Oh Christmas Door

Alternate Title: Another Year, Another Weird Idea from the Monroe's

Remember last year's Christmas "tree" from THIS post? Yeah, a tripod and some lights was just enough to wet my appetite for something more creative in our apartment at the holidays.

Again, we have many reasons to not have a tree:
Real: Expensive, Anny is allergic to pretty much any cut conifers, too.
Fake: It's fake, and takes up a lot of storage.

This year we were inspired by a Home Depot commercial, of all things. (HERE, if you have not seen it.) I had thought all year about just cutting a piece of plywood into the shape of a tree. I kept putting it off because I could not figure out a few aspects, and I'm glad that I did. We ended up thinking outside of the box once we saw that commercial, and really like what we ended up with.

We started by going to the local ReStore, the retail outlet for Habitat for Humanity. We ended up getting a folding closet door for $10 and a partially used gallon of paint for $5, which just happened to be the perfect green for Christmas! (By partially used I mean that there was maybe 1/2 cup missing out of the gallon of paint - it is incredibly full, even after finishing our project.)

Without further delay, here is what we did:

Started by taking out the slats from the closet door. Since we are in an apartment and I don't want to risk the white carpet becoming stained, I did this in the basement near our neighbors storage area:

With Abby's help, of course, I cleaned the door on both sides from top to bottom. She insisted on her spray bottle, her own washcloth and the most helpful thing for the really dirty part, the scrubber from Ikea.

Abby helped me paint, too. The proof is in the hair, right before Abby's second bath and hair washing of the day last week:

I finished up painting the rest of the door one night after she went to bed, which made it both easier and a bit less messy. I also put on the first coat of paint on the slats. Since we knew we would not be using all of them back on the door, I only painted about half. Good thing, since I broke four in the putting-back-on process (after breaking four or five during break-down) and we still have extras to spare.

I drilled pilot holes in the one of the not-painted slats to use to keep everything in order. We decided on four holes across to allow space for little ones to fit side by side, or to spread them out across the whole slat.

With the piloted hole, it made it easy for Abby to help in that part, too!

Here is the freshly painted door, before the slats:

Here it is with the slats. I was goofing off when I put the red bag on the light. (Which is to say that I like it and Anny did not, so it becomes my goofing off!) We put one into every fourth hole - made for even spacing to accommodate all sizes of ornaments:

Once we added the lights (string of 70 LED's - low power use, too!) around the edge and hung our ornaments along the slats just as we had planned! We sectioned things off, sort of. Presidential Ornaments on the top left, memory-based stuff on the top right and less-easily-broken ones on the bottom.

Like I said, we're all really happy with the door! Storage will be a snap, too. Someone at work suggested that we could leave it up year round and just hang pictures or such. We are not sure about that, but it is on the table now!

Fall Colors!

Alternate Title: Finally a Picture Post!

I keep wanting to get out with the camera without the focus of my shots being on people. I snagged a fun shot last weekend while pumpkin-picking, but that is one shot out of the last 30 days. Oy.

Today the weather was perfect and I had hours to burn off at work. Anny was also home from school, so we picked Abby up and headed straight for Lone Elk Park to visit the Elk, Bison, Geese, Ducks and whoever else wanted to play. I'm SO glad that we decided to go - it was a perfect trip, AND I got to have some fun with the camera. Win win.

One of the nice things about my new camera is that the panorama setting is pretty idiot-proof. It literally has a line and a plus sign on each side. Line up the plus from left to right and it takes the next shot for you. If you go too far off-kilter, it kills your attempt. Very cool feature, and helped me pull this off:

Shortly after that we ran into the big Elk Herd - one buck and a dozen or more cows (lady-elk) were hanging out down by the large pond/small lake. The buck was busy scaring the geese away from the cows, which was funny to see. I could not get a good picture of him in motion, but he's a big guy and here's proof:

Another cool thing is that on part of the park property is a Bison area. They are separated from the Elk, with good reason. I would imagine that there would be some major clashes! This was the first trip that Anny got to see the Bison, and they were really close to the car. I took this picture without much zoom, and if you look closely to the right of the Bison-Behinds you will notice another animal, very camouflaged this time of year, a whitetail deer:

Not my last picture of the day, but I think I like the finality of it:

Turns out we missed the best of the leaves around here, but I'm still really glad that we made the trip. Certainly a better way to spend the afternoon than sitting behind my desk!

Menu Monday for this Week

Alternate Title - Mmmm, food.

