Myriad & Sundry

Growing Baby Birdies

June 23, 2015 No Comments

This year, I decided to try planting some annuals in our flowerbeds out front again. And I was pretty quickly reminded of why I don’t usually plant annuals. Our soil there is pretty much mulch, clay, or roots. Surprisingly, after an animal ate some of them and a few dried up, most of them have returned in the deluge of rainfall we’ve had the past two weeks. We certainly haven’t needed the kiddos to help water them for a while!

Jameson always loves to help daddy with yardwork. Brian prepped the gardens, while I’ve done a lot more of the planting, watering, clipping and weeding for most of our plants this year.

I’ve been feeling pretty protective of our plants which I’ve been caring for. Unfortunately, the tomatoes have a fungus, likely triggered again by this hot, humid and very wet weather we’ve been having. We’re trying to spray them and protect what is left, since it’s still very early in the season for them to have a disease.

We also had baby birds growing in the garden this year. We have a honeysuckle bush within the fenced in area of the garden that a robin was nesting in. We were thankful she never bothered us and we tried not to bother her while she was nesting. Within the week after the mother bird finally left the nest enough to see the baby birdies they were already flying! One day I came up to get another photo and flushed them from the bush. I was lucky not to get pooped on, that’s for sure!

I hope the wet weather turns again soon. Rain is great, but if it doesn’t stop soon I’m afraid we’re going to lose all our tomatoes before they’re even close to ripening.

general life

My Golden Birthday

June 18, 2015 No Comments

For the big 3-0 this year, my husband actually planned a surprise party for me with a couple of my friends! I had been joking with him on and off for years (he’s 6 years older) that he needed to be planning my party! As it happens he didn’t quite start planning that far in advance. I did get the surprise party I didn’t expect particularly because just a couple months before I gave him a pass and told him he didn’t need to plan anything special since we were both going on separate vacations this year.

My mom and sister came up to visit and said they wanted to do a special girls day, so I already assumed I was done with surprises. They took me for pedicures (which I managed to guess at before leaving the house when I saw their shoes on the cooler day) but we also got massages and manicures! It was an awesome surprise, and when I wanted to go shopping afterward they had a hard time convincing me to leave.

We pulled into the driveway, and I really didn’t get it until I saw my friend Emma’s car with her out of state license plates. I was reeeeally slow on the uptake and thought all the cars I was seeing before that were for the neighbors’ house.

To make the surprise even MORE awesome (is that possible!?), Brian had ordered Chipotle catering. It was an awesome make-your-own-anything bar all along our counters in the kitchen. Good thing I hadn’t eaten much yet!

The theme for the party was, of course, gold because it was my golden birthday when your birthday coincides with the date of your birth. I turned 30 on the 30th of April.

The kids’ favorite part were the balloons, which entertainment lasted for days.

My co-workers threw a surprise for me too, with a completely decorated desk, balloons ready to fall from the ceiling (since I had said that all I ever wanted were balloons to come down on my head — like the winner of a game show), and sash, button and crown to wear. We went out to lunch, had champagne and SO MUCH DESSERT.

It was such an awesome week to celebrate! I really feel grateful to have such wonderful friends and family to celebrate with. However, that milestone birthday is really going to be hard to beat!

children

Penguins at the Zoo

June 15, 2015 No Comments

In mid April, we visited the zoo specifically so that we could see the new penguin exhibit at the Cleveland Zoo. It’s a temporary exhibit, so nothing special, but a fun excuse to get out with the kiddos.

We were joined by our friends and the boys were pretty hilarious running around hand in hand (until they nearly ran people over, at which point we put a stop to that)

The penguins were not too exciting. They have a little glass window and one or two penguins walking around on a little shelf. It would definitely have been a let down except we have a pass and weren’t too concerned about filling our day to make our money’s worth.

