The Big 3-0!

Happy 30th Birthday Nathan!

Today is Nathan's birthday and he is still on holidays so he was able to sleep in and enjoy a big breakfast. He started the day by opening gifts from our parents. My Mom was cleaning out my old room and she came across a poster that Nathan gave me when we were first dating. They were hung all over Brampton when he was a lifeguard at the local lake.

She had it framed and brought it down with her when they came to visit. Nathan loves it and can't believe how much older he looks in just a decade.

Nathan's parent's gift arrived yesterday. It was a book that explores haiku writing. Nathan has become interested in haiku over the last couple of years. He uses it as an outlet when dealing with work or to explain funny situations.

During his residency interview, he was asked about his hobbies outside of medicine and he told the director about his artistic interests.

Last week, the program director sent Nathan a link to the Kansas City Japanese Society. The Society is holding a haiku contest asking writers to encapsulate the KC spirit. Nathan immediately got to work and stayed up late that night writing. Here is one of his Kansas City haiku (inspiried by BBQ):

L.C.'s, Danny E.'s
B.B.'s, A.B.'s, Gates BBQ
sad orphan piglets

I asked Nathan for a few more, he was shy but allowed me to post these two about his hospital experiences.


morbidly obese
rotten, exposed Achilles
heel of love of food

a silent bowel
a patient waits patiently
delirium won't

Garden

We haven't done much on Nathan's holiday. The weather has been really gloomy and we had many things to catch up on, so rather than going somewhere we decided to stay at home and catch up on work around the house.

Sunday:
Church
Friends over for dessert

Monday:
Dentist
Drycleaner
Over to friend's house to visit

Tuesday:
Back to Back doctor's appointments (with multiple vaccinations)

Wednesday:
Nathan second trip to dentist (he'll need to get his wisdom teeth pulled!)
Costco
Dinner with JM and Jill

Thursday:
Breakfast date with friends
Worked on the garden
Friends over for Dessert

We've also been barbequing a lot and enjoying family time. Nathan always says that he feels he gets to know Allison so much better during his holidays. She is changing rapidly and yesterday said her first work (besides Mama and Dada). She was watching Sesame Street and clear as day said, "Elmo!"

Family Portrait: Part VIII

This isn't one of our most inventive pictures but we wanted to do a hunting/camouflage family portrait. I bought my t-shirt and Nathan's jacket for $1 each and for Allison's dress, leggings, and headband out of 2 t-shirts that I found at Goodwill for $1 each.

Allison wasn't overly excited by the shoot (as you can see by her expression in each of these photos) and she conked out for a long nap as soon as we were done.

Lazy Friday

My parents wanted to do the drive back to Ontario in one day so they left this morning at 5am. We managed to get through our goodbyes without crying (which was a first for us). We had a great visit and I think we were just happy to have been able to spend so much time together.

My mom and I had gone to Target and TJ Maxx to do some late night shopping last night and I didn't bring a purse. Thankfully, this morning, my mom only got a mile away before she reached into her bad and saw my wallet! They turned around and although I could have managed for a few days, it was a big relief.

On our TJ Maxx trip my mom found this book for Allison. It was so sad when I brought her out of her bedroom this morning and she started looking for my parents. When I went to get her from her nap she was standing in her crib, the curtains pulled back, crying and looking around the backyard.

I went to my friend April's house early this morning to take a few 'kid room' photos of her eldest son's room since he'll be moving out of the nursery into his toddler room to make space for his baby sister. We had a good visit until Allison decided she was ready for a nap.

We enjoyed a lazy rest of the day in our pajamas, curling up on pillows on the living room floor, watching cartoons. It was a good reset to get back on a schedule.

Allison is taking a few steps at a time now but she'll still hesitant to walk. She is still climbing and today she discovered she fits in with the pots and pans.

Busy Day

When we went to the 1/2 of 1/2 store on Saturday, my Mom and I weren't able to really enjoy ourselves because Allison was crazy but we really wanted to spend some time sifting through the goods.

Thankfully, my Dad agreed to watch Allison so my Mom and I could go back and look around. I guess Wednesdays is when the stock is refreshed so there was a (small) line-up to get in!

We were in the store for an hour and a half and by the end we were both exhausted. The store is jam-packed and you have to patiently go through everything and check for flaws, and misplaced sizes. I found 2 brand new dresses ($4, $1.99) a shirt ($4.50) and these super cool Sperry boots for $18! I was stoked when I saw that they were my size.

Our afternoon consisted of watching Allison (who is entering a new teething phase) and giving my Dad jobs to do - weed-eat the lawn, hang this picture, stop the door from squeaking, weed the pathway, lay the mulch, fill the bird-feeder. I only have 1 more day with my parents and I'm going to use them as much as I can!

 

 

 My parent's bought Allison this little tricycle during one of our thrift store visits. It was $2.50 and Allison loves to walk it around the driveway.

 

*Here I am (stylishly) wearing my Wonderful World of Disney sweater that my parents bought me during spring break,  my junior  year of university.*

Since it was a cooler day, we had chili and cornbread for dinner. Allison was wound up from the attention she was getting at the dinner table so Nathan and I my Dad took her for a walk so my Mom and I could watch Corrie Street.

Nathan came home with this Anne of Green Gables book that he found in a Little Lawn Library down the street. There are several of these free lawn libraries in our neighborhood and we've found some great reads.

I made this mini-Anne cloth doll for Allison around the time of our 6 year anniversary (as I was thinking a lot about our trip to PEI) but I never posted it, so here's the two together!

