my 30th birthday party

It all started with my co-worker Susan insisting that we go to this fancy restaurant outside of Rittenhouse Square, this super bourgeoisie restaurant in one of the most expensive parts of the city (Jamie Fox stayed in a hotel in this neighborhood while filming "Law Abiding citizen". Afterwards I traveled up to NY and went to a comedy show where the main event was a Rugby player who used chugging beer as a main part of his act. He actually was quite entertaining and did something I've never seen before. AKA - stone cold steve austin chugging a beer. (look it up)

Heidi's First Birthday

Heidi turned 1 this year. Here are some pictures from her party.

What a party girl.

Christmas 09

Philly Big Snow Storm 09

This is why I'm still in Philly and not on my way to Bismarck today. Beginning 1am Saturday morning and ending 6am Sunday a huge snow storm rolled into the area and blanketed SE Pennsylvania, southern NJ, northern DE, southern NY, and all the way down to Virginia. At first they were predicting 3-6 inches. That turned into 6-8, then 10-12, then 8-14, and finally 10-20. Yesterday they said Philadelphia received 16 inches and it wasn't even finished snowing yet. They say it is the second biggest December snow storm on record here. Here is the aftermath in my neighborhood..My doorstep. Lazy landlord

In front of my apartment. Looks like the red car tried to get out and failed. Now they're up on the curb!!

It is hard to see but those are garbage trucks with plows hooked on the front plowing the snow off the street!

One block away

Two blocks away. All I can say to the owner of the car in the forefront is - good luck!

As you can see the trolleys are still able to plow through the snow and go down their tracks.

People waiting for the trolley on the street because the sidewalks aren't cleared.

Heidi's First Thanksgiving

Grandpa and Grandma Gross went to visit Heidi (and mom and dad) for Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful meal at Brian's boss' house on Thanksgiving. Kelly cooked a wonderful Thanksgiving meal on Saturday because she had to work Thursday and Friday. Brian, Joe, Heidi, and Meredith went Christmas shopping on Friday.

Heidi sat up at the table with the big people and ate solid food while we were there.

She helped Grandpa check out the fireplace to see what was wrong.

She took a spin with her car to go Christmas Shopping. She took her Target ad and stopped to check her next stop.

She told Daddy how to fix her crib so she wouldn't fall out.

She helped mommy decorate the Christmas Tree.

Mostly, she played and played and played. She discovered how to really get around even without crawling. She enjoyed being able to sit in front of her toy box and choose the toy she wanted to play with.

Heidi

On Halloween night, cousins Cordelia, Torrie, and Fred Ryan came to trick or treat. Cordelia and Heidi played cat and mouse.






Grandma gave her baths in the kitchen sink since it is too far to bend to do the big tub.








Promised Jennifer that I would post some pictures and blog some on Heidi's visit here. So here goes. Grandpa and grandma had a blast with Heidi here. She is such a joy. We wanted to make sure she had her pictures taken when she was 6 months old, but she wasn't cooperating.









Grandpa had her help with making beer for Christmas.

We took her to her first Mustang and Fords of the Dakotas meeting and she tried out the twactor.
Here she was trying that new fangled stuff called solid food. She wasn't liking it.
Grandpa put her down for a nap. When grandma went in to see if she was sleeping, she found a pile of blanket and no Heidi. She peeked out from underneath, smiled, and covered herself back up and went to sleep.

She loved her new bouncer. She played and played and played while she was here. She almost sat up on her own a couple of times, but grandma was too slow to find the camera, so you will just have to believe me. She helped at church too by greeting people as they came to the Festival of Faith program on Women of the Old Testament. She especially enjoyed all the babies and kids. She was so happy there.