3 days ago
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
A Real Date...
For Valentine's Day, I told David I wanted to surprise him and take him on a real date. Instead of celebrating yesterday, we celebrated today. Jessamyn volunteered to watch Daisy for 5.5 long hours (Daisy was a handful) and David and I enjoyed a night to ourselves.
We first went to dinner at Luigi's, a great little Italian restaurant in Roanoke. We had never been to it, and it was recommended by my coworker Peggy. We loved the food and had a great time. We got bruschetta as an appetizer:
Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor. That part featured a guest pianist.
Thanks to Jessamyn and JD for watching Daisy and allowing us to have a great night out! She cried most of the night for them and didn't make their jobs easy. They are true friends!
We first went to dinner at Luigi's, a great little Italian restaurant in Roanoke. We had never been to it, and it was recommended by my coworker Peggy. We loved the food and had a great time. We got bruschetta as an appetizer:
Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor. That part featured a guest pianist.
Thanks to Jessamyn and JD for watching Daisy and allowing us to have a great night out! She cried most of the night for them and didn't make their jobs easy. They are true friends!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Two Holidays!!!
Today was an exciting day -- two holidays!
That's right -- not only is it Valentine's Day, but it also is Chinese New Year!
First, two pics from yesterday. Daisy has now learned how to ride on David's shoulders.
Now onto the fun of today... after church, we went to a women's basketball game with Jeanette. David's coworker Pat got us some great tickets. Dongbo, Callie, Laura, and Mama & Papa Staats also came to the game and visited us in our seats. Here's a picture of us at the game from the Hokie sports website. We're right in the background between the two players!
Daisy asleep on Mama Staats at the end of the game.
After the game, David gave me my Valentine's gift -- CREAM SODA!
Finally, we went to dinner with Dongbo, Callie and Annie to Charlie's Chinese in Christiansburg to celebrate Chinese New Year. Welcome Year of the Tiger. Goodbye Year of the Ox (Daisy's birth year). This was Daisy's first Chinese New Year! Fortunately, she got to celebrate it with some real Chinese food ordered in Chinese (by Dongbo, who can speak it well.)
Here are the actual Chinese people in our group: Dongbo (100%), David (50%) and Daisy (25%)
What a great day!
That's right -- not only is it Valentine's Day, but it also is Chinese New Year!
First, two pics from yesterday. Daisy has now learned how to ride on David's shoulders.
Now onto the fun of today... after church, we went to a women's basketball game with Jeanette. David's coworker Pat got us some great tickets. Dongbo, Callie, Laura, and Mama & Papa Staats also came to the game and visited us in our seats. Here's a picture of us at the game from the Hokie sports website. We're right in the background between the two players!
Daisy asleep on Mama Staats at the end of the game.
After the game, David gave me my Valentine's gift -- CREAM SODA!
Finally, we went to dinner with Dongbo, Callie and Annie to Charlie's Chinese in Christiansburg to celebrate Chinese New Year. Welcome Year of the Tiger. Goodbye Year of the Ox (Daisy's birth year). This was Daisy's first Chinese New Year! Fortunately, she got to celebrate it with some real Chinese food ordered in Chinese (by Dongbo, who can speak it well.)
Here are the actual Chinese people in our group: Dongbo (100%), David (50%) and Daisy (25%)
What a great day!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Daisy's Week (in pictures)
The snow has kept us in all week long... On Monday, we took Daisy to our family doctor, who finally prescribed an antibiotic for her congestion/cough that's been present since Christmas. We think its working, so that's a good sign.
I've divided the pictures into two categories:
1) Daisy sleeping
Daddy putting Daisy to sleep while mommy watches on the monitor. She starts each night in her own crib, but usually ends up with us. :)
and 2) Daisy awake
Daisy is in mommy's under armour shirt here -- it was cold in our basement!
I've divided the pictures into two categories:
1) Daisy sleeping
Daddy putting Daisy to sleep while mommy watches on the monitor. She starts each night in her own crib, but usually ends up with us. :)
and 2) Daisy awake
Daisy is in mommy's under armour shirt here -- it was cold in our basement!
Will we ever see our deck again?
David tried to tell my mom that the snow on our deck was all the way up to the chairs. She didn't believe him, so I took a few pictures as proof.
Keep in mind our deck gets very little sunlight, so some of this is snow from December. Still, it will be awhile before we can use our deck...
Keep in mind our deck gets very little sunlight, so some of this is snow from December. Still, it will be awhile before we can use our deck...
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Super Sunday! Part 2
So we had a group of folks over tonight to watch the game. Some of them couples/families from our homegroup bible study. Other of them just folks that know us and stopped by to be part of the gathering. I think we had about 30+ people (when you start adding in kids) down in our basement.
Here's what the food table looked like at halftime -- we did some serious eating.
Oh, and that table was the just the main stuff. There was a separate little table with some desserts!
Some views of the crowd:
In the above picture, Katy (in the orange shirt standing) is about to pick up a baby carrier with 2-week old Jack. He definitely wins the prize for youngest guest!
