poke it with a stick.

week 27

2012-02-16T20:04:00.000-06:00

finally! i finally got to feel our little man kicking! diana has been able to feel him wiggle around for months now, but every time i made it over to her he would be quiet as a mouse! but this week, this week i finally got to feel him in there. i had my hand on diana's belly for a while and then there was a faint little nudge. i wasn't sure what it was, but it was definitely movement! how amazing! i immediately had flashes of the movie 'alien'. and that's exactly what it felt like- some sort of strange alien creeping around in there! diana has been quite used to it by now, but every once in a while he will startle her too. all the stuff she has been reading and showing me said that he's testing out his different limbs and practicing his muscle use. i guess that means he's doing pretty well, huh? only 13 more weeks and we get to do more than just feel him!

peeking poco!

2012-02-16T19:40:00.001-06:00

we have been hanging around the house too much lately. how do i know this? well, because my phone has been filling up with pictures of my dog! we have a gross little chihuahua, and he becomes the center of our world when we have nothing else to do. disgusting, i know, but its the truth! (which is another reason we are looking forward to this new baby, just for a change of focus!) anyway, i figured i better share some of these gross pictures on here...

pics: 1, 2, 3

week 26

2012-02-16T19:23:00.003-06:00

things are still going well around here. diana has been feeling good, eating well, and sleeping a fair amount. we keep reading and hearing about the dreaded third trimester and how all that good stuff will go away again, so we are trying to enjoy the positive stuff now. she's starting to feel a bit big, struggling with putting shoes on and the like, but so far so good!

out with the old...

2012-02-16T19:15:00.002-06:00

for many many years, almost too numerous to count, i have been wanting a new tv. granted, i have a really big tv (36 inch) and can't complain, but i have always looked longingly at those fancy new flat screens. as the years go by i have, on occasion, saved up some money, stuffing away a twenty here or there, but never really getting close to getting a new tv. a few years ago i had saved up several hundred and was about half way to the tv of my dreams when our dog decided that he needed a bunch of medical stuff, there by eating up all my hundreds of dollars. a couple times since i have tucked away a pretty good stash, but thats when car problems or dentistry would rear its ugly head and dash away all my hopes. i felt like sisyphus treking up mount tv! well, now all that has changed...

in with the new!

2012-02-16T19:15:00.001-06:00

it finally happened!!! the wife and i were blessed over this christmas season, and now that dream has finally become a reality! when diana first proposed that we should spend the money on a new tv, i shrugged it off and told her that there were other things to spend it on. she insisted, and i told her no. she insisted a third time, and i'm no fool- i had already given her two opportunities to back down, but she didnt take it. that means i am going for it! near the end of my christmas break we headed on over to best buy to see what deals they had. i wasnt planning to come home with a new tv, i just wanted to see if there were any deals, and then come home and shop around a bit online. well, there just so happened to be a deal and i walked out with a new 55 inch flat screen tv!!! i was as giddy as a child! after buying the tv we soon realized that there was absolutely no way it was going to fit in our car, so i made a quick call and borrowed a truck from someone i work with and picked up that 55 inch beauty! we got it home, set it up, and i still cant wipe the grin off my face- it finally happened! i would have been pleased with a 42 inch, i never dreamed that i would be able to bask in the glory of a 55 inch monster! we got it all set up, uncontrollably laughing all the while, and turned it on- wow! the next day i did what i had always planned when ever i got a new fancy tv: i finally opened my 'avatar' blu ray and popped it in. i never dared watch it on the old tv, that would be an insult! let me tell you, it was gorgeous! later that week we called the satellite company and upgraded to high def, and it has been amazing. i am continually impressed with the picture quality and, of course, the size of this thing!
in short, thank you to everyone who gave us money this christmas, and thank you especially to my amazing wife who was surprisingly on board with the new tv purchase!
(more pics)

