Nor'Easter

Since we moved to the northeast in 2007 we have been pretty lucky with the weather, I must admit. After a few years in So Fla where we got pummeled by hurricane after hurricane, our life has been blissfully without terrifying weather events. This week saw another near miss for us. Last year we had two different weeks where monster snowstorms were supposed to pound us, but we were spared. Well, the same thing just happened. Yesterday we got an inch or two of snow while our old town in Jersey got a couple of feet in the past day or two (according to weather.com) while we are just getting wind and cold cold cold here. It has probably been two weeks since the temperature was above 35 degrees. I must say that it is getting tiring, especially trying to make sure the kids are bundled up appropriately. Speaking of bundling up, the boy and I are off to a birthday party at a mountain resort tomorrow. He is going snow tubing for the first time ever and I hope it goes well. He has been on the fence about this event, but he decided to go for it.

We had a terrific xmas here with family in and the kids eating up all the attention. It's fun to see them connect with their grandparents and uncle and aunt. It's been a good break.

What Can Brown Do for You?

So, we had a happy ending to a frustrating situation that had developed this week. We ordered a package last Wednesday thinking it would surely arrive in time. Our postal address is the school's address since all of our mail gets delivered to the main building on campus. So, the offices closed by noon on Wednesday and our package did not make its way to us until yesterday. I called and asked for a hold so we could pick up the package in a neighboring town and we got a call from the truck driver about two hours later. They were in a parking lot at a coffee and donut shop and they told me I could come meet them there to pick up my package. Much easier than figuring out a way to get to their packing facility in our nearby town. So, we have everything we are supposed to have and we did not have to run out of our way much. Nice...

Vacation Begins

At least it does for Gram and Jim. Unfortunately, the vacation started with a dental procedure for lil Gram. He had a cap placed on a tooth and had one tooth pulled. He has a follow up to put a spacer in where the tooth was pulled so that there will not be a domino effect of teeth migrating to the wrong place in his mouth. He should be sleeping, but is restless and is instead playing with his DS while I hover over him like a mama hen. We'll have a lazy day today before going to pick up the girl later on. I had prepared for a traumatic day of him fitfully sleeping while I worried about him, but he seems to be a tougher hombre than I thought he was. We had a lovely weekend of holiday parties and have family coming to visit in the next few days.

More later...

Chilly Evening

So I promised Gram that I'd post an image for him after he saw the Wiggles picture on the desktop. The temp here is expected to dip to around 10 with wind chills near zero. That's TOO cold for this Florida bred boy. The wind is swirling but we are not getting much snow. We had some light flurries but there is no danger of a snow day yet. We have only four days left so I would appreciate being able to have them all to take care of business here as we wind down. Looking forward to the break - not that I'll get to sleep in much - but the rest will be good. We've got family traveling in and I think that this will be a fun Xmas for the boy and the girl.

Wiggly Wintertime

So Mo has been bitten by The Wiggles bug and they are now a fairly constant part of our lives again. Luckily, Gram has been VERY patient with this and has even decided that they are pretty amusing sometimes. We had a few days in a row where the temperature did not exceed 35 or so, but we should have relative warmth today where the temp may approach my age.

Wintertime in the Valley

A couple of photos of the kids from warmer days. A lazy, quiet thanksgiving break where we were the only ones in the dorm for a few days. We had a lovely pot luck at the UU church on T-Day. We made one dish, sampled many, and only had a few dishes to clean. That morning it snowed for awhile and it snowed again on Saturday. We are back to our regular hectic schedule now but I hope to be able to carve out some time on Monday evenings while I am on duty to keep this site updated.

Life Gets in the Way

So....

Let's see, since the last post, what has happened in our lives?