Daisy enjoyed being passed around the room and held by friends. Here, Mama Staats is taking her turn.
We had a great time watching the game, and since the Saints won, it means I won the house pick'em game (beating David, Wade, and Jim). Not to brag or anything, but I was the only one who picked Colts-Saints to make the Superbowl, and I picked the Saints to win. Too bad I'm not that good in regular fantasy football! :)
Here's what the food table looked like at halftime -- we did some serious eating.
Oh, and that table was the just the main stuff. There was a separate little table with some desserts!
Some views of the crowd:
In the above picture, Katy (in the orange shirt standing) is about to pick up a baby carrier with 2-week old Jack. He definitely wins the prize for youngest guest!
Daisy enjoyed being passed around the room and held by friends. Here, Mama Staats is taking her turn.
We had a great time watching the game, and since the Saints won, it means I won the house pick'em game (beating David, Wade, and Jim). Not to brag or anything, but I was the only one who picked Colts-Saints to make the Superbowl, and I picked the Saints to win. Too bad I'm not that good in regular fantasy football! :)
Super Sunday! Part 1
Daisy and I are at home getting the house ready for a Superbowl party tonight. We've got some friends from our Bible study coming over. :)
David and Wade are out in Craig County sledding with a group of folks on Wade's parents' farm.
Daisy has been having fun playing in her Jumperoo while I've been working in the kitchen:
I'll post an update later once our guests arrive!
David and Wade are out in Craig County sledding with a group of folks on Wade's parents' farm.
Daisy has been having fun playing in her Jumperoo while I've been working in the kitchen:
I'll post an update later once our guests arrive!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
A yummy snowy Saturday!
Or was it a snowy yummy Saturday?
We were up early this morning because Daisy was back to eating every two hours last night. She did really well at the beginning of the week and was sleeping in her own crib most of the night, and would have at least one stretch of 4-5 hours. She's definitely come down with more of a cold the past few days, and the past few nights she hasn't done nearly as well with sleep.
She fed last night at 11, 1, 3, 4, and 7. The last time, we just stayed up. I got out of bed and decided I would shovel some snow, while Wendy stayed away for awhile in bed with Daisy. (They later snuck out to the living room and watched me through the window!)
Here's the early progress I made in the driveway...it's a lot of hard work to shovel the many layers of snow we developed during the week. It snowed last Saturday, again on Tuesday, and then again yesterday. It was actually still snowing while I was shoveling today.
Last Saturday, Carol Lee Donuts was closed -- but today they were open. I decided I would shovel some snow, then pull the car out and make a donut run. This would be my reward for getting up early to shovel!
Here's another pic of some donuts -- I got some for Wendy, Wade and myself. I even got a box of "old donuts" pretty cheap. Yum! Like I said, they were my reward for shoveling.
Speaking of rewards, Wendy got a reward in yesterday's mail: Her first secret shopper check!
She's been working hard the past few weeks to squeeze in some mystery shopping to earn a little extra cash, which she plans to spend on a few travel items for our upcoming trip to France.
That's about it for today so far... here's one last picture of the snow falling through our kitchen window.
Stay safe and warm!
We were up early this morning because Daisy was back to eating every two hours last night. She did really well at the beginning of the week and was sleeping in her own crib most of the night, and would have at least one stretch of 4-5 hours. She's definitely come down with more of a cold the past few days, and the past few nights she hasn't done nearly as well with sleep.
She fed last night at 11, 1, 3, 4, and 7. The last time, we just stayed up. I got out of bed and decided I would shovel some snow, while Wendy stayed away for awhile in bed with Daisy. (They later snuck out to the living room and watched me through the window!)
Here's the early progress I made in the driveway...it's a lot of hard work to shovel the many layers of snow we developed during the week. It snowed last Saturday, again on Tuesday, and then again yesterday. It was actually still snowing while I was shoveling today.
Last Saturday, Carol Lee Donuts was closed -- but today they were open. I decided I would shovel some snow, then pull the car out and make a donut run. This would be my reward for getting up early to shovel!
Here's another pic of some donuts -- I got some for Wendy, Wade and myself. I even got a box of "old donuts" pretty cheap. Yum! Like I said, they were my reward for shoveling.
Speaking of rewards, Wendy got a reward in yesterday's mail: Her first secret shopper check!
She's been working hard the past few weeks to squeeze in some mystery shopping to earn a little extra cash, which she plans to spend on a few travel items for our upcoming trip to France.
That's about it for today so far... here's one last picture of the snow falling through our kitchen window.
Stay safe and warm!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Daisy in action
Daisy seems to really enjoy her new rainforest jumparoo from her cousins Jonas and Asher. She has become more 'spirited' as of late. She likes to flap her arms as if they were wings and really enjoys 'rolling' the plastic wheel with the needs in it in her jumparoo. Here is one of the first videos (from Thursday) of her in the jumparoo trying to figure what it is!
And one more from earlier today...
And one more from earlier today...
