baff!

after going to the mall, it was time to clean up for the night.  that means its time for ledger's favorite thing in the world: 'a baff! a baff!'  we filled up the tub and he dumped in his favorite bath time toys.  with liam in town, there were a few extra bath toys around, including a doggy that ledge immediately latched on to.  as he was playing i was chilling out in there watching him.  he loves baths so much that he usually spends about a half hour in there!  well, he had been playing with the doggy for a while now when he decided to put it up on the little shelf where his shampoo goes.  he sat back, looked at it, and said 'come on doggy, inna baff! come on!'  beckoning for it with his hand.  'come on doggy! baff time!'  he seemed to wait for a few seconds, i think he was actually expecting the little plastic guy to jump!  after a few more seconds, he says 'oh well.' and proceeds to turn around and play with the rest of his bath time toys!
i tell ya what- this kid is hilarious!

lets go to the mall!

saturday afternoon we decided that maybe a change of scenery would be good, so we headed out for lunch and then to the mall.  the mall in mishawaka had a fun little play area for kids.  its filled with things to climb on, slide down, and run around!  ledger had only been there once before with diana, so it was really fun to see him there for myself.  he was a natural, climbing, jumping, sliding- and even showing liam where the fun stuff was!  the two of them were ripping around the whole area for almost an hour.  finally, covered in sweat, we were able to tear the two of them away from the fun equipment and head back home.  the best part, i think, was that liam and ledger were holding hands with each other as mom and i had their other hands.  so cute!
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cousins play

jared and katie, david's daughter and son-in-law, had made plans to away for the weekend and asked if david and mom would be able to babysit their son while they were gone.  figured why not, this would give ledger and liam a little time to get to know each other and have fun playing together!  liam is only a couple weeks older than ledger, so it would be a fun time for the both of them.  well, as it turned out, this was a weekend that david had to work friday and saturday out of town, and diana had plans in place to be gone that weekend too!  i guess it falls to mom and i to take care of the two boys all weekend... yikes.
the two of them hit it off pretty well- ledger was so thrilled to have a play buddy!  the two of them got along great, they were able to share their toys for the most part, though ledger does love to pester!  liam was pretty good for a while, but it didnt take long, maybe an hour, for him to realize his parents were gone- and then the crying started.  and i'm pretty sure that it didnt stop until he was picked back up on sunday!  even still, it was really fun for ledger to have his cousin around to play with!
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south bound, son

stinky, hungry, and exhausted, i return to my parents house.  we had such a great time at the cabin, but its nice to be among the civilized again.  and its nice to see my dear boy again!   diana was visiting friends for a wedding shower that weekend, so mom and papa were gracious enough to watch ledge while i was up at the cabin.  but now, its time to get the boy and head on home- eager to see the wife and get some sleep before heading back to work!
thanks again, mom and papa for spending the weekend with him- he loved it! (i kind of get the feeling that you did too...)

cabin done

in the morning we actually got up at a reasonable time, which was probably due to the fact that we didn't stay up too late.  that allowed us to actually enjoy the morning together, have some coffee, eat some breakfast, and just relax together before the inevitable pack up.
when it finally arrived, we were ready for it, not trying to delay our departure because 'we just want a little more time together!'  since there were only four of us, we were actually able to fit in one vehicle, so that certainly made leaving even easier.  all four of us had a blast, and it was so nice to give jon a second chance to spend some time up at the good ol' cabin!
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bitelys

