It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Lucky us. We were here for the biggest December snow storm in Philadelphia since the late 1800's. We got around 21" in two days. Because it happened on a weekend, only church got canceled. On Saturday, we spent the day shoveling the walk, building a snow fort, and sledding. All in all, we were outside for 5 hours or so. We were pooped, but it was worth it.

The 3 eskimousketeers.

Funny photo op

Jenny and I ran to the ACME to get a few groceries. After circling the lot once and finding no spots, we decided to go park on the side street near the parking lot entrance. When we came back we noticed a car that seemed to be making a commentary on Jenny's current condition.

Ta-Das from Tab

And for my next act, I will make a crown grow on the side of my head!

Overheard

Eliza getting excited about a Christmas special on TV:
"Oh yeah, I love the one with Mr. Screwdriver!"
(referring to Disney's version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol)

A #2 Day

This past Wednesday, Tabetha made great progress in her potty training efforts. She pooped in the little training potty for the very first time. We were all very proud of her, almost as proud as she was of herself. That day I was also unceremoniously dumped from my job due to a knee-jerk (I forget, is the phonetic emphasis on the knee or the jerk?) reaction of one of the partners in spiteful opposition to the wishes of my direct supervisors, one of whom was the other full partner in the business. That is the super short version sparing many a detail. All in all, it was a #2 kind of day.

Look who's a big girl now!

Gobble gobble

We had a great time over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. We drove up to Hellertown to spend a few days with John-David, Kathryn and the cousins. JD was at the hospital all day Thursday, so we spent that time getting all our food ready. There was a lot to do. But as you can see, we got it done.


Of course, most of the work went into dessert:

Apple, banana cream, pumpkin, and orange-kissed coconut cream pies.
Plus sweet potatoe souffle, hot chocolate, and lots of whip cream. Yum.

With all the food to prepare and eat, somehow we still found time to go to the park for 20 minutes (there was a bitter cold wind blowing), play in the leaves, do some shopping, and watching the "lights" come on in the Hellertown town square to welcome Santa on a firetruck.
All in all, a great weekend to be with family. We kept the family tradition of using candy corns to help us count our blessings. We each got 3, but I could have gone through a whole bag. I don't really like candy corns all that much, but I know we've got that many things we have reason to be thankful for.

Tabetha had no problem playing pirate with a non-girl cousin.

Jackson, Eliza, Eve, Jocy, Itchy, and Scratchy

Habits aren't inherited, are they?

Yesterday I was sitting on the couch with Eliza reading a story. When I turn to ask her a question about what was happening, I catch her chewing on her big TOEnail. Someday we'll look back and laugh. Someday.
(notice the absence of a picture with this post)

Halloween Haul

Behold, the trick-or-treater's spoils:

It'll be gone before Thanksgiving. Dad will make sure of it.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

BOO!!

Jenny turns 3_ !

To celebrate Jenny's birthday (Oct. 5th in case you didn't know) we all went out to a Hibachi-style steakhouse. It was just as entertaining as it was delicious. Tabetha only cried the first time there was a fiery flare up. We might have to do this again.

And for dessert, a Hazelnut cake from Philly's best bakery.
(It might take a few more weeks, but I have a feeling Jenny is going to get her wish.)

A new strategy

Ok, instead of continuing to fall further and further behind, we're going to try something new. Since most posts usually contain a picture or video, we'll let the pictures do the talking and maybe post a line or two. Hopefully that way, the blog will get updated more regularly. Let's try it now.

Going back a few weeks here, we went to Durham, N.C. to visit cousins for a few days, and to be present at our new niece's baby blessing. We had a blast.

Crazy Cousin's Island found on a hike near the river.

Bubble, bubble, boil and TROUBLE!
Eliza, Eve, Saren and Kenzie stirring up something at the children's museum.

At the kid's museum, they had a lot of interactive stuff.
The music by motion was the biggest hit.

All fall down!!!

We've got a lot of blogging back log to catch up with. But this should entertain all who visit here for a while. This was at a Ward going away party for our Bishop, Bishop Lake and his family. They've moved to Brooklyn Center, Minnesota- a suburb of Minneapolis. And we wish we could have gone with them. We miss it! It was at this party where Tabetha provided the unscheduled entertainment.

