1) the opera! I've only been to the opera a few times previously -- if I'm going to see a show, I prefer it to be a Broadway musical! but when my friend Susan invited me to see a matinee performance of Falstaff at the Pittsburgh Opera with free childcare provided, of course I said yes. Falstaff is a comedy written by Verdi, and I enjoyed trying to translate the Italian as much as I could (while being very grateful for the English subtitles displayed above the stage). the costuming and set design were fun, although understandably not as elaborate as the Broadway national tour productions. and we felt very cultured indeed!
the curtain call
the childcare was a hit -- they were set up in a beautiful large room with floor to ceiling windows overlooking downtown, with lots of toys and games for the kids. Elizabeth and Victoria might have been more nervous about me leaving if it weren't for their friends joining them, so that worked out well all around.
I really hope they didn't attempt the 1000 piece puzzle
2) orchestra concert. this is Greta's third year playing the viola with the school orchestra. once again, I remain impressed with the quality of music these kids can produce since the vast majority of them just have weekly group lessons at the school. probably most of them practice more diligently than a particular daughter who-shall-not-be-named...
I gave Ellie my phone to take pictures towards the end of the concert and should have known this is what I would get
here's a selection from Holst's Jupiter:
3) Nick's 40th birthday party. belated but well worth waiting for a date outside of Lent (he gives up alcohol every year during Lent, and this year his birthday fell on Holy Saturday) and also when most of his friends could attend! his weekend and evening schedule is so busy between scheduled masses and freelance work that I had to collaborate with him on the date and time for the party. but I kept the venue and details a surprise (and if he somehow found out about it beforehand, he's keeping that secret quite well!). I booked the Rathskellar at our favourite local German restaurant, Max's Allegheny Tavern, with our friend and polka master extraordinaire, Randy Koslosky, providing the music. we had a buffet of Bavarian delights, an open bar, dancing, toasts, and lots of fun. Nick had said several times that he didn't need a party and didn't want me to go to too much trouble planning anything at seven months pregnant, but everybody deserves to be celebrated with gusto on a milestone birthday, especially him! plus his suggestion of "just a low key party at the house" would have been way more work for me ;)
the setup was that people would gather at the restaurant at 5, and Nick would arrive around 5:30 after playing for 4 o'clock mass. I arrived at 4:45 and my friends helped put up the decorations and get everything set up.
hanging out before Nick arrived
Randy was so great with the kids and brought along a whole case of instruments for them to play with. see also: I ran around confiscating drumsticks all night...
these friends drove out over an hour to celebrate with us!
at 5:15 I texted Nick, "Please meet us at Max's!" and the cat was out of the bag in terms of the location. we stationed a couple of kids in the stairwell to alert us with the code word "pretzel" when he actually arrived at the restaurant. I knew he was surprised to see Randy as well as so many people there!
I just love this photo. he deserves it all and more!
giving Randy guff for the fact that he was at two of Randy's gigs in the previous month and Randy never let on about this party!
Amazon decorations for the win
a balloon belly to match mine!
a peanut butter dream cake from Potomac Bakery, and a customized sign from Oriental Trading Company (I guess you get what you pay for -- they left out the apostrophe in Nick's!)
the jumbo pretzels weren't on the catering menu but I asked if they could add a few to the table, because it wouldn't be a trip to Max's without them!
in hindsight I should have ordered more chicken tenders, but we had no lack of sausages!
hot German potato salad, red cabbage, and potato pancakes
then it was time for singing, cake cutting, dancing, and toasts. I wish I had recorded the toasts -- they were all so great, from the heartfelt to the roasts (and most including elements of both). what a guy!!
Randy played "Feed the Birds" so Nick and Greta could sing a duet
everyone had a chance to polka with the birthday boy!
no one was more surprised than me to see Greta leading the conga line!
posing with his godchildren
late night conversations
thanking everyone for coming
4) Mother's Day. the day after Nick's party, so we kept things simple around home -- we were all ready for a relaxing day! we went to mass, followed by lunch at the Chinese buffet, which has become our Mother's Day tradition -- it's the easiest place ever to bring small kids.
beautiful flowers from Nick
Sabrina bought them the most adorable dresses with coordinating hats. Victoria wasn't feeling the photo shoot...
...but Elizabeth definitely was!
such a picturesque walk to church at Heinz Chapel (a friend is on the far right)
daycare art is the best
this is one for the books! I do like salmon and I'm glad she didn't say I'm best at playing on my phone because she certainly sees me do more of that than cleaning!
bonus round:
sneak peek of baby boy at 28 weeks! I had growth scans at 28, 32, and 36 weeks (due to my age) and at after the tech got all of the measurements, she toggled to 3D mode and I immediately teared up! they didn't do that with any of my previous pregnancies. so amazing to see his sweet little face!
welcome to the world, George Nicholas! our fifth baby was born two weeks early, completely upending my previous delivery pattern -- all of his sisters were born just before or up to 10 days after their due dates, except for Victoria with a scheduled induction at 39 weeks. a 39 week induction was the plan for baby boy too, and our dear friend Amy had requested the day off work to come doula for us again, bless her! my coworkers kept telling me I was going to go early with him and I kept confidently responding, "oh no, my babies like to stay cozy in here!" as I left the office on Friday (at 37 weeks 2 days pregnant), I told them, "see you Monday!" they all looked at me and said, "well... maybe!" and I reassured them that I would be there. the last "bump" photo I have, on July 4, just 9 days before baby would make his appearance! Amy texted me that weekend to see how I was feeling. baby boy was definitely sitting lower and I was having some inter...
for as long as I can remember, I've envisioned having four kids. to me, it seemed like a sufficient number of kids to emulate the big family feeling I so enjoyed about my own childhood. plus, I like the symmetry of even numbers. having grown up as the oldest of six, however, I thought I might not be cut out for being a mother of six, so four seemed to be the magical solution. the Geiger six at the wedding reception my parents threw for us back in Washington state. there is a 14 year gap between oldest (me) and youngest (Krista). do you see why we used to call her Pink Baby?! this is such a classic photo I had to include it, even though it was before Krista was born. I sewed my own dress if you couldn't tell. #homeschooled all that to say that after our fourth child, Victoria, was born in 2023, I felt quite at peace with our family size ... but not to the point of giving away all of the baby stuff. after all, I was "only" 37. we did feel strongly though that we should ...
over a year ago, we had made plans for Greta to go on a trip to Paris over Holy Week 2026 with her elementary school choir (pinch me now!). since Cece was going with Nick on an epic European pilgrimage in the summer of 2025, we decided it was only fair for me to accompany Greta. ;) also, Holy Week is Nick's absolute busiest time of year as a church musician and he definitely would not be able to take the week off to travel. a few months after sending in the deposit, we learned that not enough families had signed up and the trip was canceled, so our deposit was refunded. we both were quite disappointed! then Nick said that she and I should pick another place to go for a mother/daughter trip in its place. after much deliberating over various options, including a trip to NYC for shopping/shows, a visit to North Carolina to visit my sister and hopefully see one of the shows she and her fiancé are involved with in the local theater they run, a trip to the beach, or a cruise, Greta fina...
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