Spring Projects

Hey All!  The thawing weather around here lately has given both Jesse and I the itch to get moving, do some house revamping, get some small projects up and at'em!  Jess has been wanting to tackle the front porch for ages - we'd like to have another outdoor space where we can hang out with Eddy.  Happily, Jesse's dad was up for a visit this past weekend and he got to help out with the start of the project :)  The men-folk headed to Lowe's for rails, posts, and paint and when they got back (miss E was down for a nap) we all got down to business to paint about 90 wooden spindles!  Jess has continued along over the past week (throughout rainy AND snowy weather - at which point I had to schlep out to the garage to make him open at least ONE of the bay doors so he wouldn't surreptitiously pass out from paint fumes : "But it's so windy") and as we speak he is up to assembling the different sections of porch rail - he might even get to install some of them today.  We'll be sure to show you the finished project - we have a feeling it is really going to transform the look of the front of the house!

This week has also been Jesse's Spring Break - a much anticipated breather from all the work  he's been doing lately.  As a mini vacation for the three of us, we headed over to Aunt Lauren's (also on Spring Break!) house in Cornwall with aims to do a bit of exploring of nearby New Paltz. 

We've been talking about the New Paltz area as being our target for our next (hopefully last???) move in a couple years.  With Lauren as our lovely tour guide we did a bit of driving near and around the "Gunks" - the beautiful cliffs that draw student, amateur, and pro climbers alike.  It was kind of a rainy day so we didn't venture into the woods (boo) but it did make the coffee shops, book stores, and restaurants (Bacchus!) all the more cozy.  You will see that Miss E enjoyed her times in the highchair on this trip  - she even supervised an impromptu game of pool!  Assessment for the day?  New Paltz seems pretty cool - we're excited to do more exploring/research/meandering in the next few years to see if it has what we want: artsy-fartsy, college town, good school system, land in which to putter about, AND closeness to family!

The highlight of the trip home was a stop for lunch at Buffalo Zach's in Roscoe!  We had gotten several glowing recommendations from family members and, in the spirit of Spring Break, we decided to cool our heels awhile instead of powering the entire 3+ hours home like we usually do.  The decor and atmosphere were super fun and our food was mighty tasty.  The place has an interesting history as well: on the menu it says that much of the restaurant's proceeds go towards funding a cancer survivorship camp (the details are fuzzy now - I'll have to reread the back story next time we stop!).  Eddy enjoyed flinging her cheerios around in this establishment as well.

Hope you all are enjoying slightly warmer weather - and a Happy Earth Day to you!  As I have been entirely too cooped up today, I will say adios, hop in the shower, and get my behind out of doors.   

First Trip to the Zoo!!

Miss E had her first trip to the Zoo this past weekend!  It was a gorgeous day (we're talking sunny 70's!) and Aunt Jill and Uncle Tom were visiting the 'Cuse.  So we packed the wrap, water, sunglasses and some cheerios and headed to Rosamond Gifford Zoo.  As to be expected on one of the first fine days of Spring, the Zoo was a zoo.  Parents, babies, strollers EVERYWHERE.  I think Jill and Tom were a little shell-shocked :)  It was strange, but somehow I was able to tune out all the craziness and focus on our family unit of 5.  I have a feeling this new-found ability may be what turns into "we-are-the-only-family-in-this-zoo/park/movietheater/concert/library/publicpool/restaurant/etc-you must-bend-to-our-will-and-deal-with-our-screaming/running/fighting-offspring" in some families.

:)

Here's hoping that is not what happens to us! 

E was funny - she was mostly looking around at the other people and trying to find a place where the sun wasn't stabbing her in the eyeballs (another vampire-child in the making, Lois?).  She didn't notice the animals much and when we pointed to one, she'd more than likely look at our finger.  EXCEPT when we saw the "fisher" enclosure!  The fisher looks like a cross between an otter (the cuteness) and a badger (the stockiness) and E was ENTHRALLED with him!  Jess had her in a wrap and she kept squealing and kicking out her little legs whenever he would scamper by.  A few times he came right in front of E and stood up on his furry hind legs, pressing his front paws up against the fence.  She loved it!  And HER antics were starting to draw a crowd; we heard people laughing and whispering to each other, "Watch the baby!" whenever she'd shriek at the fisher's every jump and hop.  It was pretty darn cute.

