Excess Free Energy

Insert Meaningful Title Here

2010-06-06T09:22:00.003-04:00

As I sit here, John is holding his stuffed bear, alternately giving it his bottle, burying it under his blanket, and trying to find its toes. Daniel, meanwhile, is entirely absorbed, pretending that two green tinker toy sticks are pistons on a train. Since they're green, he's the "Flying Scotsman;" if they were blue, he would be the Mallard A4; if they were red, he would be James from the Island of Sodor. John just came up to me and dropped a book he wants to read in my lap. I should go, but thought I'd mention we posted three new sets of pictures on flickr.

Ridiculous cuteness

2010-05-09T10:22:00.001-04:00

We've also posted pictures on flickr.

More multimedia cluttering the web!

2010-01-03T23:12:00.003-05:00

We've been more sporadic than usual at updating the blog. We have still been posting pictures (8 more sets of pictures to Flickr since July). We've also posted a video we created for the grandparents this Christmas (the goal was to make the Grandmas cry).

Alaska pictures available

2009-07-19T21:07:00.003-04:00

Jamie and John and Daniel and I just arrived back from a week-long Alaskan cruise with the Harms side of the family. Amazing. What could be better than family, beautiful views, marine wildlife, and tons (and tons) of good food? Anyway, we've posted pictures from that trip as well as from our "normal" lives in Eugene. Nothing particularly new to report on that front (unless you count Daniel running around like a crazy kid saying highly entertaining things and John getting his first tooth).

Venus and the Moon

2009-04-26T01:46:00.003-04:00

Early in the morning of April 21, Venus passed directly behind the moon. I had the privilege to watch (and take some pictures). Venus was so bright that even as the sun was rising I was able to see its crescent. It's amazing the images you can get with a little digital camera with decent built-in optical zoom.

Picture Backlog

2009-04-26T01:39:00.004-04:00

We are a little behind in our pictures posts but have now posted several sets of pictures from the months of March and April on our Flickr site. However, the pictures everyone has been waiting for are finally posted. We have a bunch of cute video of the boys too. Check back soon for the edited versions.

Enjoy.

Good Old Jeans!

2009-03-09T16:17:00.007-04:00

I have a favorite pair of jeans that is oh so comfortable and actually fits (which means something for all the ladies out there!). Unfortunately, it developed a huge hole in the knee no doubt due to playing with my little guys on the floor all day. I could not bear the thought of having to go find a buy an new pair of jeans when it dawned on me that I could use a scrap of quilting material to patch them and use them as my play jeans around the house. I found a "How to" video online and made this swell patch. It was pretty easy and not too time consuming (an hour of so for this job from start to finish). Thus, I think I am going to chop up an old pair of Mike jeans to make patches that I can use on Daniel and John's jeans as they grow up. I am sure there will be many opportunities to patch jeans with how active these little guys are (see previous post!).

Is this a good activity?

2009-03-09T10:03:00.003-04:00

In Brian Regan fashion, I have to ask, "Is this a good activity?" I guess it is better than the sun stare, but this particular activity is accompanied by jumping off now too. You can get a look a few more recent "activities" in the Harms household on our flickr site. Some include playing in the mud with trucks, reading truck books as brothers, taking baths (including John's first bath with big brother), walking across the Autzen foot bridge looking at the river, and jumping off laundry baskets.

Official Oregonians Again!

2009-02-20T00:20:00.005-05:00

Although a bit slow, the pictures for the past month and change are posted on our FLICKR account for all to see. This past month we have started to settle into our new environment. The kids and I now have a daily routine which consists of watching the school bus and garbage trucks, reading books, building with blocks, playing with trucks, nursing, diapering, playing out back in the dirt, chasing bubbles, napping, and taking trips to the park. We have our weekly trip to the grocery store too. Really, who doesn't love going to Winco!

We love having family and friends so close too. We typically get a grandma to come down and play during the week not to mention family birthday celebrations (3 this month!) and time with different siblings for Sunday pancakes, Superbowl, and Haiti updates. We have reconnected with my college friend who lives in Eugene and had the Happles stopped by on their way through which was bunches of fun. Anyone travelling through should give us a call. We would love to have you come by.

