Thursday, March 30

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

Well, it has been a busy week as you can see by the flood of pictures on the Intersection. No time to write, just upload.

More to come on Monday. Looking forward to 3rd best weekend in sports ahead.

Saturday:
Final Four from Indianapolis

Monday:
Opening Day for the Cubs (1:10 at Cincinnati)
NCAA Championship followed by One Shining Moment, the greatest 3 minutes in sports


In case you were wondering, the top ten weekends in sports
1. Opening Round of the NCAA's
2. Super Bowl Weekend
3. MLB Opening Day/Final Four
4. NFL Division Championship Weekend
5. NFL Conference Championship Weekend
6. BCS Championship Weekend/New Year's Eve(not always technically a weekend)
7. The Masters/Baseball's first Weekend Series
8. Cubs v. Sox/Fourth of July Weekend
9. ACC/Big East/SEC/Big 10 Conference Championships/Selection Sunday
10. NFL Opening Weekend/Fantasy Football Drafts

Disagree? Post a comment and let me know what belongs in your top 10. Daytona, NFL Kickoff Weekend, Patriots Day Weekend (Boston Marathon/Red Sox Game), British Open, etc.

Say Cheese!


Dad, Can I Go To Work With You, Pleeeaase?

Uncle Dan and Aunt Kristin Come to Town

Addy's Does Her Best Dr. Evil Impression

Monday, March 27

Flexing Her Muscles to the World

Grandma Pam and the Girls at Church on Sunday

We Drove All the Way from Minnesota Just to Hold Her





Blog Testimony: Lives are Being Changed!

This blog has changed my life. No. Really. I no longer watch TV, study, talk to my friends or family, or even feel a need to bathe. I sit in front of my 27’ flat screen monitor pressing re-load, sometimes I get lucky and my big brother has posted a blog update in the off-season (days other than Mon or Fri). I have a betting system in my house and place of work. This involves everyone putting money down on how long it will take me until Addy’s Mon/Fri pics make it onto my desk top, screen saver and cell phone background. To satisfy your curiosity…I have got it down to 7 minutes before I get the picture up in all these places. In the past month my housemates have even switched from watching Lost, Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy to watching “re-runs” of the Addy videos. I am assured that they delight in this pleasure as much as me. When parties visit our townhouse, I even put up the projector screen with Addy pictures and updates for added entertainment. Needless to say, my adorable niece Addy has completed my life. My grades may be failing and my clothes haven’t been washed since early February…but this is a mere sacrifice for such a beautiful baby and her amazing parents. I love you Ritners!

-Aunt Jessica

Loving on their Litte Niece

Bath Time with Aunt Jessica and Aunt Emmy



Naptime with Grandpa Gary

Friday, March 24

Pretty in Pink


Addy has had a great week. She is a petite 9 pounds, 2 ounces at 6 weeks old. She has been a dream sleeper this week, going down without any crying each night for Dad, and even sleeping from 11 PM to 5:30 AM one night without waking for her middle of the night feeding. She is growing out of many of her newborn clothes, and starting to fit into some really cute outfits, like her overalls above.

Every morning begins with about 10 minutes of smiling and some really entertaining stretching exercises that she does. Mom and Dad are hooked on watching Season One and Two of Grey's Anatomy, a show that Caroline got us into when she was here. We have been trying to catch up to the current season at night as a way to unwind.

Family Date night tonight to a local Pizza joint that we both love. Hoping Addy sleeps through dinner for us.

Pics of the Week



Spring Has Sprung! (Its under the snow, but its there)


This was the scene at 7:30 Wednesday morning this week. It was all gone by 9 AM. 60 and sunny all week since. Crazy!

Monday, March 20

Something to Smile About

We had an exciting weekend in the Ritner home. Dad got to preach at the Chapel on Sunday for all three services. (You can download Jon's sermon as an MP3 here.) But more importantly, Addy is now old enough to be able to go in the nursery, so Mom was able to come to church herself. Then we left Addy with the McKinnons and had a great date night at the new Tropical Smoothie restaurant in town and really enjoyed seeing Failure to Launch.

Here is Addy helping Dad with his sermon on Saturday afternoon.


Here is Addy after she heard that her Dad mentioned her in the sermon.

Pics of the Week



This is a Stickup! Put the Milk in the Bottle or the Diaper Gets It!

Thursday, March 16

Survive and Advance!

March Madness has begun at the Ritner home. Mostly Addy driving Mommy mad by not sleeping during the day. Mom officially resigned her job today to allow her to stay home with Addy. Her maternity leave was to end Friday and the thought of bringing Addy into the office to work was just to much to conceive with her sleeplessness during the day. Looks like Mom's Fighting Illini will survive the First Round. Hope Dad's Tar Heels win tomorrow. The only thing Mom and Dad can agree on for Addy is that she hates Duke like her parents.

Jon's brother and sister-in-law left today for a four month work assignment in India. Check out Dan and Courtney's Blog online as well Jon's news blog, This Weeks Sign that the Apocalypse is Upon Us.

