I took a complimentary 10 x 10 number square from a teaching conference because I thought Kevin might be able to use it with his students. It has been in the book basket ever since, though Nellie takes it out to look at the numbers on it every once in awhile. Tonight she was supposed to be picking a bedtime story for Kevin to read. She picked one book and the number square, saying "first let's do some counting, then we'll read this story."
I listened while Kevin very patiently helped Nellie count all the way up to 80. Like mother, like daughter?
Monday, June 28, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Take me out to the ball game
We got back at midnight last night from an 11-inning Lugnuts game. We have "season tickets" to 6 games, and while it's always fun, every time a game rolls around we go through a process involving the following questions--do we take Annie? who should stay home? what should we do with Nellie? everyone should come?--and then usually we all go.
Last night, I'll admit, I joined all the other 200 moms with young children in checking the clock every 30 seconds wishing the Lugnuts would just get it over with and face the eventual loss. But we had promised fireworks, and fireworks we would stay for gosh-darn-it! Well, the Lugnuts won in a dramatic 7-6 victory, so it was worth the hours of holding a squirmy Annie, I guess.
And there were definitely some highlights. Nellie made up a song/game called "C'mon everybody stink your head" where you face funny faces at each other. Kevin took Nellie down at the end of the game to catch a victory ball--which he did, in a stunning display of athleticism. He gave it to Nellie, who promptly threw it back on the field.
Now the girls are clinging to me and whining, probably ready for naps 20 minutes after waking up. It's hard to type this way, so it's on to other things!
Last night, I'll admit, I joined all the other 200 moms with young children in checking the clock every 30 seconds wishing the Lugnuts would just get it over with and face the eventual loss. But we had promised fireworks, and fireworks we would stay for gosh-darn-it! Well, the Lugnuts won in a dramatic 7-6 victory, so it was worth the hours of holding a squirmy Annie, I guess.
And there were definitely some highlights. Nellie made up a song/game called "C'mon everybody stink your head" where you face funny faces at each other. Kevin took Nellie down at the end of the game to catch a victory ball--which he did, in a stunning display of athleticism. He gave it to Nellie, who promptly threw it back on the field.
Now the girls are clinging to me and whining, probably ready for naps 20 minutes after waking up. It's hard to type this way, so it's on to other things!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Birthday week
Annie and I celebrated our 1st and 29th birthdays this week, respectively. This is the first year of MANY to come where we celebrated Father's Day and two birthdays in five days! All in all, it meant many calories were consumed and lots of fun was had.
We just finished up Annie's not-party. (Not a party because the official party will be shared by Annie and Nellie in July. Okay, it was kind of a party.) Unfortunately, she's been sick all week with a high fever, little appetite, and no desire to sleep. Coincidentally, Nellie was sick the days before her 1st birthday party, and my mom tells me I was sick on my first birthday! Anyway, today was the first day she perked up enough to play again, and play we did! That is, we played around Annie's two three-hour naps.
The thing about being the younger sister on your 1st birthday is that your older sibling gets to pick what you do. Lucky for Annie, Nellie picked the splash pad. It was awesome. I had taken Nellie before; in fact, we were there the day I went into labor with Annie. But Nellie is older and braver now, and Annie has never been. It was hot enough that the water felt good, and while it's fun to go with friends, it was nice to be just the three of us. Nellie's favorite was hiding under the "umbrellas," Annie's favorite was probably the water! She's a little water baby. There was a moment where I held Annie up, and she had a brilliant grin on her face with the blue sky and fluffy white clouds as the backdrop, and it was like a little piece of heaven. There were no tantrums, no injuries. Wonderful.
While the girls napped later, I baked lemon cupcakes (round two--the first batch from last night burned) and made lasagna and mopped the kitchen floor. Erin and Xander came for dinner, then mom and dad stopped by for cupcakes and presents. Of course, Nellie had a hard time with the whole thing and opened all of Annie's presents. Oh well, it worked for this year!
It's hard to get as much attention when you're the second child (ahem--we know from experience--ahem) so it was nice to celebrate Annie today! It's been a great year with her. She's so easy-going and sweet, very thoughtful and happy. She's finally crawling--well, doing a version of a hermit crab walk--and one of these days she's bound to start sleeping through the night. Annie adores Nellie and it's been interesting to watch them meet and get to know each other this year.
Happy birthday, Annie. We love you!
We just finished up Annie's not-party. (Not a party because the official party will be shared by Annie and Nellie in July. Okay, it was kind of a party.) Unfortunately, she's been sick all week with a high fever, little appetite, and no desire to sleep. Coincidentally, Nellie was sick the days before her 1st birthday party, and my mom tells me I was sick on my first birthday! Anyway, today was the first day she perked up enough to play again, and play we did! That is, we played around Annie's two three-hour naps.