packing in

2012-01-31T19:53:00.001-06:00

the rest of the night was a great one, up at the cabin. unfortunately i am not at liberty to share much about it. you know, 'loose lips sink ships' and all that... but the next morning, after a bunch of sleeping, we were back to having a great time! usually when we are up at the cabin there is a deadline for when we have to leave by. often one of us will have some sort of plans that day that we need to get back home for, which forces the rest of us to pack it in a bit earlier than we might like. well, this year there was no such time frame- so we took our sweet old time packing up! finally, around three or four in the afternoon, we had finished lounging around, packed up all our stuff, cleaned the place nice and good, and were ready to leave. another cabin year successfully completed! on the way home we were already talking about next year! (this picture is very funny, but its one of those things that cannot really be explained...)
(more pics: 1, 2)

sports night

2012-01-31T19:45:00.001-06:00

after all the gun fun, it was time to eat up! we headed up to baldwin for a little bit of grub at our usual watering hole: sporties. we had a good time remembering all the zany antics we have had in years past up there, including the old shuffleboard game as well as adam's karaoke tribute. the great thing about this place is that every time we go there is a strange assortment of locals to just sit back and watch. whether its the waitress serving us who always seems to get flustered and mess up our order, the creeper cook behind the window, or the local drunks who always have something to say. this year was no exception! the thing is though, the food is always really good, so we keep going back! now, with our bellies full, we head back to the cabin for a night of games and goofing around.
(more pics)

cabin dance!

2012-01-28T11:40:00.001-06:00

while most of the guys were busy shootin' stuff, aaron and adam hung out in the cabin. when the two of them decided to go see what there was to see out by the shooting range, they did a little impromptu dance! adam was shuffling his feet to a rhythm, doing a little tap dance out on the boards, and aaron decided to tap along. with a little bit of coaching, the two of them were toe tapping with the best of them! i think there may have been a little song sung about the cabin as well, but the most impressive part was the spontaneous tap dancing duet!

guns!

2012-01-28T11:13:00.000-06:00

every year we have gone up to the cabin we have brought guns along. this is, in fact, what the cabin is actually intended for: hunting. this is right up keith's alley, he loves guns! so he brought a couple big ones: a shotgun, and a really huge rifle (i don't actually know what that one was called, but it was super loud and had a wicked recoil!). after getting the cabin wood stove going so that the place could get cold, we headed out with the guns. jeffry lee set up some of the toys he got on the way up, and we proceeded to blast them to smithereens! i took a turn as well with the shotgun, not so much because i wanted to shoot at the targets, but mostly so that i could reload it one-handed style like in terminator 2!
(more pics)

lunch en route

2012-01-28T11:04:00.002-06:00

a little over half way to the cabin is the town of big rapids. we always plan to stop there for lunch at burger king before we make the second leg of the trip to the cabin. partly this is out of tradition, and partly its because we love to see the crazies that always seem to be there! this year was no exception, although to be honest, we always seem to be the crazies...
before we hopped back on the highway, jeffry lee convinced us to stop at big lots so he could find some fun things to shoot at while we are up at the cabin. he found a few cheap toys, including a set of cheap plastic bowling pins! that aught to be fun! other things of note on that trip: i decided what my son's middle name is going to be, and adam made plans for us to recreate the battle of antietam while we were in baldwin. time permitting, of course...

off to the cabin

2012-01-28T09:53:00.001-06:00

its that time once again, boys and girls: its time for our annual cabin trip! hurrah! all the guys got together, as is our tradition, to head up to good ol' baldwin michigan for some time together. we were very excited because it seemed like everyone was going to be able to make it this time, which hasnt happened in a couple years.
i drove up to grand rapids the night before and went out for a movie and dinner with rex, jeffry lee, and brains. it was then that brains dropped the unfortunate announcement: he wasnt going to be able to go after all. suck! he was really excited to come along and had been planning on it for months, even getting new boots and a hat, but the day before we were to leave he was informed that he couldnt have the days off and needed to appear in court during our trip (he's a lawyer, but the way). we were obviously frustrated, no one more than he, but knew we needed to press on in spite of the loss.
tuesday morning the rest of us gathered together, dusty, jeffry lee, aaron, keith, rex, adam, and myself, at aaron's place. we packed up the two cars and were off to a couple days of crazy fun!
(more pics)

