Things I Like: baby gowns

I think baby gowns are among the cutest clothes ever created for babies.

I'm not sure what the purpose of them is - maybe because a mother spends so much time changing diapers that it makes access to those said diapers easier? Doesn't matter the purpose. They are too cute.

I mean how cute is Henry? Besides the fact that he's sideways. (I can't figure out how to turn the picture on the blog - everywhere else it is showing up the right way!).

I think I like baby gowns so much because they usually have some sweet design or image, you can see cute little toes sticking out from underneath the gown, and because it means that the wearer of the gown is a tiny little baby. 

Although Henry has some super cute clothes and pajamas he is now wearing...I mourn the fact that he no longer can get away with wearing gowns to bed.

Adele-isms

I can't help it - I need to post some more Adele stories. She is so cute and funny these days!

-Lately she has been really into saying the word sure. "Will you get me brother's paci Adele?" "I sure will!" "Do you like this food Adele?" "I sure do!" Going into bed at night - "It sure is dark!"


-Adele also likes the word beautiful. She'll call her pillow "my beautiful pillow" and her new bed "my beautiful new bed". Today she saw herself in the mirror and said "I yook beautiful!"

-The other day she had some chocolate milk and said "My tummy says nummy!"

-Adele is great at counting...but now gets stuck in 14. Thing is, it sounds like this: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, firteen, farting, farting, farting, farting, farting..." etc.

-She likes hiccuping and gets a giggle-smile on her face and says "Dat was my hick-cups!" after each one.

-Adele and David were out looking at birds with binoculars and he took hers inside. When she realized, she said (yelled) "Daddy took my knockers! I need my knockers!" (This was without any prompting to call them that - I promise!)

-Adele is also into bodily noises and is starting to sort of figure them out. Sort of. When her stomach makes noise, she'll say "Dat was my tummy. It was burping!"

-Along with the bodily noises, she's very interested in the bathroom. In a small dollhouse, I heard her telling a Mickey figurine "you sit right here and poop" as she placed him on the toilet.

-Last night I had put her to bed and later went in to get Henry's bassinet. I saw her sitting up in her bed and she said "Hi Mommy, I just in here passing gas". She told me she needed to go potty, so I put her on the toilet. After a few toots ("dat was my poop Mommy!"), I was putting a diaper back on her and said "Adele after I put your diaper back on it's time for you to get back in bed and go to sleep" and she responded "And pass gas!" So I said, "sure". I put her back in her bed and told her she needed to go to sleep and she replied emphatically "and pass gas!!" I tried to hold back my laughter.

Two months

Henry is two months old today. He is a goooood baby. As a proud mama, I'd even say he's advanced for his age. :)

Henry went to the doctor for his two-month appointment right before we left for Spokane. He was 7 weeks at the time, and weighed in at 12lbs 14 oz. That puts him in the 95th percentile. A little different from Adele, who is 2 1/2 and weighed in at 26lbs - putting my little peanut at the 20th percentile. She's always been tiny, and he can't seem to stop chunkin' up.

At two months, Henry is already becoming very interactive. He loves to smile, especially after a good nap and with a full belly. And if you quit looking at him, he'll make noises until you look back at him. He is awfully cute and has just started to coo. He seems very strong for his age, and already likes to "stand" up while being supported. Henry sneezes like his daddy, very loud and forceful. He has also let out what sounds like a chuckle when he's really happy.

Henry likes to eat every 2-3 hours, although he can go longer and has given me 5-6 hour stretches at night a few different times. I don't really mind too much waking up to feed him - he goes back to sleep really fast and sleeps great in his bassinet.

Love you Henry!!

Retirement

My dad retired today. He's been talking about retiring for years now. When it was going to happen, what he would do with his time, etc. It seems like it's been a long time coming, but now that it's here, it's strange. I called him today for the last time on his work phone, and then deleted one of the first numbers I'd ever memorized forever from my phone.

I can't imagine how he's feeling.

He began his job 34 years ago at the Principal Financial Group as an actuary. At the time, I'm not sure he could even imagine that the day would come that he would be finished at his job. Lots has changed. With his job, no doubt, but with his life as well. He now has four grown daughters, two sons-in-law, and four grandchildren.

