Suz's Stuff

Catching Up...

2009-05-21T22:25:00.008-04:00

The last couple of months seem to have flown by. This is a brief synopsis of what we've been doing!

Oliver went to his friend Aaden's 1st birthday party at the Children's Museum:

Mia & Ollie with Aaden and Cameron:
Mr. Roger's tree welcomes special guest, Oliver!
Mia turned 14. Crazy. Small birthday party at home with some friends:
She and Samantha gave themselves facials after the boys left. Cucumber for Sam and mint chocolate for Mia.
Ollie had another playdate with Annabelle!

He's doing the pirate face here:
Nicholas "surfing" at blue slide park. Of course the little kids thought he was so cool. Until he fell. :)
Ollie and Ethan at blue slide park "cafe"
Nicholas and Tanner in the background:
Easter weekend in Altoona! Here's all the boys:
Aunt Alysia & the kids at Easter:
Elliot and Oliver in the bike trailer:
Stopping for a break:
Jayne Rose at the family birthday party for Mia, Jay, David, and Connor:
The older, and more mature siblings:
Face to face with a tiger at the zoo:
Shadows are cool:
Big sister, little brother, & dad:
Ollie & Mia at the zoo:
Another close encounter. This time with a polar bear!!
We had a date. Crazy, I know. So crazy, we had to take a picture!
Super cheese:
Is this a proud father-in-law or WHAT?! (ha ha)
Big Man of the House:
Sister love:
Go PENS!!!
One of our bigger projects recently... our square foot garden! Hopefully we'll have lots of fresh veggies this summer!
Oliver terrorizing grandma Barbara at Mia's instrumental concert. Of course, I don't have a picture of Mia playing, because I was chasing him the whole time.
Bath time!! He's started needing to get his knees and hands scrubbed - no more cute play in the water - it's getting hard core now that summer is here!
Run away, Ollie!!
Down the steps:
Mia & friends at the Merit Scholar's Award Ceremony:
Alex & Jesse the night of Sarah's prom:
My beautiful niece (and niece-in-law) going to her senior prom!! I took lots of pictures, but this was my favorite:

Bat Mitzvah snapshots

2009-03-16T20:34:00.005-04:00

Don't worry, there was a professional photographer and his pictures are way better. :) These are just a little bit fun!
Chris doing a wheelie and Lisa being karate kid :)

Sarah & Hannah dancing with Mia & Ollie:

Chris & Jul (so dang cute!):

The Ladies:

Sheila and Ollie dancing:

Jayne, Chris & Lisa breakin it down:

Gangsta Karen:

Ollie & Jayne:

Peekaboo!

Jesse's band - Zubat & the Bees Knees:

The gorgeous tables:

Jesse, Sarah, and Jayne (illegal picture)

The May-Stein family:

Placecards :)

Oliver in March

2009-03-16T19:50:00.007-04:00

Ollie has been busy this month!! Here's a glimpse of what he's been up to...

Aunt Merrilee makes me happy!

Best bargain at IKEA

He's FAAAAAAbulouuuuuuus!!!

You can't grow this from a regular seed, let's just say that

Ollie is learning Baritone:

And becoming a firefighter:

Having deep conversations with Uncle Curt:

Hanging out with his sibs and cousins:

We almost went to the zoo...

Say WHAT?

"Walking" Chasidy's new puppy, Ben:

You craysee??

Sled riding in the house, where it's not too cold:

Bath time with cousins:

Mia Models :)

2009-02-08T16:20:00.003-05:00

Mia had a Valentine's Dance so before she left she and I had a "modeling shoot". It was very fun and here are some of my favorite "shots" :)

Superbowl Sunday 2009

2009-02-02T16:14:00.002-05:00

Our team, Pittsburgh Steelers, beat the Arizona Cardinals to become the first team to win 6 Lombardi trophies. James Harrison, team MVP, set a new Superbowl record with a 100 yard run touchdown from an interception. Santonio Holmes was named MVP and scored the winning touchdown by two toes. :) Awesome game & it was really fun to be able to spend (most of) it with the fam. Jersey pics:

Random cutenesses

2009-01-12T21:46:00.003-05:00

A few completely unrelated snapshots...

