Jake's Parent Teacher Conference

I am often filled with a sense of pride being Jake's Mom.  During our recent parent teacher conference my sense of pride and honor of being the parent of such an amazing boy increased even more!  We are very lucky that Jake gets to attend the Montessori School of Syracuse.  This amazing school has helped Jake develop into an intelligent, kind, and caring boy.  It was instantly clear at the start of the conference how much Jake's teachers enjoy him.  The teachers indicated that Jake is liked by all the kids in his class and works well with others.  They also described Jake as a very willing and excited learner who is able to concentrate and organize his work at a level exceeding what would be expected for a student his age.  Seeing Jake's love of learning is wonderful and we have his teachers and MSS to thank for that!  Jake is known as caring deeply about "justice" and gets very upset if a classmate is not following the rules or if one student isn't treating another student appropriately.  His teachers also noted that Jake works VERY intensely and they often try to pair him with a "calmer" student when completing group work.  I have no idea where Jake gets his intensity and desire to follow the rules..... Jake is very into his number work and doing very well with his addition.  The other morning without prompting or using his fingers when I was talking to Erik about how many people were coming over and that we could eat in shifts of 5 and then 6, Jake then stated "or we all eat together and set the table for 11."    

Below is the collection of pictures we got at the parent teacher conference.

Jake doning is beloved pin-punching work at school.

Below is a picture Jake drew of him pushing Nellie in her baby swing.

Nellie's Baptism

Nellie’s Baptism

Nellie’s Baptism was held during the 4:30 mass at St. Ann’s Church on Saturday, November 10th.  Her godparents are my Uncle David and Erik’s sister Lauren.  Nellie is a very lucky girl to have such caring and lets say.......spirited godparents.  We are sure they will watch out for her and add lots of fun and laughs to her life.  Nellie was blessed to share her special day with family and close friends.  

Father Cliff performed the baptism and did an amazing job of including Jake.  See video of Jake drying Nellie’s head.  Nellie stayed awake for the entire event and mass and did not cry.  It was noted by Father Cliff and several partitioners  how good she was.  We are very lucky to have such a sweet girl in our family.  

We are extremely lucky in our family to have four generations of women alive!

Great cake made by my Mom and her friend Roy!  Thanks!

Jake likes to help whenever he gets the chance.  We lost a few in the process.  Thanks to Morey for trying to catch one.

Welcome Nellie

Believe it or Not...(I know most of you won’t believe it)
 I am not sure if I believe it or not but I will try one last time to see if I can maintain this blog site about our wonderful family of 4. I see that some of my friends maintain their blogs religiously and I enjoy reading them and catching up on their families. Facebook is fine for quick things and sharing pictures but it doesn’t capture the stories. So lets see how this goes. It may just work out this time because I am growing more sentimental and feel the need to share how proud I am of my family.

 We welcomed Nellie Mary Hehl into the family on August 28, 2012. She is named after my great grandmother Nellie Abare who was an incredible women and will send down lots of strength, courage and kindness to our Nellie. While my pregnancy with Nellie was tough the c-section delivery was wonderful (big thanks to my good friend Sarah Martin who hand picked the team in the delivery room!). As the doctor was delivering Nellie she first noted the amount of dark hair she had, then as she was pulling Nellie out she said “this one is solid”. It appears that Nellie is pretty much a mini-me of Erik. She is built like him, looks like him, has his easy going personality, and his ability to sleep. Nellie and Erik just go with the flow and don’t get too upset about anything (Jake and I aren’t so good at that).

Jake has been an amazing big brother. Seeing how much Jake loves Nellie and their bond growing already has been the most beautiful thing I have witnessed in my life. Jake absolutely adores Nellie. My mom (know by Jake as TT) took care of Jake while we were in the hospital with Nellie. I guess after we called home to say Nellie was born Jake had to throw her a birthday party. I only wish we had pictures of it.

  A little update on Jake
Jake is now 4 and in his second year at the Montessori School of Syracuse. This is the perfect place for him. He has made wonderful friends and is learning so much. One of Jake’s obsessions is maps and the continents. He knows all seven continents and can identify them from a map. Jake likes to pretend to take trips and pics locations such as New Guinea to travel to.  He recently made a map of the United States by pin punching out all 50 states. It took him at least two weeks to complete and he talked about it almost every night while he was working on it at school. I had no idea really what he was working on so I was SO surprised when I saw the finished product. On day Jake came home and stated that he worked so hard on his map all morning he forgot to take a snack break.

