The Jojos

Willa

2011-04-09T18:11:00.001-04:00

is 8 months old now!

aiden reads!

2011-03-02T14:41:00.001-05:00

MVI_1207
Originally uploaded by ohjanna

2010-12-29T19:56:00.000-05:00

december 2010

2010-12-29T19:42:00.001-05:00

Willa is 4 months old!

2010-12-14T17:01:00.001-05:00

2010-10-11T18:41:00.001-04:00

7 weeks

2010-10-09T16:42:00.001-04:00

2010-10-01T09:47:00.006-04:00

Aiden lost a tooth!

Zeke is still a goofball.

Willa has started cooing.

willa is four weeks old

2010-09-05T21:38:00.001-04:00

The boys are back in school. Aiden is enjoying kindergarten so far and Zeke likes his big 4 year old preschool room. Jon has been building up their trail walking stamina this summer and today they took a nice long hike in Frick park. They came home with pictures of some impressive dragonflies.
Willa is tipping the scales at 11 lbs, according to our home scale. The boys are still constantly wanting to hold her and kiss her. They love to have us move her bottom lip and pretend to make her talk. Mickey is taking licks at her feet when he gets the chance and trying to take off with her pacifiers. Today we went out for ice cream to celebrate her 4 week birthday. We all had cones, except Willa, who is having her ice cream milk now at bed time.

Willa's nap face

2010-08-21T12:04:00.000-04:00

pouty lip is the talk of the NICU

2010-08-10T02:13:00.001-04:00

Ready to get this kiddo out of the NICU and home to her brothers and daddy. If all continues to go well, she should be off the antibiotics and discharged at 48 hours (this evening!!)

Willa Mae arrives

2010-08-10T01:54:00.001-04:00

Willa Mae Elsas was born on 8/8/10, a Sunday evening, at 7:07 pm
She weighed 6 lbs. 8 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. We are smitten. Birth story to come.

summertime fun

2010-07-13T17:15:00.001-04:00

We are having a toasty but fun summer. The boys are keeping cool with lots of water play.

Aiden's first fish!

2010-06-28T21:22:00.000-04:00

On Lake Erie

nursery decoration

2010-06-23T18:27:00.001-04:00

bad lighting, but you get the idea. In other news, the kiddos are loving JCC day camp. They are getting off the bus, sunned, tired, and happy so far. We're only on day 3 of 6 weeks but so far, so good.

She's kicking her way out...

2010-06-12T00:17:00.002-04:00

2010-06-10T08:27:00.003-04:00

Jon and Aiden are going down the Birmingham today for the weekend to attend Lele's memorial. It's the first time since Zeke was in the hospital that Aiden and Zeke have been away from each other overnight!

We will miss you Lele!

Baby jacket

2010-04-28T15:18:00.003-04:00

Check out the beautiful sweater my knitting buddy, Cosy, made for 'the sister' (as Zeke has named her.)

19 weeks

2010-03-22T17:34:00.001-04:00

For those of you who may not have already heard, baby #3 is a girl. We go to see her and all of the fingers and toes on ultrasound today. Almost halfway cooked.

Karate

2010-02-20T16:46:00.001-05:00

Watch out! This boy earned his karate uniform today!

100th day of school

2010-02-03T17:18:00.003-05:00

Who knew 100 days of school was celebration worthy? Can you spot Aiden?

100th day of school

2010-02-03T17:18:00.001-05:00

Who knew 100 days of school was celebration worthy? Can you spot Aiden?

#3

2010-01-29T15:08:00.001-05:00

Berry patch

2009-10-11T11:52:00.000-04:00

getting into trouble on the farm

2009-08-30T22:48:00.001-04:00

dirt

2009-08-28T08:51:00.001-04:00

cousins

2009-08-28T08:50:00.001-04:00

recovering from a momentary foot injury.

2009-08-28T08:47:00.001-04:00

with my magic wand, I turn you into a....

2009-08-28T08:46:00.001-04:00

August

2009-08-28T08:45:00.001-04:00

August has been filled with swimming and travel. We had a great trip to Idaho to see our cousins. More later...

Quadrilla

2009-08-10T20:15:00.001-04:00

Hooray for new indoor birthday party entertainment on 90 degree humid days! Thanks to Steve and Gayla for the new marble track game, the new easel from Ellie and Fred, TONS of Zoob from Nonna, the sound tracks from Cailin and David.

Aiden is 5! or Mama has fun with fondant.

2009-08-08T22:01:00.001-04:00

Birthday cake from Costco, my decorating. Come over for some, we still have like half of it!

