Our Friend

Christmas

Christmas morning

Daisy nabbed a gift from under the Christmas tree

Carter, Mom, and Me on Christmas morning

Carter proudly displaying his finished Lego Architecture White House.  He said he suffered through Lego cramps  and mental problems while constructing it.  Lol... this kid cracks me up!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Ben performs Jingle Bells on his guitar:


Jingle Bells by Ben from Melissa Straka on Vimeo.

Daisy's Bicycle

We finally found Daisy's bicycle.  It only took 8 months!  We were convinced she didn't have one, but every dog has one, right??  Anyway, here's 22 seconds of belly-rubbing a headless dog.


Daisy Rides a Bicycle from Melissa Straka on Vimeo.

Goodbye 9, Hello 10!

Ten years seem like so many when you are young, but when you are older those first ten years seem like they passed in the blink of an eye.  Enjoy 10 and the next 10, Carter.  You will always be our LB.

Flashback, 2001, Carter and Family

Flashback, 2001

Carter is turning 10 years old this week!  What?!?!  That's crazy talk... it seems like he was just born!

This week I'm dedicating my blog to Carter and his ten years of life.  He's awesome in so many ways and impresses me all of the time with his wisdom, intelligence, and great sense of humor.  I know for a fact that my family would not be the same without him.

Daisy Fetching Sticks

Daisy at the Park from Melissa Straka on Vimeo.

Recent Pics of Daisy

Autumn Vacation

We took a week long vacation while Tom's brother and his brother's girlfriend visited us from England.  We went to D.C. for a couple of days where we walked EVERYWHERE! - the national mall, the war memorials, the capitol, downtown, the white house, and around the tidal basin.  Our second day in D.C. was spent hopping from museum to museum all day.  We also discovered the deliciousness of tapas at La Tasca's and experienced some hot dishes at Nando's, a south african restaurant (both located downtown).  On our way back to PA, we stopped to walk around Baltimore's Inner Harbor for a few hours.  Other highlights from our vacation include a hike in Hamburg, PA (again!), dinner at my parent's home, touring Saint Peter's Village and other surrounding towns, and doing some shopping for great deals.

Halloween!

Halloween was a blast!  I was Olive Oyl, Daisy was a pumpkin, Ben was Sherlock Holmes, and Carter was an evil bunny.  Halloween was sort of hectic because Tom's brother Michael and his girlfriend Julie flew in the night before so we had to do some last minute shopping, baking, and decorating.  And I didn't get to take as many photographs as I would have liked, and in the midst of everything completely forgot to take a group shot :(

So cute!!!  I used to make fun of people who dressed their pets up for Halloween and now I'm one of them!!!

I also dressed in costume for work the Friday before Halloween.  The patrons loved it!

Family Day Hike

We went day hiking with the whole family today.  We hiked about 8 miles and stopped to enjoy the views at The Pinnacle and The Pulpit lookout points.  Gorgeous, gorgeous weather we had, too!

Highlights:  Carter and Ben discovered a cave under the rocks at The Pinnacle - very cool!  Daisy was off-leash for most of the hike and did so well!  Ivy lost her earring and then Carter and Ivy decided to sacrifice the other one in memory of the trip.  Mom brought Daisy a yummy bone to chomp on while at The Pinnacle, but it found its way into a deep, dark hole that none of us were brave enough to stick our hands down to retrieve it.  Poking around with a stick didn't yield any luck, either.  Stopped at a pizza parlor afterwards for dinner.  

Flashback, 1989 or 1990

Photo Books

I recently made three photo books using different services for each one.  I used Blurb, Shutterfly, and Apple.  Each of them have pros and cons, although I guess I would say that for the price, Shutterfly produces a great product with high quality photo paper and bound well.  Below are my notes for each product.

Blurb (MV '09 - hardcover w/ dust jacket) - high quality photo paper, well-produced picture quality, easy to use formatting program, easy to share book, nicely bound, comes with dust jacket OR picture wrapped cover option, most expensive.

Shutterfly (One Week in America - hardcover w/ picture wrap) - high quality photo paper, well produced picture quality, most difficult formatting program, nicely bound, picture wrapped cover (no dust jacket option), least expensive.  

Apple (Daisy - softcover) - high quality photo paper, well produced picture quality, easy to use formatting program, softcover binding is flimsy, second most expensive.

A Weekend in the Woods

We spent the weekend with friends in Mansfield, PA where we stayed in a hunting cabin outfitted with 8 bunk beds, a full fire place, and a double seater outhouse on the property.  The other girls and I couldn't build enough courage to use the outhouse and therefore had to make many trips into town.  The lack of a shower didn't bother us though... we had moist facial wipes and bottled water for teeth brushing, a luxurious experience that made us feel like new women afterwards.

The highlight of our trip was our hike at Tioga State Forest on the loveliest day ever.  The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect.  We hiked a trail that zig-zagged down to the river where we frolicked for a while.  The river water was refreshing on our feet and the dogs enjoyed splashing around.  We decided to be a little more adventurous on the way back up and stray off the trail to climb the steep hills between the zig-zags.  This plan wasn't well thought out as a few of us (including myself) became stuck when we didn't have anything to grab onto to help ourselves us up the VERY steep hill.  When we finally made it up the hill and back onto the trail, we decided that the climb was fun and exhilarating, but not worth trying again.  

Sweetheart Pies

Thomas made meat pies the other week and they were delicious!  The steak and mushrooms made a great combination and the sauce was so good.  The heart shape added a nice touch, giving them the nickname sweetheart pies.

