to-do lists

This week started off innocently enough. And then… I'm not sure what happened. But I got very busy. I have a lot to do and not a lot of time in which to get it done. I'm thankful for to-do lists. They keep me organized and only slightly more sane.

On a different note, today is my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad! I watched him via FaceTime open his gift from all of us (Cyndi & family, Mom, Bill and me). It's a new digital camera! I know he will get a lot of use out of it. Especially with Skylar (who's totally into soccer and is really good) and Spencer (who is learning how to kick a soccer ball).

With that being said, the dishes aren't doing themselves and the laundry is starting to walk on its own.

Spencer's 2nd birthday party

I forgot my camera, but I had my phone. (Here's a great tip: never leave your phone unattended while you use the restroom when your teenage niece is still sitting at the table. 176 photos later… I found this out.)

Here's the birthday boy!

 He kept walking over to the bowling balls and would say, "Bowl". Or maybe it was, "Ball".

Either way it was cute.

 He likes hats, so we got a new one for him. He immediately took it and put it on. 

Backwards. 

That's how the kids wear them these days. (That's how they wore them back in the day too. I'll be sure to tell him that when he's older.)

I'm thankful for both my nephew and my niece, who are at this very moment on their way to Florida for spring break.

I asked my sister to bring back warmer weather and sun. She said she'd try. I told her at least send me some pictures.

this is spring break weather

Sixty degrees! Bill is ready to move.

We just drove to my parents for the weekend. We're here to celebrate Spencer's second birthday!

Um, I just realized the last picture I have of him is from the fall. I'm a bad aunt. But here's his picture from his first birthday. I'll be sure to take pictures tomorrow.

In the meantime, we are all thankful for the warmer weather.

Although it's supposed to snow all weekend back in GR.

After dinner tonight, we took a walk. "We" is Mom, Dad, Bill and I. I wore a fleece pullover. And I wasn't freezing cold.

I don't know how to feel.

what happened to Emily?

I'm still here. I had to get my new computer set up. Now, Bill and I are in the midst of re-doing the home office before his parents come visit for his birthday (mid-April).

By re-doing the home office, I mean switching rooms completely.

And taking all the furniture out of what was my office (and Skylar's room), stripping off the wallpaper border, removing the top four or so layers of paint, sanding, priming, painting, cleaning the carpets, and then putting back some of the furniture making it the official home office. 

Bill's current (and soon to be former) home office will become just the guest room. Other than moving furniture around, and removing stuff, not much will change in there.

I spent seven hours removing the paint yesterday. We have two and a half weeks left to get 'er done. 

The clock is ticking.

I don't have time for blogging.

I have been writing about the rest of the DC trip in a Word document. Once I finish it, I will post it so you can finally read about the rest of the trip. Thank goodness I keep a journal. 

This weekend, along with celebrating Easter, we're celebrating Spencer's first birthday! I'll take pictures.

Come back in six weeks, maybe I'll have them posted by then.

Don't hold your breath.

Christmas 2012

Here are the pictures from Christmas!

First, Christmas with Bill and Emily. It was a quiet "Christmas" day the Sunday before. We had our Big Breakfast and then we opened presents and our stockings.

We had a small exchange, mostly clothes.

Bill got season 15 of "The Simpson's" on dvd!

Next, Christmas Eve with Cyndi, Jerry, Skylar and Spencer at Mom and Dad's (and Bailey).

Spencer is really good at ripping the paper.

Skylar is really good at being goofy.

Bailey is really good at being in the middle of everything.

Skylar and Aunt Em pose for a Christmas Eve picture.

Skylar is excited about her Nutella from Aunt Em and Uncle Bill.

Uncle Bill and Spencer are good at playing.

Bill opens a gift from mom and dad.

We hope your Christmas was as joyous as ours!

Thursday's adventures from Dayton to Dayton...

Having been born in Michigan and growing up in Indiana I have mixed feelings about colleges. My Dad went to I.U. (South Bend), so we've been I.U. fans. Cyndi went to Ball State so we also became MAC fans. Then I met Bill who attended CMU (another MAC team). When people ask me which Michigan team I like, I typically respond with, "I don't care, we're a MAC family".

There is one thing that we can agree on.

Ohio stinks.

Across the board, whether you're in Indiana or Michigan, we all agree to root against Ohio.

Now that you know that I can get to the rest of my blog.