since we decided that we werent going to do the usual things, we figured that included going to sporties.  so, we had to find a different place to have dinner while we were up there.  we wandered up and down the main road for a while when aaron brought up a suggestion.  quite a few years ago we all came up and aaron convinced us to go to a restaurant a few miles away called bitely's and we had a strange and fun time.  aaron suggested that we could go back there.  not finding anything else, we took him up on that idea and stopped in to bitely's for a bite.  it was strange to be back there.  i have a very particular memory of the one time we had been there, and when we walked it, it was nothing like i remembered!  they hadn't renovated or redecorated at all, it was just that my memory was so wrong about what the place was like.  and it seemed that i wasnt the only one- aaron and jeffry lee were both flabbergasted by the difference between their memories of the place and the reality when we walked it.  the whole thing was a lot smaller than any of us remembered.  we recognized everything in the place and knew this was definitely the place we had been to before, but it was shocking how much my memory had morphed it into this other place.  weird!  we still had a great time there.  while we were there aaron said one of the funniest things i had heard in years.  i know retelling it wont do it any justice, so i wont.  but to give you some idea, i was laughing at aaron so hard that i was crying (and getting a little dizzy..), and my laughing so hard made aaron laugh so hard that he accidentally spit out his food... directly on jon!  which of course, resulted in all of us laughing even harder!
again jon, sorry for ruining your chicken tenders... but it was worth it!

cabin afternoon

we arrived to find the cabin just as we had left it: cold and covered in snow!  fortunately the neighbors were kind enough to have our drive plowed for us, so we didnt have to shovel out a path just to get to the door!  jeffry lee quickly got to work start on the fire and warming the place up nice and toasty for us.  we unpacked and picked our beds.  its kind of weird to be up at the cabin with so few people- we could each have our own beds to sleep in!  everyone actually opted to just go to their usual accommodations, so it didnt seem as strange after all...  we had a great time playing around, chatting, and finding as much trouble as we could to get ourselves in to.

cabin 2.0?

during our usual cabin trip that we always go on between christmas and new years, we were one person short.  unfortunately jon was not able to join us.  he had some family health issues to deal with and soon after our trip he lost his father.  we were so sorry for his loss, of course, and wanted to support him in any way we could.  he said that he could really use some time away to just hang with friends.  well, i had just the thing: how about we do that trip he missed earlier, and go to the cabin again!  what?!?  thats crazy talk- going to the cabin twice in one year?!?  jon was up for it- maybe this plan is crazy enough it just might work!
as we were making our plans, i called most of the guys to see if they would be up for a return trip, and a couple of them took the bait- jeffry lee and aaron were in!  saturday morning we gathered up at aaron's place and headed up to the snowy white tundra for the second time.  on the way we decided that, with this being a second trip, we should not do all of the cabin traditions we always do when its the whole gang.  so, instead of the usual bk stop in big rapids, we hit up the ruby tuesdays!  an oh, what a delicious treat it was!  after some good talking and laughing, we hopped back in jon's truck for the final leg of the journey up.

the award goes to...

its finally here, the day i look forward to all year.  that special day when all my movie obsessions come to a head: its time for the oscars!  every year the oscars is a big deal for me.  i don't know when the obsession started for me, but i remember convincing my parents to let me stay up every year until they were over (which is around 11-11:30pm; that's pretty late for an 11 year old!).  i used to try and make it a point of going to see each and every movie that was nominated, but lately i haven't been able to do that because, you know, life.  even though i don't get to see most of the movies, i still read up on all of them and check out all the pre-oscar coverage for the months and weeks leading up to the actual ceremony.  i even have a bit of a tradition when it comes to watching: i print out a copy of all the nominees and pick my favorites to win (which is kind of ridiculous considering i haven't seen any of them...).  i put the list on my oscar clipboard (yes, i have a special clipboard dedicated just for the oscars- i've got my picks going back more than 10 years on that clipboard!) and check out how i do as the ceremony progresses.  over the past five years i've roped diana into the excitement and she gets to pick winners too (and for knowing very little about the movies she doesn't really do much worse than me.  i don't know if that means that she's a good guesser, or that i'm a terrible guesser...) and she really enjoys the whole thing too.  well, i think diana, mom, and david must have been getting sick of me constantly talking about it the week of the oscars that they decided to give me this hilarious special award: oscarologist!  i was recognized, from the society of film critics i might add, for my 'years of service as a film critic and dedicated watcher', i was bestowed the title of oscarologist.  the best part is that on the special document there is a picture of an oscar award, as well as oscar the grouch!  hilarious!  i love that they spent time and effort making up this little award for me- i know its meant to be silly, but i was kind of touched by the sentiment!

