Awesome Aunties

We had a visit from my sisters Jane and Ellen this weekend. Ellen was attending an education conference in town, so I encouraged Jane to come too. We had a great time visiting, although the weather was downright miserable. The first snow of the season came early and we ended up with a couple of sloppy inches of wet snow.

That didn't stop us from ice cream at Malley's, lunch at the Biermarkt, and plenty of time for them to spend with Sam. He didn't mind at all!

Sam and Jane, Sam sporting a new bib to catch the dribbles.

Sam and Ellen getting a workout.

Pumpkin pie! Grandma's recipe (prepared by me), Mom's crust (prepared by Jane). Yum!

Jasmine helped out too.

Sitting in Anticipation

Sam is in great anticipation of a visit from his Aunt Ellen and Aunt Jane this weekend. So he thought he would try to sit up straight.

So he tried...

And he tried...

And he tried again.

Until he finally got it.

YAY for aunties!

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween, one and all!

Sam's sew-tastic grandmother sent him a fantastic pumpkin costume for Halloween. Here is is, decked out for the big day. His matching cap was crocheted by Aunt Jane.

The fleece jumpsuit is going to come in handy now that it is getting colder. Even without the pumpkin life preserver, it'll be a toasty warm layer for outings in the stroller, bjorn, or backpack.

Black and orange? Might as well add some Tiger gear! Here his is with a Princeton cap.

Covered Bridges

We decided to take a drive in the country today. The temperature is in the mid 70s- definitely Indian summer!- and the sun was shining. It was an easy decision. But where to go? We ended up in the extreme north-eastern corner of the state in Ashtabula county. We toured the back roads and visited four different covered bridges.

Many of the trees are bare of leaves already, but some still are resplendent in color. It was beautiful driving the small roads, seeing Amish returning home from church in their horse and carriages, and hoping for an ice cream stand.

Here we are at the State Road covered bridge over Conneaut Creek. Soon there will be steelhead in this creek- none today. Sam and I looked for them anyhow.

Go Tigers!

Princeton Football might have lost to Harvard today, but field hockey beat the Crimson!

And Tiger fans are pretty darned cute.

Sam is going to hedge his bets and root for the mighty Spartans as well. (And yes, those are his pearly whites in the grin below!)

Strolling in Style

Sam's new stroller arrived the other day. Santa decided to make an early delivery, since the time is right for a full size stroller, and REI had a nice fall sale going on.

With ladies' book club meeting at our house last night, the menfolk decided to give the new chariot (a BOB Revolution 12" AW, for those stroller aficionados out there) a whirl around the block despite the darkness and damp sidewalks. It rolls like a dream- so much so that Sammy slept the whole way.



He also tried on his first piece of CWRU kit, a full zip hoodie.

Company on a beautiful weekend

We had company over the weekend. Kim's Seattle apartment mate Brooke came to visit, on her way en route to points east. We had lots of great conversation, food and plenty of good weather to enjoy. The fall colors are just about at their peak here in the CLE.

So, a few pictures to share, of course!

Brooke and Kim with Sammy. We went out to the countryside for a short hike to enjoy the weather and the leaves.

Maggie, Kim and Sam and Brooke.

Maggie (new coiffure) and little brother.

Dad and lad.

Juicy!

Here are a couple of photos we'd like to share on a rainy morning in Cleveland. It's wet INSIDE too!

Sam has cut his first tooth- or possibly teeth. Bottom front two are poking through. Ahead of schedule. Precocious child!

The teething makes for a drooling, slobbering child. It's like having a very tiny Newfoundland dog.

And he's been practicing bubble and raspberry blowing. To whit:

Exer-Sam

Updates from Sam.

In addition to the appearance of a tooth in his lower gums- broken through the surface and evident in its sharp, bony (not bonny) glory- Sam is now rocking the Exer-saucer. Here are a couple shots of him having fun in his plastic happy machine.

TGI... SAM!

Some morning Sammy to go with your coffee and rolls.

(Or whatever time it may be when you see this, and whatever you may be eating!)

Dad and lad, out to inspect the yard work to be done.

A tough day at work for both of the men, a good time to read the local paper. Most of it is written at a 4 month old level, so it works out just fine.

Hurray for Autumn

Thursday was the autumnal equinox, and here in Cleveland we enjoyed record-setting high temperatures of 90 degrees. Friday evening a cold front passed through and Saturday and Sunday we barely saw 60 degree highs. Working outside on the brick paver walkway and taking Sam for a stroll, we could feel the chill in the air!

Sam celebrated by trying out some of the latest fall line of clothing, courtesy of his cousin Benjamin. Thanks, Ben, and YAY for fall!

Sam's toothless grin is contagious!

Come on and give us a hug.

Punkin' Head

Aunt Jane has worked her knitting magic again! Her ability to create just about anything with yarn and fancy knots is legendary.

With the autumnal equinox upon us, the arrival of this dual-duty chapeau was just perfect. It's a nice, warm wool cap AND a Halloween costume.

Sam says: Thank you, Aunt Jane!

A Busy Weekend

I've been shamefully tardy updating the blog here, or so claims one of our more enthusiastic followers.

What do you say, Sam, shall we send along a family update? We should? Well OK!

Our last update included the beginning of another school year, BLT sandwiches, and a wonderful visit from Grandma Pam at Labor Day.

