New Year's Greetings

December 2008 Album

Greetings Everyone! I may be jumping the gun a bit, but I'm anxious to get the December album out to everyone. We've had a fantastic month of preparing for the holidays and documented much of it on camera and on this blog. Before I procrastinate into obsolences - I want to send word and move on.

Christmas with the kids was a blast. They both enjoyed all the hub-bub. Jacob finally got the hang of opening presents by the time we finished on Christmas morning. We packed the kids and headed to WNY the day after Christmas. It was good to see everyone. The weather interfered with our visiting plans, but we made it back to home without any trouble.

We are ready to honker down for the rest of the winter. Looking forward to cross country ski'ing and sled rides. I'm excited for the new year - although I don't really have any major resolutions or major life changing action items on the list. We have plans to make headway on projects on the house, i.e. mudroom, a bedroom in the basement and some work to the front. Stephen will be busy with wood in the spring and he is determined to get a deer in the Fall. We are going to try to pick vacation weeks that will enable us to do more of those types of things. We are also hoping to grow more in the gardens. We need to deal with the Deer problem - which will require resources both time and money.

I took Jordan to the Doc's today - and learned she has fifth's desease. It is viral, similar to Roseola or Chicken Pox. It should disappear by the end of the week. The rash first showed up on Friday at Aunt Cathy's, so she wasn't contageous to her cousins (just in case you were wondering Molly).

I'm attempting to make brief posts throughout the month so to capture more, so be sure to scan down the page. Also, there is a new comic strip at the bottom - so enjoy.

We wish you all a Happy New Year. Enjoy and be safe!

Merry Christmas

Look what we did to pass the time on Christmas Eve! Waiting for Santa to come is one of the hardest things to do. Jake has been dying to build a snowman since about Halloween. Finally, the conditions were just right to bust out the snowman making kit Aunt Chassy bought for us 3 years ago! Cheers!

mission accomplished

Just had to share these. We took the kids for a walk in the woods today to find our xmas tree. They both thought it was hilarious when they would tip over. It was warm and pleasant outside, quite a change from yesterday. When Jordan wasn’t tipping over or laughing, she was sleeping. Jake tried the snow shoes, but it was much easier to let mom pull him. We now have a beautiful tree drip drying in the garage. Thank you Annie & Rich (Stephen fell in love with your woods)!

The Mom Song

A friend sent this to me. For all the moms (dads too!), it is worthing viewing. The Mom Song

Happy Birthday Gram Roth!

Here is the slide show I promised. Hope you all enjoy! Gram - if you want to share this with friends & family, simply copy & paste the link into an email and send it.

November 2008

November 2008 Online Photo Album

Here's one from the archives! Stephen uncovered when he was looking through the stacks in the basement. Can you name the place?? Because he can't. We know it was February 1978 - it says so on the back of the photo. For those who haven't guessed - the picture depicts a very young Perry clan - Bill, Alice, Mike, Cathy & little Steeeeeeeeeve somewhere in the woods. Well - if anyone wishes to shed light on the story behind this one - who took it, any particular reason why it is on an angle, location, and what was so funny - we'd love to hear it.

November has been a month of big achievements for Miss Jordan. It seems she went right from sitting without support, to crawling, to pulling herself up on anything she can reach - coffee table, crib rail, you name it. She is very determined to keep up with brother and with mom when I move from one end of the house to the other. She does get upset when she can't quite keep up yet, but she tries. When she doesn't have the desire to be on the move, she sits upright and waves her arms in the air like she is conducting an orchestra. She has a lot of fun with that. She is also making progress on solids. It seems it was yesterday she wouldn't eat anything unless it was purreed smooth (oh yeah, it was yesterday!). Now she feeds her self diced pears, diced sweet potatoes, puffs and greed beans.

We celebrated several birthday's this month - Bill Knapp turned 70, Steve turned 39, Grace Green turned 1, Teresa turned 80, Barbara turned 54 , and Michael turned 4! Also, Happy Anniversary to Mom & Dad. Wow - we are really collecting a lot of special occasions in November!

I have just one on my calendar for next month (besides Christ's birthday). Barb Stiles turns 51 on December 13th. Happy Birthday Barb!

Thanksgiving was a blast. We started eating turkey on Nov 22 and as of the date of this post - we are still eating turkey. All was very good and a great reminder of how blessed we really are. We had a great time seeing everyone in WNY. The three boys just wanted to wrestle non-stop. It's a good thing their combined weight is still managable. I can't wait until they sound like a hurd of elephants thundering through the house! We tried every trick in the book to get a decent picture of the 4 of them. Have you ever tried to heard cats? Well, I dare you to try hearding a 7 mo old, 2 yr old, 3 yr old and 4 yr old pack of kids. No dice!

Anyway, Santa is checking his list and checking it twice. Jacob is already asking me if Santa is coming tomorrow? We will be preparing for the festivities over the next several weeks. I am not sending mailed Christmas cards - so consider this your christmas greeting. The cost of postage is outrageous if you ask me. My hope is that this message finds you happy & healthy, and mentally prepared to enjoy the upcoming season. Everyone is dealing with tough economic challenges, and we should all remind ourselves how fortunate we really are. Take care and enjoy those closest to you!

October Review

October 2008 Online Photo Album

I'm left with wondering where October went. We were busy battening down the hatches in preparation for the long freeze of winter. Stephen secured a load of hay for my gardens, and I was able to pick the last of my tomatoes. The deer took care of the Fall lettuce crop for me, so planting garlic was all I had left to do. Jake & I put 84 cloves in our prime garden location - with hopes of producing our best crop to date so we should be set for next year.