breakfast tower

its been two weeks, so that means we get to meet up with mema and papa again!  actually, the two of them had gone down to indiana with my uncle and aunt for a weekend away and we made plans to meet up with them in benton harbor as they were on their way home.  there was a bit of a blizzard down by them that morning, but they were still able to get out of there and join us for breakfast at sophia's.  ledger was, as always, thrilled to see his mema and papa!  granted, he was exceptionally loud in that place, drawing the attention of everyone within a few table radius, but other than that, everything went great!  ledger's favorite part was trying to stack up the creamer cups while he was in the booth with mema.  i must say, he did amazingly well- he got it eight creamers tall before the whole thing flopped over.  pretty impressive!  after the meal, we said our goodbyes and the two of them continued on their trek back up to grand rapids while we headed home with an exhausted baby.  i'm pretty sure he was already sleeping by the time we left the parking lot...

hipster by the slice

for barbara's birthday, james had planned a fun get together for a few of their friends.  diana and i were invited as well and we were eager for a fun night out!  we met up at a new local brick oven pizza place.  it was barbara, james, and about eight of their friends.  we had never met any of them, so it was nice to get to know them a little bit while we ate.  after dinner we drove down to barbara's place.  it was the four of us and two of their friends.  we got to have some cake and then played games together the rest of the night!  it was a great opportunity to be silly, meet some new people, and celebrate one of my favorite sisters- happy birthday, barbara!

fortune smiles

diana and i had the opportunity to go to my favorite chinese restaurant, so we took advantage and brought our little guy with us.  he did a great job of behaving himself and really loved playing with the chop sticks!  he wasnt very brave about trying much of the chinese food, but he did take a good bite of shrimp and crab rangoon!  by the end of our meal we were brought fortune cookies.  we opened them up and gave ledger a bite and he totally loved it, especially the fact that there was paper in it!  we took a look at the fortune of the cookie that he had eaten from, and i've got to say, i dont think i've ever seen a more accurate fortune!  it said: 'you are the center of every group's attention'.  so true!

chocolate milky

one saturday afternoon, right after his nap, i informed diana that it was time for a guys day out!  (actually, we just needed to get some groceries, but i thought i'd make it sound grander than it was...)  i got ledger ready and the two of us headed out together.  we went down to the local mcdonalds for a quick bite to eat.  ledger got a happy meal and did a great job of eating while we were there.  he enjoyed the cheeseburger and apple slices, but he still doesn't care for french fries- which is perfectly fine by me, he doesn't need to eat that stuff anyway!  his favorite part though, by far, was the chocolate milk that came with the meal!  he already loves milk, but this was the first time he had ever had chocolate milk!  i put the straw in it and gave him a sip, it was so funny to watch his face: at first he was totally normal, but once that chocolaty goodness hit his taste buds, he gave the funniest look!  in an instant it went from confusion to pure bliss!  i tried to pull it away, but he just wouldnt let go of my hand.  through out the rest of the meal he kept asking 'milky? milky?  more milky?'  i had to space out his drinks just so that he would actually eat some food too!  after he finished up his meal, we headed over to aldi to pick up a few groceries, then it was back home to a rested and relaxed momma, happy for the couple hours of peace!

coins!

recently ledger was rooting around in our bedroom closet and came across my superman coin bank.  he loved it and walked around carrying it for a while.  i figured i'd show him what it was, so i pulled out a few coins and showed him how they go in the back of it.  he thought that was the coolest thing ever!  for the next week afterwards, he would ask me right away when i got home from work 'coinths? coinths?'  knowing the drill, each day i would grab a few coins from the car and put them in my coat pocket.  when he would ask, i gave him the coins and he would go running for our bedroom to go get superman.  he would drag it out to the living room table, climb up on the chair, and the proceed to put each and every coin, one at a time, into the superman bank.  with each one i would ask him what kind of coin it was.  by about the third day of this he was picking up the names for them and was able to say which coin it was as he plunked it in the back of superman!  after all of them were done, he would dutifully get off his chair and bring superman back to the closet.

