Memorial Day 2012

Has it been a year already since last year's Memorial Day parade?  Wow how time flies.

This year we saw the same wonderful little parade but with different friends.  Scot didn't have off the whole weekend, but it was nice to have him home all Monday.

The boys loved the parade.  The little cars, the fire engines and old cars were all highlights.  I enjoyed the bagpipes and we all enjoyed the thrown candy.  I mean, come on...who doesn't like free candy?

We had a picnic lunch with friends and took it easy for the evening.  Chipotle and ice cream.  Oh yes.  We took it very easy.

We hope you had a great weekend as well.

 

 

 

And a special shout out to my dad: Happy Birthday!!  We love you!

It's only 2 hours away...

Living out here in the...mid-west?...east?...eastern mid-west? no one really bats an eye when it takes 30 or 40 minutes to get somewhere.  And 2 hours to go to another major city?  No eye batting to that either.

When we moved from Denver, I was shocked at how much driving people (and I) did.  I went from not driving more than 20 minutes to get anywhere in the city to barely being able to get to the freeway on a week day in that time.  35 minutes to church.  20 minutes to the market. 15-30 to get to any friend's.  15 minutes to our favorite ice cream joint. It all seems normal now.  Pittsburgh is only 2 hours away and we've made the trip a few time now to visit my friend Leah and her 2 precious girls, Anna and Elsa.  We all had a blast this go-around.

We did a lot of playing outside.  We went for walks, played at a park and had a picnic. The kids all watched with rapt attention as a mini-bulldozer was carefully loaded onto a trailer across the street where it had previously been digging something up. The windows were thrown wide open and the days were gorgeous.  Leah and I, as always, had some great conversations about being married to residents, being mothers to toddlers, and being Christian women in general.  It was renewing and refreshing.

 Evan is obsessed with the potential of getting a scooter for his 5th birthday (no, he's not even 4 yet) and he was beyond delighted to discover Anna had a scooter of her own.

Drew loved being outside, but he was especially taken with the sand box.  Typical boy.

And I thought it would be fun to do a little "over the years" picture collage.

August 2010

 Anna (16 mo), Evan (2yr), Drew (4 mo)

July 2011

Elsa (7mo), Anna (2yr), Evan (3rs), Drew (15 mo)

May 2012

 

 

  Elsa (17 mo), Anna (3yr), Evan (3yr), Drew (2yrs)

Oh, and Happy Memorial Day.

I'm up because my body has forgotten how to sleep in if I'm in bed at a decent hour.  Everyone is still sleeping and we have low-key plans for the day.  A good walk around the lake.  A parade and picnic lunch with friends,  and then trying to not melt this afternoon as temps reach over 90.

Pictures of all this fun to come later in the week, I'm sure.

Zoo day!

The Cleveland Zoo has a free day to all Cuyahoga residents each and every Monday.  This past Monday was my friend's first week-day of summer and so we took all our kids tot he zoo.  It was crazy.  As in, had it been just me, I would have turned away due to the sight of the crowds.  But since E, and her mom and sister were there, we ended up being fine.  4 adults and 4 walking children was a very manageable situation.

By far, the coolest animal we saw was the Koala who was awake.  Coolest. Thing. Ever.  A very odd looking creature, really.  He looked like a mini-Ewok to me.

The boy's highlight was probably the mister.  Evan and Emma had a blast getting almost drenched.

 Contemplating the map...

 I love how Drew just sticks his head straight out of this thing.  That little face.  I could eat him up!

 The "mister"

 Our attempt at a group shot.

 Pensive little man

Sweet Husband

Having a sweet husband means I get little shows of "I love you" here and there.  I am so blessed.

And I feel so loved.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

I read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet a couple weeks ago.  It's written by Jamie Ford and really takes a closer look at the father/son relationship, as well as love long gone.  Based around the true events of life in the Seattle area in the 40's, the reader catches glimpses of what life may have been like for Japanese-American kids during that time.

Unfortunately, that's all the good I can say about it.

Overall, I felt the book was very slow going.  I didn't feel a connection of any kind until past the 60th page, and even after that, I was wondering at the point of the narrative.  The writing was so-so, but a little too 2-D for me.  Also, the end was a little bit of a flop for me, it left me wanting more.  Which in some cases, can be a good thing.  In this case, it wasn't.

