Otto-Mettic

Moving

2011-09-14T08:28:00.001-04:00

otto zxczxcvbnmasdfghm vvvvgg

intro by Otto

I talked about wanting to do this earlier, but I have now done it. I moved to wordpress. Here is the link.

I still have some site setting up to do but for the most part it is all there. I have to set up my feed reader (rss) and hope to have that up tonight. I am polishing the category cloud, sidebar and other items, and suppose I could wait until it was all perfect. But I didn't. Blogger annoys me too much these days to put up with more.

So it's off to wordpress we go!!

Let me know you made it there and comment on the new layout over at the new blog so I know you are following the move!

-p

Hi Ho Hi Ho, it's off to school we go

2011-09-13T21:19:00.000-04:00

For the record, I am not that much of a slacker in getting these pictures up. Otto was SUPPOSED to start school last week, but that didn't happen. It started raining here and did not stop. Not only was it raining here, but it was raining all over the East Coast, including North of here. And in the 'burg, that can only mean one thing. Flood. And flood it did. On both a large and small scale we were spared the worse. Despite having firemen knock on our door in the morning of Thursday to tell us to consider evacuating, we did not take any water here at the house, though many neighbors did. And, our town as a whole did not get the brunt of the waters like some unfortunate towns around us. Many people here were flooded, some homes are not livable now and countess freezers and basement contents have been carried around more than they should have, but it could be much worse. Towns close to us are still under water in parts and many families are still without homes. We are very fortunate.

Otto was all geared up to start school on Wednesday but in the house before we were supposed to go, schools here were canceled here due to flash flooding. A very real and scary fear in our town. Thursday and Friday were spent with large parts of the town under water and nothing really open, including schools. That meant school would start Monday, and it did.

I managed through taking about 30 pictures here to get ONE where they were both looking at the camera. Miracle.

Eric came home from work at lunch (Otto's school is from 12:30 to 3) on Monday to see the little dude off, and get some shots of us all ready to go. Truth be told we were a little worried how Mette would do with all of this. She really likes the idea of school and knows about the dress-up closet in the back of the room so we were prepared for tears from her when she found out she couldn't stay. Luckily, things are going ok in that department so far.

The dude, leading the way.

Otto settled in right away and, not surprisingly, found a costume to wear right away. He LOVES dress-up and goes through many outfits and roles everyday so a well stocked dress-up box was a big draw for him.

Day 1 for Otto was a huge success. Day 2 was a bit more difficult. I don't think it was entirely his fault though. His allergies have all of the sudden gone haywire. The allergist predicted this might happen and we even have an appointment with him tomorrow morning that was made last spring, but it still caught me off guard. His eyes have been itchy and swollen, his throat a mess and now his ears are itching him. He hasn't slept well and is tired and cranky. All of this together with a new routine was a bit much for him. He was in tears by the end of the day and ready to be done with school. I talked to his teacher and it sounds like he was just overwhelmed and not feeling great. I am hoping tomorrow we can get him some better medicine to get him through the fall and we get back to good days fast. I gave him some benadryl to help him sleep tonight and got him to bed early. I wish there was more to do, but I don't think there is right now. After the doctor tomorrow hopefully we can have a nice relaxing morning so set him up for a good afternoon at school.

He still seems excited about school which is great. I think this is just a speed bump on our way to better days.

Mette has been handling the whole school thing quite well. She is enjoying the chance to be her crazy little self all she wants. Yesterday she spent most of the time naked carrying piles of material out of my sewing room to make a nest in the dining room. All while singing to herself.

What ever floats your boat!

When it rains

2011-09-08T15:12:00.000-04:00

It pours. And here that means it floods. Which it is doing A LOT of today. I woke up to flood sirens at 4 AM this morning. My usual Thursday workout routine at the gym was put on hold because I wasn't sure I would make it home if I went. Eric moved the Lotus to high ground early this morning. Despite the fact that our house has not flooded in the past, the fire department knocked on our door this morning to ask us to think about evacuating. We only live four doors from the river and they wanted to be safe. Until early this afternoon the National Guard was directing traffic away from our street and the bridge due to flooding. We are fortunate to not be taking water, but that is not the case for many friends. It is times like this when I am really thankful to live where we do. Sure, there are no great museums here, the lack of exciting restaurants makes dates less exciting (though not so much that I want to open another restaurant any time soon :) ). The cultural diversity leaves much to be desired, but the people who are here, they are good people. I spent the better part of today walking or riding my bike around town falling in and out of groups of friends and neighbors who were knocking on people's doors to see if they needed help. "what's that, you need a freezer from your basement carried to your neighbor's lawn? Sure! We are here to help." Everyone was checking on everyone else. Even people whose own homes were taking water went out to see if other's needed help as soon as things stabilized for them. Our whole town is like one big block party today. I keep thinking about a few weeks ago when Hoboken was flooding from the hurricane. My brother-in-law who lives there was worried not about the flood waters, but the looting that would take place. Here, everyone is clearing their homes of all their furniture and possessions and stacking them in the street or someone else's lawn, leaving them unguarded while they go in search of neighbors who might need more help. There is no fear of looting. People are serving drinks, having pot luck dinners and making the best of this wet day. We may not have the night life of Hoboken, or the proximity to New York that they do, but honestly, you can't put a price on good neighbors and community. I will stay where I am. Knowing we can visit the city when we want to works for me!

yesterday and today

2011-09-07T19:26:00.002-04:00

(for you Jack)

The end of summer (ssh, don't tell Belinda)

2011-09-04T21:58:00.000-04:00

Everyone has their own ideas about seasons and lifestyles, as they well should, but really, everyone should agree that fall is the best season. I know some of you will disagree, it's ok, but for me, the cool crisp air, smells of cider and leaves rotting, it's bliss. I am not a hot weather person so the coming of cooler days is heaven to me. Sorry Belinda, I know you are holding on to each warm day we have. But you also think it should be hot at Christmas and we should all eat mangos with our stockings and go swimming after presents, so clearly we take this whole "season" thing differently. It's ok, you are still awesome and maybe someday I will experience an Oz Christmas and I will be a changed woman.

