Happy 1st Birthday Jake!

Our little boy is 1 today!

Here are a few photos from this past week of Jake being his happy-go-lucky self.

And of course a few photos to remember his development over the past year:

Week One

Month Two

Month Three

Month Six

Month Ten

Jake is a very happy little boy! He always has a smile for everyone; unless you are taking a toy from him that he wants or redirecting him from somewhere that he really wants to be. In that case he throws a full on tantrum, complete with tears and screaming! Jake is very curious about the environment and wants to know what is in everything, and likes to check out what other people are doing. He especially wants to be doing everything that Samantha is doing, and thankfully she tolerates that very well. Jake is doing lots of "talking" saying mama, dada, baba and making lots of other sounds. He really enjoys music class and often sings along with the songs. It really sounds like he is singing the tune and singing with the beat! I was sure that Jake would be walking by now. He continues to take a few steps at a time, but he still prefers fast crawling as his main mode of transportation!

It is just so unbelievable that we already have a 2 year old and a 1 year old! They are very close in age, but we would never want to change that! They sure keep us busy, but we have been loving every minute of the craziness! Well, minus a few hurdles here and there, but even the challenges often prove rewarding in the end!

Happy Birthday Little Boy! We Love YOU!

We Did It!

Russian PAK FA Stealth Fighter Test Flight

Friday!

Tuesday, May 25th

The Finches are coming! Also, Katy Davidson of amazing band Dear Nora will be playing in her new band, Key Losers. This will be off the chain, people. If you haven't ever seen these ones then now is the time! I mean it.

MAGIC JOHNSON IS PLAYING HERE

PSYCHIC FELINE IS PLAYING HERE

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IS PLAYING HERE

MONDAY, MAY 24TH: GET IN HERE!

Weekend Snips

This weekend we had beautiful weather and hardly any plans. The perfect weekend to relax and reenergize for the crazy week ahead! Only 7 more days until the 1/2 marathon! We feel prepared in a training sense, and are now crossing our fingers that neither of us gets hurt before the big race! Our neighbors gifted us with 2 child sized adirondack chairs, which were a big hit this weekend. Here is Jake trying out the chair in his new shoes that we got this weekend!

Samantha and Jake squeeze onto one chair together:

Samantha in her Dora dress, already to go to church!

Steps

Jake has been taking a few steps here and there but hasn't pulled the trigger on full out walking yet. He gets very excited about the whole process and ends up on his knees, or getting too ahead of himself and falling down. Jake more brave these days in his attempts to get from one place to the next. It's only a matter of time before we are eating our words that we want him to be walking!

A Matter of Time

Just six months ago Jake had hardly any hair.

Now today he has a full head of blonde curls!

Friday

Wednesday!

Boeing Unveils Unmanned Phantom Ray Demonstrator

St. Louis : The Boeing Company today unveiled the fighter-sized Phantom Ray unmanned airborne system, a test bed for advanced technologies.

“We are on a fast track, and first flight is in sight,” said Darryl Davis, president of Boeing Phantom Works.

“Phantom Ray is on schedule to fly in December, about two years after this project began. This is a tremendous accomplishment for Boeing and the Phantom Ray team.”

Phantom Ray is scheduled to begin taxi tests this summer. The first flight in December will be followed by up to nine additional flights over approximately six months. Phantom Ray is designed to support potential missions that may include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; suppression of enemy air defenses; electronic attack; strike; and autonomous aerial refueling.

“The initial flights will take Phantom Ray through its paces for the flight test profile. Beyond that, the missions and systems tested will be determined by future warfighter needs,” said Craig Brown, Phantom Ray program manager for Boeing.

Phantom Ray, which evolved from the X-45C program, is one of several programs in the Phantom Works division of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. Phantom Works uses rapid prototyping initiatives to design, develop and build advanced aircraft and then demonstrate their capabilities.

Key Phantom Ray suppliers include General Electric-Aviation (propulsion and power distribution), Honeywell (brake system), Woodward-HRT (flight control actuation system), Crane Hydro-Aire (brake controls) and Heroux-Devtek (landing gear).

