Keeping Busy

We had an amazing time in Avalon, NJ this past weekend...and in Jersey City, NJ and Langhorne, PA the previous weekend...and in Foxburg, PA the previous weekend...and in Perryville, MD the previous weekend.

In other words, we've been busy.

It should be noted that Jake started taking some shaky steps during the Perryville, MD weekend (which was June 4-7).  Now he's cruising the beach like he's been doing this all his life. 

So I think Jake has just about covered his "Things To Do Before I Turn One" list.

• Learn to sit up unassisted
• Say Da Da over and over again (with the VERY occasional Ma Ma)
• Find two things and bang them together
• Feed myself (but not with silverware...that will be on my Things To Do Before I Turn Two list)
• Try pizza and ice cream
• Pet Luther
• Crawl
• Walk
• Trick my parents into thinking I'm playing safely in the TV room, but really walk over to the stairs and start climbing
• Visit NJ, PA, OH, DE, GA, OK, WV (and probably more that my parents have forgotten)
• Learn to respond to my name
• Laugh when people tell me "no"
• Make some friends
• Make my parents laugh every day
• Drive a car (pictured below)
• Put my feet in the ocean
• Grow my hair out 
• Visit a couple Civil War battlefields (yes, Antietam AND Gettysburg)
• Learn how to update the blog

Jake has about 4 weeks left to figure out that last bullet point.  Here's hoping.  But don't hold your breath, this guy has places to go, people to see...just check him out below!

Blame it on Facebook

I mean, Facebook is where it's at.  It's a virtual vortex.  It consumes all my time.  Well, almost all my time.  Any leftover time is spent over at Cake Wrecks. Makes me almost as happy as a 9-month old with a teddy bear.

 Okay...here's what's going on over here.  This past weekend we were fortunate enough to hang out with Joe and Jess...who gave us the shredded map piece of Furoma...oh wait, that's a Mousehunt allusion from Facebook, sorry.  Anyway, they introduced us to the most fabulous trail situation in Greater Baltimore and we are GRATEFUL.  Check out some pictures from our trail adventure...it was spectacular.  Interestingly, we hung out with Joe and Jess on Saturday night...to watch the big UFC fight(s)...true story...and that's when they introduced us to this trail idea.  Well Kevin, Jake and I gave it a shot on Monday.  And who did we see while we were there?  Joe and Jess!  (I bet you guessed it.)  And yes, those are a couple pictures of Jake at Chipotle after the trail adventure.

It should also be noted that we have a houseguest this week.  His name is Buddy and he is a Boston Terrier.  He is a delight.  Luther may disagree, but hey, he can't type, so we're saying that Buddy is a delight.  Even though this video ends with the guts of the toy rabbit in Buddy's mouth.

Jake is a hoot and he is having lots of fun cruising around.  He's not officially walking, but he's pretty darn close.  He is on the move and therefore so are we.  

Hmmm, let's see, wow, it's been a long time since we've updated.  We have also attended the Wine in the Woods event in Columbia, Jake experienced Baby Dedication at church, Kevin evidently has some fabulous green thumb because our yard looks good, we saw Slumdog Millionaire,  we found out Jake isn't going to be the youngest of his cousins (congrats, Casey and Chris!), we added some weird branches to our family tree by attending the wedding of Kevin's cousin, who is good friends with my Dad's cousin, which means Jake somehow puts us all in the same family, and I'm sure the list goes on.

And frankly we've had lots on our minds.  We've been thinking about finances and adoption and prayer and politics and jobs and...the list goes on.

Which leads me to ask...what's on your mind?  (...those in the know will recognize that as a little homage to Facebook...)

What's on your mind?

Add: Link Photos Video Go Buckeyes!

Under Construction

Is Divorce Court still on TV?

Because Kevin and I might be auditioning.

Okay, seriously, it's not that bad...but Project Bathroom is still not over and I'm itching to begin Project Dining Room...so...we need to be finished.

Enjoy some pictures of our journey.  Note that I'm not in these pictures.  That's because I was running around taking pictures of "our" bathroom project that Kevin did all the work on.  And if I wasn't doing that, I was whining "I'm tired, I want to go to bed," or maybe something like "why didn't you rinse out those brushes?!?!"

Once again, Kevin is a saint.

(ps...Happy...um, I did not mean to steal the cartoon idea from your site, I really didn't!!!  But hey, imitation is the sincerest (most sincere?) form of flattery...so, hopefully you're feeling sincerely flattered!!!)

"I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt"

The time has come to submit Jake's picture to Grove City College so that he can be oooohed and aaaahed at via the Gedunk Magazine.  Yes, alumni send pictures of their children for all to see.  So GCC was kind enough to send a complimentary shirt as it is a requirement that the child be wearing the very shirt in the picture.

The shirt indicates that it is for an 18-month old.  Evidently it is for an 18-month old hamster.  It was NOT a pleasant experience to shove Jake into this shirt.  And consequently I did not score any good shots.

Here are a few samples.  To view the entire unfortunate collection, click here.  

A weekend in PAradise

You read it right. "PAradise." Meaning Pennsylvania...hence "PA"...hence "PAradise."

Anyway, we road-tripped it on out to Pennsylvania this weekend. Jake, Luther and I dropped Kevin off in Happy Valley and then continued on to the Greater Clarion area. We enjoyed a brief tour of the PSU campus and got the picture Kevin has been waiting for all of his life. His son with the Nittany Lion. We also have the one where his son almost fell off the Nittany Lion, but now we're back on the subject of calling CYS.