E was a trooper - I think the grownups got tired around the same time she did.  And then, in the Rosamond Gifford Zoo parking lot, we decided to get Dinosaur BBQ.  For takeout.  Thus, our day was complete.    

Sticks and Stones (or When "Bouncing Back" is More Like "Meandering Back")

I've been feeling pretty good lately with all the skating I've been doing; my renewed interest in logging in some hours at the gym; the combo of yoga, pilates, zumba, weights, straight up cardio . . . I eat pretty well.  Actually, I eat really good food (fruits, veg, lean protein, yogurt) throughout the day - and then usually kinda shoot myself in the foot in the evening time.  Like, not one but two icecream sandwiches with caramel sauce.  Like, eat the whole bar of dark chocolate after Jesse has fallen asleep on the couch. 

But aside from that, I've been doing pretty good :)  So I wore a tank-top for the first time to the gym yesterday - no baggy t-shirts for this derby-mama-in-training! 

And, inevitably, a woman in my pilates class very sweetly asked me when I was "due."   :(  

(And this was after we had just been discussing the super-fit body of a mother-of-four-zumba-instructor.)

I make a sad face but it was actually just kinda funny - I laughed and told her that no, no, I was getting the baby weight off and she was 8 months past "due."  I think we then smoothly transitioned into talking about the Y's excellent daycare program.

Oh well.  Back when I actually was pregnant I loved showing off my baby belly, so I really should be just as proud to rock the post-baby belly.  Especially since my legs and booty are lookin' SO good from all this skating . . . . ;)    

The Baby Sign Project

Well folks, we've got a Shutterfly share site up for 'The Baby Sign Project' at http://thebabysignproject.shutterfly.com so head over there to take a look - we've already got a few contributors!

I've decided that those of you who we are planning on seeing in the next couple months will get an in-person photo shoot :)  For those of you who we won't be seeing in the near future, we'll be emailing you the word(s) we'd like you to do, probably along with a description/and/or example of the sign and you can submit your photo(s) directly to the Shutterfly share site :)

As we go along, I'll be assembling the photos into groups like "nighttime," "food," "colors," "animals," etc.  Then each group will get it's own "book" that we can keep adding to as submissions roll in. 

Already having fun with this - hope you will too!

lotsa love
caitlin

Calling All Friends and Family!

Howdy, folks.  I've got my mind set on another project - a fun one that you can all participate in!  As a lot of you know, we've been doing some "baby signing" with E.  A few words scattered here and there - we've mostly focused on words that might express her needs (eat, more, diaper, sleepy, water, cracker, etc) buuut we've got some fun ones in there as well, just for kicks, like butterfly, mama, daddy, family, dog.  She is already able to recognize a few of the signs like eat (big surprise!), more, and book - we can tell because she gets excited and waves her arms and purses her little lips :)  She's even able to repeat the "pant, pant, pant" sign for dog (I may have mentioned this is in a previous post - but it bears repeating, it is just that cute).      

We have a couple of little board books with a few baby signs in them.  We've read that babies like seeing pictures of actual people (ie photographs, not drawings) doing the signs, which gave me an idea . . .

I'd love to have pictures of family and friends doing signs for her!  I was thinking of laminating a bunch of photos (so they don't get destroyed) and binding them up into a book - or a few books.  It would have the benefit of E being able to look at real people doing the signs AND she would become familiar with all your lovely faces!  I thought this would especially be nice for those of you who live far away and we don't get to see often.  You are still an important part of our lives and we are so excited for E to know you :) 

So!  Leave a comment on this post if you want to be involved.  I haven't thought through the details yet but I'm thinking I'll dole out the signs to people, let you know if there is a specific way we've been doing a certain sign with her, maybe have you email me photo (put it onto a shutterfly site perhaps?) . . . something like that!