Big news...I think we found a church! We are attending University Fellowship and have a few friends now too. We have had a meal with three different couples and attended a worship "Jam Session" along with the Sunday morning prayer meetings and services. I have met 3 other stay at home moms who will be starting up a bible study/playgroup soon too! Yeah!

Thanks for all your prayers as we transition into a new life in Eugene.

P.S. The Cannon Beach set of pictures is from a romantic getway given to me by my most amazing husband for the 10th anniversary of our first date. Craziness to think we are that old. I love him lots and lots and lots....and look forward to many more years. :-)

Artisan Bread Recipe

2009-01-29T15:40:00.003-05:00

As several people have requested the artisan bread recip that I use, I thought I would post it. It has become one of our favorites. I would suggest watching the video too if the video is still posted as it is quite helpful.

Recipe:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html?ex=1184644800&en=e5ebb4a521bf1a8a&ei=5070

Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/08mini.html?ex=1320642000&en=8b6c36e563bf5c05&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

In other news, we are slowly but surely settling into Eugene. I will post an update with pictures soon.

Life in Eugene

2009-01-10T18:06:00.003-05:00

Well, we're almost settled. Except for a complete lack of internet (still), we're moved in and getting used to Eugene. It looks like we've landed on our feet. We can walk to the grocery store, post office, hardware store, and maybe even church. We've got space to garden and a place for the boys to run around in our huge backyard (see picture).

In other news, we also just found out we have a renter for our place in Baltimore! Huzzah! Life is good.

We've posted some belated pictures from our three Christmases (Heatwole, Cherry, and Harms) as well as pictures of our place in Eugene. My dad has also posted pictures or our house.

The Oregon Trail Revisited

2008-12-26T19:57:00.006-05:00

We made it! Our goal was to reach Yakima, WA for Christmas, leaving Baltimore on the evening of 12/19/2008. We managed to make 2940 miles in 99 total hours with a 20 month old and a six week old in tow. Aside from the emotional scars, life is great!

Baltimore to Washington, PA: 300 miles: 8:00 pm - 1:30 am
Aside from missing a turn and driving all the way around Pittsburgh (an ominous omen at the beginning of a long trip), this was an uneventful stretch.

Washington, PA to Kingdom City, MO: 667 miles: 7:30 am - 10:30 pm
Somewhere in Ohio, Daniel saw his first DeLorean. We also stopped and had dinner with my cousin Matt and family. They celebrated Jamie's 27th birthday with us, served us a wonderful dinner, and sent us on our way.

Kingdom City, MO to Ft. Collins, CO: 800 miles: 7:00 am - 7:30 pm
This was a long, cold stretch of driving. Jamie and I discovered that A) Daniel does not particularly like the cold, and that B) leaving him in the car seat at rest stops while Jamie nursed John led to Daniel angst. The solution? Put Daniel in the driver's seat and kick Dad out in the cold! We spent the night in Ft. Collins with Debbie, an old friend from Portland.

Ft. Collins, CO to Ogden, UT: 449 miles: 10:00 am - 8:00 pm
It's amazing: you can drive over the Rockies without seeing the Rockies. We had a bit of bad weather (blowing snow, low visibility), but had good traction and still made pretty good time. I also learned from a native Wyomingan (who kindly stopped to help the poor family on the side of the freeway because their car wasn't steering properly) that even a small amount of ice in the wheel wells can cause problems at highway speeds. Thank God for Wyomingans!

Ogden, UT to Yakima, WA: 724 miles: 7:00 am - 8:00 pm
Our only road closure of the trip occurred on this stretch. I-84 was closed owing to snow drifts, so we had to detour to Pocatello, ID. It ended up being a good thing; however, as we were able to make 70 mph for most of the extra trip. Further, we had spectacular views of the Wallowa Mountains as we crossed the border into Oregon. We arrived and collapsed in Yakima the evening of the 23rd.

We posted a few more pictures of the trip on flickr.

Merry Christmas!

Abundant Blessings!

