"It's the most stressful...I mean, wonderful time of the year!"

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, it's that time of year again. Time for Christmas decorating, cookie baking, card writing, gift sending and gig playing (for those of us who work as freelance musicians). We actually really love this time of year. Joey and I both enjoy putting our Christmas decorations out, and this year we decided to invest in a much bigger and higher quality fake tree (is that some kind of oxymoron?). We also decided to use white lights instead of colored lights, and I think they look really beautiful. White lights are a European tradition, and I have always thought they looked very elegant.

We have had fun watching Clara experience her first Christmas season. The town of Stonington puts on an event every year called the "Stonington Stroll". People gather in the green and sing Christmas carols, drink hot cider and celebrate the lighting of the tree. This is followed by a lovely walk down Water Street (the main street with all of the restaurants and shops) where businesses have decorated their windows and give out free goodies and wine. Joey, Clara and I took part in the stroll and had a lot of fun singing and looking at the decorations. Joey and Clara were interviewed and photographed by a reporter from the "Westerly Sun"(a local Rhode Island paper) during the carol sing, and we were shocked to find that a picture of Joey and Clara with carolers in the background made the front cover of the paper the next morning!

We have been doing other fun Christmas activities. We took a trip to a Christmas tree farm where we picked up a wreath and a few other "real" holiday plants. Clara had fun looking at the wreaths and Christmas store. We also took a trip to Providence, RI to check out a mall everyone had been telling us about. It was a very nice mall, and Clara got to meet Santa (well, Santa's helper) and have her picture taken with him. She wasn't too sure that Santa was such a stand-up guy. At one point during the photo shoot she turned to check him out a little closer and promptly burst into tears. Overall though, I think it was an okay first experience with a mall Santa, and the pictures turned out pretty cute. We also visited an old Cider mill in Mystic, CT where we enjoyed fresh apple cider and wine tasting.

December can sometimes be a very busy month, especially when your husband is a church musician. Joey has had some really busy years in the past with multiple Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services to play. This year, however, is really pretty simple. There is only one Christmas Eve service at 11pm and then a Christmas morning service at 10am at Calvary. I am going to be playing violin for the Christmas Eve service. Also, in the past Joey has had to commute quite a distance for church and kill time between services. This year he will actually get to spend a lot of time at home and even enjoy a Christmas Eve dinner with my parents and me. My parents arrive on December 19th and will be here until January 2nd. My aunt and uncle from Virginia (Clara's Godparents) will also be here to celebrate New Years with us. We are really excited about seeing everyone. Unfortunately we can't make it home to MN this year, so we will miss seeing Joey's side of the family. We hope they can come see us sometime this Spring.

Clara is going to be 8 months old on the 20th. She is now sitting up all by herself. She can sit and play for several hours which allows me to get some good practicing done while I watch her. She responds well to my playing. She really likes my bow, and when I play something fast she laughs and claps. It's pretty cute. (Clapping is also a newly learned skill). She sleeps 9-10 hours a night, usually waking up once for a quick bottle and then going back to sleep. She is also starting to develop a better napping routine. Napping has always been difficult for her, but she is starting to have longer naps at more predictable times, which makes my life a lot easier. She is a sweet little girl, and we are excited about her first Christmas. She has a sparkly red dress to wear on Christmas day, and I recently took some photos of her in it in front of the Christmas tree. I used the best pictures for our Christmas card, so I won't post those until later. Here are a few others to enjoy.

It's easy to get caught up in the commercial side of Christmas. Joey and I sometimes have to stop and remind ourselves about the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus. It is also a wonderful time to give thanks to God for the many blessing in our lives. Whatever your beliefs or traditions this time of year, we hope you have a magical holiday season with very little stress and a lot of happiness and love!

Joey, Erin and Clara

Thanksgiving 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving day. Our Thanksgiving started out bright and early this morning at 3:45am when Clara woke up crying and was unable to go back to sleep due to pain from teething. Poor Clara suffered off and on throughout the day and only seemed to be able to find relief by sucking on cold teething rings. I guess someday she will be thankful for her teeth, but right now they are giving her a hard time.

