Tag Archives: work

Reflecting on the Rebuild

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I have to say that having a few days to tinker and rebuild fritzwinkle.com has been a bit of a joy. It has been something that I have been wanting to do for sometime.

Over the summer, I conceived of making a big switch and redoing the whole thing, but it didn’t happen. Instead, I got busy doing other things and, for the first time in awhile, just trying to enjoy some of the summer free from work. Of course, I did get myself involved in somethings that took up some time too.

Unfortunately, I had made some miscalculations with the domain name, which rendered everything offline for a bit. That forced me to have to go into a waiting mode, until that got itself worked out. I also have a tendency to get myself quite wrapped up in various projects and classes while teaching full time, as well. This has always made maintaining the site a challenge.

On the plus side, I have been riding a little bit of a website development wave. From tuning things with the various sites I have been using with students, as well as developing the new sites for both the Massachusetts Writing Project and Boston Writing Project. These autumn activities made for a quicker transition once I had everything ready. Plus, I had a lot more knowledge and understanding at the forefront of my mind since I was using it more regularly. This made it kind of fun and it didn’t take forever, which best of all.

Photo: Fall Kids

Fall Kids at Play

Now, as always, I just hope I can keep things updated and fresh, which has always been a challenge.

Another Summer Ends, Another Autumn Begins

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As if the last day of summer rang a bell for the seasons, New England is already beginning to show its fall colors. The leaves are just now visibly changing, speckling the green with red, yellow, and orange. We have had a couple of sharp, biting cool nights which usually helps make for a beautiful autumn.

Of course autumn signals the start of football season, and the indoctrination process has long since begun. Of course soccer has started across Europe too. Plus, more games than ever are now on ESPN. I am loving it.

Go Pats! Cutest Pats Fans

School has gotten off to a good start this year, at least more noticeably than the typical first month. The only real trouble is that our computer network has rendered the internet almost unusable, which significantly impacts the day. Yet, I have been able to work round this for the most part. It is just mighty inconvenient, especially now that three out of the five classes I am teaching rely heavily on regular internet components, one is exclusively online, one is half online, and the other will spend half this term involved in a project that is almost exclusively online. Despite all of this, I am very much enjoying the classes and it looks to be a good year.

In His Grill

On the soccer front, my team of freshmen girls look like they are about to start really making progress and getting results. It is still a bit early to tell for sure, but the early indications are good. Their last game was the best they’ve played yet.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377

Ali continues to be a remarkable mother of our beautiful children. Fritz is really starting to reveal his personality now that he is smiling and cooing. He definitely has quite the expressive little face, in spite of his Chuchillesque cheeks. His expressiveness seems to be focused in the brow and mouth, as opposed to the eyes like his sister. Sadly, the photographs don’t quite capture this as well as video. As for Hadley, she continues to talk away with enthusiasm. If only she would do more of it when prompted by the phone. Then everyone could hear her little chipmunk voice cuteness.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377

Hopefully, the videos reveal a bit more about each of them that a simple photograph can’t quite capture.

Returning to Work & Kid Update

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The new school year is officially underway and our daughter turned two years-old. Much has been happening. Since the arrival of Fritz, time has become even more of a challenge, especially for Ali. What we are finding is just how much more work two children are than only one. Still, Ali continues to be the most wonderful of mothers.

Warning, I'm Two!   Cookie Monster Cake

Sharing Cake with a Friend

Hadley remains absolutely delighted with her brother. It is hard to refer to him as little, considering how big he has gotten so quickly. Fritz routinely charts in the 90th percentile for height and weight and definitely qualifies as a big boy. The pictures don’t quite accurately demonstrate his size, unless there there is something else in the frame to provide scale. Regardless of the photograph what is more obvious is why we often introduce him as “Fritz and his cheeks.” He certainly is a bit more fickle than his sister was and has quite a set of lungs. He definitely lets everyone know when he is having some trouble.

Smiling at Sis   New Sheriff in Town

Two Kiddos

Cutie with the Flowers

As mentioned, Hadley is taken with the little man and showers him with kisses and conversation. She is definitely becoming Mommy’s little helper, doing everything she can to help out with Fritz. Plus, her conversation skills are improving at a rapid rate. She is already stringing together short sentences and is turning out to be a most polite little girl, with pretty regular use of “please,” “thank you,” and “welcome.” She also regularly celebrates her actions with a joyful, “I did it!” even when it is quite debatable as to whether that statement is true. The kid takes credit for everything. No matter, we get great pleasure from her little chipmunk voice.

With Mom at the Orchard

Purple Outfit   New Stroller

Daddy's Girl