Happy Halloween

The best thing about James' horse costume is that I got it for 1.50 at Gabe's! I guess procrastinating buying a halloween costume is a good thing after all!

Our Trip To New Mexico

Here you see co-pilot Luca on Southwest returning from New Mexico! They invited him in the cockpit before we took off and they later announced his name on the intercom! It was the coolest thing and it meant so much to him. I thought this kind of human interaction was lost forever on air travel but apparantly not.

This is the gravel road we drove on for 8 miles to go to an observation point at tent rocks national monument! We bottomed-out the rental car twice, but it was well worth it!

Here we are at Bandalier, an ancient cliff dwelling, where you can climb the ladders and crawl into the caves. It was awesome!

This is a picture of Jeremiah's desk. And this post is written by Jeremiah. Left to right:

1)business cards in a black box - and I keep about ten or twenty dollars in one dollar coins in there in case I need a little cash. (cleaning lady, please do not read joanie's blog and find my pirate treasure)

2)CD's wrapped in bubble wrap that I keep around in case I need to pop some of those bubblies (really gets the creative juices flowing)

3)various business cards for people I'm working with now. I prefer to splay my rolodex in seemingly random fashion out across my desk. This allows for quick visual access, as well as displaying as the plumage of a fine bird for all to see the breadth and quality of my professional contacts

4)Lots of notes that need to be turned into meeting minutes (my secretary is being such a slacker lately)

5)some sketches and various pencils and penz (sometimes I like to stack my writing utensils all on end - not today tho - too busy and I might knock them over with my vigourous typing. I type with two fingers and I really strike the keys with some force)

6)phone - my extension is #"I'm pretending not to be here"

7) new widescreen monitor - we all just got these. please do not touch mine with your fingers or write on it with a sharpie. Also, if you are going to place a container of butter on a frisbee and let fly, do it in a direction not toward my screen - thank you.

8)more stuff like sketches and things in a big pile - this is where the magic happens.

Methodology:

a)take a rats nest of paper and sketches

b)add random bits of lost notes, crumple, push aside,

d)work until the middle of the night on your 3rd anniversary

c)pull out hair (professionalism dictates that said hair be your own),

d)throw professionalism out the window - argue heatedly about something inconsequential

e)argue heatedly about something consequential

f)...

g)and two years later you get this: http://www.villanova.edu/nursing/building/

Thank you for taking a tour of my workspace.

When I leave this place - especially at this hour - Irun to the train beacuse this area of baltimore is quite sketchy. Joanie will atest to the fact that I have very impressive top-end speed.

Aztec Roses

When I tell Luca that it's time to go to bed, he'll try to distract me, or tell me that, "It's not good manners to say that." One way that he distracts me is to yell: "Oh no, a deer is eating your Dahlias." He's right, I am so entrenched in an epic battle with our deer over my flowers that when offered the use of a compound bow by a friend, I actually considered it for a moment. But since my ethics would then compel me to eat the deer, I defered. When Luca eats sausage he likes to pretend that he's a dinosaur and the sausages are dahlias (since we all know that dahlias are a dinosaur's favourite food). He also likes to whack my dahlia plants with a stick - but I'm not quite far enough removed from the incident to make an impartial description. He's also finding that girls (his mom) like it when he gives them a flower to put in a vase - our nieghbors would prefer that the flowers be ones picked from our garden. The starches in the tubers of these Aztec flowers were used before the invention of insulin to treat diabetes.

I love this pic of my sweet James-er.
Luca is lovin the slip n slide.

Our first attempt at Dahlia's was moderately successful. Although they are few, those that grew are spectacular.

Which is scarier? Luca in his scary mask?
Or chef Luca with crazed look in his eye?


Luca and I made this quilt together. Sewing with a 3 year old on your lap does not result in the most exact stitching. He loved it though.
Nice Hair.
Note James worried eyes. That is his expression whenever Luca comes on his radar.

Hershey Park Happy

Luca: "mommy, are you Aldi's happy?"
Joanie: "umm, sure I'm Aldi's happy, are you Aldi's happy?
Luca: "no...I'm Hershey Park Happy!"

Luca, James, and I went to Hershey Park Yesterday with my parents and Emily. Luca rode his first roller coaster...the trailblazer. That was my first roller coaster too (and nearly every other kid's from central PA). I was surprised by how much Luca loved the rides, especially because the playground toddler swings are a bit too much of a thrill for him. I think James would admit that he was partial to the milkmen show.

Enjoying the living daylights out of it

We just returned from a week at beach. Both of my boys are little brown bears (despite wearing SPF 50 and spending most of the time in the shade). Thankfully they inherited my ability to tan and will not be rivaling Jer for whitest man on the beach. We had a wonderful time. Luca got to spend some time with his great grandparents, also with his mom-mom and pap-pap, and his aunt Emmy and Uncle Tom.