2008-12-14T08:49:00.005-05:00

We are tremendously blessed by so many here in Baltimore. We had wonderful friends who helped us pack the relocation cubes to be shipped last Saturday. We had GCF friends, small group friends, and church friends come and put in 6 hours of packing and cleaning to get our house ready to be shipped and for the showing at 2pm that afternoon!

We were blessed again by Mairee and Maria who hosted a "Goodbye" party yesterday for all of our friends to come and say goodbye. We had lots of food, singing, prayer time, Baltimore stories, and goodbye hugs. It is a bittersweet move as we will miss so many wonderful people who have been a part of our lives over the last 4 and a half years.

Now we are staying with Dwight and Maria until we head out to Oregon on Friday. They have graciously allowed us to stay with them as our house is completely empty as the cubes are on there way to Oregon ahead of us. One silly picture of us at Dwight and Maria's was taken yesterday as I had both my little men on my lap while Daddy brushed his teeth. More pictures of the move, the party, cookie time with Andrea, and our stay with friends can be seen on flickr.

A Coffee Addict Who Does Not Drink Coffee II

2008-11-22T14:34:00.002-05:00

This post has no particular title

2008-11-22T09:56:00.002-05:00

Life is settling down into some semblance of a routine in the Harms household. My parents were out for a few days to come to my public thesis talk and visit their new grandson. The same day they left, Jamie's mom arrived to help out while we try to deal with a new baby and pack the house to move. We've posted a few more pictures on flickr. Jamie's mom has also posted a set from her camera here.

Oh, and Daniel wished to add an addendum to this post:

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meejrfudfikmmmmmmmmmkkkkkkkkkkkllkkknhbhnjnjjhhhhhhhhhl ,,,

We Are Home and God is Good!

2008-11-11T13:00:00.002-05:00

It has been a crazy week in the Harms household! Last Wednesday I ended up in the hospital in preterm labor as I was only 34 1/2 weeks along. They managed to slow it down enough to send me home and put me on bed rest with the goal being to make it to Monday and 35 weeks to hopefully avoid the NICU. Well, on Saturday I had contractions 8-10 minutes apart for about 12 hours before going to bed. I woke up at 4:30 Sunday morning to my water breaking. Dwight and Maria came and stayed with Daniel while Mike and I went to the hospital. The big talk was about the NICU cut off being 35 weeks. If I could hold out until midnight then John would not be required to be in the NICU. Very rarely will they allow a baby before 35 weeks to not spend time in the NICU. Well, John was born during half time of the Ravens game (yes, we were watching the Ravens game as I had an epidural and was feeling pretty good at that point). He ended up being 6 lbs 5 oz and after the NICU evalutation was allowed to go into the regular nursery! Yeah! God is good!

Mike has been an amazing husband taking care of Daniel and me through all the bed rest as well as cleaning the house for an open house and two house showings, cooking, running errands, coaching labor, and working from home. I could not have done it without him.

We have posted more pictures on our flickr site for those who are interested. There is also a video of Daniel in the hospital playing with one of John's presents. It is pretty cute.

Thanks for your prayers. They were answered to the fullest.

And now back to your regularly scheduled Daniel programming

2008-11-01T15:53:00.002-04:00

October has been a crazy, busy month with lots of fun stuff. Mike graduated, Daniel learned how to use a fork, I am still pregnant (yeah), and Grandma and Grandpa Cherry came for a visit (not to mention all the details involved in our big move in 9 weeks and counting). We did finally download some pictures and videos from October for your enjoyment.

For updated October pictures, check our our flickr account.

Congratulations to Dr. Mike!

2008-10-15T20:12:00.002-04:00

I just thought I would brag a moment on my husband who passed his thesis defense with flying colors. He should be turning in his paperwork and thesis to the library by the end of this week to make everything official. As his defense was closed, he will give a public seminar on November 14th for anyone interested to attend and then to celebrate with him after. Then it is off to a post-doc position at the University of Oregon. I am very proud of him for a job well done.

