petey loves aunt nici's baseball hat
look what i did the first night home from vacation!Thursday, July 30, 2009
some vacation favorites
i forgot that most pics from vacation were not posted while we were vacationing. here are a few fun ones. we are getting excited for our 4 year anniversary next week followed by my trip with Petey to visit Shannon, Greg, Tommy and Maggie. this week has really flown by, we are getting close to having the house "just so"....and then i will turn my attention to the back yard. :) we are hosting a tiny gathering of friends this weekend to say goodbye to our friend kayla from the U of I. she's a navy nurse, off to japan for the next 2 years! oh, and we went for a 5 mile run at lake miramar today - beautiful!
petey loves aunt nici's baseball hat
look what i did the first night home from vacation!
petey loves aunt nici's baseball hatlook what i did the first night home from vacation!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
new toys
Where's Petey? (this is his new favorite thing)
There he is! (he pulls the scarf off himself...loves it!)
Hello, Grandma? Can you hear me?
If I spin it in the right order, a secret door in the wall should open and I'll find the treasure!Monday, July 27, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
breathing in
we're home.
we're unpacked.
we're already working on our normal-life-laundry, the vacation laundry is clean and put away.
we're settling in. enjoying life. appreciating air conditioning in the midst of sweltering summer.
baxter's pleased as punch to have playmates all day again.
petey is giddy with glee to watch baxter romp around the house. the laugh out loud kind of giddy.
i'm striving for balance. equal parts work and play, a little heavier on the play when possible. extra parts me every once in awhile when i can fit it in. i'm reading again. planning and plotting again. some things to do soon, other things to think on and simmer for a bit and make happen a little later.
our life really is grand, its a nice feeling to stop and realize it. our family is what this life orbits around and that's the way i like it. our today started rough with petey's first big fever making the night a longer than usual one, but he bounced back this morning and toughed it out to splash around at swim class, lots of napping and crawling about, great grandma max's cookies baking, day dreams zooming around the room at max speed....excited to see reid at the end of the day for our own little bit of time when the world around us stops, spending the evening as a family. those little moments make my heart feel happy!
we're unpacked.
we're already working on our normal-life-laundry, the vacation laundry is clean and put away.
we're settling in. enjoying life. appreciating air conditioning in the midst of sweltering summer.
baxter's pleased as punch to have playmates all day again.
petey is giddy with glee to watch baxter romp around the house. the laugh out loud kind of giddy.
i'm striving for balance. equal parts work and play, a little heavier on the play when possible. extra parts me every once in awhile when i can fit it in. i'm reading again. planning and plotting again. some things to do soon, other things to think on and simmer for a bit and make happen a little later.
our life really is grand, its a nice feeling to stop and realize it. our family is what this life orbits around and that's the way i like it. our today started rough with petey's first big fever making the night a longer than usual one, but he bounced back this morning and toughed it out to splash around at swim class, lots of napping and crawling about, great grandma max's cookies baking, day dreams zooming around the room at max speed....excited to see reid at the end of the day for our own little bit of time when the world around us stops, spending the evening as a family. those little moments make my heart feel happy!
Friday, July 17, 2009
last friday of vacation
outdoor breakfast by the lake with my cousin, Liz at Alterra which would be my favorite place to go if i lived here.
grandma's homemade cherry pie after dinner. the best. ever.
reading my book for almost 2 hours while petey had a grand time napping.
getting giddy to go home on sunday. :)
Thursday, July 16, 2009
what i'm loving:
*the photos matt did for us
*the 3 weeks we've spent in the midwest with our families and friends
*the great memories we've made in those 3 weeks
*the great gift i just ordered for my bestie from the pleated poppy
*the free time and free hands (grandparents LOVE to help with their grandbabies!) i've had to brew up a list of creative intentions and ideas for the coming year
*training for a half marathon in the midwest...where its flat.. really flat!
i'm also loving that time away from home inevitably makes me so excited to go back. back to my wonderful hubby. and my crazy pug. and my even crazier gals. and my new backyard waiting to be gardened. and my own bed and pillow. and my whole entire wardrobe (living out of a suitcase is getting boring). back to the lazy, snuggly saturday mornings. and the 'how was your day' over dinner chats. and the 'i love you' bedtime kisses. back to the san diego sunshine. and my pacific ocean. and sand in my toes.
i'm loving my last few days of visiting my folks and the family reunion this saturday-but i'm really loving the anticipation of getting home again. there's nothing better than home!