Along with the smell of cider and leaves, for most the years I can remember fall aslo brought with it the new school supplies, pencils, pens and of course clothes and shoes. Let's not forget the shoes shall we. It has been a few years since I was gearing up for school and even with a professor husband where our lives revolve around the school year and school days, I have been left out of that circle for quite some time. That however is about to change. Otto starts pre-K this week and next year, duh duh duh, Kindergarden. He has a new backpack, new sneakers, long sleeve shirts and pants that fit his ever growing limbs, he is ready. On Tuesday we have a meet the teacher day and on Wednesday he is off. He seems super excited to go every afternoon to see his friends and do school work, Mette and I are a bit hesitant. What are we going to do without him? Mette is convinced she is going to school as well which will be a whole other issue to deal with I am sure. Really, it is only 2.5 hours in the afternoon, but we are such a team the three of us, it is going to be tough. Mette is starting gymnastics to help ease the pain. We will see how that works. Don't even get me started about next year when he will be gone all day, every day. I am not ready for that. Then Mette will also be going to school in the morning. It will be so lonely.

It's is just like everyone said. When they are tiny and literally touching you ALL DAY LONG you long for time away from them. Just and hour here or there. "Can I run that errand by myself" you find yourself asking your partner. Suddenly the most boring of tasks are lovely peaceful excursions if you get to do them by yourself. And then, in the blink of an eye, they are heading off to school. Little bits at first, but soon gone for the whole day, every day.

Where did the time go? How is he this big? How can the boy who was so unsure last year, be so ready this year? Will he been even bigger next year? Why don't I seem to grow as well to adjust?

I love them growing up. I love independence. Even when it means that it takes Mette 5 minutes to climb into the car because she "does not need help!". Or that twice as many drinks are spilled during dinner while they maneuver non-sippy cups.

I love it when they can do things for themselves without me, but I hate it when they don't need me to do things.

This is what being a parent is all about. Getting pushed to your limit so you crave the next break though to the next level all with selective memory due to sleep loss and anxiety that makes you crave the past. It's a beautiful, blissful world filled with fear, anger, frustration and extreme joy.

And to help make it all seem worthwhile I share this great story Mette told eric this weekend:

Daddy, I want to tell you a story about a bug. There was a hawk that ate a pig. The End.

Penguin Suit No. 2

2011-08-30T22:01:00.000-04:00

I am giving an advance warning, this is a photo heavy post. I am still working though the mounds of photos from this last trip, color correcting, cropping etc... but if I don't get a post up tonight it will be a while before I do. What follows are some highlights of last week's adventures in Chicago. The kids and I headed out on Tuesday to spend some time with Yiayia and Papou before Kristin's wedding. Despite Irene doing her best to stop him, eric made it out on Saturday for the big wedding and by the skin of our teeth we made it back to PA on Sunday. 18 hours after eric got to Chicago he was back at home. It was a crazy but wonderful week.

Wednesday we spent most of the day at the Aquarium. The kids (and me truth be told) had a wonderful time.

We did everything, we saw the Dolphin show, the 4D Dora/Diego show, Jellyfish, everything!

We of course hit up the local water fountain park for some fun in the sun!

Complete with neighbors grandchildren to play with we had a s'mores party in the back yard.

Mette loved the outdoor painting area at the local children's museum.

She was also the master of the check-out aisle at the grocery store.

The big day approaches so we did a little size checking in preparation for this...

Otto carried the Stefana (Greek wedding crowns) on a big silver platter with total seriousness and control!!

Mette rocked her same dress from Ben and Shannon's wedding, I just dyed it light purple/pink. She loved it and looked adorable!

Dare I say it, this is a really nice photo of eric and I!

Working hard on picking up all the flower petals.

Here is the beautiful bride (eric's cousin) and her groom leaving the church. Notice Mette's nice first shot with the rice! Photo credit: Uncle Ben

Here's the whole gang. Dee (eric's step-mother), her sister and brother and all their respective children and in the case of Otto and Mette, grandchildren.

As soon as the band fired up the kids ran to the floor. They had been begging to dance from the moment we got it there! They can really cut it up.

All our dance parties at home have paid off!

Letting loose!

Newlyweds Ben and Shannon taking Mette for a spin.

Ben was quite the dance partner.

Mette danced and danced until she could go no further. At once she stopped and asked to be picked up. She promptly fell asleep on my shoulder. It was time to make our rounds saying thank you and head home. A great night was had by all.

I have a bunch more photos to share but I know there are some of you out there waiting to see these so I thought I should get in gear!

On a side note, Otto starts Pre-K next week!!!! How did that happen??

And it goes on...

2011-08-17T21:22:00.001-04:00

Ha ha Blogger, I tricked you into uploading more photos! I win!! (today of course)

Alright, so back to the summer of amazing events, where were we?? Yes of course, eric's birthday. So we have the coolest tradition ever for the boy who refuses to acknowledge his birthday. Eric has a serious soft spot in his heart for cereal. Specifically sugar cereal. Then he married me. Don't get me wrong, I like cereal too, but not the same kinds and not with the same frequency that he does. We do however have some wonderful friends who share eric's deep love for the "good stuff" and every year we hold a little party. We go all out. The kids are allowed free reign in the cereal aisle to get whatever they want. We bust out the wedding china, champagne and fine china and FEAST!!!! All year long when the kids ask for a cereal that is not on my very short approved list I say, "yes, but not until dad's birthday" which helps to make this day THAT MUCH BETTER. The build up is year long.

This year was a fine example of what a year of longing will get you.

There is an Amish grocery store in the next town over where you can buy bulk bags of Lucky Charm marshmallows For the record, eric says adding them to Frosted Flakes is next level. I wouldn't know because that is WAY out of my league. I can't hack much beyond Fruit Loops, though I will admit they are pretty tasty.

Marcy, being the awesome person that she is, crafted this awesome contraption so we could put candles in eric's cereal out of an old jug and florist foam. She rocks! It gets pretty smoky these days :)

After eric's birthday we headed to D.C. to enjoy some lovely 105 degree weather. Actually we went there to hit up some museums and hotel living. Eric had to do research for a few days so the kids and I crashed his sweet hotel room and took in the Air and Space Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Zoo. I will be honest though, we spent a LOT of time at the pool.

I don't think I ever have seen a panda as close as this. We watched him eating and I swear "smiling" for at least half and hour. The Zoo was wonderful but very very hot and we could only handle being there for the morning before we beat a hasty retreat to the A.C. and pool at the hotel.

Have you ever heard of the services where you get "flocked" and someone plays a prank on you and fills your whole yard with pink flamingos. I secretly wish I had a front lawn and that someone would do that do me. I think flamingos are such cool animals. I have never seen a whole flock of them sleeping before but we did on this trip to the zoo. How that is comfortable is beyond me, but it sure looks cool!!!

The National History Museum has an entire interactive level for small kids in the basement and we spent most of our time there. Otto was over the moon to discover they had a whole corner filled with Legos and K'Nex.

