Sunday, July 31, 2011

July in Review

July was a topsy turvy month, it is been dogs and cats, mass hysteria, particularly with regard to my goals. At least I can say, We Moved.

1. Read the Bible. I didn't make much progress here. I only made a little more progress into 2 Samuel. But now I seem to have lost my Message Bible in the move.

2. Go to Choir. Well, no progress here again, they are still out for the summer.

3. Join a gym. I have not been to the gym, but I have been doing a bit of exercising, mostly walking, getting out to the zoo, or I even cracked open the wii fit. My MOPS group started a biggest loser contest the last couple days of June. I lost 12 pounds during the month of July by simply tracking my food at caloriecount.about.com, and occasionally walking, though mostly I just counted moving boxes, or packing as my exercise. ;)

4. Take a Photography class. Actually, Progress was made here. For our anniversary, Eric registered me for a day class through a company called Chimpsy. It was really neat. I got to practice some of my manual modes, which was neat. I have so much to learn.



My favorite from that class, just a begonia bloom I found on the street.



The boys playing crazy underneath the willow in our old backyard.






Twins Kristin and Sarah celebrated their 2nd birthday this month, my favs of them and their mama.



And my boys take advantage of the extremely hot days by some splash time in our neighbors' the Welsh's backyard pool. They had so much fun! Me too.



5. Get the boys Healthy. Sam is continuing along just fine, I'm getting tempted to just cut his thickened liquids. But Chris made a huge leap forward this month. We didn't know if it would ever happen. I can fairly confidently say, He Is Potty-Trained! Picture it, Thursday the 7th was like any other day, he was in diapers, blah blah blah. But by the time I picked him up Friday, he had peed in the potty at ABA Day Camp Twice! And been Dry all day! It was amazing!



I could not be more Proud of him. He's pretty proud of himself too, and his Batman underwear. This was a toy we were saving for an all dry day. Little did we know he'd be getting it for his first and last day. By the next day, Saturday, he was standing to pee, and requesting to pee in public. Hooray for Potty Trained!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Moving Day

Very Exciting!



The day is here. More importantly, the U-haul is here. But the new house doesn't have internet, so it may be a while before I get to post again. (*twitch twitch) Mom and Dad helped Eric get the U-haul last night, and they moved their spare fridge and freezer which are our now ours. And the great green couch. :)
If we have enough folks to help, we'll move all the big stuff today. Heck maybe even some small stuff. We'll see.

It's been hypothetical for so long, that now that the U-haul is here, its real.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Willow tree wars

Yesterday was ass hot. Yes, I said Ass Hot. It was. Do I know Ass Hot? Yes, normal rectal temperature is a little warmer than regular, so 99.6. And with heat index it was hotter than that.

But what do my kids want to do on the hottest day of the year?

Go outside and play.



Of course they would want to go outside and play in this heat and humidity. But at least they got smart about it quickly and ran down to play in the shade of our big willow tree.



I was sitting outside on the back porch watching, but with no shade, I got hot, so I moved down to the tree with them. Actually, it must've been like 20 degrees cooler in the shade, for it was quite nice. Nice view too.



Chris was getting a little feisty. He found sticks and started a war with Sam.




Surprisingly, Sam held up his own end. Though he doesn't Quite get that he's supposed to duel with the other stick, or sword. He tends to get a little crazy sometimes, and thwock someone on the back, or hand.



Maybe he needs a bit more practice, luckily he's got a Wonderful big brother willing and happy to teach him. :)

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Bad Luck

I've often said, when at a birthday party, one must eat cake, for it is bad luck not to eat the cake when you're at a birthday party. Personally, I thought it just a ploy so I can eat birthday cake.

Alas, this weekend, I went to my first birthday party where we were unable to stick around to eat cake. And boy howdy did I regret it.

The birthday girls: Kristin and Sarah J. celebrated their 2nd birthday in adorable pink tutu swimsuits. And they were having a grand time with water, beachballs, and whatnot.



The boys fought naps, and we were pretty tardy to the start, but we arrived in time for the boys to do some swimming and slip'n sliding. Boy did they have a great time, especially Chris.



Though my boys could be distracted by bubbles!



But that is true for every kid, and kid at heart. Sarah loved blowing bubbles with her mama.



My boys couldn't be pulled away for food, well, until we broke out the watermelon. I'm pretty sure 95% of their dinner was watermelon, the remainder supplemented by fish crackers.

With that being said, they started getting snippy early, before present opening began, and Eric wasn't feeling well either. It became clear that we were going to have to leave.

But before we left, we had to see the girls open their presents.



Chris told Daddy that the twins had to have these mini-Pillow Pets. He picked them out. Grabbed 2. "They need these."