Since then, we've been keeping busy.

The current house project is replacing the walk from the driveway to the front steps. Previously, it was a series of very bumpy stones placed on the ground haphazardly. The resulting "walk" was an ankle turning misery every season of the year, and in winter, a double misery because it was nearly impossible to shovel effectively. I tore it all out and trenched the path to a depth of 8 inches or so. I'm putting in a gravel base on top of which will go red brick pavers. The resulting path will be smooth, will drain correctly and will be plenty wide for the snowblower to pass come winter.

I've also been "teaching" a class on Shaker oval box making. Friend Daniel has been over to the shop for a series of Sunday morning sessions. It has been a lot of fun!

What else? Kim has been busy at home with Sam. Walks, naps, coffee with friends and running errands fill their days. Perhaps these photos show that the results have been quite a success.

Anna can think of little else than France these days, although her rigorous school schedule (I think she's even taking AP Lunch this year) should keep her distracted between now and her January departure. She continues to work at the Heights main library, ten hours per week.

Maggie fights the good fight in 7th grade. Her Saturday orchestra at the Cleveland Institute of Music has begun- her favorite part of the weekend, she says.

What about Sam? Littlest dude turns 4 months old this week. And he's feeling a little bit Salty!

Grandma Time

Sam was fortunate to have a visit from his Grandma this week. Brief though her visit was, he sure enjoyed seeing her! The rest of us did too.

(and yes, that's a fish on the seat of his pants)

After Grandma left, Sam was able to catch up a little on West Wing re-runs. Quality tummy time.

First Day of School, 2010

There are, at this point, about 12 years worth of "smile, it's the first day of school!" pictures for us- Anna in long braids, going off to Kindergarten and now nearly at the top of the heap at Heights (her junior year.) Maggie with two pigtails eight years ago, and with two pigtails again for 7th grade. Usually, I punish them by taking the photos in front of the school. This year, they got off easy with the photo taken at home.

Now this time, how do you REALLY feel about the end of summer and beginning of school???

Sam, in the meantime, is feeling Salty.

The BLT-est Time of the Year

It's that time of year here in Cleveland- BLT season!

In our CSA bag this week, we got big slicing tomatoes and lettuce (and other goodies), so I figured it was time. Yesterday Kim and Sam and I took a walk up to our favorite bakery, On the Rise Artisan Breads (a healthy hike at 4 miles round trip- had to earn those carbs!) and bought fresh bread. OK, several kinds of fresh bread. We used their pavé for our sandwiches. I'm fond of this style of bread for many reasons.

I made a yolk's worth of fresh mayo (so easy!) with an egg from our CSA, bacon is also from a local farm. So very delicious!

What does the lad think of BLTs? YUM!

Produce, Dinner, Baby

To stay with the food/baby meme, here are some shots from today.

First, our weekly haul from Fresh Fork Market. This week, tomatoes, purple beans, honeydew, sweet corn, zuc, new potatoes, lettuce, swiss chard, eggs.

For dinner, then, a frittata, with beans, swiss chard, sausage, basil, and parmesan. Sweet corn and grape tomatoes on the side.

And the littlest dude, what did he think?

"You lookin' at me?"

Sam turns 3... months

No story, no philosophy, no cats, just a three month old baby boy, resplendent in blue.

Peppers, Tomatoes and Baby

Food and baby seem to be a recurring theme on these pages.

This week our bag of groceries from our CSA Fresh Fork was a pizza kit- dough, 2 pounds of Roma tomatoes, onion, peppers, sausage, fresh mozzarella and a few other goodies. When we got home, the big cooking pot came out and the Romas began their journey to becoming sauce. The pizza was quite yummy- fresh sauce, sausage and mozz making for quite the combo.

I had to take a picture of the baby bell peppers though. These things are almost as cute as babies and kittens. I included my chef's knife and the Romas to give a sense of just how teency, yet perfectly formed, these little gems are. The whole lot is sitting on our sweet new Boos cutting board. Love it!

What did Jasmine-kitty-cat think?

"Throw some of that sauce on these toes for me, old man."

Visitors and the Bard

We've had a busy week at Chez Claspy, company from two sets of Californian family and Shakespeare Rocks! camp for Maggie. We've been so busy we've had to enlist a new baby sitter.

Kim's sister Teri and family arrived on Monday, en route from San Diego to Bath, Maine. They spent two days with us and we had a great time! We visited the Children's Museum, went pond fishing with my nieces, and ate a lot of good food. Sam felt just fine in Aunt Teri's arms, which probably felt somehow familiar.

Here's the whole family, plus little Sam. Maybe his Uncle Tom can give him surfing lessons in a few years.

Maggie spent the last two weeks in her third year at the Laurel School's wonderful camp, Shakespeare Rocks! The theater director there works with the kids on all sorts of dramatic arts, culminating in a performance on the last day. This year they performed a fantastic abridged version of Romeo and Juliet. Maggie scored the role of Juliet (one of the Juliets, that is- they rotated roles through the play.) She did a great job! How all of those kids remember their lines so well after only two weeks, I'll never know. Here's our own Juliet on the boards, in a scene with her mother.

And a food shot. Our green bag from Fresh Fork Market contained many goodies, including this eggplant which has a perfectly formed nose. Now to see if I can prepare it in some way that will convince Kim that eggplant are tasty...