under the tree with care

2011-12-31T09:00:00.000-06:00

now it was time to get down to business: opening gifts! we did a name exchange this year and had a lot of fun passing the gifts around and enjoying what the family had gotten. diana and barbara got a few extra gifts too, which is only fair, its their family! as the evening wound down, we all sat around the living room and watched an old classic: a muppet christmas carol! it is one of barbara's favorites, so she brought it for us all to enjoy. i think she said that this was her third time watching it just this year!
as night time drew near, we realized that this was a really full house! with denny and gayle taking the guest bedroom, diana and i dragged an extra mattress into the living room to sleep. we even talked barbara in to spending the night so we could have more fun in the morning!
the next day we had a great time of doing a whole lot of not much. we just enjoyed the day off and milled about, talking, laughing, and having a great time! by late afternoon, diana and i packed it in with our stinky dog, and headed home. the car was filled with gifts received to replace the gifts given and we were filled with great times and lovely memories!
(more pics: 1, 2)

christmas, part 2

2011-12-30T15:35:00.001-06:00

it was christmas morning, and time for diana, our stinky dog, and i to hit the road! we were on our way to her family for the rest of the weekend, and we were expected there for christmas dinner. the trip went well and we arrived to a warm, full house with delicious smells in the air! mom and david welcomed us in and were soon greeted by barbara, aunt gayle, uncle denny, grandma, bill, barbara, and diana's dad. we got to sit back and enjoy the time with family. but first, it was dinner time! david cooked up a feast, as usual, and we had a great time talking and laughing around the table.

get the phone

2011-12-30T15:34:00.001-06:00

in the midst of all the gift giving and opening, we got a phone call. mom almost flew out of her seat as soon as she heard that ringer! it was chad, my brother in the military who wasn't able to join us for the festivities. he had, though, sent gifts for all of us that we were able to open that night. we put a stop to all the prizes for a while so that we could chat with him and help him feel included on all the christmas fun. the phone was passed around so that we all got to say hi and thank you and hear what he was up to. the best part is seeing the kids talking on the phone to him- its just so cute! we were so thankful to hear from him and hear that everything is going well over there. mom and papa were thrilled, as always, to talk to him and mom was especially pleased that he was able to call when all of us were there. we all certainly missed him this year and hope he will be able to join us next year!

prizes!

2011-12-30T15:22:00.000-06:00

after dinner was all cleaned up, we were ready for the main event: prizes! (just so you know, in my family we dont call them gifts, we go with my dad's strange tendency to call them prizes instead. just go with my on this one...) we picked our spots and got rollin! the kids were very excited, to say the least, and all the rest of us were pretty geared up for it too! we did a pretty good job of spacing it out so that the excitement could last for a couple hours, allowing the kids to stop and play with some of their new toys, and give us adults enough time to saunter back over to the kitchen and grab another snack or two... we got some pretty nice stuff, and everyone enjoyed the prizes we got for them. bubba was all about the legos this year (as usual!), tweets was loving all the pink girly stuff she got, and aves was rockin out with her girlyish stuff too (she likes the girly pink stuff too, but i'm guessing its partly because her big sister likes it...). diana and i got a bunch of fun baby stuff to fill the nursery drawers with, which made diana very pleased.
as usual, the family went overboard and got everyone too much stuff! afterward we always say that we shouldn't have had so much, but we all secretly love it...
(more pics: 1, 2)

wings and eggs

2011-12-30T15:06:00.001-06:00

by late afternoon jill, tim, and the kids came by for the christmas fun! bubba and i hung out in the living room, he showed me some of the games and stuff he got already for christmas, and the girls headed up with diana into the toy room. they always seem to have so much fun up there making up games and laughing! last time we were in town diana came across these cute butterfly wings for the girls, we didnt get a chance to give them to the girls then, so we pulled them out for them to play with while they waited for the gifts. (i recognize the ridiculousness of giving the girls gifts as they wait for more gifts, but choose to ignore it). in no time at all we were being called over to the dinning room for dinner. i know mom made a great meal, but i cant remember any of it, mostly because there was a plate of deviled eggs- and with my single-mindedness, all the rest of the food faded into a forgotten haze...

wrap it up!