Let's do this as a list

A) Moving day - Truck shows up. Wife and son and cats and fish head off to our new NEPA home.
B) Still moving day - Foreman tells me that the truck will not hold all of our stuff. Little girl and I will have to find a place to stay so that we can meet another truck the next day.
C) Still moving day - Wife and son arrive, party to welcome us all starts to warm up. Moving truck finally arrives hours after it should have. Wife misses party. Girl and I miss party because we are still at old town. We have a lovely time with friends, but still...
D) Girl starts new day care, boy is making friends and is hardly ever in the house. New neighbors and co-workers seem pretty terrific
E) Girl gets ill and we end up in the emergency room as she suffers from what they call bronchial spasms. Pretty scary and pretty expensive since we are between insurance plans at this point.
F) Getting settled in and starting to work. One week down and the kids seem pretty impressive so far. There is a WIDE range of talent at the school and this adds to the sense of diversity here. We've got kids from all over the world, we've got post grads and teachers with years and years of experience. I've got a pretty good feeling about the place so far.
G) Girl continues to struggle with pretty bad coughing so the wife and I are getting very little sleep
H) My first full weekend includes dorm duty. Check ins at dinner and at 11 or 11:30 with a 12:30 quiet time warning for all. 82 boys to keep track of. First night felt very stressful, second night is much less so.

Visual Evidence of Vacations

The photos here are of the boy at Venice Beach and him chilling with his uncle while in CA. More on the way...

Our Last Week Here and thoughts on LA

So, next Friday at this time our house will be a whirlwind of moving activity. The movers are due around 9 AM. We are in our last stages of packing, I did the CDs and the Lps and now the house is looking less like a home and more like simply a clutter zone. Balancing the kids at home with errands and packing has been tough with quite a few one parent errands with the kids while the other gets some work done.

So, thinking back on the LA trip which was too long in the making, I have a few reactions. My brother has long commented on the weather there which was pretty remarkable. Although we were there at the end of June, we never got hot. Cool mornings turned into warm afternoons which turned into chilly evenings. I was unprepared to be cold and did not dress appropriately for hanging out in the backyard with the Prof and the Geek. The boy slept well so I had some peaceful morning time with the paper, the Prof and some coffee before heading out on any adventures. Some highlights: Griffith Observatory was beautiful and we spent a great deal of time there, we visited Travel Town first which was fun, Venice Beach was overcast and cool (my kind of beach day!), we ate at some fun restaurants, a great morning wandering around downtown Claremont and visiting a fine music store where I finally replaced my old ECM Steve Reich Music for 18 Musicians. Some lowlights; TRAFFIC, and far too much driving for my taste. I've been spoiled since leaving FLA and I now rarely have to be in the car for any length of time. I get grumpy being in a car too long and had to placate the boy by giving him FAR too much time with his DS while we drove and drove and drove.

Photos and FLA trip comments soon.

Oh, Yeah

Another 'highlight' of the vacation is that I decided to take a swim with my cell phone in my pocket. The phone, apparently, does not like this. It has now been five days since I have been able to turn on the phone so many numbers are hidden away in an electronic abyss right now.


sigh

This might, however, be the motivation we need to break our phone contract and upgrade our phones. We'll see shortly after we move.

What a Month

Wow, it's been too too long since I have checked in here. Since I last wrote (the previous post was from my sweetie!) I have traveled across the country with my boy to LA to visit pals and my brother, I traveled down to FLA to see family and friends and visit Gainesville for the first time since moving out of the state, and spent a terrific week in between at an AP Stats workshop in Manhattan for a week.

Details will drip in (as well as photos) over the course of the week here as we pack and get ready for our big move to PA.

LA highlights include a wonderful day at the Griffith Observatory with our pals the Professor and the Geek (self admitted, by the way) where my boy learned abour Giffith j Griffith the mogul who gave the city of LA the property on which the observatory sits. The boy is amused by the story of the man with the same first and last name. He was also impressed by the mess at my brother's in home office and the state of the office of my host friend the Geek. Boy had remarked that he had never seen such a messy room before. I think he was jealous since he does not get to let his room decay into such a state.

More details soon...

Summer, on.

So it is definitely summer time here and the heat is high. Yesterday there was a power failure across our area, which is not a good thing when it is in the 90s. Fortunately, we were booked for a Fourth of July party (on the fifth of July) at our friends Michele and Sunil's house. It was a nice cook out and we sat out on their paved driveway which was well shaded and had a nice cross breeze. Mo devoured about half of a watermelon. Power returned around 5:30 pm which was about 1 minute before Jim made the call to book a hotel room somewhere that still had power.

