Sunday, November 29, 2009

Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving at our home this year. It was cozy, but fun. We had a wonderful time seeing everyone.

The feast

Who let the crazy dude hold the baby?

Aunt Kelly meeting Baby S

Me, snuggling Baby S

Grandparents with the kids. Check out J's face...too funny.
Two kids smiling. That's better than the labor day group shot that ended in tears.
Two kids smiling here, but a different two
M and the "useless" cookie. I like how Nick is waiting to clean him up. He doesn't even live with kids, but he knows they are full of food.
J holding Baby S.
Uncle D and J sharing M&M's
I thought I had a picture of H and Kermit, but I guess I was taking pics on someone else's camera. Can someone email me a copy?

Birthday!












Friday, November 6, 2009

New Niece

Our new niece arrived on Monday! She's a tiny beauty. Her brothers are pretty excited about having her home.
Visiting at the hospital
M likes to point out her body parts: this is her hair.
Kisses
Telling Nana about Baby S
Allison men with their new girl
More kisses
Gifts for baby S
This is her nose
JH: the boy who adores babies.

M holding S

Friday, October 30, 2009

Halloween Hero

It's Halloween time! I made Scott's costume. I bought pumpkins (4 for $10 from the local vegetable stand.) I bought candy for the neighborhood kids (which Scott will pass out because I'm working.) And I bought candy corn for myself.

Candy corn is awesome! Scott sweet talked me early in our relationship with the news that he was the scion of the candy corn inventor. Ah, true love! We were meant for each other what with he being the direct descendant of Halloween hero/candy corn inventor and me loving candy corn so much.

Now Scott always says that it's his great grandfather, but after a bit of research through the box of photographs and piecing together a timeline, I think it's really Linda's great grandfather (but I'm not positive). Which makes it Scott's great great grandfather. Still not too shabby. (Gpa A- are you so proud of my genealogy and research skills?!) Anyway, I was going to treat you to a picture of Candy Corn Man, George Renninger, but I can't figure out who he is. I'm sure some of the tintypes must be he, but they are all (and there are a lot) unidentified. So, instead, I present you with the progeny of Candy corn man.
I think that this picture is the son Frank (front row, 2nd from R) and son-in-law Albert Z. (front row, 2nd from L, with violin) of Candy corn hero. Photo is undated, but I think it was taken late 1800's-early 1900's based on the ages of the (identified) people in other dated photos found in the box.
Baby Blanch Z. (nee Renninger) c. 1885
Blanche Z with brothers Charlie(?) and Frank, perhaps 1890-95
labeled as Blanche 1905?
Blanche and brothers, Ocean City
Blanche and Baby Dot, 1915 or 1916
Blanche and Albert Z, 1940
Blanche and Dot (on right side), 1940
Dot Z. and Eugene S. 1942 (Scott's grandparents)

Maybe one of these days I'll figure out who my hero George is and post a pic of him. Until then, eat candy corn in his memory.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Racking up the wins

So smaller fields in my cyclocross races this weekend, but regardless I WON both races. No kidding. Saturday's win was assisted by help from a teammate, while on Sunday I simply rode really hard and dropped everyone pretty easily. I even rode easy at times with the gap I had on Sunday knowing I had the win locked up. Ha! Looking forward to racing against BIG fields that are strong. We'll see how fast I really am before I move up to the next category.

Yes, this is 3 wins in a row!!




Pictures from Saturday:
http://www.pbase.com/shoeman/3_oct_09_race

Salute uphill on Saturday. Note closest competitors in background. Yeah baby!!

Pictures from Sunday:
Victory salute in pain on Sunday (it was a tough uphill section). I look like a linebacker.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Cyclocross season has started!

This weekend was the beginning of my race season. Saturday it was dry until we lined up to race. It poured buckets and thundered during the race. The course turned to mush and was incredibly difficult. I get great experience by sprinting well in the start and basically leading the field the first lap. I took a teammate with me as we gapped the field, but I faded badly to 6th of 21. My teammate ended up winning, so my effort was worth it. We literally rode through a streams that appeared and what was like a small pond. Amazing how the race course can change when you dump 0.25" of rain on it.

Sunday was a different course, faster, still sloppy in places, but more suited to my skills. 16 starters and somehow I chased down a couple guys, incl a teammate, and I WON THE RACE!!! My teammate was 10 sec behind me for second. Great result for us and the team. Podium pictures were taken on other people's cameras. Not the toughest field, but incredible weekend getting to be in the lead of a race for a lap and learn to think about the race differently. Then taking the lead from someone and holding for a lap and not doing something dumb and crashing. Very different things go through your head when you are chasing guys ahead of you vs when you are in the lead!! I even had time to throw up and hands and celebrate. It was awesome!!!


Note TOP name!


Podium baby!!
After race on Saturday in pouring rain. Just a little muddy.
This was DRY before the race started! Talk about a quick change!
Me in the back on Saturday after I pulled the first lap for my teammate in front (who did win 28 minutes later).
First lap on Satuday with me in front. It really is me.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Labor Day

Scott and I enjoyed our long weekend. We went to Lake Wilson with the family and had a great time. The kids were really fun to watch together; we got a kick out of seeing them interact. Here's our morning photo shoot:
All smiles
Oh my! Are those shoes I see?
Pardon me, let me get a better look at those shoes.
No, thank you.
No!!
Tears.
Some remorse. Or maybe she's just not sure what the big deal is.
Aunt Bec and Boys

Our sweet girl
And here's our bag loving kitty...AKA big cat in a little purse.