Family Celebrations

I just found out that my brother-in-law Mark received the honor of Teacher of the Year at his high school. Congratulations, Mark! (See more at the Oglesblog.)

I've always thought our family is pretty well-rounded. We have a high school teacher, mechanic, pilot, pastor... and that's just the men. Then we have a journalist, photographer, full-time mom, and caterer -- and that's just one of my three sisters! (That would be Karen, pictured above with Teacher of the Year Mark, daughters Taylor and Madison, and a mystery kid with a wig).

We're excited that we get to visit my side of the family at Thanksgiving.

Speaking of holidays, today Cullen got to dress up for Halloween. In honor of our upcoming trip to New Jersey, he decided to dress up as an Italian mob boss...


No, we didn't find it very convincing either, in spite of the Italian bib...

So, tomorrow we head to New Jersey where Cullen gets to meet his great grandparents. They are looking forward to meeting their very first great grandchild! And he is great - we're so glad he's part of the family! (And by family, we mean family... not "FAMILY.")

Uncle Jeff

From the West Coast to the East Coast! Here's Uncle Jeff and Cullen in various stages of getting to know each other.

There's that first awkward moment...


Followed by small talk...


A turning of the conversation toward more serious matters...


Hey, they like each other!


Cullen is certainly more and more interactive. Will he be a "people person" like his dad?

Well, we're not so sure. He made another friend, Mr. Lion... They can hang out together for long stretches of time, just staring at each other.


Maybe this means he's an "animal person"? Or perhaps he's just very imaginative - "Cullen & Hobbes"? (I know, I know, Hobbes is a tiger, but that's also a common lion's name.)

We'll be back soon with more pictures. Cheryl has taken some nice ones that I'm eager for her to post once things are back to, umm, "normal."

With Mom

Thought I'd quickly put up some photos today, just a few I like that I haven't had a chance to post. The big news is that it is raining today. REAL RAIN. Not just a sprinkle. It hasn't rained since Cullen was born, and not for some time before that either. I am now convinced it is going to be hot here until December or January. It was very weird getting something in the mail the other day informing me "Flu Season is here!" Huh? It's 80 degrees!

Cullen is looking forward to seeing his uncle Jeff tomorrow! He is trying to grow as fast as he can! 12 and a half lbs at the doctor's yesterday (9 weeks).

2007 WRA National Race Meet

We took Cullen on his first road trip this past weekend, to the Whippet National Race Meet in Raeford, NC. He did pretty well! The Bjorn really came in handy. As my niece said: "Babies are made to be worn!" Well I agree. This thing kept Cullen in a deep slumber all day, face planted in chest. Your chest, his chest... it really didn't matter. This did make the nights a bit more difficult however.

Something like 120 dogs ran in the sprint meet on Saturday, and our friend Anne's girl Tula won the whole thing! Undefeated no less.

The only thing we have to brag about is our match placements on Friday. Scoche and her daughter Kira both took second place in their respective classes. They each won a neat little handmade ceramic dish with a running whippet on it.

Our friend Jeff of Ashley Avenue fame joined us on Saturday for the events. His dog Lucy soon decided she wanted to take part...

My birthday was Sunday and a cake was delivered to the field...very nice! It was wonderful seeing a lot of our friends that now live far away -- we miss you all!

The Bjorn Identity

We are just back from our first weekend trip with Cullen. We can update on that later, but first, some pictures we took just before the trip:

How many people do you see in this picture?

That's right, there are actually three people shown here -- me, Smarty, and Cullen. Here's a closer look:

No, that's not a space suit -- it's a "Baby Bjorn"!

It puts Cullen right to sleep... so you have to be careful, it's a powerful piece of technology.

Grizzly Man (Measuring Up, Part Three)

I haven't posted all of Cullen's quasi-weekly growth pictures, but perhaps you've noticed that he is indeed growing. Here is the last picture I posted of Cullen and his bear:



That was at 3 weeks. Now here he is today, at 7 weeks:





I think I can spot some changes.

One Generation to Another

Cullen's Grandma and Grandpa Cave have been visiting. I just realized however that we don't have enough pictures of them -- because they're too busy taking pictures on their own camera. You'll have to visit their blog to see all those!

In lieu of more pictures of grandma and grandpa (for now), how about some pictures of Cullen?

For those who haven't met him yet... better hurry, he's getting bigger! I call this picture "Cullen Off to College":


Actually, that was Cullen's church outfit. He was baptized on Sunday, September 30. In baptism, we lay hold of the promises of God's word to set apart and bless the children of believing parents, which also means we take responsibility to raise Cullen to know God and the gospel. He was certainly excited:


Here's Pastor Joe Mullen, with us. This picture was taken on a different day because of a camera error. The error message indicated that the camera had forgetful parents...