For a feature story on today’s Phantom Ray ceremony in St. Louis, visit http://bit.ly/99AvLS.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world’s largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $34 billion business with 68,000 employees worldwide.

Study Says US Missile Defense Weapons Deeply Flawed

Washington : US missile defense plans are based on "technical myths" and interceptors have mostly failed to knock out incoming warheads in military tests, a new study argues.

Two American scientists reviewed 10 tests of the SM-3 "kill vehicle," designed to take out ballistic missiles, and concluded that the interceptor succeeded in directly hitting mock warheads in only one or two cases.

"This means that, in real combat, the warhead would have not been destroyed but would have continued toward the target and detonated in eight or nine of the 10 SM-3 experimental tests," wrote George Lewis of Cornell University and Theodore Postol of MIT in the latest issue of "Arms Control Today."

The Pentagon had described the tests between 2002 to 2009 as successful.

The US administration's claims about the missile defense system are "nothing more than a fiction" and "the policy strategy that follows from these technical myths could well lead to a foreign policy disaster," wrote the scientists in an article titled "A Flawed and Dangerous US Missile Defense Plan."

The authors also questioned if a network of early-warning satellites and radar could precisely track missiles and distinguish them from debris or decoys.

But the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) on Tuesday rejected the findings of the study, calling them "flawed, inaccurate and misleading."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates retained confidence in the missile defense program, his press secretary told AFP.

"Secretary Gates tracks our missile defense program closely and he continues to have a high degree of confidence in its capabilities, including those of the SM-3 system," press secretary Geoff Morrell said in an email.

US officials and the authors of the study disagreed over the importance of the interceptors striking the body of a rocket or its dummy warhead.

The SM-3 tests "showed that the interceptor's kill vehicle impacted the target body or warhead within inches of the expected impact point that was calculated to maximize damage against a variety of warhead types," the MDA said in a statement.

MDA spokesman Richard Lehner said some of the earlier tests did not use mock warheads at all because the goal was merely to hit the target missile.

One of the authors of the study, Postol of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a long-time skeptic of missile defense who previously helped expose the failure of most Patriot anti-missile weaponry in the 1991 Gulf War.

Much is riding on land and sea-based US missile defenses, with President Barack Obama arguing the system will help counter the threat posed by Iran's missiles and will allow for scaling back the American nuclear arsenal.

Russia Plans to Develop 5th-Generation Helicopters

A Russian helicopter company is planning to develop the world's first fifth-generation combat helicopter, which experts say would be able to attack fighter jets and be invisible for radars, the Gazeta daily said on Thursday.

"We are working on the concept of the fifth-generation combat helicopter," the paper quoted the company's CEO, Andrei Shibitov, as saying at a news conference in Moscow.

Shibitov did not specify the characteristics of the helicopter, but said the company was going to spend some $1 billion on the project, with more investment expected to be allocated from the state budget.

The official said the Mil design bureau had been working on a classical rotor model, which features a large main rotor and a smaller auxiliary rotor, while the Kamov design bureau had been developing a coaxial rotor model.

Military experts believe that the coaxial rotor model is more stable and easy to fly while the classical model is more reliable and has a higher degree of survivability on the battlefield.

First deputy head of the Russian Academy of Geopolitical Issues, Konstantin Sivkov, told the paper that fifth-generation combat helicopters have never been built before, although the United States has recently begun working on a similar project.

He said a fifth-generation combat helicopter must have a low radar signature, a high noise reduction, an extended flying range, be equipped with a computerized arms control system, be able to combat fighter jets (existing helicopters are generally only intended to hit ground-based targets) and reach a speed of up to 500-600 km/h (310-370 mph).

The project cannot proceed, however, unless it is backed by the government.

"If the government does not sign a contract, the idea will die on the vine," head of the Russian Academy of Geopolitical Issues Leonid Ivashov told Gazeta.

Ivashov said that with sufficient investment and good organization the new helicopter could be built within five years. Otherwise, the project may drag on for 20-30 years.