Apparently he was right. Kristin did a face plant hug within seconds of opening them.


And Sarah was just content to snuggle. I must say Chris picked exactly right! The girls loved their Pillow Pets as much as Sam does. I don't know what it is about them, but my boys love them. And the girls too! Did my heart good to see them enjoy, especially since we had to skedaddle early.



We were able to watch the opening of presents as we packed up the boys, who were literally climbing on tables. Yeah, it was a sign to go. But we got home, and put them to bed, but they didn't sleep well that night. Not at all. They were up half the night, and grumpy in the morning. Chris was so beastly he didn't make it to church, and when I told him he couldn't go, after many tantrums, he flipped out royally shrieking, "BUT I WANT TO GO WORSHIP GOD!" Which I must confess, made me smile as I put him in his room. Good thing that we can worship God anywhere sweetheart. So he stayed home, and was a beast for me. And I put them down to nap early.

But Darn it, I won't leave before cake again!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Pretty Tootsies

God Bless my Mother-in-law!

Somehow she knows exactly when I can't take anymore, and she'll come to our rescue in any number of wonderfully ways. Today it was in the form of a Pedicure. We found a nice place in Brownsburg, Tamara's Tips and Toes, with two cozy reclining massaging pedicure tub chairs, a little hand massage and backrub, and this Mommy got the morning off; off with Mom W. to get our tootsies done. And we had a great time! We got a little bold, a little crazy. I got that crazy new OPI Crackle. And it was necessary, and it was Good.



I glance down at my feet, and smile. Even when the boys are crazy and I remember how good it felt, the sun shining on me, and the smell of lavender lotion, and I immediately feel at peace.

Thanks Mom! It was Wonderful.

West Michigan Street

For a slightly delayed anniversary gift, my husband surprised me with a photography seminar. Not sure how he found it, but the company was called Chimpsy, and they offered a Field Trip. We met up downtown today for this small class.

We were off West Michigan Street, and were sent outside on assignments. This was actually very cool, in spite of the fact I didn't get a whole lot of time to explore because the teacher and I both were extremely perplexed as to where to find my camera's metering mode. In my infinite wisdom, I grabbed the whole camera bag, thinking it had everything I could possibly need. So I had the manual for the Video camera, but not my camera. That was home safe and sound in a box with the Photography book Dad gave me for Christmas. Ugh. On the upside, I got very confused with metering mode in that book too, so I was kind of relieved and justified that I wasn't crazy, it really was hard to find on my camera.

So for my own recollections, I just wanted to post some of my stuff, so I don't forget. It was an intro class, so no fancy post processing or shooting in raw. All my pics are straight off the camera.

My first assignment was to focus on something and change my exposure level. I Just noticed, can you see the random classmate poking around in my picture with her camera. Ha!

This was my 0, the Indy Skyline.



Skyline at +2



And the Skyline at -2. (It's supposed to be a little extreme, but I actually kind of like it.)



I got to learn more about being in my creative modes. I have just begun shooting in Manual, but I still rely heavily on my eye, not paying much attention to numbers, just mostly thinking, um, that looks good, and if it doesn't I toggle all kinds of things around until it does.

Today's brief class gave me more feedback than I've been able to achieve on my own, asking questions. I finally have a much better understanding of aperture and shutter speeds. I even practiced taking pictures in Av (Aperture) and Tv (Shutter) Priority modes. It was kind of neat.

In Tv mode, we played around with shutter speeds. I was supposed to capture some moving object.



And then practice panning with the object so as to blur the background but still capture the object. Not bad.



Though my favorite assignments were the more creative stuff, go find things with lines, textures and colors.



Lines (above) surrounding the ceiling fan in the coffee shop (while I waited for the teacher to figure out my camera...unsuccessfully) but she's going to let me call her, when I find my manual. :)



And lines in an outdoor fence (with bonus close up) on a flower blooming we were practicing some depth of field too.



For textures, a little brick vs. stucco. Brick wins, hands down. ;)



And my Favorite: colors. I really find I love photographing flowers, they don't move around nearly as much as my boys do. As I was walking back to the coffee shop, I found this random begonia bloom on the sidewalk. So Bam - Color!



My Favorite Photo of the day. All in all, a wonderful class, especially for a technical beginner like me.

Slightly Disturbing



I followed this truck on the highway yesterday for a while. Long enough to take a picture, and to see that it was full of piglets. Where do you go with a truck full of piglets? The thought bothers me.

We don't eat piglet.

Jury is still out if it bothers me enough to make me swear off pork.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Happy Birthday to Twins!

Happy 2nd Birthday to the Julius twins, Kristin and Sarah!



