It was a beautiful moment seeing my little baby becoming a child of God. During Owen's baptism, Lucas and I made the promise to raise him loving and knowing Jesus. He also has two awesome godparents to help him do that. I thank God every day for the blessings He has given me and look forward to Owen knowing Him too - especially as being a Christian becomes less and less accepted. I'm so grateful he has lots of great Christ-loving people in his life!
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Wow - Spud is one lucky little guy! Lucas, Spud and I are being spoiled with not one baby shower but four. We had the first of the showers in my hometown this weekend. Living five hours from there, it's not often I get to catch up with everyone in person. I had a ton of fun sharing this exciting time with people I've known since I was ten years old. Thank you to my mom and sister for hosting, my dad and brother for setting up and tearing down and all our wonderful friends who showered Spud with love and gifts. Like I said, he's a lucky little guy. I can't wait for everyone to meet him! Lucas and I had a "quick" engagement of just eight months. To me, that was long enough. His brother, Dane, and his fiancé, Jordan, have been engaged for 1.5 years. Finally, the big day came... and went! What a beautiful day it was! For a December wedding, they couldn't have asked for much better weather - no snow storm and temps above freezing. The bride was beautiful, the groom cleaned up nice, the ceremony was lovely and the reception was a blast. More than all that though, these two really love each other. It's easy to say that about most couples, but these two really get what commitment is all about. I think there's a couple reasons for this. Both are very family-oriented and both are Christ-centered. Sure, Christians get divorced, but I think the beliefs you have give you a better foundation for marriage. I'm excited to officially have a new sister-in-law and wish the newlyweds years of wedded bliss! Thanksgiving Day is usually filled with family, food, football and naps. Mine sure was! I can't say for sure, but I like to think I started a new Turkey Day tradition for my family with our first ever turkey drawing competition. The life-changing idea came to me when I thought about my almost three-year-old niece. I wanted a fun activity for us to do together (since she's not much of a football fan, yet). I figured making turkeys would be fun without being too hard for her. Well, the rest of the "kids" in my family got in on arts 'n' craft time, too. The other "kids" range in age from 17-30 years old. We all had a fun, and not surprisingly, a little competition broke out between my sister and brother-in-law. The judges are still debating who won. They'll probably have a rematch next year.
My sister-in-law tied the knot back in March. I offered to shoot the ceremony and create a wedding video. She loved the idea. She's been very patient as I kept telling her the video was on the way. This weekend - finally - proved to be the right time. I wasn't traveling and only had a few commitments I could work around. When it comes to editing video, I have to be in the right mood. It's like any other creative outlet. If you're not feeling creative, it's not going to turn out. I was feeling it this weekend and am happy to have already gotten her a three-minute "highlight" video, which I shared here. (I do not own the rights to the song in the video - A Thousand Years by Christina Perri.)
