Mud on Your Face

Overheard...

Graham: What on your chin, Daddy? It's brown. It's mud.
Adam: Where?
G: (Feeling Adam's chin) It's mud on face.
A: (Realizing G-man is talking about his unshaved face) Where?
G: It's mud, Daddy.
G: Wash. Wash.
A: (Washing his face) Is that better?
G: I want mud on face.

Pool Time

Last summer G was a newborn. Neither of us were very keen on the idea of putting on a swimsuit and hopping in the pool. But this summer, well, let's just say I've been looking forward to some pool time! I have great memories of taking swimming lessons in the summer and I can't wait for G to do the same. Of course, that will be in a few years, but we can start the fun now, right?

The first time we went he cried. It wasn't a "I'm freaked out by this" kind of cry, it was an "Um, this water is cold!" kind of cry. We waited a week of 90+ degree days and tried again. This time we had loads of fun!

G kicked and splashed and laughed and danced in the water. He loved his little raft. He does such a good job of keeping his sunglasses and hat on when we're out in the sun. I think he likes to be able to see when it's so bright, so he just leaves them alone.

We're going to make it a goal to go swimming at least once a week this summer. Yay for pool time!

Splashing Daddy!

Earn Your Keep

We have a massive yard. You may think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. Our front yard is the size of most people's back yards. Our back yard is the size of a lot of homes' front and back combined. And our side yard is the size of our whole lot without the house. It's a lot of lawn. When Adam uses our push mower it takes about four hours to do the whole thing. Yikes! So usually we try to find a good samaritan who will let us borrow a riding mower. Then it only takes an hour. Whew!

Since G is getting older, we thought it was time for him to start earning his keep. He needs to learn some responsibility and work ethic. Chores are good for kids, right? So Adam taught him how to mow. This will free up some time for Adam to do other things during the summer.

Look Mom, I can do it by myself!

Ok, obviously G is not really mowing. Someday he will and I'll be so happy that he's helping out, but secretly sad that he's old enough to run motorized equipment. Until then he'll just watch Daddy mow and sometimes get to ride on his lap. 

I love my guys!

That Glorious Day

I have been to a lot of weddings. I love weddings. I love the decorations, the flowers, the dresses, the grooms face when he sees the bride, the cake, the punch, the dancing...

I really loved my own wedding. My dress was just what I wanted. The flowers were perfect. The reception was fun. Adam was handsome. I wouldn't change anything, which I guess is what every bride hopes she'll say when she looks back. Score for me! I do wish I could go back and do it again, though. The second time around I would savor every moment. Now that I'm actually married, all the stress and pressure and nerves are gone and I might remember the day more. But that's not going to happen, so I'll just bask in the fleeting memories of that day.

When planning my wedding, I borrowed some ideas from other weddings I had been to. One thing I borrowed was the processional song, Agnus Dei. My version was instrumental and the pianist played the main part of the song repeatedly while the bridesmaids came down the aisle. Then they closed the doors at the back of the church and I waited for the crescendo of, "H-o-l-y!" when the doors opened and Adam saw me for the first time. It was a symbolic and special entrance.

Almost 10 years ago I was invited to the wedding of a girl named Ashley. She was marrying a guy named Chris who she had met in college. Ashley spent a semester in Africa helping out at the school where I was teaching, and we became friends. When her semester was finished, she returned to Texas, but we kept in touch through email, not to mention the fact that she left my friend Christy and I a bunch of clothes when she left. Anyway, she ended up getting engaged and planning a summer wedding in San Antonio the year after I got back from Africa. I hadn't ever been to San Antonio, so I went and had a mini-reunion with three other girls who had also been Africa . It was such a fun weekend that ended with the wedding.

I really didn't know Ashley that well and I had never met Chris until that weekend, but I cried through the whole ceremony. It was probably the most fabulous wedding I've ever attended. Not because it was lavishly decorated or followed by an expensive reception, but because it was the most perfect picture of Christ's love for His bride. And it all began with the processional.

An older couple began singing Agnus Dei as the bridesmaids made their way down the aisle. It was beautiful. But when their voices swelled at "H-O-L-Y" and the handsome groom saw his glowing bride for the first time, I literally wanted to stand up and cheer. It was breathtaking. A holy union in the purest sense.

Let's be honest, weddings aren't really events where people jump up and shout while the bride walks down the aisle. But as I forced myself to remain in my seat all I could think about is how incredible it will be in heaven when the angles are triumphantly singing, "Holy, holy, holy are you Lord God Almighty! Worthy is the Lamb!" while Christ receives the bride he has been awaiting.

So as I planned my own wedding, I used that song in hopes that Adam and my marriage might be a reflection, albeit weak, of that glorious day.

Over the River and Through the Woods

A month later I'm finally putting up the pictures of our trip to Papa and Grandma's house. Less pictures than I wanted (much less, I'm so terrible at taking pics), but here they are.

Just playing in the hallway.

"Man, I wish I could crawl."

Doesn't Adam look great in leopard print? 

March Madness Brackets--a friendly competition

Papa and G get excited about basketball.

"Whee! Uncle Brycie is so fun!"

