It's a party

This Sunday we celebrated Jonathan's 2nd birthday.
We had a great time.

There was some exploratory digging...

Music....

cake...

more cake...

presents...

more presents....

and even more presents...

and hugs all around...

we

We even bobbed for apples. It was a fantastic day. Jonathan got some fabulous presents, but that is for another day.

p.s. The cake was a Poke Cake. It was delicious and Uncle Grant made the train cars for everyone to take home.

Happy Birthday Jonathan!

Two years ago today, I was coming out of my drugged stupor after a night of rest and finally some food to realize that I had just given birth. We had a baby. Everette was looking ragged, and I was feeling, uh, sore. And we had this teeny tiny six pound ten ounce wad of blankets with a face. He was gorgeous, but best of all, he was mine. I didn't have to give him back when he was crying, or time to go home. I was happy. We were happy.
















To say our happiness grew, would be an understatement. It grew exponentially, in powers of ten.  Somehow we found more room in our full hearts to love him more. Even in spite of his sometimes willful nature.

And as our love grew, he grew

he grew from an infant to a baby...

to a baby-in-motion...

to a toddler...

to a big two-year-old almost little boy.

big enough to eat popcorn all by himself...


Soon he'll be making friends and meeting girls

and he'll be too big for things like this....

And the next thing you know he'll be driving a fire truck.

God is merciful. He makes my heart capable of containing the love the grows as each day passes. So that I do not have to stop loving him in order to preserve my life. For I am cetain without God's  infinite mercy I would surely be overcome with the depth of my love for this person so small.

p.s. this started out as a blog about birthday festivities and quickly digressed into a cheesy, sappy post about eye-rolling mommy love. More on b-day festivities tomorrow.

More Delicious(er) Twigs and Berries Salad

I combined a recipe that a friend made for me when Jonathan was born with my more recent Apple Salad and came up with a real winner I think. (Everette and I are debating whether this one or the one I made up on a whim is better-he thinks my other one is better, I disagree, and since I didn't ever measure, it is much more difficult to reproduce).

Here's the recipe...

Dressing:
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
1 T minced Garlic
2 Green onion chopped (I used a small red onion-it was great)
1 t fresh ground pepper
1 T  (heaping) Dijon Mustard
1 T yellow mustard
2/3 c maple syrup (don't bother with pancake syrup-must be the real thing)
1 c Vegetable (or light olive)oil

Pour all ingredients except oil in a blender.   Blend until pureed.  Add oil in slow stream and blend well until thick.
 (this makes enough dressing for multiple uses)

Salad:
Romaine (or spring mix) lettuce
1-2 salad cucumbers
red onion (thinly sliced)
1-3 granny smith apples (or golden delicious if they are tart-number of apples depends on personal preference and volume of salad)
a handful of honey roasted sunflower seeds (almonds and peanuts of the same variety would be excellent too)
handful of craisins

Dump salad in a bowl and drizzle dressing on top, mix thoroughly. This is one of those salads that is better when the dressing is lightly and evenly coating every square inch. Start with as little of the dressing as you can manage, and then add more to taste, trust me, less is better... for your taste buds and your jeans!

Optoinal:
Throw some chicken on top and call it a meal!

Most recent Camping adventure

So a few weeks ago Everette and I scored some serious firewood.
Which of course led to several fires in the backyard.
Which of course led us to sitting around and talking, about many things, and among them camping.
My parents (read: mom) just bought a pop-up camper--a life-long dream for my mom. My brother and sister-in-law took it on a two week trip this summer to South Dakota to see among other things (read: Freaking Laura Ingalls Wilder's house!!!), Mount Rushmore.
So we decided we were going to try it out. I was ready to head out of town, but Everette in his wisdom suggested we take it to Prophetstown State Park. So that we could learn how to set up/tear down the camper and try camping for the first time with our two-year old kid, and our three year-old dog in a low-risk environment. I hate it when he is right all the time.
So Friday afternoon I went to the park with my dad to learn how to set up the camper.
Around 5 PM Everette, Jonathan, the dog and I left the house with a truck full of crap, uhh gear and headed to the campsite.

All-in-all it was a fantastic experience, both Jonathan and the dog did pretty well.this is the king bed where Everette and I slept, not bad for camping.

