Langston's First Easter

Although winter decided to pay us a return visit for the Easter holiday week, showering us with frigid rain, a day of sleet, an afternoon of hail, and multiple days of high winds, the Easter bunny braved the foul weather to deliver a delightful Easter basket to Ms. Laney Lu.

In preparation for the holiday, Laney Lu, Nana, Stormey, & Poppy made cupcakes which Langston gleefully shared with Casper, who happens to spend a lot of time around her highchair (you can guess why!). Easter Sunday was spent dying eggs and playing with Langston's new toy, a bubble blowing hippo machine which we had to pry from daddy's hands!

Stormey and I were able to share our birthdays together this year which made the aging less painful and we will be celebrating Langston Lulu's first birthday on April 16th. What a great year it has been!

The little munchkin is walking now which gives her ol' nana and poppy plenty of exercise trying to keep up with her. Her language skills are developing also which means we must filter our words before uttering those four letter nuggets which are so fun to repeat.

We will be in St. Augustine May 29th for a week, alas Laney Lu will have to remain in Salem since she's still too young to travel that distance so if you want to meet the little lady, get yourselves to Salem! In the meantime, please enjoy the latest pictures of our love bug and we hope to see you very soon.

Happy Valentines Day

Our hearts are warm this February with the sighting of crocus blooms which means Spring will arrive soon. Gloves, fuzzy scarves, and woolly hats have been relegated to the back of the closet where we hope they remain until next winter.

We discovered an indoor playground in Salem, the NW Kids Club, and with our annual membership we can take Langston Lulu as often as we like to burn off energy, hers and ours! At nearly 10 months old she is a delightful handful and keeps us entertained with her many antics, comical faces, vocal exercises, and gymnastic tumbles.

We took advantage of the nice weather the past two weekends and walked the trails in Minto Brown Park with Casper leading the way. We shared the park with two majestic bald eagles, an imposing hawk, and a multitude of honking geese.

Langston is a testament that our first four months in Salem have soared by. At 20 pounds, she has graduated from rear facing to forward facing in her car seat, and takes tottering steps all on her own. Our Friday storytime outings are more interactive with each visit as she becomes more familiar with the routines and we enjoy our lunch visit with mommy on Wednesdays while experimenting with new foods. Swim lessons began this week and will continue two nights a week for six weeks at the YMCA. We want her ocean ready for Florida!

Happy Valentine's Day to All!

WELCOMING 2010

What a joyful time! This was the first holiday season in many many years that our family celebrated the holiday season together under the same roof. Having Uncle Bill & Auntie Debbie, Uncle Ryan & Auntie Sheena, and Bill & Ryan's mother, Lori, share Langston's first Christmas with Stormey & Badi' and us made it an occasion that Langston might not remember but Nana & Poppy will never forget.

We hope 2010 will be a year of prosperity, good health, and much laughter for all of you, our dear friends.

Things We're Thankful For

We are thankful that Badi' was our chef for Thanksgiving. What a feast he prepared for Stormey, Langston, Poppy, Pat, Casper, and Sooki. The turkey was cooked to perfection, the dressing was Badi's own special recipe and demanded seconds, the garlic mashed potatoes and candied sweet potatoes were umm umm good, and the desserts were heavenly. The food was plentiful and will feed us all for a week (if we don't share with Casper & Sooki).

We missed sons Bill & Ryan at our Thanksgiving family table but we are very thankful that they are healthy, have a roof over their heads, are still employed and that we will get to spend the Christmas holiday with them, Sheena, Debbie, and Lori.
We are thankful that we were able to share Langston's first taste of Thanksgiving. She teethed on carrots and celery, gummed garlic & sweet potatoes, and after sipping daddy's coffee she demanded more of the pecan pie (yeah, that's my girl!).

We hope your Thanksgiving was as blessed as ours!

We celebrated our first Halloween with Langston Lulu and she was a great sport, very indulgent of our adolescent behavior. Stormey & Badi had a two gallon bucket of candy which we distributed to the trick or treaters and we finally doused the lights at 9:00 when the last of the candy was given away. Needless to say, trick or treating has not lost its appeal for Salemites.

Hallelujah! Dick is on the mend, walking sans crutches and once again enjoying our very fair weather in Salem as we stroll the neighborhood daily. So far we've really enjoyed the cool days and nights and the rain is really a mist to us compared to the Florida rain.

Casper loves the cooler weather, is much friskier and has improved considerably since avoiding the stairs of the St. Augustine home. He has also become friendlier, less skittish, and has bonded with Sooki, Stormey,Badi', & Langston's family pup.

We finished the painting yesterday in time for the installers to start their five day project on Tuesday. Here's hoping all goes well.

Hope everyone had a fun halloween!