yeah for food!

yeah! i just discovered this! i'm so excited about it. for you folks in my hood, check it out and consider supporting them. whether it be your time, your money, or participating in their initiatives. i'm especially excited that we have even more local food accessible in our area. i think i'm going to sign us up for a community supported agriculture (CSA) pgm. a CSA pgm. works similarly to pioneer organics (what we used to do in seattle) without the online shopping and home-delivery. and now that the pick up location is even more convenient, i don't see why we shouldn't give it a go. i'm sure i'll still be running to west-side market or the grocery store to fill in the gaps, but, hey, we're supporting our local community. for those not in my hood, check out this website and they can get you set up if you're interested in participating in a CSA pgm. oh, and let me know if you decided to try it out.

why buy local? check this out.

but then i came across this. buying food is so complicated, isn't it? aah...the true challenges of life.

new stuff

i just finished this onesie for one of tyler's teachers at school. they're throwing a surprise baby shower for him (no, he's not pregnant, but his wife is) and asked if any of the parents were interested in donating some items.








other new things...tyler's all new plastic bag holder for dog walkers who pick up their pet's poop. there's a miniature carabiner that can hook on your belt loop or, as shown in the photo below, to a purse. he decided to give his original to his gram, because they have 2 dogs and something like that would definitely come in handy.

a weekend of dining

we have had a weekend full of wonderful food. friday night, gram and pap invited us to dinner at diana's diner where we met their friend mary who was visiting for the weekend. may i just say that their kid's meatloaf is the PERFECT sized adult serving. i can't imagine how many slices i would get if i ordered the regular meatloaf. then saturday night, we had some tasty home-made spaghetti and meat sauce at alan and lindsey's, followed by super fudgy brownie and triple vanilla ice cream for dessert. we ate so much that we all went for a walk to help digest all that food. oren shared his new radio flyer wagon with emma and they looked adorable together (sorry no photo...but just imagine two cute tots sitting across each other cuddled under a blanket in a big red wagon). sunday, daniel and jessica invited us over for some burgers, hot dogs and ribs. it was the perfect day for a cook-out (again, sorry no photos). there were lots of kids there, so tyler had a good time running around. there were also a couple of uniquely named lawn games that were quite popular with the adults (and kids): hillbilly golf and cornhole. how can you resist playing with names like that? we had a great weekend, and are so thankful for the generous hospitality of our family and friends.

look what i found

messin' around on the net last night, and look what i found. i can't believe it's still up after all these years. isn't there an expiration? brings back memories of our gymnastics and synchronized swimming days (LOL...joke!).

on a side note, we had lunch with some friends today. i just can't wait until the weather really warms up and we can do weekly picnics at the park or weekly trips to the beach, barbeques, or something where we all can hang out and be outside. it's the end of hibernation season and time to see everyone again. did i mention i LOVE warm weather??

follow-up

i had my follow-up appt. with my midwife today. things look normal, and we have the green light to go in probably about a week. then we stopped by trader joe's on the east side for coffee and such. emma got to push her own cart. she pushes with such determination that a few times it looked as if she was ready to plow people down (this trader joe's has much narrower aisles...almost like the trader joe's in queen anne). she really liked being able to put things in her own cart. she even started loading it up with 3 tubs of some sort of cheese spread. too bad she couldn't pay for the stuff in her cart. now that would have been nice.

back to the park

the weather was lovely today. it just doesn't feel right to stay indoors when it's warm and sunny out, so of course we planned an outing. nothing big. sometimes we can just be outside in the backyard or the front yard. it doesn't matter. as long as we're outside (plus i have to get my tan on for bathing suit season...ha, ha). today we went to the park to play and have lunch with our friends melissa and layla. emma and layla did a lot of sliding, and both did great at getting to the top of as the slide on their own. then, we saw more friends arriving (some we have not seen in a long while). it turned out to be a big partay at the park. quite a pleasant surprise. i'm look forward to more days like today.

the joys of parenthood (and siblinghood??)

how long have we waited to hear her say this?



it just melts my heart, because it's too cute. we're also trying to teach her the sign for it, but she has a bit of trouble negotiating her fingers. the cutest is when she says good night to ty and says "i yuv yoo" back to him.

another year older...

beef ribs (aaron went to 3 places to find them), an ice cream cake and a brownie cake for my birthday...yum. plus, i got to share the day with todd who also had a birthday today! happy birthday to us.

welcoming spring

the weather has improved tremendously this past week, with plenty of sunshine and warmer temps. sunday, we all went for a quick trip to the lake erie nature & science center...just so we can all get out of the house, hang out together, and clear our minds (for a little while) of the recent event. emma & i discovered that there were tortoises there, which we had never noticed before. monday morning, while aaron and i were at the hospital, emma spent every chance she got outside. she managed to convince gram and aunt corrie to bust out her bike and push her around. tuesday (though rather chilly) and wednesday morning were spent at the playground. we even ran into a few friends there on wednesday. the afternoons were spent in the backyard drawing with chalk, toddling around the grass, and playing in the house. today was even warmer than yesterday, and i decided to have lunch outside on the deck. emma was rather amused by the idea, and especially liked being able to eat and go. the rain is in the near future, but hopefully it won't turn everything too soggy.

a light in the darkness...

the lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and i am helped; my heart exults and with my song i give thanks to him. psalm 28:7 (esv)

we'd like to thank our dear family and friends for their prayers, love, kind words and support this past week. it has been rather surreal for us to experience the loss of our wee baby bean. we are thankful that we can depend on our loved ones for comfort. thank you everyone. we love you all!

lots more photos from mom's visit

these were from ibu's camera. check out my baby flab, uh i mean, baby bump in the 3 generations photo...it's a good one.

finally some sunshine!

saturday and sunday were full of sunshine, and we spent most of both days outside working on the yard (finally...it needed it). aaron loaded up 510 gallons worth of those lawn bags filled with leaves, weeds, branches and all sorts of other dead stuff. emma kept busy playing in her house and with her bike, while tyler played with some friends and accompanied emma on her bike ride. the nice thing about a fenced backyard is that we can let the kids out to play and not have to worry that they'll run off. it's pretty cool, and emma seems content to be left outside playing. i don't know how long this sunshine will last, but we're surely taking advantage of it.

making music

emma really enjoys singing, especially while playing a musical instrument. the second video is a special musical duet with her cousin ben.

spring is here...

...at least i hope so. the past few days have been lovely (though cool), and we were able to get out and take a morning and an afternoon walk. it's soooo nice to be outside again when it's not freezing cold. i wish the weather would stay temperate all year round...i think that would be my ideal place to live. i feel so cooped up during the winter. today after emma's nap, we went to take an afternoon walk and then did some yard work. emma was great at helping. she pulled out all the brown leaves and stems from the garden beds and added it to our yard waste pile. the rain is supposed to come tonight so i don't know if there'll be much outside activity tomorrow. BUT, we are taking ibu to the westside market tomorrow. yay!