The thing about being the younger sister on your 1st birthday is that your older sibling gets to pick what you do. Lucky for Annie, Nellie picked the splash pad. It was awesome. I had taken Nellie before; in fact, we were there the day I went into labor with Annie. But Nellie is older and braver now, and Annie has never been. It was hot enough that the water felt good, and while it's fun to go with friends, it was nice to be just the three of us. Nellie's favorite was hiding under the "umbrellas," Annie's favorite was probably the water! She's a little water baby. There was a moment where I held Annie up, and she had a brilliant grin on her face with the blue sky and fluffy white clouds as the backdrop, and it was like a little piece of heaven. There were no tantrums, no injuries. Wonderful.
While the girls napped later, I baked lemon cupcakes (round two--the first batch from last night burned) and made lasagna and mopped the kitchen floor. Erin and Xander came for dinner, then mom and dad stopped by for cupcakes and presents. Of course, Nellie had a hard time with the whole thing and opened all of Annie's presents. Oh well, it worked for this year!
It's hard to get as much attention when you're the second child (ahem--we know from experience--ahem) so it was nice to celebrate Annie today! It's been a great year with her. She's so easy-going and sweet, very thoughtful and happy. She's finally crawling--well, doing a version of a hermit crab walk--and one of these days she's bound to start sleeping through the night. Annie adores Nellie and it's been interesting to watch them meet and get to know each other this year.
Happy birthday, Annie. We love you!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Memorial Days of Old
We had a great time for our long weekend and unofficial summer kickoff this year. Of course we remembered family no longer with us and the men and women who have fought for our country, but it was also a good chance to remember some of the past Memorial Days since Kevin and I have been together.
2002--We spent the weekend with Josh and Rose on South Manitou Island. It was freezing and rained the entire time, which of course we were utterly unprepared for. We pressed on, packing 3.5 miles to our campsite and exploring the island. One would expect that under such miserable circumstances we'd be...well...miserable, but it was so much fun. Luckily, we were with awesome company who didn't let a little (lot) of rain get them down. Oh, the memories. Chipmunk Army. Dorky campers. Mr. Fumbly Hands. I'll stop there.
2003--Pam's house. I don't remember much, except that Alex pushed Kevin in the cold lake, and Kev lost his glasses so the boys had to snorkel around looking for them for a long, cold time.
2004--Our first married year. We spend the weekend in Cass City, again with Rose and Josh. We stayed up until 3:00 a.m. by the campfire drinking beer and smoking cigars (ew--my first and last) and listening to Tom's stories.
2005--New homeowners, we stayed home. I don't remember exactly, but there's a good chance we were uprooting the 12-foot-wide juniper bushes in front of the house. Blech. I'm glad that's over!
2006--Up to Traverse City with most of my family. I was running a half marathon and we rented a house on the bay. It was a little bittersweet...the race was great, the weather was beautiful, and we had fun. But it was a rough point in our lives--Kevin was unhappy in his job, we'd been hoping for a baby for over a year, and we were burdened by divorces among friends and family. We were also planning our escape to work at camp that summer.
2007--Up to Mackinac Island with my family and Pam. Everyone else did lots of biking and exploring; as I recall, I did lots of waddling around 8 months pregnant.
2009--To Pam's with Sarah and Alex and the girls. John came and joined us on a trip to Binder Park Zoo. Once again, I was 8 months pregnant and wondering if I had made a mistake in thinking I was ready for another baby!
And that takes us to this year. We spent the weekend at a family cabin in Newaygo to celebrate John's 60th birthday party. It was heavenly--hot, dirty, and generally sticky. The girls all had a great time together wading in the river, fishing, and sleeping in tents. There were even a few blissful minutes when all four girls napped and Sarah and I sat in the sun reading. I'll admit I looked over now and then and was inwardly relieved she is the one 8 months pregnant this year. I learned that there is a limit to the number of brats I can eat in a weekend--3.5. Overall a wonderful time.
If you're still reading this, thanks for sticking with my nostalgia. Looking over a series of simple weekends full of vacations and barbeques, it's incredible to see how much has changed and how far we've come. We are blessed!
2002--We spent the weekend with Josh and Rose on South Manitou Island. It was freezing and rained the entire time, which of course we were utterly unprepared for. We pressed on, packing 3.5 miles to our campsite and exploring the island. One would expect that under such miserable circumstances we'd be...well...miserable, but it was so much fun. Luckily, we were with awesome company who didn't let a little (lot) of rain get them down. Oh, the memories. Chipmunk Army. Dorky campers. Mr. Fumbly Hands. I'll stop there.