Aiden's space party

2009-08-08T21:42:00.001-04:00

Aiden had a great space party today. Helium balloons, water balloons. Space toys galore!

Another cute summer photo

2009-08-03T21:15:00.001-04:00

Zeke is crazy about fishing. We need to take him up to the lake where he could have a real hook with bait and an actual shot at catching a fish.

Ready for anything.

2009-08-02T22:23:00.001-04:00

It's been a busy summer filled with nice weather. This week Aiden is attending pint-sized Picasso camp while I am preparing for his 5th birthday party. I'm gonna try and make it a bigger bash since we sorta skipped a party last year since we were in Seattle. Hopefully our friends won't be too booked with summer activities to come over next weekend to celebrate!
This picture was from a few weeks ago when I took the boys up to a friend's cabin on Lake Erie. Zeke spotted someone's swimmy life jacket and insisted on wearing it most of the three days we were there. Silly boy.

Pirate party aftermath

2009-06-21T19:09:00.000-04:00

Arrrrrrrrr

Day at the conservatory with Dad

2009-06-11T11:53:00.000-04:00

a boy on an adventure

2009-06-04T07:51:00.001-04:00

me and Susanna

2009-05-09T19:00:00.001-04:00

Had a fun time playing while her mama and papa did yard work today. She ate dirt...

Grapefruit cozy

2009-05-02T18:05:00.001-04:00

or newborn hat.

ready to play

2009-05-01T07:47:00.001-04:00

Soccer season! Doesn't he look about 8 in this picture?

Seattle tilth harvest parade

2009-04-15T11:57:00.001-04:00

Jon and Aiden are famous:
http://www.schmap.com/seattle/sights_fremont/#r=none&mapview=Map&tab=Places&topleft=47.66506,-122.33196&bottomright=47.66106,-122.32895&i=171161.jpg

I knit!

2009-03-28T17:29:00.001-04:00

and purl too.

mostly cloudy

2009-03-24T08:28:00.001-04:00

The weather report says its mostly cloudy here this morning. Here's a picture out the window. I wish mostly cloudy looked like this in Pittsburgh! We are headed home today. Wish us luck in making our tight connection in ATL. Planes seem to have trouble leaving here on time.

We love Seaside!

2009-03-20T15:40:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Fred and Ellie for letting us stay at the beach house this week. It's been a nice vacation! We have a couple more days down here on the Florida panhandle before we have to go back to our normal lives. I took the boys to an aquarium this morning to see sea lion and dolphin shows and do something other than the beach. Aiden volunteered to get up on stage during a parrot show, ran up there, followed the instructions and had a blast being in front of a crowd. He's such a big kid now! It was fun, but dangerously close to the spring break madness that is Panama City beach this week. We ducked in a diner next door to get some lunch and it was still breakfast buffet at 1pm, over flowing with hungover 20 somethings.

Ice patch on a tree that I spotted on a dog walk today.

2009-02-02T21:46:00.001-05:00

football

2009-01-30T17:36:00.001-05:00

We have succumb to peer pressure.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T21:40:00.001-05:00

Lot's of Elsases

2008-12-30T20:54:00.001-05:00

Lot's of Elsases getting ready for the new year 2009 at the beach.

silly boy swims in December

2008-12-29T13:47:00.001-05:00

He wasn't really turning blue at all or even shivering, the light is just weird with my phone camera.

Aiden climbs to the top

2008-12-26T21:53:00.001-05:00

It's a little cloudy here in Florida but we are enjoying the temps in the upper 60's!

Stickers still rule

2008-12-15T19:09:00.003-05:00

Zeke's latest art project.

our little graham cracker chalet

2008-12-10T13:57:00.001-05:00

It was a race, could Jon and I get the stuff stuck on the house before the kids ate it all?

zeke, our puzzle master

2008-11-13T19:07:00.003-05:00

Aiden sings a nice song, Zeke joins in...

2008-11-13T09:57:00.001-05:00

Quilts

2008-11-06T14:31:00.001-05:00

I've finally got more quilts in my Etsy store. More to come soon.

halloween 2008

2008-11-02T08:23:00.002-05:00

Peacock and 'piderman had a good time trick or treating in our neighborhood this year. Mickey and I held down the fort, handing out candy on the front steps while Jon 'the pizza man' took the kids out. Tucker barked frantically in the basement for hours.

Mickey and Tucker play

2008-10-25T07:19:00.000-04:00

Our boys can even wear out a puppy.

2008-10-19T21:18:00.001-04:00

Mickey!

2008-10-17T17:04:00.001-04:00

...like the mouse.

New puppy!

2008-10-16T06:33:00.001-04:00

I got the little boy puppy after all. What's your name suggestion?

hmmm. how do you choose?