Russia's main combat helicopter, the Mi-24 Hind, is a third-generation helicopter, and Mi-28 Havoc, Ka-50 and Ka-52 Hokum are fourth-generation helicopters.

Indian Air Force to Train Malaysian Sukhoi Su-30MKM Pilots

Kuala Lumpur, May 17 - Malaysia’s decision to allow Indian Air Force to groom, train and equip its frontline Sukhoi pilots is a proof of the Southeast Asian country’s faith on New Delhi, a senior IAF officer has said. “The fact that a foreign country is permitted to groom, train and equip your frontline pilots is by itself a testament of the confidence and faith they have in us.

This is a strong demonstration of a high-level of friendship and diplomacy which is very commendable,” IAF’s chief flight instructor Gp Capt KVR Raju was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times. Russia and India are committed to bolster Malaysia’s air defence and combat capability, so far as the Sukhoi Su-30MKM Flanker squadron is concerned, Russia’s warranty team leader Vladimir Konnov and the IAF’s team chief Group Captain Raju has asserted.

Meanwhile, defence superpowers like China, Britain and France are reportedly providing supporting roles via various transfer-of-technology and offset deals to enhance Malaysia’s defence prowess, local news reports said.

Raju is leading an Indian contingent of four instructor pilots, one weapons systems officer, two engineers, 22 technicians and two administrative servicemen.

The IAF pilots would be retained until August, while their colleagues would return after the completion of their two-year tour of duty in July. The trilateral Russian-Indian-Malaysian collaboration was something unique as it provided a stepping stone for the country to groom its next generation of airmen, the IAF officer said.

Over the Years!

It's amazing to me that we can say over the years, as in more than one! Looking back over Samantha's photos from the past two years it was very hard to choose just a few to capture how much she has changed! What is most amazing to me is that it feels like she has been the way she is today forever. How quickly Samantha has grown and it's not until looking back over the photos that I realize just how much she has changed in such a short time! In looking at these photos I think that she really didn't shed her baby look until around 21 months which really wasn't that long ago! She is still our little baby!

Where it all began: Day 1

3 months

6 months

1 year!

(I can not believe that I had momentarily forgotten

about the scrunchy face before rediscovering this photo!)

15 months

18 months

21 months

2 years!

Post bath

Samantha's hair is getting so long!

Tuesday!

Monday!

Our first time hosting all these awesome bands. On The Stairs (Leonard Mynx and friends) is tearin' it up right now. Have you heard their new record yet? Thumbs up.

Sunday

You must come see The Shalants who'll be breezin' in through town to grace us with their sweet, yummy tunes. We love these guys. Super excited.

2 Going on 13!

Today I was searching for a music channel on the television and I was facing the TV with my back to Samantha who I thought had gone out of the TV room into either the kitchen or dining room. I called out "Samantha?" hoping to hear her call back to me so that I could tell where she was. Wasn't I shocked when I got a "I'm right here!" (attitude infused - as in right HEE - errr) in return. As I turned around she was still in the room, right behind me. Where does she get this stuff?

In other tidbits:

• Jake is so very close to walking. Yesterday he bent down to crawl somewhere and thought better of it, standing back up at the last second. He also took about 4 steps to Papi as well. I am sure we will be posting some sort of "walking" video this weekend!
• We have been in the sick ward for the past two days. On Monday night both kids woke up in the middle of the night and Jake had a fever of 101.6. He's been on Motrin (not the recalled ones) since and although he seems to be okay at times, the fever has been returning near the time for another dose of medicine. Samantha has a bad cough and both kids have runny noses. Everyone slept well last night, so I am hoping for a repeat tonight.
• We are interviewing candidates for babysitters. We are tying to find someone who is available a few hour each week to give me a break when Chris is traveling. We had/have someone helping out a bit right now, but are looking for someone with more availability. I've interviewed 3 girls so far and it has been very interesting so far. I really liked the one we met today, but am meeting another person on Friday, so hopefully after Friday we can make a final decision!

Literary Mixtape #2: Thursday, May 13th!