2003--Pam's house. I don't remember much, except that Alex pushed Kevin in the cold lake, and Kev lost his glasses so the boys had to snorkel around looking for them for a long, cold time.
2004--Our first married year. We spend the weekend in Cass City, again with Rose and Josh. We stayed up until 3:00 a.m. by the campfire drinking beer and smoking cigars (ew--my first and last) and listening to Tom's stories.
2005--New homeowners, we stayed home. I don't remember exactly, but there's a good chance we were uprooting the 12-foot-wide juniper bushes in front of the house. Blech. I'm glad that's over!
2006--Up to Traverse City with most of my family. I was running a half marathon and we rented a house on the bay. It was a little bittersweet...the race was great, the weather was beautiful, and we had fun. But it was a rough point in our lives--Kevin was unhappy in his job, we'd been hoping for a baby for over a year, and we were burdened by divorces among friends and family. We were also planning our escape to work at camp that summer.
2007--Up to Mackinac Island with my family and Pam. Everyone else did lots of biking and exploring; as I recall, I did lots of waddling around 8 months pregnant.
2009--To Pam's with Sarah and Alex and the girls. John came and joined us on a trip to Binder Park Zoo. Once again, I was 8 months pregnant and wondering if I had made a mistake in thinking I was ready for another baby!
And that takes us to this year. We spent the weekend at a family cabin in Newaygo to celebrate John's 60th birthday party. It was heavenly--hot, dirty, and generally sticky. The girls all had a great time together wading in the river, fishing, and sleeping in tents. There were even a few blissful minutes when all four girls napped and Sarah and I sat in the sun reading. I'll admit I looked over now and then and was inwardly relieved she is the one 8 months pregnant this year. I learned that there is a limit to the number of brats I can eat in a weekend--3.5. Overall a wonderful time.
If you're still reading this, thanks for sticking with my nostalgia. Looking over a series of simple weekends full of vacations and barbeques, it's incredible to see how much has changed and how far we've come. We are blessed!
Monday, May 24, 2010
P.S.
Ahhh, lest anyone (including future me) think that we are too good to be true, I thought I should point out that the wonderful and fun planting happened before and after a serious Nellie fit that ended with me pinning her down and forcibly removing her bathing suit so that we could leave for the store. Hence the napping in the car. Then today when I planted the flowers, she spent the whole time looking at the cat in the window next door, refusing to come inside when I had to get Annie (who was refusing to take a nap), then doing some strange whining fake-cry (a real winning combo) in the front doorway. She also learned the art of sulking this weekend. Seriously, where do kids learn this stuff? It's really an unattractive kid habit, in my opinion, so we're going to have to figure out how to nip that one in the bud. I did pull out my grandma's line, "if you stick out that lip a little bird is going to come poop on it." Oi.
So there's that.
So there's that.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
In the garden
We are just sitting down after a long weekend of work on the yard and garden. We started slow Friday night with dinner at the new Michigan Brewing Co. restaurant. We went back and forth about whether it would be trashy to take the girls, finally calling the restaurant to ask. No, they told us, it would not be trashy, they had real high chairs and kids' menus and crayons. It was nice! Loud, but nice, and good beer of course!
Saturday, we bought all of our flowers, soil, and supplies, and put in a couple of hours of prep work before heading out to another restaurant--this time, Macaroni Grill for Grandma Carolyn's 80th birthday party. I want to personally apologize to all the wait staff and other patrons at the 28th Street Macaroni Grill for all the toddler antics--there were four girls under three at one table, for goodness sake. Messy. Loud.
Anyway, we started working right after church today, and "finished" around 10:00 tonight. We raked and weeded, replaced the window boxes, planted and watered. It was HOT, so Nellie spent a good part of the day in her kiddie pool and the sprinkler. Annie, who won't dare to set her feet in the grass, loves the sprinkler! Icy water spraying everywhere--she couldn't get enough. Looks like we have another water baby on our hands! We took one break to pick up more flowers and some chicken wire (and delicious iced cappuccinos at 5:00, which is probably why I'm wide awake), more so that Nellie would finally take a nap than anything else.
When we got back, it was time to do some serious seed planting, which Nellie really, really wanted to help with. On one hand, I knew we were running out of daylight and needed to hurry, on the other, she was so cute! And not bad at planting...it was fun to see her putting seeds in the trenches and cover them with soil--or tuck them into bed, as we called it. If she found a worm, we'd bury him in the dirt and say, "thanks for helping our plants grow, little worm! Maybe we'll take you fishing later!" She dutifully watered each tomato and pepper plant. All the seeds on the edges of the garden probably drown, and time will tell what actually grows, but it was worth it! We had so much fun doing it together. Hopefully, in the next couple months we'll have peas, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, basil, spinach, cilantro, lettuce, parsley, carrots, beans, zucchini, and two kinds of squash.