In spite of Clara's teething issues, we were able to enjoy the day. Joey still managed to turn out a wonderful meal although he was quite exhausted from getting up so early with Clara. As it turns out, we did not have to spend the holiday alone. We found out that some new friends of ours from church were also going to be spending the day alone so we invited them to join us for dinner at our home. They contributed some wonderful food and wine to our meal. It was a fun afternoon with great food and conversation. Clara managed to take a long nap during our meal and seemed to find some relief from her gum pain later this evening.

Traditionally we have always decorated for Christmas on "Black Friday" and we plan to do so tomorrow. We were able to skype with a few of our family members today but I also wanted to write a quick entry wishing those of you who follow our blog a very Happy Thanksgiving. We hope you enjoyed the day with family and friends. Have a safe and fun holiday weekend!

Joey, Erin and Clara

Clara is 7 months old!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

Today marks Clara's 7 month birthday. It's amazing how much she has grown and changed. At her 6 month check-up, she was in the 90-95th percentile for height and weighed in at 17 pounds. She is full of energy these days and requires constant stimulation. She is very social and loves going out and being around other people. She is extremely attached to mommy and daddy right now and will sometimes cry if one of us tries to leave the room. She does not appreciate having a toy taken from her while she is playing with it and will let you know her unhappiness right away. She is much more aware of things in general than she used to be. Overall she is very happy and loves to laugh and sing. In fact, she sings more than she talks. She hears a lot of singing in our house though, so I guess I'm not surprised. One of her favorite things to do is to "fly" in the air with daddy. See picture below! Daddy's "Flying" game never fails to generate a huge grin. Clara also really enjoys looking at books. (She also enjoys trying to eat them).

Joey is in Minnesota this weekend. He was invited to perform a recital on the concert series at Augustana Lutheran Church in Saint Paul, MN. In fact, as I write this he is performing. He left Friday and will be back tomorrow afternoon. He always enjoys going back to Minnesota to perform because he gets to see many of his friends and family members. Fortunately for me, my dad was able to fly out for the weekend and help me take care of Clara. He and Clara have been having a lot of fun together hanging out and reading books on the couch. Clara is pretty crazy about her Grandad. My dad is returning to Minnesota on Tuesday and will celebrate Thanksgiving with my two brothers and their families, which will include seven grandchildren. He is really getting to enjoy being Grandad this month!

Joey, Clara and I recently spent a day in Newport, RI. We really enjoy going to Newport to shop and look at the grand mansions and ocean views. Last fall, when I was 3 months pregnant, we took a "baby moon" to Newport and spent one night in a beautiful B&B. At the time we did not know whether we would be having a girl or a boy. We had, however, chosen our baby names and we knew that we were going to name a baby girl Clara after the Nutcracker ballet. When we opened the door to our room at our B&B, the radio was turned on and music from the Nutcracker Ballet was playing. Looking back, I think it must have been a sign. During that same trip we checked out a Christmas store and purchased an ornament of a girl dancing with her nutcracker and the name "Clara" written at the bottom. It was fun to return to Newport with Clara. She enjoyed looking at things in the various shops. We are thinking about going back in December to see some of the decorated mansions and perhaps make a visit to Santa Claus.

Hanging out in Newport, RI

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving next week. We will be spending the day at home and Joey will cook his usual yummy Thanksgiving feast. When we don't have company, we always try to limit the amount of food we make, but inevitably we end up making a meal which could feed a small village. Oh well, it's fun and we enjoy the leftovers. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. Joey and I have so many things to be thankful for this year, especially our little Clara.