Ollie in the bathtub after I parted his hair down the middle. Yes, I realize he has hardly any hair, but it still looks cute!
As far as hair goes... daddy took this snapshot. I assume there was a balloon rubbing involved.
Ollie loves his John Deere tractor he got from his great Aunt Esther.
Mia's way of helping me make pizza dough.
Ollie giving his Uncle Curt love. I think they look like they might be related....
Ollie is fascinated by something on his grandpa's face.
Actually a cute 3 generation picture - they're all playing with legos. How appropriate. :)
The backs of 3 boys' heads. Classic boy cousin picture. Elliot, Owen & Ollie D watching the unwrapping of a very cool new toy.
He's larger than he appears. That could not be more true.
The diaper "cake" I made for Annabelle, Ollie's betrothed, who will be here within a month!!! Yay!!
Jesse reading Stinkyface to Oliver, who has apparently inserted his foot into the text.
My sister and her nephews.
The Bat Mitzvah invitations in blue and purple:

Oh-Dee-Dee in the hizouse, yo:

Steelanukkah

2008-12-22T09:11:00.009-05:00

My family is a bit eclectic we all celebrate something different at the holidays. Jay and I are pretty earthy into the solstice stuff, my sister celebrates Hanukkah, and my brother celebrates Christmas. We all get into the Steelers, though, so this year we got together on the first night of Hanukkah (the night after the winter solstice) and celebrated Steelanukkah! :)

Here's everyone playing dreidel for chocolate gelt:

Oliver was into the gelt:
Here we are lighting the Menorahs. All the kids had their own!
Ollie worships his rock star cousin - especially when he jams on his guitar:
The brainiacs playing trivial pursuit:
Just a cute picture of Julie sporting her colors:
Cute pic of my mom:
More trivial pursuit:
Me & Mia:
We headed out to Chatham's fish pond, which is literally 2 seconds from my sister's house. We brought bread for the ducks & fish, who apparently were smarter than us because they were not there... we were the dingle bats trekking out in the freezing cold!!!

Jay, Nicholas, Sarah, David, and other random body parts watching the game:
The best Auntie ever (that would be Sheila) got a gingerbread house for all the kids (and Mom) to make:

Family pictures! Finally!!

Mom & her grandkids:

Jayne & Mia - cute cousins:

Holiday Party

2008-12-22T09:03:00.004-05:00

Our friends Mariaelena & Renee had an awesome Christmas Party and we went! Here's Renee at the bar - she is the ultimate bartender and they built a bar into their dining room. How cool, right?

This was us before we headed over. We did the cheese and all wore red. :)
Jay Thaddeus and Ollie D:
Lorianne and Ollie:
Murphy the dog:
Ollie D and Laina:
Laina and Renee:
Ollie D swiping dad's gift:
Laina read this hysterical story and we all passed the gifts we brought around until they were very mixed up. Very fun!! Note the insane amounts of food on the table.
Mia & Oliver:

Holiday Dance & other fun

2008-12-22T08:53:00.006-05:00

Random snapshots & pics from Mia going to her Holiday Dance:

10th anniversary in the 'Burgh

2008-12-17T21:04:00.002-05:00

This month is the 10th anniversary of Mia and me moving to Pittsburgh! Crazy how time flies. I've never lived anywhere else longer, so I guess Pittsburgh is becoming where I'm "from". When I moved here I was 21 and Mia was 3. We've both grown a lot in the last decade and together we've put down roots. Mia lives in the same town as people she went to preschool with. Something I can't even imagine. Something good. Something I'm really glad I was able to give her, even though there were certainly plenty of times I wanted to blast out of the city and move on to the next new adventure. I've found that in many ways, staying put is harder than moving around all the time. Building connections with people and having to work through conflicts rather than running away is a lot of work! I still fantasize about moving, I can't lie. I'm a little bit of a nomad and always will have that "fear of commitment" coursing through my veins. But, 10 years is 10 years, and whether I choose to admit it or not, I love this city. I love my Steelers and occasionally I even catch myself saying ridiculous things like "nebby" and "dahntahn". So here, here to Pittsburgh, to a decade in the same place, and to the wonderful friends and family I have been blessed to have gotten to know. And many more......

My native man:

My gorgeous teenager:

My baby 'Burgher:

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-02T23:10:00.003-05:00

My favorite holiday: Thanksgiving. Family, friends, and food. This year we all went to my sister's. It was a wonderful time and we laughed, ate, drank, and sang until we collapsed. My sister's amazing turkey, Julie's insanely good pies, Tuchin potatoes, some homemade stuffing, a billion other things, plenty of wine & spirits, and it's never really Thanksgiving without Aunt Sally's jello mold. Personally, I was buzzed for most of the day. It was a beautiful thing and I enjoyed every minute of it. I love when the kids all get together and am amazed every time at how gorgeous and old they're all getting. Enough blabber... on with the pictures!!

