Ryan & Samantha » Family

Mother’s Day at Botanica

Samantha Corcoran — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:47:00 +0000

Back on Mothers’ Day Ryan and I took Julie to Botanica, the city of Wichita’s botanical gardens. It was pretty early for most flowers, but beautiful nonetheless. Botanica has a walkway that leads you through the different gardens; the Shakespeare garden is filled typical English garden flowers and with ones that he referenced in his writings, the Butterfly House wasn’t quite ready for the butterflies but was instead filled with pansies, the Woodland Walk was perfect for bird watchers, and a water-conserving Xeriscape Demonstration Garden (also see permiculture) that I took a few good ideas from for my own garden.

We particularly enjoyed the Sensory Garden. It is arranged so that you can easily touch and smell the different flowers and herbs. We smelled the parsley before we even saw it, the soft lambs ear reminded me of my childhood “softie” blanket, and the pansies are edible. This display is fantastic for kids (and adults, too)!

There are several ponds throughout the gardens; this koi pond had beautiful (and huge!) fish.

My personal favorite garden (and now desktop background) is the Wildflower Meadow. It was loaded with native Plains plants and has a beautiful statue among the flowers. We’ll have to go back and visit when the flowers are in full summer bloom.

And the best picture of all. Happy Mothers’ Day!

Working on the farm

Samantha Corcoran — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 04:47:00 +0000

The past two weekends we’ve been helping out on my parents’ farm. Planting and harvest are the busiest times of the year, but there’s still plenty to do in the middle of summer; the garden is overflowing with tomatoes and peppers and there’s always a machine to fix.

Canning potatoes with Mom and Ashleigh.

Who knew you could can potatoes?

Canning with a pressure cooker.

We also canned beets, too.

MUCH better than what you buy at the store.

Dad and his new-to-him grain bin.

Ryan, Uncle Joe, and cousin Tyler worked

long hours in the heat to get this put up in time.

Most definitely "easy peasy"

Samantha Corcoran — Sat, 02 May 2009 16:26:00 +0000

Success! I sewed my first flannel swaddling blanket and coordinating burp cloth. I made it for my cousin’s new baby, and I’m sure she’ll love it.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to do it, given my sewing machine’s touchy personality (I honestly think it hates me). After a thorough cleaning and oiling the machine worked like a charm!

The Easy Peasy instructions truly were easy peasy. This was probably the easiest thing I have ever sewn! It only took me one hour per set, despite the fact that I really haven’t sewn much since I was 9 years old.

I hit some good sales at Jo-Ann so each set only cost me about $5.00 to make, including fabric, thread, and appliques.

I’ll print off a page of swaddling instructions to include in the gift bag. Now off to get a cute bag and tissue paper for tomorrow’s baby shower! I hope she likes it!

We’ll see how "easy peasy" it really is…

Samantha Corcoran — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:44:00 +0000

My cousin Sara is preparing for her first little one to arrive. This will be the first grand-baby on my dad’s side of the family and we couldn’t be more excited! I have been thinking and thinking about what to get them but nothing seemed to inspire me. I really didn’t want to get something store-bought, but I wasn’t sure what I could make. Then I saw a tutorial on a blog I follow called Easy Peasy Swaddle Sheet (and matching burp cloth). Bingo!

(Except for the fact that my sewing machine hates me…this should be an interesting project… )

Youth symphony is "finished"

Samantha Corcoran — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Today was my sister Chelsea’s last youth symphony concert of her high school career! Ryan and I drove up to Topeka to surprise her and my family. Co-principal violist Chelsea is to the right of the conductor in the symphony picture (sorry for the fuzziness; we were in the balcony). The orchestra played pieces by Debussy and Schubert (“Unfinished”) and featured an excellent young soloist on a Mendelssohn piano concerto.

Chelsea had a good crowd there to cheer her on. In addition to Ryan and me there was Grandpa Jim & Grandma Ruby with cousin Caitlyn (right), Grandpa Roy & Grandma Betty (left), Dad, Mom, and Ashleigh (yellow). We added up that the entire family has been going to youth symphony concerts here for 12 years! But that era has come to an end with Chelsea graduating. We’re going to miss youth symphony concerts, but we’re looking forward to watching Chelsea’s collegiate career!

Happy Boxing Day!

Samantha Corcoran — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 05:35:00 +0000

We spent Boxing Day with family and good Irish/Scottish imports. Ryan’s Dad and Kenda came to Missouri to visit Kenda’s family, so we met them in Kansas City for lunch. Sadly, it was our shortest visit with them ever, but we made the most of it by having lunch together at the Irish Pub O’Dowds Little Dublin (with food just like we remember from Ireland!) and walking through the Plaza.

Before we headed back to Topeka we stopped by the cheese shop a few doors down from O’Dowds to buy some Irish Kerrygold butter. Then we dropped by an awesome store in Lawrence called Brits to pick up a few UK imports. We got a box of chocolate marshmallow teacakes and a bottle of Irn-Bru soda from Scotland, both of which Tristan & Leslie introduced to us this summer during our visit. Yum!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Ryan Corcoran — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:03:00 +0000

As someone who is no good at sending/giving birthday cards & gifts, I just wanted to use this space to wish my mom a happy birthday!!

This picture proves that my mom doesn’t look a day over 32. I don’t know who those two little kids are, though…

Christmas in… June?

Ryan Corcoran — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:58:00 +0000

Well, we’ve finally gotten around to creating a photo album for our photos we took in New England over Christmas vacation. We had a very quick whirlwind trip, but we got to see (most of) the family and a quick trip down the cape to see Plymouth Rock and more.

You can view the new album here, or by visiting the photos page by the link on the right.

25th Annual 4-State Band Festival

Samantha Corcoran — Sat, 03 May 2008 18:06:00 +0000

This past Wednesday Ryan and I drove to Pittsburg, KS, to a reception honoring his dad. 25 years ago Gary started a 4-State Band Festival; a festival for high school kids to go to the Pitt State campus to play under guest conductors.

We surprised Gary and Kenda – we never actually told them that we were coming! The reception was nice and quite a few old friends and colleagues came to see Gary.

State Ensemble Festival

Samantha Corcoran — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:44:00 +0000

Chelsea and her trio earned a I rating (the highest rating) at the State Ensemble Festival at Emporia last Saturday!

Congratulations, Chelsea!!