So yeah, it's been a crazy two weeks - I ended up going on a second retreat with church and finally caught up on enough sleep over this weekend that I am awake enough in the mornings to get a blog post or two written. Guess I'm not as young as I used to be - I remember bouncing back from a weekend retreat in like a day!

Anyway, since it has been a couple of weeks, I'm going to post our food from last week and then ours plan for this week. Anny has Parent-Teacher conferences on Tuesday and Thursday, so the plan is less creative on those days...

Last week, and how it went:
Sunday - Accidental Dinner out with friends - those are always nice.
Monday - Baked Talipia with Creamed Cauliflower, which we were supposed to have several weeks ago. Oops! Abby thought the cauliflower was potatoes, so she immediately turned her nose up. Ugh.
Tuesday - Reuben Cubans - Messed these up as we did not have any ground pork. I was bummed about the way they turned out, but they were yummy anyway.
Wednesday - Bow Tie Broccoli - basically bow tie pasta and broccoli with a pesto-type sauce. Yummy, and made for good leftovers.
Thursday - Buttermilk Baked Chicken - BEST! My boss at work forwarded a link to it after seeing it on TV. We decided that this will be our company-is-coming-over meal - really great stuff!
Friday - Food Truck Friday - 17 Food Trucks gathered in Tower Grove Park for the last time for the year. We got to try a couple of trucks we had not been to, and of course got desert from our regular Thursday place, Sarah's Cake Stop!

Now for this week:
Sunday - Steak-Um's - One of those that Abby thinks is awful until she tastes and has a revelation that it's yummy. Drives. Me. Crazy.
Monday - Meatloaf from Freezer
Tuesday - Veggie Grilled Cheese - Shredded Carrots, a little Broccoli, lots of cheese
Wednesday - Crock Pot Chicken - Old Bay this time around!
Thursday - Chicken Quesadillas (with leftovers from Wednesday)
Friday - Tuna Pockets - we have made twice with crescent rolls - going to try with Grand's Biscuits
Saturday - Muffin Tin Gorditas - new recipe, found HERE.

That's our plan - what are you having this week?

Abby's First Tent Camping!

Alternate Title: When Did We Get So Old?

(First off an apology - I did not get ANY tent pictures! When we set it up Abby was playing on the playground and I never actually saw her awake in the thing! Oy!)

Last weekend we went out to Mound Ridge for an All Church Retreat. Our first trip out there was last fall for the same event, but this is also where we went for summer camp last summer. Bottom line, Abby is VERY comfortable in this camp/retreat space, and that makes my soul happy. She knows the camp staff, and they know her. She knows the paths and how to get to the river or to the playground by herself. She knows all of the rules about fire, and how to beg for a s'more from the right people (i.e. not me) to get one without the work that most others have to do!

On Friday afternoon we took off early and picked Abby up on our way. She had been asking every day for two weeks if it was the day to go to camp, so you can only imagine her complete excitement about finally starting the journey! We got there and went to the main part of the property where lots of folks had begun to gather. Since it was still light out I let her know that we were going to go and set up our tent, then come back for dinner. (Putting the reward for participation out there in advance - go me!)

Abby stopped in her tracks - she did not want to camp in a tent anymore! After a bit of talking her down, we figured out that the tent is something new but that she really loves the cabin facilities there! We decided, and then convinced her, that we would try the tent for one night before deciding on the second night. She was happy because she expected a cabin-night, and we were happy because we wanted to get in the tent for at least one night so that she has that experience!

We drove up the hill so that we did not have to lug all of our stuff up, found a spot and pulled everything out. I scoped out the area for Black Walnuts, which are huge and lumpy for sleep. We got all of those cleared out and put up the easiest tent in the world. (As it turns out, I have a bruise to prove that we did not clear out ALL of them...)

(insert picture here, had I thought about it, which I did not.)

Fast forward to 8:30-ish and Abby and Anny head back for the tent. Abby went to sleep without a fight from what I have been told. She slept through the night, too! In the morning, though, she was quick to point out that she did her one night in the tent and we would be moving to the cabin on Saturday night. A deal is a deal, so we relented* and made that as our plan.

*Okay - so Anny and I realized at bed time that neither of us has been in a tent for camping since we went with a group of campers in July. July of 2002 that is! We both slept off and on all night. At 3:30 in the morning we had a conversation and had already decided that we both needed a cabin to get any real sleep on Saturday night. Abby thinks she won, we know we won - definition of Win-Win!

I was afraid that Abby's quick reversion to the cabin meant that she was not a fan of the tent, which would be a bummer. There are some incredible places that we would love to explore around Missouri and tent camping is a much easier way to do that. This was a test for us, in a safe place that Abby was comfortable, and it seemed to fail.