2011-12-30T14:34:00.001-06:00

everyone planned on coming over on christmas eve for the gift giving fun, so diana and i made sure we had everything (we did not, but fortunately mom came through with some help!), and got about preparing for the fun! diana and i feverishly wrapped all the gifts that we had brought, taking advantage of mom's always plentiful supply of gift wrap, and put them around the tree for the big night. this is always one of my favorite parts of giving gifts at christmas! i'm not a very good wrapper (well, i'm quite a bit better than my brother, but i think he does it poorly on purpose...), but i always love looking over the gifts i get to give and excitedly anticipate how they will react to the different prizes picked out especially for them! as a general rule, i always try to avoid gift cards. partly because its not as fun to wrap, but mostly because i like to challenge myself with thinking of interesting gifts. i always like to get someone something they didnt even realize they wanted! i rarely ask people what they want, i usually try to figure out an idea for myself. granted, that may sometimes turn out with them not actually getting what they want, but thats the price they pay...

beltline family

2011-12-30T14:25:00.000-06:00

with christmas break coming up, diana and i made plans for visiting everyone we could in the small amount of time we had. friday afternoon the two of us, and one stinky dog, packed up and headed up to grand rapids for the first leg of our christmas tour! we got there just in time too, the whole family was planning on going out for dinner and diana and i got to join them at beltline for some mexican food. it felt like forever since we had last seen them, so it was really nice to enjoy some time with everyone! the kids were in fine form, as always, being extra silly and excited about their aunt and uncle coming in to town! bubba and i got a chance to catch up and i got to hear all about his new hobbies and stuff. diana sat down by aves and she got an earful of hilarious conversation from that little one! after dinner we headed back to the house and got ready for the rest of the night. our plans to hang out with the guys and see a concert fell through, so mom pulled out the games and the three of us had a great time playing games for a couple hours!

pregnancy: week 25

2011-12-22T12:25:00.000-06:00

as the second trimester draws to a close, diana has been feeling really great! she's having a blast feeling our little guy kick and wiggle around- he gets most excited and active when mom is eating (looks like he's going to be taking after his mom and dad in that regard...). i still havent been able to feel him, but i'm not too worried, it will come. diana has been doing really well with the pregnancy, but the thing that annoys her the most is how hard it is to bend down to put on her shoes! i think that will get much worse before it gets better...

finishing touches

2011-12-22T12:14:00.001-06:00

diana has been keeping her eyes peeled for the past month or two for decorations for the nursery. she's really good at finding cool objects and artwork that goes with her nautical theme for the nursery. well, she finally decided that she had enough pieces to put on the wall, so i pulled out the hammer and nails and put them up how she wanted them. and boy, does it look good! we lucked out with the paint color in the nursery- last time i painted that room i used a beautiful sky blue which works perfect for the nautical theme and for the fact that we are having a boy! diana is very pleased with the results, and so am i. i'm sure we will find more things to put in the room, but for now, its finished! now we just have to wait for the baby that goes with it!
(more pics)

wrestling?!?

2011-12-22T12:04:00.000-06:00

i love teaching and i love my students! earlier this year i had a couple students come and visit me who had graduated the year before. this is a common occurrence, i often get visits from former students sharing what they are up to these days. well, one in particular, who i had nicknamed chuck, came and chatted with me for a while. he said that he is on the wrestling team at illiana. this was such a shock to me- he was such a quite, mild mannered boy! the thought of seeing him in combat with another person was so strange to me! so told him to let me know when he would be having a tournament and i would try to go and cheer him on! well, he let me know that one was going to be coming up, so i made sure to stop by the high school and watch. it was quite a strange thing, wrestling. we did not have wrestling at my high school so i had never witnessed it for myself before. it was quite a shock when the guys got out on the mat- they really go at it! i was able to watch and cheer for a couple other former students who were on the team as well. unfortunately chuck did not get to wrestle that time, the other team didnt have an opponent in his weight class, so i did not get to see him wrestle, but the experience was really something else!

