congratulations on your new addition!!! I'm so excited that i have a cousin.
Heat Wave
The temperatures here in PA are quite hot and definitely sticky. They have been for quite a while now, which has challenged us to put on our AC. (That doesn't happen too often here.) Which is quite a bit different to sweating it out in AZ last summer. However I'm sure our AZ friends might be impressed that our car registered the temp at 104, as I drove to my photo class just yesterday. I would trade 125 in Phoenix any day for 104 in muggy Pittsburgh, temperaturewise. There are other things I love and forgot I missed about Pitt. Like the fact that you can still get a COLD shower in the heat of the summer or get a cold glass of water straight from the tap. We have also enjoyed those wonderful days where you sweat out the sun, but then at night the air cools off soooo much that you put the fans in the windows and pull up the down comforter.
Since the temps are not dropping that low at the moment we decided to head off to see family, making very sure that they were family with a pool. This also gave us some fun to see how Ben took to the water. He loves it during bathtime. So, we've started to fill his tub outside as a pool on these hot days.(See previous post/photos.) Now, we got to see how he's grown since Memorial Day's pool experience. Ben absolutely loved it. He splashed around for a bit in his whale floatie and then I took him out on his own. He kicked and kicked and kicked his little legs, and while he was on his tummy, he decided to put his whole face in the water. The first time surprised him a bit, but not too bad because he continued testing the water off and on the whole day. It felt like we were in the pool for about 2 hours for our first go and then about another hour later on. (Grandparents not to worry, we did use a lot of SPF 45.) In the end he enjoyed the pool so much that he fell asleep, while floating in his whale. Who knows maybe we have a little swimmer in our midst.
Greek is more than half over, which means about 3 more weeks and then Dave gets a much needed break from his studies. He is very committed to all these classes, and it's been impressive watching how dedicated he's been. I'm not sure I could finish 3 hours of class and then study four more hours on my own on a daily basis, while working and being a new daddy. But he has and is. Well done!!!
Photography is coming along nicely. This is our fourth week of class and we finally were able to bring our first black and white prints to class. Printing is such a treat. You come into the darkroom with a blank sheet of paper and undeveloped film. You leave with negatives, a contact sheet, and your very own prints. Putting the blank paper into the developer and watching an image arise is quite an experience. Even with all the new digital cameras and goodies they're coming out with, I think I'll stick to B&W and doing my own prints. It's countercultural.
Apart from that life continues.
Since the temps are not dropping that low at the moment we decided to head off to see family, making very sure that they were family with a pool. This also gave us some fun to see how Ben took to the water. He loves it during bathtime. So, we've started to fill his tub outside as a pool on these hot days.(See previous post/photos.) Now, we got to see how he's grown since Memorial Day's pool experience. Ben absolutely loved it. He splashed around for a bit in his whale floatie and then I took him out on his own. He kicked and kicked and kicked his little legs, and while he was on his tummy, he decided to put his whole face in the water. The first time surprised him a bit, but not too bad because he continued testing the water off and on the whole day. It felt like we were in the pool for about 2 hours for our first go and then about another hour later on. (Grandparents not to worry, we did use a lot of SPF 45.) In the end he enjoyed the pool so much that he fell asleep, while floating in his whale. Who knows maybe we have a little swimmer in our midst.
Greek is more than half over, which means about 3 more weeks and then Dave gets a much needed break from his studies. He is very committed to all these classes, and it's been impressive watching how dedicated he's been. I'm not sure I could finish 3 hours of class and then study four more hours on my own on a daily basis, while working and being a new daddy. But he has and is. Well done!!!
Photography is coming along nicely. This is our fourth week of class and we finally were able to bring our first black and white prints to class. Printing is such a treat. You come into the darkroom with a blank sheet of paper and undeveloped film. You leave with negatives, a contact sheet, and your very own prints. Putting the blank paper into the developer and watching an image arise is quite an experience. Even with all the new digital cameras and goodies they're coming out with, I think I'll stick to B&W and doing my own prints. It's countercultural.
Apart from that life continues.
Monday, July 10
It's not ALL about Ben
Our friend Uncle Mike is protesting that we have too many photos of Ben on here. He has requested some of ourselves. So, here's to you BIG MIKE!!!