On Sunday when we were walking up to our car to leave Abby declared, loudly, that next time we come to camp we will sleep in a tent for TWO nights instead of one! Seems that all she needed was to know that the cabins are still there and available, but she really DID have fun.

That's my girl.

HOT DATE!

Alternate Title: Someones Gotta Have All the Fun!

On Sunday my wife and daughter are going to join another family on a trip to the local Pirate Festival. Think Renaissance Festival without the frilly clothes swords and hoochie mama's rotten fake English accents boisterous kings and queens, replaced by boisterous pirates and wenches. It's a neat idea, and we have never been, so the girls are looking forward to the trip. Without me.

I will be having a hot date without them, so it's not all a loss for me, right? I've had a kind-of standing date, on and off, for about ten years. Really cute partner, short and chubby. Always too orange, but that changes as the day goes on.

Back when I worked at camp I would just have my date at work - there were only three of us and so there was not really a chance for too much disruption. I would cordon off part of the office - usually down the hallway or, on a nice day, all of one of our retreat cabins just for me. I have never been one for PDA, so I want my own space for this kind of stuff.

Once I moved to a more "proper office" style of office closer to the city I would just take a whole day off of work for my dates. They were infrequent enough that I would use the day to catch up on other things around the house. I had plenty of days at my disposal as far as vacation/sick days, so I never worried about that stuff. Some date-days I would even just work from home at the same time, still not trying to be a distraction to others.

Now that I am a receptionist and with an organization that counts sick, vacation and holidays all in one bank it appears that my dates are going to be pinned to Sunday's for the foreseeable future. Sunday is football day in the fall, and hockey day in the spring, and my companion does not mind sports as much as my wife does. (And does not interrupt me in the midst of a last-minute touchdown drive to ask the score, which is clearly written on the screen, dear wife.) Heck, I could play video games on the TV during halftime and not hear a single peep, my date is quiet about that stuff.

Funny that I've been having this date for a decade now and I'm still not a fan of it. Kind of a ritual that I have dreaded. Have to have it, but do not want to do it. Kind of like cutting my hair, but more messy.

Want to see my partner for the day on Sunday?

That's right: My Empty Bottle!

It will not be empty for long, you can count on that. This bottle is my collector for a 24 hour urine sample.

Yes, every time that I pee, I have to keep hold of it like it's a precious diamonds, which it is not. It's pee. Gross, gross urine. The thing that you have to wash off your hands any time they are near it - yeah, that's the stuff. I can not imagine how much worse it is for my female friends who have to do collections like this, but you can be sure that I do not envy them.

While my girls are out having fun with peg-legs and swashbucklers I will be at home with my TV, a big cup of water and an even bigger bottle of pee.

What are YOU doing this weekend?

Abby's Wishful Thinking

Alternate Title: Growing Up, In Her Head

Abby is at an age where she is latching onto things for all that they are worth, and then some. At least once a week since her birthday we have had some sort of birthday celebration in our home. Please note that she is a June baby and Anny and I share a birthday in December, so there has really been nothing, but she had such a blast at her birthday that she wants to celebrate daily. Some nights she even warns us - Daddy, tomorrow will be your pretend birthday, okay?

(She also thinks that we HAVE to move before her fifth birthday, but that's another blog post for another day...)

She is one of those funny children that has to see a movie over and over after seeing it once. We Netflixed 101 Dalmatians three weeks ago and have watched it at least once for each four legged dog in the movie, not just the spotted ones. (Okay, exaggeration, but we have watched it more times than I would care to admit, especially since she really only watches about 45 minutes of PBS a day!)

A couple of months back there was a book release party at our local Borders, may they rest in peace, for the release of the book Silverlicious. It's the latest in the Pinkalicious series and it's wonderfully illustrated, kid-and-parent funny and all around perfect for our house. It is about Pink's first tooth loss and a delay by the Tooth Fairy. I do not want to ruin plot lines (ha!) but it goes on for like a week in book terms.

Before this book Abby had never mentioned the Tooth Fairy, in part because only her cousin Ellie was dealing with the loss of teeth and she does not make a big deal out of things like that. For a week or so Abby was hopeful that she would lose a tooth or two. At age four. We hoped that would not be the case and are very glad that she finally took "when you are about six years old" and that helped stave off her need for Tooth Attention for a while.

In the last few weeks, though, the Tooth Fairy talk has picked up again. She has gone as far as asking me to transcribe a note for her to the Tooth Fairy. She is very specific in her requests, so I wanted to share:

Transcribed from my awful handwriting, it reads:

Dear Tooth Fairy,

I want to keep my tooth. When I am six my tooth will come out.