oh boy, big boy

every couple weeks my mom needs a little bit of a ledger fix!  living an hour and a half away can be a bit daunting for us with ledger not getting to see his papa and mema enough.  so we have gotten into the habit of meeting up with my parents at the half way point between south bend and grand rapids.  its only about 45 minutes to an hour for both of us, so it works pretty good.  its a beautiful little lakeside town, but the problem is that in the winter there's not much of anything to do.  its amazing in the summer, but when its cold they don't really have much there.  so, we usually end up meeting them at the big boy restaurant off the highway!  we dont mind too much- the food is good and they are pretty understanding about having a loud and excited child there eating!
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wifey

every once in a while diana and i ask her mom and david to take ledger for the evening and get the chance to go out and have a couple hours to ourselves, a bit of a date night.  it doesn't really matter what it is that we do, just so long as we do it together.  as you can see, we tend to get a little silly when we get these special times with just the two of us!  its so great to have the opportunity to step away from all our responsibilities for a while and just enjoy some time together; a chance to recharge our batteries.  thank you mom and david- it means so much that you give us these special hours together!

around the house

we haven't been out of the house much with ledger these past few weeks.  when there's four feet of snow out side and the weather is in the negative teens, it kind of makes it hard to find things to do outside the house.  fortunately, he doesn't seem to mind too much!  we've been keeping him busy with all kinds of fun things, so he's been perfectly happy keeping warm around here.  one of the things that he's been loving is drawing on his big pad of paper!  david found a huge tablet of paper in his office a while ago, so diana has been laying on the floor with ledger just doodling away.  i pulled out some of the latest pages and set them out so i could get a picture of all the colorful fun he's been up to.  so, of course, he decided that would be the perfect time to stomp around on them papers and play with his animals on them!
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mema papa's!

diana had an opportunity to go with miranda to visit lissa in detroit, so ledger and i the chance to go up and spend some time with mema and papa! it wasnt a very long visit, but any time he gets to spend with them makes everyone happy.
i always know that i dont need to bring any toys up to grand rapids when i go, mema and papa have a whole room full of toys from having the other grandkids over to play.  ledger always loves to go up to the toy room and pick a few special items to play with for the day.  his current favorite is the car playset, the noah's ark filled with animals, and for some reason, a stroller?  yeah, i dont get that one either...  saturday afternoon papa sat down on the floor to play with him, and ledger took that opportunity to teach papa all the ins and outs of his car playset!  as you can see both he and ivy are captivated...
sunday the cousins came over after church and the four of them had a great time playing together- jaidey and avery love playing with ledger so much!
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snowed in

this stuff just will not quit!  for days and days the snow has just kept coming.  and to make it worse, the wind has been so strong that we've had a few -16 degree days!  the nice part is that i've gotten a few snow days out of the deal, the not-so-nice part is that we have to deal with this!  now, to be honest, i had been really enjoying the snow shoveling (i would rather shovel snow for three hours than mow a lawn for one), but this was getting to be too much!  i'd spend an hour out there trying to clear a path for all the cars, and by the time i had gotten back up to the top of the driveway, it looked like i hadn't even done anything!
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a squirmy sitting

with our boy getting bigger and bigger, i've been wanting to get some pictures of him done.  i know, i know, i take dozens of pictures of him every day, but i still want some good ones done professionally (on a side note, i recently took a look at the folder on my computer that has all the pictures i took of him during his first year of life and saw that i had taken more than 2,500 pictures of him!  and that doesnt even include all of them that diana too as well!  i'm pretty sure we've got a well documented boy...).  we had taken him in to the portrait studio when he was four or five months, but we hadn't been back since.  we were long over due, so i made an appointment and brought him in.  diana wasnt able to come, so it was just the two of us.  it was really fun to put him in his fancy outfit, but so hard to get him to sit still and look at the camera!  that little squirmy wormy just wouldn't stop moving around!  we ended up with some decent pictures, but its pretty obvious that daddy was at the sitting and not momma- she would have had him on best behavior!
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