I can't believe it's been 2 years

It's been 2 full years, as of today, that we moved into this house.  What a crazy/miraculous story it is.

It's been a rough road at times and a smooth time at others.  It's gone fast and it's gone slow.  We're 2/3rds of our way through our time here in Ohio, and while I won't miss the humid days in the summer, or the long gray winters, I will miss the people when we go.  I will be heart-sick to leave our church.  And I will miss the places that are now so familiar and hold wonderful memories for us.

To another fabulous year here in Ohio!!

The boys have gone from this....

...to this. 

 What will next year bring?

Mother's Day 2012

Mother's Day this year was a perfect day for me this side of heaven.

Scot woke up at 1am to put together Baked Oatmeal for me so that when breakfast came along, I was eating one of my favorite morning dishes and had 3 of my favorite fruits to feast on.  Add to that the adorable cards the boys made me and had purchased and I was one happy momma!

Oh, did I mention they got me an adorable summer apron?  Yes.  Yes, they did.  And I love it all.

Church was fantastic (as always) and it was great to fellowship with other mothers.  After naps, we picked up some Thai takeout and headed to a nearby park.  And much like last year we spent time in the sun enjoying our family and not cleaning a kitchen.  The added bonus this year was that the boys played "prince" with me this year:  I was a princess trapped in a castle and they had to fight the horrible dragon (Scot) and take me away to their castle.  It was a wonderful time.

This year, Scot topped the day off with renting The Vow and getting my favorite sorbet to enjoy.  The Riesling Poached Pear Sorbet from Jeni's has to be one of the most delectable foods I've ever tasted.  Simply amazing.  The whole day can be summed up in those 2 words.  So I'll say them again.

Simply amazing.

Oh.  And I got lots and lots of kisses and hugs, too.  See?

Spring Cleaning

Each year, I try and tackle the house full-force to get it all nice and clean.

I've tried doing it in a week's time, and while it's possible, last year I missed out on doing stuff with other people and the boys.  And then I was just exhausted by the time the weekend came.

This year, a girl friend put a challenge up her blog.  Finish the list she put out by the end of the month, and whoever entered the challenge would have a fun-filled, husband/child free evening.

I was all in.  Especially after seeing that a few of the items on her list I was able to get done when my mom was here last month.  That still counts, right?  I mean, my pantry and kitchen cabinets/drawers are still clean and organized....

After looking at her list, which she had very nicely put in a calendar format so she could do one task a day, I came up with a few extra items to make my own list.  Here's mine, what's on your Spring Cleaning list?

(I'll be marking things through as I do them...)

• Wash fridge inside and out (top, too!)
• Clean microwave and toaster oven
• Clean oven
• Run dishwasher with HOT water and vinegar
• Organize pantry
• Clean and organize all cabinets and kitchen drawers
• Organize bathroom cabinet and linen closet
• Wash shower curtain liner
• Switch out my clothes, purge and organize drawers/closet
• Switch out boys clothes, purge and organize drawers/closet
• Switch out bedding to spring/summer
• Move coats/winter gear to attic
• Sanitize all door knobs/railings/locks
• Wash all walls
• Wash all baseboards and dust above all windows and door frames
• Put all screens in windows
• Vacuum windowsill areas
• Wash windows and sills
• Pull out living room furniture and clean behind/under
• Deep clean hardwood floor

Staycation: Part II

Our staycation vacation is over.

I've spent the entire morning cleaning, organizing, purging, starting to eliminate items on my Spring Cleaning list (more on that later), listening to the boys as they, thankfully, played together nicely.  It's been a full morning, but now that it's nap time, I'm here.  Attempting to catch you up on the last week of our life.

Let me first say that a staycation, for us, is the way to go.  Both Scot and I love quality time and this version of a vacation allowed that.  We had 12 whole days that felt like a string of Saturdays.  We spent a lot of the later half of vacation just lounging.  Parks were visited almost every day.  We had picnics and went on mini-hikes.  We (and i really mean Scot) read book after book and played micro-machines with the boys.  We just enjoyed the days and the moments that were in them.