An interlude devoted to the economy

2008-10-11T15:03:00.003-04:00

We interrupt the constant stream of Daniel pictures with a post about the economy. That's right, the economy has even disrupted our blog. If you're like me and don't have an advanced degree--or even an remedial degree--in macroeconomics, if you aren't sure that CNN is the best place to obtain said degree, and if you are remotely interested in the current economic crisis, I recommend the following two fantastic NPR shows. Trust me, they're worth two hours of your time if you're at all interested in the current economic chaos.

Giant Pool of Money

Another Frightening Show About the Economy

We now resume your regularly scheduled Daniel programming.

"I miss my Daddy!"

2008-09-29T17:07:00.004-04:00

Daddy, I have been watching the recording of you reading my favorite book, "Bear Snores On". It is not the same as the real thing, but it will have to do for now. In the meantime, we will continue to pray for your interviews at University of Oregon, for wisdom in evaluating the situation, and for safety as you travel.

See you Thursday, Daddy, for a reading in person. I've been practicing my "CHOO".

Love,
Daniel-man

A Coffee Addict Who Does Not Drink Coffee

2008-09-25T07:31:00.004-04:00

Yesterday morning before I took Mike to the airport to fly to Oregon for a job interview, Mike started his espresso machine and then went and picked Daniel up out of his crib. After bringing Daniel downstairs, the two were sitting on the couch when Daniel heard the click of the espresso machine. He immediately sat up and said, "Cocky" and jumped down to go find the coffee maker. It is apparent that Daniel loves "cocky" (at least using the grinder and the machine with Daddy). After Mike made his coffee with Daniel, Daniel said "cocky, hot hot hot". We might actually be getting some correct adjective usage from Daniel in the near future too.

As for the Starbuck's cup in Daniel's hands, Mike spoiled his wife rotten and bought her a hot chocolate at the airport. What a wonderful and amazing husband! Daniel had fun with the empty cup as is evidence in the pictures too.

Entering the World of Pretend Play

2008-09-13T21:33:00.005-04:00

Here is a video of what we found Daniel doing thte other day. Can you guess what he might be pretending?

We also have updated our flickr with new pictures (to view click Here) which include hanging laundry, stacking yogurt cartons (quite exciting indeed), playing with Daddy's mouse, sporting his backpack, and generally being cute.

The Best Sandwich Bread Recipe Ever!

2008-09-13T20:11:00.005-04:00

I have been asked for the recipe several different times by both family and friends, so I thought I would post it for all who are interested. This bread recipe is adapted from my grandpa's recipe. It is quite flexible too depending on what you have in your cupboards. So, here it is...

Jamie's Sandwich Bread Recipe
Makes 2 good sized loaves

3 cups warm water
1 Tablespoon yeast
6 Tablespoons molasses (or honey)
6 Tablespoons oil (vegetable or olive)
2 Tablespoons vital wheat gluten
2 Tablespoons dried nonfat milk
1 Tablespoon salt
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of each ground flax seed, steel cut oats, barley, and wheat germ
1 1/2 cups quick oatmeal
4-6 cups whole wheat flour
White flour to consistency

Cooking spray and cornmeal for the pans

Directions:

Put water and yeast into a larger mixer (or mixing bowl). Mix and let stand a few minutes.
Add the molasses, oil, gluten, salt and dry milk. Mix again.
Grind the flax seed, steel cut oats, and barley in a clean coffee grinder then add to the ingredients in the mixer with the wheat germ and quick oats. *You can add whatever grains in whatever quantities that you want. It may change the final amount of flour that you use, but that is about it.
Add the wheat flour and mix until well blended. Add the white flour until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl.
Use your mixer to knead for 10 minutes adding extra flour if necessary. *This is what makes the bread soft and light enough for sandwiches.
Divide the dough into two pieces. Roll out each piece into a that is the length of your pan and approximately 12 inches long. Tightly roll up the dough and place seam side down in a greased and floured (with cornmeal) bread pan.
Once both of the loaves are in the pans, place in a cold oven until doubled.
After the loaves have doubled, turn on the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 35 minutes or until when tapped with a knife sound hollow. *Do not take out of the oven while it is preheating. That is part of the 35 minutes.
Let cool in the pans on racks for 10 minutes and then remove from pans to cool completely.
Enjoy!

