back at it—the new addition

after a little break (or a big break, whatever, let's not judge), i've decided that i really need to make time for doing this blog thing. not because anyone out in the world really needs to read my ramblings, but because i need to put them here. 
i've totally realized that i miss having a spot to go back and look at what was going on in our family life, what the kids were up to, what kind of projects i was working on (or more likely, that sam was working on), etc. i missed all that stuff and nonsense. i also realized that a lot of times, i was trying to compose blog posts in my head, but was never making the time to put them somewhere for keeps. they need to be somewhere for keeps. i need this.
so, i might as well get back to it. even in my regularly irregular way. because it's okay to be messy, particularly if all this is supposed to be a reflection of myself and what life is like right now, it's messy and cluttered. but it's also good, and totally worth remembering.
it's all okay. it'll be okay. and let's get on with it, already.

to start off with, last friday we finally signed the platt and paid for the empty lot on the south side of our house. right now it's basically a big patch of weeds with two large trees in it, but we've basically just doubled the size of our property. it seemed like it took forever to get to this point (lots of submitting of papers to the city, lots of waiting, needing to get surveys done, and mike attending several city planning meetings of one kind and another). but now it's basically ours, and we can get on with the actual, physical doing involved.
step one is going to be getting the trees checked out and having two trees removed from the back property line. i've always been a little wary of the big trees on the lot for the simple reason that they seemed to be constantly dropping large branches all over the place, and since i've never in my life been responsible for a large tree (or really anything bigger than a shrub), i assumed this wasn't exactly a good sign. so mike contacted a company that's going to check and trim the trees, and hopefully will determine that they're sound enough to leave in place. the trees at the back of the property seem to be fine, but they're right on the property line, and so are an issue when it comes to the fence we want to build around our new, bigger yard. once we have our tree issues resolved, we'll move on to step two, (hopefully) regrading.

sometimes words are more than i can handle

i've been working on a post about some exciting news, but finding the words is more than i can seem to handle right now. so i'm posting some photos of what we've been up to lately (and some captions, because i guess i have enough words for that). 

 about a week and a half ago lucy started walking for real. she still seems to prefer crawling most of the time because she's still unsteady on her feet (and her crawl is a lot faster), but she definitely can go around on her own two feet without assistance. 

 sam has been working on his list of sight words, and has them pretty firmly under his belt (though he occasionally has trouble with short a and short i words, like "it" and "at" or "in" and "an"). since he was able to do most of the words on his flashcards, i started to string them together into short sentences for him to read. these are a few he was able to do. i'm hoping he'll realize that reading isn't too far from his grasp, though i'm not sure that he's all that interested in reading on his own. perhaps we need different reading materials.

air-popped popcorn is tasty AND entertaining,

 and great for sharing.

 road trip view

and a few of niagara falls through a fence.

 a ride around the state park is a good time to relax.

but sometimes it's better get out and walk.

 perfect weather really makes everything feel grand.

 but the water had places to go and things to do.

 and we got a hitchhiker.

 but then it was over.

 and we drove back home.

 to find that the halloween mask had arrived! brilliant!

 there was a lot of picking up sam from school. and girly time with me and my little moviestar.

who was infatuated with daddy's stack of novels.

life is happening, right here

american dagger moth caterpillar crawling up the side of our house

here it is, nearly october, and it's been ages since anything has been put down in the blog. not a word about lucy's birthday parties (she had two), about me quitting my job (i did, and then i didn't), or about sam's adventures in preschool (he started the tuesday after labor day). so, in an effort to catch up, here are the highlights from the past two months:

lu's second birthday cake + lu successfully avoiding the token "messy first birthday cake" photos by using a fork 

(seriously? what one-year-old does this? mine, apparently.)

- the day after lu's first birthday, we packed up the car and left for the family reunion in minnesota. considering the length of the drive (and the ages of our little people), it was relatively painless. we enjoyed a week of playing and cooking and eating and hanging out (and more partying). the worst part of all that travel was having to leave after a week of reveling in the company of all that family (and easy access to lots and lots of swimming), and having to return to real life.