Sunday, July 9
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pool time
okay, well maybe it's not a pool, but i don't really know the difference. i just care that the water was cool and so was i. grandma and grandpa came to visit and when they do i know there will be a lot of photos. i made sure i posted some of my best work.(sorry photos not working just yet) i just keep getting cuter and cuter, or at least that's what people keep telling me, but who am i to complain.
mommy and i have been doing a lot together lately. we've been for walks all over our town and we've been to a few farmer's markets. we've been shopping for groceries and i help mommy hold her list and sometimes i hold her credit cards. i am learning a lot of new stuff at home. i've been pushing myself around in my walker and jumping in my jonny jump up. i've also been pushing myself up on my knees, but i just can't quite figure out how to get up on my hands and knees. also this week i've been rather irritated by this pain in my lower gums. ice cold washcloths are great to chew on and they help the pain, a little. i've even started to find my toes. daddy thinks it's so funny when i find my toes. so i do it to make him laugh. he's funny when he laughs.
i saw my first ever fireworks this week and i loved them. i would watch them go all the way up in the sky and then burst and fall back down. finally, i watched them so long i think i fell asleep because the next thing i remember was daddy putting me back in my bed. it had been a long day though. we all went to the fair and saw a lot of different animals. they were really noisy and some were very fast around their racetracks. then we went to a demolition derby. it's where a lot of things get smashed. mommy told me they were smashing school buses and that one day i'd be riding one. i hope the one i ride doesn't look like the ones i saw.
daddy is still busy at school and work. he keeps showing me all these flashcards with weird symbols on them and then telling me what they mean. it's ALL greek to me though. i do like visiting daddy at work. mommy and i go see him a lot. i'm not sure if mommy goes to see daddy or if she just likes all the drinks. sometimes they're hot. sometimes they're cold.
mommy and i have also been going to daddy's football games. he plays for a team called bamboo. it looks like a lot of fun. we've also been watching a lot of football on tv. although mommy says that today was the last game and that we can't tell daddy who won just yet since he missed it. i hope i don't tell him italy won.
well mommy says it's time for bed. so i better be going.
mommy and i have been doing a lot together lately. we've been for walks all over our town and we've been to a few farmer's markets. we've been shopping for groceries and i help mommy hold her list and sometimes i hold her credit cards. i am learning a lot of new stuff at home. i've been pushing myself around in my walker and jumping in my jonny jump up. i've also been pushing myself up on my knees, but i just can't quite figure out how to get up on my hands and knees. also this week i've been rather irritated by this pain in my lower gums. ice cold washcloths are great to chew on and they help the pain, a little. i've even started to find my toes. daddy thinks it's so funny when i find my toes. so i do it to make him laugh. he's funny when he laughs.
i saw my first ever fireworks this week and i loved them. i would watch them go all the way up in the sky and then burst and fall back down. finally, i watched them so long i think i fell asleep because the next thing i remember was daddy putting me back in my bed. it had been a long day though. we all went to the fair and saw a lot of different animals. they were really noisy and some were very fast around their racetracks. then we went to a demolition derby. it's where a lot of things get smashed. mommy told me they were smashing school buses and that one day i'd be riding one. i hope the one i ride doesn't look like the ones i saw.
daddy is still busy at school and work. he keeps showing me all these flashcards with weird symbols on them and then telling me what they mean. it's ALL greek to me though. i do like visiting daddy at work. mommy and i go see him a lot. i'm not sure if mommy goes to see daddy or if she just likes all the drinks. sometimes they're hot. sometimes they're cold.
mommy and i have also been going to daddy's football games. he plays for a team called bamboo. it looks like a lot of fun. we've also been watching a lot of football on tv. although mommy says that today was the last game and that we can't tell daddy who won just yet since he missed it. i hope i don't tell him italy won.
well mommy says it's time for bed. so i better be going.
Wednesday, June 21
classes and homework
Week 1 of black & white photography went very well. I now know how to process a photogram, which is required as my homework for next week's class. No one told me there would be homework. I guess I'll be processing photos of Ben, often. Hopefully he sits still. He's currently on the verge of crawling and it will be any moment now. Look out! Life is about to change again.
Greek is still going well. This is week 2 and it's more challenging than the previous week, which is to be expected. Dave's doing really well. It's great to see how well he is balancing work, Greek, and chill time. He's currently playing Settlers of the Catan with a bunch of fellow seminarians.