I sat over in the block area with Mette knowing he wasn't going to run off anytime soon.

Mette found some great colored blocks to build with,

and make glasses out of.

Together they worked on building runs for the marbles.

But really what we did was hang at the pool. It was such a great pool, how could you not? The entire thing was 3 to 3 1/2 feet deep which is perfect for Otto. He can just stand but it is enough to really push him to swim as well. Plus they had a little baby pool to splash around in. See the table with the umbrella on the left? I kid you not, we had dinner there EVERY night we were in D.C. We had all the grand plans of going for Ethiopian and wonderful other culinary events but when the kids are so happy in the pool, it cools off to a chilly 99 degrees in the evening and the pool is willing to deliver drinks and dinner.... yeah, it was a pretty easy decision. Heaven is watching your kids frolic in the pool drinking a cold beer knowing they will sleep well tonight!!!

This is also the famed pool where Otto overcame his fear of going under the water and turned into a fish. There he is, under the water, having a blast. I am really hoping eric needs to do a lot more research at the Library of Congress every summer because I could get used to this!

Arg, it's not just for pirates

2011-08-16T21:40:00.000-04:00

I have been trying to get these pictures up for days now. Blogger and I have not been seeing eye to eye. Something has to change. I have a bunch more, but these are up and I am going to post them quick before they float off into the intertubulars again.

A few weeks ago we took the kids to an air show at the Selinsgrove Airport. This was a HUGE deal for Otto. He was so excited I thought he was going to explode on the way there. We were listening to the radio on the way there and every time they mentioned it (which was a lot, this was a big deal around these parts...) he just about lept out of his car seat. We got to tour some really cool planes, sit in helicopters and see some amazing air show acrobatics. I had never seen anything like this in person and I was really impressed. We all had a great time. It was a wonderful Saturday.

Otto in the cockpit of the helicopter. The guy told eric he could touch what ever he wanted. To quote him "if it isn't 4 year old proof, then our country has a lot to worry about". Well said, but has he ever seen a four year old pushing buttons????

The whole airport was filled with beautiful old planes. This one actually fired up it's engines and did a few flybys. It was beautiful to see.

Otto explaining to Mette that what she is looking at are bombs. Nice, thanks Otto.

Telling her how it all works.

Watching the fun start.

This summer has been filled with amazing adventures, but somedays it is nice to slow down and enjoy how beautiful it is here. Life is good, milkshake in hand overlooking our river from The Fence.

We have made it to Knoebel's a few times this summer and I hope we get one more trip in before the season is over. This picture sums up Otto's take on it.

Off they go....

Together.

Otto starts preschool in just a few weeks, eric starts classes next week, this was a summer of wonderful memories. I have many more to share, lets see if blogger lets me!

For the record

2011-08-14T20:51:00.002-04:00

I have been trying to post pictures and stories for two hours and nothing is working.

Blogger is in a funk. Wordpress is looking better and better.... wonder how much eric wants to help with the merge?? :)

I hope to have something up soon.

I would like to share that Otto spent ALL DAY today in an apron cutting wooden food in our play kitchen pretending to be a Japanese chef. It was beyond awesome. I have eaten in his restaurant for about 7 meals so far today.

LOVE!

Swim

2011-08-06T15:51:00.002-04:00

Level 1 COMPLETE

2011-08-05T16:05:00.000-04:00

I know I said I would back to blogging and then was silent for a few days.

Sorry about that.

See, my dear sweet husband wanted to make my day and put the great internet to work for him and scored me season 4 of my show, Doc Martin. While I intended to keep it as a treat for myself when he is in L.A. later this month I couldn't stop myself. I bawled my way through the whole thing and only now that I have seen the whole thing can I relax. He took pity on me, sweet guy. I was all set to have vascular surgery on Wednesday and at the last minute they are postponing it so the doctor can fill our more paper work prior. UGH!!! Needless to say I was a bit frustrated and shaken.

In addition to having my favorite pass time to make me happy, I also have great news from Otto. He passed Level 1 swimming today!!!!!! I can't tell you how excited I am about this. He has been so hesitant around water and so scared. Washing his hair up until a year ago resulted in blood curdling screaming EVERY TIME and forget getting his face wet at the pool. He is now a fish. He goes under that water and swims like it is nothing. He is working on strokes. As of now he can kick and do some freestyle type thing with his arms. He needs form work and practice, but that is just details. The important thing is he is doing it AND LOVING it!!!!!

I am so excited for him. One, the thrill of swimming is so liberating and two, conquering a fear is such an amazing boost of confidence. I was on the swim team for years growing up and I loved it. I consider myself an athletic person, but no sport ever came as easy to me as swimming. Watching him frolic and enjoy the water makes me so happy. We have some wonderful video which I will make eric cut together so we can share, but for now I had so share the good news!!!

Behold, my fish, in all his under water glory!!!

Total ReCap

2011-07-31T20:59:00.000-04:00

Remember those books that people used in Middle School when they were doing reports and were too lazy to read the actual book, what were they called?? I can't remember, I don't think I ever used them, I am a sucker for reading books, even crappy ones, but you know what I mean. Well, this post is going to be the blog post equivalent of those books.

Man, this is driving me crazy that I can't remember what they are called.

I have some great shots and stories to share from this summer and while together they make for a jumbled post, if you think of it as a "recap" it sort of holds together.

First, the bunk beds. With a summer of traveling and leaving for London at Christmas time we felt it was important to move Mette to a big girl bed sooner rather than later so we didn't have to think about cribs and where she would sleep etc... Being in a post diaper, post crib, post stroller (almost) world makes traveling about a million times easier. The kids still share a room and really seem to like it. The plan is to keep them together for as long as they like which hopefully will be for a while. They have a big room but bunk beds really seemed like a fun idea. I found some online that I liked but were crazy expensive. Luckily we have Grandpa and he was willing to make a version of them for us at cost. They of course are even cooler than the super cool ones I found online and the kids LOVE them. Together with the furniture they already had and fun sheets the room looks fun and cheery. It makes me smile every time I go in there.

Eric installed lights under Otto's bunk so at night we all pile into Mette's bed and read stories.

The bunk beds arrived a few days before we headed to Chicago which was perfect because the kids sleep in bunk beds there. So far Mette has been doing a great job of staying in her bed. I even took off the side rails a few days ago and she has only fallen out of bed once. I will count that as success!!