the view from my new office window, right before i quit

- but that's what we did. on monday after returning from vacation, mike and i headed back to work, leaving the kids in the hands of my very capable (and very tired, because they had also driven home from minnesota) parents. 
when i got to work, i officially gave notice that i would be leaving my job at the end of august. it was really hard for me to throw in the towel after being there for twelve years, but it seemed to be the best option for our family (not having to find a new sitter that would meet all of our requirements and still not cost an arm and a leg was the main consideration, of course). so, notice was given, and I spent the day unpacking my office (they had just relocated me to a better office with a great view *sigh*), and trying to wrap up a few projects that needed to be completed before the end of the month. the next day, my boss called to let me know that my resignation was rejected, and that her boss wanted to know if there was some arrangement we could come up with that would still allow me to work for them. i ended up signing an independent contractor agreement which allows me to work from home ten hours a week and i end up having more take-home pay (even with setting aside money for taxes at the end of the year) than i had when i was working twice as many hours and had to pay for childcare and transportation. i did lose any benefits i had retained when going to part-time, but since we are already paying into mike's benefits, it's not a huge loss. i'm still making out better than i would have if i'd simply gone to stay-at-home status. bonus.
the only hitch to working as a contractor was having to buy my own mac and software, but we figured if it needed to be done to continue working, it needed to be done, and we put down the chunk of change (though we'll easily make up the cost within the first few months of my contract) and bought a mac and software. of course we found out a week later that i was going to get my beloved work computer back (they wouldn't allow my personal computer access to the network, and i had network access written in as part of the contract). i now have two macs on my desk, and have done at least one (paid) project on each, so having spent the money wasn't so bad. huzzah.
i started my contract on september ninth, and have yet to have a ten-hours-only week, but i'm enjoying being home (for the most part), and that i still get to be a "working mom" if only in a very small capacity.

lu and grandparents + sam and mike at the concert (packed tight amongst the sea of concert goers)

- the last weekend in august, we took my parents out to the pixar concert at blossom as belated birthday gifts. it was a great night with good music and the foggiest, most surreal-looking fireworks display i've ever seen. i think john williams would have been more suited to our family (sam knows that music better, particularly star wars), but still, it was a lot of fun.

obligatory first day of school photo

- sam started at the onaway preschool the tuesday after labor day. his teacher, the awesome mrs. k, has sent home good reports so far, and sam seems to really be enjoying his time there and making new friends. we did have one report of too much talking (not surprising), but overall, preschool seems to have been a good decision and sam looks forward to the days he has school.

lucy flipping through her books

- lucy, for her part, is enjoying a little bit of only-child time during the two and a half hours that sam spends at school. most of the time she will play quietly by herself (something she doesn't get to do very often when sam is around), and i'm able to put in an hour or so of work. her two favorite pastimes are looking through her books (it's better if someone reads to her, but she will spend lots of time just looking on her own), and going through the box of hand-me-down shoes that came from cousin alice.
this morning we read our way through a stack of books and would probably have kept going if i hadn't popped some baby einstein in the vcr so that i could go make breakfast. i'm pretty sure that if having a kid that won't let me stop reading to them is my biggest problem, then life is pretty good.
lucy's favorite book right now is "brown bear, brown bear" and we've read it so many times that i can just recite it to her (which lucy thinks is almost as good, and likes that best when she's feeling fussy). i think it's the rhythm that she likes, and we often see her rocking back and forth to the words, but i can also see her mouth trying to imitate what she sees my mouth doing when i say the words. if she finds my recitation fascinating, i find her watching me just as much so.
lucy has also gotten to the point where she is easily cruising around the furniture and seems a bit disappointed when she gets to the end, but not confident enough to try to step out on her own. she can (and frequently does) stand up in the middle of the room without holding on to anything, and she can sway and dance and bop there before sitting down (or more likely plopping down) on her bottom.
she is obsessed with babies, and any book that has a baby in it. since baby is one of her few words, she uses it frequently for things that are clearly not babies (like daddy, for instance). she also enjoys giving lots (and lots) of kisses (which i find incredibly endearing, to say the least).
her new word for today was "stinky", which she heard sam say and then kept trying to repeat over and over. she can also say "taco" and "apple" quite well.

so that, basically, is the wrap-up of the last month and a half (or so). we're looking forward to october (though i'm getting anxious about the impending halloween costume making part of the month—ack!) and the candy corn it will bring. we have a few adventures on the horizon, and hopefully there will be more (timely) updates in the near future.

sam in goggles (because, when all is said and done, who doesn't enjoy a photo of a kid in ridiculously over-sized goggles?)

blog bomb

one of my new year's resolutions is to blog more frequently so that i don't end up spending two hours looking through photos and figuring out how to do an update. i'm still not there yet.
here are a few photos to recap our christmas/new year activities:

little elf in her jinglebell hat • results from the strudel run on christmas eve

lucy in her fancy christmas dress (courtesy of aunt angie) • sam at the christmas eve service

a new red light saber (from santa) • sam and his two light sabers

christmas breakfast at g + g's house • grandpa gets lucy down for a nap with his jedi whistling powers

opening presents • christmas dinner (worth the wait!)

sam and his new star wars ships (awesome!) • getting ready for bed in columbus

back to columbus after the ikea marathon • clean baby for the new year

sam in his jedi cloak (from aunt missy—super stoked!) • grandpa wearing lucy's princess leia hair hat

aunt angie putting the love smack-down on lucy • lucy modeling the hair hat (ultra cute!)

lucy with two of her buddies (edison and brewster) • who's that cute girl in the mirror?

the puzzler and his puzzle • sam's "parking lot and map" picture with signature

look out 2013, we're here and we're gonna make it great!

what happened to all the bananas?

they all got turned into banana swirls, of course.

sam learned this recipe on daniel tiger's neighborhood a few days before christmas, and he was slightly (ever so slightly) obsessed with making them (despite the fact that he really didn't seem all that interested in eating them).

