Lots of snow!

To start off the ski season, we just received around 15 inches of snow this past Sunday!  This goes on top of our 6 inches we got several days before.  Winter is officially here!  The dogs are finding their way around in it, but it does help when we blaze a trail for them.  The forecast says snow and mix to possibly rain for Christmas Eve, so we made sure to shovel off the roof before it hardens down and adds to chance of getting ice dams on the edges.  

Hadley is doing well and is wanting to move all the time.  She doesn't just sit and play anymore.  She would rather crawl somewhere, pull up, and play while standing.  She is starting to try and imitate words such as "hot" and "please" and has even figured out the sign language for "more"!  Just like her dad, she uses that when she eats.  

Ahhhhh, music.

Love this song...

and this one...

Hadley's Baptism

We had a very special day this past Sunday as Hadley was baptized at the First United Presbyterian Church in DuBois, PA.  We were lucky to have Pastor Al Wilson travel over from State College to perform the baptism.  (Al also helped perform our wedding cermony.)  Jess's parents, Jim and Ellen, made the trek down from Maine also to be at the baptism.  Hadley did a great job through the whole service!

During our stay here, Hadley is using my mom's highchair from when she was a baby!  They sure don't make 'em like they used to...

Sam "Papa" Reeves

A picture says a thousand words but a table says a thousand more. Whether it's a dinner table from my childhood or a meat cutting table inherited from my great grandpa(above), life's stories are written into its surfaces.

Looking backward...

It's always fun to flip through old pictures and here are a few that stuck out to me today.  This first one is a classic.  What I love about it so much is the fact that my car has the number "5" on it.  That number has always been my number in soccer and now I know why.  Second, the looks on both our faces gives you a taste of brotherly competition.  Pete's just plain ol' excited to drive a go cart while I'm ready to do anything to make sure I beat him to the finish line.  Finally, that was my favorite shirt back then...it says "Slam Duck" and has a duck in a basketball hoop.

Next up is a pic from August of 2002, if the date on the picture is correct.  This is just before we all went to a PSU game with a lot of the Bordner side of the family.  Can you believe that was over 6 years ago?  We look so young...

The last one I'm posting is from RMBL in Gothic, Colorado.   It's even harder to believe that this picture was taken during the summer of 1999...9 years ago.  That summer, Jeff Woz and I spent 2 months out there studying at the bio lab earning 8 credits towards our Allegheny undergraduate degrees.  We did tons of MTBing and met some really cool people - one of which may be moving to Portland...Doug.  What a wonderful summer it was...

Newton

If you haven't checked him out yet, give Newton Faulkner a listen.  He's got a rhythmic guitar style that I love and I can see him putting out even more great albums in the future.  I got his album about a month ago and it is the most listened to schtuff on my iPod.  Check him out... http://www.newtonfaulkner.com/gb/home/

A monkey, a chicken and yoda walk into a bar . . .

Okay, so not even kind of close but the picture is just too funny. Hadley celebrated her first Halloween as monkey in a costume that Grandma Smith made for her. We headed into Portland to the McMahon's house (parents of Finn the chicken) and we watched the West End Shoestring Theater Parade. It was a perfect, suprisingly mild Maine night for watching the parade and Hadley was mesmerized by all of the excitement. We saw goblins on stilts, super-dogs and huge skeleton puppets . All in all, it was a spook-tacular first Halloween for Hadley!

Trick or Treat?

Hadley is getting bigger and more curious everyday. She climbs all over us and anything else that is in her way. We expect her to start crawling any day now. She has also finally seemed to take a real interest in eating different foods. So far sweet potatoes seem to be the biggest hit. She also loves her oatmeal and applesauce. It is so much fun to feed her and she has been having fun helping me by sticking her hand in her mouth with all of the food. Needless to say, the food always ends up in her hair and up her nose by the end!

On another note, Nate finally got to watch his Steelers on TV up her in Patriot-land and of course we had to have Hadley help cheer on the team. Unfortunately the game didn't go the way we would have liked it but it must have been because the Steelers' youngest fan went to bed before the game was over. Tomorrow is Halloween and we will be headed into Portland for a haunting children's parade. We should have some great pictures to share of all the kiddos dressed up. Happy Haunting!

