Monday, November 29, 2010

7 Years Ago Today

We were married!

But it wasn't a Monday then, it was a Saturday.

AND it snowed the night before. Boy did it snow! Phil informed me the next day

(after it had taken my mom and I over 3 hours to get home after the rehearsal dinner when it should have only taken 1 and I kept envisioning our car sliding off the road and into the ditch and nobody would ever find us and I would miss the wedding)

that he had been praying for snow! Oh dear.

I would love to put up lots of lovely photos of the wedding but, alas, I cannot find them and my head is still throbbing from the stomach bug that hit us hard this weekend. In fact we are still recovering. Phil is even working from home today. Yeah, anniversary.

Time to go lay my weary head down on a pillow somewhere.

A consolation:

Our first Christmas tree together. It was real and everything. I so vividly remember picking up each and every one of the pine needles off our apartment carpet because the vacuum broke mid cleaning. But it was so pretty! We both loved it and loved getting married during the Christmas season. I remember watching the Charlie Brown Christmas special on our Honeymoon in Florida and I couldn't help but feel that all was right with the world. Everyone should feel that way on their honeymoon!


Look at all of the presents!


November 29th, 2003


See photos from our 1st anniversary and 2nd Christmas tree here.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving


I hope that you find time to kick back, relax, and enjoy the view!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Brothers Gotta Bounce

Saturday morning we woke up to this:


Micah was bouncing in his crib so Luke climbed in and bounced away too. Micah LOVED it!


They both look so grown up?

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Luke and His Art


Luke drew his first sun all on his own!


He kept wanting to pose with his drawing from behind the chalkboard. And just in case you could not tell, the circles at the bottom of the chalkboard are him and his cousin Arthur playing at the park. So sweet!


Okay, this picture has a story: The stick figure on the right is me (Alli) and Luke drew a wooden bridge for me to walk on to get to grandpa.


Then later that day he spontaneously drew this volcano with lava spurting out of the top. He talks about volcanoes a lot lately and asks me tons of questions about them. And by "tons" I really mean the same question over and over again.


Luke took this picture of the volcano himself!


He took this one too.



I kind of like it.

Luke Finally Agrees to a Haircut

Luke did not want to get a haircut all summer.

We think that he is afraid of the clippers.


He finally agreed after I said that he could watch Veggietales during the haircut.


Baby Micah does not want to get left out.
He KNOWS when he is.


Everyone was involved!


Luke and his big boy haircut. He looks so old and almost 3!


Micah always manages to squeeze a smile in for the camera.

New Sideboard Before and After

Since acquiring possession of our home in May of this year some major and minor renovations have taken place. Our house has a tiny kitchen and we had been looking for just the right solution to remedy our storage/counterspace/blank wall issue that has been plaguing my brain for the past 6 months. I apologize in advance for the magnet situation on the side of the fridge.

We finally agreed upon a sideboard that we saw in Ikea this summer. It ended up being the perfect size and it met all of our requirements ex) solid wood, glassless doors, DRAWERS and lots of them

Our silverware finally has a HOME! Remember where it used to be?

I believe this is the culprit that initiated the kitchen changes. A previous dog took a liking or licking to this particular patch of carpet. I knew that my dog would take a liking to this patch as well...so it had to go...


...this meant that the well meaning vinyl had to go as well...


...and then we found this little mold number behind the trim...


...the wall was so soft that my brother punched his fist right through the wall to show me that it had to go too...


...new wall color and cohesive tile...


...old trim is sanded, restained, and replaced...


...finally something that is functional and makes sense...


...COMING SOON KITCHEN BEFORE AND AFTER...

Somebody Has a Birthday Coming Right Up!


Party preparations have taken over the kitchen...

Holiday Jams


I broke out the holiday jams tonight. Yes, they are being outgrown as we sleep!

Pre-Black Friday Deal

Target is having a Pre-Black Friday Sale through Wednesday.

The Little People Discovery Airport is 50% off its original price of $39.99 which makes it $19.99!

Inside the Target ad (in the Sunday paper) is a coupon for $5.00 off any Fisher Price Toy.

With the coupon the total for this toy is $14.99!

I think this is a marvelous price considering it comes with 3 vehicles and 3 people! Plus the baggage carousel really works. I can't wait to play with this toy!



So now the world knows what Micah is getting for Christmas.
Both of my boys are going to love it!

Friday, November 19, 2010

A Post About Toast


I made toast this morning.

The smell unexpectedly took me back...


...to the grilled cheeses that I made for our lunch almost everyday in Paris.

