a new liver

wow, it's actually here- the day we've been waiting for with baited breath for over a year.  papa finally got the call that they have a new liver for him!  what an amazing answer to prayer!  there were times where we feared this would never happen, there were times that everyone had almost given up hope- including papa- that a donation would actually come through!
mom got the call at 5am saying that they needed to be down in ann arbor by 10am or it might be too late.  well, they already had their emergency bags packed, so it didn't take long before they were on the road!  while she was driving, mom gave us and call and we made plans for me to go down there and be with them for the day.  i headed out immediately and got a chance to see both of them before he was called in to the operating room.  we were in waiting for an hour or so when the doctor came up, he was reassuring us that everything was going well and we had no reason to worry.  just as he was telling us that his pager went off.  he took a look at it and said 'ok, that's the go ahead!'  and within 5 minutes papa was off to surgery! 
that was all the easy part, the hardest part was what came next: the waiting...  the surgery itself was scheduled to to 5-7 hours so we knew we were in for the long haul.  mom and i wandered around, trying to kill time, as we waited.  finally, around 9pm, the doctor came out and told us that it was a perfect success!  the new liver was in and doing well!  papa wasn't awake yet, but all signs were exactly where they wanted them to be!  at a boy, papa!  we were so relieved and thankful!  the doctor said it would probably be another 2-3 hours before we could see him, so mom said that she would be find, now that the worst of it was over.  i gave here one last long reassuring hug, and headed home to the wife and son.
wow.  its a flurry of so many emotions as i write about that day.  i'm proud of the doctors who were able to do such amazing work, protective of mom as she struggled with so much, thankful for the positive results, and relieved for papa as he will now get his life back!

ledger's art show

we got a special invitation from school to stop by the high school and check out the elementary student's artwork on display during the special opening night gallery show.  we got there and partook in the juice and treats as we made our way through the different exhibits and class artwork on the walls.  ledger made sure to point out all his different masterpieces on display.  each one was more impressive than the last! 
we, as well as his grandpa allen, are quite certain that ledger has a promising future in the field of art!

that crafty elf

it's always craft time here in the brink house, so it came as no surprise that ledger desperately wanted to make a craft.  ok, what do you want to make this time, boy?  turns out, he was longing for christmas time (it's currently april), so he asked if we could make a christmas elf.  sure thing buddy, whatever you want.  oh boy...  i found a couple old socks and an old green shirt that was only for lawn work, and away we went!  as is usually the case when it's craft time, ledger takes on the roll of 'field coordinator' while he makes diana or i do all the work...
this particular elf turned out pretty good and ledger was very pleased with it (ignore that strange face he's making in the picture, he really did love it!)  he then proceeded to spend the next two days playing with and chatting with his new elf friend!
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we're a regular lewis and clark!

with the weather getting warmer and warmer, and with ledger starting to get a bit stir crazy, i figured it was time to get out into nature and do some exploring!  ledge and i geared up and out we went.  i had a plan in mind for the hike, but i was keeping that part to myself- i didn't want to ruin the adventure!
we walked down the ravine next to where we live, following the path of the stream at the bottom.  we came across a construction site and did some exploring of the different equipment, speculating what each thing was for and what they were trying to make there.
the journey continued and before we knew it we just so happened to find ourselves in the parking lot of the local ice cream shop!  what?  how did this happen?  what an amazing explorer ledger has become!  and who could this be driving up just a minute after we arrived?  why, its mama!  what an unexpected surprise!  we decided to make the most of this fortuitous coincidence and get ourselves some ice cream!  as our adventure came to a close we hopped into the car and mama brought us home, we successful intrepid adventurers!

visiting gage

one of the kids ledger has made friends with this year in kindergarten is gage.  recently gage's grandma who raises him invited us to stop by and let the boys have some time to play together after school.  wow- ledger's first play date at a friend's house!  we gladly took her up on the offer and came by a few days later.  much to ledger's delight, gage had a bunch of toys to play with and a backyard full of fun things to do!  chief among them was the little trampoline!  ledge proceeded to spend the next hour and a half obsessed with that trampoline!  if he wasn't on it he was looking over at it or talking about it... 
the boys had a great time together, and we had fun chatting with gage's grandma too!  we will certainly be doing this again soon.

