A Very Happy Non-Birthday

It was a perfect day to celebrate HP's 2nd birthday! 2 days early makes it a non-birthday day but nontheless.



H invited some pals over to celebrate his achievement (although I truly feel it was mostly my achievement...) and we feasted on an All-Star themed lunch of hot dogs, chips, sodas and sports-themed cupcakes.

These were actually really fun to make. Today I ate both a baseball and a tennis ball.



H chose his favorite, the soccer ball.

He had a great time, ate a lot, opened some really generous gifts and is really looking forward to what being a 2 year old will bring :)

Here's the tentative preview of the big changes coming his way:

1. He's transitioning to a big boy bed. The current thought is to go the cheap Montessori route and have a twin mattress on the ground. The mattress is there now; we've rested, read and bounced on it today. Step 2 is to take part of the crib off to "release" him from the pen at night, and step 3 is to take the crib away and tuck it in the basement. How long will this take? Stay tuned...

2. Potty training. Whoa. I'm not even thinking about this until school is out and I have 6 weeks of trial and error. The current thought is to let the baby run naked in the backyard all summer.....clearly I need to do a little research before we start this one. How long will that one take? Who knows.

Stay tuned for the big things to come!



Mothers Day #2

Happy Mothers Day to me! Today I got to do some of my favorite things with my favorite people. I slept in to 9am, drank a ton of coffee, baked a yummy quiche, shared a delic brunch with my parents, in-laws and of course Jon and H, took a nap, worked in the garden (planted my lettuce), read books on the front lawn, went for a family bike ride and watched a movie. That is my dream day!

This is what happens when I force a picture...

Sitting solo, where is my little frog man?

He's hiding from me!

Sisters and I put together a birthday gift for my Mom!

Idea from pinterest :)

My hair is getting super long!

H wanted to participate too :)

An Update in 3 Parts

Part One: Gardening 
I have been feeling really energetic lately and I actually being productive around here! Today I finally put some seeds into the ground. It has been a really long process with lots of baby steps. In February we had that crazy warm weather for awhile, long enough for me to tear up the yucky flower beds around the gazebo, cut down two dwarf trees and tear up the rotting logs that were acting as borders. March let me pull out those hideously heavy pompous grass clusters and turn over the soil. April was chilly and I steadily finished the back of the house mulching and de-ferning (I really hate those plants), pulled up the raspberry bushes and cut back the two dead grape vines. And this month is the time for planting!

I put in 3 tomato plants (cherry) and cilantro. I planted 1 row of bell peppers, 2 rows of spinach and a row of fennel (which I haven't ever actually used but obviously I'm planning on giving it a try) and 4 mounds of cucumbers. I'll also plant lettuce and butternut squash soon. As of yet we have no sprinkler so I'll have to hire HP to do the watering.

H got an early birthday gift from his Abueliito and Grandma...an electric lawn mower! H has graciously let us use it and I'm so glad! Our house look less and less crazy every month :)

Part Two: School and Such
We are inching toward the end of the year! Almost 20 days left of teaching, whew. This will be the end of my 2nd year here, which makes a total of 5 years teaching (in some capacity anyway). And I remember telling my Social Studies teacher in H.S. that I would never be a teacher...

Soccer is done! We finished yesterday with a loss in overtime. After seeing some truly crazy soccer over the past two months I am happy to say they really have improved. If only they wouldn't let the fact they are middle school girls get in the way of actually having fun... For now, I plan on returning to coaching next year with the boys and girls. They were two distinctly different teams. Boys B was silly, grumpy, show-boaty and didn't win once. Girls were snippy, lazy, ignorant of soccer rules, and didn't win once.

Yes, that paints an ugly picture. But there were bright moments, funny moments and actual learning of the sport. And I would do it again, so I guess that says enough.

Part Three: HP and the Fam
H is turning 2 years old May 21st. Yes, 2. He has been getting taller every day and sillier. He loves pushing Jon and I around the house (quite literally corralling us like cattle), making us all cuddle on the bed together, and holding hands. He's been much more generous with his hugs and kisses, even making me kiss and hug each of his 4 stuffed animals he sleeps with (Maximus the Bear, Bearrison the bear, Monkey, and Mr. Bear- the boy likes his bears).

He has been learning how to share with his buddy Eli and they go on weekly adventures to museums, Playworld or Chuck-E-Cheese. That lucky bum. He's really into watching Shaun the Sheep and Pingu, a Sweedish claymation series. He is still practicing every sport with a ball and would be happy to stay outside all day.

He is still a man of few words. This has caused me some concern but I'm still banking on him picking it up later (as he was a late crawler, walker, etc.). It's a little hard to hear about other little ones yakking about everything, but it will come.

And his birthday party is this Saturday! Yay!

House: Year One

It has been an entire year of home owning in Michigan! There has been good there has been bad and a little bit of ugly. But here we remain, more or less happy that we bit the bullet and bought.

In honor of the year I thought I'd highlight the good things that we've done here.

I finally organized that awkward kitchen desk space.

The dinig room got painted red (thanks Katie!), new curtains, curtain rods sans duct tape, and Jon put up our candle wall sconces.

