Emily and Jack

Randa was able to capture some cute shots of Emily and Jack watching a Baby Einstein video the other day. They are really starting to interact in a really sweet way. I am so thankful she has the opportunity to see him on a regular basis and get to know him.

Cinco de Mayo

My work group at AEP had the opportunity to pop over to Mexico one day while we were in McAllen, Texas for a departmental meeting in February. During that visit I bought a couple of items, one of which was an authentic Mexican dress for Emily. She was definitely decked out for Cinco de Mio.

My Mom

I have so many different words to describe my amazing Mom. One of the many qualities that I admire is her ability to create ANYTHING! If she has an idea or even a notion of a project, she always puts 150% into it and finds a way to complete the task with outstanding results. She recently whipped out the design and pattern for a "window" covering for our playground set and had it finished in a couple of days. Not only does the covering add to look of the playground, but also serves as a witnessing tool for our neighbors.

I am truly blessed and inspired by my Mom!!!

Spring has arrived

I just love to watch babies grow and discover new things. I also love to see their very first reaction to things. We finally had some warm weather around here so I let Emily enjoy the outside scenery. We also purchased a baby swing for our playground set and the first time Charlie swung Emily she shook with a little bit of fear and excitement, but then once she was used to it her face lit up with smiles and giggles. Now she cries when we take her out of it.

8 Months Old

The word to describe Emily this month would be curious. She reaches for EVERYTHING and if your hair happens to be in the way watch out she will pull it out. She has even started grabbing and pulling her own hair while she's eating and goodness knows she doesn't need to be messing with that fabulous hairdo. She can now roll from tummy to back and vice-versa. So far she loves all the veggies and fruit she's been given, but is not too fond of prunes. We have been blessed with such a pleasant baby.

Fun at Mommaw and Poppaw's

Easter 2007

We were able to spend Easter this year in PA and of course captured some pretty funny shots of Emily. We especially love the one with the sunglasses that Grammy and Pappy gave her in her basket. Aunt Randa calls her our little Stevie Wonder baby.

Emily is enjoying not only her first Easter, but her first Easter in the snow.

"My hair doesn't look that bad does it?"
Both Pappy and Emily got a little too close to the electrical socket.

Emily and Gommy







Emily with Cousin Amanda









The first test of a gift from a baby's perspective is how good does the packaging taste.

Easter Sunday




Emily tells Grammy, "Grammy, it's a wee bit cold outside to wear these sandals. We might have to try later in a couple months."

7 Months Old on March 16th

Don't you wonder sometimes what babies are thinking. To describe Emily this month it would have to be expressive. She shows so much more emotion even from one month ago. She has recently started babbling more often that she used to and now making sounds like Ma Ma and Da Da. She reaches for everything and as with every baby tries to put it straight into her mouth.

Sping is here....

Today was a great day to be outdoors. The temperature was almost 70 around lunch. Laura was going to take Emily and meet a friend from the church so I decided to go hiking. I went to one of the local parks. I hiked a little over 4 miles on some of the trails that they have. While I was there I was able to go over to the wildlife viewing area and add another bird to my life list, a Double-crested Cormorant. There was also a ton of turtles on the water. Everywhere there was a log or rock sticking out of the water there was a turtle on it.

Also while there I was all but decapitated by a curious Red-tail Hawk (pictured below). As I was walking down this one path, as far way from the tail head as I could get, I heard a loud swooping in the wind. As I turned to see what it was the hawk was zooming by at ear level with his wings about 1 ½ feet from my head. He was quickly turning in flight and climbing to sit on the closest tree limb. The American Robins were also everywhere.

Also, when I got home I noticed that since yesterday evening the Maple tree out back has started to bud.

Friends

A couple weekends ago we had some company. One of my best friends, Mike and his fiancé came down from the Cleveland area and stayed the weekend. It was great seeing Mike again and equally as great to finally be able to meet the love of his life. They brought an Easter basket that had some candy and some great toys for Emily. Emily still can’t stop playing with them. Here is Mike and Amy holding Emily.

Sittin' pretty

Geocaching

I have recently started spending my free time Geocaching. Now some of you are wondering what is Geocaching? Well, in short, it involves using a GPS to find Cache’s hidden at various coordinates. There are caches hidden all over the world. Thousands of them. It's unbelievable!! You never really find anything of value, just some trinkets and toys. For larger cache’s you can take one thing and leave another, and some of the smaller cache’s you just sign a log to show that you where there. To learn for about it visit http://www.geocaching.com/ . If you are interested in going, give me a call. Me and Chris Travis have gone out 3 times now and have close to ten finds.