This bread freezes really well too! You can even slice it before freezing and pull out a slice at a time. Another quick tip...it helps to have a cute little baker to hold down the lid of your mixer!

The Lazy Days of Summer

2008-08-20T21:02:00.003-04:00

The picture below is a common scene around our house as Daniel and Poly sit and watch the neighborhood cats, birds, delivery trucks, and garbage trucks. They are two peas in a pod enjoying the Summer months. (More pictures on flickr).

While Daniel and Poly might be relaxed, Mike and I continue to have a not so lazy summer. The house has been shown 7 times now, Mike's advisor has officially received the first draft of his thesis, Mike contacted people for possible post-doc options and will be flying out to the West Coast for interviews in September, Daniel and I flew out for a fun visit to family in Oregon, I continue to gestate, and a whole bunch more. We covet your prayers as we have a bunch of big decisions and changes in the near future.

And the verdict is: BOY!

2008-07-22T20:11:00.003-04:00

Daniel the Adrendaline Addict

2008-07-16T06:52:00.000-04:00

Daniel's Cooking Adventure and Other News

2008-07-15T08:54:00.008-04:00

Daniel and I decided to make cookies for small group last Thursday. Daniel was a very big helper stirring the dough and sampling the flour. Other Daniel pictures can be seen on our flickr account too.

In other news around the Harms household...this is VBS week. As one of the coordinators, I have been busy preparing for this week. The first night went well last night. One down, Four to go! We still have had no bites on the house. Please pray for wisdom as we talk to the realtor again and talk about some options including lowering the price. A week from today we have our 20 week ultrasound. If the baby is cooperating, we will know if Daniel has a little brother or sister. In other pregnancy news, the doctor also decided to put me on weekly progesterone shots until week 36 to try and prevent another preemie. Please pray that these shots will be covered under our insurance, that they are effective, and that there are no ill side effects. I can hardly believe that we are already almost half way through this pregnancy! Work is going well for Mike. He is currently in a holding pattern waiting for papers and letters to go out and responses to come back. Hopefully, a few details of our future will fall into place within the next couple months like graduation, a post-doc location, the house selling, etc. Life is crazy, but God is good.

Thanks for your continued prayers. They are a blessing indeed.

Tableside Chat

2008-07-06T15:33:00.003-04:00

Daniel's views on the presidential race:

We've also posted a few more pictures of Daniel (he got his first haircut!) on flickr.

Pray for the House!

2008-06-30T12:03:00.002-04:00

This past week has been absolutely nuts in our house. I am staffing VBS and preparing for the staff training meeting tonight, Mike has been madly painting and completing house projects, and Daniel came down with a 103 fever yesterday and into the night.

Despite all this, we did meet with the realtor this morning and listed our house. It is officially on the market! Please pray that it sells quickly and for a good price.

We will post pictures of the house and more cute pictures of Daniel when we get a chance to breathe. I hope this weekend we will actually get a bit of a break in which to do so.

2008-06-06T20:16:00.004-04:00

Some of our regular readers have expressed confusion as to what the heck we have been up to the last week. I figured I'd draw it on a map for the sake of posterity. The key is below.

A: On Friday, we drove to Montreal. We spent that evening and the next day there with friends. In particular, our friend Andrea was our tour guide throughout the visit to Quebec.

B: On Sunday morning, we left for Sherbrooke to go to church with Andrea's family. We relaxed for the day in Sherbrooke. Of important note: it was between Montreal and Quebec that Jamie had her first ever Tim Horton's.

C: On Monday, we drove to Quebec City. We spent the afternoon and all day Tuesday touring. We spent the nights with some family friends of Andrea's.

D: On Wednesday, we drove back to Sherbrooke to drop of Andrea, then headed into the US. We spontaneously spent the night in the town of St. Johnsbury, VT.

E: On Thursday, we drove from St. Johnsbury to Kennebunkport, ME via highway 302. We took it easy, checking out the sights. In particular, we visited the White Mountains and Portland, ME. We spent the night in a little family-owned motel in Wells, ME.

