"Nesting" Is that what this is called?

Laine and I found nursery furniture the way every parent of our generation does: on the internet. We happened across it one day (it was a "deal of the day" on woot.com) and both thought that, surprisingly, it could be just what we were looking for. We have a lot of wood in our house, so white seemed to be as good a finish as any.

We bought the entire set in one purchase and Laine picked it up from a store after work one day. (I should add that the entire set: crib, changing table, 'armoire,' and dresser, fit in the back of our new kid-friendly Mazda CX-7. Totally redeemed itself for being the cause of me trading in my Scion TC.) I had encouraged her to go alone, knowing that if a pregnant woman arrives alone to pick something like this up from a store, they're going to have to bring out the moving guys from the back to load up the car. This would be much better than me going with her, having these same guys size me up and walk away laughing at the thought of me loading them myself. So that turned out to be a good plan, because these boxes were heavy. We got them inside and into a controlled fall to the floor, where (most of them) remain to this day.

We spent one evening working on assembling the 'armoire.' Laine played the part of foreman and I was the muscle (if you couldn't tell from the pictures). It took a few hours but we finally assembled a finished product. (note: it now has shelves where that empty space on the right is.

What I Have to Look Forward To

These photos were taken of Jesse and Gibson at Nina and Graeme's rehearsal dinner in Chicago. 

In my ongoing quest to obtain cool Illinois Wesleyan apparel, I've recently learned that the best route may be to create it yourself.

An alumna suggested that Illinois Wesleyan should have a cycling jersey. As a cyclist myself, I thought this to be a good idea and began a conversation with the University bookstore to see if we could make this happen. It took a bit longer than expected (about a year), but we finally put in an order. I think the bookstore was surprised by how many people wanted an IWU cycling jersey. I'm just glad that they actually fit and looked good because I was selling people on them sight unseen.

Pierogi-Fest 2013! (first annual?)

Mrs. T's husband

One of Laine's culinary life goals has been to learn to make pierogies. Mrs. T's frozen pierogies are a staple in our house and the only pierogies that I've ever known. (Side note: I just realized that Mrs. T's is a funny name. Could Mrs. T be Mr. T's wife?) I think that by roommate Piotr Dabrowski brought some pierogies that his mom made back to school one time, but that would have been the only homemade pierogi that I've ever had.

Laine remembers her that her Grandma Twanow and Aunt Elaine (aka Auntie Lainey) knew how to make delicious homemade pierogies, so when she came to town this year, Laine jumped at the chance to learn the art of pierogi making.

Our pierogies were consistently twice the size of what I've come to recognize as the typical Mrs. T pierogi, but they were quite tasty. We even made some desert pierogies. One had fresh berries and jam and I coined a delicious new creation -- the s'morgie (patent pending). The s'morgie is stuffed with chocolate, marshmallow, and optional smashed banana. I need to pitch that flavor to Mrs. T.