Fireworks

We spent the evening of July 4th with some good friends in Baltimore. Upon observation of potential toddler meltdown rumblings we made one of those last minute parental changes of plan and left for home about 30 minutes before the fireworks started.

But we probably should have just stayed. I had shown Owen some videos of firework displays earlier - to acclimate him a little to the sounds/noise and the whole way out of town he was asking us to hear the 'BOooommmms" as we passed a few little neighborhood shots. He was exhausted but still craned his neck to see every little sparkler that we went by.

So Jon course corrected and we parked down near Tide Point - in a very crowed little lot, almost right beneath the launch zone. The fireworks were beautiful and Owen was captivated. Until the very end at least. Not a fan of the rapid fire finale.

I'm amazed that we got out of the city as quickly as we did - all thanks to Jon's awesome navigation skills - and Owen was asleep before we hit the highway. Ever, by the way, fell asleep just after the show started and was out cold for the whole thing.

Levitate

A little magic to celebrate

300 posts!!!

Describe Photography

So excited...again.

This has really been an amazing couple months.  Every time I turn around there is something else to be thankful for, something else plainly displaying God's absolute faithfulness.  It is, without a doubt, the start of a completely new season and I am so grateful.  

Adding to my already overflowing joy, we found out back in the beginning of April that our family will be enlarging by one...a new baby will be here in December.  

Jon and I are THRILLED and almost too excited to wait.  (But we will.)

We already have a sense of this one's spirit - and trust me, having joined me in the final push of my masters program, busy work meetings, and another pending move, I'm confident that this one will be able to find peace in the center of a hurricane.

I can't wait for Owen to have a friend, a sibling, to grow with and I'm so looking forward to experiencing the incredible joy of parenthood with another precious little one.

No worries if you can't figure our first picture of 2.O out...but trust me.  There's a baby waving at you.  And a tiny little foot sticking up. 

Done

And just like that...it's over.

I actually have two more lectures to listen to online...but as far as my grades go I have nothing left to do.  

I count that as finished.

I think I need more time to process it.  I just sent in my last paper 27 minutes ago.  It hasn't sunk in.  

But I do want to mark this moment down.  

Someday, when I look back and remember how awesome this all was, and my brain erases some of the struggle and fight as brains are known to do, I will want to record that, yes, I did actually develop an eye tick that lasted the last two weeks of my grad school career.

Taken at the hight of the twitchiness last week.  

It's in my left eye.  If this picture was animated you would see it. 

I hope that it does become a memory and not a lasting memorial to finals week and capstone presentations.  But even if it did - small price to pay to know that I'm done.

Yay!

All but gradumacated

A few days ago Jon, Owen, and I had a little date at the BOP down in Fells Point while Gina hung with some friends in DC.  Pizza was ok but I'd definitely order by the slice next time.  Seriously, one slice was as big as our whole individual pizza.   We had so much fun together though - doesn't Jon's face say it all?  Owen and I both love, love, LOVE getting some quality time with the man of the house.  We may even actually occasionally fight over him.  But...that's not the point of this post.

Yesterday Jon was super sick with a nasty stomach bug.  Before he knew what was going on, even though he already felt sick, he voluntarily got up with Owen at some super early hour so that I could snooze a little longer.  Then, later when I had a headache he gave me a little neck stretch - even though HE was the one that was suppose to get the pampering.  But that's not the main point either.

The MAIN point is that Jon finished his LAST class at AU on Monday.  Last as in forever last.  As in now he gets to walk across the stage and get his diploma and never come back last.  And I am so proud of him.  He's stuck in there with this degree for an incredibly long time (yes, it is hard to believe since he's still mistaken for a 22 year old) and really gave this last class his all - reading every book and doing every paper 100%.

Congratulations Jon.  You never cease to amaze me and I love you more each day. 

Especially now that you're all official and whatever.  :)

Birthday Party!

We had a small birthday celebration for Owen with my family about a week before his actual birthday - just right for a little one-year old. Cupcakes and tacos made it feel warm and cozy on a cold January day.

Describe (who else!) was on hand to capture some sweet moments with all the kids. We're planning on doing a big photo shoot with the whole family (once the newest arrives) and wanted to use this as a dry run for handling the logistics for a big group. This is just a handful from the afternoon but they all came out wonderfully.

Life really is this much fun.

Happy Birthday Owen!

More Owen posts coming soon.

Guess who's almost 1!?  Guess who already had a 'sneak peak' party?  Guess what celebrity photog showed up and took shots of the festivities?  

Guess who'll get to see them right here on this blog?

YOU! 

(That's the answer to the last one.  Unless you're Describe or Owen)

One for the road

2009

Jon is upstairs putting Owen to sleep.  I can't say enough how much my heart is locked to those two guys.  