I also created a full-length video for the Mr. and Mrs. This video starts with the seating of the grandparents and ends with the couple driving away from the church. In case, tomorrow or years down the road, they want to re-live the ceremony moment-for-moment, they can. The 30-minute video leaves nothing out - including a few funny bloopers from the pastor. I edited my own wedding video, but this was the first time I edited someone else's wedding video. It was fun to create, and I'm happy I can provide these memories... for free. The amount of money wedding videographers charge is pretty crazy. I like to think I'm off to a good start with one happy client. Enjoy! It’s not often my immediate family comes to visit me in Des Moines since they live in the Chicago suburbs. The drive usually takes five hours, but with a two-year-old and four-month-old, it’s more like six. Alas! We found a weekend my parents, sister, niece, nephew and brother could come. My poor brother-in-law was the only one unable to make the trip. This was also the first time my sister and brother would see our house and the first time we were having a family weekend/sleepover. Since they don’t come here often, I wanted to make the most of their time. Nothing was planned for Friday night as they didn’t reach my home until 10:30pm. My husband and I gave them a tour of our new house, offered them a beer and hung out for a while. Farmers Market Fail While I want my guests to have a good time, waking them up at 8:00am to start checking off the events on the itinerary is not showing them a good time. The number one item on Saturday was to hit up the Downtown Farmers Market. Our home suburb doesn’t have anything like this. The ease and accessibility of many events in Des Moines is one thing I constantly brag about to Chicagoans. You see, many suburbanites have to rely on Chicago to provide entertainment. That means you have to pack up the kids, pay a ton for parking and make a day of it. Not in Des Moines. You can pop down, park, shop and leave in as little as an hour. By the time everyone woke up and got somewhat motivated to leave the house, it was pushing 11:15am. At that point, we scratched it from the To Do List. Maybe next time… Oktoberfest Fun My family may have missed the Oktoberfest celebration on Court Avenue by a week, but they didn’t miss the celebration at Colby Park in Windsor Heights. The much tamer, kids-oriented Oktoberfest was perfect for my two-year-old niece. Inflatable slides, bounce houses, face painting, pumpkin carving, train rides, balloon making, hot dogs and brats, kettle corn, hot chocolate, beer and live music were available for guests. Admission was free but some of the activities cost a buck or two. The only negative to the event was the chilly 50 degree temps and gusting winds. I don’t think any of the kids minded, but I was bundled up in a coat, hat and gloves. Still, we were there for nearly four hours! Noah’s Ark Success After warming up on my couch and maybe slipping in a small cat nap, we were ready for the next item on the agenda: dinner. I suggested a few restaurants to my family like Noah’s Ark, Flying Mango and Django. Choosing between the three wasn’t too hard for them; they were feeling Italian. Noah’s Ark has been on my Places to Eat At List for three-plus years. I was pumped to be going there for the first time. It’s a quaint brick building on Ingersoll – you’d pass it if you didn’t know it was there. We arrived at 7:00pm on a Saturday night. The place was pretty packed. Fortunately, we got a table within about 10 minutes. Holy moly – that’s one heck of a big menu! So many choices and only so much room in my belly. Instead of a basket of bread, they serve you love knots, which are delicious buttery biscuits. My two-year-old niece managed to eat three of them. Between the six adults, we ordered the onion rings, calamari, Joe Bayou margarita pizza, three prime rib specials, steak sandwich, halibut and fettuccine. The food came out a little slowly, but since we had so much of it that was just fine. The steaks were extremely well flavored and the fettuccine alfredo was super creamy. The pizza wasn’t as tremendous as I’d heard, but still very good. The halibut had a great taste, but was a little dry for my parents’ liking. Overall, we were stuffed and satisfied. I’d definitely recommend eating here and look forward to going back. Family Night In
I asked the adults what they wanted to do at night. Options included a Buccaneers hockey game (where my hubby and I met), seeing Chris Tucker at the Funny Bone, Blue Moon piano bar, Up Down video arcade bar or the new Ingersoll Tap. My sister decided not to leave the kiddos behind so we all headed back to my house to spend a family night in. We cozied up on our sectional to look at old family picture albums and had college football playing in the background. We passed around my four-month-old nephew and were entertained by my niece. We had great conversation that is better done in person than over the phone. They left early on Sunday leaving more on the To Do List for next time. Because there will be a next time. The day we put an offer on our lovely home, we knew the roof would need to be replaced very soon. The inspector told us wood shake shingles only last 20 or so years. The house is 53 years old. We figured it was just the second roof and knew its days were numbered. We bit the bullet