Literary Mixtape #2 is happening! For those of you who haven't heard about it yet, Literary Mixtape is a reading series presented by Fort Saint Davids (and by your faithful hosts, Matthew Korfhage and Erik Bader) in which we essentially ask people to DJ books instead of music. The idea is we’re inviting various prominent or well-read or stout-hearted people around town to get up and read literature of whatever stripe (poem, fiction, essay) that they’re genuinely, personally excited about.

Joining us this time:

*Nathan Howdeshell is the guitarist for the terrifically well-liked band The Gossip, as well as the main force behind the Fast Weapons music/publishing imprint.

*Kevin Sampsell is an editor (Portland Noir and other books), publisher (Future Tense Books), bookstore employee (Powell’s Books) and author (Creamy Bullets and the new memoir, A Common Pornography). He lives in Portland, Oregon.

*Josiah Jones is a painter, sculptor, and digital media artist, as well as a technology consultant and entrepreneur

Should be a great time. Starts at 6:30 sharp. Hope to see you!

Saturday, May 15th

Aaron from The Artistery is heading over this Saturday with all his good records. Look at the guy. He brings the fun.

Thursday, May 13th

The best African Psych, High Life, Township songs from the artist formerly known as Sir Tall Selector. Always excellent.

Happy Mother's Day!

This morning I woke up to Chris and Samantha coming into the bedroom and Samantha saying "Happy Moter's Day Mommy". Oh, so cute! It was quite windy and chilly here, but we did have a nice day helping our friend Ethan celebrate his 2nd birthday! Samantha and Jake are sleeping after all of the day's activity, and hopefully Samantha's little body is gradually coming down off her sugar high of party treats while she sleeps and that she'll be good as new in the morning!

I got the best news for Mother's Day (no, not that our condo has sold yet); Chris has been working in Providence 5 days a week, and he announced today that he will only be there Monday through Thursday for the rest of the contract (through the summer)! He will still work on Fridays, but will be able to do so from home! Music to my ears! It really is amazing what a difference it is when he travels 5 days instead of 4. When he travels 4 days, then he spends the majority of the nights in a week at home and it really does wonders for my sanity! So, he will go to work tomorrow and we will rest in the fact that we will see him on Thursday! Yippee!! I was also gifted these, which are the best lounge pants ever! Chris has had a pair for the past couple of years and they finally came out in them for women! Go Red Sox!

Monday, May 10th

Definitely a great opportunity to check out some awesome new solo projects from two of our fave people. Raf Spielman of The Woolen Men and Golden Hours will be playing as Polyps and Ryan Sullivan who you may know from old Portland greats 2% Majesty will be sharing his Sea Bread. Of course, COLE rules as always. Can't wait!!!

EMINENT OMINOUS

New work by Dan Anderson

A pop/pagan-tribute/homage to the eruption of Mt. St Helens

Opening first Thursday, May 6th

DJs Zach Branch and Kevin Nagler, 9pm - on into the night

BLOOM, a supplemental audio/video project made in collaboration with Zach Branch and Kevin Nagler will be screened on the 30th anniversary of the eruption, May 18th at 8pm.

Please do come and celebrate with us

Video Chatting with Daddy!

Jake is always very excited to see Daddy when he comes home and Jake is now at the point where he gets very excited when it is time to video chat with Daddy. We just had to capture this excitement for the blogosphere! Enjoy!

Strawberry Shortcake

Over the weekend we had such summer like weather and the strawberries were on sale at the BigY buy 1 get 2 free! Who can pass up that deal? So, we ate lots of strawberries! I made some strawberry shortcakes, and I thought I'd share the recipe because they turned out really yummy! The recipe came from the Baking Bites blog. Also, anything I make these days has to be minimal in prep and baking time, and these were very easy to throw together.

Here's a photo of our shortcakes!

Strawberry Buttermilk Shortcakes

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter, chilled and cut into pieces

3/4 cup buttermilk*

1 tsp vanilla extract

Fresh, ripe strawberries

whipped cream

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3. Rub in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (or pulse a few times in a food processor*).

4. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla extract until the dough comes together. Add an additional tablespoon of buttermilk if the dough is slightly dry.

5. Drop by 1/4 cups (use measuring cup) onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

6. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

7. Cool completely on a wire rack.

* I did not have buttermilk, but instead used a tablespoon of lemon juice and whole milk to make 3/4 cup. I also used the food processor to mix in the butter and then the "buttermilk" and vanilla extract. This made it very easy.

A Family Tree

Last weekend Papi found a sapling out in the woods behind the house. He and Samantha dug up the tree and planted it next to the house. Samantha has been taking care of her tree each day by giving it a little water. Here are a few photos of Samantha with her tree!

Watering her tree:

Standing next to her tree:

My Babies are Growing Too Fast!

Jake just turned 11 months a few days ago, and Samantha will be 25 months tomorrow, so I figured I better get one post written for both of them! Recently I've been nostalgic for the baby stage when feeding and cuddling Jake. We are lucky to get a few minutes of cuddle time with him before he is squirming to get down to explore. I remember loving this age when Samantha was nearly one, and I still love it now. Jake is still young enough to be my little cuddly baby, yet he is becoming so independent and wants to be involved in everything. He is so curious, and has a great time playing with all of the toys. As is evident from the photo below, Jake likes to get into everything! His favorite toys right now are the ball popper and the stacking ring toy that you can also put balls in the middle of to create lights and music. He is able to put the balls in the tubes and knows how to push the button to make the balls pop out of the popper. Besides these toys, Jake wants to be doing whatever Samantha is doing. This gets Samantha into a tizzy at times because she is very concerned that Jake is coming to get her things. She is very good at finding him another toy to occupy his time when she doesn't want him to play with her toys.

At the playground today, Samantha was playing with a kickball and another child was having a meltdown on the ground because it wasn't his turn to play with the ball. After carrying the ball around for a few seconds, Samantha went over to him, bent down, and said "you okay?" She handed the ball to him saying "your turn." Hopefully her sharing with Jake will continue to affect her interactions with other kids.

Jake is still crawling and walking by holding onto things. He is very fast, and I have to keep my eyes on him all the time or else he is into everything. It has been very challenging to get anything done like make lunch or dinner with the two of them around because Jake loves to climb the stairs and follow Samantha all over the house. There have been a few times when I've been forced to confine Jake to the exersaucer purely for his safety and my sanity. This never goes over very well.

Both Jake and Samantha are talking away a mile a minute. Jake is never quiet, and full of da-da-da. Other sounds he is making are ba, ga, la, and ma, but da is by far his favorite! I swear that the other day in the grocery store when I was saying to Samantha "can you say hi to the nice lady", that Jake responded "hi", but of course, he has yet to repeat it, so maybe I was only dreaming! Samantha's newest stall tactic is to keep talking. She wants to do everything herself, and instead of actually doing things herself (getting out of the car, coming inside, putting on her clothes, etc, etc), she sits there and makes countless observations, or asks many questions. As we were coming inside today, all of a sudden the garden figuring became very intriguing, followed by a close study of the door mat. Jake and Samantha are taking a Music Together class for 10 weeks and they both absolutely love it. When I play the cd in the car Jake even "sings" along with the music! I told this to Chris the other day in the car and I don't think he believed me until he really did hear Jake singing!

It is hard for me to believe that pretty soon we'll have two walking kids, and we will be exiting out of the baby stages. One more month on formula for Jake and then we'll be weening him off the bottle. Samantha and Jake provide me constant laughs and wonderment in a day as well as hair pulling frustration. I realize that at this point a year ago I was out of work on bed rest, and so technically I had started my gig as a stay at home mom. This past year has been so fulfilling and hard all at the same time, but I can honestly say that I have never looked back and wished that I was still working. Sure I need my breaks here and there, and I do miss socialization with co-workers, but being a stay at home mom has been a really great experience for me thus far. I might not be saying that in another year after dealing with a two year old for the next year!

Monday, May 3rd