Here's the thing: I'll be honest, I still don't completely understand fully what an actuary does. But I do know this - my dad is an incredible man. He's dedicated, hard-working, and cares way more for his family than he does for himself. What I know of my dad is that he loves sports, is a fantastic coach, enjoys being outside and working in his yard, he is very supportive and loving, and he has provided more for me than I could ever thank him for.

For the first time in a very long time, my dad won't have to get up and go to work. What will he do with his new-found freedom? I don't know. But I'm thrilled for him and so excited to see what the future holds.

I love you, Dad!

(Long) Road Trips

When I was younger I remember taking long road trips to Colorado. There was something fun about being brought out of bed at 4:00am, getting in the car with my pillow and blanket while it was still dark out, and going back to bed for a few hours before a breakfast stop. I can remember enjoying so much car time to do things I enjoyed doing - listening to music, reading, and sprawling out on top of my sisters and sleeping for many, many hours.

Because David's family lives in Washington and mine lives in Iowa, added to the fact that we worked for 2 years in California, we have taken many cross-country road trips together as well. While I can't say that we love long road trips, we've never really minded them. We enjoy the long hours to talk and listen to music, and we each have books or projects to work on in the car. And who doesn't enjoy a few extra hours of sleep?

This was all before kids.

Thursday night began our long road trip from Oklahoma to Washington, with our only stops in Phoenix and Boise. We decided to do as much night driving as we could to take advantage of the kids sleeping, and left at midnight on Thursday night to begin our trip.

Thursday night/Friday all day was a very long day. We drove over 1,000 miles for a marathon day from Oklahoma to Phoenix, AZ, and arrived in the evening to visit David's college buddy Chad. We stayed with him all day Saturday, enjoying time in the pool in the 100+ degree weather, and then took off Saturday night around midnight for round 2. Our second marathon driving of almost another 1,000 miles took us from Phoenix to just outside of Boise, ID. We stayed with our friends the Cossel Family, and enjoyed their trampoline and a house full of dogs. Monday was an easy day - only 7 hours from Boise to Spokane, WA, with a stop along the way to see David's grandpa and 2 aunts.

While we took advantage of night driving so our kids could sleep, we still had plenty of awake hours when they needed entertainment to save them from the boring car ride. Both kids are troopers - considering the 40+ hours we were in the car, they did their fair share of sleeping, and Adele watched countless hours of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. There were only moments of time that one or both were crying.

Still, having two kids in the back to constantly be thinking about and taking care of sure changes my perspective on long road trips!

Adele highlights of the trip include:

-Talking non-stop in the car for an hour at night because she was so excited about the road trip.

-Coming upon a city with a lot of lights at night and her saying "Yook at all the Christmas trees Mommy!"

-Waving to the man in a cowboy hat in a truck next to us saying "It's a cowboy!"

-Narrating "It's a blue truck! It's a red car! It's a white truck!" as we drive along the highway passing cars around us.

-Seeing frogs jumping on the grass at the Cossel house and John Cossel asking Adele if she can catch one. She responds "All right" and goes and picks one up.

-Me telling someone how Henry likes to cat-nap and Adele chiming in saying "yeah he says meeeoow".

-Adele being so relieved/overcome with emotion to finally reaching Spokane that she buried her head in my shoulder and shed a few tears before getting down and giving big hugs to everyone.

Would we do a road trip again this way with marathon days of driving? I'm not sure yet. Too soon to tell. Two things I know for sure:

1) We're glad we're here.
2) We're tired. :)

Things I Like: hanging clothes outside

One more installment of my Things I Like series...for now.

I really enjoy hanging up our clothes outside to dry. Especially when the line is filled with my kids' cute clothes:

Here's my shameless plug for the environment: it is SO easy to hang clothes up outside. We didn't hook up our dryer until January, and only used it a few times when the weather wouldn't cooperate. Such an easy way to save energy and keep our electricity bill down.