Here is a pic of Me and Chris' first find!

Getting Stronger

Emily is getting so strong now. For the last week I have been able to stand her up against something and she will just stand the till I move her. This of course is if she does not see something on the floor that interest her more and she tries to reach for it. When I propped her up against the couch she stayed there and watch TV for almost 15 minutes till I took her to the back room to change her diaper.

Cereal

We gave Emily her first taste of solid food this past week and she didn't seem to have any problems having a different texture in her mouth.

6 months old

Another month has absolutely flown by. It's amazing how she has changed so much in one month. She can now sit up all by herself for a pretty lengthy period of time and is rolling over periodically. We started her on oatmeal cereal and she seems to really like it. She's able to give us clear signs that she's ready to eat by smacking her lips making an almost horse-like sound. Of course, we think it's really cute. And yes, we were finally able to gather enough hairs to put a clip in this time. In these pictures she was mesmerized by the falling snow.

Simple Order

SONIC America's Drive-In has finally arrived!! After being teased by commercials for years they have finally built one in Whitehall. Today, after church Laura and I decided to drive over to the new location and get something for lunch. I ordered our food and shortly it came out but Laura’s Sonic Burger w/ NO Tomato was missing. The hopper (on roller skates) apologized for missing it, and asked us to press the button and order another one and it would be brought right out. The conversation with the girl taking the order went something like this (please keep in mind the car is off so there was no immediate background noise distractions).


Cashier: Welcome to Sonic, may I take your order?
Me: Yes, I would like a Sonic Burger with no Tomato.
Cashier: One Double Sonic Burger with everything.
Me: No, I want a regular Sonic Burger with no Tomato.
Cashier: Do you want fries of tots with that?
Me: No
Cashier: One Double Sonic Burger with cheese. Do you want fries of tots with that?
Me: I don’t want any other that, I want a Sonic burger without Tomato.
Cashier: What would you like to drink with that?
Me: Nothing, I already have a drink.
Cashier: Would you like fries of tots with that?
Me: No
Cashier: You have to get fries or tots to make it a combo meal.
Me: I don’t want a combo meal, just the Sonic Burger.
Cashier: Do you want a drink?
Me: NO!
Cashier: OK, so you want a Cheeseburger with no Tomato?
Me: No, I want a Sonic Burger with out Tomato!
Cashier: Would you prefer fries or tots with that?
Me: I don’t want either, I just want the sandwich!
Cashier: You have to get fries or tots to make it a value meal.
Me: But I don’t want a meal, we have already ordered but the other guy forgot to place and other for my wife’s Sonic Burger with NO TOMATO!
Cashier: So you would like a Cheese Burger with Ketchup?
Me: N-O I WOULD LIKE A SON-IC BURG-ER WITH OUT TO-MAT-O!!!!!
Cashier: Ok, one Double Sonic Burger with Tomato.
Me: NO! Just a regular Sonic Burger with out Tomatoes!!!
Cashier: One Sonic Burger with out Tomato?
Me: Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cashier: Would you like Ketchup and Mustard on that?
Me: Yes please.
Cashier: Your total will be .....


About 1 minute later, a guy skates up to the door and delivers us a Cheeseburger!

That was actually the short version. The longer had MANY more repeats in it.

God gives us all a gift! Its our jobs to find out what that gift is and use it. I don’t know what that girl's gift is but I can certainly tell you what it isn’t- Customer Service

Everyone's asking me (Laura) what burger I actually received and it was a Sonic Cheeseburger with no tomato which was very good by the way. Also, Charlie said as we drove away that the other 2 guys that served us were the most well-mannered waiters he's ever had.

Cold Cold Cleveland

This past weekend we traveled up north to visit my cousin Becky and her 5 year old daughter Nhya. We all had a really great him. Nhya had a great time holding and playing with Emily. The temperature in Cleveland that weekend was about the same is here in Columbus but the wind chill was much worse.


Here is a picture of Emily, Nhya and Becky

As you can see below, Emily can now sit up by herself....most of the time.

I took along my fishing pole in hopes of having some time to go steelhead fishing while I was there. As my luck would have it, everything was frozen solid. Things can change fast in the cold and windy climate of the Great Lakes area. Two days before we left all the fishing reports said how great the fishing was, and by the time I got there the rivers where frozen over about 95%.. I well, I will try again later! Can’t wait till we get to go up again.

While we where there me and Emily got to relax and watch a little TV. We where watching Futhure Weapons on the Discovery Channel.