The Tour

For our birthdays, Shauri gave Abram and I tickets to the So You Think ou Can Dance tour and a night at the Westin.  It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo great.  I can't even tell you how much I needed this.  I feel refreshed and patient and happy.  And did I mention that I love Joshua?     

A Little Catch Up

Larissa and Beck came to visit us.  It's not often my friends from college end up in the midwest, so I get crazy excited every time we get so see them.  

 We went to Erwin Orchad and ate the best donuts I have ever had in my life.  I know you all think I'm a little prone to hyperbole, but trust me on this one.  Here are some pictures of the kids.  Oh, and I should just mention to the world that Lisa refused to share a bag with me because she is certain that her family will eat an entire peck of apples this week.  I'll let you know when they DON'T.  But I'm not bitter. 

Collin, apparently yelling at the driver to get a move on. 

Super Models

Abram came home from work early on Friday with two huge pumpkins ready to be carved.  Here are Max and Emmanuel getting their jack-o-lantern on.

 

Overflowing Heart

Most of you know that I am a fantastic murmurer.   Probably the best I know.  You give me any situation, and I will find the negative, speak eloquently and provactively of that negative, and never let it go.  

Well today I'm trying to use my powers for good and find some positives in my life, since there are so very many.  A few are listed/described below.  

1. Nighttime with the kids -- since moving to AA, I now get daddy time at night in stead of the morning.  What a difference it makes.  At night, Max and I can play hide and seek with flashlights, put together puzzles by firelight, and cuddle in bed while Max falls asleep.  I love playing hide and seek with Max -- he's fairly predictable (as am I) in his hiding spots, but he always loves being found.  Aviva also loves when I come home.  So I immediately pick her up and my little "tumor" stays with me until bed time (except for when I visit the bathroom -- then she just stands at the door screaming until I'm done).
2. Nighttime with Kristin -- even though we sleep in separate rooms, and even though she devotes as much attention to the computer as she does to me, I love that Kristin becomes a new woman after 7.  It's like the inverse Cindarella effect: instead of turning into a pumpkin, she turns into a princess.  She's a great story teller that keeps me posted of all the days events, she is a great thinker and we have had some great conversations about the turmoil our country is now in, and she doesn't mind that I exercise really loudly while watching some of our favorite shows.
3. Cousins -- Keely and Ben play such a special role in my kids lives and in mine.  I love that they make for good playfellows for Max and Aviva, that they live right down the street, and that little Keely is alternately the easiest person to tease and the most brilliant little child ever.  I wish Max and Aviva had more time with all their cousins!
4. Grandparents -- I don't get to see them enough, but I feel their presence on an almost daily basis. 
5. When Max and Aviva play together.  This morning, they played "I'll throw cheerios at you while you run around the kitchen."  Max took the role of cheerios-thrower and Aviva the role of runner.  It was so worth the extra cleanup when Max turned and said, "Daddy look, I play Awweewa and she happy!"  And it was true.  Aviva of course loves to play with Max, and she's very good at helping me find him when playing hide and seek and at holding puzzle pieces while Max and I work on puzzles.
6. Puzzles -- Generally, I hate puzzles.  Oma tried to teach me the beauty and I never learned.  Kristin and Garret like to puzzle.  But I hated it.  Until now.  That's because Max is a puzzling fool.  He'll puzzle anything.  And he's really good.  He can see dimensions and shapes better than I can and it's pretty amazing to see how it works.  Nice to know that he got some of Kristin's genes.
7. Kisses from Aviva -- she only knows how to soul-kiss, which is a little troubling.  I figure I can teach her to close her mouth later.  But for now, some times she just dives at your mouth, snot/saliva/tongue all mingled together in one giant open-mouthed kiss.  Pretty disgusting.  Except that it's possibly the cutest thing she does. 
8. Aviva hates to see me rough-house with Max.  At first I thought she didn't like the violence.  Turns out, she just wants in on the action.  The other day she tried to get involved by body slamming me while I lay on the ground after a particularly intense rough-house with Max.  And that was it.  She just threw her body on me and laid there.  Apparently she thinks she's Andre the Giant and thinks one body-slam will be enough to subdue any opponent.
9. Aviva is FOCUSED.  Nothing deters her ever.  I've never seen such determination in anything not named the Little Engine That Could.  It makes me so proud.

My Other Blog

I've had a few people ask when my recipe blog would be up.  I've made a few references here before, but I suppose it wasn't completely clear that I had already started it.   So here is my shameless self promotion:  Click HERE to go visit You Got Served, my recipe blog.  As an added bonus, Janie is the Guest Chef this week, so you won't want to miss out.  

Spooky Spiders

Joannah came over for Family Home Evening this week and made sparkly feather boa spiders with the kids.  How cool is that?  Never did I think such craftiness could take place in my house.

Jo-jo and I used to work together and one of the highlights of moving back to Ann Arbor has been getting back in touch with her.  

Last Sunday night Keely & Co. were over for dinner.  Afterward the kids wanted us to turn on the music and they started dancing.  We, of course, were egging them on.  At one point Keely was sweating so Lisa took her sweater vest off.  Max then insisted that we remove his shirt.  He really loosened up after that which got a big laugh from the group.  Keely wanted to milk that reaction for all it was worth, so she pulled Max behind the wall, and when they reappeared, Max had taken his shorts off too.  

We started laughing and cheering, and I kid you not, he sets his feet more than shoulder width apart, puts each hand on the things that secure his diaper, and rips his diaper off.  All the while dancing like his life depended on it.  Oh.  My.  Gosh.  We almost died we were laughing so hard.  I mean, what in the world?  It was shocking.  Really.  But so very funny.  

Peak-A-Boo

Vivi is doing the cutest things lately.  She just learned how to clap and wave goodbye, but my favorite is that she spontaneously plays peek-a-boo, and whether you are paying attention or not, when she opens her eyes, or pulls the blanket away, she cracks up at herself.  That's right, shoulders shaking with that big old one tooth smile.  Gets me every time.  

These are pictures of her right after we went raspberry picking.  I know, I know, the white sweater wasn't such a good judgement call.