hanging out with dad

all my travels back and forth to south bend lately without a visit has got diana's dad feeling like i've been ignoring him!  well, we musin't have that!  well, i do genuinely enjoy spending time with him, so it wasn't too much of a bother to call im up and make plans for the night.  we decided to go to his favorite pizza joint: barnaby's!  the food there is always great, and you never know who you might run into.  it just so happened that this night we ran into barbara and james!  what are the chances?!?  they were grabbing a bite to eat with a bunch of friends before heading downtown for a concert!  we tried to keep our pestering to a minimum since they were there with friends...
dad and i had a really nice time, we just hung out and chatted about life, the universe, and everything.  i always enjoy my time with him and i get the feeling he thinks the same...

bed tent

one of the best parts of having a birthday, according to ledger, is all the gifts!  well, he already got a bunch from diana and i, and a bunch from grandpa and grandma, but there were still more!  in the mail he got a package from his auntie lissa.  he eagerly tore into it and opened up a very special gift.  he got a bed tent!  he was really excited to put it on his bed and try it out.  we set it up and he loved it so much- he said that it felt like he was looking at the stars in the sky.  i have a feeling he's going to be using this thing for years to come...

the rest of the visit

we did more than just have a birthday party at barbara's.  we also spend a bunch of time at grandma and grandpa's place.  ledge got to spend a bunch of time playing with his new birthday presents and have a lot of time with his grandma- which always makes him happy!
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turning 6 with auntie b

our lil' fella is turning six this year!  what?!?  he's getting so old!  we headed down to south bend for a special birthday party with the family- especially auntie barbara!
she hosted the party at their place and invited grandma and grandpa allen (grandpa had to work late, so he wasn't able to join us for the early meal.
he was really excited to get the chance to see his favorite auntie and the promise of gifts was just the icing on the cake!  and speaking of cake, we had some of that too!
barbara wanted to tick off as many boxes as she could, so we did birthday stuff and easter stuff too.  ledge loves coloring them eggs!
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9 years

wow.  it's been nine years now since diana and i got married.  that seems like a long time, huh?  it seems like it, but it doesn't really feel like it.  we took a little time to ourselves while ledger was at school, we headed into holland and wandered around the shops for a little while and grabbed some lunch.
it's always wonderful to spend some more time with the mrs., especially when it's just the two of us and we don't really have anything in particular to do- we just got the chance to bop around town and be silly together.  now that's something that we both excel at!

science night

diana and i have been very pleased with the school district here in allegan.  ledger has been doing an amazing job of learning and being challenged enough to progress further and further.  he's been getting better and better at reading and writing- we're so proud!  with science being one of his favorite subjects, we knew we didn't want to miss out when his school put on a special science night for the kids!  i got out of work a couple hours early so i could join in on the fun! 
they had a bunch of stations set up in the different classrooms, each one with a different science craft or experiment for him to try.  he absolutely loved it!  anything that can encourage our son's creativity is a winner in our book!
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roof replacement

the roof of the rental has been leaky for a while now, but i put a temporary fix on it a couple months ago.  now that the weather is looking a little better, i had to face the fact that i need to deal with the roof once and for all.  i had been talking about it at work for a couple weeks and jason spoke up and offered to come down and help me!  we scheduled a couple days to come down and get a good start on it. 
i wanted to do it right, so i went to the town hall to get a permit.  for some reason they decided that they needed to take forever to ok the permit.  what?  i've gotten permits from there before and every single time it has been the sort of thing where you go in to get the permit and they hand you a filled in permit right after you pay.  well, not this time, now that i've had to drive two hours down to do the work they decide that its going to take a week to get approval.  well, screw that, we've already bought the supplies, i've got the help, and rented the dumpster- we're doin this!
so jason and i get a start on it, tearing off all the old shingles to make sure the wood underneath wasn't too terrible.  it wasn't, so we just figured we'd shingle over it without much worry.  after a full day of work, jason and i cleaned up and packed it in, spending a night in a local hotel.  we headed back to the house and got to work.  we were feeling pretty exhausted as the second day came to a close, and wouldn't you know it, that's when the guy from town hall came by to check on our permit...  jerk.  well, the jig was up.  we didn't want a huge fine, so we packed it in and headed home.  jason was totally up for going back the next week and trying again. 
we finally got the go ahead with our permits (jerks.) and finished the job.  it was a cold, hard job, but we finished it and now had a new roof for the rental!  i made sure to pay jason handsomely for the hassle and extra visit, which he was ok with...
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lee's artwork

so there's this guy who has a podcast that i listen to...  his name is lee sargent.  he is also an artist who does these amazing drawings in a cartoony style that he then paints using watercolors.  i've talked about him before and even gotten some of his artwork before.  he made an awesome stargate series for me.  the stargate set ended up looking so good that i decided to commission a couple more sets.  i thought about what some of my favorite movies are and quickly came up with the two sets i wanted him to do: bill and ted, and beauty and the beast!
lee loves to document his process and was kind enough to write a post about my commission here!  it's really awesome to hear from the artist what goes into making them for us.  we will love showing them off forever- thanks lee!
(a few pictures of them framed and hung)

