ready for the wedding

one of the reasons we came up this weekend was for a wedding.  my dear old friend rexy is finally getting married!  granted, we've only met his girl once, but i'm sure they are great for each other... (actually, jeffry lee has met her many more times than i and he vouches for her, so thats enough for me!)  diana and i dont get the chance to dress up too often, so we made sure to snap a picture of it as proof that it does happen from time to time...

morning with dada

one of my favorite times with ledger is in the morning.  i am by no means a morning person, but its an hour i get to spend with him before i have to go off to work.  well, today i dont have to work, so i can spend some extra time with my favorite boy!  this morning was extra special: its his first birthday!  we arent going to have the chance to do anything special on his exact birthday, but we will have a party with the family on sunday.  in fact, diana and i arent even going to see much of him on his real birthday- we have a wedding to go to!  so this particular morning with my boy was especially nice, knowing that its all i would have with him today.  he had a bit to eat and then we both go down on the floor and played for a while.  before we knew it, the rest of the house was coming to life- mema and papa soon joined us!
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little amigo

friday morning we woke up, took our time getting ready, enjoyed the late check out at the hotel, and grabbed a bit to eat for lunch.  i called jill and asked what time we should come and get ledger and she said that he is going to be taken care of all day between her and mom, so the two of us should continue to enjoy our free day together.  wow!  we certainly didnt expect that, so we took full advantage!  we went out for lunch, did a bunch of shopping, and just enjoyed the day together.  finally, around dinner time, we met up with mom and papa at the local mexican restaurant tres amigos and finally got to see our little guy again.  he was so excited when he spotted us from across the restaurant as they came in with him!  and now, fully refreshed, we were just as thrilled to see him again too!  its been an amazing four years, and look at what we have to show for it: an adorable joyful little ledger!
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anniversary dinner

when i told diana that we were going to be doing something special for our anniversary i told her that there was one important thing that she would need to pack: a tiara!  she got one to wear in our wedding, and one at disney world, but she never has much reason to wear them.  so i told her that she would have to wear it for our big anniversary plans.  she was excited about it when she packed, but when we got to the hotel and were getting ready to go out, she was feeling a bit more self conscious about it and didnt really want to.  as a way to encourage her, i told her that i would wear one too!  unfortunately she didnt take me up on that offer, but she did put hers on and we headed out for dinner!  we had a bunch of different options for places to eat, but good ol' diana had a hankerin' for some buffalo wings, whch meant we ended up at bw3 for our anniversary dinner.  you know us, we aint puttin' on airs!  we had a great time, got to have some grown up conversations (a welcome reprieve from our usual baby talk!) and just sit back and enjoy a good old fashioned date together. it was a really fun night and a much needed chance to reconnect with the woman i love!  four down, forever to go!

anniversary 4

when its spring break i know what that means: its our anniversary!  its time to celebrate four amazing years together!  we planned to have a nice romantic weekend together, there's just one problem: we have a kid.  hmmm.  well, with the help of my family, we still made it happen!  my sister volunteered to take our little ledger for a night so that diana and i could have a night away with just the two of us- what a treat!  we drove up to grand rapids thursday afternoon and dropped off ledger at jills, poco and mom and papa's, and then had the night to ourselves!  we started by checking in to a hotel in grandville that i had booked- it was the best one i could find that had a Jacuzzi in the room- fancy!  we got in the room and the first thing diana does? cashes out on the bed.  sorry girl, no early bedtime tonight!  we checked out the room, unpacked a bit, and then we were off to enjoy our night with just the two of us.
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diapers

wanna know how amazing my friends are?  well, let me tell you: jeffry lee and brains knew that by coming up for the weekend meant that i had to take off of work on saturday.  me working on saturday is very important for my family- its how we afford the weekly formula and diapers!  knowing this, jeffry lee and brains surprised me with a gigantic box-each- of diapers to make up for the day i wouldnt be able to work!  its almost heartbreaking how beautiful of a gesture that is, huh?  and let me tell you, these boxes are humongous!  each of these boxes will last twice as long as the boxes i usually afford- that means these dear friends have provided us with a month's worth of diapers!  wow!  i am humbled by this truly incredible act of love on their part. all i am left to say is thank you, thank you so much.  thank you.