Other fourth news: we watched the NYC fireworks Sunday night from the comfort of our livingroom (via television broadcast) and we listened to/saw the summit fireworks last night from same livingroom.

Daddy's Day 2010

So I was able to sleep until 7 AM this morning which felt like a ridiculous luxury. Mo, as usual, was up at 5 but Beth took her downstairs so I could snooze a bit more. We had a nice walk downtown and a terrific buffet lunch before I headed out to a bookstore with the Gram and Mo.

For our Friday night pizza movie night this week our tour through Hogwarts was derailed by a mail delay, so Gram selected Fantastic Mr. Fox from our on demand service. What an incredible film! Gram was completely bowled over (as were Beth and I) so when we went to the store for me to trade in a gift of a book I already have (the amazing Godel, Escher, and Bach bu Douglas Hofstadter) I got this film as a trade in. I'm ordering a book to replace it with the generous gift card I got from my department as a going away gift. Anyway, I am happy for this to be the start of our Wes Anderson collection at home. There are so many terrific little details in the film, I know we'll see it over and over with Gram in the house and I hope Mo inherits some of the same sense of humor to appreciate it.

Tomorrow we head back to the valley for Beth to re-interview with the school. I think we'll be a full-on campus family in the fall.

Family Fun

Mo Walking

Mo Moving, More Movies

She's Walking!

So last night I sent Jim out to buy a flip camera because 1) Maureen is walking--1-2 steps at a time, but walking nevertheless 2) our video camera that we bought before Gram was born is suddenly not working 3) said older camera does not function with the modern world--you have to transfer it to vhs tapes for god's sake!

Normally we would spend a bit more time studying up on our electronic purchase before we purchase...but I figured time was of the essense here. So, though she is not walking in the previous clip that Jim set up this morning, it was our first attempt to play with the new flip camera (which was ready to go right out of the box--even came with batteries!) and upload to the blog. I hope now we will be able to easily and quickly share important moments like first steps with our friends and family far and wide. Our early report on the flip? it is awesome!

Eventually we will take all the tapes we have of Gram (and early Mo) from the other camera and pay the serious $$ it will cost to transfer them to dvd or whatever format is in use so that those memories can be shared and returned to often.

Trying Something New

Good News and Closing in on an End

So we found out yesterday that we will be getting the bigger of our dorm apartment options for next year. That is good news for us as we will be able to keep our lovely dining room furniture set as part of our day to day life. I imagine that it will be homework central for me and the boy (and eventually our little miss) after dinnertime most evenings. We are down to our final week and a half here at school and I am expending a great deal of energy to try and keep myself focused.

We are experiencing our usual May chill here as well. We had a week of warm weather that sent me scrambling one night at 11 PM to install our window AC units. Now we are getting temps in the 40s and 50s at night again. There is a beautiful chill in the evening, but I must admit that I am longing for warmth to finally seep in a bit. We have had a few wonderful afternoons and I had a lovely picnic (unfortunately it was of drive through food) with the kids out in the lawn.

More photos soon as we get our digital life organized. Speaking of which, we are thinking of making the plunge to get an iPad. We went and played with one at a recent Apple shop and it was a treat to interact with it. Just debating the cost of it all...

Beginning of May the end of a school year nears

It is getting harder and harder for me to stay as focused as I want to be right now. In addition to thinking about the new job, I have two of my classes taking their AP tests tomorrow morning, so they are pretty much done at this point. Mo is on the verge of walking already. She pulls herself up pretty regularly at this point and her balance is pretty terrific. Gram is taking a Tae Kwon Do class at the Y and he is loving it. He has already declared that he wants to stay in this class for a long time. I will be teaching AP Stats for the first time next year and after scouting out some options it looks like I will be taking a workshop course in the city this summer so I don't have to fly and be away from everyone for a week. There were some tempting sites like Austin and Athens, but it is certainly nice not to have to be away for a whole week. A recent photo of Mo after having pulled herself up is included today.