F: After eating a monstrous breakfast at the Maine Diner, we headed south to Portsmouth, NH. We spent Friday wandering around Portsmouth in the rain. While looking for shelter, we found a fantastic little science center that kept Daniel (and Dad) occupied. Dad also got to sample some local brew at the Portsmouth Brewery. On Saturday, we wandered some more before going to the wedding of some friends.

G: On Sunday morning, we drove from Portsmouth to Newport, RI. Jamie dropped me off for a Gordon Conference on Biopolymers. I'll stay here for another week, then fly home. Jamie headed home with Daniel and should be arriving within a few hours of this post.

Photos are available here.
We also posted a video of Daniel enjoying the beach in Kennebunkport.

on the road again

2008-06-05T08:03:00.009-04:00

Well, we managed to convince the US of A that we belong here, even without my original birth certificate. I guess the liberty/security balance isn't too far out of whack.

I've posted a couple of pictures from our trip to Québec City. More will come when I get onto a fast internet connection.

Turns out that some guards in Canada dress like they're at Buckingham Palace. Who knew? This particular guard, however, is not particularly intimidating.

Daniel is going to be lonely in the backseat for the rest of the trip. Andrea, a friend of ours from Baltimore that is from Québec, showed us around her beautiful country. Now that we're back in the States, we're on our own again.

we've arrived

2008-05-31T11:44:00.003-04:00

After 11 hrs of driving, two stops for gas ($4.12/gal!), a glimpse of the Adirondacks, and sneaking across the Canadian border sans birth certificate--I only hope they let me back into the US--we've arrived in Québec.

This is a view of the Montréal skyline from Mont-Royal.

2008-05-29T22:57:00.001-04:00

Memorial Day Weekend = Grilled Corn on the Cob = Happy Daniel

extreme nerdiness

2008-05-12T21:21:00.005-04:00

For those of you wondering if we'd ever get to the "biophysics" part of the blog title, this is your lucky day. I just posted a video that I generated as part of a (vain) quest to understand a set of experiments for my thesis. You can access it here. (YouTube seems to want to stretch the image by default; try clicking one of the little aspect ratio buttons on the bottom right of the player to force it to be square).

The video represents a bunch of experimental observables of a protein as a function of pH. First, a model of the positions of all atoms in the protein was generated using a technique called X-ray crystallography. This model is represented in the movie as a cartoon, where various configurations of atoms are drawn as helices, sheets, or loops. Next various probes were used to follow specific parts of the protein at different pH values. These are represented by changes in the structure over the course of the movie. The specific properties observed were:

CD at 222 nm. This records whether or not the protein is in its helix/sheet structure or an "unfolded" structure. When this signal is gone, the protein is transparent (i.e. unfolded).
CD at 275 nm. This tracks the Tyr residues that turn orange as the signal gets stronger.
Fluorescence at 296 nm. This specifically follows the Trp residue that turns pink as the signal gets stronger.
Proton binding at negatively-charged carboxylic residues (red spheres) and positively-charged histidines (blue spheres).
The "chemical shift" of protons in the protein "backbone" measured using a technique called NMR. This qualitatively reports on changes nearby the site in question. Large changes in this signal make parts of the protein turn green.
If any of these data are missing at a pH, that part of the protein turns gray.

The cool bit is that this is all real experimental data mapped onto a real protein structure that I solved. It amazes me to see how different parts of the protein change (or don't) as other parts change. Did this help my thesis/graduation/fundamental understanding? Probably not. But it was fun to do.

And then there were four....

2008-05-12T12:06:00.003-04:00

Yes, indeed, here is a picture of the littlest harms. Baby Harms #2 is scheduled to arrive on Decebmer 15, 2008. Everything at the ultrasound looked good. We heard the heartbeat (180 beats per minute) and saw the little one wiggling around. In the pictures, you can see the head on the right and the abdomen on the left all tucked inside me. Pretty awesome and crazy. Yeah for babies!