Love,

Abby

She was headed out the door for a walk with Anny. I could hear her bursting to get Anny to read it, out loud, so that she knew we were all on the same page.

I think I might have a theme in mind for her sixth birthday, because at this point I am likely going to have to knock one out for her the day she turns six or there will be an epic meltdown that none of us want to be a part of!

It's Gettin' Hot in Here...

While I do not practice the "taking off all my clothes" to cool down, we have been spending a ton of time at the pool. Abby and I have closed the pool down twice this week so far, and will likely do it again twice more! We love our local pool and have made great use of the family pass for the summer. There is a lazy river to float in, and little-little kid pool (deepest might be a foot) and a bigger-kid pool. (There is an adult pool with lanes for lap swimming, but we never make it over there.)

Abby has been taking swimming lessons and is making progress with her confidence in the water, and is finally trusting her feet in the pool. She gets as excited about the slide as she does about floating on her back, and as excited about that as the is about the lazy river. Our pool is a perfect mix for the whole family, and we are especially glad for it on a week like this.

One more advantage to living in an apartment is that we do not have a garden that is dying in the heat! I am in charge of two outdoor planters at the office and they are not faring very well right now. Monday I added six gallons of water into each pot to try to perk them back up. Tuesday I cut it down to four and noticed that they needed much more. Today they each got four gallons of water, and I don't think it was enough.

I only care about the plants because we have some really cool hummingbirds and butterflies that frequently stop by. I keep thinking about taking my camera to work to try to get pictures of them, but I know that by the time I get the camera going, any non-human creature is going to be completely gone.

Anny and Abby have been making rounds on some of the cooler places around - the mall and The Magic House have been visited. They have gone to see a movie (half price when the thermometer hits 100!) and are likely headed to another this week. I'm just saying cool by bringing my own lunch to work so that I have NO reason to go outside. (Other than to water the previously mentioned flowers...)

My in-laws are going to be here at the end of next week and have already requested, several times, that we make sure it cools down before they arrive. I don't know that we are going to be able to meet that request, but we ALL sure hope it breaks soon!

4th of July Weekend!

Hard to believe it, but there are things that happened this weekend that we did not do. What we did this weekend was:

• Behind the Scenes tour of The World Aquarium. (It is no National Aquarium, but it was nice)
• Family Movie Night watching Megamind for the first time
• Church and catching up with folks we have not seen in weeks
• Fair Saint Louis to see a local band we like (Cut short because of fun storms)
• 4th of July Parade 
• A Carnival for lunch and fun, including Abby's first Ferris Wheel ride!
• Dinner/party at a friends house
• Fireworks with a perfect view and fun company

Glad I had an extra day to the weekend, this would have been too crazy for two days!

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

One of the petting places at the aquarium! We also go to feed Otters and an Armadillo. Very cool experience for all of us.

Just a pic I like from the Fair.

A picture of (part of) the Arch as the storm approached. We were soaked by the time we got to the car, but since it rained for about 12 hours after it started, we are very glad we left when we did!

Abby waiting for the Webster Groves parade - she was mostly patient. It was wet so the parade was delayed, but fun once it got going.

Abby and I on the Ferris Wheel - her first and my first in as long as I can remember!

Fireworks in Kirkwood. We walked, which was nice because we did not have to deal with traffic. We met up with a friend from church and her little girl - glad we had company since the fireworks did not get started until 9:30! The girls frolicked and ran around while we waited.

Next weekend we are going to summer camp together! I don't think I'm going to take the camera, though. I have never actually been to summer camp as a camper - I'm looking forward to taking it all in!

Abby's Birthday: The Party!

On Sunday Abby turned four. We actually had two parties to celebrate, but one was back in May before she was done with school for the year! Luckily she understood the reason for the split scene, plus, she got cupcakes twice so that was victory for her.

This years party was similar to last years, but much smaller. Don't tell anyone, but the invitations were even extremely similar. Instead of a flower cutout we did a cupcake, but I did use the same template. Work smart - not hard, right?

Our apartment is huge for the three of us, but not huge for ten children and ten adults. This meant a picnic-party-at-the-park. Those are my favorite anyway because we did not have to clean house (frantically), and there is built in play if the kids get bored! The big concern about going all-in for an outdoor venue is that if the weather is cruddy you're stuck with it. We never seriously discussed a rain-plan, either, so it was even better that the weather was perfect for some outside time!