Alexander and Ollie just before we headed over - both looking quite sharp in their dressy clothes!
The May-Stein children. Sarah is so close to being the oldest and shortest.
My niece and niece-in-law (pretty much!) who was home from college for the break
Nicholas and Ollie - our oldest and youngest
Mia & Jayne - two peas since they were tiny
My other nieces!! Hannah & Leah. I wish we saw them more than once a year!!
"the nephews" I'm glad they spent all last weekend with us because I didn't see them much on Thanksgiving!!
The never-ending table!! Full of food, wine, and the best company.
And then we sing!! Hannah, Ron & Jesse did a guitar jam and when we didn't know the words, we made them up. :)
Can't wait until next year!!!

Happy Birthday to Ollie!!

2008-11-16T19:50:00.004-05:00

Oliver turned one year old on Sunday, Nov 16th. We had a party for him and all of his friends and family came! Our family from Altoona drove 2 hours one way just to sing him happy birthday!! Unfortunately, I realized too late that we didn't take many pictures of this very important day, so I'm sad to say we have nothing but memories of most of it. :( Anyway, we had a great time and Ollie seemed to enjoy hanging out with everyone! Here are a few that we did take:

The Birthday boy:

His birthday cake, which was made, of course, by his aunt Julie with the help of his big sister:
Oliver eating his birthday cake:

Ollie got tons of awesome gifts for turning one! Here he's sporting his new Hines Ward Steelers jersey and ball cap:There was a game after the party and we won!! Must have been because of Ollie's good juju. :)

Treat bags that Mia and I made for all the kids. Thanks to everyone who came!! It was an awesome birthday party!!

Hockey Game - Go Pens!!

2008-11-16T19:36:00.002-05:00

Jay and I got to go to a Penguins hockey game the night before Oliver's birthday with his sister and her fiance, Rob. They won 5-2, so Rob says I'm allowed to come back since I'm not bad luck or anything. ha ha. Anyway, other than Sid the kid, this is my favorite player:

Here we are at the Mariott bar after the game waiting to meet up with friends of theirs:

Rob & Alysia:
Sid the Kid:

Halloween

2008-11-16T18:47:00.003-05:00

Ollie's last first holiday was Halloween. He wore a red dragon costume and his sister was a pirate mouse. :)

We went trick or treating with Mia and Ollie's cousins around their neighborhood. They made a haul!! Gotta love a holiday all about free candy from strangers that's socially acceptable, right?

Our pumpkins:

Final Disney Picture

2008-11-02T22:03:00.003-05:00

This was our last night at Disney World. We went to the Magic Kingdom and watched the fireworks. They were very pretty and Ollie loved it:

Disney World

2008-10-20T11:49:00.007-04:00

I had planned to update my blog every night on vacation with a couple of pictures and a recap of the day. However, I did not take into consideration that I would be exhausted and would be crashing just moments after the baby. Oliver was such a trooper and Mia said she had fun, too! We took over 700 pictures, so I had a little bit of trouble picking out the best ones. Instead, I tried to get a few that remind me of the day. Here goes!

We stayed in the Caribbean Beach Resort. Here is the view from our room:

Our first full day we went to Animal Kingdom. Here is the "tree of life":
The big ride at Animal Kingdom is the Mt. Everest Expedition. It was a blast!!

Dana, Alysia, and Mia in "Mexico"

Mia, Oliver, and Jay
Oliver and Alysia at the pool at our resort:
Oliver on the way to the pool where he lost his hat forever:
Mia checking out the hammocks:
We had lunch with 5 princesses. Belle, Jasmine, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Ariel. Ollie liked Ariel the best:
Oliver loves water. Every fountain we passed he had to check out. Even if it meant I got soaked.
Ollie and Dad in the teacups; Oliver's favorite ride! He must have ridden them 10 times!!
Alysia in front of Aerosmith's Rockin Roller Coaster - definitely right up there with Space Mountain!
We lunched at the 50s Prime Time Diner - where you feel like you're sitting in your grandma's old house, or at least you know someone who has some of this stuff.
This was on the way out of the Honey I shrunk the kids playground. Oliver loved the Tonka Truck.
Seriously, he signs "Green Army Man" - hysterical!
Mia & Rafiki:
Mia, Mushu, Alysia & Mulan:
Mia and Jasmine at the princess lunch:
Captain Jay Detwiler:
Mia & Ollie in their Mickey Ears:
The Magic Kingdom was lit up for Halloween. Pretty cool!
Bro & Sis with T-I-double G rrrrrr
Mia in the Space Claw!!!
Obviously I have tons more pictures and lots of stories, but overall, we had a great time, ate amazing food, and came home exhausted, so I think we did it right. :) We saw some really cool things and discovered that Oliver absolutely loves Crush from Finding Nemo, and that Mia is a Disney Pin-aholic. I never did find Pocahontas, but there's always next time.... :)

Softball!!