We still have yet to take down the camper, that is what we'll do today (sunday), as my parents spent saturday night in the camper.Let's hurry up and eat!!

Our favorite part of camping is cooking camp food.
Firday night we made these delicious chicken/potato/onion/green beans/garlic/lemon butter pouches, which are exactly how they sound.
Marinated some chicken in some garlic and lemon juice...
cut some potatoes and onion and threw in some beans from our garden. Double wrapped them in aluminum foil and tossed them in a bed of hot coals for thirty minutes.
Then we roasted some corn over the fire (soaked the husks for an hour first).
For dessert, I made apple crisp and Everette baked it in the dutch oven.
Actually Everette did all the cooking... something about the primal urge to cook over an open fire.
I don't have any picture of that, because it was getting dark and we were trying to get the food ready so we could eat and keep Jonathan from running out in the road.

Jonathan did great in the camper and Everette and I had a great time chatting by the fire and eating delicious apple crisp.

Jonathan loved crawling around in the camper, we just planted his pack-n-play
on top of the queen mattress on the other side.

The next morning I made sausage gravy and Everette made biscuits in the dutch oven.

See the dutch oven in the upper right corner... that's where the biscuits are!
On the left-water for french press coffee--the most glorious reason to camp.
On the right-sausage gravy...mmmmm.....

My brother and his family came out and we went on a walk together.
We finished out the day with a bike ride.

We rode our bikes all the way back to the pond and the river, surviving the bombadier grasshoppers. Then we walked down a little path to an observation area near the river. The most amazing thing to me was the fact that all of this was quite literally in my backyard growing up. It was always there, I just never knew.

This was just too cute.

The view looking out over the river/creek--it was obviously low.

Join the Club

Last weekend, Labor Day Weekend, I did something I have never done before. Ever. In My whole life. It is something millions of other Americans do on a weekly basis. Something my husband has done at least 24 times in his life.
Something I never knew I always wanted to do.
Something five years ago you couldn't have made me do without chloroform or a baseball bat.
Something I avoided my entire college career....

I went to a Purdue football game.

Everette bought tickets to the Purdue-Toledo game and he took me to my first Purdue football game. Everette's parents fed us breakfast and watched Jonathan while we went to the game.

Everette and I at his parents house before the game, the
flash wasn't on... sorry.

I think more than anything I was looking forward to spending an afternoon with my husband all by myself, with 20 other people squished into our bleacher row.

In college, the idea of standing for four hours with thousands of sweaty, loud intoxicated strangers just didn't appeal to me. Not to mention that being a choir nerd I pretty much thought sports were retarded. Oh yeah, plus I was totally clumsy and unathletic (FYI- mozilla spell check says I should use nonathletic, but I am feeling rebellious). I blame my parents (aren't you supposed to blame your parents for these things?).
Anyway after five (almost six) years of marraige, I have come to appreciate and even enjoy football.
I was still a little nervous about going to the game. Since for most of my formative years, football represented everything I was against. In the ways of football stadiums, I, as my huband pointed out, am culturally obtuse. I was not familiar with the rituals and customs of attending a college football game. I was seriously hoping not to embarrass myself.

Me-nervous and excited in the van on the way to the game.

This is Everette's excited face. Not to be confused with his contented face, nervous face, surprised face, angry face, frightened face, confused face, etc.

Everette was my champion: giving me some spending money, letting me wear his only Purdue shirt. Walking with me to get my $25 coke. Answering all my dumb questions quietly so no one around me would hear and laugh at my ignorance. And even posing for a bunch of pictures, a true act of Love, if you ask Everette.

See, multiple pictures. We had to redo our picture since,
the other one was blurry and dark.

See, now we're pushing it.
p.s. I think one of my most favorite things about the game,
was seeing Everette in that gold(enrod) t-shirt he borrowed
from his youngest brother. It was sooo supah sexy!