The theme for Abby's party came from her favorite book series - Pinkalicious! In the first book a little girl turn pink from eating too many pink cupcakes with pink icing. I would say that was the easiest party theme ever!

We made a GIANT cupcake from a special pan for Abby's first birthday party. We wanted a utensil-less event, so we did not need the huge pan this year. That left me room to be creative - I used one cup of leftover-cranberry juice and filled the rest of the way with water. It turned out the Perfect Pink:

Anny found a butterfly craft online that we tweaked/improved. This is the final product of the test version:

Even though we said "no presents" the cousins brought one - Abby is in love with what was IN the box as much as she was in love with the hugeness of the box! She insisted on carrying it to the car with no help!

 One of the activities made easy by a childrens-book-theme is that Anny read the Pinkalicious book to the whole gang. They sat, almost completely captivated by the book, for the whole thing. Fun to see that others knew the book and shouted out the punchline at the end, too!

Don't want to make the post too picture-heavy, so one last shot - this is Abby apparently playing with matches waiting to blow out her candles! She helped to make them and so she had to wait a whole 24 hours to eat them, which made them even more special for her!

Thanks to all that came to the party - we had a blast and I think all of the others did too!

For more pictures, hop over to our Picasa page: https://picasaweb.google.com/armonroe

Two more posts coming - one on "Abby at Four" and one with official doc-visit stats. That appointment is not until Monday, so it will drag out. Oh well.

Stormy Season Upon Us

Alternate Title: Five Plagues Down, Glad I Have a Daughter!

Needless to say, this has already been a crazy year for us with the weather. Starting on December 31st we have had:

• Tornado hit Sunset Hills, between my work and my wife's, and only about a mile from each.
• Two snow storms that shut school down for enough days to push end-of-school back by a week
• An ice storm that helped contribute to those days, too
• A Tornado that tore up our airport, which is an international hub
• A Tornado that hit on the southwest side of the state, but tore down a hospital that is in the system I work for
• Just heard word of an earthquake less than an hour from St Louis, too!
• (The other "plague" is the locusts - I mean cicadas! They are insane so far!)

My Sister-in-Law asked that I do a blog post on how Abby is handling all of the craziness with the weather. In a word - oblivious.

She loved the snow and was unsure of the ice, though she was looking forward to ice skating lessons, so there was some upside for her, too. She had a blast staying home unexpectedly for those wintery storms, though she got pent up pretty quickly and we could only spend so much time at the mall.

The first tornado was interesting for all of us - we had NO idea what the siren going off was about. We were at the Recreation Center signing up for ice skating lessons for Abby, and getting our whole family ID cards for Parks and Rec. We heard the sirens blare on what was a beautiful December day. By the time we got home the sky had turned and Anny was opening the shades so we could see the impressive rain. When the next siren blew, being the third, I suggested we drop the blinds and maybe hang out in the closet until the worst of it was over.

Since then we have huddled several times in our very spacious master-bedroom closet. We have a lantern and books at the ready, all we need to do it pull the laundry out and we have a nice space for all of us to sit and read or catch up on the day.

Abby has really taken all of the craziness in stride - most of these bad tornado-style storms have hit at bed time, which I thought would be a major challenge. Abby has just relished the full-on attention and the extra story (or two) at the end of the day. I think we have talked with her in general terms about how dangerous the storms have been, and how some people have lost their homes or lives. I do not think she grasps it, and for now that is okay with me.

As for the earthquake? I am just adding that to the list of plagues that we are going through. I was relieved to hear a meterologist say this morning that we are having a VERY strang season. This is not the norm. I look forward to a season of normal soon, but I'm not counting on it until it happens! In the mean time I am going to drink lots and lots of water - in addition to the earthquake we are having a heat way of August-sized magnatude. Does look like it will let up for Abby's birthday on Sunday - fingers crossed!

Photo Tales - Week 5 - Trapped Princess

For days they were calling for rain, the severe kind, for the whole weekend last week. We had already tossed plans out the window and were trying to think of indoor fun for the family. Saturday morning they changed the forecast from severe to almost-perfect sun and blue sky! Our rain plans converted back to making outside plans really quickly.

We spent the morning at the local Renaisance Faire in Wentzville, MO. It was my brother-in-laws birthday, and for his big day he wanted to go and do that, and I was not going to turn that down! (Turns out he paid, too. And cooked us dinner. Not sure he knows what birthdays are about!) 

