six years in

wow, how time flies!  its already our anniversary again- we have been married for six whole years already!  i remember when i was single i would hear of people who had been married for five or six years and it would seem like they had been together forever.  now, standing on the other side of it, six years is just the blink of an eye!  it feels like just yesterday i had that butterflies in my stomach and goosebumps on my neck feeling when i would see diana.  oh, wait, that was yesterday!  even though its been six years, i still get excited to see her and thrilled that she is going to be by my side forever!
to celebrate, i took her out somewhere a little bit fancy.  my mom was kind enough to watch ledger for us for the evening and the two of us headed downtown grand rapids to san chez.  a really cool little tapas restaurant.  i had never been there before, but diana had gone once before a few years back and had always wanted to go again.
unfortunately they didn't take reservations, so we got there and put our name in but had to wait about an hour to be seated.  fortunately there is a nice little bar attached to the place, so we had a seat in there while we waited.  when we were finally called in and seated, we had a really lovely dinner.  we got three or four plates of different foods and had a great time trying the various tapas.  it was a really cool place, but the best part of the night was just getting the chance to spend some time with my favorite girl in the entire world!  we got to talk and eat and laugh together.  we talked about life and how much it had changed in the past six years, we talked about important things and trivial things, and everything in between- we just talked, really, and it was wonderful!
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ledger's birthday in south bend

we headed down for our monthly visit to south bend, and since it was so close to ledger's birthday, we decided to celebrate with friends and family down there.  we invited a whole bunch of people over: sarah and vince with their kids, miranda and levi, and of course grandpa allen!  ledger was so thrilled about celebrating his birthday.  he's old enough now where he actually understands whats going on and knows that he's turning three!
in preparation for the party, we told him that he was going to have friends over to play and there would be presents for him.  he was really excited about all of it, but he made sure to ask if he was getting cake and if there would be balloons!  well, of course we will have them- its not a party if you don't have cake and balloons, right?
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liam's 3rd birthday

katie, liam, and garrett came to south bend to visit david and diana's mom for a week- sounds like the perfect time for us to go down and visit them too! its always a blast to get liam and ledger together- they have so much fun together!  we hadn't gotten to meet their newest baby yet, so we also got to spend some time with garrett too. since it was liam's birthday that week, we all took the opportunity to celebrate together!  we had a great time and they boys loved the chance to play together again.  ledger sure does love his cousins!
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ledger's art

ever since he was really little, ledger has loved to balance things on top of each other.  its kind of his own personal artistic expression- we call it balance art!  he's actually really good at it and so proud of himself when he gets a good one!  diana and i started taking pictures of the more impressive ones and now when he gets one he's especially pleased with, he asks us to take a picture!  i've been collecting them over on the image gallery page.  go and check them out here!

snowmans

it finally happened!  its been so cold out that ledger hasn't been able to go play in the snow for a week or two.  and when he has, the snow was too crunchy or powdery to do anything with.  well, after weeks of his constant asking about going out to make a snowman, the weather finally cooperated!  it didn't just get warm, it got really warm- i knew we only had an hour or two before most of the snow would actually melt!  which is, of course, the perfect conditions for packing snow!
so ledger asked, as he does every day, if he could go outside and make a snowman, fully expecting us to say the same thing we have said every day: 'no, its too cold', but i was able to totally surprise him and say 'yes!  lets go!'  that little boy's face light up as bright as the sun itself!  we got him dressed up in his snowsuit and and headed out.  i asked him if he wanted to make a big snowman and he got really excited.  so far this winter we have only been able to get snow packed enough for little snowmans (the plural of 'snowman' according to ledger is 'snowmans'...), but now we could get one as big as daddy!  he was absolutely thrilled!  after we built the three balls and stuck them together, he and i went on a hunt through the backyard to find a proper nose, mouth, eyes, and buttons.  for some reason, he never wants his snowmans to have arms though...  after we made the snowman we just played around in the snow.  we made snow angels, and he got to have his first snowball fight!  he didn't quite understand it at first- 'daddy, why are you throwing snow at me?'  but when i told him to throw some at me and i pretended to fall over when it hit me- then it all clicked into place for him.  his new favorite thing, by the way is now snowball fights...
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check out the library

since ledger doesn't have any brothers or sisters, and we don't have any friends in grand rapids with kids for ledger to play with, diana and i really want to make sure he gets some opportunities to be social with kids his own age.  one of the ways to do that, we soon discovered, is to get involved at the local library!  the kent county library has some amazing programs for kids of all ages, but especially for kids 2-5.  every tuesday they have a kids story time, and every wednesday they have some sort of event or craft time.  well, with diana going to watch penny a couple times a week, that works perfectly for me to take ledger to the library and give diana a little quite time with penny.
and let me tell you, ledger totally loves going to story time!  the first couple times we went he had a hard time adjusting to all the different kids that were there, he would get in their faces and just want to touch them and hug them!  he's not so good at understanding 'personal space' just yet...  when the librarian would read the books and show the pictures ledger would walk right up to her and start asking her about the story, standing in the way for all the rest of the kids!  it took a few times of me going up there and bringing him back to my seat for him to understand that he's not allowed to do that, but eventually he got better at it and now sits and listens while the stories are being read.  sure, he still gets a little too close to other kids when he talks to them, always reaching out to touch them, but i'm sure- well, i hope- that will get better soon too!
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bouncy birthday