I mentioned briefly that while in Chicago after Ben and Shannon's wedding eric and I celebrated 7 years of marriage. We spoiled ourselves with and AMAZING four hour dinner at TRU in downtown Chicago. If you follow the link they are still showing the menu we ordered from. We did it all. Eric got the chef's tasting menu, the big one, and I did the pre fixe with additional items from the chef's menu. I couldn't let him get 7 courses while I only had three!! The only thing we didn't do was the caviar staircase. We thought about it though! The service was perfect. There only when you needed them, not stuffy, willing to talk and enjoy themselves, in a word, perfect. Normally I am not a fan of having my picture taken in restaurants or really anywhere where it looks touristy but this meal was so wonderful and the evening so perfect I didn't even mind.

One of the main reasons I ordered the pre fixe menu was for this dish. It was simply described as Rabbit with a melange of Spring. How can you pass that up?? What is a melange of Spring? Or any season for that matter. It was fantastic. Light, delicious and as you can see here, beautiful. It was all amazing but the soup from the chef's tasting menu that was the inside of an English Pea, that was out of this world. There were crumbles of lavender scented homemade marshmallows scattered along a chilled soup bowl into which table side, they poured the greenest pure pea soup I have ever tasted. The combination of the cold marshmallow with the warm pea soup was amazing.

In addition the the courses we ordered there were many more that arrived which we did not order. There were no less than three desserts, only one of which we picked. Everything was wonderful. When eric made the reservation he mentioned it was our anniversary (sly thing he is) and this....

arrived to finish off the night. It was lovely. When we were seated our menus said Welcome Faden Party and Happy Anniversary and when we left they gave us a printed menu of everything we had that night which was also personalized. The menu is now framed in the dining room, inspiration for dinner parties to come.

After Chicago we were home for about a week before we headed off again. Eric was lecturing at a summer camp in Conn, at Choate High School. Since it isn't far from where my grandparents live and the beach the kids and I tagged along. It was fun taking the kids to the beach where I clocked in many hours every summer growing up.

Otto living the good life got to eat lunch in a special cabinet left available for kids to play in. There was even a lantern since he was pretending to be camping.

My grandfather managed to get a great shot of the four of us, a rarity to be sure!

Despite being crazy hot, later that week we went downtown to hear Averie (she was the house band at my restaurant for a while and sang at eric and I's wedding) play. The kids had a great time. Mette was cutting the rug!!

We went to three birthday celebrations in one week. Mette has mastered the art of eating cake while actually not eating the cake at all. She just sucks off the icing. It is the best way to get in all the sugar!

Mette, somehow managed to find time to decorate herself. That is a butterfly she drew on her dress, in washable markers luckily!!!

We were also here for the sidewalk chalk festival which is always a lot of fun. Our kids aren't really old enough for it yet, but it is great fun walking around seeing what everyone else is doing. It is one of the events downtown that really gets a bunch of people out. Strolling market street on a friday night in a crowd is a special treat here!

There are many more pictures and some amazing videos that we are getting together. The summer is winding down but I hope my blogging to pick up again!

more soon!

Cliff Notes, that is what they were called!! I was just about to google it when it came to me. Ah, I can rest now.

Summer Days

2011-07-29T14:17:00.001-04:00

I have taken a bit of a blog vacation this summer. We have been traveling all over, swimming at every chance and generally enjoying life. I will be up and running soon with stories of all our adventures.

For example:

Setting up astronauts on lobby tables....

Napping in strollers under crystal chandeliers.

It's a tough life, but somebody has to do it.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bumpy, Grumpy, Frumpy, Crunky

2011-07-05T14:08:00.000-04:00

This is how Mette describes herself or anything she does not like when she is in one of her "moods".

Offer her a snack, be prepared to get a "too frumpy!!" If she doesn't want to do what you are proposing she will tell you she is too Crunky. I don't know where any of these words came from or what they are in relation too, but they are quickly becoming part of the Faden lexicon. I have to say, when you use the little kid whinny voice they really do a good job of conveying the emotion she is feeling.

Ah, Mette. She is almost two and a half. Whew. We are half way through the twos. Thank GOODNESS!!! For Otto two wasn't nearly as tough as three, for Mette, if three is worse I am not sure if I will make it. This little girl rules with an iron fist. Mind you, that fist is pink with sparkels and has a fairy wand, but don't let looks deceive you. If she decides you have wronged her, be prepared to pay the price.

On the flip side, she can be the sweetest thing ever. Showering you with compliments and love at every turn. If it wasn't such a role of the die to see which one you were going to get there would be much less anxiety in my day.

She has had some major breakthroughs lately. Shortly before our big trip to Chicago she was really wanting to sleep in a nightgown. Because I knew that if she wasn't in zip up jammies she would take off her nighttime diaper I was hesitant to let her sleep in them. I told her they were for big girls who either kept their diaper on or wore big girl underwear to bed. She declared herself ready to wear big girl underwear to bed and hasn't gone back since. That was it. Done. No more diapers in our house. It still seems a bit too good to be true. We drove to and from Chicago without even using pull-ups in the car. It has been amazing. She will proudly tell you that a nightgown is a dress you can sleep in.

Speaking of dresses. That is all she will wear. She REFUSES to wear anything else other than a dress except for two skirts that are super frilly and full of tulle and have matching shirts, making them in a sense, dresses. She picks our her outfits every day and has a few wardrobe changes throughout the day to suit her mood. She literally stands at her closet and leafs through her dresses and picks the one that suits her that day. It is both hilarious and terrifying at the same time. She also has a strong opinion about what matches and cares deeply that things match. Not that I wear things that don't match (though I did for most of my early childhood) but this whole dressy matchy matchy thing is really funny. Where does it come from???? Not me, that is for sure.

She is so girly I get nervous until I see her sock anyone who she thinks looked at her the wrong way, runs faster than some of the boys, screams "don't look at me" to people she doesn't want looking at her, is generally fearless of all things BOY. As Racer says, she is a "rough and tough creme puff". That's my girl.

We are members of the local pool this summer and it has been a huge hit. Both kids took swimming lessons starting when we got back from Chicago. Otto is still working on getting his face wet and is very hesitant in the water. We are going to switch to private lessons with him because he seems to be getting braver and we want to encourage that. He really loves going to the pool so it seems like a good idea to roll with it while we can.

Mette, has NO FEAR!!!

The scariest part of taking her to the pool is her lack of fear. She wants to jump into the deep end "all by herself". She passed her swimming class in the first session. We have some video to post later but you will see the little fish that she is.

Speaking of pool time. It is crazy hot today and I think the kids and I are going to hit up the pool this afternoon to cool off.

More soon.....