We spent the morning frolicking and taking in a Birds of Prey show. We followed that up with a good Ren Faire lunch: hot dogs for most, but a turkey leg for me and corn-on-the-cob for Abby! We all enjoyed walking the grounds and see people in their period clothes. We adults felt badly for the guy in full chain-mail, especially after the sun really started to blaze. He looked miserable, but was making up for it with a nice big, ice cold beer.


My favorite part was when we got to smell fresh herbs - Abby got REALLY into it. The nice woman spotted us sort of wandering, except that Abby's eyes had gotten big and friendly, so she invited us over. She told Abby to press the leaves of different things and then smell her fingers. Funny was when the host said "smell this one, it smells like gum!" Abby looked at me like "does she know I'm not four yet? I don't chew gum!" She keeps telling me that when she's seven (or is is eight?) she will be allowed to chew gum. She has a lot of life planned out already, come to think of it.


With all of the fun things that went on, it made me chuckle that all three girls were most easily attracted to the plastic playhouse that they could play with anywhere! They played on this stuff for a good half an hour or so! Abby, in particular, loves to play princess/queen games, so she had a blast. They took turns "locking" each other in the tower, and then took turns setting the captive free. This particular picture was of Abby right after she got to be the rescuer she agreed to pose for a picture, and I never pass that up!

Want to play along? Just want to see other pictures and stories? Click on the button below - it's fun to be a part of this group of folks!

CNN Article on Infertility - from a Dude

A while back I wrote a blog post about our infertility journey from the perspective of both of us - I even had Anny proofread and edit as she saw fit. I do not mean to imply that I held anything back because I was afraid of what she would say or think, I just knew that for the post in question it was a retrospective type with a dual purpose, and I value her input on things like that.

Yesterday I came across an article on CNN.com that I think is worth a read if you, or someone you know, is going through infertility. This is written from the perspective of ahusband, but I think it would be great for friends and family to read as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/05/17/sedaka.infertility.husbands/index.html?hpt=C2

It's been literally years since we went through our fertility issues, but I can tell you that Anny and I had our biggest struggles with communication when we were struggling with infertility as well. It was only when we broke down and talked through the hard things that we made progress and decisions that we needed to make. 

The best part of the article is the suggestion to not use absolutes when talking about either the future, or just the future of treatments. We had all but given up when Anny asked me to reconsider my "declaration" that we were done.  I was young and not thinking things through at the time - and that experience was a great teaching lesson on giving up absolutes when it comes to anything in our relationship (or life). 

And really, guys, doing the guy test is NOTHING and if you do not just go and do it without complaint, your spouse has every right to punch you in the crotch.

Anyway - wanted to share this article and a little bit of perspective from a guy who went through some of this. We are lucky ones - we only went a little bit in debt (compared to others) and we have a wonderful daughter to show for it. My heart goes out to those who are not so lucky.

Summer is Coming, and BUSY!

Abby is already focused on her birthday, but is aware that there is a lot that happens between now and June 12th!

• Next weekend is Paul's birthday and Renaissance Faire
• The week following is the last week of day care for the year
• Then a holiday weekend
• Then a day at work with mom & dad (half at each) and a day at a friend's to finish out Anny's school year
• Then a driving adventure to Wyoming to celebrate the retirement of Nana and Grandpa
• A week of Bible School
• and then Abby turns Four!!

It's only a month away, but when you look at all of those things, it's going to be a long and fun month of waiting!

After her birthday things will be calmed down...for about ten days! Here is what the next five weeks look like, as it stands now...

• A trip to Maryland (long weekend for me, a week-long trip for Abby and Anny)
• Fourth of July fun, and a long weekend too!
• Two weeks of swimming lessons
• A week of downtime (for now anyway)
• Then a week of Green-Focused Vacation Bible Camp

Wow - I thought that after a crazy summer like last year it would be hard to be so busy, but I was clearly wrong! What do you have going on that you're most excited about this summer?

Mother's Day 2011

Alternate Title: A Week of Fun in 13 Hours!

First off - Anny got her first Mother's Day Card from me, on this, her third Mother's Day. I didn't want to do it, I'm stubborn like that, but I was stranded at Target for five minutes, and cards are cheaper than other things I could have spent money on!

On Saturday I asked Abby if she wanted to get Anny flowers for Sunday, but she insisted against in because she had potted a merigold at daycare on Friday that was already given. Bummer for me, because I like to be sneaky when it is on a whim. (I am notoriously a bad secret-keeper at home!) So bottom line, no cut-flowers for Anny.