headed home

monday morning was that same old routine: pack up and head home!  ledger took his first nap at mom and papa's place, but then we headed out, stopping by tim and jills to say goodbye to the kids one last time before heading back to indiana.  before we left jill insisted that she and the kids wanted to have a sleep over with ledger and give diana and i a bit of a brake for a night.  hmmm, i'm pretty sure we will take you up on that one!  over all, the two of us had a great time on this mama-less extended weekend with the family- we will definitely have to do it again soon, but this time with mama!
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miss you, mama

sunday afternoon we got the chance to connect with diana for a while on face time.  my mom recently got an ipad, so we tried it out with that- wow!  its really strange to have a screen that big!  i'm used to the little iphone screen, so this was quite a shock!  i think part of the shock was seeing such a beautiful enchanting face looking back at me- my heart went a bit aflutter!  ledger sure liked the chance to see his mama, thats for sure!  it had been a couple days since last we were able to face time with diana, so ledge was really excited to see mama again- and on such a large screen!  it sounded like she was having a great time with the girls, but i was certainly looking forward to having her back, and so was ledger!

sunday fam

after sunday church everyone came over for a fun lunch and afternoon of playing around.  the girls had a blast playing along with ledger, and jackson and i got the chance to play a bit on his nook.  i had taken monday off from school as well, so one of the best parts of sunday was being able to relax knowing that i wasnt going to have to drive back and be up for work in the morning!  by evening mom and i even got to play another round of cards and everything!  i best be careful, i could get used to this no working thing...
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shake night

saturday night mom offered to watch ledger again, so i made the most of it!  i met up with jeffry lee, brains, and his wife for a night of fun.  we hung out at jeffry lee's place for most of the night, except there was a rather strange- and exceptionally funny- visit to the local gas station in there too.  brains had been talking up this shake making machine that they have at the gas station, going on about it for an hour, and so finally the rest of us agreed to drive over and check it out.  to put it kindly, i was woefully unimpressed, but got such a big laugh out of it all that it was worth it none the less!  by the end of the night all of us decided to call it quits because our stomachs hurt too much from the hours of laughter together.  certainly one for the ages!

breakfast castle

saturday morning i got up with ledger and got to spend some quality time with him.  when we were all up and ready; mom, papa, ledger, and i met up with tim and the kids for breakfast.  it was great to see those three goofballs again!  aves seems to be developing her creativity because she made a totally awesome castle out of coffee mugs, creamer, and sugar packets!
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dj aaron

after having a blast at the nerdist show, our night wasnt even over- we then headed out to grand haven to listen to a dj.  it just so happens that the dj we went to see was our good ol friend aaron!  he's always loved techno music and a few years ago he got himself some turntables and has been honing his skills ever since.  well, he finally go the chance to do a little mixing in public!  jeffry lee, brains, and i were certainly not going to miss the opportunity to listen to him, so we made sure to stop by.  i didnt tell him that i was in town for the weekend, so he was pretty surprised to see us walk through the door!  it was really cool to see him up there doing his thing.  after he finished his set he came by and we got a chance to just hang out and talk with him for a while too!
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nerdy laugh fest

apparently this is something that happens every year in grand rapids, i've just been gone to long to realize it.  every year they have a comedy festival called gilda's laugh fest, a ten day festival with dozens of big name comedians who come in to town and perform.  it just so happened that one of my favorite podcasts, the nerdist, was actually going to be recording a show at the festival!  jeffry lee and brains enjoy the guys in nerdist as well, so we went to see them perform.  it was a lot of fun, they performed at fountain street church and some how jeffry lee snagged us front row seats.  literally, we got to sit in the front row!  how awesome is that?!?  the nerdist podcast is made up of three guys: chris hardwick is kind of the host, and matt mira and jonah ray are his good friends who also happen to be stand up comedians.  the show started off with each of the three guys doing a 10-20 minute comedy set and ended with the three of them hanging out on stage recording their podcast live.  it was so awesome to have a chance to see them in person- and with my two best friends, no less!
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japan lunch

knowing that my mom was willing to take care of ledger for the night, jeffry lee and i had made some big plans for the day:  we, along with brains, were going to go downtown for the night and see a show!  the whole way down we were thinking that we should stop somewhere and get a bite to eat but fast food wasnt going to cut it.  when we parked and walked around a bit downtown we came across this little gem: an asian restaurant!  so we headed in to xo and had some amazing food- i can not get enough of that sushi!
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pizza stop with jeffry lee

as i was driving up with ledger i remembered that jeffry lee wasnt working that day, so i called him up and asked him if he would like to go out for lunch.  he said 'sure', so ledger, stink, and i stopped by his place on the way to mom and papas.  he hopped in and we dropped off the dog and headed over to pizza hut where mom works part time.  i figured she might like it if her son and grandson stopped in for a quick visit.  i was right.  she was so excited to have us there, another chance to show off her little ledger!  it worked out great too because we had come just as the rush was ending and so after about 15 minutes we were the only people left in the whole place.  it was nice because it gave mom a chance to come over and join us for a little while.  she was so excited about the weekend ahead- unlimited time with ledger!
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off we go!

