Sunset Park

 Last weekend we visited Sunset Park, which is full of giant geese and swans and ducks. Mike and I were both kind of scared of the birds, but Nora just wanted to get closer.

On this particular trip to the park, Nora would have kept swinging all day long. We were there pretty early, before it got too hot. But once it hit 90 degrees at about 8:30 a.m., Nora's mean parents loaded her in the car and took her home.

Swimming, partying

We went to a fun baby shower yesterday for one of Michael's co-workers. It was a pool party! Nora loved splashing in the little pool and eating fruit. (Later she got some meat from the grill -- yummy!)

Happy V-Day

I hope all of you reading this had a lovely V-day yesterday! Mike and I had a great V-week. On Wednesday evening we got to give a presentation to the young women at our church about healthy relationships and marriages. It was a lot of fun to prepare together -- recalling how we met, what we used to do together when we were dating and engaged, and then reliving our wedding day through the (literally) hundreds of photos we have. We had a good time with the girls, talking about what makes family relationships and friendships most rewarding. One of the girls decorated these cupcakes for us with our names on them:


(After I took the picture, Michael ate all three of these cupcakes in a matter of about 5 minutes.)

Yesterday we had a hot date and exchanged small V-day gifts. This was part of Michael's gift to me:

He's so thoughtful. A few weeks ago I said something silly about needing "all the chapstick in the world" in order to have a stick in every necessary place (in all my bags, pockets, drawers, etc.). So I got this sweet "I HEART U" Valentine.

For our hot date, we had a yummy dinner at Milo's, went out dancing, and then saw Coraline (in 3-D) with some friends. Very fun.

Work-related news: I'm working on a project right now to test the usability and usefulness of library video tutorials at University of Illinois, and it's keeping me really busy. I usually work about 20 hours/week (plus classes and homework), but last week I worked almost 30. The usability testing is going well so far, and I'm learning a lot about what students think about our online instruction materials. I'll be reporting the results of this study at ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) next month in Seattle.

Weather-related news: we had a few days this month of abnormally high temperatures (highs near 70), but now winter is back. Simone uses our desk lamp as a heat lamp to get through the winter months. :)

The earth moved . . .

Yesterday morning at 4:36 we had a 5.2 earthquake in Illinois. I woke up to find the whole house shaking and was certain that a tornado was rocking the house. I peered through the blinds and saw that there was no wind and no greenish cast to the sky and was completely mystified. I shook Michael awake (he slept through the earthquake) and said, "Did you feel that?" Of course he didn't. He was asleep. I didn't realize that what happened was actually an earthquake until our alarm went off at 6:30 and the newscast mentioned the major quake that happened in southern Illinois. There was another quake (4.6) at 10:14. At that time, I was reading in the reference room on the 2nd floor of the library. The windows shook a bit and then I felt a slight tremor come up through the floor, and that was it.

Let me tell you what I was reading when the earth moved: Eclipse, the third book in the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. I read all three books in the series this week and, unfortunately, neglected everything else going on in my life for several days. These young adult novels are completely captivating -- the fourth and final book will be released August 2nd and I can hardly wait. So, the books are about vampires, werewolves, and high-school romance. Yep, that's the recipe for addiction.

School's out, snow, etc.

We got several inches of snow yesterday and last night. Here's the view from our front porch:

Today our church meetings were postponed until 11 a.m. so that hopefully people will be able to get there. For the last two weeks our church meetings have been canceled, so we're happy that we'll get to go today (but just for one hour instead of the usual three -- I know my little brothers are so jealous right now). Mike is outside shoveling the driveway as I write this.

I finished the last of my coursework for this semester on Friday and it feels great to be done. It's remarkable that I was able to finish my final paper under these working conditions. Simone was sleeping on the laptop!

Simone is my little helper

On Thursday we're leaving for Cache Valley and we're so excited! It will be a really long road trip, but we're checking out a bunch of audio books from the library, loading some podcasts on the iPod, and we're praying for good weather. Hopefully the roads will be good and we won't drive each other nuts cooped up in the car for ~20 hours together.

I hope that you are enjoying the run-up to Christmas and that you feel the joy of the season. I felt the Christmas spirit arrive the other night when we watched Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. At the end, the Grinch has a realization:

Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.

Isn't that true? It's easy to get caught up in all of the exciting gift-buying, gift-getting, decorating, going to parties, eating lots of food, etc. But that's not what the holiday is all about. I recently read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and was impressed with this quote:

I am sure I have always thought of Christmas-time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely. . .

Merry Christmas!

(You can see a video clip from the Grinch here or read about the making of the Grinch here. Both links are from NPR.)

Tornado warning

Tornado: Violent, low-pressure storm, relatively small in diameter but with very rapidly rotating winds and an intense updraft near the centre.

The relatively low pressure at the centre of a tornado's funnel-like vortex causes cooling and condensation, making the storm visible as a revolving column of cloud, called the funnel. Tornadoes normally travel at 30–40 mph (50–65 kph). The winds around the vortex average nearly 300 mph (500 kph) and have been known to reach 500 mph (800 kph). Tornadoes often occur in groups. (Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise)

I don't know anything about tornadoes from experience, just stories that I keep hearing from others. I hear that the sky turns greenish, the air gets sort of thick, and as one librarian keeps telling me (in a very dramatic voice), "You can just feel something coming."

Thursday night I was working at the library and a tornado watch was in effect. The weather radio under the desk kept on going off, warning people in several Illinois and Indiana counties (including Champaign County) that a tornado may be coming our way. At about 6:45 the watch became a warning and we evacuated all library users to the "tunnel" -- an underground passage from the main library to the undergraduate library. It was crowded and hot down there, so I was glad that the warning expired after about twenty minutes and we were able to go about our business.

In other news, the Primary program today went really well. The kids performed their songs and spoken parts even better than I had hoped they would -- and all fourteen of them were there! I was so proud of them. They were adorable and earnest and very, very sweet. I'm trying to think of a favorite moment to share, but I'm afraid I can't. I just loved the whole program too much to pick a moment that stood out.