It takes maybe 15 minutes of my time to hang everything up, and maybe 3 minutes to take it down and bring it inside to fold. And with the sun that we have here, I think that most days the clothes dry faster outside than they would in a machine!

Added bonuses: it gets me outside in the fresh air, and Adele LOVES to "help" hang up clothes and rip them off the line when they're dry. She loves to be outside, so it's one easy way to get her outside while I am still working my way through my to-do list for the day. :)

Things I Like: care packages

There are a lot of things I like in the world, so I decided to sporadically blog about them. Today's installment is Things I Like: care packages. Fitting, because I received one today.

Care packages are wonderful. They bring so much joy to my life. Who doesn't like to go get the mail and be overjoyed when there is a box sitting outside??

I loved care packages in college. It usually meant there was something from home - something that brought a smile to my face, that reminded me someone loved me.

I loved care packages when we lived in Costa Rica. This was often a birthday or Christmas gift, or something we were in need of that we couldn't find in Costa Rica.

I love care packages here in Oklahoma. These often mean gifts for my kids. I admit, I get just as much joy (if not more) than my kids do out of helping them open a package.

Today's care package was special and unique, and jumped to the top of my list of Things I Like. It was a care package from Costa Rica.

My dear friend Laura Barnard sent me a gift for Henry. The clothes are adorable. But what made the care package even more special and unique is the fact that she filled the box with goodies from Costa Rica. It seems backward, since care packages usually come from home when you're out of the country. But since Costa Rica was our home for four years, the care package truly felt like it was coming from home. The box was filled with coffee, cookies, and all sorts of treats that we can't find here in the U.S.

Now THAT is a good care package.

BUGS

This blog probably won't ALWAYS be about my kids. But they're the most entertaining things in my life right now, and consume most of my time and energy (blog aside). And who knows, if Adele turns out to be funny her whole life, maybe I'll blog about her until she's old and I'm ancient.

So Adele loves bugs. I blame David. It all started here:

David took an Entomology class this last fall, and since he had a bug collection, Adele in turn loved collecting the bugs. She "helped" Daddy catch the bugs with her own net, and she "helped" Daddy pin the bugs. When he was finished with his collection, he gave Adele the leftover bugs that he didn't use and she was allowed the entertainment of playing with them:

Some days it got a bit out of hand - Adele even took a few small jars of bugs with her to sleep when she went down for naps.

Now that it's spring and the bugs have returned, so has her love for them. Ever since it's been nice outside, we hang out in the backyard and she'll start digging in the dirt calling "Bu-ugs, where are you!"

This weekend I heard a sweet sing songy voice calling out from the living room "Come here fly, I want to hold you!" as I watched Adele chase the fly around the living room. I admit, that was pretty cute - especially when she actually did catch it and was so surprised she looked in her hand to see if it was truly there - thus releasing it, and beginning the chase again.

I don't mind the bugs, but I wouldn't say that I enjoy them. There are certain creepy crawlies in particular that I would go so far as to say I dislike. Spiders and cockroaches are among them. My sweet, cute daughter sees no difference between a roly-poly and a cockroach.

While I don't particularly like certain creepy crawlies, I also won't kill them. Last week I saw a largish cockroach scampering across the kitchen floor. So I did what normal, rational people do - I trapped it under a glass and was planning on waiting for David to come home and take care of it. I didn't count on Adele. A few minutes later, I heard a squeal and a yell "Mommy I found a bug!" I managed to trap it again, but she was relentless - we couldn't just leave it there, we had to save it and let it go outside. I couldn't even convince her with the whole "Daddy-will-love-it-we-should-save-it-so-he-can-see-it" bit I tried to throw at her. So we figured out a way to get some thick paper under the glass and carry it outside and save the cockroach. 

And yesterday, David and I were playing games with some friends at our house. All of a sudden Adele comes up to me and says "yook what I found!" She had a spider crawling on her hand that she had picked up. What came out of my mouth next was something along these lines: "That is so neat honey, go show Daddy. Daddy she has a SPIDER on her hands. Go show Daddy honey. Daddy did you hear me? It's a SPIDER." I said all of that really fast.

