The Fabulous B@ker Blog

It continues to be an amazing fall! The plants have all gone inside from the porch (since the mornings are so dark and cold), and have been replaced by big, bright mums. I can't yet bear to bring the furniture in, we probably have three (or more) good weeks of porch sitting before we give in to the cold forces of late October. The Baker kids had a great week this week. As a follow up to last week's post, Annalisse called Sunday night SOBBING . I thought something bad had happened, but it was the opposite...she and two others had made the improv team and she was overwhelmed with happiness. This will be a real boost for her confidence, which she has sometimes been lacking in her college experiences (little fish, big pond stuff). She had been wanting to get back into improv and has missed it these last two years. We are soooo happy for her. We also learned that, as a result of joining Zamboni Revolution, she also became part of " Float Your Boat, " a sketch comedy grou...

Another year has passed...28 years married (plus, remember: I want credit for the six years we dated...). It goes sooooo very fast! Yesterday, our anniversary, was very, very reminiscent of the actual day of our wedding. It also fell on a Saturday, and it was rainy. It was also a very busy day that started with a quick trip to Syracuse to deliver some mail, groceries and a visit with Jasper to his sister (or "sisser" as we like to call her). We got to A's place around 10am, unloaded the goods, and headed out for a walk where she had arranged for some of her friends to meet her most favorite person (dog) in the whole world. After a stop at one of the dorms, we headed up to the Quad (getting really warm out already...), and were greeted by tents, a bouncy house, tailgating and the wonderful, entertaining SU pep band playing on the steps of Hendricks Chapel. What a fun vibe the school had! It even made me want to go to a football game when we return to campus next weekend ...

It rained today. Hard. And it was pretty cold out. All because it was the day of the annual Fourth Ave Street Picnic. Can you believe it?! Looks like the kids will have to wait a week to have fun riding their bikes up and down the street, and the neighbors will have to wait for the communal picnic and the wine - oh, the wine! Also, there will be no bonfire today.  Sadness. And a little extra sadness because we can't make the rescheduled date of next Saturday as it will be our 28th anniversary and we have tickets to see Spamalot at Geva. Dang it all! Have fun Fourth Ave'ers. Think sunshine!

Hello! (Aunt Sher...) I'm back. No excuses for the long time between posts, mostly a lethal combination of busy-ness and laziness. BUT, the good news is I've been getting a jump on my fall reading for book club, so there's that...! Obviously, we have a lot of catching up to do! The kids are settled at school ~ Cam is in his third week of classes, Annalisse: her second. They are knee deep into classwork and other obligations. For Annalisse, her part-time job is taking up a bit of time. For Cam: he's just plain busy with coursework and the two labs he teaches on Fridays (apparently one of the kids called him "professor" - HA!). I sure would like to be a fly on the wall of one of his labs to see how he is doing. The students (officially: Teaching Assistants) who teach these labs are given very little training. Other than the occasional text, I don't really hear from him. Last night we took a big pan of mac-n-cheese over to the house he rents with five (or...

Well, I tried to get Annalisse to do a guest blog, but she refused ("I don't like to write!"). I wanted her to tell you all about her productive summer, about which continues to proclaim: I got a lot done this summer! Or, I accomplished pretty much all my goals this summer! Since she won't tell you about her productive summer, I will! She took a Chemistry course that she needed for her major, and got a B+ She saw Ed Sheeran in concert She got her license She worked 100 volunteer volunteer  We visited some Rochester museums She took care of various doctor's appointments And, on Wednesday, she's going to Seabreeze, which she's been wanting to do all summer She packed a lot into three months. Now, onto a productive semester. She doesn't start classes until August 31, but she starts her volunteer coordinator job next week so will be heading back to school on Sunday. Junior year! (P.S. I'm off again this week...and keeping very busy!)

Hello! It's been a while since the last post AND IT'S ALMOST MID-AUGUST. Seriously depressing. I've heard recently that August is like Sunday night, and it is too true. Blah. Change is in the wind as we start to shift back to school, and everybody is a little upset (me: A LOT upset) that summer is almost over. While it's been a very busy one, it's not totally been the "good" kind of busy, meaning we've been busy with work and school. That's not to say there haven't been weekends (and extended weekends) of fun. In fact, just about every weekend has been filled with day trips or trips up north to clean Mom's house. I have had vacation time, though. During my first week off I did a lot of running around, and Annalisse FINALLY had her road test (she passed by a hair...). We did a couple of historic house tours, but Mark and the kids were tied up most of the week with work commitments. I also did not get as much porch reading done as I mig...

This summer, both kids have been making great strides in preparation for their respective careers. Cam and his pals Cam has been involved in Bioinformatics research at RIT for 40 hours a week (paid, thankfully), and comes home really excited about his progress and victories related to the project he is working on. Of course, when he explains what he's doing I have no idea what he's taking about. Oh well. Don't you hate it when they get smarter than us? Anyway, he's also involved in beginning his Master's thesis, the proposal of which he will defend in early fall. But it hasn't been all work for him, he's been having fun spending time with his Bioinformatics friends this summer and has developed a real bond with them. It's very nice to see. The RD Intern Then, in addition to her Bio class (in which she got a "B"), Annalisse has been working as a volunteer nutrition intern at  Trillium Health .  For her program, she needs 250 voluntee...