August and a Delayed Announcement

We are expecting our 2nd baby on March 7th. Of course it's early, and we don't know the sex yet. For the pregnancy, we have decided to name it Long Grain, as it was the size of a grain of rice the first time we saw it (6 weeks) and the humble beginnings of a heart beat.

It's been a busy couple of months. August has been fun. It's been a relatively mild summer in DC, so we can't complain. We got a taste of real heat in Houston last weekend. Kelly was instructing at HOBY Training Institiute, and Libby and I were tourists, hitting Galveston, Space Center Houston, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. We also ate a lot of Texas BBQ (beef brisket). Many pictures and more to come: August Photo Album The video below is from the museum. Libby loved it... dismembered Zebras included.

4th of July was fun, as we were in Greensboro NC with the Herrings and the Huellmantels.Libby got to hang out with her cousins Tyler and Chase, and friends Nick and Jack. Libby also learned how to be a good bike passenger, and loves her new helmet. Here are some pictures from July: July Photo Album

June Already?

I can't believe it's already mid June, and that most of April and all of May went buy without a post. My big event was the Soldier Field Ten mile run, which I completed at almost exactly a 10 minute pace. As a family we've been all over the place. Here are a bunch of photo album links. June is a work in progress and will be updated soon.

APRIL Pictures ( EASTER, Team Deyo, DC family pics, Pics of Family Pics, and Spring Fun )

MAY pics -

JUNE pics -

HOBY-NCA (ONE, TWO, THREE) pics

Libby the Latch-Key Kid

Kelly and I made our first blunder as lame parents on Tuesday. It was the day of the big Easter Egg Hunt at day care and we blew it.   They had candy, a hunt, and even some schmuck in a rabbit outfit.  We forgot to send Libby with pre-filled eggs for staff to hide ahead of time, and did not bring a basket for her.  I have a couple pictures to share...just look at Libby's face. The Arlington Children's Center (ACC) staff were nice enough to try to cover our tracks with a decorated paper bag and bunny ears made of construction paper, but this is just sad.  Is she smiling...nope. ~Thanks Mom.  Thanks Dad.  You guys suck!~

We knew the date, but we all had colds, and weren't getting sleep, and on and on.  The only thing we can do is make it up to her with a lovely trip to Newbury, Ohio (Punderson State Park) to hang with her grandparents (Kelly's side) for the Easter weekend.  I don't have a bunny suit, but we'll have a fun egg hunt regardless.   To may thing interesting, we're taking Betsy (the dog) so hopefully Betsy won't be catching a rabbit to further traumatize our child on Easter.

On this blog, I guess this is news.  Libby has moved up to the 1-2 year olds section at the ACC.  She's actually been there since mid-March, and while the first week was shaky, she's fine now, and having fun for the most part.  A little bittersweet, because she still misses the comfort of the infant room and loved the 'teachers' over there, but she's now with kids that are at her level developmentally, and playtime is much more fun.

Road Tripping

We have a series of short weekend road trips coming up, so I thought I'd update on the most recent to North Carolina and South Carolina.  We both took a half day on Friday and drove down to Greensboro, NC to hang out with the Herrings.  Clicking on the picture above will take you right to the album. Libby got to hang out with Nick and Jack, who are the sons of Ryan and Barbara Herring. Ryan and I go way back to high school.

On Saturday, we headed down to Kelly's extended family in Greenville, SC.  We had lunch with her grandma (Libby's great-grams), and then to her cousin Kristy's party.  Kristy is pregnant, and is officially expecting a girl I should have a sense of the due date, but I'm blanking right now....many moons from now.  We spent the night with Aunt Barbie, and then hit the road on Sunday morning.  It was rain all the way.....from 8:30 AM until 5:30 PM in Arlington....ALL RAIN!! you can see it in the picture a little.

Next up, we have Pittsburgh!

February Fun

 February has been an Interesting Month.  Libby's walking with confidence now, and is almost ready to move up with the older 1-2 year olds at day care.  This is a good thing because she's been getting a little bored with the infants.  At home, we have a lot of fun every night, and the dog cage is  a new destination of sorts...better than the dog's food or the toilet.