sarah, one of diana's childhood friends, has a little boy who's about a year older than ledger.  from time to time we have had the opportunity to spend some time with them and let the two boys play- and they both love it!  well, when sarah and vince through a party for shawn, we got invited so of course we went!  especially considering the location of the birthday party: a place filled with bouncy houses!  we trekked down to south bend for the party, to see sarah and vince, and have a great time with the boys.  we got there just as things were revving up into high gear and all the kids headed into the bouncy house room.  let me tell ya, this place was super cool!  it had birthday party rooms for kids, which all lead to the gigantic room in the back which was filled with half a dozen bouncys to have a blast on!  ledger was completely overwhelmed- there was just too much awesome in one place!  he proceeded to spend the next two hours running around from bouncy to bouncy, going down slides, throwing foam balls, we ran back to the room to get some cake and cookies, then back to the slides!  it was so much fun and so exhausting all at once!
we had such a great time- and what a fun party to celebrate shawn's birthday!
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day out with daddy

diana is such a great mom and a hard worker.  she spends every waking moment with ledger, taking care of him, teaching him, feeding him, and everything else that a stay-at-home mom has to deal with!  this can be especially challenging considering the fact that we only have one car so when i'm at work she is stuck at the house with him!  she cant even go out with him to try and get that energy out!  poor girl...
well, from time to time i am able to give her some relief, i take him out for a couple house, just us guys, so she can relax and put her feet up- maybe even take a well deserved nap!
well, today was just such a day.  i scooped up ledger and told him we were going out.  i didn't tell him where, i just told him its going to be a special 'daddy and little boy' day.  he was very excited and wanted to know where we were going.  i, of course, didn't tell him- that would ruin the surprise!  we headed out in the car, leaving diana to somehow manage without us (which i'm sure was a real struggle...).  for our special time together, i took him to every child's favorite place: toys'r'us!  oh man, if you could have seen his eyes light up when we first walked through those doors!  it was amazing!  i didn't even make him sit in the cart- he could just run free- and did he ever! he went up and down the aisles telling me how he wanted this and that (i'm pretty sure he wanted everything), slowing down only to wait for me to catch up!  i told him he could get one thing- and only one thing.  after excitedly exploring for a good half hour, pointing at everything on each shelf saying 'look at that daddy!', he finally settled on one toy to get.  he picked a stuffed eve robot from the movie wall-e (remember, he is currently obsessed with robots...).   we bought it and left the store.  he was absolutely glowing from the fun of toys'r'us!  the fun wasn't over though, we still had more!  we stopped at krispy kreme and had a donut, and then even went and got a haircut.  he was absolutely thrilled by the whole day together!  we sure did have a great time!  and when we got home diana was pleased to have us both back and refreshed and recharged after a little time to herself!
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balentimes

its valentines day, so i wanted to make diana feel extra special (i try to make her feel special every day, not just on the manufactured holiday), so ledger and i worked together to do it right!  i picked up flowers and some chocolates the night before after work so she would see them first thing when she woke up.  she was thrilled, but we had a little more planned for her...  i got up with ledger and we let her sleep in a little bit.  while she slept, ledge and i got busy making a mess in the kitchen!  together we made her some special valentines brownies so she would wake up to a delicious smell through out the house.  ledger was so pleased to be able to make the brownies with me and exclaimed when diana woke up 'mama! mama!  happy balentimes day- i made you a treat!'  he then proceeded to maul her with hugs and kisses!  she was very excited and pleased with her special day.  mission accomplished!
ledger also got some special valentines gifts too, he got a card in the mail from mema and papa with a robot on it (which was perfect- he's obsessed with robots right now!)  it even talked!  when he would open the card it would give a message- in a robot voice, of course- about how he is loved.  he opened and closed it to hear that message about a thousand times throughout the day!  it was actually to the point there he could recite the whole message in a robot voice without even opening the card...  he also got a card in the mail from his grandpa allen!  it folded out into a big card with stickers and everything!  he loved all of it so much that at the end of the day he asked 'can it be balentimes day tomorrow again?'
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pennysitting

i was talking with jon the other day about life as a father, penny is a month or two old now, so he's right in the thick of that whole no sleep thing!  he was telling me that his wife is going to have to go back to work soon and they are struggling to find someone to watch penny.  well, i brought it up to diana and she got really excited- she said that she would love to help them out and watch penny for them on the days she works!  jon and his wife were thrilled with the offer and took us up on it- so now we have the opportunity to see penny a couple times a week!  diana is excited to spend some time with a baby again (we aren't planning on having another child of our own, so she can get the baby times out of her system!) and we get to help out a friend- win/win!
in preparation for watching penny regularly, we stopped over for a couple hours one saturday.  jon and his wife were instructed to have a couple hours together- just the two of them!- and we would spend some time with penny and give ledger the chance to get used to the situation.  it went really well, the two of them came home refreshed, and we had a great time with penny.  i'm pretty sure this is going to work great!

background to the fore

i have had the same phone background and lock screen since i first got a smart phone that could have those things.  most people have fun designs or family photos.  me?  mine is a picture of a stargate.  figures, huh?  well, recently my wife got a hold of my phone and thought it would be fun to change the background when i wasn't paying attention.  she found one of the pictures in my photo album and cropped it to fit.  then she put my phone back and played it cool like nothing ever happened...
next time i pick up my phone and unlock it i was welcomed by this photo- wow!  when i saw it it took me a moment to get my bearings!  looking at the picture in a different context helped to remind me just how arrestingly beautiful my wife is.  it took my breath away for a minute!  and this is who i get to spend the rest of my wife with!
a running joke with us is that whenever she go anywhere and she accidentally forgets to put her wedding ring on i tell her that i'm worried she will get hit on by all the guys wherever we go.  after looking at her with new eyes after this picture- maybe its not so much of a joke... i better keep her close!  hands off, guys- she's mine!  all mine...