Family

Gosh...we love our family.

Right now we are mourning with our family. And there are other things that we are celebrating with our family. But especially as we enter this Christmas season, we are overwhelmed at the power of family.

And because the Vileation Nation is not known for its depth or proclivity for intensity, we'll stop all attempts at that sort of thing right here and now.

So...if any of our readers reside in the Greater Charlotte area, you absolutely must check out Angela Pace Photography. You will not be disappointed. Jake heard such good things about this lady that he called her up and asked her to come be his photographer. And guess what...she did it. THE Angela Pace got on a plane and came to Baltimore just to take some amazing shots of our Jake. It's also worth noting that THE Angela Pace happens to be my cousin and has been known to go ridiculously out of her way to help people out. You may recall that she somehow recovered all of our Key West pictures. Yep...she's good. (check out her site for some more cute pictures of Jacob.)

Anyway, I have been searching for the words to express just how incredible a photographer she is, but hopefully you've already clicked on the link to her site and have seen it for yourself. I'm telling you, she's amazing. All the pictures on this post are of the SAME baby...can you stand it?

So that was our excitement this weekend! A visit from our fabulous cousin who has been blessed with an incredible gift for photography. Special thanks to the Pace family for letting us steal Ang for the day!!!! You'll never know how grateful we are!!! Especially because most of our pictures look like this:

We'll be back to posting our own horrible pictures in the near future. And as a teaser...it turns out that Kevin has figured out the iMovie feature of the Mac...so...stay tuned...

So now that the election is over...

...when does Scrubs come back on the air?  

We at the Vileation Nation do not plan to share how we voted, but you have to admit that this article is pretty funny.  (Please note the "I Voted" sticker in the above picture. Please also note that I still can't figure out how to use this Mac.)

So here's what we've been up to.  A big trip to Columbus, OH to watch Penn State beat Ohio State.  But other things happened there, too.  For instance, we watched LeBron James arrive to be a guest at Game Day.  Here he is.  Right behind his body guard.  Great photography skills by Amy. (read "unbelievably poor photography skills by Amy.")

Also, Kevin made Jake a nice sign to hold up in an effort to get on TV.

Also, Dog made cookies commemorating the occasion.  

Then Amy headed to Cleveland with her parents and Jake so that she could be in Akron for work on Wednesday.  It was a WONDERFUL week of lots of visitors and home-cooked meals. Thank you to Mrs. Edwards, Mrs. Olwert, Mrs. Elwell, the Daileys, the Goodmans and the Ciuleis for your visits and your general celebration of Jake!  Below are Jeff and Julie, James and Joseph...welcome back to Ohio, Goodmans!

Speaking of Jake, he took his third flight.  Evidently Continental knew he was coming because he was given an entire row in First Class and his mother was given a nice big glass of wine after she struggled to keep him from screaming before takeoff.  Also...our JD laughs now!  The best way to get a good hearty laugh out of him is to dance around like you have a top hat and cane. Gets him every time.  He loves this fabulous John Lithgow CD that the Ciuleis gave him. Perfect for dancing as though you have a top hat and cane.

Kevin's parents came to visit last weekend and somehow we did not get out the camera.  Glen came up for dinner, too, and it was really just such a nice, relaxing weekend. 

Oh...and Halloween.  Jake didn't dress up too much, he wore a cute little Halloween sleeper, but Luther wore his annual bumblebee costume.  We can't get enough of Luther dressed as a bumblebee.

Luther, however, can get quite enough of Luther dressed as a bumblebee.

The Newest Member of the Vileation Nation

No, the newest member of the Vileation Nation is not a baby, the newest member is our spectacular new sister-in-law, Kristin! Congratulations to Brian and Kristin on their marriage which took place this past Sunday, October 12.

Check out the pictures here. I wish I could have captured every detail on film, Brian and Kristin did an amazing job. Here is a list of just a FEW things that just really stood out. Incidentally, I'm typing this as I enjoy some of the homemade cranberry apple butter that they gave as favors. I am also listening to some music from the cd that they gave as a favor. Loving it.

• Adorable welcome baskets when we arrived at the hotel (chocolate, hand cream, gum, maps, awesome!)


• Amazing rehearsal dinner venue...the whole back patio area to ourselves! Complete with wine that Brian and Kristin selected from a wine tasting event.


• Unbelievable place cards that were stamped with a nature theme. Look for them in the pictures.


• Awesome music from a live jazz band and then a live band from Nashville, the Protomen!


• Kristin MADE all the bouquets, boutennieres, etc. Made them. Whoa. She was at the wedding site cutting flowers and tying them together the morning of her wedding.


• Hundreds of little meringue mushrooms that Brian and Kristin baked to put on their cake. Check them out in the pictures...amazing.

Honestly, the list goes on and on. Brian and Kristin had a beautiful day for their wedding and treated us all to a feast and a wonderful time of celebration. Congratulations to the Newlyweds!