Monday, July 13, 2009
congrats to liz and adam
my sweet, sweet cousin liz - the one i used to pal around with in the woods at grandpa's farm...the one who used to climb up into the trees with me and sweep the corn crib next to me and try desperately alongside me to construct the best fort ever known to mankind with me...the one who even helped me sabotage a deer hunter's tree stand in the name of saving sweet bambi...my sweet, sweet cousin liz is engaged to a wonderful man! i am so happy for the two of them.
my heart is pretty much exploding from joy with all the good things happening to everyone i know these days.
happy 7 months almost-birthday!
7 months ago, right now, i was laboring towards the arrival of my petey. cliche as it may be to say, i am blown away by how time has flown...and even more so by how my baby boy - my teeny, fragile, beautiful new child in my arms for the first time - has changed and grown and magically turned into a little boy, right in front of me. every day something new.
skinny fingers turned to sweet chubby hands.
deep blue eyes that barely opened the first week now glance around the room, taking in every detail.
a thick, beautiful dark head of hair turned sweet, wafty and light.
exploring your voice and all the sounds it can make.
tickling the leaves, watching them sway in the wind with eyes full of wonder.
curiously petting the prickly grass, squeezing grandpa's nose and swiping grandma's glasses.
greeting everyone you meet with a big, excited hug - and the pure joy that overcomes your entire body from time to time when you make your crazy-happy-can-barely-contain-yourself expression.
you amaze me little one. a month ago you learned to sit and look at the world from a new angle.
we arrived here just two weeks ago and that day you decided to get to the sitting position on your own.
ten days after that you decided to crawl.
today you pulled up to standing at the laundry basket.
your strength and your exploring spirit bring me so much joy to watch.
i'm afraid to blink, when i reopen my eyes i know you will be going to your first day of school and after the next blink you'll be driving a car.
i'm doing my very best to live in every moment with you. drink in every memory and savor every little hug and smile you gift me.
thank you for giving everyone around you so much joy. thank you for being such a wonderful, content and curious personality. thank you for the gift of being your mother.
i love you, peter pan!
skinny fingers turned to sweet chubby hands.
deep blue eyes that barely opened the first week now glance around the room, taking in every detail.
a thick, beautiful dark head of hair turned sweet, wafty and light.
exploring your voice and all the sounds it can make.
tickling the leaves, watching them sway in the wind with eyes full of wonder.
curiously petting the prickly grass, squeezing grandpa's nose and swiping grandma's glasses.
greeting everyone you meet with a big, excited hug - and the pure joy that overcomes your entire body from time to time when you make your crazy-happy-can-barely-contain-yourself expression.
you amaze me little one. a month ago you learned to sit and look at the world from a new angle.
we arrived here just two weeks ago and that day you decided to get to the sitting position on your own.
ten days after that you decided to crawl.
today you pulled up to standing at the laundry basket.
your strength and your exploring spirit bring me so much joy to watch.
i'm afraid to blink, when i reopen my eyes i know you will be going to your first day of school and after the next blink you'll be driving a car.
i'm doing my very best to live in every moment with you. drink in every memory and savor every little hug and smile you gift me.
thank you for giving everyone around you so much joy. thank you for being such a wonderful, content and curious personality. thank you for the gift of being your mother.
i love you, peter pan!
congrats to matt and ellyn!
they've been engaged for a couple minutes already...but we finally got around to celebrating properly this weekend in bloomington. i am so overjoyed that they have found such a great love in one another. what a wonderful journey through life they will share, hand in hand...laughing along the way. love you both!
nannen family photo shoot
well, my soon-to-be-brother-in-law matt is a talented guy. he spent an afternoon with us in bloomington to catch some adorable shots of the nannen family all together in one place!
last week of summer vacation
yes, we're still here in the midwest. hunkering down for a relaxing week at my parents' house in milwaukee after 2 weeks of whirlwind-ing through the midwest.