This also happened to be the day that there was another 2 or 4 year old boy (there were conflicting reports) who fell into the cheetah exhibit! We were all fine obviously, and we didn’t witness it since we didn’t make it up to that area that day, but when we left there was news crews gathering.

It’s been really fun getting out with both kids now that they’re older. Coraline can handle delayed naps and it was finally warming up enough to really enjoy outdoor activities again!

children

Soccer Pro

June 10, 2015 No Comments

This year is the first that Jameson has had “real” games against another team in soccer. I was able to capture his first game of the season (after just about 3 practices), which was great since he was more easily distracted in future games. I guess the novelty wore off a bit!

He didn’t stop to pick flowers during the game thankfully. But he did try doing cartwheels a few times, or staring off into space. Kids are hilarious!

First they “warmed up” by running around the outside of their field, which was smaller than a regular sized soccer field. We had adult coaches this time, as opposed to last fall, and they offered a bit more structure to our experience this time.

Before starting the game, the kids had to point to where their net was. It was pretty difficult for most of the kids to get the ball turned around when it wasn’t going the right away (or they’d forget), so some goals were made for the other team. There was no keeping score though and everyone had fun!

They rotated the kids pretty frequently, and when they weren’t playing they sat on the sidelines and picked grass.

Coraline enjoyed watching the games too, and pretty much ate snacks for the full hour we were there in the evenings two days a week (which were right around dinner time).

Jameson got pretty into it in the first game, but got a little more timid as the season wore on. They rotated the kids that got to start the game and throw the ball in from out of bounds or do a “penalty” kick. All in all, I was very happy with the participation that Jameson got to experience. We even got our first sports photos, which were hilariously posed.

The games ended with a team cheer and snacks (the best part!)

And of course we did the “good game” high five with the other team. There were three other teams we played over the month or so we played. It was difficult a few weeks in May because of Brian and I being out of town at times, but we made it to all of the games!

We did decide after it was over that we’re done with weeknight evening activities for a bit, so we’ve picked back up swimming lessons instead that start in a couple weeks but only on Saturday mornings. Coraline will get to experience the first lessons with me, and Jameson is able to go to his level at the exact same time which worked out so nice. We really hope to spend more time in the water this year!

children

Easter and Spring!

May 13, 2015 No Comments

Easter this year was adorable. We decided to go to a later Easter service, so the kids could find their eggs after breakfast. This year, the weather was nice so the Easter Bunny hid eggs inside and outside!

It only took Coraline a minute to figure out what was going on (though she didn’t find her first one as quickly as she did last year), but then she wanted to eat everything in her eggs before finding the next. She didn’t really get the “find first, eat later” mentality. Luckily, Jameson was a generous big brother and collected eggs that he voluntarily gave to her.

In their Easter baskets were more treats, bouncy balls, and blankets. Jameson got an Avenger action figure the snaps apart, and Coraline got some dress up people. But the blankets were the winners!

After church and a nap, we headed over to Brian’s parents for more Easter hunting fun. It warmed up nicely too, but it was very windy!

At grandma’s house, more than just eggs were hiding outside. The kids loved the little plastic dinosaurs, and Jameson loved the craisins wrapped up. Both kids were a little over the picture-taking and crazy windy hair!

The kiddos always have a blast at grandma’s, and it had been awhile since we were last over so we all enjoyed the afternoon.

There was even some evidence of spring!

children

Birthday Girl

April 30, 2015 No Comments

On Coraline’s actual birthday, we let her open her gift from Jameson (which he also picked out for himself I’m certain). She loved her new Anna and Elsa dolls! They are her favorite princesses, along with Princess Sophia. And Jameson got to play with Elsa, so he was a happy camper.

We had a party for her the next day, on Saturday. Coraline’s 2nd birthday party was much more low key than Jameson’s have ever been.

