pinterest poser

Anyone who frequents Pinterest has probably seen that photo of the tutu-wearing baby sitting in a yellow suitcase. I have never tried to do a staged-pose photo shoot with my kids but it occurred to me that I already had all of the props in that photo so I thought it might be fun to try. At worst it could end up as a funny Pinterest fail post. So, one cloudy morning last week I showed the pin to Liam and asked if he wanted to be my assistant and make a picture like that of Vivian. "Yes!", he responded and took off running to her room where he came back with the tutu and suitcase in hand. As I changed the lens on my camera I glanced over in time to see him, tutu on head, open the suitcase, grab Vivian and toss her in. Already we were not starting off well. I checked her for bruises, calmed her down and got her dressed up. He actually did a great job of standing behind me and getting her to look. We didn't get and great smiles (what can you expect after being dropped on her head that early in the day?) but they actually turned out cuter than I expected considering I am not a professional photographer. I respect the work of photographers and their copyrights so I am not posting the inspiration image but you can check it out here to compare.

Love that girl.

international escape

On Christmas morning the first gift Phil had me open was a tour guide to Vancouver, BC. “Ok, that’s nice to have in case we ever go there.”  I thought. Then he told me to open it, where I found a printout for the Groupon deal he had purchased for a weekend away. He had thought of everything, he arranged my mom to come up and babysit, and he had scheduled it for April to give me enough time to mentally prepare for being away from the kids that long (as well as time to store up enough breast milk.) So, last weekend we set off for our getaway. We have only been on a weekend alone together once in the past 4 years, so even though it was only 3 hours away, it felt like going to Europe.

We stayed at a very cool little boutique hotel that was actually across the water from downtown Vancouver, overlooking the city. We were out on a pier that housed an indoor market (similar to Pike’s Place) and the top two floors were the hotel. Just down the pier was a water taxi that took us straight into the heart of downtown.

Highlights of the trip:

• We got lost multiple times but we didn’t care because no one was crying in the back seat.
• We ate 3 meals every day. All of them were at normal meal times. All were delicious. And none of them did we have to make, serve, or clean up. And, no one was crying while we ate.
• Within the first hour of arriving, we found the most perfect little handmade gifts for each of our kids. “So now we can just forget about them for the rest of the weekend.” Phil said. 

Well, I didn't quite forget about the kids (especially since I still had to pump every 4 hours). But we did enjoy the time away and it was just long enough to make us very glad to see them when we returned home. I am feeling very blessed.

future olympian?

This winter we enrolled Liam in the local parks & rec gymnastics program to give him an outlet for his energy during the colder months. He has loved it so much that we decided to let him continue with the spring session as well. At the end of his first session last month they had a little award ceremony that the parents were invited to come watch. Phil took a couple of hours off work to come see it and I am so glad he did. It meant a lot to Liam. 

march madness

March was an action-packed month for our family. The first week we had Phil’s brother Mark and his wife Heidi visiting from Asia with their three kids, Eli, Jack, and Kate (who we were meeting for the first time!). Unfortunately, our families have outgrown the days when they could stay with us so this time they were over at Aunt Nancy & Uncle Mike’s house. While they were here we got to do a few fun things together like take the kids on a monorail ride downtown and also visit Great-Grandma Eva. I am so glad our kids have cousins their same ages!

The next weekend was my parent’s 40^th anniversary party, which AnneMarie and I had been planning for months. Still waiting to get the photos back from our photographer friend who graciously offered to shoot the event (ahem, Megan ;)). Can’t wait to see how they turned out! It was a luau themed event hosted at the home of a long-time family friend. It was so wonderful to celebrate with my parents and it reminded me of how blessed we are to have such a wonderful example of marriage. 40 years!

  

Then, the weekend after that was Palm Sunday and we dedicated Vivian at our church. We were blessed to have many friends and family join us that day and it ended up being more emotional that I expected as I reflected on all the uncertainty we had during my pregnancy and how, a year ago at this time, we didn’t even know if we would have her now. God is good.

That Friday was “Grandparent’s Day” at Liam’s school. Both of my parents went and got to read stories with the kids, go to recess, and have snack time. He was so excited he wanted them to come with him to school every day!

Then came the Easter celebrations. Holidays sure are a lot more fun with little kids now. Baskets, bunny ears, egg hunts with cousins. It’s the best!

valentine's day

Before the calendar had even turned to February I realized something, I now have a child in school, which means a school Valentines Day party! I realize how silly and over-blown and commercial this holiday is, but I also remember how fun it was as a child to come home from school with a paper bag full of silly notes with candy taped to them from each of my classmates. I immediately logged on to Pinterest for some inspiration. Whoa, I was not prepared for that. I ogled over the plethora of possibilities: cleverly worded puns, homemade crayons, candy bouquets…

The I reeled myself back in to reality and realized that, although it may be irresistibly cute, I couldn’t see myself finding time to dress up 24 tootsie pops in miniature super hero costumes.

So, I settled on something simple, non-commercial, and (slightly) healthier. I filled dollar-store printed bags with strawberry cereal and teddy grahams. Liam signed each of them with his name (writing practice bonus!) and we called it good. 

 

Perhaps the most special thing about Valentine’s Day this year was that Phil had decided all on his own to take the morning off and volunteer in Liam’s classroom. The teachers were thrilled to have a parent helper for the party and Liam was so proud to show off his daddy. We all woke up and ate breakfast together and then I sent them off while I stayed home with a still-sleeping baby and enjoyed coffee and heart cookies in peace and quite. I was so happy I actually cried.

That night we had a “family date at home.” We had a candlelight dinner of cheese fondue followed by chocolate fondue for dessert. It was perfect.