IKEA

Tomorrow is the BIG IKEA opening in Kansas City. I guess since we've always had (close) access to an IKEA and that I think most of their products are bad quality, I've never regarded it as something to get excited about.

IKEA has a promotion for the first 50 people to get free couches, and the next 100 to get free chairs. People have been lined up since Monday morning. People are losing 3 days worth of work (but let's be honest, they don't have jobs) to get a free $200 couch. It's insane! They'll even be shuttles the first day from nearby parking lots!

We were having a quiet night and Nathan, my Mom, and I decided that we would head over to Merriam KS to check it out. It was only a 15 minute drive and the weather was perfect so we had a great ride.

We had to pass 3 security guards just to see the people in line! They were in line inside the parking garage entrance. Nathan quickly thought up fibs: "We're here to camp out!" "We're here to pick up our friend." And when we drove off my Mom said to the guard, "Oh, there's too many people for us to stay!"

I was a nervous wreck because I hate breaking the rules and even though we were technically allowed to be there, I didn't feel right taking pictures of the crazy people in tents so I snapped these quickly.

 

Porch

 My parents have done so much for us since they've been here visiting. I tried to convince them that they didn't have to work on their vacation but they both said they were just here to visit Allison and help out as much as they could.

Allison and I have spent quite a bit of time on the porch this summer so when our landlord said we could do whatever we wanted to touch it up I was thrilled. I think our landlord (Annie) knew we weren't going to do anything crazy but I still struggle with renting but also wanting to make changes.

My Dad sanded the porch, we primed it, and painted it this dove gray color (to match the rest of the house). We had paint left over so we also did the trim around the garage door, the front door, and the mailbox. We may have gotten a little carried away but I think it looks great!

 

 When we went to get the sod last week, there was a sale on pottery so my mom bought me the tan pot (above right) so that I could make some "winter pots" at Christmas time. Originally there was a blue pot there that we wanted to move. My Dad built this little stone set-in to hold the ivy (next to the sod) in and it made a great stand for the pot.

BBQ

When my parent's first came to KC we took them to the plaza for some Jack Stack BBQ. It's good BBQ but we've been introduced to so many amazing (more rustic) BBQ places that we haven't been back. My mom really wanted to go back but it's so hard to take Allison anywhere. Nathan suggested we order a takeout dinner as a treat since today was his only day off.

We ordered a mixed plate (pulled pork, ham) and ribs. The meal came with sides of fries, coleslaw, cheesy corn, and baked beans. It was delicious and terrible (I ate WAY too much- but I couldn't stop). It was a great compromise to our Allison issue.

Allison is getting better at standing on her own and the last few days she's been getting more brave. Today she took a step from the table to the couch but only my Mom saw (my Dad and I were talking) so I'm not going to count it.

Allison loves attention and my parents give her heaps. She loves that they clap for her and overwhelmed by everything little thing she does. She loves her Fridge Farm magnet and repeatedly presses the button to play snippets of banjo music. Tonight she was standing an clapping to the music like it was no big deal!

Today is also Grandparent's Day and I was glad we could all celebrate together.

 

Grill Night

Nathan worked for 33 hours between Friday and Saturday. He was gone before I woke up on Friday morning, came home after I went to bed (at midnight) on Friday night, and was gone again when I woke up on Saturday morning.

After such a long shift I thought he'd want to sleep but instead he decided to push through to try to get back on a regular sleep schedule. We all crammed in the car and headed out for an afternoon of shopping. First we went to a store my friend Becky (another med-wife who used to live in KC) turned me onto. It's called 1/2 of 1/2. It's a really strange store- imagine a store where Marshall's or TJ Maxx sends the stuff they don't sell. You really have to dig and be patient but you can walk out with a total score. My mom found some things that she really liked and I found sunglasses for Allison and I (49 cents a pair!).

We could have spent hours there but we decided to head to our next destination, Costco. It wasn't as busy as I thought it would be on a Saturday but we got everything on our list and we stuffed on samples by the time we were ready to go. Allison did well for most of the afternoon but we tried to push through her afternoon nap and she was not happy. She had a fit in Costco so we were rushed at the end of trip but we were able to get everything we needed and my parent's generously bought all our supplies.

When we got home we decided to fire up the grill and cook up some of the sausages we bought.

 Here's AlliCat and I in our cool pink shades.

Dress Up for Church

I'm always writing about how much I love kids dress up clothes and a few weeks ago my friend April asked if I would be interested in putting together a few outfits for the 4-5 year old room at church. Our church is swelling with little people and the rooms are being split up and Rachel, the Children's Ministry leader, suggested some new activities and April suggested asking me to make outfits.

It was a perfect fit and I've been working on the outfits every change I get. It takes so much longer than you'd think (planning, making patterns, buying fabric, cutting, sewing, ironing) but I love it.I had made many of the items before so that made the process a little faster.

I was really thankful when my mom offered to watch Allison for a few hours so I could complete all the outfits for Sunday (when the new rooms are opened).

 

   

 

 

  My favorite piece is the fireman jacket. I went shopping with April and couldn't find the perfect fabric and she suggested duck cloth. It was perfect. I had a friend ask me to make  a fireman Halloween costume last year but I was too intimidated but now I know I could do it! I love how it came together and I think it's one of my all time favorite dress up pieces.

Allison's favorite show is a cartoon called Dinosaur Train. Last week we had alot of fun putting on our dino tails and crawling around the house.