ALL our extended friends and family are invited to participate  (yes, that means YOU) - I may send out a FB message as well in case you peops aren't RELIGIOUSLY FOLLOWING EVERY DETAIL OF OUR LIVES ON THIS BLOG ;)

I'm excited for this project!  It may take a while to gather everyone's photo, but I'm going to set it up so that the books can be added to as more signs pop up, so no worries about missing the boat on this. 




Lots of love - hope you all have a wonderful Springy weekend!!

Deep In the Hundred Acre Woods

With the warmer weather (yay!) making its way into Syracuse, we were inspired to talk a jaunty walk around Green Lakes last week.  We did forget our usual "wrap" for the Doodle ("Oh, we'll be FINE . . . ) and by about half way around we remembered we were lugging a squirmy 18 lb turkey!  It was, however, a lovely walk, and E especially loved riding around on her daddy's shoulders.  We even ran across a few dogs on the trails.  E definitely recognizes dogs now and she repeats the "sign" for dog (panting with the tongue out!) after we do it.  She laughs too.  It is super adorable.

In honor of Jesse finishing his portfolio, Grandma and Grandpa Steeves came up for a night and a day to watch the Doodle - so we could have a date night!  We had planned a bit of a pub crawl downtown, but we ended up waiting so long for out table at Empire Brewery that we just had a few more beers at the bar and counted that as our "crawl" :)  No complaints from us - their beer is tasty and so is the food!  We got one of our growlers refilled as well - a rare treat since a refilled growler isn't all that much cheaper than a brandy new one!  Empire, we love you, but your beer prices force us to get our local beer elsewhere!

Speaking of the grandparents, Grandpa Steeves and Eddy got to bond over supper.  I believe it was a green bean, sweet potato, rice and milk combo . . .  You can see in this series of pictures that Miss E was a bit dubious at first, but she quickly got into the swing of things and chowed down.  They had breakfast together the next morning as well, and Grandpa declared their combined technique had improved as evidenced by the increased food into mouth versus all over face and bib ratio! 

Adding to our bliss is the arrival of warm weather - and a glimpse of the bulbs we planted this past Fall!  The crocuci have sprung, and we can see the shoots of daffodils, tulips . . .  the lilac bushes, rose of sharon, and even our little trees have buds ripening . . . any altogether cheerful sight of a front lawn!

Yayyyyyyyyyy for sunshine!

Got ' Er Done!

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, that albatross, that magnum opus, that pain in the bee-hind, nearly-turned-my-husband-into-a-gibbering-wackjob portfolio is DONE.  Jesse officially mailed out his National Board Certification Portfolio Wednesday at lunchtime. 

He and I had gone through a final organizational checklist Tuesday night before putting it all into the official provided cardboard box (looked kinda like a Schwann's chicken tender box) and TAPING THAT B*TCH UP.  (Pardon the implied language . . . )  The next two hours consisted of good veggie pizza, Weimer wine, Lonesome Dove on Netflix, and me reiterating to Jesse that, No, he did NOT have to open the box to read through Entry 4 JUST ONE MORE TIME.

You can probably see in the pictures that Jess was a little cracked out at this point.  All kidding aside, this portfolio has been one of the most intensive, detailed, time-consuming and effort-full projects he has undertaken in a loooong time.  I am so proud of him for his desire to be a better teacher and for all the hard work he has done to make that happen!  Next up?  He has to pass the written portion of his certification sometime in June.  And then, he'll find out if he passed both portions in . . .  November??!!  Yeah.  I realize that all these portfolios have to be read through, analyzed, hand-graded . . . but really?  He won't find out if he has to re-do anything til November?  Ah well.  At least that means he gets a break in the National Board action til then.

And if you see my husband, wandering around, muttering to himself about expository writing prompts and supplementary materials - or even unconsciously repeating his National Board ID # over and over a-la Hugo in "Lost" - don't worry.  It will pass.

:)