Road Trip/Update/Great Memory

So, the boy and I are on a quick adventure. He is visiting our new school today to hang out in the first grade and take admission tests. We left in the afternoon and stayed in a hotel so we would not have to drive twice in the same day. He has been concerned for some reason with the idea that he might not live with us some day and has been asking if he could live with us forever. Last night we had this convo again and I tried to assure him that he will probably want to move on his own when he is 18 or so, but I told him that he could always come and visit. He thought about this while playing with his new Lego kit. He looked up and said that he would want to visit every Friday so we could still have our family pizza movie night. Pretty sweet.

Less than a month after she started crawling we have a little girl who is pulling up on every piece of furniture we have and standing (even if only for a second or two) on her own. She is intoxicated with her sense of freedom and this, too, is pretty sweet. Fun stuff.

Rite of Passage

Well, we finally had our first emergency room visit with the kids. Mo has a double ear infection and had a terrible reaction on Saturday night. We think it was her antibiotic. She was pretty upset in her crib and Beth went to check on her around 9 PM. Her face was swollen and her eyes were nearly shut. She had hives all over her body. Pretty spooky stuff. Luckily, she was breathing fine and she was even smiling at the nurses and the doctor in the ER. Some prednisone, some benadryl, and some sleep put her back in decent shape. The past couple of nights have been rough as her whole schedule is out of sorts. Last night I was up with her from 2:15 - 4 AM and I am beginning to feel the effects of the lack of sleep that I am feeling. Luckily, my mom and dad are here so Gram did not have to go to the ER with us.

Triumph

Mo started crawling, forward, on Monday. She is pretty pleased with herself and we are now in a new era of being vigilant. No longer can we just put her down on the floor for a minute while running to get coffee from another room or to run to the bathroom. We have to monitor rooms in a way that we haven't for about four years. We also have steps, so that will be an issue soon.

Finally Photos

So, I just finally uploaded the software to communicate with my camera to my old laptop. Our desktop computer finally gave up and I doubt that I will pay to repair it at this point. Over the next few days I'll be posting some photos from the past few weeks.

PA Bound

Well, the job search is finally over. After about two months of emails, web searches on school sites, realtor searches, and a great deal of anxiety we have finally decided on our new home. We will be moving northeastern Pennsylvania and we will become a boarding school family. We'll live in a boys dorm on a campus that is filled with kids on the campus. I am pretty happy about the whole process, but mostly I am glad it is over. I visited three schools and received three offers, so I feel like I did a pretty good job of selling myself. Beth was interviewed as well and there is a possibility that she will be working in the development office of the school. It seems like a pretty idyllic family setting for us. I met so many people at the school who have been there for more than 15 years and quite a number of them have been there longer than twenty years. I have to think that this is a pretty good sign of the work environment there. We have many things to figure out in the near future here, but the biggest item to figure out is now off the table. We know where we will be in August.

Spring?

I am on spring break now for 16 days. I normally do not actually enjoy this long a break in the school year because I know how hard it is to regain momentum when we return. But, with all that has been going on, I am happy to rest for awhile. The weather is turning pleasant and Beth heard birds outside one morning this week. Perhaps the fact that I bought Gram a new (new to us, used from a consignment store) snowsuit about fifteen days ago helped spur on the nice weather.

We are all going to visit a school together tomorrow, this whole job search thing may end soon.

Busy Times

I am one day away from a 16 day spring break right now. Normally, my excitement about spring break is somewhat tempered as I actually like the rhythm of my work life. This year, however, with the addition of Mo, Gram being in school full days and my job search in addition to my regular job, I am pretty happy to be about 18 hours from my break. I've been doing a great deal of traveling (at least by my normal standards) and it's taking its toll. I revisited a school today and had a great day there. I got to teach a class and work with a Smart Board for the first time. They are pretty cool instruments, I must say. Next week I have another revisit planned. One of the things that is easing the sting of this whole move is how chipper Gram has been about the whole business. He is excited when we go on weekend jaunts to check out prospective towns and he is already excited about the new friends he is going to make. I sure hope he holds on to this positive attitude for a good long time. He has been rating prospective homes by the pizza in the area. He's got his priorities pretty clearly aligned at this point...