Between planning for upcoming vacations and work, we really just didn’t want to do the big bash. And I think we both kind of liked this better in its own way. Certainly, the grandparents probably liked it better. The family all gathered for a calm (well, there was still a 4 year old and 2 year old) gift opening and cake celebration. My mom and sister came up for the occasion too!

Jameson enjoyed helping Coraline open her gifts, and Coraline kept her tutu on like a rock star!

She definitely can be a little girly. She loved pink stuff, Frozen and her new dolly. Coraline really got into ripping the wrapping paper and was definitely a pro.

The biggest gift was her new dollhouse, a joint gift from Grandpa, Poppa and Aunt Melissa. But probably mostly for the box it left behind.

Coraline does love playing with the little baby in the dollhouse, and we’ve combed the living room looking for the missing baby a couple times. It’s a clever little set.

I made Coraline’s cake as I have for all birthday so far. This one was one of the more time consuming ones (they all seem to be after I get started). I made a homemade funfetti cake in a bundt cake pan, and cut it in half to make a caterpillar. The icing got stiff pretty fast, but I suppose that was helpful in order to keep it on the cake! It was pretty tough trying to keep caterpillar stripes even, and I almost ran out of one of the colors.

Really, I could’ve just made a big batch of icing and made the kiddos happy. But I was pleased with it! I made it especially because my grandma made me a caterpillar cake when I was a kid, and I think she would’ve been proud of my effort!

Happy happy birthday little lady!

children

Toddler 2.0

April 14, 2015 No Comments

Coraline is now a month into the big 2.0 year. She’s lately become very attached to me in the morning, and doesn’t want anyone else to talk to her (including her teachers). She’s a bit slow waking up, not like Jameson who always perked right up in the morning at that age (not anymore).

It was funny to see her hiding away from daddy in the morning, but now it’s made drop off progressively worse. Otherwise, she’s a ball of adorable energy. When she’s not pretending to be shy, she’s saying hi to strangers and playing peekaboo like at the park this past weekend.

Since Jameson’s been in swimming lessons, I started putting Coraline to bed without anyone else home. She was concerned at first that she couldn’t say night night to Daddy and Jameson. Through the past couple months, it has now become a thing to sing our “night night” song to each family member, plus other people, places or objects.

“Night night Coraline
Night night Coraline
Night night Coraline
We’ll see you in the morning”

Has now been replaced with mommy, daddy, Jameson individually, plus our neighbors family, individually. We’ve sang night night to mac ‘n cheese, the wall, butterflies, bugs, Coraline’s potty and more. I’ve had to start limiting it to two extra verses, but she is not a fan. She’s also been calling herself “Coralee” on occasion, and insisted on that one night (though, right before I left the room, she requested her original night night Coraline song).

Potty training? Not really happening. She sits on it for a moment (half a second).

A week or so after she turned two, she did take a big girl step and got a her new big girl bed. She adored it right away, and loved watching daddy put it together. She tried to climb into the window, which has happened a couple times since then as well. It won’t be long before she won’t fit though! She’s getting so big. She’s 24 pounds and in a size 6 shoe! (We were stuffing her into 4-1/2 size, oops!)

Sleeping and napping has been pretty good; she’s been adjusting to the freedom of getting out of bed, and we had a week or so where she didn’t want to go to bed in it after the initial excitement wore off. One day she even took off her pants and diaper and I never heard a sound at naptime! She’s doing really well now, and loves to talk about her big girl bed. Jameson was a little jealous, since it has a roof on it, and he’s also loved playing in it.

Coraline also got tubes put in her ears for the second time. So far, everything is great! We haven’t had any tubes fall out like we had within a month last time. It was harder this time around because she really wanted to eat in the morning. She always requested a snack immediately upon waking, and when I told her no, for the first time she said the full, big word “breakfast” with a sad little face. We left for the surgery early so we could get her out of the house and away from the food. After walking around a little stumbly, by evening and after naptime, she was completely back to normal.

