8 Months Old!

Hannah is 8 months old....and she celebrated by getting her first tooth!

Hannah is starting to crawl now although she's not fast yet...but determination makes up for speed. She is now going after Abby, Abby's toys, Abby's bones (do you see a theme here?) -- she loves her doggie!

Hannah had been "working" on her first tooth for awhile, but it finally popped through sometime during the afternoon....I'd gone to see the Lion King with a girlfriend of mine (Moms' afternoon out...we had dinner & dessert too!), and when I came back I felt it for the first time. She's growing up so fast and is such an independent little girl. She's trying new foods, loving to chomp on fruit in her mesh sack, and has her fingers in her mouth constantly. Of course, she is still as happy as ever and smiles all the time. She has so much personality - especially when she is splashing and laughing in the bath.

Storm Damage

Many of you may know that Hurricane Ike found his way to Ohio this past weekend. Actually, according to the weather guys it was a combination of Hurricane Ike and a cold front....but we ended up with really strong winds -- gusts up to 75 mph -- hurricane strength. In Ohio!?!?!

We didn't lose power (although part of our neighborhood did) ... despite the fact that about 700,000 people in central Ohio did lose power (and about 100,000 still don't have power). Jon used to mock me about having an oil lamp for "just in case" after a powerless winter in WV back in January 1994, but now I have a comeback! My women's Bible study at church was cancelled for tomorrow morning, as our church is still without power. Amazing what a storm can do, and we didn't even get hit with anything major.

Our house sustained some damage. Here are some photos (deemed Internet-safe, since you can't really see our house). Our damage was minor compared to our neighbor, who lost 1/2 the shingles on his roof, and friends our ours who had a neighbor's trampoline saw through their fence, deck, and pear tree, and our babysitter who lost ALL of the mature trees in her backyard.

All of this siding blew off in a matter of seconds!
Lots of shingles blew up, but we didn't have many blow off.

Hopefully dealing with our homeowners insurance will be easier than dealing with our health insurance following my hospital stay (I'm still dealing with them, and Hannah will be 8 months old this weekend!).

Almost Crawling

This little cutie is growing up so fast....she loves to babble, suck her fingers, laugh at Abby (especially when Daddy & Abby wrestle on the floor - she thinks it is hilarious), and she is now on her hands and knees rocking. She can move in a circle on her belly and backwards (crawfish-style), but she hasn't quite figured out forward motion on her hands and knees. I think I'd better have my babyproofing done in the next 2 weeks!

Pushing up
In positionNot quite sure how to actually move from this position
Rocking & Ready to go!!
All Smiles!!

Relaxing after a hard "exercise" session (and loving her fingers!)

Camp Curtis Reunion

Our Family - All Ready for the Buckeye Game

Curtis with Hannah & Jacob

"Camp Curtis" is where Jon lived before we got married. Our friend Curtis bought his house while he was in college and to help pay the mortgage Curtis had a number of guys live with him. Everyone living there started to refer to it as "camp" because it was a fun place to live -- cheap rent, a girlfriend (who is now Curtis's wife) who would fix meals for everyone, a dog, a hot tub, a gym in the basement, a large movie collection and a giant tv. What more could a group of single guys ask for?!? Curtis was dubbed "camp director" (but camp "dictator" may actually be a more accurate description at times).

One by one the campers moved out to get married and Curtis decided to marry Sheri, rather than try to get "new" campers (and possibly risk his life by doing so - we don't think Sheri would have put up with that!). The last camper moved out while Curtis & Sheri were on their honeymoon....so he kept camp going as long as possible. Everyone has fun memories from camp - even those of us who married the crazy campers! Here are some pictures from the 1st-ever Camp Reunion hosted by Curtis and Sheri.

Good thing there is a big couch - lots of former campers (and spouses and kids) came to the party. There were only a few that couldn't make it. When Jon lived with Curtis there were 5 guys living there - it was crowded then, so the house was quite full with spouses and 4 kids added to the group!

As entertainment, Curtis & Sheri came up with a "quiz" about camp facts (number of people living there, funny things people did, etc.). They managed to make fun of every person who lived at camp -- and even awarded prizes to the person getting the most right answers. The 25-question quiz was actually pretty difficult and I think we spent more time working on it than Curtis & Sheri thought we would.

Curtis & Ben go over the quiz answers.

Tab has her hands full as Hannah tries to grab Jacob.