2008-10-10T19:53:00.005-04:00

Mia was the catcher on her softball team this year. Here are some pictures from their last game. She actually got a runner out at home who was sliding but of course I missed that shot.

Mia's #46:
Just hit it & is getting ready to run to first!
Catcher Mia throwing it to the pitcher:
Jayne plays the outfield:
Catch that ball!
Jayne's big ol' helmet:
Jayne's hit:
Jayne came home and was one of the TWO runs in the whole game:

The end of September.... Wicked

2008-10-01T07:48:00.004-04:00

Mia took her Aunt Julie to see Wicked for her big "four-oh" birthday. They looked gorgeous so I snapped some pictures of them on the way out:

The end of September is Alexander's birthday - the official middle boy child of our family. :) He turned 12 this year. Aunt Alysia, Grandma Dana, and Nan came over from Altoona to celebrate and we sang him happy birthday.

Blowing out his candles:
Hanging with his bro:
Big Brother Bear:
Aunt Alysia & Ollie:

The other thing September brings is football season! We love those Steelers!
Ollie & cousin CJ:
Decked out for the game:

Oliver is climbing stairs now. Dad encourages it. Bad dad. But he is pretty cute!!
Robot Jammies:

10 months old!! and some other stuff....

2008-09-17T16:23:00.005-04:00

Ollie D is ten months old as of yesterday. Seems impossible, but he is. He'll turn 11 months while we're in Disney World, so that seems crazy, too, because in a blink he's gonna be a year old. Anyway, here's some ten month pictures of the big boy:

Ollie & mom

Ollie and his big Tonka truck

Oliver says "Shhhhh"

Mia & Jay

He's saying "this is what I want you to do"

We picnicked at the cemetary behind our house and Oliver decided he'd find his own lunch

Beware: A wicked Wii competition ensues here - Dr. Mario to the death!

This is our front yard and presumably part of the reason we were without power for almost 4 days. We were one of the 10,000 that the wind storm affected in Pgh. Yay us.

Last week of summer

2008-08-19T14:40:00.007-04:00

The last week before Mia started school was a very busy one. I had finals and we had to finish the work on our rental property because a tenant was ready to move in. So, Monday through Wednesday was a bit insane and to reward ourselves we took Thursday and Friday off. Thursday we went to the zoo and Friday we went to Kennywood!

Kennywood is an awesome place. This was Oliver's first trip ever, and our first trip of the summer. We brought Jayne & Chasidy with us to help make the day even more fun!

Jayne eating pizza:

The end of the day - a good time was had by all:
Jayne, Ollie D, and Mia:
Suz & Mia riding the Cosmic something or other:
Ollie sleeping on Dad:
Oliver loves water:
Chasidy, Jayne & Mia eating ICE CREAM!!!!

Mia, Oliver, and I tried to go to the zoo on Thursday, but we apparently picked a bad day. It was super crowded and it rained to boot. Still, we had a pretty good time!!

Mia and Ollie in their rain ponchos:
Zebras & Ostriches:
Cute siblings:
Ollie's checking out the wild dogs:
Mia & Oliver watching the polar bear:

baby elephants & a boy turning 7!

2008-08-19T13:48:00.004-04:00

This morning my sister-in-law, Sally, and I took my niece, Sarah, and her girlfriend, Hannah, to the zoo because we wanted to hang out with them & because Hannah is leaving for Temple University next Tuesday.

Here's the girls:
Here's the elephant family marching out - the littlest baby is in there... can you see him between mom's legs in the back?
The polar bear was swimming - here was our view from below:
Sally watching the elephants:

The snow leopard was NOT sleeping for a change! He looks kinda hungry though...
Oliver watching the elephants before they paraded outside:

On Sunday we had a family happy birthday for my nephew, Colin, who turned 7 on Monday. Julie, his mom, made him the COOLEST darth vader cake! Here he is just about to blow out his candles:Here's my brother giving Oliver cantaloupe. He loved it. But not as much as the chocolate cake that followed!!

