What do these two things have in common?

Two words- garage sale.

Somebody got old!

Thank goodness it wasn't me! We had an eventful or uneventful birthday, depending on how you look at it. Steve's not a big fan of cake, so I made cream puffs. I was expecting it to be a lot more complicated than it was. The most difficult part was putting the cream in the puff. I tried to find a icing thing (the fact that I don't know what they are called didn't help me) at the local Walmart to no avail. So I bought a empty dispenser for condiments thinking that would squirt the cream inside. Too bad the cream is the consistency of lead, or maybe that would've worked. Anyways after a lot of trial and error I ended up just cutting the puffs in half and spooning the cream in. SO. MUCH. EASIER. Why in the world they suggest squeezing the cream in through a tiny hole is beyond me. It's like trying to put me in size 0 pants. Granted I didn't have the right tools though.





Anyways we bought some books for Steve and ended up taking only one of them back. Apparently Stephen Colbert is not a big fan of Mormons or religion in general, so don't buy his book if you don't appreciate that sort of thing. We enjoy his commentaries even if some of them are on the edge, but the book was kind of a disappointment.



So that was it. Fajitas (I have a great recipe if you are interested), cream puffs, and books. Nothing over the top, but we enjoyed ourselves all the same. It took an entire morning to get the kitchen up to speed the next day, but the food was definitely worth it.

Rowan liked the cream puffs because of the "ice cream inside" and the "dirt" on top. When I told him it was chocolate, he said "Yeah DIRTY chocolate!" Pretty cute.

Happy Birthday Honey!! We are so blessed to have such an involved and loving husband and father. We love you!

Grandma and Grandpa

We had a whirlwind of fun when Grandma and Grandpa came out to visit this past week. Somehow it was relaxing at the same time too- possibly to do with eating out practically every meal! It has been interesting to watch Rowan's relationships with his grandparents evolve. I didn't really have a relationship with any biological grandparent, although I did have adopted ones that I visited semi-regularly. Rowan has been so blessed to have such a loving and doting relationship with every one of his grandparents. It doesn't take him long to warm up to them and for the first time he expressed his dismay at their departure. "you know Rowan, Grandma and Grandpa are leaving tomorrow" "Yeah and I will be SAD" The willingness to hug and kiss was surprisingly consistent and new too.

The zoo, library, parks, Amishland, and too many restaurants to count were only some of the festivities enjoyed. We were sad to see them go, but it was so nice to have them come.

It's always easy to warm up to someone when they come bearing gifts! Rowan loves his rubber boots and new shirts.


Apparently I consistently placed Grandpa in the sun. A lot of the pictures have this expression!



Look Ma, some more flowers! Sadly most of the flowers weren't in bloom due to this darn global warming.



Rowan's gotten this thing for sticking his hands into his pockets. Thus the influx of rocks and other questionable things in our laundry.



We've got a lovely bunch of bread sticks- some the size of your head! Can you believe we got 2 bushels of these things?! Go easy at this restaurant- they want to give you a coronary! Good thing we had appetizers because we waited an hour for the pizza. Excessive? I think so, but it's so good...



We sludged through the mud to find this sculpture at the park. I was the only one who had the foresight to wear sandals. Rowan encouraged (insisted) that we press on and I'm glad he did.





And some more pictures...






There was a cool little pathway in these hedges that provided a fun route for Rowan. While I am grateful that Rowan understands the concept of "cheese!" he tends to overextend his expression to the point that he closes his eyes. Cute, but I like his baby blues!




The zoo was really incredible- so were the prices ($1 for giraffe food? $6 for a stroller?) but I guess it goes to a good cause. It was a gorgeous day and we had a lot of fun. I think Rowan enjoyed the dolphins and the "touch a shark" exhibit the best. Apparently he's into the ocean- Finding Nemo is still his favorite movie. If only there were tractors in the ocean, a perfect meeting of both worlds.

The seals were so cute- totally basking in the sun.




The problem with taking pictures at the zoo is you constantly get pictures of the back of people's heads. Luckily we got some frontal pictures. FYI the endangered madagascars in the following pictures were the most foul smelling things ever. I think the world would be better without them. I get nauseous just thinking about it.




This is what happens when you take a picture while you are in a underwater room looking at dolphins.


One of my favorites. Love his expression.



Rowan got to watch an elephant taking a bath. Mom took down notes about techniques for bathing someone with a hose.




Are you starting to notice my absence in pictures yet? This is a perpetual problem. If I tell hubbie he is in charge of taking pictures, it just doesn't happen. So I am left with self-portraits taken by moi. Pretty sad. But here's proof I was there too. I swear I'm not an absentee mom.