Overheard at the Black's house

Eliza had to gather up the girls' dirty clothes and bring them downstairs to Jenny.
Her response?

"I wish I didn't even have to touch underwear!"

First of many iPhone moments

I finally gave in and got an iPhone. Not cheap, but at the same time, the ability to capture moments like this is priceless:

Tabetha picks a random book off the library shelves.
The title says it all.

Home Invasion

We had a long day at church on Sunday. When we finally got home, it was almost 5 p.m. Eliza was the first one in the house. She kept saying something with a lot of excitement/anxiety in her voice. After the 4th or 5th time, we finally understood what she was saying.
"THERE'S A SQUIRREL IN THE HOUSE!"
I went in to investigate. Sure enough, there it was- scrambling all over our kitchen table, up onto our makeshift pantry, down on the A/C unit in our window and all over the place.
I was too busy trying to put together a plan to get the squirrel out to remember to take pictures, but I'm pretty sure this was him:



It took a while, but we finally got it out of the house. We're going to be much more careful with the way we ventilate the house with open windows from now on.

1 down 9 to go!

Today I had my first of 10 weekly ultrasounds! I was exposed to and contracted Parvovirus (aka Fifth disease) a few weeks ago. There is a small risk that the baby will get it too. So..... I get to see baby once a week for a few weeks. The technician only had a guess of the sex of the baby today. We will keep you waiting until it is confirmed! Until then here is a picture of Baby Black #4!

Growing up too fast.

The toothfairy has a new customer at our house. Mom yanked it out. It turned out to be worth it in the end.

Eliza proudly shows off the empty spot in her smile.

Feeling defeeted

So the health related update we promised in the previous post has been a long time coming. And now, it's already over. But none too soon. Nothing like dealing with 1st trimester queasiness, 3 energetic kids, and a husband that's at work all hours of the night with this:



That's right. Jenny had to have a walking cast on her foot for nearly 6 weeks. Boy was that fun!

One Flu Over Our Coo-coo Nest

Overall, we've been blessed with generally good health for a long time. Well, the law of averages has caught up to us. We caught a stomach flu that's been going around our neighborhood. It started with Eliza on Thursday, then it finally hit me on Monday night. Then it hit Eve and Tabetha in quick succession. Now it's Jenny's turn. It's no fun, but at least it seems to pass through the system quickly. We have another health related update that will include pictures. For this post however, pictures are available upon request only.

May

Hula dancing at the ward party.....

What a relief to get out of the city and take a hike!  We are slowly finding the good parts of PA!!

A secret garden

Strawberry picking!  

Strawberry feasting!

What a fantastic day!

Teeing Off

Weeks are flying by like days. Before it's over we thought we should share some action packed moments from the girls' first T-Ball season.

How do you start a t-ball season? With a parade of course!

Before a single pitch wasn't thrown, it was time for lunch.
GETCH YA HOT-DOGS, RRRRED HOT HOT DOGS
RIGHT HEEEEERE

Eliza practices keeping her eye on the ball.

That's the look of a .750 batter with 3 RBI's in her first game.

Eliza gets the finer points on how to turn a double-play.
Or at least how not sit down and pick grass.

"I caught a ball thiiiiiiis big!"

We love to see the Temple.

Last Saturday, we all piled in the van and headed 2 1/2 hours south to Washington D.C. to participate in our Stake Temple Day. We had unseasonably warm weather and the kids enjoyed the visit almost as much as mom & dad.

Families can be together when a passerby can take their photo instead of dad.

Eve & Eliza on the steps of the Temple

Touching the Temple.

A hot car was the last (here comes an Opa pun) straw.

No more debts!

About 6 weeks ago I attended our ward's service auction.  I donated some mending and a baby size quilt.  Last week I cuffed 2 pairs of pants ( the mending).  This week I finished this quilt for a ward member's new nephew!  It feels so good to be out of debt.  

My first pieced back!

Flashback

I've been cynical about the value of Facebook participation all along. I no longer doubt its worth. A girl Jenny and I both knew at Olympus posted the following picture on her wall the other day:

Apparently purple was a hot color in '92?