Because I took the camera with me, there is no documented footage of Kevin's stay in State College for the wrestling Big 10 tournament. I imagine Kevin is very thankful for that, seeing as how he was "dehydrated" when I picked him back up on Sunday.

And guess what? Those of you who follow the life and times of Karen over at "Another Stella Day" will be pleased to learn that I got to see her and her sweet little baby bump on my way up north. She and her GCC girls were having a reunion of sorts and were gracious enough to let me crash in for a minute to say hi, make Jake a bottle, let Luther out of the car, and snap a picture. Thanks girls, and it was absolutely fantastic to see you! Karen, your "Grubelet" is gorgeous already.

Then, in the Greater Clarion area, Jake, Luther and I stayed with my Nana and my parents came in to visit, too. Jake got to go meet his Great Great Grandmother...yes, that is two "greats." My Great Grandma will be 103 in April...born in 1906...can you imagine? 1906? And she is sharp as a tack. It was great. We also got to see my Aunt Carol and Uncle Rod and catch up a bit. Uncle Rod let Jake try on his hat which was a big hit! Check out four generations below...

After our visit with the McHenry side of the family, we went back to the Jordan side where we got to hang out with Uncle John and Aunt Helen and family. Have I ever shared this riddle with the blogging community? Well here it is. My mom's Uncle John, the gentleman I just mentioned, is not just her uncle...he's also her cousin. I promise...nothing scary...just an interesting fact. See if you can solve the riddle!

Next, we put Jake in the middle of the road and took his picture.

Then we even photographed the weird cows/bulls/steer (I don't know enough to tell the difference) across the street. I feel this was especially gutsy in light of the recent chimp disaster. Or especially stupid. It seems gutsy and stupid are separated by a very fine line. For complete coverage of the Greater Clarion tour, click here.

And then we were on our way back to Happy Valley to pick up Kevin. We enjoyed dinner with Pop Pop Vile and Walt...and even got to see Andrew for a minute. And that was that! A fabulous weekend for everyone in the Vileation Nation. And we even remembered the time change. Miracles still happen.

Oh, and check out pictures from Dog's baby shower here if you so choose! Dog is one cute pregnant lady, so I suggest you see for yourself.

Please don't call CYS

Yes, I look as though I haven't showered in weeks (and likely haven't). And Jake looks like a smurf who is going hunting.

But it's still a funny picture.

And please don't call Children and Youth Services on us. We really do clean ourselves up now and then and dress our child normally. We just don't take pictures of boring stuff like that.

I lost my camera...?

Just looking for a good excuse for why it has taken me this long to feed and water the ol' blog.

Since there is way too much to cover since Christmas, I'll just pick up from a couple weeks ago.

Dog and Jim came to town (and we played lots of "Ticket To Ride").

Kevin turned 32 (and Jake tasted frosting).

Sharyn came to town (and we went to Wegmans).

The Kruks had twins...a boy and a girl (and the Cudas and the Hardestys each had daughters!).

We went to Oklahoma City to see Casey and Chris (and the memorial from the Federal Building bombing).

I went to Columbus to celebrate with Dog at her baby shower.  And I don't have pictures to share yet because, as mentioned, I left my camera in Ohio.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.

That pretty much catches you up! 

Oh...I finally read "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn."  Loved it.  Loved it so much.

And also, Jake laughed a lot so far this year.

Glad to be back!

PS...some of you may remember that I participated in a marathon a couple years back...part of Team in Training, San Diego, etc. etc.  (If you weren't aware of this maniacal event in my life, you should also pay close attention to the word "participated" and note that I by no means ran the whole thing...but darn it, I completed it).  Anyway, if you are looking for a way to contribute in the fight against cancer, please consider giving at this generous woman's Team in Training site.  It's a really difficult thing to fundraise $4100 and it's awesome when complete strangers pitch in.  It really defines "community."  Anyway, consider it!  Thanks!

Jake's Christmas Gift

Well, Jake wanted to give his grandparents some fun gifts for Christmas.  Check them out below!

1 - The Journey of Jake

2 - Announcing Jake!

3 - Getting to Know You

4 - Everyone's Baby

5 - Peas and Carrots

6 - Growing Up

7 - Portraits

Amy's note:  If you don't laugh out loud right around minute 1:25-1:30 in the Growing Up video...well, I don't know...but you should.  You should laugh right out loud.

Christmas Recap

No real news over here at the Vileation Nation.  We rang in 2009 with a pizza from Papa Johns (we tried the whole wheat crust because, you know, we're really trying to be healthy now that we have a Wii Fit).  We also managed to convince a few people to come over and watch the Rose Bowl with us...I'm really glad we did because Kevin had to maintain some level of mature behavior since we had guests.  If there were no guests, I am sure that he would have been in bed, under the covers, miserable.  I am sure of this because that is exactly what happened after the big Iowa loss.

Anyway, here are our Christmas recap pictures...we really did have an absolutely wonderful holiday season.  

And don't miss our pictures from the trip to the Eisenhower House in Gettysburg.  Kevin wanted to get there in December because the house was decorated for Christmas.  What they mean by "decorated for Christmas" is "a wreath on the front door." That part was a little disappointing.

Finally, here is a picture with Jake and his bear at each of his month birthdays so far.