Eat Mor Chikin

So...yeah...it's been almost two months since we've posted anything here. Sorry.

Life in the South has often caused Jess to threaten to write a book about the strange things she's encountered in her southern adventure. Today was another event that caused us to pause and think, "Where are we living?" (The good news is that it has caused us to finally post something here again!)

A Chick-Fil-A just opened on the island, and Tuesday night is officially family night. That means 99 cent kids' meals. Tonight was pajama party at the restaurant for kids' night. The place was an absolute zoo. Kids were running around the restaurant with a cow bell, screaming, "Eat More Chicken" with a cow dressed in PJ's. Annika thought it was great. That never happened in Jersey (nor would it have been a highlight in our week). It's definitely a different world here.


We were out because Annika had some art on display at a local art show. Here's a picture of her with her work. She drew a picture of herself and our new dog, Laila. (They were selling the pictures framed for $30. People were buying them as though that were a pittance, but my Erie cheapness won the day.)


Finally, we thought you'd like to see a picture of Sammy. He turns one in a little over a week. He's a tremendous kid, and we feel very blessed to be his parents. He's been playing catch with me all the time, which I'm loving.

The newest member of our family

Just wanted to take a moment to introduce you to the newest HB family member.
Since the holidays, we had been talking about the possibility of dog ownership. A few weeks ago, we started researching available dogs and visited some shelters. Last week, we saw a description of a dog online that looked promising and today we were introduced to "Angel," from this point forward known to us as Laila.

We're not quite sure of Laila's lineage (our best guess is Aussie/Border Collie/Retriever mix), but she is very cute and appears to be a gentle and friendly dog. We are looking forward to her warming to us in the next week so we can see her full personality. Here's a quick picture for you to enjoy!

Sammy's first 'do

Just shy of two weeks ago, we decided to bite the bullet and get Samuel's hair cut. While we were scared that this might mean an end to his baby curls, those curls often would fall into his eyes and it wasn't a pretty picture. So two fridays ago, we took Samuel to "Nicole's Cut Hut" in the village. We realized that we don't have a before and after picture, but you can observe Samuel's new do in the weekly updates.

"Getting suited up"


"The cut begins"


"What is going on Dad??"

Super Memories

Watching the Super Bowl this year has me missing our friends from Princeton last year. Since our beloved Chicago Bears were in the Super Bowl XLI, we had a crew of our PTS friends over to our house to watch the game. It was so much fun eating junk food, enjoying some barley sodas, and stuffing our faces with dessert. (Oh yeah, some of us might have watched the game.)

So much has changed since last year. We've pretty much all left the Princeton area (with a few notable exceptions), and now Jess and I are sitting at home with the kids in bed. (Don't worry, we watched some of the first half of the game at the church with the youth group.) We're glad to be where we are, but we sure do miss where we've been.

So...here's to all of our friends and family watching the Super Bowl while scattered all over the US: We love you, and we miss you!

Sammy, 9 months and counting

Sammy turned 9 months on January 17, 2007.
We can't believe he's been a part of our family out of the womb as long as he was in it! Here he is at 9 months and weeks 40 and 41.

Sammy's 8th month

8 months on 12/17/07
Then Weeks 35-39 (12/18/07-1/15/08)

Catching you up with Sammy

The next few posts will catch you up to speed with Sammy over the past few months. We've been taking the pictures, we just haven't moved them over to the blog.
First up Sammy's week 31-34 (11/20/07-12/11/07)