in any case, it was a fun activity. and luckily, i thought it was pretty tasty.

here's how you do it:

• take a banana and break it into pieces
• put the pieces into a tupperware and put them in the freezer
• after they're frozen (i can't remember how long we were able to wait before sam's head threatened to explode with excitement, i think it may have been four hours or so), toss them in the blender (i used my immersion blender) and swirl those suckers up until they're the consistency of slightly melty ice cream

it tastes like banana ice cream (but clearly much better for you than real ice cream. that is until you get the idea that it would taste like a banana split if you added some chocolate sauce, and maybe some peanuts, and a cherry on top...you get the idea).

now go and try it. you know you want to.

december update

what we did in december: festive babylegs for december 1st • put up the first ornament on the advent calendar • sam practiced his signature • nice weather meant decorating outdoors (with lightsabers, of course) • the last leaf pile of the year (better jump in quick!) • fresh air makes sleepy babies • sam making a picture for santa • early morning (before kids wake up it's quiet around here) • plaid and stripes for a little bean • sam at the playground • stockings get hung • christmas card gets designed • tree fetching means warm hats and rubber boots • boy does that tree look nice (and so does the little helper) • pretty lights, sleepy little girl • treat maker (and taste tester) • time to knock over some towers

end of november update

after we crossed off all the items on our bucket list, we were off to columbus for a visit. we spent a couple of days hanging out at grandma + grandpa's house (daddy went to the osu/michigan game), and then back home again. we made paper snowflakes, tried making buttermilk biscuits (not too bad), built some babylegs (grey heart ones courtesy of aunt missy), and had a great time baking some holiday cupcakes (from scratch!)

hiking with cousins

one of the things that we did during the cousin visit in november was go to the park and feed the birds at the overlook. in reality there wasn't much bird feeding because three enthusiastic little people and birds don't exactly mix. we did have a good time (despite the fact that i lost my sunglasses), and afterward we spent some quality time on the swings (always a winning activity for sam). we also paid a visit to menchie's (another winning activity), and followed up with some chipotle for dinner (awesome).

filling in the blanks

from november: a picnic at dusk (photo of the lake), hanging out with daddy, lucy all bundled up for walkies, lucy's silver heart onesie, sam at the playground, days at home are a blur

fall 2012

we've been pretty busy this fall, though if you asked me exactly what we've been up to it's hard to remember where the time has gone. i think a lot of it got swallowed up with costume making, but we've been to the farmers' market, down to columbus, to the swimming pool, and all around town (particularly to the playgrounds). i'm really wishing i'd have taken the time to photograph the trees while we've been out and about as they've been more bright and colorful than i remember in recent years, but these days just getting out the door is all my brain can handle. i'd say the peak of color was last weekend, and in the last couple of days the trees surrounding our yard have basically emptied themselves out. we have been out clearing the yard of leaves at least three times since last saturday. the pile of leaves on thursday was particularly epic (for a plot the size of ours, anyway), and sam had a blast jumping in, slogging through, and having me bury him underneath in that crunchy, colorful heap. lucy watched the proceedings with a mostly solemn expression, but it was a lovely 78 degree day with a light breeze, and we all enjoyed being out in the sun (we probably should have enjoyed it more considering that the weather mavens are predicting chilly and rainy for the next week or so—blarrgh).
i keep thinking about missy's bucket list and all the fun things she's been doing and wishing we were having that many adventures. oh well. i guess we've got a little fall left, so maybe we can cram a little more fun in before it's over. in any case, having missy and family up at the end of november will definitely be the highlight of the season (and maybe with them here we'll come up with some fun to cross off, right?)

bubble fun

we mixed up a batch of bubble soap the other night using this recipe. they actually work really well (though not as stellar as mr. bubble bubbles. how i miss mr. bubble!) maybe it's because i didn't use dawn. i'll have to make a note on my grocery list.

another instagram update

monkeying around at the zoo • enjoying the playground • tired boy • a trip to the ice cream shop (a blue tongue is a major bonus!) • sister's carseat gets installed, which means a new "ship" has arrived—right now it's all packed up for a trip to "africa" • video games on PBSkids website are hypnotizing • more watermelon? YES, PLEASE!

another little update

bedtime stories • sam making good progress with his training chopsticks • the painting i did for little sister's room (not sure if i like the end result all that much) • 37 weeks (we're "full-term" now people!)

speaking of full-term, we had a good doctor visit last thursday. the midwife said that little girl is in "perfect birth position" which was good news, and though she thought my bump looked small, everything was measuring right on track. according to the scale i've gained about 17 pounds (though it feels more like 70), and her heartbeat was great. to celebrate this new milestone, i actually washed some of the 0–3 month clothes and put them in the dresser so they'd be ready for little sister when she shows up. i'm still not convinced she's going to be small enough to fit in any of those things, but i suppose sam wore some outfits that were equally tiny, so it's possible.