My niece, Ava...

...has arrived! I'm an aunt! Ava Louise Rinehart is already almost a week old, but you can't blame me for the lack of photos... that's the rest of my family's fault! My sister, Dale, and her husband, Joe, live in North Carolina, so when Dale went into labor (11:45 on Saturday night) my parents and grandparents (visiting from South Africa) drove down to be there for the birth. They missed it by a couple of hours, but promised to keep me updated with events as they unfolded. If updated means, "here's a postage stamp-sized picture of your sister's baby that we're sending to you from our camera phone" then they did a great job! It took several days and threats to call the police to have their grandparent licenses revoked, but I finally got some pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

Born on Sunday, December 9, 2007

at 9:48 a.m.

weighing in at 8.0 lbs (my dad won the bet!)

and measuring 20.75 inches!

Pern and I will be heading down to see the new family after the Holiday Program on Wednesday the 19th. We'll have a little pre-Christmas, Christmas and then head back up here for real Christmas with my 'rents and grand'rents. I am looking forward to seeing them and taking some pictures of my own!

Wasted time or time well-spent?

It snowed today. Not a lot, but enough to screw up traffic. It took me exactly two and a half hours to get to work this morning. Yes. Two. And. A. Half. Hours. !. I've been listening to "Citizen Girl," by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, so I was suitably entertained, but after the first hour, the whole stop and go traffic thing got a little old.

So the day flew by (helps when you get to work two hours late), and then Fairfax County schools cancelled after-school activities, which means we close at 3:00. So Keturah (my friend and boss) tells me to go home (it was 2:20), so I did. No arm-twisting needed. I got home in almost record time (the good, fast record, not the bad, painfully slow kind) and proceeded to do next to nothing for the rest of the afternoon. It's December. Everyone's most stressful month, right? Not for me. Not this year. I have decided to just chill out. My shopping is almost done and everything that has been bought has been wrapped. The school Holiday Program is under control. I'm good. No stress here.

So after watching Oprah, playing around with photoshop, cooking dinner, and basically doing nothing, I started thinking about all the things I could have done with my "extra" time this afternoon. Then I stopped. December is full enough.... no need to add more clutter to the chaos.

Check back in at the end of the month to see if my "life is good - no stress here!" mantra has held up. I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's Christmas Dog!!

Hey Dale! I've got one, too!! It's not Chrismas without Christmas Dog! Rattiest ornament on the tree, but I can't start the holidays without him!

Hello, Oreo!

We got a new hamster today. Shhh... it's a secret. Don't tell.



Our movie-star hamster, Cookie, died a month ago (so sad... she was a really cool hamster) and we had decided to be a pet-free house for a while. But the film maker in me came out the other day while thinking about the upcoming Holiday Program at school. Every year, Pern and I record the HP and then sell copies of the DVD to the parents at school. We include a highlights montage, interview questions with the children ("How does Santa get back up the chimney?" Is one of my favorites), and a hamster movie. Little Bob was the first hamster-movie star ("Little Bob's Big Night Out"), and then came Cookie, who starred in "Cookie's Christmas Caper," "Cookie's Big Vacation," "Cookie's 12 Days of Christmas," and "Cookie's Mountain Adventure." So we were hamsterless and wondering what we were going to do about the Holiday Program DVD. We thought about putting a "best of" compilation together, but then inspiration struck.

So this year, we're taking a new approach. The kids don't know I'm getting a new hamster. We're going to film the movie in the next couple of weeks (might wait until after Christmas) and she will be "unveiled" on the Holiday Program DVD in her very own hamster-flick. It promises to be very cute. Can't give away any details, however... that's strictly under wraps. You know how it is in the movie industry... hush, hush.

Other things a happenin'... we've been working on the photography. Here is the link to a wedding we did a couple of weeks ago. We were hired as videographers, but took the still cameras along to practice. I think they came out pretty good. We still have a lot to learn, but we're getting there.

Dan and Mary's Slideshow

Here are some Christmas tree shots. We put the tree up way early this year. Went to Indiana to see Pern's parents for Thanksgiving and didn't want to put it up a week later than normal, so it went up a week early. And since Thanksgiving was already a week early, we basically put the tree up sometime around Labor Day. At least, that's what it feels like.


We call this our "Vegas Angel." She's a very traditional angel tree topper with a crazy colored star behind her. Vegas, baby!!


Love our Mickey and Pluto ornament. So cozy.