Some other cute moments: after we'd planted one row of the garden, Nellie stood up and said, "well, it looks like our work here is done. I'm going scuba diving in my pool."
While planting with Kevin, "Daddy, you're so strong! You're as strong as the sky!"
Right before bed, I asked Nellie what Kevin had showed her in the living room. "A funny thing called a bat." Kevin shook his head. "Um...a moustache." Kevin, trying not to laugh--"no, a moth."
It was a lot of work for a Sunday, but there is something very satisfying about taking a shower and drinking a beer after hard work in the sun. I'm not complaining!
Saturday, we bought all of our flowers, soil, and supplies, and put in a couple of hours of prep work before heading out to another restaurant--this time, Macaroni Grill for Grandma Carolyn's 80th birthday party. I want to personally apologize to all the wait staff and other patrons at the 28th Street Macaroni Grill for all the toddler antics--there were four girls under three at one table, for goodness sake. Messy. Loud.
Anyway, we started working right after church today, and "finished" around 10:00 tonight. We raked and weeded, replaced the window boxes, planted and watered. It was HOT, so Nellie spent a good part of the day in her kiddie pool and the sprinkler. Annie, who won't dare to set her feet in the grass, loves the sprinkler! Icy water spraying everywhere--she couldn't get enough. Looks like we have another water baby on our hands! We took one break to pick up more flowers and some chicken wire (and delicious iced cappuccinos at 5:00, which is probably why I'm wide awake), more so that Nellie would finally take a nap than anything else.
When we got back, it was time to do some serious seed planting, which Nellie really, really wanted to help with. On one hand, I knew we were running out of daylight and needed to hurry, on the other, she was so cute! And not bad at planting...it was fun to see her putting seeds in the trenches and cover them with soil--or tuck them into bed, as we called it. If she found a worm, we'd bury him in the dirt and say, "thanks for helping our plants grow, little worm! Maybe we'll take you fishing later!" She dutifully watered each tomato and pepper plant. All the seeds on the edges of the garden probably drown, and time will tell what actually grows, but it was worth it! We had so much fun doing it together. Hopefully, in the next couple months we'll have peas, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, basil, spinach, cilantro, lettuce, parsley, carrots, beans, zucchini, and two kinds of squash.
Some other cute moments: after we'd planted one row of the garden, Nellie stood up and said, "well, it looks like our work here is done. I'm going scuba diving in my pool."
While planting with Kevin, "Daddy, you're so strong! You're as strong as the sky!"
Right before bed, I asked Nellie what Kevin had showed her in the living room. "A funny thing called a bat." Kevin shook his head. "Um...a moustache." Kevin, trying not to laugh--"no, a moth."
It was a lot of work for a Sunday, but there is something very satisfying about taking a shower and drinking a beer after hard work in the sun. I'm not complaining!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Chatty Cathy
In a letter to Nellie that I wrote in her baby book, I said "I can't wait until she can start talking so I know what she's thinking!" It was before she turned a year old, so it's been a couple of (short, fast) years since then. But I remembered that last night, when the following one-sided conversation took place in the span of maybe one minute.
Hey mommy, the heater turned off. Which one is left? Is this left? Oh that feels good on my feet! Big Bird, feel this on your feet, doesn't that feel good? Sit up Big Bird. Sit. Sit. Hey, Big Bird is sitting up by me! I think I can use this [plastic bin] as a stool. Hey, I used it as a stool! Mommy, this can be my new stool! Oops, sorry baby bear. I stepped on my baby bear a little bit. I'M ALL NAKIE! [Bouncing on the bed] nakie baby, nakie baby, nakie baby, nakie baby! Mommy, what'cha doing? I need my towel. I want to wrap up in my towel. Mooooo, I'm a baby cow! Hey Mommy remember when I was a baby and you got me this towel? Whobody got me this towel?
So that is what she was thinking.
Hey mommy, the heater turned off. Which one is left? Is this left? Oh that feels good on my feet! Big Bird, feel this on your feet, doesn't that feel good? Sit up Big Bird. Sit. Sit. Hey, Big Bird is sitting up by me! I think I can use this [plastic bin] as a stool. Hey, I used it as a stool! Mommy, this can be my new stool! Oops, sorry baby bear. I stepped on my baby bear a little bit. I'M ALL NAKIE! [Bouncing on the bed] nakie baby, nakie baby, nakie baby, nakie baby! Mommy, what'cha doing? I need my towel. I want to wrap up in my towel. Mooooo, I'm a baby cow! Hey Mommy remember when I was a baby and you got me this towel? Whobody got me this towel?
So that is what she was thinking.
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