Trimming that Tree

Mom & Dad,

I just wanted you to know that trimming our family Christmas tree was more fun this year than ever before! I mean you practically let me open all the ornaments from their special boxes and you didn't even flinch when I was on top step of the step ladder.

I was even allowed to place all the little nutcrackers on my fingers this year. You would not even let me near them last year!

Thanks. I had a lot of fun with you and our tree is "my favorite" which is something I like saying a lot right now!

See, I didn't even break anything! I told you to trust me!

Thanksgivings To Remember

Reflect

Wherever you find yourself today, we wish you a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving. May you find the time to reflect peacefully on all the joys that family and friends bring (I said all the joys!), not only today, but throughout the entire year.

May you also be thankful and give thanks to God, for all we have today and always is by this grace.

Happy Thanksgiving! Make this a joyous holiday to remember!

Leftovers: America's Birthday

This was another beautiful Michigan weekend. Perfect for running through the sprinkler...

Or just standing and letting it soak you. Watch out, Mimi, or you'll get hit too!

We continue to celebrate Rocketship's birthday that never really happened (because she was sick and we canceled the party) and won't stop happening (because we keep seeing people that have presents for her, hence song-singing, candle-blowing, etc.). We think she loves it...

This time we celebrated Papa's birthday as well. Candles go surprisingly well in watermelon.

Cousin Lily loved her watermelon and joined the "Clean Plate Club"!

The girls are always happy to see each other.

Even Midgie got in on the holiday action.

Happy Birthday, Papa!

'Til next year! Happy birthday, America!

Best. Father's Day. Surprise. EVER!

So....I have a lot to write about tonight, at the end of my most favorite Father's Day to-date! But first, before I begin, Happy Father's Day to all the hard-working dads out there!

You know who you are!

Personally, being a dad is the best thing that has ever happened to me. And because of my little girl and my big girl, I am the luckiest dad I know. I thank God every day for the privilege and the opportunity.

Now, to the surprise!

I was told this morning to be ready to leave the house by a certain time. I had no idea where we were going or what we were doing. Actually, I didn't even really know once we arrived at the final destination because S had played a stellar poker-face hand of "I am lost and don't know how to find where we are supposed to be and we are late and perhaps I should stop and ask for directions here at this Aviation Center..." (sigh) Yes, I am afraid I am that gullible...

And yes, we were going for an airplane ride!

For those that don't know, learning to fly has been on my un-posted and unofficial "bucket list" for a long, long time. I mean, it is still very unofficial, but the idea would be that ONE DAY, when all the pieces can come together, I will obtain my Pilot's License. I guess today was a good day to have a "trial". The idea was that we would all "give it a go" and see how we liked it. It makes sense because there's really no use in going through the training and flight time just to learn that someone in the family get's airsick or just plain doesn't like it.

But, seriously, who doesn't like flying!

Rocketship loved the plane right away and kept proclaiming "That's a BIG plane!"

Because we decided that we MAY begin to work on the lessons, it made sense to make this hangar visit count, so instead of just going up in the plane, the instructor, Mark, treated it like the first lesson. This meant I was included in the usual thorough pre-flight check of the aircraft (that's the instructor on the left. I assure you he really does have 2 legs!).

The girls waited so patiently while the plane was inspected. There was also some instrumentation introductions and basic flight methodology shared. It was sweet! I was digging every minute!

That's the pre-flight inspection list (more like a small book!) in my hands. No stone was left unturned!

Once we were finished, the plane was fueled and pulled outside into the sun. Rocketship's cowmooflage car seat was installed and she was buckled in! As you can see, she was - naturally - very interested in what was happening in the front seats!

She even got her own headset to wear, although she deemed it "too tight", just like she says for anything she doesn't really want to wear!

The best thing about going up in the air with an instructor is YOU REALLY GET TO FLY! That's right, I pretty much had the controls the entire time! He even let me "ride along" during the take-off and landing. It was quite an experience!