often times diana will go and visit friends or family with ledger for a couple days.  unfortunately, i have to work so i cant go along.  actually, this is why she goes, because i'm at work and her trips give her a chance to have some help with ledge during the days when i'm working, and so that her family and friends get a chance to spend some quality time with ledger too!  well, i finally told her that it was my turn, not for some time away necessarily, but it was my turn to take ledger and give her some free time to just enjoy herself a little bit!  i'll tell ya, she didnt really complain about that one at all, thats for sure!  so she worked it out with her friends, and they all took an extended weekend away in south bend and had some good ol fashioned girl time.  i was really excited too, a chance to spend time with my boy!  i used my two vacation days, and ledger and i headed on friday morning to go up to grand rapids and spend some time with mema and papa.  as you can see, he was eager to get going as well!

for a ride

our friends sarah and vince have a child, sean, who is about a year older than ledger.  wonderfully, sarah offers from time to time to give us stuff that sean has grown out of- and of course we gladly accept!  one of the things that she had given us recently is this little wheeled monster!  i put ledger on it and he had a blast kicking around on it.  granted, he's still too little to actually push himself on it, but it was so cute to put him on it and push him around the house- he and i both laughing all the while!

first drawing

the other day diana and ledger went out for lunch with julie, an old co-worker from the salon.  they had a great time- julie always showers ledger with so much affection!  well, while they were at the restaurant the waitress gave ledger a crayon to draw with on the place mat.  when i got home, diana showed off ledger's first drawing!  oh, i was so proud of my little boy!  i have a feeling that ledge will be a very good artist- diana and i are both pretty good drawers, and diana's dad is a professional painter, so its kind of in the genes, huh?  when i saw it i made sure to put it on the fridge- our first child artwork!

happy smiles

this is the lovely sight i have the joy of coming home to every day!  a cute smiling baby, and an even cuter smiling wife!  granted, their reasons for smiling might be a little different: ledger is smiling because dada's home and he's got someone new to play with, and diana is smiling because she finally gets a break!  little do they know that i'm smiling for the same reasons: i get to play with my son and i get to give diana a little rest from her long day.  smiles all around, then!

gift mess

with ledger's birthday just around the corner, we've actually gotten a few gifts sent to him!  lissa got ledger a gift and sent it to us the other day and our little guy just loved it!  well, to be honest, he didnt really much care about the gifts, he was all over that packaging though!  lissa got him a really cool onesie and a couple pairs of shoes which we really love- perfect timing too because he had just recently grown out of the pair we have been putting him in- thanks lissa!

a little face time

this is what always puts our little one in a good mood: taking to his mema on the phone!  since we now live in the future, talking on the phone isnt just voices but actually talking back and fourth with video chat!  ledger really loves the chance to see mema and papa, although i'm pretty sure mema and papa love it even more!  since we live two hours away from my parents, they dont get to see ledger quite as much as they would like so, so doing the video chat thing has been such an amazing blessing for us!  and every time i pull out the phone and call with face time, ledger gets really excited.  when he sees mema and papa he touches the screen- and sometimes accidentally bumps the button to hang up on them...  well, the technology isnt perfect, but it sure is wonderful that ledger and his grandparents get some quality time together!

eat up

we've been introducing ledger to more and more different types of foods.  our goal is to get him to eat all different kinds of food so we have been mixing it up a bit and giving him chunks of apple, hummus, peppers, yogurt.  basically anything we can find around the house.  usually he gives a disgusted face when he first tries something- thats kind of his default face when he is eating.  sometimes though he is willing to try another bite, and thats when you know its something he likes!  granted, that doesnt happen as often as we would like, but we are trying!

worth a try

diana and i decided to head down to merrillville and check out whats shakin'.  we hadnt been down there since before christmas, so we packed up the baby and drove down.  we had grand plans to wander around the mall for a while, then go out to enjoy a nice dinner together.  well, we tried the mall thing, but we were both getting a bit cranky and realized that it was because we were both starving!  when we got out to the car we tried to figure out where we wanted to go to eat but for some reason the only thing that sounded good to both of us was arby's!  go figure.  by the time we were finished eating and feeling much better, well thats when ledger decided he would woop it up a bit!  now he was cranky and loud, so we just decided to pack it up and head back home.  sometimes going out isnt quite what you hope it will be.  thankfully we havent had too many times where we had to give up.  when all was settled and back home ledger was as quiet as a mouse.  figures!

toys away

ledger has been getting better and better at playing.  it sounds weird, i know, but as he is getting a bit older, he is actually able to do some real playing.  up until now he would just grab toys and shake them around in his fist and look at them.  but now, now he is actually interacting with the different toys and trying to make sense of them.  one of the cutest things he did the other day was take a stuffed lion off the floor and then put it into the bin that it belongs in!  wow- he's already learning to clean up after himself!  maybe he could teach me a thing or two about that...
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