Dear Nora, You are such a big girl! Maybe you seem more grown up because we have been moving you from one house to another — our home in Greensburg to Nini’s and Poppy’s house to Williamsburg and Bethlehem to stay with aunts and uncles and cousins — and you have adapted so well. Both you and your brother have... Read more
We loved our “house on the hill” since we first walked through its doors three years ago. We looked past the steep driveway and overgrown landscape, and focused on the quiet cul de sac and the private backyard lined with tall trees. We saw the potential to add hardwood floors, to open and update the kitchen, and to convert the... Read more
It’s finally time to share our big news .. the Wileys are moving to New Jersey! Nick starts his dream job on June 1st. And we’re all looking forward to the adventures that await us in the Garden State! We put our Pittsburgh house on the market in February, and it sold in less than two weeks. Great news for... Read more
Continuing to catch up on the happenings in the Wiley home … April We crammed a ton of fun into the first half of April. We kicked it off at Rizzo’s where we had lunch with the Flanders and the Easter Bunny. Nora liked him as much as she liked Santa Claus. We hosted Easter Sunday at our house, and... Read more
I do believe this has been my longest blog silence to date. Nearly two months. Yikes! But it is certainly not for lack of content. For memory keeping sake … March There was snow. Lots of snow. Which meant shoveling and sledding and snowman building … and shoveling some more. And sugar cookie baking, of course. Nick and I spent... Read more
Dear Sam, Today you are 3.5! While Nora napped this afternoon, we played “minjas.” We put up the hoods on our sweatshirts, placed plastic tools in our back pockets, and chased imaginary bad guys around the house. We hid behind the dining room curtains, did somersaults and spins across the living room floor, and “activated” our super powers. Then you... Read more
Last year was a big wedding year for us: six total. And Sam was ring bearer in three of them. He matured a lot between July and November. Wedding #1: Sweet drummer boy insisted he walk down the grassy aisle after Mommy, rather than with her. He proudly beat his drum for five seconds before he realized that the eyes... Read more
Dear Nora, You are no longer a baby. You are a feisty, opinionated, hilarious little kid. I can’t hardly handle it. And, yet, I love it at the same time. You are officially walking everywhere! You basically skipped the holding onto our hands phase and the pushing things around the house phase and went straight to this adorable little toddle... Read more
I think I started to plan Nora’s first birthday party in my mind less than a month after she was born. Of course we had to have a Winter Onederland for our January birthday girl! We covered our house in paper snowflakes, thanks to help (and extremely competitive spirits) from Nick and his sister, Kirsten. I am not kidding when... Read more
We spent Christmas Eve with my dad’s family — a tradition we’ve missed for the last three years. We played our favorite gift exchange game; we passed around boxes of mixed chocolates and a bottle of Drambuie; and the kids were sufficiently spoiled by their great aunties and great grandmother. Christmas morning was quiet — just the four of us,... Read more