Bike Ride

That’s how we roll.

Eva is 3!

Let’s continue moving back in time and talk about my baby having a birthday on October 27th.  She turned 3 and I am in denial.

I’m also in denial that the dryer isn’t the reason my jeans are tight on my rump.

Eva makes my life happier.  We love her so much that we wanted to make her birthday extraordinarily special.  We started by buying her an extraordinary gift; a 2-wheeled bike. 

We disregarded the “some assembly required” notation on the box and gave it to her in pieces instead.  Eva loved playing with the handlebars and rolling the tires down the street.    

 

In case she whacks her noggin while swinging one of the training wheels over her head, we also bought her a bike helmet.  We’re responsible like that.

My parents gave her a baby doll which she now sleeps with every night.  I’ve overheard Eva talking to the baby and it is ridiculously cute.  She says, “Shhh…calm down, baby.  Please don’t fuss.”  I’ve also heard Eva say, “My baby is so thirsty,” and then she sticks a bottle in its mouth. 

Incidentally the baby doll has made it so I can't get rid of the baby swing in Eva’s room.  I’ve been meaning to put it away for months since Eva loves to swing in it even though she’s too big.  She swings so wildly that she hits the wall with the back of the seat and now there’s a big spot where the paint has been scuffed.  I finally had enough and told Eva she couldn’t sit in the swing anymore because it’s for babies and I’m going to put it in the garage because she’s too big for it.

She instantly grabbed her baby doll and put it in the swing and said, “It’s for my baby.”  I’ve been bested by a child.

Anyway, back to the birthday.  Eva also received books from Aunt Christina and a stuffed hippo and books from Grandma Lisa.  She was thrilled, of course.

Carrying on with the extraordinary birthday theme, we went bowling and had a piñata.  We did all of these birthday shenanigans while in Coeur d’Alene.  Bowling was kind of a bust.  First, half of our party ended up not bowling for various reasons.  That was a bummer.  Then my sister was accosted for bringing her water bottle in the bowling alley because, you know, it could be vodka.  Then Eva bowled 2 frames and disappeared to the arcade for an hour.  Then I lost my mojo and only scored in the 80’s.  Then every picture Myke took turned out blurry.  It did not feel extraordinary.

But Eva had fun so that part was good.

The piñata was made of titanium and was impervious to the beatings.  It was as though we were tapping on it with a soup spoon.  Probably because we were.

 

When we did finally bust the thing open, I filled my pockets with candy and spent the day shoving fistfuls into my mouth.  I was like Cookie Monster with crumbs flying and everything.  Num, num, num, num, num.

I refuse to cry about my baby turning 3 so I will pout instead.

Happy birthday, Eva.  We love you!

Halloweener

I realize my timeline is trending backwards but don’t bother me about it.  Enjoy reading about our mundane lives and shut your yapper.  The order of things really is inconsequential.  Just like math.  Parenthesis mean nothing to me. 

Halloween was a fantastic event at our house this year.  Myke’s mom and sister came to visit for the weekend and we are so glad they did.  We were also joined by my sister-in-law’s mother-in-law;  my nieces and nephew’s paternal grandmother; my brother-in-law’s mother; my husband’s sister’s husband’s mother.  Rose. 

I love Halloween and it was especially fun to have a house full of excited kids running around all hopped up on everlasting Gobstoppers. The forecast showed rain but we thumbed our noses at it and went to Bauman Farms anyway.  It was chilly outside and a bit windy for my comfort but it didn’t rain and it was fun.  It wasn’t too crowded and we were able to enjoy everything we were interested in without being bothered by other annoying families.  The kids were able to play the day away and we ended up with some good-lookin’ pumpkins too. 

Myke went down this slide with Eva and came shooting out the bottom as if he had rocket-powered shoes.  I missed his exit from the tube but caught his sheepishness as he brushed the hay from his clothing.  He was a good sport about playing with the kids while I sat around eating the snacks.  It’s my main contribution to our family. 

 

We spent a long time at the farm and then came home to carve our pumpkins.

Myke carved his freehand.  I was very impressed.

The kids were little artists as well and it was a very successful carving session.  And a very successful pumpkin-seed-excavation mission.

It was while we were carving pumpkins that the clouds parted and the water came rushing out.  The sky was a burst dam and I realized we would be trick-or-treating through a flood.  The kids were not deterred.  We would trick-or-treat come hell or high water.  Literally high water...poor saps drove from sunny California to clamor for soggy M&M’s.

I love Eva’s face in this picture.  She looks genuinely concerned about the vampire.

We ended up driving around the neighborhood and hopping out into the tsunami at any house that look inhabited.  We were crowded but made the best of it; even if it meant sitting in the baby’s car seat.  (Christina is the only one of us with a tuchus small enough to fit in the car seat so really it was nothing to be ashamed of.)   

The kids were able to fill their buckets with a very respectable amount of candy and the parents were able to score sugar cookies from the last house we visited.  It was a successfully waterlogged Halloween indeed.

Please, oh please, let’s get together again next year.

I’ll bring the snacks. 

Lucky 13

Today Michael and I marked 13 years of marriage.  We celebrated by nursing a sick child all day.  I had planned to make steak and chocolate cream pie for dinner but instead we had cheese and crackers.  With pepperoni.  That’s a celebration, my friends.

We didn’t exchange gifts but Myke surprised me with a date night on Friday.  We saw an illusionist and it was actually a lot of fun.  I sat there next to Michael thinking about the last 13 years and how quickly the time has passed.  It’s hard to remember my life without him and I’m very grateful for that.

In 13 years we’ve had many experiences together.  We’ve been fat, we’ve been thin.  We’ve been young, we’ve gotten older.  We’ve laughed, yelled, cried, and wondered why we thought getting married was a grand idea. 
   
We’ve struggled, we’ve been happy.  We’ve been poor, we’ve been comfortable. 

We’ve gotten fat again.

We’ve loved each other and shared our lives. 

























  










Happy Anniversary, Michael!  You’re my favorite husband.  (So far).