and decided to replace the roof this summer. We purchased Owens Corning asphalt shingles in Colonial Slate color from Lowe's two weeks ago. For $50, Lowe's delivered all of the supplies to our home Friday afternoon. We also rented a huge dumpster and 28-foot ladder with a lift for this little home project. As with any home renovation project, you should prepare for something to go wrong. Point in case: five minutes into tearing off the roof, we saw a layer of asphalt shingles laughing at us. We now had to tear up two layers of shingles, which meant it wouldn't all fit in the dumpster we ordered, which meant more money for a second dumpster trip. Fortunately, the sheeting was all in good shape besides a small section on top of our screened-in porch, which meant saving time and money on not replacing it. Those wood shake shingles were nasty to tear up. Debris, dirt and wood chips everywhere! Our crew was the best! Lucas and myself plus Lucas' dad, mom, brother, aunt, uncle and cousin and three friends. Lessons learned: 1) Close your windows. A ton of dirt and soot flew in our screens. We had to wash and vacuum each window sill from the inside as well as wipe down nearby furniture. 2) Throw - don't push - crap off the roof. When you push debris off, it bounces off the siding and falls to the ground. We ended up ripping three window screens in the process. On the front side of the house we tried much harder to throw the shingles away from the house. We still managed to rip one on the second story. Not sure how much those will cost to replace, but they will have to wait until another weekend. 3) Have wasp spray handy. We disturbed a wasp family's home when we tore up the roof, and they weren't very happy. I can't believe no one got stung. 4) One story high is a lot different than two stories high. It's surprising how much difference one story can make. One person on our crew did just fine on the garage roof but couldn't handle being on the second story roof. He did an excellent job as our ground crew. As a five-week-old baby, I can't say my nephew Ethan has had many milestones. Sure, he's progressing physically (I swear I saw him do a push up this weekend) and experiencing new things every day. I think it's fair to say at this time point in his young life, being baptized was a pretty big day. He's now a part of the Christian family and has the Holy Spirit working within him. As a Godparent, I (along with the other three) was charged at the baptism with helping him grow in his faith and relationship with Jesus Christ. His parents and the congregation were also charged with the same task. In a society that is changing very quickly, Ethan will need all the encouragement and support he can get to know that it's okay to be a Christian.
Hopefully, I can be there for him for whatever life throws at him - especially considering we share a birthday and baptism date. He's kinda like a boy mini me. Poor kid! For the last six months, my family has been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my sister's baby. This is her second child, and the whole family was just as excited as the first. When my sister told us she was pregnant, she said the fetus was the size of a lemon. Voila! Baby Lemon was the his/her new name. My sister didn't want to find out the sex of the baby until they were born - so Baby Lemon it was until May 29.
Ethan arrived in the world around 8:00 a.m. on May 28, 2014 at 7 lbs 5 oz and 19 inches at a hospital in the Chicago suburbs. (He was nameless for about a day.) You may be thinking his born on date has a good ring to it. I agree - seeing that it's my birthday too! Of all the days in a year, I get to share my birthday with my nephew. That's pretty cool. Lucas and I made the drive to Chicago to meet him Saturday. He's even cuter in person! He's very good at opening one eye at a time, looks a lot like his big sister and is a very chill baby. Ethan only cried when he was hungry. Otherwise, he continuously dozed off and woke up as we just past him around for everyone to hold. My sister said he's even slept pretty well through the nights. Lucky parents! I feel very blessed to become an auntie a second time to a healthy, happy baby. I'm so happy for my sister and brother-in-law for their growing family. "... two countries, four states, 10 towns and 15 houses/aparments." I never liked moving as a kid. We didn't move a lot, but it was still more than anyone else I knew. By the time I graduated high school, I had lived in two states, four towns and six houses. In the last 10 years since I graduated high school I have increased those numbers quite a bit. Today was my last move in what I hope to be many, many years. Lucas and I did not want to get a starter home and out grow it in a few years. Instead, we bought a home with awesome potential and room to grow as our family (hopefully) grows.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to our family and friends who helped us move today! The only people who might be equally excited about me being done moving as I am are my parents. They have been a part of almost every move I've made in my lifetime - and that's saying a lot seeing that my current count is at two countries, four states, 10 towns and 15 houses/apartments. This also means it's my first time having a backyard to call my own. I broke it in the only way I knew how - rolling around and doing cartwheels. |