2008-10-14T20:46:00.001-04:00

Which one would you choose? #1 and #2 are girls, #3 is a boy. I'd pick #3 easily but I've got my mind on adding a girl to our household since we have 2 male pets in addition to the other three guys.

Pittsburgh

2008-10-11T22:02:00.001-04:00

It's nice to be back home!

Mt. Rainer

2008-09-30T23:08:00.001-04:00

We had a nice day at Mt. Rainer. The weather was fabulous and the kids did a great job taking some hikes. Then we drove on to Yakima, hung out in a state park, and went for a swim in the hotel pool. This morning we headed east again, making it 600 miles to Bozeman.

Seattle

2008-09-28T00:03:00.003-04:00

Goodbye Seattle friends! We'll miss playing with you!

TWINS?

2008-09-23T19:18:00.001-04:00

I get asked at least once a day if these guys are twins.

@ the seattle art museum

2008-09-23T00:38:00.001-04:00

The kids got filmed by a news crew when they were at the art museum with grandma & grandpa:

Lake Wenatchee State Park

2008-09-15T17:13:00.001-04:00

Lake Wenatchee State Park

2008-09-15T17:12:00.001-04:00

We finally went camping!

fruit hat

2008-09-06T20:02:00.003-04:00

Seattle tilth

2008-09-06T20:02:00.001-04:00

Then we went over to Wallingford to the Seattle Tilth harvest celebration parade. The kids made nice paper bag hats with lavender and fabric. I stuck a fruit basket hat on Jon just as the parade was going...

space needle

2008-09-06T20:00:00.001-04:00

This morning we got up early and went to the space needle (3 hours later when they opened at 9am :) ). Zeke and Aiden have been talking about the Space Needle since we moved here. We took the elevator up, ran around the observation deck, took the elevator back down. As we came out, Zeke started crying- looking back at the Needle saying he wanted to go up in it. Uh. Little man, we just did it. Did you miss the views?

library thing

2008-09-03T19:36:00.002-04:00

For those of you who like to buy the boys books, I'm working on cataloging their collection on Library Thing so you can see what they already have. So far, its just from my memory but I plan on making it a complete listing when we are back home in PA.

Greg and family

2008-08-18T19:57:00.003-04:00

We had a really nice morning in Queen Anne with my first cousin, Greg and his family. It was super warm (for Seattle) but the boys had a blast playing with their cousins Greta and Celia. Unfortunately I don't have pictures because our replacement new camera was also defective. What's with our camera luck lately?

Check out those killer baby blues

2008-08-11T12:37:00.001-04:00

new camera!

2008-08-11T11:38:00.001-04:00

Hooray! Our new camera has finally arrived! And I have a fancy new Macbook too.

Birthdays!

2008-08-07T19:25:00.003-04:00

Our new camera has not arrived yet so we don't have any pictures of Aiden opening his birthday presents. He is pretty thrilled to be 4! There are spiderman balloons, playmobil pirates, and lots of new legos. Most of his birthday was spent holding our breath, waiting for Zeke and Aiden's cousin to be born. She came a few hours after midnight, just missing a shared birthday with Aiden. Susanna Elnora (hislast) weighed 9 lbs. 1 oz. and everybody is doing great after a 3 1/2 day induction.

Back Home

2008-07-26T08:55:00.004-04:00

I got back to the US last night after 21 hours in transit. Singapore was fun, but I'm glad to be back.

Morning Stroll in Chinatown

2008-07-21T20:01:00.007-04:00

My hotel is a quick walk to Chinatown. I skipped out on the first conference talk yesterday so I could explore a little.

Entering a Chinatown shopping area, before most of the stores opened

"Red Dragon Fruit"

"Pork Floss"

Durian (it smells so bad its banned on the subway, but I really want to try it!)

A temple

Dinner from a couple nights ago:

Morning Walk around Singapore

2008-07-19T00:38:00.009-04:00

I took a long walk this morning, saw Clark Quay (riverfront shopping & dining) , Fort Canning Park (beautiful city views and winding paths) & Orchard Street (enormous shopping district). Whew, its hot and humid here! But, beautiful... with plentiful, cheap, good food around almost every corner. Here's a few pictures:

In Singapore

2008-07-18T09:34:00.004-04:00

I got in a few hours ago & after a brief nap had my first meal in Singapore. Satay at the Lau Pa Sat hawker's center (huge food courts scattered around the city). Yum!

(Apologies for the poor framing of the picture -- I dropped our camera in Yellowstone & the screen went out. So, all pictures will be taken completely blind.)

