Oh my goodness. I have not updated since before I finished school! And now I’ve waited so long that I am feeling pressure (self-imposed!) to make a *great* post (rather than just a simple Facebook Status update!), and I just don’t have a *great* post in me!
This will get me started:
Here’s a re-cap of what we have been doing since I last posted:
- I finished my final assignments and officially graduated! I didn’t attend graduation in Clarion, and I haven’t received my diploma yet, but my transcript shows that I completed all the requirements. I now have a Master of Science in Library Science. I started the program in September 2006, when Lilia was just 6 months old. I started slowly, with just 5 classes in the first 16 months, but I took 7 classes in 2008 in order to finish faster. I *almost* finished with straight A’s, but unfortunately, I missed a weekend of classes when the family had the flu last February, and that is an automatic grade reduction. Oh well! Now I’m starting the job hunt– fun times ahead!
- We celebrated Christmas! My dad joined us at Sheerlund Farms, a great Christmas tree farm in Berks County where we cut our own tree. This was Lilia’s first time having a real tree– we used an artificial tree during her first Christmas and we had appliances in our living room last Christmas (as our kitchen was being redone!). Lilia loved having a tree, and is counting down the days till next Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve and Day in Berks visiting family. A few days later, we met my sister (Lilia’s Aunt Maria) at the Hershey Zoo, where the animals were getting special treats for the holidays. That evening, Joe, Lilia and I toured Hershey Chocolate World and Hershey’s Christmas Candy Lane. It was a chilly night, but Lilia had fun riding on all of the kiddie rides. We also went to Macy’s in Center City Philadelphia to see the Wanamaker Christmas Light Show
- We met Aunt Maria at the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware to see the Snow Geese. Boy, are they noisy! I’ll post a video of that in a picture post.
- Lilia finally got a new toddler bed! We are still working on a bedtime, and sleeping more in the toddler bed, but she does sleep there sometimes. We also got Lilia a kid-sized table and chairs so she can work on her projects.
- We participated in the Mid-Winter Bird Census, simply by looking out our back door and counting the birds. (The count: 30+ Sparrows; 6 Juncos; 1 Nuthatch; 3 Chickadees; 1 Downy Woodpecker; 1 Cardinal; 6 Goldfinches; 6 House finches; 6 Robins; 2 Mourning Doves; 11 Starlings; and 2 Crows) We also went for a winter walk in Fairmount Park and saw a few beautiful bluebirds.
- Lilia’s weekly gym class started a couple weeks ago. She loves doing tumbles, walking the balance beam, and swinging from the rings.
- And the most exciting thing we’ve done recently was travel to Washington, D.C. for the Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama!! Our friend Karla joined us on Monday, and we drove down to Aunt Maria’s house in Maryland. Aunt Maria was out of town, but she let us stay at her place, bought metro passes for us, and left us great directions. Tuesday morning, we drove to the Metro and joined the crowds heading to D.C. We made it to the National Mall, and stood next to the Washington Monument to witness the swearing in… on a large Jumbotron. Lilia was cold and tired, and had a bit of a rough time before she fell asleep in our arms. But she was very happy to see Barack Obama on the big TV, and was even happier to watch the parade on television when we made it back to Maria’s house.
- Lilia is less than 5 weeks away from turning three years old, and I’m working on planning her birthday. Papa and Gram will be visiting from Michigan, and we’ll have a party for her at her PA grandparent’s house. THREE YEARS OLD!! I can’t believe it!!
Well, now I better start working on a picture post to go along with all these bullet points!