The garden is coming along. One of these days I'll have to take some photos of it and some other surroundings to post so you can all see where we are and what's new. I suppose I should also put a family photo into our profile. However, priorities bump that down fairly low on the list.
Greek is still going well. This is week 2 and it's more challenging than the previous week, which is to be expected. Dave's doing really well. It's great to see how well he is balancing work, Greek, and chill time. He's currently playing Settlers of the Catan with a bunch of fellow seminarians.
The garden is coming along. One of these days I'll have to take some photos of it and some other surroundings to post so you can all see where we are and what's new. I suppose I should also put a family photo into our profile. However, priorities bump that down fairly low on the list.
Thursday, June 15
Back In The Saddle Again...
Flashcards are all over our house, every journey anywhere is filled with sounds of a Greek professor on CD, and strange symbols appear at every moment. Yes, it is the alpha of summer and the omega of Dave's time away from studies. Sorry it's catchy. You can't help but learn some of these words when you hear them soooo often. Maybe I should've audited this class.
I've signed up to take a black & white photography course, which will teach me to better use my 35mm, while also teaching me how to develop my own prints. So, I may put some of my experimentations on the site as well. We'll see how it goes.
Ben is still growing like a weed. His 4 month check up went well and he now weighs 15 lbs 6 oz and is 25 1/4" in length. According to his DR's book, he has grown 6" since birth. CRAZY!!!
For Father's Day we chipped in and purchased daddy a new driver and a 54 degree sand wedge. He's already been out with friends using them at a local driving range where you can drive while watching planes land at Pittsburgh's Airport. It's a unique experience.
L
ast weekend we traveled across to Oakmont for the annual Allegheny Co Fire Convention Parade. (Dave LOVES firetrucks!) Numerous prizes were awarded. My favorite trucks were the 1946 pumper and the 1950s pale blue people carrier. I will have to post photos or else I won't hear the end of it all summer. (I'll post them after this entry.)
Sunday nite we had a BBQ with friends from Trinity to kick off the summer classes that were starting. We had great weather and a great time with all our friends and all their kids.
I have also decided to have a go at cultivating a small garden. There are pepper plants, tomatoes, sweet peas, rosemary, and zucchinis/courgettes that I have planted. Plus I have found chives, carrots, and I think some asparagus growing "wild" (remnants from the previous owner). We'll see how things progress, since I've been known to kill anything green, including cacti.
I've signed up to take a black & white photography course, which will teach me to better use my 35mm, while also teaching me how to develop my own prints. So, I may put some of my experimentations on the site as well. We'll see how it goes.
Ben is still growing like a weed. His 4 month check up went well and he now weighs 15 lbs 6 oz and is 25 1/4" in length. According to his DR's book, he has grown 6" since birth. CRAZY!!!
For Father's Day we chipped in and purchased daddy a new driver and a 54 degree sand wedge. He's already been out with friends using them at a local driving range where you can drive while watching planes land at Pittsburgh's Airport. It's a unique experience.
L
ast weekend we traveled across to Oakmont for the annual Allegheny Co Fire Convention Parade. (Dave LOVES firetrucks!) Numerous prizes were awarded. My favorite trucks were the 1946 pumper and the 1950s pale blue people carrier. I will have to post photos or else I won't hear the end of it all summer. (I'll post them after this entry.)Sunday nite we had a BBQ with friends from Trinity to kick off the summer classes that were starting. We had great weather and a great time with all our friends and all their kids.
I have also decided to have a go at cultivating a small garden. There are pepper plants, tomatoes, sweet peas, rosemary, and zucchinis/courgettes that I have planted. Plus I have found chives, carrots, and I think some asparagus growing "wild" (remnants from the previous owner). We'll see how things progress, since I've been known to kill anything green, including cacti.
Wednesday, June 14
Wednesday, May 24
Skye and I
Skye and I are having soooo much fun together. She really seems to understand my way of thinking. She's got a lot of cool toys, which I have thoroughly enjoyed playing with. Maybe later we can get the adults to take us for a walk before it gets all hot and sticky again. We'll see.
Tuesday, May 23
Life's a Beach
Today Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Mags, and Skye took me for my first trip to the ocean. Here's a photo of me chillin', checking out the beach babies, and living the good life. Keep checking out this blog for more photos of me on my first vacation.
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