2nd Annual Family Camping Trip

2008-08-10T15:33:00.008-04:00

We just got back from our 2nd Annual Family Camping Trip! It was Oliver's first time camping and we had a really good time! The weather was very... fun. :) The first night the temperature dropped to 50 (a little bit cold...but fun to snuggle in the sleeping bags!) and the second night we had TWO thunderstorms and got poured on. It was still a ton of fun. Here are some pictures:

All the chidrin around the campfire:
Getting ready to pack up this morning:
After breakfast at Perkins on the way home:
Exploring nature - tree frogs, snakes, & salamanders:
Sleepy Ollie:
Canoing:
The girl boat:
Team WINNER (Mia took the picture):
Horseback riding:

Jayne (AKA: Bindi):
How many guys does it take to change a tire?:
The oldest & youngest cousins go gangsta:
Oliver sees a horse for the first time:
Songs around the campfire:
Happy Ollie & Uncle:
The men do breakfast RIGHT!:
Jesse schooling Jay:

The Kitchen Is DONE!!!

2008-08-02T13:28:00.004-04:00

Woohoo! We finished the kitchen. It looks great, and it was really fun, albeit slightly stressful because we were doing pretty much everything for the first time & learning as we went. But, I think it looks pretty dang good!
First we ripped out everything - cabinets, sink, floor & appliances. We moved the refrigerator out of the "nook" it was in and put a pantry there. We took out the linoleum and the old subfloor which was funkadelic and surprisingly enough, the planks underneath were in mostly good condition. We replaced a few that were soft or in one case, totally rotted (nice). Then it was game on! Fresh paint, new cabinets, sink, countertop, floor, trim & bring back the stove & refrigerator, clean up the ceiling fan, shelves & pot rack & Wallah! It looks awesome & I'll add more pictures as we take them. Here's a basic before & after for now:

BEFORE

AFTER

Birthdays in Altoona

2008-07-08T11:54:00.005-04:00

This past Sunday we went to Altoona to celebrate two very important birthdays!! Oliver's cousin Elliot turned 1 and his grandpa David (one of whom he is named after!) turned 60!! We had a great time and here are some pictures:

"the kids"
Clare, Curt, Elliot (the birthday boy), Owen, Suzanne, Mia, Jay, Ollie D, Alysia & Rob

Family Picture
Jay, Grandma D, Grandpa D (the other birthday boy), Curt & Alysia

Elliot eating his birthday cake!

Ollie D and his big cousin Owen

playing in the sun

Oliver and his Great Nan watching the dog

Back from Boston!!

2008-06-29T20:27:00.008-04:00

We just got back from Boston today - Mia and Oliver and I went up on Thursday to meet Jay and spend the weekend there. It was awesome, the city is beautiful (though the weather was gray the whole time we were there) and the people are great! It is, however, frikkin expensive, and by the way is it work to travel with an infant!! Needless to say, we are all glad to be home. Especially Ollie. He was melting down a little today which is so out of character for him. We're all looking forward to sleeping in our own beds tonight.
While we were there we had a ball, though. We took a harbor cruise & saw the skyline from the bay. We saw the USS Constitution, Harvard, the New England Aquarium, and rode the trolley all over the city. It's a very cool, historic city, and yet still really progressive.

Boston Skyline from the Bay
Make Way for Ducklings statue in Boston Common
Ollie D tried Mom's ice cream - at first without Mom knowing it... but the messy face wouldn't let it stay a mystery for long!
Dad & Ollie in front of the cool restaurant Fire & Ice where you gather all your ingredients and the chefs cook it on a big round grill in the center - fun!
Mia & Oliver in front of the New England Aquarium
Right behind them in the bay are TONS of jellyfish in the water - this was a block from where Jay works (the Boston World Trade Center) and across the street from where we stayed (the Seaport Hotel).

We had a good time & saw & did lots of other stuff too. Mostly we walked our butts off! The drivers in Boston are NUTS! And, the public transportation is awesome! They have the oldest subway in the US. (And the oldest restaurant, pub, church, graveyard, and a bunch of other stuff, too! It's OLD!) Anyway, as with most places, it was fun to visit, but I don't know that I'd want to live there.

7 months in pictures

2008-06-17T12:10:00.002-04:00

Yesterday Oliver turned 7 months and today I figured out how to add pictures to my blog. The result? The last 7 months in pictures. :)

June

May

April

March

February

January

December

November