Ella took her first real steps today. She's been pulling herself up and cruising for a while now, but today she walked all by herself.

And life will never be the same.

I went for a run today for the first time in...forever. I pushed Drew in the jog stroller and we did a short 2.5 mile loop, with a stop at St. Elmo's for some hot chocolate for Drew. The jog stroller has more than a casual pull to the left, so my arms are actually more tired than my legs. But nothing hurt, so that was good.

Here's the route. ( Read more... )

We made a fort in the living room. It's a pretty decent fort, with blankets and the cushions from two couches ( Read more... )

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

You can't stop these kids from dancing
And why would you want to?
Especially when you
Are already getting yours!

'Cause if your mind don't move
And your knees don't bend
Don't go blaming the kids again.

There are a ton of pictures from today, of course. The disappointing part is that the battery on the video camera died just as we were walking back to the baptismal font, so no video of the actual baptism (super sad face). Which is too bad, too, because Ella was *hilarious* during the submersion. She wasn't quite crying but she was totally ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

A couple of weeks ago I got on the plane and flew to New Orleans for the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO). I'm the chair of the Academic Progress and Graduation committee, so I had to go a day early to participate in committee meetings, etc. It was a good conference for me-- ( Read more... )

At some point in the near future I will post about my awesome trip to New Orleans. I will display pictures of food that I consumed, people who I saw, and snowballs and the awareness of T9 that changed my life ( Read more... )

Today was my birthday. The last of my mid-thirties. Next year I'm fully into my late thirties.

I took the day off from work and did the following:

• Took Drew to get my free birthday coffee from Biggby.
  
• Walked Drew to school.
  
• Clipped the overgrown ivy that was poking up along the sides of the deck.
  
• Washed the deck with an oxygen bleach solution.
  
• ( Read more... )