That's the airport runway, shortly after take-off.

E loved it! She really had a great time. She kept saying "Higher!" and "Faster!"

The Big House

There was a lot to look at outside the windows. It was a "great day for flying"...we'll, okay, that's what everyone kept saying! I could see why!

We flew over S's workplace. That's her building in the center of the picture.

I think E was getting a bit too comfortable, don't you?

We even flew over our house!

And - alas - we HAD to go back eventually, I guess. Hmph! Here is the runway as we were on the final approach.

Back at the Aviation Center, there was a female bird named Frannie. E loved her and even fed her a green peanut M&M, which was promptly and expertly cracked open (and peanut removed!)

All in all, a GREAT day! And an even better surprise! Thank you S-Bomb!

Best! Father's Day! EVER!

Thank you Veterans!

Happy Memorial Day!

We were very excited to head down to the Milford Memorial Day parade this morning. Our Rocketship absolutely LOVED the action. Between the vintage airplanes flying overhead, the spectators, dogs, horses, "Big Trucks" (as she says - "That's a big truck!"), Veterans, Jeeps, flying candy, & popsicles, she had a RIOT!

It was a lot of fun for the parade goers as well. There was a heartfelt moment when the street was packed full with Veterans who had served all over the world. The announcer came over the loud speaker and said "We need to show our gratitude to these brave soldiers. Go out and give them a hug!". At that moment many people from both sides of the little downtown street flooded in and exchanged some sincerity's. It was very touching.

Thank you to all the Veterans who have served or are serving to protect our freedom! You are very brave and we are thankful for your actions! God bless you!

Thanksgiving Blessings

Happy Thanksgiving!

From our turkey table to yours! May you take the time today to reflect on everything each of us has to be thankful for. I know if we were to list them all here, it would take quite a bit of time! For the short (and most important) list though, we are thankful for our faith, our family, the love that we share for each other, our spiritual gifts, our hopes, values and dreams. May we always feel this way in our lives, not just on Thanksgiving.

Many Blessings!

American Soldiers; The Often Overlooked National Treasure

Happy Veteran's Day!

And a big thank you to anyone who has served, is currently serving, or plans to serve this great country of ours! We could not be who we are or where we are without your brave efforts!

I chose to use pictures of the Korean Memorial in Washington D.C., not to single out a specific American conflict, but rather to commemorate a family vacation once observed by us in which we had the pleasure to witness this memorial firsthand. If you have not seen it, I would highly suggest placing it on your "bucket list". It is awesome!

Another Superwoman Joins The Ranks

So the first two disguises didn’t quite work out.

The witch costume (although appropriate for our toddler at times in terms of her demeanor) with black feathers at the sleeve ends and bottom, was thinner than it looked in the package and certainly SHORTER than it looked in the package. If she were older and tried to wear something like that out of the house, she would’ve been sent “to her room” for a changin’. So it was axed. I consoled S, who had her heart set on the “littlest witch”, that there were a number of years left for E to don a pointed black hat. If you ask me this disguise just becomes more fun with age anyhow as an older child will certainly put up with green face paint and fake nose warts longer than a toddler would anyway.

The bumblebee costume, with glittery wings and antenna headband, was adorable, but only if Halloween occurred in June instead of October. The temperature was in the low 40’s, so the bee was ditched for a more practical, more outrageous, more velvety, full armed and full legged, Superwoman (or Supergirl).

Besides, I am a HUGE fan of taking the total character a bit further than just wearing the costume. I mean, a true job well done is playing the part too, right? That being said, have you ever, EVER, seen a witch run like that?

Doctor Emily came over to play on Halloween and the two girls had a blast. They also stayed up WAY past their bedtimes, but I guess that's to be expected on a year when Halloween lands on a Saturday! S made that headband to complement the outfit, which prompted one parent on "the candy circuit" to pose the question "Did Superwoman wear a headband?". Who knows. All I know is I have Superwoman for a wife and Supergirl on Halloween.