ultrasound 2

2011-12-22T11:49:00.001-06:00

its finally time for our ultrasound to see how our little munchkin in doing! i tell ya what, i am so glad that we went and had one already to find out its gender- there's no way we could have waited until now to find out if we were having a boy or girl! we just aren't that patient! we got there and went to the ultrasound room. the nurse put that clear goop on diana's belly and then the wand. suddenly there he was in black and white for us to see! he's gotten much bigger since our last ultrasound. its much easier to see the different parts of him. last time we could make out bits and pieces, but we mostly just took the nurse's word for it! now, it was very obvious when we saw his arm or leg or face! for about an hour we got to watch him squirm around in there as the nurse took pictures and made measurements of him. she said that he was looking healthy and active in there, which is a huge answer to prayer! it was awesome to see him again- diana and i couldn't wipe the smiles from our faces! we are going to have to work on that patience of ours, we've still got 15 weeks yet till we get to see him for real!
(more pics)

pregnancy: week 24

2011-12-22T11:46:00.001-06:00

the belly is getting bigger and bigger! diana has been feeling great this past week, she is enjoying this second trimester of her pregnancy. she is trying to make the most of it because everything we read about pregnancy shows that the third trimester is even worse than the first one. i dont envy her that! the little man has been making a habit of waking her up bright and early, kicking around eager for something to eat! its been kind of nice for me too, the past couple days diana has been getting up with me for work- now i've got someone to chat with while i get ready!

new phone!

2011-12-22T11:44:00.001-06:00

for the past year diana has had an iphone. she totally loves it. so do i. all the fun apps and games you can get are great to play with. this usually resulted in my stealing of her phone almost every night! diana was starting to get annoyed by this, so i knew it was time for me to get one for myself. i had to wait until the contract expired on my old phone before i could get a new one. in anticipation of a check that i knew would be coming for me, i declared a couple months ago that when it arrived i was going to get myself my own iphone for christmas. diana didnt bat an eye, in fact she was thankful that i wouldnt be confiscating hers each night anymore! when that check finally came, we went directly to the phone place and got me my very own iphone! and i have been loving it ever since!

bowl me over

2011-12-22T11:36:00.002-06:00

diana's work had a christmas party this year and we were both very eager to go. it was at the local bowling alley. we were both looking forward to it because she works with some really great women, and fortunately i really like their husbands too! one thing that was kind of fun was that the bowling alley is pretty old school: there were no computers to keep score for us! if you have ever tried to keep score in bowling you will understand that it can be a bit tricky! at first someone asked if we should look for an app that would keep score for us, but fortunately, thanks to all the time i spent going with my dad to his bowling league back in the late 80's, i actually know how to keep score! we were having a great time, and then came all the food (which is what diana was really there for anyway...), tons of greasy bowling alley food! it was a virtual fried feast!
we had a great time hanging out with everyone and doing a little bowling. we were there for almost three hours and only got in one game- we were too busy having fun and talking!
(more pics)

pregnancy: week 23

2011-12-22T11:33:00.000-06:00

diana decided that its time to start taking pictures of her as her belly grows. its been getting bigger and bigger by the week, and now we are going to make sure we get photographic proof of its expanding! she has some fun iphone apps that let her know what is going on each week and we love to read through what we can expect as the weeks come and go. the excitement for us during week 23 is that diana can, for the first time, really feel our little man in there! the movements are still to small for me to feel, but i'm sure i'll be able to feel him soon too!

first snow

2011-12-10T11:31:00.006-06:00

man, that took forever! this year the first snow fall came really late. i'm not one of those people who hates the winter and gets frustrated when there is snow on the ground- i rather like it! this year, though, has been decidedly warm. we had fifty degree days all the way into december! for the first time this year i walked out in the morning and saw that beautiful white site: snow all over the ground. it was good to see, in my opinion, though i know of many people who did not feel the same way as me. namely, my wife... snow means the start of something else, too. each year i have a tradition: when we get the first snow fall i grow a beard! sadly, this usually elicits the same response from my wife as the snow fall itself... well, i'll keep growing it for as long as she will let me. my guess is that wont be long.

snake mug

2011-12-10T11:31:00.001-06:00

there is one show on tv that i am obsessed with: the late late show with craig ferguson. ive been watching it for years- never missing an episode! in fact, for the past four years i've been writing about the show on my other blog 'the scottish king'. ive had the opportunity to even go to a taping of the show when i visited my friend adam in l.a. a few years ago. well, craig ferguson has a mug that he has been using for a few years now. its a big rattlesnake ceramic mug. ive always wanted one of my own and i finally did something about it. i talked with the nice woman who owns the website house of tasso, the only distributor in the country that sells them online, and got myself one of those famous rattlesnake mugs! it recently arrived and is pretty cool! i talked about it a bit and put some pictures on my other blog which you can check out here. my wife is even cool enough to let me display it in our living room!