It's New Year's Eve.  

I told a friend today that Owen is at that age where he'll probably be up drinking all night.  

Baby jokes are so, so very funny.  Thankfully she's in the same boat and didn't report me to the authorities. 

That said, other than celebrating periodically through the night with my nursing babe, I'm not really feeling the partying.  Maybe it's holidays in general, maybe it's the fact that I've been wearing Jon's fleece shirt for a few days now, maybe it's that a small person felt like dancing at 6am this morning - no one knows - but it's going to be low key.

But - in the spirit of marking the passing of time and all it's milestones - I was thinking today about the places we've come from and traveled through this past year.  2009 was a great year.

I had barely gotten used to writing 09 on everything when suddenly (or not so suddenly since it did take 9 months and 14 hours of labor) Owen arrived.

And instantly I was a mother.  And instantly I was in love.

And we were a family.

Over the next few months, while we watched Owen grow (rapidly), we worked on growing some friendships too.  

Before the year was half way through we uprooted and moved to Baltimore for a year so I could study and Jon could experience a 1.5 hour commute (one way).  Yikes.

To ease the sting of such a commute we soaked our moving weary muscles at the beach - Owen's first taste of sand and surf.

Giving him time to hang with some of his cousins (and an uncle).

Bravely stepping into the mix comes Gina.  See the light - she's like our angel.  Sent from heaven.

Our little house slowly became home.  And we grew a lot of tomatoes.  A lot.

And we are happy.

I hired a cleaning service.

And Owen started walking.

And learned to program computers.

So the year went by.  A year of starting something fresh.  More than likely the type of new that tipped off the first domino in a long series - stretched from here as far as I can see down the road.

More change coming I'm sure.  Remembering to write 2010 on all my papers is probably the least of it.

Here's to newness!

Birthday!

This is how I feel about birthdays.

Mine was awesome.  29 is going to be a great year - I can just tell.

It only gets better...

On Wednesday we celebrated the magnificentness that is Jon's birthday.

A little scavenger hunt started out the day and some surprise homemade cupcakes finished it off.  Not a bad way to commemorate 35 years. 

The one giant cupcake was a special treat for my birthday man.  :)

Gina did an awesome job decorating them while we were out for a relaxing dinner.  

Happy Birthday Jon.  I've gotten to celebrate 10 birthdays with you now - and reflecting back through the years and seeing where you are now fills my heart with immeasurable joy.  

You are my great treasure and I love you madly with every ounce of my being.

All That and a Bag of Chips

Jon,

You just finished your last translation of the semester.  Here's to a job well done!  I watched you hang in there even as Nassar drained your brain - drop by drop.  But you did it - you finished strong and I'm proud of you.   Now you can enjoy a well deserved break and let that grey matter regenerate.  

116 credits down - 4 to go!  (Tennis class anyone?)  

I love you.

Weekend Update

This weekend Jon and I visited the PA side of the family and got hit with a double whammy of parties. On Sunday my mom, sister, and sister-in-law took me to Cafe Chocolate in Lititz. We had taken Trish there for her baby shower last year. It's awesome.

All four of us got the house salad (with oranges, artichoke hearts, and walnuts with a dark chocolate raspberry viniagrette) so that we'd have room for this...

Yeah...that's only a dark chocolate fondu. See how the white bowl of chocolate seems to glow with all the chocolatey goodness?

Trish and I shared a pot of organic chocolate-mint tea. It was nice and minty with a hint of chocolate smell - really nice.

Afterwards we went back to my sister's house where the guys were supposed to be babysitting. It was a surprise baby shower!!!!!!!!

What do you get when you add.....

With this....

And this... (notice the hockey player...baby's first collectable Flyers figure)

One wonderful, overwhemling family baby shower. It was quite a day.

Happy 50 Posts!

We reached 50 posts! In honor of the blog's mini-milestone we've unveiled a brand new blog page. I designed the page and Jon used his awesome skills to make it a web reality.

The awesome banner design (with slight modifications) is from SwirlyCurls - The Brush Kit at http://www.createsk8.com/ Thanks!! The birds and nest though I designed.

I thought these 4th of July pics from my trip to Seattle capture the mood nicely.

The design of everything may change slightly in the coming weeks - we're still figuring out how to do all this - but what do you think? Feel free to leave a comment below (or on Jon's facebook site - since most of you go there anyway!)

Hmmm...so I guess that for the 100th post we might have to give something away to top this!

Happy 50 Highpoint View!

Sarah's Royal 4th.

My niece Sarah turns 4 today.

She is a princess.

Maybe a fairy princess...but that depends on the outfit.

Happy Birthday your Highness!