I decided to put my Dickens village under the tree this year.


Our tree.

Um...now I'm 30

So yesterday was my birthday. I'm officially 30. This is not as sucky as I thought it might be. But it still sucks. The birthday party I was supposed to have was cancelled when we answered the friendship call of duty and went to babysit our friends' children, but I had a nice birthday anyway.

It went a little something like this:

p.s. Italics represent my reminders to myself as I went through my day.

Nothing says "happy birthday" like a Monday morning. Time to go to work! And, oh, yeah... by the way, you're thirty ! We had parent-teacher conferences for the last couple of days, so it was a fairly quiet day at school. Got some conferences in and got a lot of work done in my classroom. And oh, that's right... you're thirty! Yummy brownies from Keturah at lunch. Don't forget, you're thirty! My dad brought me the biggest balloon in the world, some flowers, and candies to wish me a happy birthday (psst..still thirty) at work, which was really nice, and when I got home I got more flowers from my friends, Claudia and Linnea. My parents came over, we went to The Cheesecake Factory (home of the yummy corn cakes that I love) for dinner, and then home for ice-cream cake (guess how many candles?) and presents. Did I mention that I'm thirty?

All in all it was a good day. If I had to do it all again, I wouldn't change a thing. Except maybe the thirty part.

I love Gerbera daisies! Thanks, Linnea and Claudia!

I love presents, too!

I love my new Crate and Barrel fall-leafy placemats, napkins, and candle holder!

Mom wasn't too impressed with Dale's card. It says, "I couldn't ask for a better sister. Well, I could, but I think Mom's too old now!" Ha, ha.. I thought it was funny.

Yes, I could feel the heat from the candles. That was a lot of candles.

My wish? Not to turn thirty ever again.

Ten more years until I turn forty. Ugh.. here we go again!

Camera onslaught (oh, yeah.. and Halloween)

So the expansion of Blue Square Productions has officially begun! We are the proud owners of some very fancy cameras and a Macbook Pro that Pern is in love with. Should I be jealous?

The cameras arrived on Halloween. And between doorbell rings and Pern's traditional Halloween spaghetti dinner, we were snapping pictures left and right like crazy people (crazy people with cameras that they don't quite know how to use yet). We also took the cameras with us to our friends, Joe and Renee's, house this past weekend. They were unexpectedly called out of town and asked us to babysit two of their three kids. I won't post any of the fabulous pictures we took of the young 'uns, but I will point out that nothing says "professional photographer" like a picture of a bucket full of oversized legos. Enjoy!

Do I look like I know what I'm doing?

Yum, yum... lot's of Halloween candy!

...and this is all that's left.

Halloween decorations at Joe and Renee's.

Artistic legos. Uh... riiiiight.

I love fall!

Fall is my favorite season. The leaves are so pretty, the air is so crisp. I took this picture of the tree in our front yard.

It's a heart-shaped leaf... get it? I love fall. Hearts represent love. It's a symbolic representation of my feelings towards an entire season using a single leaf. It's deep, I know.

Ain't it purdy?

Pretty pictures all in a row.

So remember when I took a drive and tested out my skills with a fancy camera? Well, here's the result of that day... We enlarged some of the pictures that I took during my fall drive and some that Pern took during the apple-picking trip, and framed them all artsy-like in our living room. They look really nice. At least I think so. I think our living room is officially "done"... just in time to redecorate for Christmas!

Screaming baby!!

So we had our friends, Steph and Dave, over for dinner last night. Their son, Daniel, came along for the ride. He is very cute and exceptionally loud. The pediatrician says he's going through a "fussy" phase. I think he's auditioning for American Idol. I don't think he'll meet the age-requirement. Maybe in 17 years or so.

Busy Week

It's been a super-busy week and I barely had two minutes to see my hubbie, but we finally got to spend time together this weekend. It will be our three year anniversary on Tuesday, but we count the whole of Columbus Day weekend as "anniversary time". That's the benefit to getting married on a holiday weekend: you can claim the whole weekend as your own regardless of the actual date!

We hung out with no agenda (practically unheard of these days) and then went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner on Saturday night. Had a lazy Sunday (Pern watched football and I kept bugging him for my fantasy football scores) followed by dinner at my parents' house (where we took this cute, but somewhat blurry picture- thanks, Dad!), and are planning another day of not much with a trip to the gym planned for the late afternoon for today. After a week of go, go, go, it's nice to do absolutely nothing with the one you love! Happy Anniversary, P! I love you!