contained

2011-12-10T09:49:00.002-06:00

we have been doing up the nursery in preparation for our little one's arrival. i put up some shelves so that we would have enough space for all the baby stuff that is to come. ever since we got the shelves diana has been really excited to get containers to put on the shelves to keep everything organized. we finally made a trip to the store and picked up a dozen or so containers for the shelves and it looks really good! we went back and forth about getting wicker ones, but then diana found these with the cool ivy type design and some stripy ones that match the color scheme of the room. diana was quite pleased! now we will be ready and organized- and quite fashionable too!
(more pics)

free clothes!

2011-12-10T09:46:00.002-06:00

on sunday, when we got back from visiting with my family, we were welcomed home by a huge package at our door step. it must have come while we were gone! well, we brought it in and examined it- it was a package from diana's step-sister alanna! she is moving and in the process of packing realized that a bunch of the clothes that her son wore as an infant no longer fit him. so she decided to send them our way- score! the big box was jam packed with tons of cute boys clothes for our little one to use when he is born. wow! thank you so much alanna, we will certainly put those clothes to good use!
it sure is nice having thoughtful family members, huh?

brink thanksgiving

2011-12-10T09:34:00.004-06:00

friday afternoon diana and i headed up to grand rapids to visit my family for thanksgiving. we had already had two thanksgiving meals, so we were ok with the fact that mom said she wasnt going to have any turkey while we were there. no problem at all! friday night we got there around six in the evening. enough time to chat with mom and dad for a while and play a couple games of cards with mom (which is, of course, the real reason mom wants us to come and visit...). saturday was nice and relaxed. we had a little bit of shopping to do, so we went all four of us. it was nice to spend the time with mom and papa. papa and i went to home depot to get a few things i needed for the house while diana and mom shopped for some clothes that would fit diana during her pregnancy. then we splurged on a fancy lunch at arby's, which is always a favorite! later in the day we went to baker bookhouse and i finally got to spend my gift certificate money that i had gotten last christmas for that place! it was a great gift, but diana and i are just never in grand rapids when the place is open! well, i got myself a couple of cool cds, so i'm set for a while on good music again.
sunday morning we were up and off to church. its always a highlight to go to mom and papa's church because jill, tim, and the kids go there too! since we hadnt seen the kids yet, diana and i were especially eager to sit with them during church. one problem arose from this eagerness though, i got in trouble from jill and mom because i kept trying to talk to the bubba during the service, distracting him. pretty bad when an 8 year old's uncle behaves worse than he does in church, huh? by noon everyone was over at mom and papa's for a good old fashioned sunday dinner! the food was delicious, as always, and after the meal we played around with the kids for an hour or two. the girls always love to take diana up to the toy room and play games with her, so bubba and i were able to have some time with just the two of us, no girls interrupting us or anything! as the afternoon drew to a close, we said our goodbyes and eagerly look forward to seeing them again at christmas.
(more pics)

