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08.23.2009
Every morning at 7:15, Bruno has a playdate with the female terrier (OK, she's a pit bull) who lives up the street. For 45 minutes, it's a frenzy of running, jumping, and biting. It's the highlight of his day.

Unfortunately, though, they're moving in 2 weeks, so the love affair is going to have to come to an end pretty soon.

Follow along for more photos of the happy couple.

08.09.2009
After living in Vermont for over 3 years, we finally got around to changing our cell phone numbers to a local 802 area code. Matt's new cell phone number is: 802 - 734 - 0898.

08.03.2009
It's now August! Or, as we call it in Vermont: summer.

In honor of the start of the county fair season, I thought I'd dust off this photo from 2005, when my corny family and I made a visit to the Iowa State Fair:

Seeing photos of Anna when she was younger like this makes me even more excited for the arrival of her future baby sister. We'll keep you all posted as the date gets closer.

07.23.2009
Anna graduated from preschool this week, and last night we attended her official graduation ceremony. The annual gathering and potluck dinner is held in the playground behind her school. One by one, the graduating preschoolers step up to the podium while one of their teachers reads a certificate that describes their growth and accomplishments. Afterwards, each child is given a backpack with some school supplies to start them off on their academic journey. Anna was beaming with pride as she stood there, cherishing the moment she had as the center of attention.

This is what Anna's certificate said:

In Celebration of Anna Bushey Completing the 3 years at Ascension Childcare Anna came to Ascension as a Toddler. Anna is imaginative, happy and bouncy. She has always LOVED dramatic play, staging elaborate tea parties for herself or any child or teacher who cared to join her. Her love of dramatic play continued to grow as she became a Preschooler. During this past year, Anna's favorite dramatic play activity has been playing "babies". She especially enjoys this activity with her friends, Logan, Rebecca and Anna M. Anna has been observed with a "baby in her tummy" on many occasions during this past year. She also enjoys playing the part of the baby herself when role playing with her friends. Anna is very excited about becoming a Big sister soon! Anna loves to do art projects, especially painting and her interest in writing has really taken off in this past year. Anna also loves Share Day. Some favorite Anna "shares" were pictures of her dog, Bruno and the Ultrasound picture of her sibling.

Here are some of the kids posing after the ceremony. There were about 10 in all.

Yes, those are underpants that some of the kids are holding. Or wearing on their heads. This deserves an explanation. You see, starting next week, the toddlers are moving up to the preschool room, but the graduating preschoolers don't leave for kindergarted for another 6 weeks. So in order to satisfy the teacher quotas and maximum class sizes mandated by the state, the school is going to have a "Church Space Camp" for the outgoing preschoolers - a kind of temporary classroom staffed by extra teachers in the large multipurpose room or "Church Space" next door.

The kids somehow got the idea that they weren't going to wear underpants during their camp (don't ask my why), which morphed into a scheme to wear their underpants on their heads. The new classroom soon became known as "Camp Underpants".

Knowing that the young graduates would actually follow through with their plan, the teachers put a pair of clean, unused underpants in each of the kid's backpacks, so they could partake in the planned civil disobedience while keeping clean. I think this plan originated with the boys in the group, because when they discovered the underwear gift, they immediately put them on their heads and began to run around. Anna never put hers on, but she did wear the backpack.

The night ended with a small cadre of preschool boys running around the playground with underpants on their heads, chasing the girls. Here is one trying to get away:

If I recall, I think we did something similar after my college graduation.

06.29.2009
Today is Bruno's first birthday. We considered baking him a dog bone-shaped cake, but we opted for a mini-shopping spree at Petco instead. We picked up a few new toys for him, but that didn't stop him from tearing apart a cardboard box while we were at work. Oh well... could have been worse.

He also got a couple walks in today, including one with the girls from Vermont Paws, who he has a date with twice a week.

But the best present was the birthday card that Anna drew for him in preschool today. It depicts her and her dog, with hugs and kisses. I think Bruno liked it.

06.14.2009
Today marks the start of our home-renovation work week, something that's turning into a kind of annual event for us. Anna left today for a week-long visit at grandma and grandpa's house, very eager and excited for the time she gets to spend with them. While grandma and grandpa were here to pick her up, we were all able to soak up the sun (and the music) on Church Street for the final day of the Jazz Fest before she left.

Karen and I are hoping to make maximum use of the week, and we have a long list of tasks we hope to get done. They include: new lighting and electrical; shelving and millwork; finishing the attic floor; exterior lighting; and a lot of painting. (We may sneak in a movie in there.) We're also having someone sand and refinish the wood floor in the baby's room. We actually did this ourselves at our last house, but we opted to hire this work out this time.

Since Karen is less than 100 days from delivery, I will be doing any of the work that requires lifting, hammering, cutting, or inhaling fumes. This leaves the electrical work for Karen to take care of, something she's been doing well ever since our first house in Massachusetts. This photo is from May 2002 ... over seven years ago. I guess after all that time, some things still haven't changed.

05.25.2009
I built a stone wall this weekend. With my bare hands. It was my memorial day weekend activity.

We also went for a hike, our first hike with Bruno. It was a short 1.3 mile walk up to a nice overlook. Not a very difficult hike, but it was enough for our crew: a girl who's 5, a mama who's 6 months pregnant, and a dad who's back is recovering from building a stone wall.

What else did we do this weekend? I cleaned the grill. You know it's time to clean the grill when its use sets off the fire alarm inside the house.