The Touch a Shark exhibit. A big hit. Grandpa looks pretty hungry in one of these- perhaps shark burgers were all the rage on his mission to Hawaii. I think Rowan actually touched one of the sharks.



See video #3 and #4

Mother's Day means eating mashed potatoes for breakfast

So we had an eventful Mother's Day weekend. Steven took Rowan out to a Father-Son Campout put on by our church and I stayed home. All by myself. I don't think I've been alone for that amount of time since Thanksgiving freshman year in college, and this time it was much more enjoyable. It was so weird to not hear any noise unless I initiated it. After it got dark, I admit I got a little spooked by things that went bump in the night. I woke up at 2am and didn't go back to sleep until 4am, I think due to the fact that I just felt strange sleeping by myself. But I got to eat mashed potatoes for breakfast (or whatever meal you call it when it's 3 in the morning)and that was strangely liberating.



Steven and Rowan didn't get much sleep either. Rowan refused to go to sleep until 11pm and struggled throughout the night. Apparently it was pretty cold- Rowan eventually buried himself all the way down into his sleeping bag. When the sun was out, things were great though or so I am told. They really enjoyed themselves. Rowan's friend brought a cool fishing rod (fish included) and Rowan got to fish for the first time.



The following night home Rowan freaked out and wouldn't sleep. When we put him back into his bed I heard some ominous noises followed by piercing cries. Rowan threw up and continued to do so throughout the night. Undercooked marshmellows? Maybe. Apparently Mother's Day also means not having to clean up vomit and being allowed to go to bed while the boys watched "The Jungle Book" between vomiting spells. Can I just say that I have the BEST HUSBAND EVER!!

Summer is Here!!!!

This is Rowan in his cool Hawaiian shirts that make him look like John Candy. Notice how he decided to continue the festivities onto his hand and face via a blue marker. Luckily the rest of the house remained unscathed. I think his exact words while I was taking this picture were "look I'm naked in here" while sticking his fingers into the holes between the buttons of his shirt. He thought it was quite amusing. The other picture is just Rowan and his buddy in the sandbox. Have I mentioned I am so happy summer is here? Have I also mentioned Rowan just stuck his fingers into a mousetrap? Cue the end of that happy moment. Never a dull day in this household.

Cinco de Mayo Celebrations

 So we had a Cinco de Mayo party put on by some friends at our complex yesterday. I kept telling Rowan we were going to a party and he insisted it was his birthday. Rowan thinks the world revolves around him, which to be honest it pretty much does until we get some other competition around here. Anyways, it was a ton of fun, pinata and all. Rowan's got the pinata thing down- hit and hoard.
Being Canadian, I was extremely limited to my exposure to Mexican food until I moved to the States. We had a Taco Bell, but I never went there- it had a less than enticing nickname which I won't repeat here. Honestly I don't think I had Mexican food until I went to college and now I'm hooked. There's no other genre of food I know of where you have several basic ingredients that are just complied differently to make a plethora of dishes. It's fool proof and oh so good.

Garage Sale Finds

I've been meaning to post some of my garage sale finds this week. Rowan's favorite for this past week was definitely his bulldozer backpack (50 cents!). He immediately put it on and declared that he wanted to go school and that he needed to take the bus to get there. I was half tempted to take him up on the offer. Right now it's full of toys and my makeup brushes- I'm assuming those are for dinosaur excavation or some other manly activity. Other great finds were a fabulous Christmas present for the Steve's sister that I will try to refrain from publicizing even though it's super cool and a pretty nice LaZyboy rocker recliner for $10! It even matches a color in Rowan's area rug.

Heavy Machinery- Hardhats not required

In our household, if you wake up and see a tractor outside you know it's going to be a good day. We actually started off the morning poorly, but that quickly changed when we saw a digger and a dump truck working outside at our complex. Rowan was desperate to get a closer look, so we went and took a gander. I brought the camera and I will be forever grateful that I did because I caught these little gems on tape. Rowan is still walking on air.

See video #5 and #6



You'll have to ignore my high-pitched squealing in this one. I think I was more excited than he was.



When we were out taking pictures, the digger operator beckoned for us to come over. At first I thought he was going to tell me that I didn't have permission to take pictures of him and post them on Youtube (which coincidentally I had to do to get the videos on here). Anyways he invited Rowan to take a ride- who knew construction workers were so nice! Rowan's always been pretty cautious, a trait I have been very grateful for, so I was really surprised and proud of him for going up in such a big machine with a stranger. His love for tractors seems to have overridden his apprehensions.