Check Out Vimeo

Vimeo(.com) was recommended to me to upload my videos and to use as a virtual archive.  It has been easy to use so far.  I have many videos on my computer that I've been wanting to remove to increase hard drive space.  I feel a little better about deleting them now that they are backed up online, on disc, and on an external hard drive.  ACK!  This technology stuff poses more problems than solutions sometimes...

Anyway, here's a video of Carter singing Queen in the car from early August:

queen in the car from Melissa Straka on Vimeo.

Soup!

Lots and lots of soup!  We now have a small chest freezer to store our delicious homemade food.  Our regular freezer is no longer over-stuffed and spewing food out when the door is open.  So, we got busy last weekend making one of our favorites - tomato soup.  We picked two full bags of plum tomatoes and came home to start the process.  We are really pleased with this year's batch.  It's the right everything - consistency, taste, and quantity.

We ended up with 16 containers - a new record!

Hiking in Hamburg, PA

We had fun hiking with friends in Hamburg, PA near Hawk Mountain the other weekend.  It was Daisy's first time going on a long hike and she did so well.  We can't wait to get back out there this autumn to enjoy the cooler air and changing colors.

Daisy looking at the beautiful landscape below

Julie with Bela enjoying the view at The Pulpit

Banana Cupcakes With Nutella Buttercreme Icing

Bananas!  I went bananas for this recipe (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Cake-II/Detail.aspx).  It's so moist and flavorful without being too sweet.  In fact, I could have just eaten the cake by itself and have been completely satisfied.  A truly wonderful cake... if you like bananas.  The nutella buttercreme icing on the other hand didn't turn out as I had hoped it would.  I tried modifying the recipe with no luck.    I used this recipe, but the search is still on for a better version: http://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/recipes/nutella-buttercream-icing-ru313044.html

Doggie Photo Shoot

Our friend's dog, Maggie, is the most lovable, photogenic dog.  She's a perfect subject to photograph, too, because she hardly moves and when she does, it's not very fast.

Summer Catch Up and Fondue Friday

Summer has been treating us well (with the exception of a few ungodly heat waves).  We've spent a lot of time outside: taking creek walks, introducing Daisy to the water both at the creek and the river, having lots and lots of braai's, and hanging out with friends.

Fondue Friday - an evening of fondue with neighbors.  It was fun to sit back and chat while waiting for our meat to cook.

Queen in the Car

Carter has been so into Queen (the band) lately.  He sang aloud in the car this weekend while listening to their tunes on the ipod.  He's in the middle of singing a Queen hit in the picture below.  And the other one was taken outside of a family fun center.  It was sort of fun... the ads were way better than the place itself, but Tom and Carter enjoyed a game of laser tag and we all got a kick out of the bumper cars.

Paint Job

We've wanted to paint our kitchen/dining room wall since we moved in last Thanksgiving, but never had a chance to until now.  We chose a slate blue color that looks great at all times of the day.  Although, it looks more blue than slate blue in the picture.  A little splash of color has really done wonders for our place!!

Puppy Play

Daisy is four months old today!  She is growing like a weed and loves her doggy life.  She is great with people and especially loves her best bud, Bela.  Our new friends, and Bela's parents, named Bela after the bluegrass singer Bela Fleck.  Bela, the puppy, is the same age as Daisy, so sharing the experience of being new dog owners give us a lot to talk about.  Thomas and I are so excited to have met people we can hang out with while our dogs play.

So This is 26...

My friends and I celebrated my 26th year of life by going to dinner and frolicking around town in Center City.  The night was lovely.  We had dinner at a hibachi restaurant, enjoyed beverages and mingled at some bars, had the BEST gelato, and then finished off the evening at one of our favorite wine bars, Tria.

Daisy's First Creek Walk!

Being Thomas Jefferson

Carter's 3rd grade class took a research project to a whole new level by demonstrating their knowledge in the form of a wax museum.  They had to choose a relatively famous person and research that person's life from birth to death/present.  At the very end of their project, they held a live wax museum in the library for their families to observe.  Not only were they dressed in character, but they did a fabulous job pretending to be wax figures - they didn't make eye contact with guests and they held completely still for what probably felt like eternity to them.  Very impressive performances by all!

Carter did a great job at being Thomas Jefferson!  I had to photograph him wearing a lacy ruffled shirt because I'll probably never see that on him again.  He was definitely the cutest Thomas Jefferson I've ever seen :)

A Dollop of Daisy...

Meet Daisy!

We got a puppy!

Her name is Daisy and she is a 12 week old Golden Retriever.  We got her on Sunday, so we haven't had a lot of time with her, but we can tell she is going to be an amazing dog!  She is too cute for words and has the sweetest demeanor.  Can't wait to document her growth and cuteness in the coming months.  I think this blog may turn into a puppy blog!

Celebrate Good Times... Come On!!!

What a good time this weekend has been.  I took Friday off to extend my weekend and spend time with Carter, which I'll have to post about as soon as I download the pictures.  I reserved my energy for Saturday's festivities - one baby shower in the afternoon and a friend's wedding in the evening.  Sadly, I don't have any pics from Julia's wedding because I got tired of lugging my camera around, but it was a lovely affair.  A beautiful outdoor ceremony, cocktail hour over-looking a golf course, and a delicious five course dinner with their family and closest friends.  Tom and I kicked up our heels on the dance floor and mingled with guests for the rest of the evening.

Earlier on Saturday, we spent the afternoon with our close friends, Caitlin and Michael.  They are expecting their first child in August and were surprised with a baby shower thrown for them by friends and family.  The shower was held at a beautiful estate on the Delaware River - a lovely setting with grounds to walk and enjoy the aroma of the rose garden.  Decorated baby onesies and the cutest homemade tote bag with Baby Shaw's first initial and last name stitched on were highlights of the event and really lovely gifts.