Jerry's oldest son is Dayton. You saw pictures of him in the post about our trip to the Children's Museum. On Thursday, we went to Dayton, Ohio. Cyndi had a meeting there so Skylar, Spencer and I went along.

It was a beautiful day, which was good because the meeting was held near the Occasionally Yours store at an outdoor mall.

Skylar took a picture of Spencer and me because he was wearing his "Cool like Auntie" onesie and his shades.

It was cute, until he started crying.

He's still cute.

Later that day, Mom and I walked to the local ice cream store. They had a new flavor, "Buckeye Classic". Since I had been in Ohio, I asked about it. It's peanut butter ice cream with fudge swirled throughout. It also had those peanut butter clusters dipped in chocolate that look like a buckeye. 

Of course I had to try it.

I had a very Ohio Thursday.

Wednesday at the Children's Museum

On Wednesday Cyndi and I took Skylar, Daffney, Dayton and Spencer to the Indianapolis Children's Museum.(I've blogged about the museum before.) Here's a look at what we did:

We visited the tombs and pieced together a mummy.

We stared at statues...

and danced with them...

and fell in love with them...?

We saw the Hot Wheels exhibit. You could trace a car and create custom designs...

and you could sit in a car!

There is the Lily Theater where you could act out your comedy or tragedy.

After viewing the Cosmos Canopy in the Planetarium, we went to the Museum Library where the Pacers kicked off their summer reading event. It was Spencer's first story time and clearly he was excited.

Then we traveled around the world through Lego's. It is Indy, so of course there was a race car!

We stared at the Chihuly and looked at it like a kaleidoscope.

Then we traveled around the world again, this time through sculpture in a garden outside.

(Things we saw/did but aren't pictured: the dinosaurs, the trains, the water clock and lunch.)

What a great day!

Gaga for goo goo

There are few readers out there who haven't already heard this. To those of you who have, I'm sorry for repeating it. But it amuses me, so I'm using it for my post.

I'm watching Spencer with Skylar, while Cyndi and Jerry work. 

Spencer is like any baby. He spits up.

Today was like a Lady Gaga concert. There were more wardrobe changes in the first two hours than I usually make in one day. He spit up on Skylar, she changed her shirt and his outfit. His diaper leaked and we had to change him again. He spit up on me and I had to wear one of Skylar's shirts.


No one got hit on the head by a pole during a set change though, so that's good (but not gaga... sorry I couldn't help it).

216

I just liberated 216 photos off the camera onto my computer.

Oops!

It's not like I was holding them hostage. I'd say 70% of the photos are on my laptop. They weren't deleted off the camera and therefore hadn't made it onto my desktop. Which is where ALL of my photos are stored.

Yes, it's our camera.

But they're mostly my pictures.

Bill has been known to snap a few pictures. But I'm the photographer in the family. Or at least I hog the camera. Most of the pictures are of flowers, butterflies and Needtobreathe. I'm not sure Bill wants all the photos that I take.

I store them on my computer. If there are photos he's taken, he puts them into his Photo Bucket account. The files still end up on my computer.

It's how we share.

Back to the 216 photos that I liberated. Did you read my post from the other day? Those pictures were actually already in my blog archives, yet it still took me four years to publish them!!

Here are a few things I blogged about, but never showed you the pictures.

Uncle Bill holding Spencer.

Uncle Bill helping to dress Spencer in the outfit from Uncle Bill (it says, "I'm a Classic")
Uncle Bill was commenting on what a grip the little guy has!!


The buttermilk cake with butter cream frosting and coconut that I made for Easter.

Our wine stock. It was empty, so we refilled it. Bill said, "Take a picture! Every spot is filled." So I took a picture.

I can't promise I'll do a better job posting photos with my posts, but I'll keep trying! At least I remember to take pictures.

baby showers and surprises

We had the baby shower for my sister today. The only problem with that was that Cyndi wasn't there. That's because the baby decided he was ready to join us yesterday.

Spencer Quinn was born at 6:53am, March 30th. He weighed 6lbs. 3oz. and is 19". So we still had the shower. Jerry opened the presents and then we took them down to the hospital. Almost everyone who was at the shower stopped by to see Cyndi.

Lots of babies were born. They post their little prints up on the wall, how cute!

Here's Spencer. I caught him smiling!

Aunt Em got to put on the gown and hold him for awhile.

Big sister loves her new little brother.