Chicago Part 3 of 3

2011-06-24T13:44:00.001-04:00

Here we go again. More pictures from the trip.

Papou and I took a trip out to the Brookfield Zoo along with a million other school groups and the hot sun. The kids were a bit hot and whinny, but who could blame them, but we had a good time anyway. We did find this small children's zoo in the middle of the regular zoo that was air conditioned and filled with cool exhibits. Including this one where the kids got to pretend they were birds and sit on eggs. They both really got into it.

Mette backing up to land on her egg.

Landed!

Otto waiting patiently for his egg to hatch.

Otto made a friend fast and they all got together to hatch eggs.

Checking out some other nests.

They had a room filled with plants and spray bottles for the kids to water the plants with. Brilliant. Otto would have been fine here for hours.

Mette found a table with some natural blocks and started building.

"Mommy take a picture of me with the Nunicorn", that is mette speak for unicorn.

"no, see, it's a nunicorn, look at it's horn" Of course, silly me!

They even had story time!

Share misters with Mette at your own risk.

Rhino sighting

After the zoo daddy was retrieved from the airport after his trip to L.A.. We meet him at the sushi restaurant for dinner. Otto did not disappoint. That boy packs away the fish and roe like it is his job. He is amazing!!

Roe.

On Saturday we went to the Botanical Gardens which are nearby and really beautiful.

Mette, catching up with Otto. I love how she still has the head down running technique. Otto has mostly grown out of that already...

This is the best picture of the four of us we have had in a while.

On Sunday our trip was almost over. My brother who has been living in Chicago for the last six years has decided to come back to PA to work on his portfolio and prepare for grad school. Since we were there with a car and an extra seat we offered to bring him back with us. On Sunday eric and I picked up a U-Haul trailer, headed downtown and loaded him all up. Monday morning the five of us set out for home. This was my view for 13 hours as we made the trek. Eric driving, Racer and his long legs up front while I manned the computers, toys and snacks. Mette slept for 25 minutes in the morning when we got going and Otto was up the entire 13 hours!!! Otto was an angel, Mette had her moments but they both hung in there and were in good spirits when we rolled into home at 10:30 monday night.

The view out the back.

It was a wonderful trip, even if the road home was long.

Chicago Part 2 of 3

2011-06-22T21:40:00.000-04:00

Really, I have WAY too many photos from this last trip. But when you are having fun it is hard to stop snapping away. Since before I really only posted wedding photos, here are a few more of the whole trip, with more to come.

First of all, on the way out we drove the trip in two days. We spent the night in Toledo, OH at the Crowne Plaza which was a lovely hotel if you are ever in Toledo fyi. We got the kids totally excited about Toledo by chanting TOLEDO, TOLEDO, TOLEDO with rock star fists pumping in the air. Why, because they are two and four and if you tell them something is cool, they believe you. And that kind of power totally rocks. And truth be told, Toledo did rock. As we pulled into our hotel we noticed it was located a few blocks from a minor league baseball stadium and the team was out warming up. The valet told us there was a game starting at 7. SCORE! We hit up the hotel pool to burn off some car energy, found a local restaurant that served a strange Hungarian menu with hot dogs of sorts, dumplings which were like spaetzel and relishes then headed to the game. As we got to the gate some woman offered us two free tickets. It was meant to be. We got some ice cream for the kids and sat down to watch a few innings in the lovely 100 degree weather. It was a huge hit, especially when between innings some girls came out with big canon things and fired balls into the audience. Otto LOVED that part!!

We arrived in Chicago on Thursday and had dinner with YiaYia, Papou and Uncle Matt which was of course wonderful.

Uncle Matt teaching Otto mad skills.

There are a few more pictures from the rehearsal. I just really like this photo of eric!

Mette snuggling with YiaYia

Here are the kids in their trial run down the aisle.

This picture of Otto just before the wedding is so great.

Here are the kids with YiaYia and Papou before we left for the church.

Otto with his love, Kristin.

Getting coached by aunt Pitsa before walking down the aisle.

Mette is one of the slowest walkers in the world, Otto was making her keep up :)

Again, a great shot of eric, with brother Matt in the background.

Another great attraction in Chicago is the children's museum. We had a blast here with the kids.

We also hit up the Museum of Science and Industry which is always a great experience.

I wish I had the camera at this point of the evening. It was in eric's pockets downstairs. People were sitting down for dinner and the band was playing jazzy music, the dance floor was open. Otto spent the entire time doing the worm and rolling all over dancing and jumping. It was fantastic!

On Sunday before heading out of the city, we took the kids to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It is a really great zoo, I had never been there before. We of course had to ride the "ponies that go up and down and play music".

Eric headed to L.A. for work on Tuesday while the kids and I were spoiled by grandparents. We even had a fire in the backyard and roasted marshmallows.

Papou took us to the Field Museum where we saw an amazing exhibit on whales and checked out all the dioramas

We also took a trip to see Papou's new plane hanger and plane paint job. It looks amazing!

Otto was super excited to sit in the plane!

Remember, there is no minimum age for a pilot's license.

Watching jets take off and land.

Trying their flying skills at home.

I have more photos to post later, plus stories and updates but this will have to hold you for tonight.

Gratuitous Cuteness

2011-06-14T23:44:00.000-04:00

This post is of course for everyone, but especially my mom and Rachel who have been asking for pictures of the kids in the wedding. I have axp. a million pictures but will spare you all the gory details. Below are some of my favorites along with a few of the man and woman of the day.

The kids did amazing. They followed direction, walked down the aisle and thanks to the beauty of iPhone's and iPads they stayed quiet for the ceremony. The rehearsal dinner, ceremony and reception were all beautiful and wonderful. Mette got a quick power nap in from 6 -7 pm which allowed her to stay up for the fireworks at 10:30. Yeah, that was awesome, :) At 10 she was still wide awake with the babysitter and crying to go to the party and dance. So Eric went down to relieve the babysitter and I took Mette upstairs to the party. It was midnight until she went to sleep. Despite that, she was up at 6:28 wanting to go back and dance.

Despite all of that, we had a wonderful time.

Here they are getting ready to get on the bus to the rehearsal. I made their matching outfits. Mette has a new seersucker dress and Otto has fully lined, flat front seersucker pants. Cuter than cute.

The best picture I managed to snap while getting them to walk down the aisle. It was a great practice run.

Otto macking it up with eric's cousin Kristin (he is in her wedding this August). He would follow her to the ends of the earth. On thursday we are going to watch one of her baseball games and have dinner at her mom's house. He is pretty excited.

