Pizza Party

In spite of horrible weather over the past week, we ventured out last Saturday night to meet a couple of my co-worker's, who I'm happy to call friends as well, and their spouses and kids for pizza. We met at a home, since 6 kids between the ages of 18 months and 5 1/2 would have been insanity at a restaurant. They were able to run wild together and have fun. Here are four of the six (John corralled as many as he could find) in their pajamas, just before we the party ended. Maren and Emily have matching pajamas, which Maren found funny. Addison (the little girl in front on the right) is only six weeks younger than Maren, but looks like half her size when they are next to each other. Braden, in the back, is now asking his mom for a little sister, since he already has a little brother.

Tim and Stacey

We were so happy to have Tim and Stacey Cramer from Ohio spend the night and visit last weekend. Tim and John have been friends since they were...13 or so and Tim was the best man in our wedding (and likewise John in theirs). They are a lot of fun and always up for an adventure.

Last fall when we were in Columbus for a football game, they were nice enough to watch Maren for the day. Later that night we planned to meet them for dinner in the lobby of our hotel. Seeing Stacey through the railing of our hallway (down into the courtyard lobby), Maren yelled "Stacey! Staaaaceeeeeyyyyyyy!" about ten times on our way to the elevator. She loves spending time with them.

But I digress...they had been snowmobiling up at Crystal Mountain (http://www.crystalmountain.com/), a great resort in Northern Michigan and stopped to spend the night on the way back to Columbus. They are daredevils - it was their first time snowmobiling and they went more than 80 miles in one day! We all had a good visit, even though it seemed too short. John was happy to show off his favorite thing, his 42-inch flat screen TV, to another "techy" and Maren spent a great deal of time "cooking" for them and doing puzzles with a very patient Stacey. During prayers on Saturday night, Tim and Stacey got the shout out when I asked Maren "Anyone else?" "Stacey. Tim. See Stacey Tim now please." I told her they were at home, but hopefully we will see them soon.

I want John Robert!

Bathtime - usually fun, except for hair washing, which is always traumatic. No matter if I have Maren tilt her head, close her eyes, cover her eyes with a wash cloth, she always gets upset during rinsing. Tonight after I rinsed her hair she said "I want Daddy! All done bath!" I said "You want to get out of the bath?" She said "Yes, I want John Robert! I want Daddy!" Ha! Bathtime was finished very quickly to get her to her savior.

Belated Birthday

Yes, I'm the usual month or so behind with the pics...here are a few from Maren's 2nd birthday. We are having a continuing love affair with Elmo.

She wants it to be her birthday almost every day. We sing "Happy Birthday to Maren" (or Mennen) daily and she regularly asks for Elmo cake. Last week she said to me, "Get in car. Go Bunny's house. Elmo cake." Sorry to disappoint her, but we could not drive to Farmington Hills for cake on the spur of the moment!

Multi-Tasker

Okay, I'm over the paci. But, poor baby has been sick so much (currently just a runny nose) and she talks just fine, that we give in regularly to her. The other day she somehow managed to get two in her hands and then ran away when I tried to retrieve them. I said "Give me one of those pacis!" She looked at me and said clearly, "I need both."

Here she is last night, multi-tasking after a long day at daycare and another haircut.

She can't really work the DVR...yet...she has mastered putting DVDs in and out of the player and tapes in and out of the VCR (yes, we still have one).

The skirt and tights are a birthday present from Bunny and Grandpa.

How much do I love Target?

Let me count the ways...

I love Target so much that I almost blogged about my love from the store parking lot (until I discovered the dialing device on my laptop wasn't working).

Let me explain.

Maren and I dodged the sickness bullet. I had an afternoon/evening of being feverish and achy, but that was it. Poor John bore the brunt of it. But, that one evening put me behind for the rest of the week. We had houseguests on Friday night, John's best friend Tim and his wife Stacey, who we all love to spend time visiting. On Saturday morning, I was helping to give a baby shower for my friend Audrey (see Audrey and Uwe blog on the right-hand side of our blog). BUT, I had not bought any of my required items for the shower and we had some stale Cheerios to feed four adults and one child for breakfast and lunch. Not good!

I snuck out of work a bit early (okay, all afternoon) on Friday and hit Target, my lifesaver. Did you know you could get pecan-crusted tilapia in the freezer aisle? Two kinds of hummus? Cereal? Ice cream? Lunch meat? And, black pants, size 24 months? PLUS pink m&ms for the shower (baby is a girl). I did the dance of joy in the freezer aisle!

The visit with Tim and Stacey was fun, the shower was fabulous, and thankfully we have two pairs of black pants for Maren, since that is all she wants to wear these days.

Whew! We relaxed on Sunday and John has now loaded all available pics for me to finally update and add some interest to this site.

Book Group Shout Out

I have been remiss in mentioning the book group I've joined. My cousin Lisa let me crash hers last fall, and I've really enjoyed it. I tried to be a member a couple of years ago, but commuting to Lansing for two years killed any hope of being a contributing member to anything!

I'll keep a running list of books on the blog...and try to do something fancy to list a few comments.

The women in the group are all sharp minded and love to read. Hurrah!

It's the same old song...

Poor John has the stomach flu...as we are finally, ALMOST recovered from having colds for two weeks. Really, truly cannot believe it. Hoping and praying that Maren and I escape, but the odds of that are slim.

A Freezing Night Out

We braved the frigid temps to see a concert by Martina McBride last night at the Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids. The review from the Grand Rapids Press is here:

http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008/01/mcbride_proves_worthy_of_count.html

Although I didn't get to hear one of my faves of hers ("Valentine," yes, I am a sap), she put on a tremendous show. We got a big kick out of her encore - an 80's shout out. She sang "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey and "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar.

Looking around the crowd before Martina came on John observed "There are a lot of old people here." I told him that we are now "old people." He also pointed out to me that this is our third country concert together. (Brooks & Dunn in NYC during the GOP Convention in 2004 and Willie Nelson in 2006 on our anniversary.) Hmmm...how did two people who love AC/DC and Madonna become country fans? We are OLD!

No Pants Zone

The high temperature in Grand Rapids on Saturday was 10. Maren refused to wear pants, or socks or shoes. So, we didn't force it. Here she is, sitting on John's lap and getting ready to "work" on the computer. If you look carefully, you will see she is pants free.