I'm trying my hardest to encourage her love of bugs. Someday she'll be able to see through me.

Day of Mothers

Since today is the day to honor mothers, that is what this post shall be about. Seems fitting.

I grew up with a great mother. Visions of my childhood include:

Fun and unique birthday parties
So many activities I was involved in
Family holiday traditions
Car games on long road trips to our annual Colorado vacations
A household full of friends over to play
Activities that taught me how to read early
Youth group retreats

The list goes on...and what everything has in common is my mother. She was an excellent mom - not only to me, or to my sisters, but to friends, neighbors, kids in the youth group. My childhood is filled with memories that include my mom. She has always encouraged me to be involved, to be a friend, and to be my best.

Here are three words that describe my mom:

Empathetic: My mom has the uncanny ability to relate to people. She has had many experiences in her life, both positive and "character-building", and that has allowed her to be able to connect with many people. When sharing something with my mom, you can tell she feels. Whether it be love, hurt, sadness, excitement, pain, or fear, she feels what you feel.

Thoughtful: My mom loves to do things and buy things for other people. Especially if you don't live at home and come visit. :) She will go out of her way to make sure my favorite foods are on the menu, and will spend her last $5.00 on me if we are out running errands. She is always looking for ways to go out of her way and do nice things for me while I'm home visiting.

Friend: My mom is a friend. She loves good conversations, she makes people feel welcome, and as stated before, she finds ways to connect with everyone. She is a friend to the next person in line at the grocery store. Or to the people she just took a picture of in Colorado. Or to those she meets with to pray. Or to those she meets with to find the best pie, or best coffee in town. Always social, always outgoing, my mom is friend.

Not all people would be able to admit they have a great mother. Probably fewer people would be able to say they have a great mother AND a great mother-in-law. Somehow, I can say both. My mother-in-law makes me feel so much a part of her family that it would be a shame not to also honor her on a day to honor mothers.

Here are three words that describe my mother-in-law:

Sincere: My mother-in-law is a very genuine person. She remembers details and spends quality time with others, making them feel special. She loves to spend time with people - whether it be over a cup of coffee, quilting, or bonding over a fun tv show.

Giving: My mother-in-law is very generous. She is always willing to give up her time to sit and talk, treat others to a special outing, and make a favorite meal. She enjoys to give, and looks for special items that could be considered "forever gifts" - something that is of good quality and will still be useful and enjoyable in the years to come.

Steadfast: My mother-in-law somehow stays very consistent. She is extremely even-tempered, patient, loving, and very slow to anger (as in never). She stays positive, is a good listener, and responds to others with good advice. There is not much that gets her rattled, and she is able to keep a peaceful demeanor while sticking true to her beliefs.

It's thrilling, scary, and the biggest joy in the world to now be a mother myself. I'm incredibly thankful for the examples I have in a mother and in a mother-in-law and hope that I in turn can be the best mother possible to my kids. 

Because let's face it. My kids are awesome.

Dancing girl

Adele loves to play. She is a very active, energetic, playful child. Being a very social child (despite initial shyness), she loves it most when someone plays with her. In fact, this is just about the only thing that will keep Adele entertained without the constant attention from David or me (or visiting relatives):

Play doh!

But the thing Adele enjoys most in the world is DANCING. And I gotta say, my girl's got moves.

This started when she was tiny, and we didn't have much entertainment in the small valley in Costa Rica during the rainy season. It has continued to the point where it's fairly easy to get Adele out of a bad mood ("let's dance Adele!") or it's often the greeting David gets when he gets home from school ("yet's dance Daddy!"). The other day I asked Adele if she wanted to play something with me. She told me, "yet's dance first Mommy." So we danced.

Dancing occurs when the ipod is playing, when the hotdog song/dance comes on at the end of her favorite show The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, or even just when there is a good commercial to groove to.

Dancing comes in many forms: spinning around to get dizzy, hands up in the air, mimicking Daddy's silly moves, kicking the feet up, after going potty, etc.