Here is where it gets good. Mette all dressed up with hair curled (yes, I braved all my fears and took a curling iron to her hair) and in her party dress.

Getting on his penguin suit.

I love this photo. It would be better if there wasn't a huge light over eric's head, but in a small hotel room you have to take what you can get!

Biding time....

Hey, Mette, what is in your hair?

Rarely do I do the whole posed photo thing, but this seemed like a good chance. That's me rocking my new dress I made for the wedding. More pictures to come later of the dress....

Serious discussions about how flower girls act in a wedding.

Because I had to "catch" the kids as they came down the aisle I had a hard time getting action shots of them in the church but I will get more soon. Here is the best I have.

Trying to hard to be quiet.

The lucky man as his soon to be bride walked in the door.

Here she comes!

In between the ceremony and reception I took the kids up to the hotel room and got them a room service dinner. We had a picnic W style with hotdogs, french fries and a veggie platter.

This is pretty much what the kids looked like during the cocktail hour.

Dancing

As I sit here at the table posting this YiaYia is working on narrowing pictures down to 200 to fit in an album so to say there are more photos would be an understatement. As the week goes on I will add more along with other shots of the kids and grandparents on our adventures this week.

Last night eric and I celebrated seven years of marriage with an AMAZING dinner at TRU complete with personalized menus (good job eric!) and possibly the best meal I have ever had. More on that to come as well.

Summer is Here!

2011-06-05T06:12:00.000-04:00

Let's not think about why I am up this early in the morning listening to the birds chirping outside my window and instead go to Knoebel's. We are so lucky to live so close to such an amazing place. Every time we go it is just a little bit cooler. The kids are getting older and more and more able to go on rides which makes it that much better. This whole past week Nona Jen and baby Harry were visiting. Since they had never been there before and Thursday was about the most perfect weather day you could imagine, it seemed like a great thing to do.

It was.

Eric was out of town for work so he unfortunately missed the first trip of the year, but that just means we will have to go more with him later in the summer.

Otto definitely remembered it all from last year, but I am not sure Mette did. She hung back in the stroller with Harry when we first got there while Otto ran ahead eager to check everything out.

When we made it to the Kiddie rides section Otto found one with planes with blasters. He of course wanted to go on that. Mette, still hesitant at this point, chose to watch from the stroller. Despite my warnings, Otto chose to ride backwards. I don't think he was too down with that and wanted to get off early. The beautiful thing about going to the big K before school lets out, you have the place to yourself. The kids didn't wait in a single line and often had the ride to themselves. Getting off early is not a problem.

Next up, the cars. Mette was swayed to ride after spotting a pink car. She was buckled in to the pink car while Otto picked out a shiny red sports car. Then he saw Mette and wanted to ride with her but to get to her he had to pass a tank. Just after buckling him on the tank he said he really did want to ride with Mette,

So off they went.

And that was it. From then on they only wanted to go on rides together. They did everything together for the rest of the day. It was adorable. Picking rides, taking turns, sharing. It was one of the days when you are so happy they have each other and you get to watch them grow up together.

Of course, a Merry-Go-Round needed to be found for Mette. And of course, upon seeing it up close she was a bit hesitant. Then she spotted the bench where she could ride with "her big brother" as she insisted. Works for me.

I squeezed in and around we went.

It was a huge hit with everyone.

It was so empty, they even got the bouncy house all to themselves. I was a little jealous over this. That looks like a LOT of fun!!

These helicopters are really cool. They have an arm that you pull back and it makes the helicopter go up into the air. Otto totally remembered how to do it and was pulling the arm back before the ride even started. I took a million pictures of this, but couldn't get any good ones. It is really a cool ride and they both had a great time with squeals of delight.

That is them heading up to the trees!

They didn't even want Jen or I to go on the antique cars with them. Together again.

Seriously, how cute is this?

Perfect.

This water spray gun thing is a hit every year. At some point they will figure out how it works, but for now they love it just the same. Otto was getting the hang of it by the end.

Working hard.

I am a huge Dippin' Dots fan and have to get some every time we go to Knoebel's. Mette picked out Rainbow, no surprise and Otto chose Cookies and Cream. I chose Mint Chocolate Chip, because we all now that is the best flavor.

When you are only 12 weeks old there aren't a lot of rides for you to go on, but you do get to watch which is sometimes pretty cool.

And then your mom takes a picture of your chunk in front of the Fudge Kitchen!!

I wasn't sure if the big Carousel was going to be too big or loud for the kids so we went to check it out and decide for ourselves.

A girl bonding with her favorite kind of ponies. "The kind that play music and go up and down."

We had to ride it.

Seated together of course, this time ON the ponies.

Heading back to get a little tank action. Where does Mette sit when Otto picks the tank? In the back seat.

Someone needs to know where we are going.

We spent about four hours at the park which was enough to exhaust us all. Mette fell asleep in the stroller on the way to the car and I was able to transfer her to her car seat and buckle her in without her waking up. She was a little on the tired side! Otto even snoozed on the way home.

The whole week was great and I will get more pictures and stories up soon, but I wanted to start with these. It was such a great trip.

The kids should be waking up any minute now. We have a big day ahead of us, the new bunk beds are arriving this morning!!!!

4 A.M.

2011-05-30T05:02:00.000-04:00

Sleep in our house with children has been a long struggle. Otto took about a year to start sleeping though the night, though he is now a super champ!! Mette still can be known to have bouts of crying in the night though she is getting much better. You would think my body after four years would be craving long hours of straight through sleep, but here I am, at 4 A.M. writing to you because I am WIDE awake and have been for hours. And, while I am wide awake, everyone else is snoozing away. Including my baby brother tucked in a crib at the end of the hall outside the guest room :)

It may be the medicine I am taking. I had a strange allergic reaction to something not yet determined and broke out in strange hives that would not go away. Not wanting to look like a freak at Ben and Shannon's wedding in a few short weeks I reluctantly am taking a round of steroids. For those of you who know me well enough to remember my last experience with this drug you should know I am as scared as you. Last time I gained 15 pounds in two months and was MEAN and CRAZY. I heard circus music in my head non-stop all day and yelled at the slightest thing. That time I had to take a higher dose and for much longer but still, I warned all close to me I was taking this drug and told them to be sure to put me in my place if I start acting weird again. I also explained this to my dr. when she suggested the meds. She put me on a much lower dose and said if the hives went away (they did within hours!!) and I started feeling strange she would help me taper off them faster. So far I don't feel crazy, and I am trying really hard to stick to a celery only diet!! Ok, that may be a bit extreme but I am going to up my weekly dose of yoga, pilates and walking for sure. I am however not really sleeping.

