A Little Late Night Blogging

You've waited so long.  So very, very long.  So long, if fact, that you probably have stopped checking out the Violet (now the Violet and Thaddeus) blog with any regularity, and I don't blame you.  We're lame.  We're lazy.  We're busy.  And most of all, we're tired*.  But you are now rewarded for your vigilance.  Thanks for coming back to take a look!

*Please note - because of the above mentioned tired issue, you are only getting photos.  The extended commentary will have to wait.  Sorry, but I need some sleep!

Gratuitous new truck shot.  Looks pretty good in the driveway, eh?  I can tell you from personal experience that it looks even better from behind the wheel!

We all went to a friend's house for a 3rd of July fireworks-watching party.  Yes, the Independence Day fireworks are done on the 3rd of July here - don't ask me why.  Anyway, there was a face painter present, and Vi decided she wanted a dragon!

Thad joined us, of course, at the fireworks-watching party, too.  Although he did dress up in red, white, and blue, he did not get his face painted.

We took a day trip to the northern reaches of the Great Salt Lake to see the Spiral Jetty.  Cool drive through the middle of nowhere as well as cool art.  The water is super saline here, so much so that the brine shrimp can't even survive for long.  But some kind of weird algae that turns the water purplish can.  

Violet and Thad on his first day of day care.  He is in the infant room, which is two doors down from Violet's Pre-Kindergarten room at the DDECECE.  She loves to go visit him and tell her friends about her new baby brother, "Fad".  

 Violet took a ride on Sue, a Fjord Horse, at the farm.  

Violet, Grandpa Dennis, and Thad all had a great time playing during our last visit to ID.

The River City Gems.  Don't ask me what they are, other than a bunch of guys dressed as Southern Belles.  Yet another fascinating feature of the San Francisco Gay Pride parade!

The Waiting Game - Reader's Edition

OK, so I know there is a certain percentage of our readers who have been anxiously awaiting the new post, the new BABY!  As I'm sure you can imagine, we've been a bit busy lately.  But I'm finally using my five spare minutes a day to update the blog.  Hooray!

Here he is:  Thaddeus Stanley Zattiero Wojcik.  Yes, it is a big name for such a little guy.  And he's got the personality to pull it off.  For those that missed it, he was born April 25th at 5:12 pm.  7 lbs, 11 oz, 19 inches long.

Violet and Thad try out the new recliner/rocker we got last week.  Best. Decision. Ever.

Expanded family pic.  

Mike reading bedtime stories to Violet and Thad.  Thad was quite happy with the situation.  

Violet has had a bit of a hard time going to bed recently.  Too much activity around the house, mostly.  Mike has been spending extra time with her, including falling asleep with Clifford and the turtle.  

Wow, check out the bags under my eyes.  No, I've not been getting much sleep.

More to come!

The Waiting Game...

So I've had Tom Petty's "The Waiting" lyrics running as a constant soundtrack to my days (and my semi-sleepless nights) for the past week or so.  You know how they go, right?  I'll leave out the verses, as they aren't quite as relevant as the chorus:  "The waiting is the hardest part.  Every day you get one more yard. You take it on faith, you take on heart.  The waiting is the hardest part."

So, as you can likely tell by now, no new baby yet.  At least no new baby born yet.  But we are still working on some projects at home and I've still got some work (for work, that is) to do, so I suppose waiting is still not a bad idea right now.  I'm giving my last exams for the semester tomorrow (Monday) and I still owe program notes to an orchestra in WA, so if I can crank those out in the next day or two, and as a bonus get some end-of-the-semester grading done, I'll be feeling super productive.  Not as if birthing a child isn't productive, however.

So, while we're all waiting, here are a few pictures from the very last of our days as a 3-person family.

Violet is getting quite good at grooming her black horse.  

Violet found one of Mike's soccer jerseys and was really happy to try it on.  In her words, "it fits!"

Snuggle time on the couch.  

Violet gets regular delivery packages from Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Bruce.  Sidewalk chalk was part of a recent delivery.

Another recent delivery - a dancing dress!

Vi asleep under her horse.  She often gets up before we do and then camps out on the floor in our bedroom with an assortment of stuffed animals and blankets.

Another special delivery, but this time from Auntie Kate - a handmade scarf just for Violet.  Well, just for Violet and Marcato...

Violet likes to help with outside chores such as feeding the animals, getting the eggs, petting Sue the cat, and climbing on the hay pallets.  

Vi has also learned how to climb up on the horse trailer fender.  This is an important new skill, especially when watching us work with the horses.  

So, rest assured that you'll all be getting some kind of new baby notice soon!  I'm sure there will be a blog post to follow.

Spare time at 35,000'

This post may be the first UltraViolet post composed and uploaded while in flight.  Yah! for gogoinflight.  Should I be cheering for that?  I can't tell.

Too many things have happened in the two months since our last post so I'll tell you about last week.

Last week Joanna went to a saxophone conference in Tempe, AZ.  I came along primarily to be the trophy husband and also to watch Violet while Joanna was attending the conference sessions.

We did manage to escape to the Desert Botanical Garden.  Pure awesome.  Violet loved it.  Joanna loved it.  I loved it.  Super cool.  Go there.  Now. 

Here's Violet looking at a blooming cactus.


There are also a lot of water features in downtown Tempe.  Violet liked them all.  Watch out for the giant rabbits.  No, this is not a peyote reference. 

I also got a chance to drive down to Tucson to visit my buddy, Kevin and his kid Kian.  Kevin and I were housemates for three years while in grad school.   Kian is almost 3 years old, so Violet had good playmate for the day.  Kian was showing Violet how to sweep and mop.  

And we took a short walk up to the A in Tempe.  Maybe it was a two mile walk?  That's all that Violet could muster after 5 days of sprinting around.  Really sprinting, too, she ran everywhere.  Joanna will likely decry my posting of these pictures because she is 8 months pregnant and thinks she looks like some kind of marine mammal.  I think she looks beautiful and I think both my girls look double beautiful.

Soon we will have to change the name of this blog...  Not for another 6 weeks, though.

Quick Update

Sorry to have been away so long. Here's a taste of what we've been up to:

We haven't had much snow this winter, but on one of the new snow days Violet got to try out her new/borrowed skis. She did great!

Happy Vi on her skis.

After skiing, Vi wanted to sit on her tractor, which was already occupied by Kate the cat.

Then she decided that sitting on the tractor wasn't enough, so she went for an (assisted) ride after evicting Kate from her sunny warm spot.

Once I was too tired to assist any more, Vi decided to do donuts in the snow...but she had to push.

Here Vi is showing off both her Oreo-cookie-esque matching game AND her self-chosen attire. Yes, that is a life vest that she insisted on wearing over her fancy dress, shirt, and tights.

My Dad visited not terribly long ago. He and Violet got a lot of reading time together.

Violet has gotten a little bit of practice at holding babies lately. Here she is with our friends Maegan and Ryan's

baby boy, Curran.

We spent a little quality time with the Dolny family around Christmas. Here Vi is with the four Dolny kids

and Logan the dog.

Vi wanted to help Mike make an apple crisp the other day. She is getting really good at helping in the kitchen. Her specialties are spreading shredded cheese, cracking eggs (both on purpose and not...), helping load and unload the dishwasher, and mixing things. Oh, and helping taste test!

That's all for now!