At the Movies

Here's Jake enjoying a "movie" from his crib.

Back in the Saddle

Or "Back in the Baby Cage."  Whatever.

Oh boy.  It's a real Catch 22 around here.  We've been having fun non-stop and have so much to report and share.  However, all the fun we're having leaves little time for blog-posting. Especially when SOMEONE in the family insisted on buying a Mac as our new personal computer.  We have no idea how to use it.  SOMEONE should have done research on her own rather than just listened to people saying "you're going to love it!"  People said "you're going to love it!" about the movies Spaceballs and Throw Momma From the Train, but SOMEONE didn't enjoy either of them. *note:  the weird font nonsense that occurs halfway through this post is a result of the aforementioned someone not knowing how to fix the tricky html language junk. I blame the Mac.*

Anyway, we cannot possibly capture all the excitement that has gone on in the past month, so here's the quick run-down so that you're back in touch with the Vileation Nation.  We then plan to start fresh with covering Brian and Kristin's wedding which occurred this past weekend.

So...

We hung out with the Kmiecs a couple times, which included playing SpiderMan Yahtzee, Uno Spin, and Blow Out Your Diaper.

We hung out with the King girls for a little while, which included Jake being enamored with older women.  That's right, women between the ages of 4 and 9.

We hung out with Megan and Krissy and their kiddos.  Check out Krissy's synopsis over at Two Are Better Than One. Megan and Krissy were the BSG Ambassadors (that's Bible Study Girls) and they treated Kevin and me to some amazing dinners and tons of hands-on child rearing experience!!  It was a joy to spend time with Faith, Jonathan and Toby.

We hung out with the Jaglowskis as they passed through on their way to Ocean City for vacation and Sam's first experience with the ocean!  They tried to convince us that we will love the Mac.  Hmmmm.

Amy and Jake hung out with Melissa (from prenatal yoga) and her son Jack at the mall a couple of times.  We also went to Baby and Me yoga and learned such hits as Hopalong Yogi and Chugga Chugga.

So that's the quick recap.  Soon we will post about the big wedding in Atlanta this weekend. Hooray for Jake as he is now a member of the Delta Sky Miles program. Well, not quite, but he did manage to get to Georgia and back in an airplane, so we are very pleased with his progress. You will see that he has also become quite a prodigy at using his play center thing. With the help of a pillow for his feet, he's really giving that toy a run for its money. Then finally we have a picture of the boys outside for their fall photo shoot. Sadly this is probably the best shot. They are both super cute in person, the pictures don't do them justice...!

"I Can Tell That We Are Going To Be Friends"

This past weekend Jake learned that there is life on this planet to which he can relate. Jake's new friend, Aaron, came to visit along with Aaron's mom, Susan, and the famous Dog. It's no secret that Jake is a bit of a fussbudget from time to time...but what we had previously chalked up to gas is more likely the misconception that the only people in this world are giants that weigh over 100 pounds and stand more than 5 feet tall. When Jake was hanging out with Aaron, a happy 5 month old, he was a different man. As Susan said, it was like Aaron was saying "dude, you're acting like such a 2 week old. You're old enough to smile and be fun...you should try that out."

Dog, Susan, the boys and I spent Saturday in Annapolis walking around the Naval Academy (mainly so we could earn our trip to the fudge and ice cream store). Then we walked around Hunt Valley on Sunday (mainly so we could earn our pizza for lunch). We had a great time touring around Maryland while Kevin spent the weekend in Syracuse watching Penn State dominate. Unfortunately only one of us could have the camera, so check out Amy's pictures here. Below is how Jake felt when Dog, Susan and Aaron left. It's also how he felt after the big OSU loss.
Also, the Vileation Nation has been sucked into Facebook. And the Nation has also purchased a new computer. This is a bad combo. I could use another 8 weeks of maternity leave (more like "materNERDy leave") so I can learn all this new technology (read: "so I can play fun new computer games").

*special thanks to Aunt Linnea and Aunt Sarah for Jake's weekend wardrobe!!!

The towel rack...as promised

Before the big reveal on how we used a towel rack to "improve" our son's room, please note that Jake is SMILING in this picture. I think it's the real deal. He smiles when we get him out of his crib in the morning, too, which is so sweet of him since most days he has been crying for a good hour before one of his lazy parents actually gets out of bed to help him out.

So here's the towel rack. My vision is that Jake can use this for accessing his books when he's able to, well, access books. We'll see how this vision pays off...you don't see this idea in too many magazines (by that I mean ANY magazines), so I have to believe it's going to backfire in a big, awful way. As though putting a towel rack in a baby's room isn't already considered backfiring.

And here are Kevin, Jake and Luther at the Reisterstown Festival yesterday. We strolled through and enjoyed a lovely day of family time. Now it's back to the grind for Kevin and back to figuring out ways to make Jake keep smiling for me. Note to self...the sling does not bring smiles.