I am going to say that this is just a phase, like teething, or yelling "don't look at me" every time someone as much as glances at you (Mette) but in the back of my head I can't help thinking that medicine aside, I am not the first person in my family to experience this. The flip side, maybe I can get more blogging and reading done. That would be a nice bonus. Now that the kids are sleeping better I have been able to read books again which is really lovely. I could get used to this.

Speaking of the kids, they are doing great. Grandpa Chris and Nona Jen are here this weekend with baby Harry and we are having a blast. In the dark and being quiet I couldn't find the camera and cable but I will get some great photos up tomorrow. Eric is also working on some more videos.

Otto continues his complete love of all things Lego and Star Wars. We have also been watching the CARS 2 movie trailer A LOT these days. He can't wait to see it. This is going to be his first time going to the theatre and he is really excited. It has also meant that he has been playing with his CARS movie cars more these days. I have to say, it really warms my heart to see them get action again. For so long they were such an important part of his day, seeing them sit all day in the drawer was a bit sad. There were so many naps and bedtimes that he feel asleep clutching The King, or Boost or someone else, it makes me smile to hear their names again. In a stroke of marketing genius this time around they are making Lego Cars 2 toys. Yeah, we are going to need some of those. Some amazing Canadian company even make a version of the trailer out of legos in stop motion. It is awesome, watch it here, it has been high on our rotation for sure.

Speaking of watching things, Mette has fallen in love with the Little Mermaid. Eric brought it home from work for her to watch this week and she has seen it at least 7 times since then. She LOVES it. It is the first movie that she wants to watch over and over again. I remember going to the theatre with my brother Racer when he was two and it had just come out and him loving it as well. We had it on VHS the moment it was released. I forgot how well I knew the movie until I watched the first scene again and the whole thing came flooding back to me. We have been singing "Under the Sea" a lot here. She is also still in love with My Little Pony. I am starting to wonder if my jeans are going to have pony leg marks on the back pockets since she often want me to carry one around as well.

We have starting just putting her in her crib at nap time despite her screams of protests, and I mean SCREAMS. The screaming last for about 5 -10 minutes and then she is dead to the world. She wakes up for the most part in such a better mood that it is totally worth it. I may have let her sleep too long yesterday and paid the price with a MOODY little girl, but for the most part it has been getting better.

She also now insists on wearing a dress everyday. She also has to pick them out herself. It is really cute. She likes them as full and "party like" as possible. I have been working on sewing her some more because when you change your outfit three to four times a day on a whim but manage to get each outfit a little dirty you better have a stocked closet to choose from. For the last three nights she has also been sleeping in a nightgown. This is huge to her because it is a dress you can sleep in. She had been in the habit of taking off her diaper at night if you did't have her in a straight jacket but she has been convinced that if she keeps her diaper on, she can sleep in a night gown and it has worked. We didn't really have any nightgowns for her so I have made a few from old t-shirts with ruffles and flowers. She loves them and they look super soft and comfy. I am going to try and dye a few a light shade of pink to make them that much better. For the first two nights she woke up totally dry. She has been getting close to this for a while, tonight we are trying sleeping in underwear for the first time. So far, so good. I went in and checked a while ago. We will see how this goes. It is sounding like the kids will be getting new bunk beds soon and it seemed like a good time to make the plunge to diaper free sleeping.

I am super excited about the bunk beds, Grandpa is custom making them for the kids and they are going to be so great. I got an old dresser from a friend which I am going to clean up and paint and I am going to make some floor cloths for their room as well. With Otto's allergies I don't dare any rugs in his room but they have to much empty floor that this will be a great way to add some color and still have it easy to clean.

We are in high allergy season for Otto with trees and grass but we just changed his medicine and are handling it better now. He is on Allegra twice a day and now has added a once daily nose spray. He is fine with me doing it and it has made a HUGE difference. Let's hope this continues to work for a while.

Well, this has been and epic post as eric would say and I didn't even have any pictures to break it up. Thanks for hanging with me, if you did, I will try to get soem good eye candy up soon! Now I am going to try reading....

Ok, I lied, I did have a few winners I recently transfered from my phone.

Here is Otto and Mette enjoying muffins at hot chocolates at our local coffee shop. A popular outing around here! Muffins are best eaten with a knife and whipped cream with a crazy tiny straw for those who were wondering.

The kids and I planted window boxes for Rachel as a welcome home gift from her Mom. She sent the boxes to us and we filled them with flowers and took them over. It was a fun little project.

I don't know why, but I love this shot too!

Life in the Burg

2011-05-24T22:37:00.000-04:00

Sentences and full paragraphs seem to evade me now, how about some random thoughts?

Some things that are making me happy: (in no particular order)

The dish drain next to one of the kitchen sinks is filled with little crocs and sandals of varying sizes all lined up drying after scrubbing days worth of mud off them earlier this evening. The look so colorful and cheery.

Rache is home!!! And she brought her two adorable children with her. Her husband came as well, but I haven't seen him yet. The youngest of her two is fantastically chubby and I want to eat her up.

A few nights ago I made myself the most fantastic pair of jammy pants ever. It was a spur of the moment project after the kids went to bed and I LOVE them. Must make more soon.

I finished a new dress for Mette which she wore today. At the local coffee shop the server told her how much she liked her dress and Mette responded "my mommy sewed it and I was SO happy". Pretty much sealed the deal that I will make her a million more. This one is just ever so slightly short which on her is so cute. Only at 2 can you get away with that, though the undergrads sure do try.

I bought a box of fudgesicles at the store a few weeks ago and every once and a while I treat myself to one. They are so good.

Tonight is the last night that I have to be on bat (the animal) duty all night long. Eric has been out of town for a few days and the first night he was gone there was a bat downstairs when the kids went down for breakfast. Thankfully the cats had is stunned and on the ground but it was PISSED and I had to get it outside. Catching the bats is ALL ERIC. He has a butterfly net and his years of playing badminton have served him well. He can catch them with amazing grace and ease. There is nothing graceful or easy about how I deal with bats. I normally have to "check on the kids" aka, hide in their room with them to keep them safe. He will be home tomorrow and I am going to sleep so much better.

I painted our back deck, we got new chairs, planted more flowers, got hanging baskets and made a tablecloth and now our deck which has always been lovely seems like a magical garden. On saturday after the kids went to bed eric and I sat outside and had a few drinks and got to enjoy the glow from our little solar lanterns I always admire from the window. It was so lovely. I only got two muzzy bites and only one swelled up so much I had what looked like two knees until yesterday so I count that has a huge success.