Jordan made great strides this past month - she is sitting strong, as well as up on all fours. She makes a rocking motion which looks like she is training for track at the Olympics. She sings, jabbers and is very adept at feeding herself. I've even broken with tradition and begun giving her toast (with butter even!). She gobbles it up like nobody's business! We are braced for the coming weeks when her curiosity and mobility will give her the ability & ambition to get into everything. A family game of Chutes & ladders is already becoming a challenge with keeping her at bay. She is still very pleasant during the day, and enjoys playing on the floor with her toys. Nights are not always so pleasant. She likes to cuddle with mom, and lets everyone know when she isn't getting what she wants. The three of us are very busy all day long - with baths, play time, nap time, eating time, learning time and more play time. We are going to music class and sometimes to the library. As the weather continues to get cooler, I see our travels becoming fewer and our time at home more.

Jake had his 3 yr check up at the doctor's - he is 44 lbs 6 oz, and 41 1/2" tall. He is as healthy as an ox, and as active as a monkey. He never stops moving or talking. I've even begun telling him that he needs to be quite because my ears are tired. He has also discovered singing. He has always loved music, but now he sings by himself. He even memorized one of the songs from his video, and sings it throughout the house. He is into trains, fire trucks, big rigs and of course tractors. He can spot an Envoy (like Grandma Alice's), and Tundra (like Grandpa Page's) or a Tahoo - a mile away. He spots them as we are driving through parking lots. He'll say, "did you see that Tahoo mommy?" I'll look and sure enough there is a white Tahoo. Same with Envoys and Tundras. How does he do that???

He absolutely loves his tractor - peddling it on the road and zooming down the hill. He makes me push him up the hill, then he zooms ahead of us down the hill. I can hear him giggling as he goes.

Mother nature let us know what is in store for the months to come. Caught us all a little off gaurd. We were actually stuck in downtown Parishville for an hour, because we couldn't make it up the hill with all the snow that had fallen since we left the house 2 hours before. Crazy! We are over it now and likely going to order a brand new plow for the Tahoo because of it. Wait 'till Jake gets a load of that! Hope you enjoy the pics. Love to you all.

Next month means Turkey and cooler weather. Don't over do it with all the holiday preparations. Let us remind each other to be thankful for all we have. To quote Papa Page "Chow for now!"

Happy Birthday Aunt Cathy

Dear Aunt Cathy -

We hope you have a very special day. This is an ecard - 'Perry-style'. Do you like it? Check Yes or No. Daddy thought of it, I colored it and mommy posted it. Can we talk on the phone soon? We miss you and love you!

Love, Jacob (plus Jordan, Mommy & Daddy, too!)

See? Already another post!

Oh yeah - check out the cool slideshow feature I just figured out how to post to the blog. Also, hope you like the new look - I got sick of the old one, so I did a little redecorating. Enjoy!

Try it again...

I'm back. After a ridiculously long hiatus from this blog, I am returning to it with a renewed vigor and enthusiasm. It's like I mentioned in my opening posts, I have great intentions - it's the follow through where I lack. So many times, I think 'oh, I want to make a note of this on my blog' and then the moment passes and the thought escapes me, and the opportunity never happens. Well, maybe it'll happen again. Maybe another 13 months will pass before I make another post - but I hope not. If that happens, then it is what it is. If I can feel rewarded by my efforts, then maybe execution will actually take place.

To help with the reward part, I'm going to try taking an approach similar to the one my mother-in-law has been taking since Gram M went in the nursing home back in the spring. She writes a lengthy email about once a week (a little more or less) giving everyone updates on Gram and other activities at home. It is very informative and I feel effective at keeping everyone on the same page, so to speak, of the latest news. She's even started to mention birthdays and special events - which I think helps remind everybody of these times. Also, her distribution list includes her new family members which allows them to stay involved as well. Very smart, Alice - thank you.

So, I'll try to take an news update approach with this post and sees where it goes...

Last month, Jacob turned 3. He was pumped. He was singing happy birthday to himself for weeks prior, and we made a birthday chain to count the days down. He sneaked a peak at his birthday gift as daddy was putting it together in the basement days before his birthday. Somehow daddy convinced him he was dreaming, and was able to brush it off. He never mentioned it again - so it made us feel like we surprised him with a pedal tractor with a bucket on top. The birthday was a big hit, and we had a blast at home and then again a few days later in Lockport. We enjoyed 4 days on the farm with Grammie and Grandpa. Jake loves feeding the animals with Papa. I think he loves everything about G&G's. The rest of us had a nice time, and we made the best chicken chowder ever! It was a team effort with Julie's Mike and Steve doing a lot of the bull work. It was awesome and we were glad to bring a bunch of it home to eat for lunches.

September zoomed by. Jordan began her journey with 'people' food in September. I started her out slowly, with just a bit of avacado and bannana. She quickly graduated to sweet potato and butternet squash. I gave up on the idea of making my own cereal - for $1.88 you can buy a huge box and it mixes up a lot nicer than the homemade stuff. The rest is make as we go - I enjoy it, and she like it too. Soon we'll be onto more veggies and the rest of the fruits.

I could go on, but I'm not going to. I want to point out that September's web album is now posted on Picaso. You can get to it by clicking

September 2008

or you'll find a new section on the right hand column with a heading Perry Web Links. That link will stay there and you can always get to our web albums now through this blog. So bookmark this blog and you'll always be able to get there.

I won't be sending an email invite to the Picaso web album, because lots of people thought it was spam last time and didn't open. Also, when you view it as a slideshow you can adjust the length of time between slides. Look at the tool bar at the bottom of the screen when you start the slideshow and increase the time if is going too fast for your liking.