Fall Fun!

We have had a busy couple of weeks between work and visitors. Nate's parents came up to Maine for a quick visit this weekend. It was wonderful to see them and Hadley had a great time spending time with them. We will get to see them again soon when we head to DuBois for Thanksgiving and Hadley's baptism.

The weather has been crisp and cool and the leaves are really starting to drop. This is such a beautiful time of year in Maine, it's just too bad it doesn't last a little longer! I am afraid snow is just around the corner (there is already a chance for snow flurries this week!). Before the leaves were all down we decided to get some family pictures outside. She is at such a fun age now and is so curious about everything around her. It was hard to get her to smile for the camera because she was so interested in the leaves on the ground but we did manage to get a couple of cute shots.

Pumpkin patch and apple picking

Hadley is now 7 months old. Hard to believe, I know. Boy does time fly! She has changed a lot these past 7 months. She sits up now and rolls all over the place. She is developing quite the personality and we see more and more of it every day. She is always ready with a smile or a laugh and really has a great sense of humor.

To help celebrate these 7 months we decided to take Hadley apple picking for the first time. She wasn't quite sure what to make of everything but she had fun touching the pumpkins and the apples and just taking it all in. We had a great time enjoying the warm sunshine and crisp fall air. It was the perfect way to spend a Sunday with the family!

Happy frog...

Aren't I just too cute for words?  Yes, and especially now that I'm sleeping through the night I'm even cuter!  It should be an awesome fall weekend up her in Maine (ahhh...TGIF).  Jess, Hadley and I are planning on going to an apple orchard to pick apples and sip some hot cider tomorrow.  The days are getting cooler and there's a bit of "crispness" to the air.  I have my last game of the regular season for my men's soccer league on Sunday and with a win, we can wrap up the league title with a win and be a #1 seed going into the playoffs.   To make this weekend even better, maybe the Steelers will be broadcast up here...

“Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons.”

            - Ruth Ann Schabaker 

Just thought I'd do a quick post with a picture of Hadley in a sweater she got as a gift when she was at the hospital just after being born.  We don't want to jinx it, but Hadley has had a couple nights in a row this week where she has slept all the way through.  Whoa...we're not used to that!  We see more tired right now because we've gotten too much sleep.  It was hard to get up the past two mornings when my alarm went off because I was so deep asleep.  

Though we haven't been to the park much lately, we got Rossi and Sawyer there yesterday and the had a blast as always.  Hadley bopped along in our backpack carrier as the dogs had some fun.  Sawyer continues to love Hadley and wants to always be around her, while Rossi is somewhat indifferent about her.  Both are great with her though and Hadley certainly loves laughing at them when they get all hyped up and run around like maniacs.  

I'll leave you with this quote in a time of many promises...

“Leadership is action, not position.”

       - Donald H. McGannon

September is flyin' by...

Well, I can't believe it's almost the end of September.  I guess that's the way it goes in the teaching profession.  From Parents Night to Experiential Ed trips to homecoming - times are busy!  Hadley is spending a couple days a week with her bud Abner who comes over to be baby-sat as Staci is still coaching the girls varsity at NYA.  Jess is realizing what it would be like to have twins - not easy.  

“My father always told me, 'Find a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.'"

- Jim Fox

Back to school.

Hadley is growing like a weed!  It's been tough the past couple weeks going back to work as I became used to spending all day with my girls.  School, as it always does, comes whether you're ready or not and before you know it you're grading your first set of tests.  My 8th grade soccer team is large at 21 boys and it should be both fun and challenging, that's for sure.  

Jess's friends Amy and Lee are coming today with their two daughters all the way from Idaho to spend the week with us.  We'll have a full house!  I'm geared up for tomorrow night's Steelers vs. Browns game because we'll actually get it up here in good ol' Maine.  

“If the human mind was simple enough to understand, we'd be too simple to understand it.
                - Emerson Pugh