In Family, Food, Geek, Home, Vacation on 11/29/2009 by adam
Here are the highlights for how we spent our all-too-brief holiday break:
- Cleared and set our dining room table with new centerpieces and a holiday theme
- Baked pie
- Brined and cooked two turkeys, one at our house, one elsewhere, as well as prepared associated trimmings
- Had delicious Thanksgiving dinner
- Went on three separate shopping outings, including an early one on Black Friday, another to buy a suit for an upcoming wedding, and yet another to Philadelphia Premium Outlets to hang out with family
- Gave Bram his first through fifth rides on bouncy cars and airplanes (totally worth $2.50)
- Cleared bookshelves and dressers in the master bedroom of various clutter
- Steam mopped the main level of our house
- Finally replaced X10 wired receiver for dining room fixture (killed many months ago by lightning)
- Sorted DVDs into binder, disposed of about 100 cases (100 more to go and our collection will be neatly organized and out of sight)
- Began planning holiday party
- Collected 3 batches of stuff we no longer wanted and left free items on curb (all taken)
- Sorted old baby clothes into lots – 0-6 months, 6-12 months, 12-18 months, 18 months-2T
- Sorted Tupperware, tossed dozens of old plastic containers kept “just in case,” prepped much unused stuff for sale
- Packed old China and other dishes for sale
- Made 5 postings to Craigslist (see clothes, Tupperware, China above; one transaction complete so far)
- Trimmed Christmas tree
- Hung up 10 pictures from various vacations and life events
- Sorted dozens of other pictures as candidates for placing in newly purchased frames
- Cleared space for Department 56 Christmas village display
- Hauled an embarrassing amount of trash to the curb
- Ran the dishwasher pretty much continuously
- Washed laundry
- Paid bills
- … and many other mundane things
I think it’s fair to say we’re not very good at relaxing, but we’re coming out of a few days off feeling good about some of the things we accomplished.
In Family, Food on 11/26/2009 by adam
Well, that’s another Thanksgiving come and gone, and I’m sad to see the celebration end.
- This was the first year I made two turkeys, brine and all, due to excessive paranoia about there not being enough leftovers. Once again, I am thankful for the magic made within a double convection oven.
- Tiffany made pumpkin pie, which I wait all year for, and there was enough of the good stuff left that we could have pumpkin pancakes on the morning of Thanksgiving.
- Bram rediscovered the deliciousness of peas, a preference he probably inherited from mommy. And, um, he’s also a hound for pie. I, uh, have no idea where that comes from.
I believe we are all sufficiently fortified for Black Friday.
In Family on 8/2/2009 by admin
For more than a little while, we’ve been taking pictures of our favorite subject using the cameras in our smartphones. It’s the most convenient way for us to capture those special, spontaneous moments, and we’ve had some good luck catching them. Maybe you think so too. Check out the snapshots of our cute kiddo!
In Family on 3/17/2009 by adam
You can’t get enough of baby preciousness, can you? We thought not. Check out Jonathan and Cari’s new edition, Anna, at http://annastories.wordpress.com/!
In Family on 2/28/2009 by adam
We’ve had this particular specimen under observation for nine months and feel it’s time to publish some of our notes on dietary predilections. We draw no conclusions from this, other than that he’s voracious. Understood that this may be of limited interest to non-specialists.
Likes:
- Sausage*
- Chicken, any form
- Pork spareribs
- Bananas, any form
- Melon, cantaloupe and honeydew
- Grapes
- Carrots, any form
- Peas, but only whole
- Green beans
- Potatoes, any form
- Pasta, any form
- Rice
- Waffles
- Soft pretzels
- Cheerios
- Simulac Alimentum formula**
Neutral:
Dislikes:
* Plaintive cries result when no more sausage is available. This may be hereditary.
** Toxic to adults
In Family, Vacation on 2/17/2009 by adam
We’re back from our all-too-brief vacation in Disneyworld. Some of the special highlights included:
- An early morning tour of Disney trains and roundhouse
- Bram’s first haircut at the Harmony Barbershop
- Breakfast at the Crystal Palace with Winne the Pooh
- A fun dinner for the grownups at Portobello
- … and Bram’s first steps!
Check out a selection of our trip photos.
In Family, Vacation on 12/9/2008 by adam
Well, we took the little guy on his first flight and he performed like a champ, which is to say that he slept most of the way to Orlando. He’s a good traveler and we had an excellent time in Disneyworld. You’ll see some great pictures here of his meetings with various Disney luminaries, but he showed absolutely no fear. Daddy and Mommy were so proud!
Disneyworld 2008 Pictures
We can’t wait to go back when he’s a little bigger and ready for some of the fun rides!
In Family on 5/25/2008 by adam
We shocked our pediatrician yesterday by telling him that our boy is consuming about 30 ounces of formula per day at this point. The average is 12-15, so the doctor exclaimed, “That’s atypical!” He seems to have no trouble eating — he gets that from daddy — and since it is, in theory, not possible to overfeed an infant, we’re counting ourselves lucky that he has such a healthy appetite and continues to gain weight. That’s 8 lbs, 5 oz on delivery, up four ounces the day after, and up to 8 lbs, 11 oz on the third day of his life. Keep going, little guy!
In Family on 5/22/2008 by adam
Please welcome Bram Dominic Preset-Hanulec, newly arrived as of Wednesday, May 21, 2008, at 1:43 a.m. He came in at 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and was 21 1/2 inches long. Check out photos of him here and look for future updates!
Note Tiffany in particular looks remarkably great in the photo taken at 3 a.m. just after having given birth. That lady’s got moxie!
(And by the way, since folks have asked, go ahead and pronounce Bram like cram, dram, or gram. That’s how we do it!)
In Family on 5/18/2008 by adam
Wow, this kid is going to have the most finished room in the house! Check out the photos of the baby’s room. We’ve been working really hard on it. Many thanks to all the folks who’ve given us gifts to populate it, to Tiffy’s parents for most of the furniture — especially her dad for repainting it! — and to Tina and Keith for their decorating/organizing and wallpaper border hanging prowess, respectively.