Coraline loves getting boo boo kisses for all her “injuries”, singing songs like Hushabye baby, Rockabye baby, Bumble bee and more. The other night, Jameson translated for us a new rhyme she was saying about monkeys in the tree. She’s hilarious, smiley, and almost always in a good mood.

Except when she’s not, and she screams herself red in the face and lays flat on the ground, which is pretty funny as long as I’m still in a good mood. She doesn’t always like getting her hair done, but likes it when I’m finished. Coraline also wants to pick out her own clothes sometimes now, which can be entertaining. The first three or four times she had on short sleeves the past month, she kept trying to tug them down because she was confused about the length. It’s finally feeling like Spring!

Bring on warm weather and our climbing toddler! We’re ready!

general life

Racing to Disney

April 6, 2015 No Comments

About a year and a half ago, I started running (jogging). I started out with a friend’s encouragement on the Couch to 5K app. My friend Lauren had already done it before, and was a pretty regular runner who had taken a little break, so she acted as coach and motivator and did it again with me. It took us about 4 months, but I was running a 5K, without stopping.

I did a couple races. The Color Run, which really was fun but not really a race. I tried to do a biathalon, but I biked too hard to run properly so that wasn’t a great race. Then I started training with Lauren while she was getting ready to run a longer race last fall, and I started running up to 60 minutes straight, and then 6 miles, and then, last September actually a 9 mile run.

It was especially exciting because I was confident that I could run an official 10K (6.2 miles) in Disney in February with my family. Of course, then winter happened. Luckily, a treadmill kept me almost in shape, and I could run 3-4 miles on it.

Before the run on Saturday, we spent some time at Universal Studios, since we were kid-less. Brian stayed home, and I went with my parents and siblings. It was really very cold (especially for those of us who packed for 60-70 degree weather instead of 40 degree weather)

My favorite part was Harry Potter world that day, of course. Tyler and I went back then on Monday after everyone else flew out, and I got some photos with super heroes for Jameson, and that was a pretty fun experience, complete with slipping and falling trying to run to be first in line for Captain America, ha!

Saturday morning we were up and ready bright and early, like 3 AM, for the Disney Princess Run. I made tutus for my sister and mom, with glitter and all. We stopped the night before for gloves, having realized that it was too cold to stand for a couple hours without any! But when it was time to run, it wasn’t nearly as bad as we thought it was going to be. The weather for running was really perfect.

I was so happy with my run. Despite not having run more than 4 miles since the fall, I ran the full length of the 10K without stopping (no, not even for characters! we were hardcore!). My siblings were very kind, and ran with me despite my slowness for the entire race. Tyler ran ahead and got photos of my running my first race. My favorite is the shot by the Epcot ball. It was so pleasant to run as the sun was rising in Disney.

After the race, we went back, showered and refreshed, to Epcot later that day and ate with the princesses at Askerhaus that evening.

The only request Jameson made of my whole trip was to bring back another Duffy, so we got him at Epcot, and he enjoyed the day with us.

The next morning, we had our last character dining experience with the classic gang at Chef Mickey’s, where I enjoyed the Mickey waffles, of course. We took photos with all the characters for Jameson to see!

Another highlight of the trip was getting to meet Tyler’s girlfriend. Since he lives so far away, sometimes his life is a bit of a mystery! All in all, it was such a wonderful, short getaway. It certainly wasn’t relaxing, but I felt really reenergized by it, as did the rest of my family since we all decided to sign up for the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon in November!

children

Frozen

March 11, 2015 No Comments

Coraline can now request to watch the movie “Frozen” by name, and frequently talks about the “ice and snow”. Yesterday, she was able to say for the first time in months, that is was “raining”. So before all the snow melts away (pretty please, any time now), here are a few moments we enjoyed outside when it wasn’t too frigid to move.

In January, we enjoyed some sledding at Grandma and Poppa’s house.

Coraline seemed okay with the idea, but after her first run she decided that it wasn’t for her and refused, wailing and crying.