karate chop

now that ledger is getting a bit bigger, we are getting him involved in a few different activities.  so far we've tried swimming, and that went... well... swimmingly!  i happened to notice the other day that they have karate classes here in town, so i asked ledge if he would like to give it a try.  he was all for it, so we contacted them and got him all signed up for it.  on his first day he got a gi and a white belt.  he was super pumped because he loved the fact that he looked like a ninja!  at this age the class is basically just an opportunity for some fun, not necessarily focused on skill or discipline.  even still, ledger is excited to be a part of it and loves it nonetheless!

just playin with ya!

on monday i wanted to have a special day with ledge, so i picked him up from school with the intention of letting him choose what we would do for the afternoon.  i knew what he would say- what he always says when we ask him what he wants to do: go to skyzone!  i planned a head and had the special socks that he would need there, so when he answered my question with 'skyzone!' i was armed and ready. 
we drove the 45 minutes to get there and as we pulled into the parking lot i realized the one problem with my plan: skyzone is closed on mondays...
after a few minutes of frustration from ledger, i investigated other options and found a place called 'catch air', which was less than a mile away.  trying to comfort ledger, he was reluctantly willing to give it a try considering it was that or heading back home again.  we went in and were amazed to find such an awesome place!  it  wasn't skyzone, but it was just as cool!  they had a bunch of blow-ups, a jungle gym, bouncies, a dance floor, and all kinds of other fun stuff for him to check out and play with!  our little afternoon out and about ended up being quite a success!
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the stage calls

finally- a chance to really show off his bow tie!  ledger's school has a winter concert each year with each class getting the opportunity to come up and share a song or two.  ledger has been pumped about this for weeks!  he always loves the chance to go up in front of people and perform, so this was quite an opportunity for him!
he did a great job and really had a blast, the only thing that kind of ruined the night for him was that he didn't get to go back up there at the end and do one last number all by himself!
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date night

a work, a bunch of us get together from time to time to go and see a movie.  well, this latest time we made plans to see 'black panther' and diana said she wanted to come as well.  that can be a bit of an issue when we have a 5 year old at home...  so we did something we so rarely do: we got a babysitter so we could both go out!  since we don't really know anyone in allegan who is babysitter age, we made plans with my dear sweet niece jaidey! 
i went to go pick her up and give her the rundown on ledger's schedule and all the details for the night.  when she felt comfortable, diana and i headed out.  it was really strange leaving our boy behind as we went to enjoy a date night!  we went and grabbed a quick meal at jimmy johns, we were careful not to eat too much- we had to save room for all that popcorn!
we got to the theater and i had the opportunity to introduce diana to all the guys from work, so finally she could put a face to the names i always talk about...  the movie was really great, but the best part was just getting the chance to have a night out with my better half!
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balentimes cards

ledge loves holidays.  his favorite, of course, is halloween, followed closely by christmas.  in third place seems to be valentines day, or as he calls it: balentimes day...
we don't really do much special for the day other than fill in valentines for his classmates to give out at school.  knowing that might not be enough pomp and circumstance, diana and i each made a special valentines card for him and had it waiting on the table for him in the morning!  he was quite pleased about it and was excited for the rest of the special day that lay ahead!
(in case you are wondering what it says inside the card i made, click here)

swim class

this past summer we tried to work with ledger at sandy pines to get him swimming.  he did ok, but wasn't as comfortable in the water as we would like.  we talked with him about it and asked him if he would like to take some swimming classes over the winter so that he would be all set to swim without swimmies next summer.  he was super excited about it!  allegan high school has an aquatic center that offers classes all winter long, so we signed him up and started going twice a week. 
he really loved it and quickly went through the ranks, getting to be a better and better swimmer.  it's not going to take long and he will be all set when we get to sandy pines this summer!

lookin' good

ledger doesn't really care that much about clothes.  well, unless its fancy clothes- then he's all in!  ledge always loves an opportunity to dress up a bit, you know, make an occasion out of it.  we went out the other day and got him a couple new pairs of pants to replace the ones with holes in the knees.  while we were at the clothing store he noticed that they had kid sized bow ties!  oh, you better believe that he was all about that!  when we got home he ran to his closet and grabbed his button down shirt so he could try it on.  needless to say, he looked quite dapper with his bow tie on!  he was already talking about when he wanted to wear it school to show off to his classmates!
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