fall flowers

i always love seeing this plant bloom outside our kitchen window each august.  i also love how it turns from cream to pink as the fall goes on each year.  i couldn't resist snapping a photo when the weather was nice the other day.

love, laurie

rockin' out to abba

on saturday we welcomed "always abba" back to the theatre for their abba tribute concert.  this band performed at the theatre last year and it was actually the first show that noah was at outside my belly!

it was great to have them back and the audience loved them!

you can see more photos from the concert here.

love, laurie

meeting family

it has been a long time since we've seen ryan's brother jeremy and his family.  earlier this month, they drove from north carolina to pennsylvania to meet noah for the first time.  we really enjoyed seeing them and noah loved meeting his cousins, aunt, and uncle!

it was nice to have everyone together for the first time in a very long time!

love, laurie

little hand, big rope

noah was watching ryan work the counterweight system on stage at the university and had to give it a try himself.  i just couldn't resist snapping a photo of his little hand holding the big rope.  he was so pleased with himself.

love, laurie

all curled up

noah isn't the only one who likes his boppy pillow.  leko was curled up in it the other day when it was extra cold in the house.  

love, laurie

a trip to ritter's cider mill

on sunday afternoon, we took a trip to ritter's cider mill.  we love visiting ritter's each year!

we walked through the corn maze, visited the farm animals, and picked out some apples, cider, and doughnuts to take home.  noah picked out a cute little white pumpkin that he brought home too.

love, laurie

. . . 

previous trips to ritter's cider mill: 

2012 / 2013 / 2014 / 2015 / 2016 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019 / 2020 / 2022

bundle up, baby

the temperature took a turn over the weekend.  it was downright chilly on sunday morning.  i was going outside to mow the grass before the rain started and had to bundle up the supervisor so that he wouldn't get too cold.  he thought it was funny to wear a hat and a sweater over his pajamas.

how is this guy 13 months old today?!

love, laurie

nothing beats a box

my mom was using a blueberry box to carry some stuff around and both of our boys decided to claim it.  leko curled up in it first and then noah had to follow with a jar of almond butter in hand, naturally.

love, laurie

behind the scenes of noah's photo shoot

yesterday i shared the photos from noah's 1 year old photo shoot.  here are some behind the scenes photos that travis snapped and shared with us.  it took some wrangling to get noah looking so cute on that blanket.  he wanted to run and run all over the park and he was very excited about picking up the grass and leaves!

love, laurie

noah's 1 year old photos

i mentioned last week that we dressed noah up on labor day in his cute little outfit for his 1-year-old photos.  he looked adorable!  

katie and travis always take such great photos and we couldn't stop smiling when we got these photos back from them.  we love the way they turned out and we're so happy to have such great photos to remember him at 1 year old!

love, laurie

12 years old!

this month our furry baby boy turns 12 years old.  where did the time go?  i like to reminisce to when we first brought him home and he was so tiny!

we will spoil him with extra kisses, cuddles, and tuna!

love, laurie

my little clean up crew

noah was in the costume shop with me this week working on costumes for the upcoming fall production of "a midsummer night's dream" when he spotted the broom.  he quickly sprung into action and helped sweep up the shop floor which was really dirty and in need of some sweeping!

love, laurie

noah's rollin'

when grandma gets a new wagon, you must take it for a test ride!

love, laurie

a tribute to heart

on saturday we had a heart tribute band at the theatre and to be honest i didn't think i knew too many heart songs before the show except for "barracuda."  turns out i recognized a few and the audience loved the show.

here are a few more photos from the show.

love, laurie 

patriot day

we had the opportunity to visit ground zero seven years ago in september, just after the 12th anniversary of 9/11 and it was a moving experience.  the waterfalls and the reflecting pools that sit within the footprints of where the twin towers once stood are a lovely tribute, and the freedom tower is quite a site to behold.  our thoughts and prayers go out to anyone who lost a loved one on this day 22 years ago.

love, laurie

look, ma, i'm on tv (again)

i've had the privilege of being on wbre-tv's "pa live" segment several times over the years.  last week i went out to the studio on thursday to film a segment about the theatre and it aired that afternoon.  i just found out that they are going to re-air it again this afternoon as an encore!  that's exciting.

tune in this afternoon at 3pm to watch the whole show, or you can view the segment online from last week here.

(last time i was there noah was in my belly!)

love, laurie

dapper dan

on monday we got noah all dressed up for his 1 year old photos and he was looking quite dapper.  we can't wait to see the photos when we get them back from the photographer!  we know that katie and travis always take such great photos!

love, laurie

la festa italiana 2023

i've mentioned numerous times that my favorite end-of-summer tradition is visiting our local italian festival over labor day weekend.  it's especially important to us since it's where we went on our very first date back in 2004.  

last year noah was just a teeny-tiny little munchkin at the italian festival.  this year he was really into it and loved tasting everything!  we made multiple trips to make the most of our favorite festival!

let the countdown begin for next year's festival!

love, laurie

. . .

previous trips to the italian festival: 

2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022