Two hours in Wal-Mart!

It has finally happened! Meghan is now concerned about making sure she has the coolest school supplies. So right after we picked the boys up from daycare, we headed over to Wal-Mart to get school supplies and then continue on with our regular shopping schedule. I thought we could breeze through all of the shopping. What I didn't count on was all of the thought which went into every facet of her selections.

Princess is out. That's for babies. So while it is ok for her family to know she still loves Cinderella, not a word to her school friends. Then there were several Hannah Montana backpacks to select from. Was the tote too big? Did the backpack have enough room. If that wasn't enough we had to find supplies for Mathew. He was not as picky but was upset they didn't have any Thomas merchandise. He wanted nothing to do with Batman, Spiderman or The Hulk. Surprisingly, he wanted Jonas Brother but alas, the store didn't have that either. Finally, he settled for greens and blues.

As we were checking out with our school supplies and our household supplies I looked at the clock and noticed it was 2:15! No wonder my stomach was grumbling. It was time for lunch. Grocery shopping could wait.

8 Years ago

Not much to say but my little girl is not so little anymore. Today was Meghan's birthday. Between all of the birthdays around here, I'm eating too much cake.

Our Visitors

Just after dinner this evening we had some visitors to our back yard. The whole family stopped what we were doing to watch there beautiful birds. They look like some type of hawk but we're not sure. I think these three birds are from the same brood and are staying together for the time being. We didn't see any adults around and these birds looked young. At one point a squirrel really took a gamble with its life as is scurried along on the wire directly beneath the hawk!

Happy Birthday Michah

Michah's two today. Hooray.

Lazy Summer Days

This heat is killing me. There is so much to do and it is hard to get motivated. We're getting restarted on the renovation project. We've completed a great kitchen design. Now we've got to pack up everything upstairs so the rennovations can restart. We're on our final push. Hopefully we can be done by Halloween, if not then perhaps by Thanksgiving. It will be nearly 2 years of an upset house as we've gone through the complete process.

Meanwhile, I've been busy with the studio. Almost too busy. I've started to fall behind in the work that needs to get done. No sooner than I finish one thing, than another critical project arises. E-mail, well that's a whole other story. It is relentless. I suppose it could be worse and I could have nothing to do.

Sarah and Will's Engagement Session

It was a rainy misty day. But we made the best of it. Eventually the rain let up enough for us to get some outside photos.

A Wedding Without a Camera

This weekend I went to a wedding without a camera in hand. It was a strange experience being empty handed at the wedding. The wedding I'm talking about was for my brother Rick and his new wife Karen. They were married on July 5, 2008. It was a beautiful day. They said their vows under a grove of trees on Rick's (and now Karen's) property. Afterwards we all went over to the Glen Loch Mill for an afternoon outdoor reception on the shores of the creek. It was a lot of fun spending time with friends and family I hadn't seen in a long time.

The day after the wedding, my cousin Lisa, hosted her annual picnic. She and her husband own a dairy farm. Every year right around July 4th, they host a picnic for all of their friends and neighbors. I've had a standing invitation but it is a little too far to travel. This year since I was in town for Rick's wedding, I decided I had to be at the picnic. It was a lot of fun with hay rides, good food and most importantly family.

Roller Skating

Today Meghan and Mathew went roller skating with their summer camp. As I used to be a competitive roller skater, I decided to show up at the rink. I had always wanted to be able to spend time with the kids and skate with them. So after a long search of many boxes of stuff packed away during our renovations, I finally found my old speed skates. I checked them out and they were still in good condition.

The camp bus arrived at the rink at noon. I decided to show up about fifteen to twenty minutes later to allow the kids to put away their shoes and get their skates on. I couldn't have timed it any better. You should have seen the look of surprise on Meghan's, Mathew's and all of the other campers' faces when I entered the rink.

I put my skates on and loosened up. Saying a silent prayer that I would not kill myself in front of the kids. After not being on skates for many years, I was a little stiff when I first started skating. But fortunately, the rink had the same floor cover as my old rink. That meant my skates were properly set for the floor. AFter a while, my legs loosened up and I felt as if I had never been off of my skates.

I was able to help all of the campers with their skating. I worked with Mathew and Meghan trying to teach them to skate. They were a little frustrated that dad could skate as well as I did. In fact, some of the other campers were amazed at how well I was able to skate. One girl said to Meghan, "Your dad is really good, is he a professional skater?" All too soon it was time to put the skates away and go home.

Cristina and Aaron's wedding

Once again I was at one of my favorite venues, Starved Rock, for Christina and Aaron's wedding. It was a beautiful day. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

5 Years Ago

5 years ago today, my wife and I walked into the dr's office for her weekly maternity check. Little did we know that Sheryl would be whisked through the secret cypher locked door directly into the labor and delivery suite at the hospital. Hard to believe that 5 years ago, our son was born. Our little baby has grown into an amazing boy.

This boy continues to amaze us on a daily basis. He has already started to recognize simple sight words like "the", "and" and "dog". I'm not sure if he has memorized stories or can actually read them but it is still quite an accomplishment.


My how the time has flown. In just a few short months, Mathew will be starting Kindergarten. It really makes me wonder what the next 5 years will bring or the 5 after that....