Life is good.

Frame of reference

2011-05-18T21:20:00.003-04:00

Every time someone says "you made that!?" or "you fixed that?!" in disbelief, part of me rolls my eyes. Yes, I make some clothes and curtains (and small children), I have been known to take apart toilets and tile bathrooms, if I need something my first thought is "how can I make that?" - really this is nothing.

Truth of the matter is, yes, I am somewhat handy but my real secret is I have good people to learn from, who will help me when I get in over my head. I spent many an afternoon and evening as a child holding tools, flashlights, mortar buckets, finding hammers, remembering where the box of nails was last, but mainly watching. You can learn a lot from watching. Most importantly you learn that things CAN be made and fixed at home. Creating things at home, and by things I mean walls, stairs, bathrooms, kitchens, floors, paintings, sculptures, clothing, musical instruments, silicone molds, tiles, furniture, whole buildings, worlds if you really get down to it, is possible and wonderful. Sure you can call a plumber to fix a leak, but it feels so much better when you do it yourself and have the dirty hands to show for it. I have a lot to learn but I look forward to each project and every chance I have to watch, help and learn.

The concept of actually being able to make things is disappearing. So many people can't make things anymore. We live in a culture where people buy everything. I try hard to make or fix as many things as I can. I take great pride in stocking a freezer and pantry with homemade foods from local sources. More and more of our clothes are being made in my sewing room each day. There are some house projects I am just not physically capable of doing, but everything else I tackle myself. It seems totally normal to me that way. I can't imagine NOT doing that. I hope that Otto and Mette grow up with that same attitude. They see me working and enjoying what I am doing and visiting my grandpa Chris and nona Jen where walls are plastered and the furniture made by grandpa Chris, then at the cabin where the building was built by grandma and grandpa and is decorated with grandma and uncle racer's paintings, I can only hope it will sink in to them as well.

To debut some of insane talents my family sports I am sharing a few links to their brand new websites:

My mom's new painting can be found here. There are a few new directions shown. I am working on scoring a few for our dining room!! You may want some too.....

Grandpa's out of this world custom banjos deserve some of your time. While you are there, be sure to click on the videos page. Speaking of being able to make things, Eric shot and edited the two videos for the website, you can see some of his non-kid home movie work.

Then if you are interested in the family business you can check that out here

I think you will quickly see I am not nearly as talented as many of the other folks I hang out with. Still I am very nice and who knows, maybe if I keep watching and learning I will get there.

Oh, while you are checking out their coolness, give a looksie to my brother's page. His stuff is wonderful as well.

Cabin in tilt shift

2011-05-11T20:31:00.000-04:00

People, please, if you like the videos, show eric some love. Leave a comment or two. Makes the boy smile!

Blueberries

2011-05-10T22:31:00.000-04:00

There is much more to come, but this is priceless.

Off the grid

2011-05-10T22:19:00.000-04:00

We spent the last few days off the grid at the cabin with Grandmom and Grandpa. Due to really crappy weather and insane work schedules (eric) it has been forever since we have made it up there. Since our last visit the kids have grown by leaps and bounds. Otto now finishes his meals in a hurry, hops up from the table and rushes back outside to play. Followed by his ever faithful dog companion, Hugo. Gone are the days of constant supervision and worrying he would get lost. He knows to stay close and since there is a limitless amount of things to explore close to home, he is set.

When we were in New Orleans in March and the kids were here in grandparent heaven the seed was planted about having a camp fire and s'mores. Grandmom and Grandpa held true to their promise and when we got there the camp fire was already set up along with chairs for everyone.

Hero of the weekend no. 1, Grandmom!

Tied for no. 1, Grandpa!

Living the good life.

There really aren't words to describe how dirty the kids were by the end of the weekend, however the amount of "stuff" that came out of Mette's hair when I gave her a bath this evening was rather impressive.

Not only had the kids never been to a real campfire cookout, eric had never had s'mores. Happy to continue on my campaign to fill in the gaps in eric's life education I sat them all down for a sticky sweet treat.

They were very popular.

With everyone!

No trip to the cabin is complete without banjo music!

Otto working on the fine art of cooking over a campfire and NOT dropping your food in the coals.

Our take on Easter:

Fluffy, sugary pink bunny on a stick

Enter, Fire!

Delicious. Isn't that what all the hype is about? Bunnies at the stake, or am I getting something confused?

Cementing their super cool status, Grandmom and Grandpa had a tarp and sleeping bags so the kids could stay up late and enjoy the fire.

While they were all snuggled up I read some of The House at Pooh Corner.

Really this is nothing more than admiring a beautiful setting for breakfast and great light.

A little good cabin air and lots of running around can really wear a girl out. Mette crashed out with Grandma on the hammock for a little pre-lunch snooze.

Otto LOVES the "Tarzan/Luke rescuing Leia" rope swing as he likes to call it.

It was a really wonderful few days and now all I can think about is how soon can we get up there again. The kids both had a wonderful time. It is so great to have a place where they can learn how to just fart around in the woods. Otto went on walks with Grandpa and learned how to identify deer poop which he thought was REALLY cool, we all went exploring and everyone ate well.

These pictures are really great, but wait until you see the videos eric is cutting together right now. Seriously, we are sitting side by side on the couch both plugging away on editing on the computer.

We are so romantic.

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T19:53:00.003-04:00

I have a backlog of about a million blog posts that I have been wanting to get to but haven't had time (really sorry about that) but I had to share one quick story on Mother's Day.

Today, eric was extra kind and let me sleep in, despite Mette getting up at 5:30. He even brought me breakfast in bed at a much more humane hour. I was still snuggled in bed with my coffee when Mette came bounding into our room.

She came running up to me and said "Happy Mother's Day Mommy!!!"

How cute, I thought, eric must have sent her up. Then she got all excited and said, "I have a special present for you" With this, she attempted to climb on the bed to show me her "special present".

Special is one way to describe it. In her hand was the instruction manual for Otto's new booster seat, proving she this was a mission of her own design. She was so excited to give it to me. She snuggled into the bed next to me and asked me to read it to her.

So I did. We made it five whole pages before she lost interest.

I am guessing it is going to take a long time before any gift tops that one!

Hoping you had a wonderful Mother's Day, or just plain great Sunday.

I now have my dress for the wedding made and eric is finally done teaching and final projects have been delivered. Let the blogging begin again. Including pictures of my dress which is awesome!!!