The game as some of you know, was pretty great. We had great seats, and I learned a few things.
1. Baton twirling is the dumbest "sport" ever (sorry for any of you baton twirling friends of mine)--I totally think it is lame.
2. I missed my calling. I should have been in the Purdue Marching Band. I could have been those people on the sidelines who hold the bandstand and spot the band leader. I mean how hard is that?
3. No one is safe from the Swine Flu. The Golden Girl was out with it... I mean the Golden Girl. Who can escape it's evil clutches?
4.Hot Dogs do not taste better when you have to pay $5 for them.
5. Bleachers are not for those with personal space issues.

See how close we were! Row 18!!!


See, we were so close I could smell the sweat, or maybe that was the bajillion people all squished in around us.
In all seriousness, I had a great time, when can we go again, honey?

Random Pictures

I was looking through some old photos and found these...


Everette and I went to Turkey Run, once, when we were young and adventurous. My hair was so pretty then...
ooo, this picture was from a surprise party we had for Everette once year. Again... look at my hair, why doesn't it do that anymore? Seriously, what has happened to my hair... pregnancy. It destroyed my hair, among other things.

This is how Everette almost always looks in self portrait shots....

This is our fall camping trip 2006, we went to Lake Mississenewa near Peru, it was so pretty.
More Self portrait shots....

Everette was in a really good mood.
My sister-in-law, niece and nephew at from follies in Lafayette.
Elijah....holy cow, look how little you are!!!

Did I Ever Tell You About The Time...

I made Everette fall in love with me?
I am feeling a little nostalgic lately. As hilarious as my life is currently, I have a whole stockpile of humiliating moments and hilarious stories from before I ever started this blog.

I was a sophomore in college when Everette and I started hanging out. I have to confess I was totally attracted to Everette because of his car. It was suhweeet! I never would have considered myself one of those shallow girls drawn to a man's material possessions, but turns out I was.

Everette drove a 1992 Ford....
Aerostar Minivan
It was white, like freshly fallen snow. A sight to behold. It was sexy...
kind of like this...
All joking aside I totally fell in love with Everette driving around in that van.
I cried the day we traded that van in.

Anyway, since Everette had access to a van, he drove all of our friends around to various different activities.
Including a trip to Indy to see Third Day.
I planned this trip. A huge fan of Third Day I saw this as a perfect opportunity to spend more time with Everette. He and I discussed details as we planned the trip. Needless to say, I was excited when that frigid day in February arrived. It was a little icy, but we were young and stupid so we headed down anyway. The van was full. I honestly can't remember where I sat on the way down, because that part wasn't important.
At the Pepsi Coliseum, I managed to score myself a seat between Everette and my sister, who met us down there.
Bebo Norman opened and things were fabulous.
Halfway through Bebo, I felt this strange sensation in my stomach.
'That's odd,' I thought. I began to feel a little nauseous. Not to be deterred, I thought maybe I had just gotten a little hungry, I begged my sister to go get me a sprite to see if that would help settle my stomach. No luck. Every minute I began to feel worse. My nausea got more intense, I began to break out into a cold sweat. My head began to pound. The flu came out of nowhere, slammed into my body like semi truck. Defeated I slumped down into my seat and nursed my Sprite, consoling myself with the fact, that at least I could still see.
Until Third Day came out.
To Be Continued...

Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider, Girls go to Mars to get more candy bars...

The other night, Everette and I had a conversation that I think, nicely exemplifies the conversations we have quite often. I wouldn't say they are typical, but I also wouldn't say they are rare. Here you can see the differences in our brain and thought processes

E: Oh, my mom said yes.
M: That's great!
E: But she is having surgery and she is concerned about lifting
M:(looking very confused and slightly annoyed) well, isn't your dad around? can't he get it down? I can come pick it up.
E: (now it is his turn to look at me like I am an alien) Uhh? What are you talking about?
M: What are you talking about?
E: I am talking about my parents watching Jonathan on Saturday when we go to the Purdue Game. She wants to double check with my dad before she says yes for sure.
M: OHHHHHHH! (the 7500 Watt light bulb snapping on in my head).
E: What the heck were you talking about?
M: Uhh, I emailed your mom a couple of days ago and asked her if she had a canning pot and other supplies.
E: Oh.... what did she say?
M: Nothing, that is what I thought you were telling me.
E: Ohhhh..... we should plant the beans out on the edge of the garden next year, where they will get more sun.
M: yeah, good idea. Could you pass the potatoes?