Happy Halloween Everybody!

Well THAT's an understatement

Jerry is a chronic understater. The legend goes that when he filled out the information for his driver's license, he actually took off an inch from his height. Once after an interview for a fairly competitive fellowship, I asked him how it went. He said, not too good. Then I was surprised when he got the fellowship.

Recently Jerry presented at a Grad Student Symposium along with 12 other Chemical Engineering PhD candidates who are looking to finish up their dissertations this year. I asked him how it went. His basic synopsis was that it went fine. Could have been better with this and that, but overall it was not noticeably terrible. Well, we've been married for a while now, so I added an inch back on to that story and translated it into- he did very well. Well apparently I still haven't gotten the interpretation down just yet. I was surprised again when a week later, it was announced that, not only did he do very well, but Jerry won the award for the best presentation. This is a very nice compliment because it is voted on by all of the professors in the department.

Good job Jerry. You once again exceeded expectations. Even when I had already adjusted for depreciation.

Two nerds in a pod

For many of you who know us, you know that it takes Jerry and I quite a while to make a purchase. The more expensive, the longer we will deliberate. I think our record on ratio of time to dollar amount was 10 months of research it took to buy our camera. When Jerry decided to buy a new watch, he started by reading about the history of watches. You get the idea. Claire found this comic and for some reason it reminded her of us.

15 Months!

Levi Stats
Days on earth: 455
Current Height: 31.5 in (60th percentile)
Current Weight: 26.5 lbs (75th percentile)
Favorite Foods: Spaghetti, Nectarines
Most common foods: cous cous, beans, cereal
Levi likes to sign: milk, more, dog, bird, drink, all done, diaper, dad, cracker
Will change the subject if you ask him to sign: mom, cereal, banana
Most common sound: car engine (brrrrr)
Least common sound: any other word besides- ball.
Favorite book: My First Animal Book
Favorite toy: Anything with wheels

Note: I suggest going directly to the vimeo site so you can watch this in HD. It really makes a difference! Here is the link http://www.vimeo.com/1970663

Video Sampler 15 months from Jerry Thomas on Vimeo.

Happy October

I've been really in the spirit of fall time this year. I can't wait for Halloween and Thanksgiving. I was inspired by this and some size 5 cowboy boots I found at the swap shop to go on a little photo adventure to the pumpkin patch. Rileigh, Katelyn, and Jocelyn joined us for some pumpkin good times. Watch for the surprise photo at the end.

Will work for tacos

I took some family photos of our good friends, Adam and Roxanne and their two girls, Taylor and Esther. What a cute family don't you think? They are wonderful, fun to be around people and it was a fun photo adventure.
Of course I could not say no to them taking us to Lilly's Taqueria as a thank you. Lilly's could be its own post- it was that good. Tacos are the sole menu item at Lilly's and the meat derivations are plentiful. I recommend any readers in the SB area to go there next time you're in the downtown area and in the mood for $1.35 tacos. (which means if you're jerry- any time you're downtown)

First date

Our backyard friend Laila got a new toy house and invited Levi over to play. They had a nice fireside lunch of cheerios and toy ketchup.

I love you Jerry

It was about a year and a half ago when I inexplicably lost my keys. I looked into replacing my keyless entry remote, but it was just too expensive. $100 for the remote plus $50 for the "labor" for the dealership to program it. No way. I did a little more shopping and found some really "reputable" looking sites with "all real" "authentic" remotes that were still over $50. I gave up. Then when Levi came along, it became quite a pain to get in and out of the car without it. But I still had it in my mind that it was a luxury item.
This year as a surprise for my birthday Jerry got me a new remote (wrapped in computer paper). He found it for sale on Ebay and his bid of $13.00 whole dollars won it. Then he did some more research and figured out how to program it himself. What a nice husband, don't you think? I smile every time I unlock the car.