Survey says...

I am thrilled to report that my survey revealed that I have at least 7 readers! Ha! And only one of them reads my blog out of pity. Fab! See my smiling face?

It's not much, but it's enough to keep me posting...for now at least. Imagine how happy I'd be if, say, 20 people read my blog. Too exciting to even consider for now. Please note the mild sarcasm. :)

Rock chalk Jayhawk!

Brad recently got a little taste of home when we attended the Kansas v. Temple basketball game. They played on Temple's campus January 2 — because it was winter break, there were hardly any students and (we could swear) more KU fans than Temple! Notice Brad with his arms up in the back row...

Apparently there are very active northeast KU alumni associations, and Brad's friend Alex (whom he went to high school with in Winfield, KS — and who coincidentally is going to school out here) was able to get tickets through one of them. In our little section of the Liacouras Center, Brad was hanging with at least 3 other Winfield-ians. Or -ites? Either way, it seemed unusual considering we were in the middle of Philly! Brad and Alex at the game...

The best part? I got to see the Waving Wheat (albeit on a much smaller scale than at the home games) firsthand! (If you don't know what this is, click here and see the "Traditions" section.)

Note: While there is someone waving a baby in this video (wait until about 7 seconds into it), I don't believe that's part of the tradition...

Holiday recap

We had a lovely holiday this year — nothing new or unusual — just good old tradition! You may recall that my dad had an unexpected quadruple bypass in 2008, just a few days before Christmas. So normal Christmas = great!

Even though no one else saw it, Brad and I got our first Christmas tree together. It made the apartment smell great! We were sad to see it go.

And, of course, there were lots of cookies — a la Danielle. Except I forgot to put carrot noses on the snowmen until it was too late...hindsight is 20/20, right?

One holiday tradition that has stuck with my family for a long time is Christmas breakfast with the Hollanders. During our traditional breakfast, Charlie (my dad) cooks, mimosas are made and consumed (although the kids weren't always allowed to have those!), napkin rings are stuck in our eye sockets (long story), and a family photograph is taken.

Recent additions to Christmas breakfast include: Bubba (dog), Jasmine (dog), and Brad (human). Meet Jasmine (Susan's dog) and Brad...

See Jasmine and Bubba...could they be any different?

And of course, the annual Hollander/Mittermaier photo taken using the tripod...

When did everybody get so tall? Well, almost everybody! It's such a gift to have friends who feel like family! And another wonderful year comes and goes...

It looks a lot like Christmas!

This weekend we're enjoying our first big snow storm in a while (I remember complaining the past two winters that we never got any "real" snow). It's been snowing pretty consistently for about 12 hours, and it's expected to continue through the night into tomorrow morning. The first picture was taken this afternoon; I took another shot about 4 hours later, and you can barely find our table!

 

 

We went out for a walk this afternoon to get food and play a little along the way. It was beautiful outside! It wasn't too cold, and the snow was light/powdery.

In the end, we ended up with what we were after...food!

Some pictures from the next day/week...the first one is a pic from our front stoop. Thanks to Philadelphia being broke, no plowing on our street! The second is a pic of a bike in Center City that was buried in snow. How funny that people shoveled all around it...The third pic is of a store right next to the bike. Those were some beautiful icicles!

 

We are thankful

This year for Thanksgiving, Brad and I traveled to Wichita, KS to spend the holiday with his lovely family. We were so lucky to spend five days visiting with friends and family — I even got to see Jen, my high school bestie! Yes, that's right, I ended up in the same family as my high school bestie. It makes getting together pretty convenient!

You may know that there are seven sons/stepsons in Brad's family, and all seven boys (plus their awesome girlfriends, wives, and kids) were in town for the holiday for the first time in a while. People came in from Florida, Georgia, St. Louis, and from all over Kansas...and obviously we flew in from Philly. It was a very special Thanksgiving that was packed with Fishers and Scrapers and Walkers (oh my)!

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, unless you count the dozens that I took of Tyler (oh my that child is cute!). But here are a few from what I did take:

Jen and Tyler...

Brad and me on Thanksgiving...

Kathy (Brad's mom) and her sister Susan

Brad and Grandpa Merle...

Look at that face! Tyler on a walk with his mom and Aunt Dani...

Brad and his mama...aww!

Aunt Dani and Ty...

Girls night at Shannon's! From L to R: Me, Tiffany, Mary Ann, Shannon, Jen, Christin, and Kathy...

Uncle B with his nieces/goddaughters, Ally and Kira...

It is apparent that we have so much to be thankful for, including our (and everyone else's) safe travels to and from Kansas. We had a wonderful time, amazing weather (think 60s and sunny!), and lots of fun. We are truly blessed! Thank you Kathy and Dave for putting up the crew!!

I leave you now with a quick clip of Tyler, who has learned how to make sniffing sounds with his nose and thinks it's pretty fabulous! In the background are Kathy and Tiffany playing with Brody and Miranda...and the sounds of us all enjoying Ty's laugh. Enjoy!

Stop and smell the roses

There are some lovely, rural views along the drive from my parents house in NJ to Philadelphia. Every now and then, I have to remind myself that it's okay to stop and capture the moment (even if it means that I won't make superb time on the drive back). Here are some shots from a recent drive — I was lucky enough to catch a beautiful, stormy sky behind a horse farm on Bear Tavern Road.

Sit. Stay. Good dog!

We had the pleasure of doing a little dog-sitting while my parents took a Southwestern jaunt. Bubba came stayed with us for a week and got to live the life of a city dog for a while. I did my part to at least try to find him a little grass on our walks each day. It was the least I could do!

For those of you who don't know Bubba, he is one cool dog...
He is a rottweiler mix — possibly with some basset hound (see legs) or chow (see tail and black tongue). He's about 80 lbs...but has legs that are about 6 inches tall, which makes him somewhat of a low-rider! He doesn't really fetch or play around too much....not really there for your own amusement. But he's a very even-keeled presence and is definitely a loyal friend to have around!



Like any visitor to Philly, Bubba wanted to see the sights:

He ran the Rocky steps...











 Visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art...








And enjoyed the Philadelphia skyline...










I think we did a good job of tuckering him out each day, so he slept a lot too. Aside from the shedding, he was a pretty good house guest to have around!






Oh, and by the way, SuperDog wants to wish you a Happy Halloween!