Best wishes for a wonderful holiday,

Joey, Erin and Clara

Clara's first Halloween

Dear Family and Friends,

Our Halloween weekend started off with a snow storm. Yes, a snow storm. Winter Storm Alfred made an appearance Saturday night into Sunday. Those of us who live on the coast were lucky. Apart from some strong wind and a light dusting of snow we didn't get much from the storm. Other parts of Connecticut, however, received upwards of 20 inches of snow, and many people are still without power. We have to laugh at the choice of storm names around here. First it was hurricane Irene (Clara's middle name) and now Winter Storm Alfred (Our rector's name). Anyway, last night we were bombarded with hordes of trick-or-treaters, many of whom may have come to the borough in order to avoid downed power lines and snow drifts. Clara definitely enjoyed her first Halloween experience. We dressed her up as a sweet little pumpkin and held her at the door every time children came by. Joey decorated the front of our house with spooky lights and carved an amazing cat pumpkin. The pumpkin was a huge hit. A grown man even walked by our house and stopped to take a picture of it on his phone. We bought 10 bags of candy thinking we would have left overs to take to the church office today, but as it turns out we ran out of candy around 7:30 and had to turn off all of our spooky decorations and close the blinds. Oh well, we managed to give out plenty of candy, and it was getting to be Clara's bedtime so it worked out. After Clara went to bed, Joey and I watched the original Halloween with Jamie Lee Curtis on TV. Joey had never seen it. I'm not really one for horror movies and neither is Joey. I think we would have had more fun watching Charlie Brown's Halloween.

Clara sure is a lot of fun these days. She has two incredibly cute little teeth on her bottom gum now. She has also started to laugh and giggle a lot. She thinks silly facial expressions are hilarious and also loves to be tickled. Occasionally she will give Joey little kisses on his cheek. I am extremely jealous because so far I have yet to be kissed! On the other hand, Clara sometimes gives me such amazing little love eyes, and all sense of jealousy quickly fades.

Joey and I have both been keeping extremely busy. Apart from taking care of my little girl while Joey is at work, I have been teaching and gigging. I also had a violin lesson with Katie Lansdale, professor of violin at the Hartt School of Music last week. I studied with her last year before I had Clara, and I hope to start having semi-regular lessons with her again in order to keep growing as a violinist. I don't think one should ever stop studying one's instrument, even after graduating from music school. I can always learn more, and not only does it strengthen my playing ability, but it also helps me to be a better violin teacher. Last week Joey gave three recitals, one at St. Mary the Virgin in New York City, one at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford, CT and one here in Stonington at our own Calvary Church. All three recitals went very well. The recital at Calvary was a lot of fun. There was a wine reception prior to the recital, during which Joey spoke about the music he was going to perform. Since the organ at Joey's church is in the back balcony, Joey set up a video camera with a screen at the front of the church so that the audience members could watch him play. The screen was a big hit, and something he will probably do again in the future. Joey also had a lesson last week. We drove to Wellesley, MA to meet up with his former organ teacher from Oberlin, James David Christie. It was a great lesson, and we were so happy that JDC (as he is called by his students) was able to finally meet Clara. Apart from his church position, Joey has also taken on two very part-time jobs, one as organ accompanist for a choral group called the Anglican Singers, and another as organist for Evensong services at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford. As if the three recitals and the organ lesson were not enough, Joey rehearsed and performed Evensong with the Anglican singers while fulfilling his duties at Calvary!

(Joey, Clara and JDC)

Well, I guess it's time to take down the Halloween decorations and look forward to Thanksgiving. We hope you had a great October and wish you a joyous November. We don't really have Thanksgiving plans at this point. We will probably spend the holiday at home, just the three of us. Joey doesn't have enough time off for us to travel, and since Clara is so little, a relaxed Thanksgiving at home sounds fine to me. Till next post....Erin, Joey and Clara

Baptisms and Birthdays!

Dear Family and Friends,

This past weekend was very special for us as a family. Clara was baptized on October 16th at Calvary Church (Episcopal). My parents were in attendance as well as my Aunt Gay and Uncle Harry (Clara's Godparents) from Virginia. The baptism was beautiful, and Clara slept through the whole christening like a little angel. Everyone thought it was pretty amazing that she didn't wake up when the water was poured over her head. The baptismal dress that Clara wore was first worn by my cousin Adam when he was baptized in the Episcopal church 28 years ago. My aunt and uncle kept the dress and had his name and the date of his baptism sewn into the skirt. When they heard that Clara was going to be baptized, they offered us the use of the dress for Clara. They are going to have her name and christening date inscribed into the dress as well. My aunt and uncle will keep the dress and have it for any future children in the family who may be baptized. Below are a couple of photos from the baptism, as well as a picture of my cousin Adam when he was baptized in the family gown in 1983. Isn't he cute! Calvary Church has become such a special place for us. We have already met so many wonderful members of the congregation and we were honored to have Father Alfred Tisdale perform the baptism.