We got quite the treat today, our boys were invited to be a part of the girls birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. I can't believe they're 2. Though it makes sense, Sam is, and has been for a few months. Chris and Emily are 3 months apart and Sam and the twins are also three months apart. It's good that all of us are Best Friends. It's become our tradition to go on the kid's birthdays, for lunch, during the week, to avoid the crowds. Super awesome.



My boyz agree.



Sam was having a wonderful time on the little merry go round, not sure how many times he rode it.



And Chris got a big kick out of this roller coaster ride. He figured out the way to go. Oh yes, he's ready for some coasters this year. In shoes, he's now tall enough for the one at the zoo, but we haven't done it, but he loves them. Just like Ma..and Pa!



It's hard for us to avoid having a Kiddie table, there's so many kids. But the kids were very happy about the pizza, even Chris ate!



How cute are these Birthday girls?!



Forget Pizza, Let's PLAY! They've got the right idea.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Under a shady tree, you and me

There's this Lori Berkner song, Under a shady tree. We love it.



The chorus goes, "Under a shady tree, you and me. Under a shady tree, you and me." Today after Chris went to day camp, Sam and I and went to meet some friends at Ellis Park. Only no one else showed up.



The sun was still low in the sky, and instead of terrible heat and humidity, like we've had the last couple days, Sam and I enjoyed a relaxing bit of time in the park. It's funny that I got to go there with Sam. I hadn't been since 3 summers ago, when I used to go walking when Chris was at Sycamore services summer developmental preschool. I found out I was pregnant that summer. I had a clue when one day after a walk, I felt the great need to curl up and take a nap...at 10 in the morning. Yeah, I was preggers. Miracle #2.



I loved the park, and today, So did Sam. This week's Crazy Days of Summer theme was Light, so I've been keeping my eyes peeled for some beautiful light. Well, Sam and I found it today.



We took a walk across a bridge, literally over the river and through the woods. Found a pretty creek.



And we found a pretty little wildflower garden.



And it was a little shady too.



How I loved spending a little time today under a shady tree with my Sam.

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Celebration of the 4th

Happy 4th of July!



Am I crazy for putting us all in red? Maybe. But I love the matching clothes look, and the boys are only going to let me do it for a little while longer. They are growing up too fast. Sigh.



First thing on our docket yesterday was to be in the Parade. How wonderfully freeing that we can march in the town parade for our Church VBS. That's Freedom of Religion in action right there. God bless the USA!



The theme this year is Pandamania! so the boys got Panda ears to sport along with their flags.



And then both boys were invited to ride the float. Nothing says Festivity like bunny ears, with panda ears, and Flags. :)



Sweet Brothers.



Sam and his friend Jenny. He got bribed into happiness by digging into the lollipops we were throwing to the kids. I tried to limit their candy intake, but I think they had a steady stream of candy in their mouths all morning.



This wink gets me, every time.



Here's our group on the float, of course, it was raining. Did I mention it was raining? Well it was, a nice drizzle, just enough to frizz our hair, and then enough to put droplets on my camera.



Eric and Chris toss candy to the kids along the parade route.



There was a bucket of candy on the back of the float for those of us (Moms mostly) who were walking behind, to grab fistfuls and toss. Gotta say, my favorite part was beaning the occasional teenager or other mom with a piece of candy. Really appealed to my delinquent side. To Chris's too, once the kids started to run low of candy on the float, Sticky Fingers McWillman started to go for our candy too, almost going overboard. He had to be shut down and banished from the back of the truck.



After the parade, we had a picnic to go to. Grandpa Willman grilled out brats, so we headed to their place to meet up with the rest of the Fam. While we waited, Chris asked very nicely if he could try on my new hat. I couldn't say no. He was so adorable in it.



And added bonus of this holiday weekend is celebrating my niece's, our Goddaughter's, birthday. Alexis was born on the 3rd, and she just celebrated her 10th birthday! Grandma was real subtle with a giant cookie. She's growing into such an amazing young lady, its not fair. I can't believe she's in double digits already.



Meanwhile the boys enjoyed some mini-cupcakes.



Uncle Karl took a few moments to read to Chris and Kaylee, it was so sweet. Meanwhile Sam was having a great time being tossed around by Aunt Erica.




After naps, Mommy could no longer move; my back didn't like walking to the parade, in the parade, and home from the parade. I hurt. So we didn't walk down to the fireworks show. We didn't go anywhere. This last pic was the view from the back window, lots of our neighbors were shooting off things, but it just hurt for me to watch. We put the kids to bed at a semi-reasonable hour, and listened to the fireworks from the safely inside our home. Somehow even with getting them to bed at 9, they still had the post-holiday snips today. Oh well, drugs and a good night sleep help with the pain, and an all pajama day, we're all doing much better today.