So far, Singapore seems incredibly friendly, easy to navigate, safe & clean. This entire month is the Singapore food festival :) . Stay tuned for more from SG.

Road Trippin'

2008-06-29T11:01:00.002-04:00

Joanna posted some pictures from our cross-country road trip and college reunion.

Yes, that is a bison just feet from our car.

Friday Ritual

2008-06-15T15:03:00.002-04:00

Doughnuts @ D's Deli, right by the bus stop on the way to school. (and, notice the cape — Aiden hasn't taken it off in weeks.)

Picky Eating

2008-06-11T10:39:00.002-04:00

A must-read article for any parent who considers themselves even remotely a foodie: Scorpions for Breakfast, Snails for Dinner.

Aiden's first photograph

2008-06-09T09:45:00.003-04:00

Aiden's first photo, taken with mama's camera phone.

Aiden's dance recital

2008-06-06T09:29:00.002-04:00

...was last night. It was terrific! Check out his gallop near the end — that kid's got some moves!

Zeke turns two!

2008-05-25T20:11:00.002-04:00

Well, he turned two last week but I'm just getting around to posting this cute video of him blowing out his candles. I've had a mysterious cold that no one else has. Weird. Anyway, we had a really nice party for him. When our friends Joao and Vasco came in, Zeke handed her his juice box and grabbed the present they brought! I ended up letting him tear into each gift as the guests came and he had a blast. The owl crafts didn't really happen but I suspected they wouldn't. They did have fun with the over filled owl pinata though. I recommend pull strings, it was nice to not have 3 year olds swinging a bat!

Lush

2008-04-30T09:10:00.001-04:00

Help me win great Lush stuff. Vote for me!

Arrrgh!

2008-04-28T21:47:00.001-04:00

Whoo Whoooo! Arrrgh.

spring time

2008-04-24T17:55:00.001-04:00

Ah, spring time. The boys are having fun turning over bricks in the back yard, searching for worms and bugs.
Zeke: "Dat one!" "nuffing there."
Aiden: 'Worm! Let's poke him." "He was alive and now he'd DEAD."
Zeke: " Oh man."

RB Orr circa 1922 age 2

2008-04-20T20:01:00.001-04:00

Here's a cool picture my aunt just sent me of my grandfather (father's father) when he was about 2.

bear with me

2008-04-20T11:38:00.003-04:00

I'm trying to get thejojos.com to point to this blog now. For some reason, this is proving to be more difficult than it should be. The blog should be available at thejojos.blogspot.com while I get things worked out.
UPDATE: things should be working now. Let me know if anyone has problems viewing the site.

whoa!

2008-04-17T21:55:00.001-04:00

The kids had a blast at the CMU spring carnival this afternoon. It's awesome now that they are old enough to go on the rides together. The mini-rollercoaster was a major hit!

seaside greenspace

2008-04-14T17:16:00.003-04:00

seaside greenspace
Originally uploaded by ohjanna
Just trying out a picture post. Here we are in Seaside last month.

An oldie

2008-04-14T16:45:00.002-04:00

Trying out posting a picture to our new blog site... and thought I'd dig up and old pic of Mr Z. Enjoy!

Hello.

2008-04-14T11:17:00.000-04:00

Welcome to our new blog site. Just trying a post here....
so this weekend Zeke kept telling us there was an owl in his ear. Any ideas what that is about?

New home of the jojos

2008-03-17T14:33:00.001-04:00

Hello all — we're working on settling into the new home of the jojos. Our old site was getting a bit too spammy & difficult to maintain. This one should be a lot better.

Over the next few weeks, we should have thejojos.com pointing to this site and the old posts moved over here. In the meantime, enjoy & leave us a comment or two.

Travel

2005-09-07T14:30:00.001-04:00

(from the jojos archive)

<Aiden are off to Carrboro tomorrow to await the arrival of Wee Baby Wilkens and then we are headed to the NJ coast to help celebrate our college friend Bryce getting married. Send Aiden nice calm, soothing flying thoughts please.

Weaned

2005-09-05T14:14:00.001-04:00

(from the jojos archive)

Well, I guess Aiden's officially weaned! We were down to nursing once a day for about a week. Then he bit me the other night- hard enough to make my nipple bleed. So that was that. It's been 48 hours and I've had no issues from not nursing, and neither has Aiden. Wheeee.

Links to old ofoto albums

2005-09-03T02:41:00.001-04:00

(from the jojos archive)

Here are links to our old ofoto albums over the last year. Click on the top picture. When it has opened the album- at the very top is says 'joanna's slideshow.' Click on the link next to it that says "11 Albums" to get an index of all of the photos in all 11 albums.