A Fun Weekend!

Thanks Grandma & Grandpa Valentine for coming up to visit us in New York this weekend! We had a great time, Jake had a great time, and we all got some great food too! :)

Grandma & Grandpa, Mema & Papa, Uncle Greg, Ralphie, Jake and I got together at Augies in Larchmont - soooo yummy! They have a strolling accordianist, those great red and white checkered tablecloths, and the food is so aunthentic Italian. So. Dang. Yummy.

I didn't have much battery left on the point and shoot camera, and the pictures I got of everyone at the table weren't all that fabulous, so here are a few of Jake and Grandma. (I was thinking of adding the video, but according to the poll, y'all prefer pictures of Jake, so here ya go...)

For my little friend Noah

I can't believe it's been a year since Noah Steven passed. His mom Adrienne has taught me so much about love and faith and the Lord in this year. This was the least I could do to honor his memory. I hope my ponytail, and all the other ponytails donated in Noah's memory today, will help benefit some needy children.


Feel free to comment with a link to your own post if you were part of this today.

UPDATED: Here is a link to a video and the transcript of it, that shows Ade and her friends donating their ponytails to honor Noah.

Time to Phase out the Noggin

I think Jake was becoming a little too TV obsessed in 2007. This is a picture of him watching Noggin on New Year's Eve Day. He didn't even look up to see me shooting pictures of him! Recently, I've been just putting on the radio in his room while we play, but he still insists on turning on the TV from the moment he wakes up "Doot-doot! Doot-doot! Doooooo-dooooooooooot!" (His word for TV)


Doesn't he look like a tiny little grown-up man??

More videos

These videos were shot on my new Flip video camera, aka, the coolest thing in the world.

This is from the other night, we were at my in-laws eating some dessert and Jake was blabbering on and on. When I got back from my trip to Florida, he seemed to be talking non-stop! It is so adorable. Just yesterday, he learned to say "orange juice" and "olive oil." Sort of. He loves, for whatever reason, to say "Bobby" over and over. Aunt Laura's friend Bobby is home from college and taught Jake to say his name. It's hilarious - he says it 47 times a day.



Here are two other videos from Jake at my in-laws. They had company over around New Years, and Jake was dancing for all of us, although group participation was strongly encouraged....



Then, he was showing off his new kissing techniques, as well as how to throw yourself on the floor...

Over the river and through the woods...

One of the coolest things I got for Christmas was a really neat little video recorder from my brother-in-law Greg and my sister-in-law Laura. It was one of those presents that you are totally surprised by when you open the box and think, 'how did I ever live without this?!' They knew the previous video recorder was painful to watch - as do you faithful blog readers ;)

So here is one of the first videos I shot, in the car on the way up to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas.



Grandma and Grandpa are coming to visit this weekend, so we'll have to get some video of them too! :)

Where are we now??

I've been missing! I'm so sorry for the lack of updates! You can catch up on my adventures here. I promise there is some great stuff (pictures AND video) coming very, very soon!

More Christmas

Better late than never.... Just came across the CF card that had the images from Christmas morning.


We had a full house!


Jake tries on yet another pair of shoes....


Turns out I can bake and decorate too!*


*Thanks to pre-mixed, already rolled-out sugar cookies from a box at the super market. At least I can make the cookies look pretty!