Here's the before picture. I'll probably put those curtains back up for summer.

Does this look boring to you? Well, that's actually what I was going for. This back of the house area was CRAZY with weeds and allowed for an open-door policy to ants to head into the kitchen. Yuck.

Also, next month they'll be an air conditioner sitting on those cement slabs so we wont have to sweat it out this summer.

So after a whole year I think yes, I would do it again.

Spring Break 2012

My spring break came to a close this morning at 6:10a when I finally rolled out of bed, brushed out my tangle of hair, brushed my teeth, got dressed and collected little HP who had been singing in his crib for at least 10 minutes by that point. We hustled downstairs to find coffee made and Jon ready to go. Because I had not prepared my lunch I was forced to grab a yogurt, a container of grape tomatoes and the last grapefruit. Quite literally all that lived in our fridge that would be edible.

After dropping Jon at work we ventured on to Cindy's. H was happy to see Cindy again and waved, hugged and kissed me goodbye. I turned the car back toward work and got there with 5 minutes to spare. Ample time to wolf down my McD's oatmeal and grab a second cup of lounge coffee and head down to my office.

Eight hours later I was at soccer practice. I had changed into my running pants, t-shirt and...had forgotten my cleats. So with no alternative I stood on the pitch for an hour and half in my heels. Once the clock hit 4:45 I jumped into the car, picked up little H, then Jon, made dinner, bathed the baby (while getting soaked from his tide pool antics), sang to him and put him down. Now here I sit with tea and laptop.

And this will be life for the next 11 weeks until school lets out for a blessed 6-week vacation. Busy busy. But at the same time, fun fun. A whole lot to look forward to. And believe it or not but we are actually accomplishing a whole bunch of our to-dos and my List of 28, this is a really big deal for me!

Also, I got the camera to work!

Our new light fixture in the little bathroom, and the painting has been finished! 

Tiny baby bathroom that it is, it took a long time to complete!

Easter Sunday at Mom and Dad's 

 

Family Easter 2012                                Family Easter 2011

At Westminster Church, almost 4 years after Jon

and I got married here we finally made it back. 

That boy is very very loved. 

An Update on March

The number one reason why I haven't posted a blog update is the sever lack of pictures. Its not that the camera has died, its this computer! It wont recognize my input cord, so thus no cute pictures. And who really wants to read just words?! I don't really want to even type just words, but here I go.

I'll start with an update on the list of 28:

I have regularly volunteered at the adult ESL Thursday night gig. Even though it makes for a reallllllly long day (work+soccer+making dinner+volunteer) I find that it might actually be a good thing to keep around. I must admit I never knew we had such a large refugee and immigrant community here. I think its due to the fact they are still quite closed off and tend to visit each other at home. But I have a thought in the back of my head...why not do outings with them? Meet at a bus stop, navigate to a fun location together and practice our English? I feel like this would be great for all my group, who is mostly stay-at-home moms. These are the people who really need some fresh air! :)

I have kept up with my physical activity and have lost a total of 6.5lbs. Sweet. Feeling good and happy to be under my pre-pregnancy weight again.

I have decided on a 100 mile bike ride. I'll participate with my Dad in the Holland 100 on July 21st. Now that the bikes are all tuned up and ready to go, I should get moving!

I am in the midst of creating the backyard garden. I played lumberjack yesterday and chopped down 2 offending tree/shrubs that were in the way. Took out the moldering logs, and now am ready to till the garden area. I'm planning on planting late April.

We are almost (finally) done painting the teeny tiny downstairs bathroom. Even though my mother said its smaller than an airplane bathroom it has taken us like 3 months to finish. Ridiculous. We. Hate. Painting.

Last month we said hello to our tax return to quickly say goodbye to it as we are closer to paying off that car. October is the big month when I'll finally stop making those annoying monthly payments!

I threw a Saint Patty's brunch and it was yum. Katie even made an awesome cheesecake while Jon made amazing Corned Beef hash. Next party will be Baby H's 2nd bday.

Oh, and for those of you who are still wondering if I'll ever be certified in MI as a qualified teacher....the answer is almost certainly not. I have ONCE again had my hopes up, then dashed by another talking head at the MDE. Blargh.

Because it's Spring Break 2012! lets leave on a happy note from sweet HP-

brought to you by photo booth :)

Reflections on February

Did you enjoy February as much as H enjoyed pudding? Well, I hope so.

So I've made progress with my list of things! I've been keeping my promises more (or just making fewer), buying things I need/want (my first ever pair of Anthro jeans!- half off, sweet), and (drum-roll) have lost 3 pounds over the last 4 weeks! Huzzah.

Baby H has been taking off in general. Much to my amazement he has become way self-sufficient with his play. Climbing up and sliding down the elementary equipment over and over til he was covered in mud and ready to move on to the swings.

He's still a man of few words, most concerning balls and "I got it!". But he does know a whole lot of vocab that he's choosing to keep mum about.

Lastly, I do realize all parents think their child is super duper, etc. but...this boy is super duper good at all things concerning ball sports. He has one wicked drop-kick. I'm hoping to bring him to my soccer practices more this season :) Which starts in 2 weeks! New adventures :)