In other news...Clara and I both celebrated Birthdays this week! I turned 28 yesterday and today is Clara's 6 month birthday. Yesterday Joey and Clara took me to a lovely restaurant in Mystic for lunch to celebrate. We had a window table overlooking the water and the Mystic draw bridge. It was a lot of fun and Clara enjoyed watching the bridge go up and down. Today I dressed Clara up and took some 6 month photos of her. She is such a sweet baby. She has a little bear named "Buddy Bear" that she loves to cuddle, but her favorite new discovery is our cat Lucy. Every time Clara sees Lucy she starts laughing, smiling and kicking. She has managed to touch Lucy a couple of times, and for the most part Lucy is fine with it unless Clara manages to get a grip on her tail. Anyway, it's pretty cute to watch. I really can't believe that half a year has gone by already. I thank God everyday for my precious Clara. I feel so honored to be her mommy.

Fall Fun Days!

Dear Family and Friends,

Every September/October Joey and I have what we call "Fall Fun Days". These are days when we don't have a lot going on and are able to go do something "fall" related, such as visit an orchard, go leaf peeping, bake fall inspired creations, visit a pumpkin patch, watch a fall themed movie, etc. It's always a lot of fun and we have many great memories as a result. This past Sunday Clara got to experience her first "Fall Fun Day". After church we set out for an orchard in Guilford, CT and put the GPS on "avoid highways". We didn't really know where the GPS would take us, but we ended up going on a beautiful, very scenic fall drive through the countryside and quaint little New England towns (A drive which would have taken us about 45 minutes on the highway ended up taking 2 and half hours), but it was well worth it. We even took our car on a ferry boat in order to cross the Connecticut River. Here are some pictures from our "Fall Fun Day" at Bishop's Orchard in Guilford. We bought a few pumpkins and some amazing apple cider doughnuts. (Those didn't last very long!) We hope you also have some nice Fall Fun Days this month!

"Great Hope Springs"

Film Crew painting mural on the side of a restaurant called "Noah's" which has been re-named "Nor'easter Diner" for the film

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy October! The weather is starting to cool, and the leaves are starting to turn. October is, and always has been, my favorite month of the year. Maybe it's because I was born in October, the childhood memories of dressing up for Halloween and going trick-or-treating, the beauty of the changing season, or perhaps just the anticipation of the several wonderful holidays approaching during the months following October, but I have always absolutely loved this month. I was recently in the grocery store, and Clara started fussing while I still needed about 30 minutes of shopping time. In order to appease her, I grabbed a bag of candy corn and let her play with the bag in her stroller while I finished shopping. It worked! She loved the bright colors of the candy and the sound of the crinkling plastic. (In the future I plan to bring an actual baby toy along for Clara to occupy herself with so that she doesn't grow up thinking she can fuss in the store and get candy as a result! haha) I snapped a picture after we got home, because she was still enjoying playing with the wrapped candy corn while Joey and I put away the groceries. (Don't worry, we didn't let her eat any!!!)

The big news in Stonington Borough the last week or so has been the filming of a 30 million dollar Hollywood movie called "Great Hope Springs". The movie stars Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carrell. It is supposedly a comedy about a married couple who decide to attend sex and relationship counseling, because after 30 years of marriage they are struggling to keep the spark going in their relationship. The movie is set in the fictional town of "Great Hope Springs" Maine, which is actually Stonington Borough. It's been interesting observing different aspects of the filming. Last Monday I took Clara for a walk in her carrier, not realizing that filming had begun. We walked down Water Street, which is the main street where all of the shops and restaraunts are located, and happened upon a scene being shot with Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones. We had a pretty good view. I've never been celebrity obsessed, but I do admire people who are able to essentially perfect their craft, and Meryl Streep has definitely achieved that. I love her work, and so it was a treat for me to see her in person filming a scene. A nice lady watching the filming offered to take a photo of Clara and me and then e-mail it to us. (see photos above) Meryl Streep is in the picture under the arrow I added, but you would never know since her back is turned and she is so far away. At least I can say truthfully that Clara and I are in a picture with Meryl Streep. The top picture shows Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones filming a scene.