This year, there was no stump in the way down the hill, so Jameson went by himself a couple times with us waiting at the bottom. He even managed to throw himself off the sled when he got too close to a tree at the end!

To entertain Coraline and distract her from the horror that is cold, Aunt Melissa and Grandma made snowmen and snowballs for her to wreck. The best part is always tearing down, not building up, when you are almost 2 years old.

Coraline does like to taste the snow. That’s probably her favorite part.

As usual, I look like a crazy person when I go sledding.

We also had great snow to make snowmen. We were able to spend time outside a couple days between January and February, but we made these particular snowmen in the middle of January and they are still visible today, on March 11, though they are 1/8th the size they were.

Coraline again was not a huge fan of playing in the snow. She didn’t like walking around in Jameson’s old boots, which were too big for her. After we got boots that fit her, she was much more inclined to hang out outside for… a few minutes. It was definitely not her favorite activity! She really liked the idea of snowmen, but would much rather talk about them from the windows inside!

We tried to make an igloo which was more difficult than I expected, so the next best thing was a fort which Brian started. Jameson wanted to climb the fort, and fell off, which he thought was pretty hilarious. He would stay in the snow for as long as we let him, shoveling, sledding, anything!

We had another lovely day outside when it actually was snowing out. This is my favorite time in the snow; I love when the big fat flakes fall down while we are playing outside. It’s the time when snow really does feel Disney magical.

Jameson had a snowball fight with daddy, and Coraline loved playing on the slide. We had fun playing with the neighbors for quite awhile on this perfect snowy day in February.

For several weeks in February, we experienced temperatures below 0, and really we don’t tend to take the kiddos outside unless it is at least 20 degrees, so we felt very trapped in the house for while, suffered all kinds of sickness. Jameson got a 12 hour stomach bug two separate times, Coraline had more ear infections, and Brian had an ear infection complete too after his awful cold. I also caught a cold with fever, which had me almost out of commission for a couple days.

Even with perfect snow days, and evenings with colors like this, I am truly ready for things to start to warm up and the snow to melt. I’m ready to run outside, to be able to take the kiddos out to play (especially now with daylight savings!). Any time now, Spring!

life with baby

Almost 2 Years Old

March 4, 2015 No Comments

I can actually believe we have an almost 2 year old. She’s really trying to show us who’s boss lately, using words like “stop that!” and trying to delay her bedtime by requesting additional songs, stories or “goodnights” from daddy and Jameson.

We had a sick month with miss Coraline, from lingering ear infections to RSV. We had to do the shots for Coraline’s ear infections after two round of antibiotics, and it was tough on me because it coincided with when Brian was out of town for work. It was a difficult month with weather, work, health and family life. I’ll be happy for Spring to appear, though we did have some occasions that we really enjoyed being out in the snow (Coraline is sometimes still a bit hesitant on snow, but getting better now that we have better fitting boots for her). We scheduled surgery for Coraline to get tubes again for her ears after she turns 2.

Coraline has really been discussing what she sees lately, from talking about what she observes in the bedtime stories we read to the clothes she wears. After reading Goodnight Moon, she suggested additional Goodnight things, including house, Minnie Mouse, and soccer ball. She loves playing tea party (though I set up her baby dolls to go with it this time).

Not much activity on the potty training front, except one big event where she pooped on the potty, though not on purpose. I happened to catch her! Because we were in the basement, and missing the potty seat, she wasn’t super happy with me holding her up. Since then, she’s really only been interested in potty training on the surface, but not really in the activity. Sometimes she tells me if she’s peed.

This charming little girl is already getting time outs and getting into trouble! This time around, I feel like Coraline is already acting like a 2 year old, so the upcoming birthday is a bit easier to swallow. I’m making her a compilation video, since we’re only going to have a small family gathering for her “party” this year. It should be a lot of fun to watch her react to her video clips.

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