One of our favorite parks is right down the road.  We call it Imagination Park because of all the open space, trails, and lack of "traditional" playground equipment.  The boys always have a blast running around, being explorers, climbing on rocks they claim as their castle, and swinging high into the trees.  This past week, Evan actually learned to pump on his own thanks to Scot's patience! 

We also took a trip to the aquarium.  I'd heard the shark feeding was pretty neat, so I thought it would be fun to do that, and since we were on that side of town, go to Dolce Wraps for dinner.  While the glass, or water, was clearer since the last time we were in, the feeding of the sharks was a bit anti-climatic.  They fed the poor things with chunks of fish put on the end of a stick.  It was neat, though, to see so many sharks in one place. 

When I lived in Virginia there was this Italian Ice shoppe that we loved going to.  When ever I go back, as long as it's open, I have to stop and get something at Rita's.  About 2 months ago, I discovered there is a Rita's just 40 minutes from here!  Not close enough for just the random out and about stop-in, but since we were on vacation, we made a morning out of it.  We visited a very neat park about half way there, packed a picnic lunch, and then headed the rest of the way to Rita's.  We were all very happy to have some of the cool, sweet, icy treat in our tummies!

We ended our staycation with an extremely laid-back weekend.  Saturday morning was near perfect for me.  We woke up, fed the boys a little something, and then walked the 2 miles to the farmer's market on Shaker Square.  After getting a honey stick for each boy, we just walked the stands with coffee in hand, ending at the Zoss the Swiss Baker tent where I enjoyed my favorite almond braid.  Oh yes, it was near perfect.  The weather was just right, we got to and from the market without any rain and the sun even decided to peek out, and we were all together!

Sunday afternoon, after church and naps, we packed the boys up, along with a pizza dinner and headed to our favorite park with plans to head to Mitchel's Ice Cream for a last hoo-rah.  We all had a blast.  As you can see...

Staycation Fun: Part I

Scot has 11 wonderful days off.  Instead of going off somewhere, we decided to stay at home, enjoy full-time family-time, and take life slow. 

We do have the two boys, so life is never slow, but we didn't want to be running around the whole time.

We're halfway through and we're loving the pace we've set.

We've done so much and learned more about everyone.  Funny things.  Sad things.  Needed things.

Stories have been shared.  Stories have been read.  Stories have been made.

Scot and I have watched movies, eaten scones and coffee for breakfast, gone on walks together, and just enjoyed being together. It's a luxury.

We went to the Children's Museum for the last time (our pass expires soon) and the boys had a blast.  All 3 of them.  The water table was a definite highlight as was the "architecture room" where we spent an hour building towers and breaking them down.

A huge first for us as a family was a trip to the bowling alley with friends.  Scot and I both bowled quite a bit growing up, and we've gone since being married, but it's not something we'd ever done with the boys.  Until now.  They had a blast.  Evan was adorable in his little bowling shoes trying to carry his 6 lb bowling ball up to the "slide" they had set up for the kids.  Us adults also had quite a great time.  Scot won one of the games, and I claimed the "came in last" prize both rounds.  What can I say?  I was there to have fun.

We took a trip to the zoo on a free day (something I very rarely do!) and we praise the Lord as the rain that was pouring down stopped as we pulled into the parking lot and stayed away for the entire time we were there.  Evan was a champ and not only walked for the whole 3 hours it took us to see everything, but he pushed Drew in the little stroller for the majority of the time.  Needless to say, they were wiped out by the end of the time and ready for the late picnic lunch I'd packed.  Favorite animals seen: Koala, Kangaroos, Wolves, Elephants, roaring Tiger, and the Grizzly bears.

Monday night, we "went camping".  And by "we", I mean the boys.  Originally, I thought it would be fun to do a camping trip in the woods, but it's really rainy right now, and I thought it would be better to ease into it.  So instead, we popped the tent up in the boy's room, had sloppy joes for dinner, roasted marshmallows on the front porch over our mini grill, and thankfully, the boys fell right asleep despite the sugar intake.

The next morning, we ventured out the Shaker Lakes Nature Center and spent over an hour on the trails, looking for and spotting chipmunks, squirrels, and all sorts of birds.  We crossed streams and walked and walked in the beautiful woods.  You'd never you were so close to everything being in there.  It's a little diamond in the rough!

That's all for the moment.  More pictures are here.