"Please stay on the line. Your half-baked ideas are all we've got."

One of the blogs that Dave reads brought this bizarre story to our attention:

Chuck Woolery to Host Cat Game Show

I just don't know what to say about that, or the people who green-lighted it.

Quick update

The baby has been kicking up a storm the last few days. I could feel a couple of gentle kicks late last week, but he has really gotten active since Sunday. The kicks are still too light for Dave to be able to feel them. I can't be sure, but I think the baby might like hummus, as he seems to be really kicking about a half-hour after I've eaten it. I could just be imagining the connection...although I'll probably still tell Mrs. Kennedy that I'm sure it's her hummus recipe that he likes so much! :)

We are starting to sort out the incredible variety of nursery furniture & baby stuff on the market. It is kind of overwhelming, and after the third crib or rocker, they really all start to blend together. We do have a great book called Baby Bargains that has a lot of product reviews and ratings which has been helpful in narrowing things down.

We have also been keeping busy working on the lawn now that it's cooled down a little. Dave noticed Monday that our side yard is looking a lot more filled in than it was at the beginning of the season. The grass seed we put there last fall didn't work fast, but it seems like it is working, so we are thrilled. Check out the degree to which the lawn has healed itself:

April '08

August '08

My dad gave us an extra set of electric hedge trimmers, so I attacked the front bushes the other day. It is so much easier than using the manual clippers! I may not have much advanced technique, but what I lack in finesse, I more than make up for in virulent animosity towards the insanely fast-growing bushes and enthusiasm for knocking them down to size!

A minor note: I fixed the blog's comment settings so anyone can comment. I didn't realize that we had them set to only allow Gmail users to post until my mom pointed it out . Sorry!

It's a boy!!

As most of you know, we are expecting a baby around December 22. I'm sure we will hear for many years to come how he got the short straw by having a birthday so close to Christmas. Em's grandma is rooting for the baby to share her December 23 birthday. Our little one will add to the overwhelming boy: girl ratio in the youngest generation on Dave's side and make it 9 boys to 1 girl.

We went to the doctor for our 19-week ultrasound today and although the baby was stubborn and overly modest, the ultrasound tech was able to tell that we're having a boy! Everything looks good, size is healthy, and we could actually see the spine, 4 heart chambers, and bones. It was really cool!

We're pretty sure this is the heart. The band below is the heartbeat tracker (136 bpm); all the little peaks are individual heartbeats.

Big giant foot:

Awesome pic of the legs:

And a front view of the legs:

We are super excited!

A Lawn Reborn

Loyal readers might recall that 2007 saw most of the back yard and portions of the side and front yards destroyed by grubs. The carnage wrought by those nasty little worms was enough to turn the stomach. Witness the following:

Emily and I had little choice but to rip up the dead turf, reseed, and hope for the best. It turned out to be a bigger job than we anticipated; we were only able to get to the worst portion of the back yard. Here's the area we worked on last October:

We weren't sure how it would turn out. Strong storms washed away our first attempt (the back yard is on a slight slope that the pictures don't reveal well), and it was early November by the time we were able to put down seed that had an opportunity to take root. But, on the whole, we're pleased with how it turned out. Here's the back yard as it currently looks:

I think you'd have to agree, that's a significant improvement. It's not great, but now it looks like your run-of-the-mill, poorly maintained lawn rather than a gasp-inducing wasteland that calls to mind nothing so much as military-grade defoliants. We're pretty happy with our handiwork.

But don't trouble yourself with thoughts that we might get cocky and rest on our lawn-growing laurels. There's still much work to be done, as a glance at the side lawn makes clear.

First Royals game of the season

We went to our first 2008 Kansas City Royals game on Saturday, April 12. The team was premiering their new powder blue uniforms. It was frigid and windy, and we had many, many layers on. Katie and I threatened Dave & Eric that we were going to take one of the cars and go home to watch the game from the comfort of our own warm homes if it got too cold.

We had about 20 people for the game and pre-game tailgating. There was a ton of food, games (cornhole & washers),


and of course, Eric mugging for the cameras.


Kauffman Stadium is being renovated, and this was the first game we'd seen with the new high-definition scoreboard. They haven't put the crown topper back on yet. It is currently the largest high-definition video board in the world, but when the new Dallas Cowboys stadium opens, it will lose that claim to fame. The scoreboard is so much better than the old one, but unfortunately it had little good news to show this night- the Royals lost to the Twins 2-0.


We got to our seats and huddled together under blankets in the upper deck, and at first it didn't feel too bitterly cold. We were also kept happy by a fantastic cache of snacks provided by Mrs. K. But it did start getting really cold around the 6th inning, and began snowing a few innings later. Here's Luke dressed in his layers, and Russ, Katie, and Cara trying to keep warm.





I believe I was wearing a grand total of 6 layers of clothing, plus the blankets. And at the end of the game, I was still shivering. I love baseball, but I think I'm going to let Dave represent the Olschki household by himself at any future April Royals games.

How can you not smile at this?

To be honest, I'm still not entirely sure what a Chumby is, or how one would use it. But I am in love with the Chumby puppy.

To see the whole thing, go to chumby.com. Click on the left arrow beside "General Overview"

and you will see "Surprise."




Click on the ham (yeah, I don't know why they chose that), and you can watch the adorable Chumby puppy! Enjoy!

New desk!

I finally got a new desk this weekend. I had a large corner desk for several years, but knew it wouldn't fit in this house, so I left it in Columbus. Since I moved here, my iMac has been sitting on an old desk from my dad's elementary school, while my printer has been on an extra Rubbermaid. The school desk is lovely, but it's way too small for a computer desk. After looking around at several places off and on for months, I decided on a desk from Target. Dave & I put it together today and it looks quite nice. The color also matches well with the headboard on the guest bed which shares the room. The middle drawer is a pull-out keyboard tray that works much better than holding the keyboard on my lap, as I have been doing! I think I will try to find some of those velcro ties to corral the unruly computer cords at the back.

At some point, I may get the printer stand/file cabinet to allow me to move the printer off the desk and have some writing room. Picture from Target's website:


To come later: Royals game photos and Em's upcoming trip to Branson with the 427 Irving girls!