After only a few houses, she already had the routine down; get in wagon, ride to next driveway, hop out and run up to steps, climb steps, mumble something (sometimes "Trick or Treat!") and reach into candy bowl with gloves (retrieving nothing and requiring assistance), go back to wagon, hold on tight to pumpkin handle, repeat. As a parent, it was adorable. We can't wait for next year!

Happy Blogiversary!

This last Sunday marked not only Father's Day, but indeed another special day for us. It is our 1-year anniversary since the inception of this blog! It seems as though that was so far away (or so close, depending on the day), but one thing is for sure; a lot has changed since in the last year!

First of all, there's Ellena. She has been taken. Yes, I said it. I am still convinced that she was snatched up in the middle of the night while we were sleeping, and replaced with a more-toddler-like-version of her. I mean for weeks this has been my boilerplate response to "How's the baby?"; "The baby is gone!". The new Ellena is a complete transformation of the "baby" we knew so well.

She has caught on to so many of the sayings we've been using to/for her relentlessly since at least New Year's. She has also started to communicate with us non-verbally by using sign language (finally!). We had almost given up on signing because we felt as though she had no interest. She will now tell us if she is "all done" at the highchair - a blessing if you are a parent and want to know if your child is full, or simply tired of what he/she is eating. The "all done" waiving of both hands has transpired into everything else it seems to. If she wants to get out of the bath, or pool, or doesn't want to drink any more milk, it's "all done". This has proven to be very useful in other areas as well, like trying to communicate to her that there is "no more snack left" or "we're done doing such-and-such".

She is associating so much more too. For example, every time we put our shoes on, she starts waving goodbye! Even if we are putting HER shoes on, she starts waving. It's really cute. She is also at this stage of repeating what you ask her to say. "Can. You. Say. ___blank___" is a commonly-spoken sentence right now. Overnight, she just started saying and repeating so many things.

We have a little bedtime routine that makes things pretty simple at night. We bathe her, dress her in pajamas, give her a cup full of milk (oh yea, she has been off formula since right before her birthday. All the sources we references made us a bit leery to make the switch, claiming that it could "take a few months and we should start slow". Well, if you know my wife, you know we never take anything slow; in one three-day weekend, she was on the milk, and off the bottle, as they say) while we read a few books (or rather a few pages out of a few books) and go brush her teeth (which she loves and will mimic anytime she hears the phrase "brush your teeth") and then go to bed. I moved her entire personal library to the lowest two shelves on her book shelf and out of nowhere, she knows that after pajamas, upon hearing the inquiry "book?", she gets to walk over to the collection and choose a few. Unbelievable. Yes, for those of you who haven't seen her in a bit, she has by far gone through some dramatic changes lately!