We recently celebrated Jake’s fourth birthday with a family dinner out on his actual birthday and a friends birthday party the next weekend. Jake had the same request as he did last year for his birthday: dinner out so he could eat muscles and apple picking. The night before Jake actually turned four I was putting him to bed when he got this concerned look on his face. I asked him what was wrong and he wanted me to clarify that the next day was his actual birthday and that he would be turing four. I let him know that was true and then he said with further concern on his face: “Mom if I am going to be 4 tomorrow I will be one year older.” My reply was yes. Then he said “Well what am I going to wear tomorrow. If I am one year bigger than I will need new cloths tomorrow because I won’t fit in the ones that I am wearing now.” Even though I tried hard to let him know his cloths would fit him the next day and I didn’t need to run out that night and buy him new cloths, I am pretty sure he went to bed thinking he would have not cloths to wear that fit him when he woke up.

  Update on Erik and Me
 I unfortunately lost my position as a science teacher at a local school district last spring due to budget cut backs and decreased enrollment. I truly enjoyed the three years I spent teaching science to 7th and 8th graders. I was luck to work with wonderful colleagues and deepen my commitment to education. I am happy to report that I am back at SU to complete me Ph.D. in education. As hard as it was to lose my job I am very happy about the path that it put me on.






 Erik’s business is still doing well. He now has 3 full time employees. He has worked his way to the executive board for the Central New York Chapter of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association. In addition, he recently became a member of the village planning board.

Hitting the Slopes

I guess we picked the wrong year to get a season's pass for Labrador Mountain and buy Jake skies for Christmas. Regardless of our lack of snow the mountain has a few trails open so we decided to take our first runs yesterday. I was up very early because I was so excited to take Jake skiing. We took him once last year but are going go as many weekends and snow days (if we ever get one) as possible this year. Skiing might just be my favorite activity so I am anxious to share my love of skiing with Jake. After we took a few runs with Jake on the bunny slope I decided that my back couldn't handle a morning of teaching him. Plus we noticed some very capable instructors so we signed him up for lessons. He went with the instructor willingly and began to learn about the pizza and french fries. Jake did well the first few runs and I think he teacher over estimated his abilities a little and decide to let Jake ahead of her. Well that didn't work out to well. The speed demon Jake suddenly forgot about the pizza to slow down dispute all of us yelling it at him. He gained speed quickly and headed for the tow rope. Luckily he ducked under the rope, as he was pretty much in the tuck position. Just past the rope tow he was stopped by the snow fence. When his instructor and I reached him and took off his skies he slipped under the snow fence. He was not hurt and didn't even flinch, but rather asked to have his skies put back on and go up again. That's my kid!!!!! After Jake was settled in with his lesson Erik and I went off to take a few runs ourselves. After lunch I thought Jake might be tired and ready to go home but he demanded we hit the slopes again and finally we had to pretty much drag him off the mountain. Lets pray for a long winter!

Watch Out Emerald

Chef Jake is rising in the ranks on his way to become a master chef. You may see him on Top Chef soon (maybe this isn't even a show anymore.....we wouldn't know because we don't have cable). Jake got a little toy cooking set with plastic dishes, stove top, pan and utensils. Add a little Play-Doh and Jake is busy for well over 30 minutes preparing a savory meal for us. One of his favorite meals to make is spaghetti and meatballs. He took great pride and detail making this meal with fresh bread for TT and I the other day. He set the chairs up and served us a plate full of steaming hot spaghetti and meatballs. The real treat was the symphony performance that Jake put on with his guitar new piano after the meal. This boy is more cultured at 3 than I am......how did this happen.

Visiting the Hehl Family in Ct.

We went to see Erik's family for a few days after Christmas. Lucky for us Devon was home because she and Sergio got jobs in Bangkok! One night we went out for Japanese at a Hibatichi restaurant. Jake was pretty impressed with watching the cook's tricks while preparing our meal. We all got a chance to catch a piece of vegetable in our mouths that the cook flipped to us. I was very bad at this but Devon was able to make a catch on the first attempt. Jake was also greatly amused by playing with his aunts hair and they patiently let him do pretty much whatever he wanted to them.

Christmas 2011

WOW was Santa good to Jake! All Jake asked for for Christmas was a fire truck with a ladder that went up and down. He got that and lots of other items. Althought he played with the fire truck most of the day the piano was also a big hit (Mom and Dad are still deciding if it is a hit....). He really got the idea of Santa and ripping open gifts this year. Jake had us up a 5:03 to see what Santa had left for him. At first he was a little hesitant to go down stairs because he was afraid Santa might still be in our house. When you think about it a strange man entering a house via the chimney to eat cookies and leave presents is a bit frightening. We spent the morning opening presents and then had a very nice meal with TT, Papa, and Ome. Christmas is so much fun with a three year old.