It's Always Fun

When Grandma comes, when Grandma comes Hooray!
We had a fun visit with Grandma Myra last week. As usual,
she spoiled the kids, and Jenny. But she's just doin' her job.
Thanks Grandma! We love you!

Grandma's Golden Girls

I'm Old

And I'm not Lion.

Thanks to Jenny and Eve for decorating.

Boston rules.

Boston NBC Affiliate WHDH Balks at Leno

Stations are concerned that NBC is throwing in the towel on prime time -- and robbing them of strong local-news lead-ins

April 3, 2009

-By Katy Bachman, Mediaweek

Some NBC affiliates question Leno's move to prime time.

NEW YORK WHDH, Sunbeam Television's NBC affiliate in Boston, won't air Jay Leno's show when it moves to 10 p.m. this fall.

Instead, according to several reports, the station will air an hour-long local newscast to go head to head with WFXT, Fox's owned-and-operated station, followed by WHDH's current half-hour local newscast at 11 p.m.

Since NBC decided to move Leno to prime time, affiliates have expressed concern that NBC might be throwing in the towel on that viewing period at the expense of a strong lead-in for their affiliates' local news.

Recently, the NBC affiliates board decided to launch a study to figure out how Leno at 10 p.m. could be formatted to drive viewers to the local newscasts.

But that apparently isn't enough for WHDH. "We don't think the Leno show is going to be effective in prime time," said Ed Ansin, owner of Sunbeam, quoted in The Boston Globe. "It will be detrimental to our 11 p.m. newscast. It will be very adverse to our finances."

NBC is not pleased.

"WHDH's move is a flagrant violation of the terms of their contract with NBC," said John Eck, president of NBC TV, in a statement. "If they persist, we will strip WHDH of its NBC affiliation. We have a number of other strong options in the Boston market, including using our existing broadcast license to launch an NBC owned-and-operated station."

To do that, NBC would need to switch WNEU from a Telemundo owned-and-operated station to an NBC O&O.

12 Years Ago Today....

Jenny and I were speeding to the Salt Lake Temple on our way to get married.



Of course I forgot something and had to turn around, go back home, and then drive with my bride-to-be with my new mother-in-law Myra who was no doubt worried about the future physical safety of her daughter as I pushed the speedometer past 80 in a car that shook after 55. The Heavens smiled upon us that early Spring day. We had unseasonably gorgeous weather, the tulips were in bloom, and the love of family and friends. We've had a lot of great experiences together since that morning. Here's a few of my favorites:

12 Great Memories of our married life. (in no particular order)

1. Our FREE vacation to Thailand where we saw things we’ve never seen, and learned to love a new kind of food.

2. The 3 times we’ve had to be apart for school/work, and the subsequent sweet reunions.

3. The time when I almost didn’t make it back to Minnesota to see the birth of our first child.

4. On the way to a camping trip when the hood of our old ’87 Jetta flipped open and smashed into the windshield, and the UHP laughed at us.

5. Camping with our family and Stuart & Lanea’s family in Devil’s Lake, WI in a huge storm that threatened our lives.

6. After a much-needed date night, walking out of a theater to find our car had been towed.

7. When we had our own Thanksgiving dinner in Minnesota, invited some friends over and played charades. And our couch almost got busted.

8. House-sitting in other people’s dream homes. The Andersons. The Jensens. Someday.

9. Speaking at a memorial service for a friend’s infant daughter. Difficult, humbling, but powerful growing experience for both of us.

10. Millcreek Canyon adventures with friends and family. We battled raccoons, rode trails, built fires, and borrowed more than a few matches and plates from fellow picnic-ers.

11. The Blacks car dealership .Let’s see….Jetta, Audi 4000, Subaru, Subaru, Dodge Dakota, VW Eurovan, Mazda Protégé, Ford Windstar, Ford Focus ZX3, Mazdaspeed3…………… what’s next?

12. The time we were in Las Vegas with some friends and took a very expensive cab ride to avoid walking in the 117 degree heat.

13. (this is a baker’s dozen of course) All the great stuff we’ve won as a lucky couple. Money off the radio, costume contests, and a 40” LCD TV to name a few.