keenan thanksgiving

2011-12-10T09:27:00.003-06:00

diana and i had an extra long thanksgiving break this year- which was awesome! for some reason i actually had wednesday off of work along with thursday and friday. diana had thursday, friday, and saturday off (she always has wednesday off), so the two of us were able to go and see family for a longer visit than usual. we arrived at diana's mom and david's on wednesday afternoon. i had offered to work a bit that day on the bathroom so i got to work and diana and her mom headed out to go shopping. david and i got a little bit done, cleaning up the house a bit and installing the shower curtain rod (it was one of those bowed out ones, so it needed to be set and screwed in and everything). that night we were able to just unwind with mom and david and just enjoy the relaxing time together.
for thanksgiving we headed over to the allen family gathering. it was good to see the extended family again, it had been pretty recent since we had last gotten together: diana's cousin stanley got married just a couple months ago. it is always a highlight to visit with the allen family! diana's uncles are quite funny and her cousins are really nice and easy to talk to. i always love chatting with her uncle arnold. he is a retired pastor and such a cool guy! he's very wise and smart, and always has an interesting story for just about everything! i wish they lived closer because i could definitely see meeting up with him for breakfast or something and chatting for hours every week!
friday morning diana and i got up and helped get the place ready for the big feast: set up extra chairs, make the table bigger, set the places at the table, etc. all the while the place was smelling better and better as the day went on! david made two turkeys for the big group, this means that i got to double up on my favorite part of thanksgiving: carving the turkey!
it was a great time, diana's whole family was there: mom, david, barbara, dad, grandma, bill, uncle denny, aunt gayle, even a friend of grandma's came along! (she didnt have anywhere else to go for thanksgiving, so grandma invited her to come with us for the day). we had so much food and a great time! after all the food was packed away and the dishes were in the sink (because the dishwasher was already full...), diana and i had to say our goodbyes and head up to see my family for the rest of our extended thanksgiving break.
(more pics)

dressed for success

2011-11-19T11:40:00.004-06:00

the wife and i were recently in meijers getting a few things and, as has been happening more and more recently, diana just 'happened' to find herself in the baby clothes section! 'what? how did we get here? oh well, guess we better check it out...' its her new favorite pastime! she mostly goes around and giggles at all the tiny shoes and socks... usually i humor her and let her get one item, but this time i spotted something that i knew our little boy needed. check it out here!

down to the last sock

2011-11-19T11:39:00.003-06:00

its never a fun job, but somebody has to do it! we had worked our way down to the bottom of the drawers and now the last of our clothes were worn and dirty! we held out for as long as we could, but it was finally time: its laundry day. i packed up the four or five clothes baskets, changed the sheets, grabbed the towels, and headed off to the laundry mat for a much needed washing. i dont know why we wait so long- it just makes it more annoying. i think i did about eight loads (a new record for our household!). diana came over when she got out of work but i was already hip-deep in washing, so she headed back to the house and took the dog for his daily walk. one nice part about doing laundry is that i get a chance to just sit and read my book for a while. well, at least until the crazies at the laundry mat decide that they are your new best friend and want to talk your ear off about nothing! diana is always pestered by people there, i think she just looks like she wants to chat (which she doesnt), but for the most part they tend to leave me alone, thankfully!

kitchen handled

2011-11-19T11:37:00.004-06:00

it took a while, but the kitchen cabinets are finally done! while diana was away recently i repainted the cabinets so that they all matched. the problem now was that the hinges and handles didn't match. i had gotten a bunch of them when i got the paint, but soon realized that the hinges were not going to fit the holes and the handles didn't match. oops. well, diana and i finally got around to picking up the right ones we needed and the handles that she liked. now, once and for all, our little kitchen looks pretty good! no more mix and match hodgepodge for us- now we're fancy!

poke it with a stick.

week 27

peeking poco!

week 26

out with the old...

in with the new!

packing in

sports night

cabin dance!

guns!

lunch en route

off to the cabin

under the tree with care

christmas, part 2

get the phone

prizes!

wings and eggs

wrap it up!

beltline family

pregnancy: week 25

finishing touches

wrestling?!?

ultrasound 2

pregnancy: week 24

new phone!

bowl me over

pregnancy: week 23

first snow

snake mug

contained

free clothes!

brink thanksgiving

keenan thanksgiving

dressed for success

down to the last sock

kitchen handled

lion art

shelf the idea

crib in pieces

broken smiles

my desk experiment

a welcoming B

she's back

seven year repaint

office no more

boy, what a meal!

barky

its (going to be) a boy!

almost done

autumn decor

boat storage

diy mcbreakfast

treadmill

details work

3 for the show

teachers assemble!

more poco!

macs rock

bathroom work

bye bye movies

a picture (frame) worth a thousand words

telling work

basement bowling

1 + 1 = 3!

sandy pines pose

theater fun

afternoon with uncle

more fireworks

labor day pines

fire guys

too much light

the big easy

brother surprise

gate con guests

stargate quiz

stargate convention

stargate on the brains

fill the walls again

clear!

last day of summer