Here are some examples of dancing over the last couple years:

 Home for Christmas, Gosselink Dance Party 2010

Hille Dance Party, Fall 2011

Dance Party with Aunt Rachel at a Restaurant Fall 2011

Potty dance 2012

Spring 2012 Dance Party

Play area pet peeves

Yesterday we were out looking at an item on Craigslist and we decided to head to the mall to let Adele burn off some energy in the play area before her nap time. While we were there, Adele loved running around, observing other kids and mimicking them, climbing, jumping, etc. My girl loves to play.

We decided she's the perfect age for play areas such as this. She's not too little to get trampled on, but not too big to worry about her trampling on others.

This reminded me of another time we were at the play area in the mall, and what I have come to recognize as two of my biggest pet peeves: kids who wear shoes in the play area, and kids who are too big to be in the play area. (Big kids wearing shoes are the worst.)

There are reasons for rules.

Big kids play differently than the little kids. They have a tendency to be rougher, more wild, and not be cautious of the other little kids trying to play nicely on the toys. Often a rowdy game of TAG gets going with big kids. (I'm sure there are big kids who play calmly in play areas too...but this has not been my experience.) When Adele was a little younger and thus considered one of the little kids, I felt like I had to watch out for her more so she wouldn't find herself under the feet of big wild kids.

Which brings me to my second pet peeve. Kids who wear shoes often end up stepping on other kids. Obviously by accident, but it happens nonetheless. Any kid who can walk should follow the rule of not wearing shoes, because that kid can walk right on top of some poor little kid's hand.

When Adele was one of the littler kids, I would get so irked at kids who didn't follow these two rules. Unfortunately, my passive-aggressive side kicked in and I would find myself making these comments sort of loudly:

"Adele careful of the big kids running around; I don't want you to get crashed into."
"Adele remember when you're playing on the ground like that to watch out for your fingers so you don't get stepped on by kids wearing shoes."
"Adele why don't you play over here to stay out of the way of the big kids running around."

Naturally, I was hoping the parent would overhear and promptly realize their mistake and either remove their big kid from the area or remove their kid's shoes. It never happened, and I'm sure there are other ways I should handle situations like that without my irkness getting to me.

Maybe I'll figure that out by the time Henry is playing in the play area.

Culture shock

Culture shock is a strange thing. You go into a foreign country, go through the stages of culture shock and finally feel ok about living there, and then return to have oddly similar feelings as you re-enter your home culture.

There is plenty to say about culture shock, or reverse culture shock. The thing about living in another country is that you're supposed to feel stupid and ask dumb questions and look and feel out of place. The strangest thing about returning home to your home culture is feeling out of place and being afraid of looking stupid, since it's what you've been dealing with the entire time you've been out of the country. But again, you're supposed to feel that way in another country. You're not supposed to feel out of place in your home country. It's your home.

In Costa Rica, to pay for anything with a debit/credit card, you automatically hand over your plastic card along with your ID. There is no machine that you slide it through; the cashier does it for you. One time while we were back in the U.S., I was at a convenient store and handed over my debit card and ID. The person looked at me oddly and said "you can swipe it right there". I felt stupid. And even stupider when I awkwardly went to figure out the scan-the-card-yourself machine with a red face.

In Costa Rica, if there is a car waiting to get into traffic and you are the one who will let them in, you simply flash your lights at them. I tried being nice one time here in the U.S. and flashed my lights at someone waiting to get into traffic, and nothing happened. So I awkwardly kept going, trying to remember what social cues it is that you do to let someone into traffic.

I'll continue to write more thoughts on this matter in other blog posts. For now, here are some ways that Costa Rica continues to affect my life:

-I never ever go through the self-checkout line in a store. That is super intimidating for a person who tries to lay low under the radar and not look stupid!

-The other day as I was putting together a burrito, I found myself missing sour cream from Costa Rica. It is much more runny and spreads over burritos easier, rather than in clumps.

-When the trees rustle, I often catch myself looking to find a monkey, rather than a squirrel.

-Whenever there is a product that comes in packaging with Spanish, I read the Spanish and don't think much of it until I realize that there's probably English too, and the normal thing isn't for everything to be written in Spanish.