We spent President's Day weekend in family visiting Michigan; or maybe it's the other way around. Regardless, Libby had a great time bonding with her Granddad and Ah-ma (Morrisons) in Ann Arbor, and even spent some time in Yorkville with Grams and Grandpa(Howards).

The trip itself was fine. We boarded Betsy at the vet's, and had plenty of room, though Libby was a little fussy at times. We even spent Friday night in Pittsburgh with Aunt Linda and Dominic, so fun, fun, fun for everyone!

Getting out of Arlington was tough, I had an AM meeting to go to, and Kelly had to log some hours from home, so we took Libby to day care. As I was parking, I pinched the curb at a shallow angle, and tore a hole in the side of the tire. Needless to say, I had a useless tire. I took Libby in and take care of the situation ASAP. I called AAA and Ford for a tow, but it would have been 1-2 hours, and time was of the essence, so what do you know, I changed the tire in less than 10 minutes. I then drove to the office on the donut spare, and called around. It's really hard to find an 18 inch tire in stock, but I did! I still had time to give my briefing, take Betsy to the vet's kennel, and pack up the car all before 11AM. We were on the road by 1PM....and whew, what a morning that was!

Inauguration Weekend and Libby the Swashbuckler

Not much to update as we head into Inauguration Weekend. I'm kind of excited about the historical precedence of this swearing in. We'll see how this administration handles itself over the next 4-8 years.

I'm not headed to the festivities downtown, but am instead working to prevent chaos in the region starting at $AM on Tuesday Morning! Lately, I've been busy at work trying to track all the bridge & road closures in Arlington County. They seem to change everyday...ugh. I managed to create some fun and printable guides to help people get around this weekend.

We do have a fun video to share. May I present the adventures of Libby the Swashbuckler, as she takes on her unidentified foe:

Four Christmases, a Wedding, and a Funeral

It took a while on Sunday, but we're back from our Christmas vacation in Michigan. As always, the pictures are hyperlinks to albums full of pictures.

The biggest news was the surprise wedding of Win & Leslie Howard (my mother-in-law). Libby now has two full sets of grandparents...very cool. They were married at the Yorkville Church by -get this- the same pastor that married Kelly and Me. As in all small towns, if the town knows you, you really can't keep a secret as big as a wedding. Word had reached Kelly about a week before, and we never knew 100%, but we planned for a wedding on Christmas Eve. I have to be honest here, and for the sake of this blog, it's is SOOOO much easier being able to type about Kelly's parents, rather than her mom and male companion, or boyfriend, or just plain Win. If for no other reason...I bless this marriage!

All in all, we celebrated Christmas at Daycare here in Arlington; in Ann Arbor with my parents; in Richland with Kelly's parents, Rea and her boyfriend, Bryan; and briefly in Pittsburgh, PA with Linda and her wonderfully engaging boyfriend Dominic, who my mom calls "Domestic." Libby got a really great sampling of winter in Michigan the first couple days, it was single digits with a -17 F wind chill, and throughout we had so solid snow, freezing rain, and ice covered roads! Of course the last day was in the 50s, and just weird, but that happens too. Libby really enjoyed eating fresh snow for the first time...perhaps next year we'll get into the snow angels and sledding.

We also spent some time in Paw Paw, thought the stop was short. I talked to Jack Stimac while at my parents, and had to get to Paw Paw to see if the old farm had truly been decimated by the developer...and ultimately by the brain trust in charge of planning for Antwerp Township. If you take a look at the pictures, you'll see that not one tree was spared on the land purchased by the developer, not the Post WWII apple orchard planted by my grandfather, nor the 80-100 year old trees along 52nd Avenue.

After the Paw Paw visit, we cheered thing up with a visit to Becky Steele's home & place of business to check out the cookie making empire that she's started. YUM! She is well on her way to laying claim to Kalamazoo's signature cookie....I even think she could go to to toe with Archway's for a statewide title.

With the flurry of activities and sicknesses leading up to our Christmas break, I missed posting about a couple of events, but here are the pictures: "Libby's First Birthday" and "Other December Pictures"