The most surprising action she started to do for us however was made when we were asking if she knew where her hair was. She reached up over her head and began "washing" her hair. It sort of came out of the blue.

~~~~~

Now, secondly, since my last post here, my employer, or perhaps I should describe "former employer" has decided to break up with me. Notice I didn't use the term "unfortunately". Honestly, we don't feel as though my job loss was unfortunate. On the contrary, the almost-two weeks I have spent home have been a joy and I consider my very fortunate. Perhaps it is because the summer season is upon us, or perhaps because it is too much fun to play and be with Ellena all day, or perhaps it is because being a stay-at-home-dad is still too new, but I am really digging it right now. The long-term plans are of course unknown, but isn't this true of ALL plans? I am (and we are all) right where God wants us to be. And right now, I have no desire to jump back into the race!

Father's Day was great, as was the last one, although the biggest difference between this year and last is my daughter handed me a card and said with a smile "da-dee". I scored one of those little rickshaws that allow kids to scam a free bicycle ride while having all the comforts of a camping tent (including a breeze!). After our inaugural make-sure-it-stays-attached-to-the-bike run around our sub, we headed to the nearest Metropark. We took a break and the three of us ate a snack on a blanket under a tree. I chose the following video clip to serve as both proof of the gift (in bright colors to the left of the screen) and E's appetite to talk. Here she is saying "A ride!"

Oh, Go Call Your Mom Will Ya!

Happy Mother's Day to all those special Mom's we know. It takes on a different meaning for us this year as it is S's first (I had a gift for her last year though, just in case!). We sincerely hope you enjoy your day!

It Is Finished...

Lord, my prayer today is that each of us would take some time to remember what Easter is all about and what celebrating Easter really means. Please grant us the patience to pause today and think about the sacrifices that you made and continue to make in our lives. Amen.

In other news, we took E to the mall because we feel that as a little child, you simply have to have your picture taken with the Easter Bunny. This particular bunny was very patient with us as for some reason E just didn't want to bust out one of her usual big (now sort of filled with teeth) smiles.

This picture seems to warrant the following caption: Take The Picture And Pick Me Back Up!

Happy Easter everyone!

Welcome to Oh-Nine, Baby

Happy New Year!

Wait, what do you mean today is the 5th of January? This year is going by even faster than the last one did! Impossible! Hard to believe that E is 7 months old to the day. I KNOW!

Today was our first day back to work and it was....a.....rough.....go. I needed a bit of extra coffee to keep myself at the helm. Let's just say we had a good vacation together. Other than celebrate Christmas (several times with our several families), we really didn't do anything special. It was nice to have some time for each other though.

Allow me to speak for Ellena for a second, she had a great Christmas! It was enjoyable to watch her light up when she saw her many relatives. She really enjoyed being passed around, kissed, hugged and pinched. She also had fun hanging out with her cousins. Funny thing actually, S and I both noticed she seemed to want to stand more (supported, of course) when they were around her - like it was the cool thing to do!

As with most children, she also really enjoyed the gift-opening, although it had more to do with the tissue paper than anything else we feel, but I must say all that time we spent practicing ripping out magazines pages really paid off! She looked like a professional!

Good news too - we shot lots of new pictures and even captured some video!

Here she is in the box (of course) of one of the presents from us. No child, we said think OUTSIDE the box!

And here she is crawling, or scooting/shimmy-ing. Uh-oh, she's getting faster!

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Merry Christmas to you and yours from the Living with Hope family.

We are truly enjoying some time off work and using it to reflect on the year, respect each other and provide an enjoyable 1st Christmas for Ellena.

Here is a picture of us, taken the other night, after the Christmas service at our church.

We started the "open one gift on Christmas eve" tradition with Ellena. So, last night we sat her down in front of a selection of gifts and what do you think she chose to open? That's right....socks! I guess that makes sense that a daughter's first Christmas present from her parents would be socks! At least they weren't tube socks!

Enjoy!

So Much To Be Thankful For

We take time today to break bread with family, share our sentiments for one another, and enjoy our first Thanksgiving with our daughter, Ellena. From our hearts, we could fill all the space Blogger would give us with the things we are thankful for. To name a few; our faith (which expands every day), our family (which expanded this year), our family (for which our love expands) and our friends (for which our reach and heart increases for with each passing season). Interesting how none of these are things at all.

From our piece of the internet to yours, Happy Thanksgiving.

October Leftovers

Welcome. Glad you could make it over today. How would you like something to snack on? How about some pumpkin seeds? What do you mean the pumpkin seeds are all gone? And there's no more gooey pumpkin pie? Okay, no problem, #1 and #2 don't let me have any of that "grown up"stuff anyway. You had better take a look at these instead...

This was my first Halloween and, oh, you knew that? How?

Here I am at day care, wait, I was wearing a ghost on my head? For how long? Certainly I hope it wasn't for the whole day?

Cousin Lily as a dalmatian and I. She had such soft fur I just kept feeling it!

Me and mom

Me and Grandma Lou Lou

The three of us - ooh - three generations!

And honestly, that's about all I can take tonight. Goodnight!