fallon's new year's resolution: she joins a gym

Well, someone had to. Today was Fallon's trial day at Gymcats Gymnastics. I found a toddler class so she can work on those motor skills. As soon as she was let loose in the gym with the kids, she was all over the place. It was especially fun since Jon threw her in the cube pit! It was so great to witness her running, on the balance beam and trying the bars. When we left, she kept saying, "We'll come back here!" Do we have a future gymnast on our hands?

baby audie is born!

Liz (Jonathan's sister) and Dave Audie welcomed son, Michael David Audie, today (5 weeks early) weighing in at 5lbs. 12oz. 18 7/8 inches long. He is in NICU, but we are praying for his full recovery. Liz is doing better and is anxious to see her son! Congratulations new parents!

jon finishes real estate courses

He had been contemplating getting his mortgage license, but he decided to go for the real estate license first and he finished his classes today - yeah! He enjoyed it and looks forward to getting his license - the hard part. It'll be great when we go to sell our house.

plain zane in steubenville

At the Ferrera's house in Steubenville.

On our visit to Steubenville, we had our usual visit with the Fererras. A fun visit to talk about everything and anything and eat, eat, eat! Fallon (and Jenn and I) had a blast with Rita as she fed her cupcakes, chocolate, yogurt and pizza! Rita also got to see see my blankets and wanted to take them to Sheila Milic's store, Something Special. I was not able to since I was leaving the next day, so Rita and Jenn went the next day to bring the blankets. Sheila loved them and immediately bought a bunch of blankets and matching burp cloths. It's great to be represented in the hometown!

sick of being sick!

Fallon and I have been sick in Ohio since the Holidays. Unfortunately, we got Mom and Dad sick, too! It was so bad, they had to postpone their trip to the Philippines. Z-packs on the house! Nevertheless, we had a great time cooped up in the house. Fallon had a blast at Christmas despite the occasional vomitting. She really understood Christmas and got to bond with Mom and Dad while poor Jenn came along and had to take care of all of us. Miraculously, she never got sick! Auntie Jenn was able to spend quality time with her and "make hot totties!" Mmm!

happy new year!

Another year - more resolutions! Fallon and I ended up getting sick over the Holidays due to the very warm weather in Ohio. It brought all the Spring pollen which sparked allergic reactions and led to colds! We are still in Ohio while Jonathan headed back to Vegas to work and begin his real estate classes. Mom and Dad are packing up and heading to the Philippines for the winter so we wanted to spend some extra time with them.

Thanks to everyone for your lovely emails about your families and your happenings. It's always nice to read about everyone's activities and accomplishments. We were also amazed that many of you responded to the concern of our climate crisis / global warming and to hear about what you are doing too! Here are some of the responses that were not posted on the blog:

- Thanks for the great tips on how to save. I guess we have always associated eco-choices with being more costly, but not so!

- It's sad that most people ignore the issues and continue to live in the "bubble" of the evils of big business. Since we have kids, it is our moral repsonsiblity to protect their future.

- Yes! Thank you for the very important message this Christmas. We admit that we always think about it, but we saw the movie you suggested and we are active as of today! Long gone are the days of: it's not cool to be green. It's irresponsible to raise kids in this world without being aware of global warming and educating them about it. What is the point of raising kids when this planet is in crisis???

- We are also practicing green living and would like to discuss with you more about the subject and exchange ideas on greening the home.

- It's good to see you are eating healthy (we also eat organic as much as possible) and are green.

- We are also very much into environmentally/socially responsible practices (rain barrels, composting, organics, no Wal-Mart, etc). It's great to see others in the family are as well.

- I truly enjoyed your blog, esp the pictures and the many links to help us become more involved. I admit, I've been a huge contributor to global warming. No more plastic take out boxes for me!!

- Being a nurse makes me sad sometimes to see how much waste we generate in the hospital. I really try to make better choices when I buy products at the grocery or at the mall.