Apple-Pickin' Time!

So today was my school's annual apple-picking field trip. This is the third year we've had it on the calendar, but only the second successful trip. The first year we got completely rained out. Last year it rained, but not as much, so we all stood around shivering and cold and trying to act like picking apples in the rain was what we really wanted to do on a Saturday afternoon (we planned on a Sunday this year to try and get more people out.. it worked, the turnout was great!). Today there were no complaints about rain. Beautiful fall weather. A bright, sunny sky... OK... maybe a little too sunny. It did get a little hot after a while. But, better hot and bright than wet and muddy. We had a great time. Pern helped me pick apples for my once-a-year-from-scratch-pie, and I also collected enough to make applesauce with the kids at school this week. We took our loaner camera with us and had a blast taking pictures of the families, apples, scenery, and other good stuff. No kiddie pictures in the blog, however, just us and "other good stuff." Enjoy.

We went to Stribling Orchard in Markham, Virginia. Exit 18 off I-66W. About an hour from Leesburg.

Pretty pumpkins all in a line. Or... bundle, at least. We bought some to put on our front step.

There is a great little country store with homemade yummies available for sale...

...and if you don't feel like picking your own apples, you can just buy the ones they've already picked!

This apple is ripe for the pickin'!

Pern reaches for it.....

Success!

I give it a try....

And bring down two!

True to his competitive nature, Pern tries to out-do me....

...and succeeds....Oh well, at least he's humble.

Up-to-date!

Umm... let's see.. it's been over a month. Ugh. I'm a bad blogger.

Well, school is off and running. The ducklings came back and have been very busy getting in a line. This has been the smoothest start of the school year that I have ever experienced. It has been absolutely wonderful... except for the sickness, that is...

So one of the kids got sick the first week of school. She went home with a fever on Thursday afternoon, and was out on Friday. Then another child went home Friday, also with a fever, and was still out on Monday, having had a fever all weekend. Then I get it. And it sucked! I was out for four days! Unheard of (for me) and I have never felt worse... high fever (is 103 considered high?) for two days, coughing for over a week. Ugh. It was horrible. The week I was out, my class was hit hard. All in all, 11 children and myself (out of 18 kids and three adults) got sick over the course of two weeks. I think it has finally worked its way out. Hopefully we've seen the last of The Virus.

On the tail end of my illness, however, came an unexpected burst of creativity (interrupted every now and then by a hacking cough), which resulted in a wreath. The creativity, that is, not the coughing. Here's a picture. I hung it on the door for all the world to enjoy. Well, at least my neighbors might like it.

So I made a wreath.

Um... I'm kicking butt in fantasy football! The Montessori Maulers are 3-0-0 starting week 4! Woohoo! Never thought I'd know anything about football (and I still don't... but don't tell Pern, he's always impressed when I throw out random bits of information) but I'm doing really well... first in the league, baby! OK... so Pern tells me who to drop, who to bench, who to start, etc... but technically, it's still MY team, so I'll take the credit.

We went down to North Carolina to visit my sister, Dale, and her husband, Joe. They've been living there for a year and half and this was our first trip! Previous attempts were derailed by one crisis/roadblock or another, but we made it this time. We had a nice time. They have a beautiful house and a soon-to-be beautiful yard and, if the 4-D ultrasound is any indication, a beautiful baby girl on the way. Our trip included dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. I'd never eaten there before and was a little put off by their phone directory-sized menu. They're called "Cheesecake Factory." That means, "we do cheesecake, and we do it really well." Not, "we do cheesecake and tortillas and pasta and hamburgers and seafood and pizza and burritos and popcorn shrimp and apple cobbler." The food was great, but their notoriously long waits brought on by an unnecessarily long menu.... I could do without.

So that was September. Oh! And my friend, Claudia got engaged to her boyfriend, Jeff! I am super happy for them and have promised not to inundate them with wedding info... unless they ask and then the floodgates will open. Three years of shooting weddings has taught me a thing or two. I have opinions on everything from centerpieces to deejays. I'm going to have to bite my tongue or risk losing my title of bridesmaid.

Speaking of weddings... Pern and I are considering expanding Blue Square Productions to include photography. By "considering" I mean that I'm thinking about it and he's pricing out cameras. Anyway, we borrowed a friend's high-end digital camera and have been playing around with it for the last couple of days. We took it to Claudia's house for her birthday dinner last night. Had a fun time with Claudia, Jeff, and Claudia's friend, Sarah. Ate a little Thai food, had a little cake, laughed a lot. Good times. Here are some pictures... some by me, some by P, both still learning.