The New Old Highchair

While we were in St. Francis, I asked my mom to dig out my brother and my old highchair. It's a sweet specimen from the 70's, and I love it. Officially it's a vintage Cosco Peterson highchair and pretty hard to find. My google search has landed on one that sold in November on etsy. Lucky me for having a mom who saves stuff! It's made of stainless steel and has a shiny, metal tray. The seat is covered in orange vinyl with flowers and animals scattered across it.

Let's pause for a moment and list the animals represented on this highchair:
Zebra
Moose
Koala Bear
Camel
Ostrich
Yak
Duckbilled Platypus

Seriously, who decided those animals went together? What a random, random group.

Despite the strange assortment from the animal kingdom, G loved it!

My purpose for asking my mom to dig out this relic from my past was not just so G would have somewhere to sit while he ate his veggies. I was planning to take it home with me. Our house isn't very big and we just don't have a good place to fit a huge, plastic highchair. This little chrome beauty takes up much less space and folds flat-ish if it needs to be stashed away somewhere. Plus, it's super cool.

My plan was to recover the seat with some fun fabric. I had seen someone do it once on a blog years ago, so I knew it could work. Adam and I chose some crazy fabric I had in my stash of African cloth. The other crucial element was some clear plastic because, let's be honest, babies are messy eaters. I found clear plastic on rolls at Walmart and surprisingly it was ridiculously cheap.

I was totally insecure in my sewing abilities for this project, so I was glad my mom was there to help. Of course I can't find the blog where I originally saw this project, so we were just making it up as we went. We basically sewed a "pillowcase" for the back and the seat. Then I hot glued (don't look closely) the opening closed and screwed both pieces back onto the frame. Oh, and we found some new webbing for the "seatbelt" part. Adam had the great idea to add a strap between G's legs and I'm so glad we did. This was definitely a trial and error kind of project, but I really like how it turned out.

new webbing, old buckles

And G likes it too!

It's Our Anniversary...

Last weekend Adam and I celebrated our five year anniversary. Five years. Wowza! On one hand I can't believe it's already been five years, but on the other hand it feels like we've been married forever.

We celebrated with a fancy dinner...

...and Adam planned a little game (surprise, surprise) for us to play during dinner. No, it wasn't a shady game. It was a reminiscing game. We each wrote down five things to remember--best date, funniest memory, favorite anniversary--and then we drew one and talked about it. It was fun to stop and remember our marriage so far. There were things we had both forgotten about. Here are a few special memories:

Favorite Anniversary--Although we have fun memories from all our anniversaries so far, the first was by far the best. Adam had planned a surprise trip to NYC. Seriously, how do you top that? On the day of our anniversary we did a massive self-guided walking tour of the city. After our hours of walking and exploring, we got dressed up and headed to see Chicago on Broadway. When the show was over (this is where it gets really romantic), we stepped out of the theater into Times Square and big, fluffy snowflakes were falling. It was like a movie. We finished the night with dessert at Serendipity (with zero wait, probably because it was 11:00pm on a Sunday night). I can't describe how magical the whole experience was.

Best Date--This was a tough one for me. We've had some fun dates. So I picked two. There were no rules to this game; I could do whatever I wanted. My first pick was a fun date that Adam planned a couple summers ago. We went geocaching. If you've never done it before, it's actually pretty fun. Basically you use a GPS to find hidden "treasures." We only found one, almost got poison ivy on another, and opted out of walking through the tick-ridden wooded area on the third, but the adventure was what it was all about anyway.

The next favorite date was the night before G was born. We had no idea how our lives were about to change in just a few hours. OK, we obviously knew it was coming, but we didn't know it was coming right then. We went out for a laid back summer dinner. I ate a delicious burger with jalapeno cream cheese (you know, trying to entice G to make his move). Then we went for a long walk (again, trying to get G going). It was just super relaxed and fun and a great last date as a family of two. I wish we had a picture of that night. I guess we do have some pictures from that night, but I'm not posting any labor pics.

Most Fun Memory--How do you really choose the most fun memory in five years? I don't know. But we finally did both agree on one. Spontaneously on night, Adam and I decided to learn the whole Thriller dance. We found a multi-video tutorial on youtube, moved our furniture out of the way, and settled in for a major dance session. It was so much fun. And we took it really seriously, which makes the whole memory even better. By the end of the night, or at least when we decided to quit, we knew the whole Thriller dance from start to finish. To make the whole experience even more bizarre, a couple hours into it there was some sort of police bust on the highway by our house. We noticed flashing lights in our neighbor's driveway and upon further investigation, we discovered a few more police cars parked just around the corner. Adam sneaked out to hide behind the bush in our yard to get a better view while I cowered nervously on the front porch. When we saw the police chase a guy into the trees by the ditch, we scurried back into the house, locked the door, and resumed our dance-fest. Sadly, no pictures of this either. But here is one of us dancing at a wedding several years ago. Dancing with Adam is an adventure!

Proud

Adam spoke at the K-Life fundraising banquet this week. He's spoken the last several years, so it's not anything out of the ordinary. I just wanted to mention how proud of him I am.

Doesn't he look like a natural up there? And doesn't he rock the sweater vest? The argyle sweater vest, no less? He's so handsome!

And he changes diapers (cloth diapers!) which makes him the most awesome husband ever!