Finally - A New Photo

A recent photo of Mo. I'll upload my photo software again soon

New Adventures

Well, most of the past month has been consumed by the search for a new adventure in our lives. We found out last month that we will be moving on. My relationship with my school has not worked out the way I had hoped so we're on a job search now. When Gram and I went to Boston, I interviewed with a number of schools and I have been visiting campuses over the past two weeks. I have had three on campus interviews and I have another one scheduled this week. In addition, I have a conference call coming up this week as well. This whole process is flattering, exciting, scary, and exhausting. We hope to have some idea of where we will be before too long. We took an impromptu trip last weekend to visit one campus and may do the same this weekend as well.

Mo is beginning to crawl, unfortunately she only moves backward so far. She gets pretty mad as she moves farther and farther away from her target. Gram continues to be a fantastic big brother and we are so thrilled at the way he cares for her.

We're Stil Here

It's been far too long since I took the time to write. I did not anticipate how hectic life would feel when we all settled back to work. Between Gram's school and afterschool schedule, Beth's work and annual campaign drive, Mo heading to daycare, and me being back at work and tutoring in the evenings, we have had a VERY busy life. I should take a few minutes here and there to write...

Today Mo and Gram and I will be home bound pretty much all day. We are getting a genuine snow storm here. Last weekend there were rumors of a foot of snow and we got about three inches. This time it is the real deal with snow seriously piling up on us overnight. It is supposed to snow throughout the day today. Schools were closed and so is Mo's day care, so I am on daddy duty today.

Gram and I are due to drive to Boston tomorrow around lunchtime, so I hope this does not interfere with those plans as I have a conference to be at first thing Friday morning. We'll be staying at Woogie and Tara's house and they invited Gram to join in the fun so he can play with his pal Grant while I am at work.

Mo is sleeping through the night more than half of the time these days which is a pretty glorious change in our lives. She comes home tired from day care and she is eating rice cereal and oatmeals now to fill her belly. The next big stage for us is to move her crib to our guest room since Beth and I are sleeping on a mattress on the floor in the guest room. Mo was waking up whenever she heard the bed creak at all. It's been quite some time since I woke up in my own bed in the morning.

Our main computer at home is in need of some serious repair so we do not have new photos loaded anywhere. I need to load the software to another computer to transfer some photos for updates. Gram hasn't changed much in a month but Mo sure has.

Big Week

So, this week was the first time in our lives that all four of us had to get out of the house every morning. The good news for the week:

A) Mo LOVES her day care. She does not cry in the morning, she is happy when we get her in the afternoon and she is sleeping better (a bit)
B) Mo is now eating semi-solid food. On new year's day she had her first rice cereal and she is eating that every day now in addition to bottles and breast feeding. Yesterday we introduced some pear and she seemed pretty pleased.
C) Mo has a tooth! One of her bottom teeth broke through overnight.
D) I remembered all of my students' names and remembered the appropriate math.

I've been tired this week. A different kind of tired than what I was experiencing the last seven weeks. We had another rousing game of Mouse Trap last night and, once again, I was the first one caught. This time Beth won and Gram had a tough time with that. He's got some learning to do when it comes to dealing with disappointments in his life. sigh...

Family Traditions

So, Beth has been pretty intent on us starting some traditions of our own and the two that have taken root thus far are Pizza and Movie night on Fridays and family game night on Saturdays. Gram gets to choose the movie on Fridays which is rather unfortunate for us. We have seen the Garfield movie recently, a Sonic video, and, last night, we were subjected to Kirby (an extremely odd pink blobby character that does not talk and whose primary 'power' is the ability to inhale everything in sight.) It is beyond description, really. We just finished playing the game Mouse Trap which Gram chose at a cute little toyshop on a recent family outing. He was so geared up as the machine was being built during the game and he trapped Beth first. Then he and I ran around the loop repeatedly before he caught me. He jumped in the air yelling 'VICTORY' as the trap came down on me. I suspect that he'll have some pretty happy dreams tonight.

Gram's Excellent Bowling Adventure

Our friend Richard sent the following highlights from the bowling adventure yesterday.