I started to think about the funny "American Sandwich Bread" that I bought one day that tasted and looked just like Angelfood Cake! The slices were thick and bleach white with plenty of refined white flour and sugar. I would butter each side and slice thick slices of Gouda cheese for the inside. I grew to look forward to them because it was as close to a normal "American" routine that I could get at the time!

All of this reminiscing inspired the following tour of our Parisain apartment and neighborhood and daily life:

Here is the front door of the apartment building that leads to the street from the courtyard. It spills you directly out onto the sidewalk. The green cans on the right hand side are our recycling containers. There was a little lady that kept everything very clean.



Okay, here is another door. This one leads from the courtyard into the inside of the apartment building. On the right wall you can see the buzzers so that you can get buzzed in.


Here is the kitchen. That big white box hanging on the wall is the tankless water heater and next to that is the one cabinet. The white corner sticking into the left side of the picture is the washing machine.


Now for the bedroom that we all shared.


The funny bath that was in our bedroom. It had a sink and a shower. No toilet.


The bathroom in the entrance of the apartment. Just a toilet and the tiniest sink you will ever see.


The courtyard that led to the street.


A night streetview from our bedroom window. We were on the fourth floor.


Another night view from our window.


The museum that was across the street from us.


Some food that I made meals from.


Our tiny fridge. Look at the two burner stovetop above.


Our living/dining area. Look at those big windows!


Street view.


Notre Dame was so close to our apartment! We made many trips there.


Our street during the day.


Luke learned to crawl and pull up on furniture in our Paris apartment.


The meat store in our neighborhood that was closed for the entire month of July for holiday.


The little cut-out square behind me leads into the kitchen and the hallway you see on the left led to the halfbath and the entrance. The floor of the hallway was covered in rubber! So odd. The rest of the apartment was hardwood.


Luke slept in his peapod tent in our bedroom. To the left you can see the door way that led to the funny bathroom in our bedroom.


We didn't have room to bring the baby contraptions with us so we started out by feeding luke like this:


This is a good shot of the entry and that funny red rubber floor.


We each had our own feeding techniques.



Luke's kitchen sink bath. The window behind me with the lace curtain was floor to ceiling in size and opened up like French doors.


This photo reminds me of the lemony smell of our dish soap. It definitely smelled clean!


The microwavey looking thing was really our oven! The white racks on the wall to left left above the sink was the dish drying rack. At first it grossed me out and it was so dusty. By the end of our time there we were using it daily! The water drips from the dishes down into the sink.


One day we made a frozen pizza (we were missing "normal" food) and we didn't have a pizza cutter so we just pulled off pieces and ate them!


We did not have a t.v. or radio so I read TONS of books!


One of our first nights early on I tried to make chessey potato and sausage casserole. It ended up working out okay but it looked so different. I could not find any yellow cheese in Paris. Not in the market or in the grocery store. I didn't take any recipes with me so we just had to make do with what ever we could recognize or eat out on the go.


We didn't have many toys either but who needs toys when there is so much new stuff to explore?!


We had a washing machine but no dryer so we had to hang dry everything! The diapers were light enough to hand from the chandelier. I had to get creative...notice the wipes/washcloths hanging on the chair behind me. I hung big things like sheets and jeans from the tall curtain rods. This worked well, especially when the windows were open. It would only take half a day to dry a sheet or small towel. I wonder what the neighbors thought?


We quickly learned that all of the living quarters in Paris are small so people do not spend any time in them. Why would they when they could be dining in the open air on the streets until 2:00 or 4:00 AM?!


Luke on his "playmat" which was really just an old woven bedspread. All of his toys fit in one basket!


We were lucky enough to have wireless internet and we did bring one Baby Einstein DVD for Luke to watch but he didn't need that either.


Luke got his first tooth in Paris and he used his shoe as a teether. Who needs fancy teethers?


The Tour de France ended by our apartment!


Another courtyard shot. This one shows the mailbox area to the left and the cleaning closet.


Our courtyard had a tree. The first floor windows that you see opened into a custom leather shop. They would sometimes sit in our courtyard and eat lunch.


Luke next to the mailboxes.


Our apartment after a shopping spree!


We did eventually get this sack n' seat for meal times once he started crawling.


Here is our apartment on a hot day. You can see the dish closet to the left.


Lot's of yummy food everywhere you look!


We lived in the Marais district. It was very upscale and had the best Falafel place in Paris! I miss the Falafels.


Our neighborhood had scads of high end shopping.


One weekend there was a street performing fire breather.

Time to pack. We rearranged the furniture so many times!


Our last morning! Look at all of that natural light.


Bye bye Paris!

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