we've been to starved rock/grand bear lodge with reid's entire family for a fabulous weekend family reunion. then on to hopedale at grandma and grandpa nannen's house for a week with side trips to rockford for some financial advising from a dear family friend, to bloomington for an evening and wonderful turkey burger dinner with matt and ellyn, a big huge hopedale style fourth of july with a special appearance from our big gaggle of a group to tell everyone just how much we don't like lymphoma. it rained on our parade, but man did we have fun! isaac and gina were there from phoenix and it was wonderful to see them and we're so happy to see isaac messing around with his pals just like the good old days. it was good, happy-heart medicine for everyone i think.
reid left the 5th of july to go back to san diego and back to work. we're missing him like crazy but have been having fun (feeling a little guilty) without him. after he left, we headed to bloomington to see my "little brother" joel thompson play baseball and hang out with g&g nannen and nici & emmily thompson during the game - and enjoyed some avanti's. we've managed to make the rounds to just about all our favorite restaurants during the trip. :) we spent the next day in champaign with the thompson family with a trip to the pool to let petey splash around and then hopped in the car that afternoon to drive to mt. carroll to visit petey's great grandma & grandpa handel for a couple of days and saw some close family friends out there before heading to milwaukee. aunt lori and her boys came up for a visit on friday, my cousin liz (who just got engaged to the wonderful and super-cute adam!!!!!!) stopped by for dinner and we flopped into bed that night to sleep fast before heading to bloomington by way of chicago for my dear friend from high school dave gibson's wedding to to the woman of his dreams and ellyn and matt's engagement party the next day.
wow has this been a fabulous, fun-filled (exhausting) milage extensive journey! we're enjoying the opportunity this week is giving us to finally have a bit of vacation and sleep in, take naps, laze around the house...eat lots of good wisconsin cheese and custard, visit the lakefront and just enjoy time together. its good we stayed for 3 weeks, i needed a week of vacation at the end to recover before going back to real life.
there are tons of pictures, but i'm not posting them until i get home to my love (after reid, petey and baxter)...my mac. back home this sunday after the simpson family reunion and JUST in time for the red devil ladies hail and farewell party.
we've been to starved rock/grand bear lodge with reid's entire family for a fabulous weekend family reunion. then on to hopedale at grandma and grandpa nannen's house for a week with side trips to rockford for some financial advising from a dear family friend, to bloomington for an evening and wonderful turkey burger dinner with matt and ellyn, a big huge hopedale style fourth of july with a special appearance from our big gaggle of a group to tell everyone just how much we don't like lymphoma. it rained on our parade, but man did we have fun! isaac and gina were there from phoenix and it was wonderful to see them and we're so happy to see isaac messing around with his pals just like the good old days. it was good, happy-heart medicine for everyone i think.
reid left the 5th of july to go back to san diego and back to work. we're missing him like crazy but have been having fun (feeling a little guilty) without him. after he left, we headed to bloomington to see my "little brother" joel thompson play baseball and hang out with g&g nannen and nici & emmily thompson during the game - and enjoyed some avanti's. we've managed to make the rounds to just about all our favorite restaurants during the trip. :) we spent the next day in champaign with the thompson family with a trip to the pool to let petey splash around and then hopped in the car that afternoon to drive to mt. carroll to visit petey's great grandma & grandpa handel for a couple of days and saw some close family friends out there before heading to milwaukee. aunt lori and her boys came up for a visit on friday, my cousin liz (who just got engaged to the wonderful and super-cute adam!!!!!!) stopped by for dinner and we flopped into bed that night to sleep fast before heading to bloomington by way of chicago for my dear friend from high school dave gibson's wedding to to the woman of his dreams and ellyn and matt's engagement party the next day.
wow has this been a fabulous, fun-filled (exhausting) milage extensive journey! we're enjoying the opportunity this week is giving us to finally have a bit of vacation and sleep in, take naps, laze around the house...eat lots of good wisconsin cheese and custard, visit the lakefront and just enjoy time together. its good we stayed for 3 weeks, i needed a week of vacation at the end to recover before going back to real life.
there are tons of pictures, but i'm not posting them until i get home to my love (after reid, petey and baxter)...my mac. back home this sunday after the simpson family reunion and JUST in time for the red devil ladies hail and farewell party.