Updates
I've spent all day posting updates on the blog... read below... I've got updates starting last Friday. :) ENJOY!
More snow!!!
Well we've been dumped on again! We woke up this morning to inches more snow. Everything was closed -- even Virginia Tech (although David still had to go in for half a day).
Daisy has another cold, so she's not felt great today, and she's slept (and spit up) a lot. But this afternoon, she's brightened up.
Papa Chinn will post some video later, but here's a pic of Daisy playing and resting...
Daisy has another cold, so she's not felt great today, and she's slept (and spit up) a lot. But this afternoon, she's brightened up.
Papa Chinn will post some video later, but here's a pic of Daisy playing and resting...
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Slip and slide
I was asked to take a picture of one of my projects, the new football locker room addition, so they could show it to the new recruiting class. I thought the best view would be from lane stadium.... Besides it gives me a reason to go hand out in lane!
I went in the west side, rode the elevator up to the presidents suite level, went out the door and walked down the west side stands to the field. The snow on the stairs inthe stands allowed me to almost ski my way down in my boots. It was quite fun and a time saver! However, I under-estimated the difficulty walking in the snow on the field to the north endzone bleachers... And even more so climbing the bleachers in the north endzone. But... I made it and got this picture:
But I thought a birds eye view would be better so I walked through the field up to the gate to the east stands.
I was quickly reminded how difficult it is trying to climb the stairs that already had about ten inches of snow on it. I did get a few pictures from midway up the lower section:
Looking back down from where I just came from...I didn't walk on the bleachers. I figured it would be slippery and I didn't want to fall!
These were good or better but I thought a litter higher and I could get that birds eye view... Or hawk eye view....
But I had had enough of this walking in the snow covered steps. I headed straight for the vomitory... Lucky number 7!
Before I knew it, my left foot was up by my nose, then my right foot, too... and then bam! I was on my back. Not any faster had I slipped on some ice and landed on my back, i started uncontrollably sliding down the vomitory on my back. About ten feet later I came to rest, where I laid for about five minutes making sure these old bag of bones (and kidney) were okay. This was my new view:
yup, the underside of the east stands... I don't believe I hit my head, which was good, but I was and am quite sore, especially my neck... thanks to some tidbits from my doctor (to be, Lisa) my neck will be iced for 24-48 hours, then heated after that!
A view looking back at the ice....
Boy was I smart... I didn't want to keep trudging up the snow covered stairs, so I opted for the iced vomitory! Once I slid down it, I didn't have much of a choice. I wasn't going to make it back up there, so I went to the ramps as I had planned when I entered the lucky #7 vomitory.... Guess what? The ramps were covered in ice, too! This time I was prepared for them and was able to slide up the ramp and walk on some of the areas that didn't have ice. I came out the vomitory at the top and trudged the rest of the way up the snow covered steps where I arrived sweating and tired and head throbbing to take this final picture...
Was it all worth it? I doubt it... but now I can say I have done 'bleachers' in the snow... anyone else?
I went in the west side, rode the elevator up to the presidents suite level, went out the door and walked down the west side stands to the field. The snow on the stairs inthe stands allowed me to almost ski my way down in my boots. It was quite fun and a time saver! However, I under-estimated the difficulty walking in the snow on the field to the north endzone bleachers... And even more so climbing the bleachers in the north endzone. But... I made it and got this picture:
But I thought a birds eye view would be better so I walked through the field up to the gate to the east stands.
I was quickly reminded how difficult it is trying to climb the stairs that already had about ten inches of snow on it. I did get a few pictures from midway up the lower section:
Looking back down from where I just came from...I didn't walk on the bleachers. I figured it would be slippery and I didn't want to fall!
These were good or better but I thought a litter higher and I could get that birds eye view... Or hawk eye view....
But I had had enough of this walking in the snow covered steps. I headed straight for the vomitory... Lucky number 7!
Before I knew it, my left foot was up by my nose, then my right foot, too... and then bam! I was on my back. Not any faster had I slipped on some ice and landed on my back, i started uncontrollably sliding down the vomitory on my back. About ten feet later I came to rest, where I laid for about five minutes making sure these old bag of bones (and kidney) were okay. This was my new view:
yup, the underside of the east stands... I don't believe I hit my head, which was good, but I was and am quite sore, especially my neck... thanks to some tidbits from my doctor (to be, Lisa) my neck will be iced for 24-48 hours, then heated after that!
A view looking back at the ice....
Boy was I smart... I didn't want to keep trudging up the snow covered stairs, so I opted for the iced vomitory! Once I slid down it, I didn't have much of a choice. I wasn't going to make it back up there, so I went to the ramps as I had planned when I entered the lucky #7 vomitory.... Guess what? The ramps were covered in ice, too! This time I was prepared for them and was able to slide up the ramp and walk on some of the areas that didn't have ice. I came out the vomitory at the top and trudged the rest of the way up the snow covered steps where I arrived sweating and tired and head throbbing to take this final picture...
Was it all worth it? I doubt it... but now I can say I have done 'bleachers' in the snow... anyone else?
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