11 years

Today Chris and I are celebrating 11 years since our first date. Yes, we've dated each other that whole time. We met the first day of drama junior year. There's a long complicated story on how we finally ended up sitting on a park bench at Walney Pond on February 26, 1998. I remember telling him how I didn't want a "normal, stupid high school relationship." Not sure exactly what I meant, but I think we accomplished that. Looking back at 11 years we sure have done a lot...high school, college (both long distance and the same school), working together at 3 companies, living abroad, traveling, being crazy dog park people, living 3 years in 400 sq ft, moving across country, buying a house and of course, our new adventures with Miss Penelope.
Here's a quick look back at 11 years of laughter...and many hair styles!

Cute pictures

This evening I was checking up on some emails while Chris was playing with Penelope. All of a sudden I realized I heard lots of cooking sounds coming from the kitchen, yet Chris was talking a ton to Penny. I was confused as to what was going on...I found that Chris has employed a young sous chef. Here she is learning about her tools (please don't gag at our ugly 1970s harvest gold kitchen floor...it is on our future to do list!)


Helping daddy Do you like my new pajamas? They say "cutie". That's an understatement but "Most beautiful adorable little girl in the world" is hard to fit on footie pajamas.

The trick to catching smiles is pictures during the daytime without a flash.
My first pair of jeans
Sporting my Cat in the Hat onesie under the Red Dog on a Blue Tree

Trash TV can be so romantic

Let me set the stage for this post...This evening Chris stopped at the co-op on the way home and picked up some fancy desserts. After we each made a face from our taste testing of the dairy free naturally sweetened chocolate mousse, we then moved onto the peanut butter chocolate cake. I love to pretend that organic means better for me, but I'm sure this was a very calorie laden dessert.

So there we were sitting on the couch and I channel surfed for a little bit, finally stopping at The Millionaire Matchmaker. (Now I'm sure some of you are groaning that I'm admitting to watching this show. And I really don't think this is the lowest of my tv problems...but admitting you have a problem is the first step, right?) Well, anyways, this show follows this matchmaker around LA as she finds matches for millionaires. In this episode she is setting up a millionairess with a millionaire. Now this wealthy 41 year old woman has a 16 month daughter and wants to find true love. It is obvious that she is naturally goregeous. When she starts complaining about putting on a skimpy bikini that her date bought, I'm thinking "Poor girl. She had a baby 16 months ago, of course she doesn't want to put on a bikini!" Next thing you know she is at the spa in this black bikini with six pack abs, nary a stretch mark or an inch of flab on her. Both Chris and I audibly make a noise of disgust. I start laughing that he had the same reaction and he said "No really! I feel like I heard every woman across america who is watching this show yell $#@*$. I wasn't even pregnant and I want to call her names"
At this point I snuggled closer to him and dug into my chocolate cake. I may not have a six pack and blonde hair to my waist, but I'm also lucky enough to not have to go on a TV show thinking I'll be able to find true love....

...but maybe I'll actually go to the gym tomorrow instead of giving into the new episode of The Real Housewives of New York (did I just admit that one, too?)

Cool Widget

Just a post to point out the cool widget on the sidebar of our blog. All you do is enter your cell phone number and $5 will be donated to Children's Cancer Research Fund. It will show up on your cell phone bill. (don't worry...there isn't any telemarketing that will happen if you do this) Then if you give, you can copy the widget code for your blog or facebook page. Pretty cool. Maybe $5 doesn't seem like a lot, but $5 from a lot of people will make a difference. Just one example...

Right now the doctors we support are starting phase 1 clinical trials on a brain tumor vaccine. Brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer death in children. This specific tumor often returns after the standard treatments (surgery,chemo, radiation) and two year survival rate is only 27%. That's why doctors have been working on a vaccine to prevent the return of the cancer cells. Last year we funded the lab work and the doctors were actually able to save 2 local dogs (for all you animal lovers I want to clarify that they were family pets that had a similar type of brain tumor that humans get). Anyways, they are now able to move into the first clinical trials with children who have a high chance of recurrence. The cost of this is about $25K-$30K per child--drug production, the research documentation, the cost of the actual trial since most insurances won't pay beyond the standard treatments etc. So this is just one example of research moving from the lab to a patient right NOW. Isn't that amazing?

Happy Valentines Day! (a tad late)

Sorry for the delay in posting. We had some technical difficulties. I know I owe emails, facebook postings, etc. Thought I'd catch up with a blog post first. We finally have pictures of smiles! Yay! I did a photo shoot with Penny for Valentine's Day. Her Great Grandma Strand made an old fashioned soaker (wool cover for cloth diaper). It is adorable! I had her pose with Penelope the Pup. Penny's Great Great Aunt Janet found a pink stuffed puppy named Penelope. It was a great Christmas present and perfect for our Valentine's Day pictures.
Penny also volunteered at Radiothon with us. She thought data entry was pretty boring so when she wasn't sleeping she distracted the rest of the volunteers with her smiles and raspberries. Here are pictures from the last week...

Has It Dawned On You?

There are certain days that are harder to be a working mom then other days. Today was one of them. It was a grey rainy day, perfect for cuddling under a handmade afghan with a little Princess Penelope. I'm having computer issues at work, which always makes it frustrating. The highlight of my day was seeing Penelope at lunch. Unfortunately she didn't take an afternoon nap so Daddy only got to see Miss Crankypants before bedtime.

Then I signed on the computer and finally watched a video that was made for one of our events while I was on maternity leave. I'm glad I waited until a day like today. It reminded me why I love my job. I'm sharing the video with all of you. These doctors and researchers are the most passionate and devoted people I've ever met. Not only do they treat children with cancer, but they often take on the difficult cases that other places consider hopeless. Whenever I talk to them I think "wow, I wish we could have all of our donors go on a tour of the hospital. It is impossible to get this level of emotion in a mail piece" So here's the next best thing:

Toys and Rolling Over

This week was a big week. Penelope rolled over! She was looking extra cute on her tummy in the crib so I went to get the camera. All of a sudden Chris started shouting. I ran in, but I had missed it. I put her back on her tummy and she rolled right over the other way. We were cheering her on like she landed on the moon which of course confused her. Her expression was something like "shoot! These are the genetics I have to work with?" Cece also was a little skeptical. I think Cece must be thinking "what is with these people? My puppies were out of the house by 6 weeks and this thing is getting cheers for rolling over after 5 months?" It is kind of silly...of course, she would roll over...I wonder when new things aren't as exciting. I mean if this is how I reacted at her rolling over, then I'm sure to have some sort of joyous seizure at her first soccer game, right?

This week we got some new toys. My parents signed Penny up for a 3 month membership to babyplays.com It is like netflix for toys. You have a wish list and each month they send you toys to play with. If you really like them you can buy them for 30% off retail otherwise you send the box back. This way we have the developmental education toys without having to pay a ton or keep them, especially since at this age they grow out of them so quickly.

Here are some cute pictures from this week:

"Hey, this is pretty cool"

"What are you doing? This is my toy."

Luigi, the puppet. Chris and I have more fun with this one then Penny. I might buy this one because Chris is hilarious.

Penny is not as amused by Luigi.

I finally look like I'm back to the living!
Me and my girls

Daddy reading "Huevos Verde con Jamon" (Penelope is unsure of his pronuciation)

Penelope telling us stories.