We are looking forward to seeing family next week as the Midwest comes to Virginia! See you all soon.

Pics of the Week


Sunday, March 12

I Wonder Where She Gets it From

For two weeks we have been laughing at how Addy contorts her body when she sleeps into a ball. It never looks comfortable, but it seems to be her default sleep position, since she won't sleep on her back. Well today, Dad caught Mom and Addy taking naps together and tell me if you don't see the resemblance.

The Family 's Night Out on the Town

The End of an Era

Friday night we brought Addy to a going away party for our friend Craig who is moving to Steamboat Springs, CO at the end of the month. Some combination of Craig, Andrew and Jon have lived together, or in the same town, for most of the last 10 years since we attended WM together. In the last year, Andrew married Charis, Jon and Kristyn have had a baby, and now Craig and Sally are moving west. The Times They Are a Changin'...

Saturday, March 11

The End is Near

Jon and a couple of friends are working on another blog, since parenting obviously isn't time consuming enough. Check out This Week's Sign that the Apocalypse is Upon Us at http://plague8.blogspot.com/

Thursday, March 9

Ear Muffs, Addy, Ear Muffs

It is a vulgar world out there with all the language that some people use, so it is never too early to teach your children to cover their ears and keep out the naughty words...rememember what our Sunday School teachers taught us, "Be careful little ears what you hear...for your Father up above it looking down in love, so be careful little ears what you hear."

Mom and Dad had their first disagreement about Addy's continual eye gunk problem. Mom was sure it was normal, Dad thought it was a clogged eye duct, and since this blog is written by Dad, you already know who was right. Turns out she has a clogged duct and some other form of ___- tivitis (not conjunctivitis, but some other thing like that) No big deal, a couple of eye drops a day makes it all go away.

Addy is up to 8 lbs 6 oz and growing more each day. She has turned into a great night sleeper, but doesn't like to settle down for more than 30 minutes between day feedings, making Mom a little nervous about going back to work from home soon. Dad is already getting ready for his sermon next Sunday at church, just in time for our move to 3 services. We will have to find a way to use Addison as an illustration of something.

Sunday, March 5

This Is Why A Dad Gets Out of Bed in the Morning




Aunt Caroline Comes to Town

We had a great visit this weekend with Jon's sister Caroline who is a junior at Clemson University in South Carolina. She was only here for an overnight, but got to spend several hours holding Addy and visiting with us. Addy still has her moments of being really gassy and not being able to settle down (like tonight during the Academy Awards as we watch WM Alum Jon Stewart host). She is sleeping pretty well through the night (11-3, 3:30-7:30), Addy that is, not Caroline..who knows when those college kids go to bed these days!

Dad is busy working each night on his new part time job with Church Communication Network (www.CCN.tv) building the website www.leestrobel.com which will officially launch this Wednesday with over 25 video clips that I have selected and our team has edited and posted on the web. Bookmark it and check it out on Wednesday. I am now working on videos for upcoming websites in the works for Henry Cloud and John Townsend (authors of Boundaries) and John Maxwell.

Thursday, March 2

Getting Closer and Closer to a Real Smile

As we close in on Addy's one month birthday on Sunday, she shows more and more signs of wanting to smile. She continues to stick out her toungue and is much more expressive with her face in between feedings when she is awake. Aunt Caroline is coming in this weekend to see Addy for the first time and Mom and Dad are going on their second date Friday night since Addy was born. The Ritner home is getting ramped up for UNC v. Duke Saturday night as the official beginning of March Madness. And to top it off, the Cubs are only a month away from opening day! It is a great time to be alive!

So Many Boys To Choose From...

Well Addy met her second male classmate this week as Pete Cook paid a visit to the Ritner home. Addy has 3 future WM Class of 2024 boys to choose from living within a 3 hour radius, the most recent of whom is Clayton Andrew Boyer, born to Scott and Lisa just this month. Braden was kind enough to stop by and see Addy in hospital, but she gave him the same cold treatment she gave Pete on Tuesday night...here is Addy's first date with Pete...way to play hard to get girl!



Addy's father is pondering the benefits of marrying into each of the three prestigious families and as he sees it, here is the breakdown.

Addison Ritner Boyer: +++ Addy sure to learn how to fire a shotgun and make crepes, Father in Law will build stellar wedding website, and Mother in Law can teach her the finer points of the scissor kick ---Marrying into a Redskins Family

Addison Ritner Lee: +++Long summer days for Addy with future grandparents in Virginia Beach, wedding guaranteed not to be held during a major sporting event, and Braden sure to have his parents great sense of humor ---Marrying into a Yankees Family

Addison Ritner Cook: +++Petey's pro sports paycheck will set Addy for life, endless hours of fun hearing GrandPapa Cook stories, a lifetime of trips to Hershey Park---Parents will never be able to agree on a church to hold the wedding...and marrying into an Eagles Family.

Well, I guess it's a toss up for now. We will see who has the gumption to ask her out first...