Sunday was fun -

Breakfast made by yours truly - Abby refused to have eggs and instead had her normal granola bar

Walked to church - a favorite past time of Anny's, though we bicker every time about how fast is too fast

Had brunch for the first time in forever! Local microbrewery was packed to the gills, but we managed to get in without reservations

Ran home for a quick change, and then headed out to Laumeier Sculpture Garden for their annual Art Fair. It was huge, but too hot for us to really enjoy it much. We did have some summery treats (ice cream for Abby and I, fresh lemonade for Anny) and danced to a so-so band, so that saved that part of the day for us!

On the way home we hit up the grocery store, you know, so we can eat this week!

After dinner we went out for a hike at a place only Abby had been. She doddled on the first half, but once we got to the view spot and the forest part she was really into it!

All of that meant that Abby went to sleep really quickly when we got home at the end of the day, so we got to catch up on SNL and such on Hulu.

The real "present" part of Mother's Day this year is that she has gotten a coupon for Auto Detailing from a local cleaning company. She cares about keeping the car clean, so it is ideal. She found it herself and I did not have to keep a secret, which is ideal for me!

Photo Tales - Week 1

Alternate Title: New Meme to Join in On!

My friend Beth over at Laugh until you Cry is starting up a fun Meme that I have been thinking about for some time now. In my head I've wanted a weekly "Picture and a Thousand Words" type of thing, but as soon as I was ready to get it out the gate I started working a job with less flexibility on time - mostly the issue that I don't get home with enough "fun" time after work. Easier, now, to grab on to Beth's fun game!

The Picture:

The Story:
I took this picture at the end of a very wonderful afternoon of just Abby and I hanging out. I set off with the goal of taking the "perfect" Easter picture of Abby. This was before the official Easter Dress arrived in the mail, but just barely. Anny was off with friends for the afternoon touring a local attraction, so I got Abby to buy in to the picture-taking fun!

We had lunch at home and then posed for some just-for-Easter types of shots with some silly eggs we got the day before. They were filled with candy, and just perfect for that day. We took some pictures in the courtyard that were really fun, and then headed to the park. Abby insisted on playing a game of chase more than playing by herself, which turned out to be uber fun for me, too!

The day turned out to be hotter than I had expected, and by the time we walked home Abby was done, or so I thought. She discovered that the brick walls were cool to the touch, even on a hot day. I had put the camera away already, but pulled it back out. With a little coaxing, she let me have another three minutes of pictures - which was just right to get this shot. I really love the contrast of her bright dress with the dark wall, but I mostly love that it was the end of a perfect daddy-daughter time!

Apartment Living

I've told you that we live in an apartment, right? We are up on the third floor of a corner unit and it makes for good stuff most of the time:

We save on energy costs because of the shared space
We do not have to shovel when it snows, or deal with water issues when it rains
Do you know how much cheaper it is to have Renters Insurance instead of Homeowners?

We lucked into a great place with lots of space, and a friend from church that helped us find the place too. Since I've blogged about how much we love this place before, I wanted to point out that not everything about living in an apartment is great for us.

1 - There are smokers that live below us, and that sucks. Now that winter is over, we are starting to notice the smoke more again, since windows are open. The worst part is that when we had windows open for a week it seems that the smoke built up in the duct work, so when we turned the air back on it took two days to get rid of that stench. Ugh.

2 - The third floor is fun for lots of stuff, but some times it would be SO much nicer to just walk right in from the sidewalk to the front door. Add a preschooler who is sometimes deathly afraid of stairs you can see through and sometimes it's downright miserable. I am just really hopeful that none of us ever sprains or break anything while we live here, or it with be unbearable!

3 - While it is nice to not have to be responsible for issues around here like when the sink stops up, we also have to know that sometimes we won't get the immediate reaction of calling a plumber ourselves. Two weeks ago we had a bad clog and had to wait for Monday to roll around because I forgot to call on Friday! We did just enough dishes to get by in the bathroom sink. Also makes you think about how many pans and such you use when you have to be mindful about how much washing needs done.

4 - (mostly from Anny, who opts to do 100% of the laundry) We do not have laundry facilities in our place, and we live on the third floor. I finally convinced Anny that we could leave the laundry soap and such in the car to ease some of the weight up and down. It was a really big issue when Abby got stomach-sick a couple of months back, but we're managing. Once we have fun-money again I think we might look into laundry service, but that's several years off.

We love living in the apartment, and now that spring is here we can see our neighbors again and have fun in the big yard! Good times.

At-Home Adventure!

The In-Laws came into town this week to watch Abby. Abby's spring break and Anny's did not line up because they operate in two different school district schedules. There are occasional days here and there that get annoying, but a full week meant bringing in reinforcements so neither of us had to take a chunk of time off.

