Gold Medal for Hannah!

In honor of the Olympics, we took Hannah out for her very first skate around the rink!





It started out with extra socks so the too-big ice skates would fit and the cutest ever pink panda helmet!





The first laps were basically me & Uncle dragging her around. When I asked if she wanted to go around for a third time or take a break with Nana & Poppop, she said "Around again!!"

After I held her up for a while, she started to stand up straight on her own!

And then it was just Hannah & Uncle!

She liked sitting "in the box" and watching the other skaters, but never for very long.

She wanted to get right back out and skate!

There were a few falls, but no tears! Just a snowy butt!

She had so much fun with Mommy, Uncle & me!

But refused our help at the end!!!

Here are some videos of her skating all by herself!

Everyone is just so proud of her!

Birthday & Football!

Yet again, I had a wonderful birthday weekend at the beginning of February that included the casino, some yummy food, roses, a beautiful cake and lots of friends!

BF Kimmy, the BF in-law & little Ally came to visit! We went bowling and they stayed to watch the Superbowl! It was so nice to have a little football party (with turkey chili and buffalo chicken dip!!)! I am so happy that they moved to Albany and are only a 2 hour drive from us now!!

Here are a few pictures of the cutie pie! We just adore her! (Especially Uncle Ry ... we're pretty sure she said "uncle" at one point!)

Ally's first bowling experience!

Ally & Daddy are trying to pick up the spare!

We're ready for some football!!

Winter break in Buffalo 2

In addition to Snow Fun, my mom and I took Nephew to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. I haven't been there in years! It was fun, but I think Nephew enjoyed the gift shop the most!

Here are my 2 favorite pieces:

(1) Giant card table. Mom & Nephew for size. The 4th chair is actually propped against the wall a few yards away!

(2) Best. Painting. Ever.

Winter break in Buffalo!

After Christmas, Ry & I traveled to Buffalo to visit with the family! As usually, we took Nephew out for some fun! Here's our day at the Snow Park in Niagara Falls on New Year's Day! -- it's actually open 365 days a year, and Nephew is already looking forward to another trip there this summer!

Here's the snow tubing hill!!

Uncle Ry at the bottom!
The boys going down in a double tube! Nephew's first time "Ice" Skating.
(It's not really ice ... it's some weird frictionless surface)

Taking a break in the snow piles on the "Ice" Rink

Uncle Ry, Nephew & Aunt Kel "playing hockey"

I think he had fun!
(Even if Aunt Kel did threaten to make him sit in the car while we had all the fun!!)

Snowed in!

Yep, we're snowed in.

Well, not really.

We got about 2 feet of pretty fluffy snow here in NJ.

But I am from Buffalo ... so we got Ry's car out of a snow bank and went shopping! Half the stores were closed, but we managed to go to BJs and Walmart!

I decided to take this snowy day and learn how to get pictures off of my camera and on to my new computer!

So here's a few photos of the snow! And I'll post a few more pictures from the last few months in the next couple of posts!

Here are our cars AFTER we brushed them off and shoveled a bit!

Crash, Burn, Recover

Last Wednesday my computer finally crashed. I had anticipated it (because my computer was 5 years old), but it still was horrific.

Because I was trying to back up pretty regularly, I only lost 2 weeks of work. Unfortunately, I was pretty busy during those 2 weeks, so I lost a whole bunch of data and documents and a seminar. The seminar I was supposed to give the following day.

I spent 3 hours on the phone with Dell customer service (in a foreign country) and I hate them now and will never buy a Dell again (despite having a Dell for 10 years and actually liking the computers). Customer service is so important ... why be rude?

Anyway .. I then spent 5 hours re-making my seminar powerpoint with Ry's computer and my external hard drive. I was ready for it, but, thankfully it was cancelled due to snow. So, I have a bit more time to make it so much better.

I was pretty upset for a couple of days, but have now accepted what I lost and have moved on!

I have a new computer now. Thank goodness. RyGuy bought it for me as an early graduation gift. He is the best!! I supposed I have to graduate for sure now ....

It's a pretty Toshiba. I named it Beluga.

Too much to do!

I enjoyed a wonderful birthday weekend with Ry & friends (pictures to follow if I ever find my camera cord).

But now I am realizing how much work I must get done!!!!!!!!

Ideally, I will get a draft of my dissertation to my committee by March 1st!

To do that, I need to:

• watch 14 hours of video for Chapter 3
• get all data from Chapter 3 to statistician (crazy hard stats need to be done)
• re-write Chapter 3
• watch 30 hours of video for Chapter 5
• analyze all data for Chapter 5
• write ALL of Chapter 5
• write Chapter 1 (intro)
• write Chapter 6 (conclusions)
• make dissertation look pretty

Oh, and I have to give a stupid departmental seminar this week ... which has taken up too much of my time.

Wish me luck!