The birthday girl!

Birthday flowers!

The newly engaged couple!

Time to start practicing their cake-cutting technique....

Mmmm... chocolate.....

Yea! We have a new couch!

Yea! We have "new" chairs- courtesy of Mom and Dad!

This is the pictue that I painted when we went on vacation to PA.

Now we need a new dining room table to go with our pretty couch!

The sunroom got some new cushions... not very exciting.

How do other people do it?

I don't understand. How do people keep up with blogs? I thought I'd give the blogging a try but it's been a week and I'm only now getting to my second (that's right... count 'em.. now there's two!) entry. I guess it would help if I was the kind of person who kept a diary. I've tried to be that kind of person and was success at one point in my life, but fear I am not the kind of person anymore. Considering that I found my aforementioned diary during our yard sale prep and read through it (oh, what a tragic life I had at the ripe old age of 20) that's probably a good thing.

So anyway, enough about that. Much has happened this week... some a little too personal to air on the open lines of internet communication, but the rest is fair game.

I got a new haircut! Find a recent picture of Victoria Beckham, undo the blonde, and you'll see my new do! My hairstylist, Heather, was funny. She asked what I wanted to do with my hair (it was already short, what were my options?) and when I said I wanted something different, but didn't know what that meant, she got all excited and said, "Posh Spice!" So now I have a rather sassy do. I'll have to have Pern take my picture later and post it in my next entry... so... six weeks from now when it's all grown out, you should be able to see it.

After several years of prodding (it's not easy being married to the commissioner of a fantasy football league) I finally got my fantasy football team started. Anyone who knows me knows how much I loathe football, so this should be interesting. The question is: Is it possible to win the championship if you just don't give a damn? Time will tell. Football. Fun.

We also spent the week anticipating Pern's birthday get-together. He calls it a birthday party, I call him "not 8 years old" but whatever... friends came over, we ate food, there was cake and candles. Call it what you will. We got many compliments on our grown-up living room. If I can figure out how to upload photographs, they will appear at the end of this entry. If not.. help me.

So what's in store for this week. Hmm... last week of summer camp before Teacher Work Week... a fun week of cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, and getting our ducks in a row before the little ducklings come back to school for another year of fun and learning. This summer has absolutely flown! Then I'm off to my parent's house to paint their living room and dining room. OK... let's see if I can figure out this photo thing...

The sale of yards

This was actually written last Sunday when I started this blasted blog! I decided to change the template- a task that proved almost impossible (I know I'm not a computer whiz, but I'm not a complete idiot either, I just couldn't get it to do what I wanted) - so I just deleted the whole damn thing and started again. So this entry was actually from:

Sunday, August 12

We finally had our much-needed yard sale yesterday! I had been creating piles of "I-don't-need-this-anymore/haven't-thought-about-this-for-years-I'm-going-to-sell-it" stuff in the spare bedroom since we moved in over three months ago! It's good to be rid of some excess baggage! OK... so technically we're not rid of it yet... it's still in the garage. BUT, it's boxed up and ready to be picked up by whichever charitable organization is willing to come and get it.

The yard sale was a success, despite our ad not appearing in the Leesburg Today paper like it was supposed to. Pern filled out the online application for the ad and then called on Friday when it didn't appear. When asked how he had submitted his request the kind lady at the newspaper office flippantly responded, "Honey, that was your first problem!" Excuse me? Turns out their website wasn't working properly and they didn't know about it until Thursday. So no ad for us. But we still had bunches and bunches of crazy yard sale shoppers. A few strategically placed signs did the trick.

So what did we do with our earning? Why, we bought more stuff, of course!! What a silly question. But, in our defense, it was stuff we really needed and stuff we are very happy with. Our new couch was delivered on Friday (we LOVE our new couch) and we needed a grown-up coffee table to go with it. Considering that Pern's about to turn 36 and I've got 30 on the radar, I think it's time to acknowledge that we're grown-up. So now we have a lovely coffe table, end table, and console table to prove it. And a couch. Did I mention that we love our couch? Well we do. We love it. It's yummy. A couple of arm chairs courtesy of the Leech Family Furniture Donation Association (read: "thanks, Mom and Dad!") that we'll be picking up this afternoon will complete the room. Just in time for a little birthday party. Whew!