Nefarious Laughs and Chopsticks

2008-05-11T20:31:00.001-04:00

Daniel at the Park

2008-05-11T20:21:00.001-04:00

The park is an almost daily pre-bed ritual for us. It is a great way to get out as a family, burn excess Daniel energy, and play. You gotta love the giggles and the feet!

What is Daniel doing?

2008-05-06T21:34:00.003-04:00

What is Daniel doing might you ask? He was chasing the kitty behind the couch but could not negotiate the turn...thank goodness! For other silly pictures of Daniel, check out our flickr site or watch the small version in the right margin.

Daniel's Birthday, Post 2

2008-04-05T21:24:00.002-04:00

As promised, the Daniel birthday video. An entire day trimmed to 1:59 minutes...

Now for Bithday Pictures and More!

2008-04-02T09:57:00.007-04:00

I realized when posting birthday pictures of Daniel that I had a bunch from Easter and the week in between too. Thus, along with birthday pictures, you get some bonus Easter, playtime, gardening, and piano playing pictures. You will notice that in all of Daniel's birthday pictures that he looks a little spacey. That is because he was up for two whole hours in the middle of the night and then did not take much of a nap. By dinnertime, he was half asleep. It made it very difficult to get a good picture of him (at least where he is smiling). It is rough being one!

There is some birthday video that is in the process of being edited and posted too. Check back soon for the video. Enjoy!

The Dynamic Duo in Concert

2008-04-02T09:55:00.001-04:00

Movin' and Groovin'

2008-03-25T21:00:00.000-04:00

The Littlest Janitor...and a few cute pictures!

2008-03-21T10:49:00.002-04:00

Daniel loves to help Mommy sweep, vacuum, and do laundry. I hope this love of cleaning continues as Daniel gets older! Once again, he is following in his Uncle Dave's footsteps. Maybe someday he will want to fly planes too. Only time will tell.

There are a couple extra cute pictures of Daniel on the slideshow too. Enjoy.

Daniel's Bumps and Bruises

2008-03-20T09:59:00.006-04:00

Daniel has desperately been trying to walk on his own. Last week he managed to wiggle free from Mike while on a tile floor. Consequently, he ended up bonking his head on it and obtaining the nice trophies that you can see in the picture. He ended up with cheese for snack...all is well when one has cheese.

Meet the New Member of the Family!

2008-03-02T21:10:00.005-05:00

The newest member of our family is....."kitty"! Now Mike can resign his position as the primary Mighty Mouse Hunter of the family. She is a 3.5 year old female in good health. Right now we are trying to come up with a name for our kitty. If you have any suggestions for names, please send them our way so that our kitty can be something other than "kitty".

Daniel Tricks

2008-03-02T20:00:00.004-05:00

Several of Excess Free Energy's most loyal fans have been clamoring for new video footage of the most photogenic member of the family. Never ones to disappoint, we have created a montage of Daniel tricks. Therein, you will experience the thrill of Daniel with his walker, the adrenaline rush of sliding down a frozen hill, the heart-pounding terror of dropping 1.5 feet from the couch to the floor, the joy of being locked in a tiny space with bars, and the agony (and wonder) of a three-legged mutant crawl in pursuit of an empty cereal box. All 2 minutes and 44 seconds of action can be yours by simply hitting play.

flickr post

2008-02-21T22:11:00.006-05:00

Here is a slideshow of the our latest flickr post. If you want to download pictures at full resolution, you can visit our flickr site (www.flickr.com/photos/harmsm). I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Spaghetti All Over the Place!

2008-02-21T17:01:00.005-05:00

Daniel very much enjoyed his first run at spaghetti ... what do you think?

Welcome to Our Blog!

2008-02-20T13:44:00.000-05:00

We have finally decided to join the world of the blogs so as to easily share pictures, video clips, and written Daniel updates with friends and family that live far away. We continue to love being parents and watching Daniel learn and grow. He loves to shake and taste anything that come his way, try new foods, play guitar with Daddy, splash in the bath tub, walk with his push toy, and giggle up a storm. We are very blessed indeed.

We will attempt to regularly try to update our blog with new items, so be sure to check back on occasion. If you get a moment, we would love to hear from you too!