The film crew has created different sets in the Borough. They made fake store fronts in some of the building windows along Water Street, built a fake movie theater, renamed a restaurant and re-decorated the outside of it, and turned the lovely Stonington Inn into "Captain's Inn at Great Hope Springs." They also shot scenes at Stonington Point, the Lighthouse Museum and at a house two houses down from Calvary Church. It's going to be really interesting to see the movie. Even if it turns out to be the worst movie ever shot, we will still have to own a copy. This is actually the second Hollywood film to be shot in the Borough. "Mystic Pizza", starring Julia Roberts in the early 90's, also included many scenes here.

In family news, Clara is going to be baptized at our church on October 16th. My parents will be here visiting and my aunt and uncle from Virginia are coming up for the Baptism. We are really looking forward to the service. Joey also has an adult choir Evensong service that afternoon for which I will be playing the violin. It should be a fun weekend with family and new church friends. Here's wishing you a fabulous start to October!

Erin, Joey and Clara

Home Sweet Stonington

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm sorry that it has been so long since my last blog. September has been such a busy month already. As you know, we moved from Wallingford to Stonington at the end of August. We spent one night in the dark thanks to Hurricane Irene, but recovered power on the 1st of September. It took us a while to get our things sorted out and put away in our new house, but it is starting to really feel like home now, and we are enjoying the space. Our house has an interesting history. According to locals, it started out as a fishing shack, later turned into the village candy store and was eventually purchased and expanded into the large house it is today. The house has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a large study, a den, a formal living room, a deck and a padio. Needless to say, we have more than enough space! Our favorite part of the house is the upstairs deck because it has great views of the ocean. We can see Rhode Island from our house! We feel blessed to be able to live in such a beautiful home and location. The weather is starting to cool now, and we enjoy walking down to Stonington Point and looking at the water. We are hoping for a beautiful New England fall.

Stonington Point at dusk

Guest Room-Come Visit!!!

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

The Deck-Our favorite part of the house!

Back yard patio

Going to the Beach

Joey has been keeping busy with his new church job. One of his big projects is creating a choral program at Calvary for children ages 6-18. So far he has recruited around 10 kids, and this past Sunday his new choristers joined in an Evensong service at Calvary with two other children's choirs from CT. Joey was really pleased with how well the kids sang and participated. Over 100 people attended the service and there was a lovely reception held afterword.

Joey conducting choristers at Evensong service

In Clara news...Clara turned 5 months old yesterday. She is changing so much. She talks and squeals and enjoys rolling over on her tummy. She had a good 4-month doctor's appointment. She is now over 15 pounds and is 25.4 inches long. That puts her in the 80th percentile for height. The most exciting news is that she is now eating real food! We started with rice cereal, and now she has added pears and bananas to her food list. We introduce something new each week to allow time to make sure she doesn't have an allergic reaction to anything. At first she wasn't really sure what to do with the food on a spoon, but now she sees it coming and opens her mouth in anticipation. It's so much fun to feed her and see how she reacts to different tastes.

Clara enjoying some bananas

Clara is 5 months old!

I have started teaching violin through Calvary's Music School. I am meeting new students this week. Right now I am offering lessons on the afternoons when Joey is free so that we don't have to put Clara in child care. I have a few performance gigs coming up in the area, so I am looking forward to that as well. I also really enjoy playing for Joey's church services. On 911, I played the Barber Adagio for Strings with Joey on the organ. The emotions of the Adagio seemed appropriate for such a somber day of remembrance.

Joey's parents and sister stayed with us over the past three weeks. We had a great time with them, and Joey's dad and sister got to meet Clara for the first time. We had fun showing them around the Mystic area and Stonington Borough. My parents are coming for a short visit on October 12th, so we are looking forward to that as well.

Joey and I have always loved fall, and we are excited for Clara to experience fall for the first time. We have some fun things planned. We wish you all a great start to fall. I will try not to go so long without posting next time. Best wishes for a wonderful September!

Erin, Joey and Clara