Our apartment is spacious, as I've said before. Each room is oversized, even the kitchen! Normally this just means we have lots of extra space for stuff to fall on the floor - my broomball stuff, Anny's knitting, Abby's... well, Abby's just about everything.

The space came in extra handy this week when Abby had to give up her bed to Anny's parents. Certainly easier for them to stay here, and part of the reason that we opted for the Full sized bed was for instances like this.

Abby was even more excited at the idea of sharing her room, especially when we figured out that she was going to sleep in her TENT! There is an extra crib-mattress that easily moves between here and P & S's house, so she was not really sleeping on the floor, but it was adventure nonetheless!

Here is a picture from her in the tent on her last night:

The blue book that is opened is The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe! She likes to pretend that she can read.

She was stocked and ready for anything in there - two pillows, a sleeping bag and blanket, her Poe book, water bottle and two (yes two) night lights.

I can't wait for a real camping trip - we might have to look into something this spring!

We Sold Our House!

I don't know how to write a post about this. Our whole home-ownership story is filled with chaos and bad decisions, starting with the day we signed the purchase papers almost five years ago. We have learned a lot about ourselves as people, learned a lot about the goals we have for our life and learned many, many hard lessons about finances. We love the house, but for us it was a bad choice.

Bottom line is that we will be paying off the house debt for about three years even though we sold it two weeks ago.

When we bought the house we knew we were going to make things tight. Then we continued to pay for infertility treatments and finally were blessed by having a child. I can not tell you how quickly our comfort of finances went out the window and we had to borrow even more money to deal with that. Not a good feeling, and that is honestly when we really investigated a move to somewhere we could afford to be.

The good news is that we have now put ourselves into a place, both physically and mentally, that we can afford to pay off that debt now, and still live very comfortably here in St Louis. We are not naive enough to think we will not have hiccups, but we are smart enough to know that we need to set ourselves up for success in the future, not failure.

It has been several hard lessons to learn, but we are stronger people now. Stronger in the long run for our finances. Stronger in our relationship.

I do not know if we will ever buy a home again. We have talked through and around it. We have found a great apartment to live in in a wonderful location that is more-than-affordable. The people who live here, it seems, live here for many years at a time. One of our neighbors has been here for more than 15 years.

So, with signatures across two days and hundreds of miles, as of this two weeks ago, we are no longer homeowners. And we could not be happier.

Abby's First Written Word!

Not the easiest to make out because she was using a workshop-pencil, but this morning Abby wrote her first word completely on her own and completely unprompted! She knows how to spell some words because she does "exercises" on the computer where she types:

• Abby M
• Mommy
• Daddy
• Dog
• Anny
• Rob

We have not pushed much on the handwritten words just yet, though she does have a dry-erase book that she often practices her letters in. You know, one of those trace and erase deals. Very cool.

Well this morning she came over to me while I was finishing my breakfast and said "I want to write MOMMY, but I can not make the 'Y' right!" We flipped over the page and I showed her that it is like a V with one big leg. She made flags. I suggested one last try and Abby nailed it!

M-O-TwoM's...Not enough room for the Y! She proceeded to write the "Y" in the only place that made sense, and that is what you see above.

She did a little doubling back, but this is pretty clearly the first word she has written.





I was sure to save that information and NOT put it on Facebook or the blog before I showed it to Anny. I made her stop by my office and she did manage to hold back the adorable-tears, but they were close.

So proud of my little girl, both for the accomplishment and for the fact that she is really excited to learn new things. LOVE HER.

Abby's First Ice Skating!

Abby's preschool/daycare is just so awesome. For five Fridays in January/February they go ice skating for the afternoon public session. Parents are invites, but since I left early last Friday I had decided I would pass up the trip this time and take Abby on a weekend, just us. I am so glad that my co-workers (and boss) declared that I needed to leave early and go spend some time on the ice with Abby and Anny. We had such a great time.

Abby was tentative at first and refused to let go of Anny. (I got there a little late and surprised both Abby and Anny on the ice!) We eventually coaxed her off of us and onto a bucket, all by herself. She must have done a dozen trips without us!

Here she is on her first go 'round with no help:

Big Tip 'O The Hat to whoever decided to use buckets in public skating sessions! Sure made our lives easier!

Here is Abby with her teacher, Ms Karen:

And finally, here is a short video of Abby skating without the help of us tall-folks - she really got good at this over the course of an hour!

Abby's First Skate! from Anny and Rob on Vimeo.

She will go back next week. I do not think I will join them, but I am REALLY glad that I did today!