-When our house got cold in the winter, I naturally went and got a sweatshirt and extra socks on, without realizing I could simply turn up the heat a little (we didn't have heat in our home in Costa Rica).

Tornadoes

For those of you who don't live in the midwest or southern part of the country, or for those of you who don't EVER watch the news, it's tornado season. I used to be a big fan of tornado season. I grew up in Iowa, so this meant Springs filled with thunderstorms, crazy weather, and the odd feeling in the air when a tornado is possible. I even went so far as to declare I missed tornado season when I didn't live in Iowa.

Apparently tornado season is different in Oklahoma.

A few weeks ago my sister-in-law Jordan was visiting from Washington with her two youngest kids, Benjamin (3 1/2) and Hannah (16 months). We had seen the forecast and knew that tornadoes were likely the weekend they were here.

Here's what happened on Friday, April 13:

Adele is sleeping in her crib, Henry is asleep in the swing by the window, and Hannah and Benjamin are playing with the kitchen set right next to the swing. All is calm outside, though the radar shows that the storm is about to hit. Norman, OK is under a tornado watch.

Me: We should be watching the news, just in case the watch turns into a warning.
Jordan: Should we be worried about a tornado? (Jordan didn't grow up around tornadoes)
Me: Nah, a watch doesn't mean much. If it looks like tornadoes will be in our area, we'll have plenty of notification and we will be in a safe location long before the sirens go off.

A short while later, I go to change Henry and on my way back into the family room, the storm hits like a forceful wall of rain, wind, and hail. 

Jordan: (Eyes huge) Are you seeing this??
Me: (Eyes equally huge) Wow this is a crazy storm!

Seconds later we both look out the window as lightning hits the power line and sparks fly. The darkness from outside invades the inside, as the power goes out. Jordan and I look in shock as the swingset gets flipped on its side and we watch as the tops of the trees in the backyard seem to be eerily swirling. 


During these exact few minutes, I started receiving texts from friends up in Oklahoma City. 

Text 1: Hope you guys are in shelter!
Text 2: You guys better be somewhere safe! (I start to get extremely nervous.)
Text 3: Tornado headed to OU! (Panic sets in.)

Me: Jordan get the kids and go to the tub in the bathroom!! I'm heading across the street to find our storm shelter!
Jordan: I'm calling you so we can be in touch by cell phones.

I quickly wake Adele up and put her in the bathroom with the others, and run across the flooded street to our neighbor Jim's.

Me: (banging on Jim's door) Jim! Where is your shelter?!? (Jim had told us we could use his shelter but I didn't know exactly where it was. Naturally, Jim wasn't home.)

Jordan and I get cut off, her being stuck in the bathroom with 4 kids, not knowing what was going on. I run to the next neighbor's house, who also has a storm shelter inside. They aren't home either. At that point, a truck pulls up into Jim's house and a man and a woman get out.

Woman: Come on over, we know where the shelter is!
Me: I've got kids at home, I'll be right back!

I run back across the street. Jordan is relieved to see me.

Me: Jordan we're going!

Jordan grabs a diaper bag and we somehow manage to carry all 4 kids across the street, pause to see the trees down at the end of the street, and get ourselves down into the small storm shelter. We keep everyone calm with fruit snacks and suckers as the woman tells us the tornado hardly gave any warning (duh) and was hopscotching across Norman. 


Five minutes later, the sirens finally go off. 


Epilogue: David returned home from school to a sister and wife who were on the verge of being hysterical. We tracked the path of the tornado and realized it passed through our neighborhood and truly clipped our backyard...while we were watching it.

David went and bought a storm radio that evening.

Our power ended up staying off the entire weekend until Sunday afternoon. I now start having panic attacks every time a "severe storm" alert comes up for Oklahoma (only slight exaggeration).

Best part of the day: if you recall, Adele has been thinking it is her birthday practically every day. So when we went down to the shelter and the woman with us lit a candle, Adele excitedly said "hey it's my birthday party!" Nothing like kids to put a fun spin on an otherwise frightful situation.

Our swingset after the storm.

 Our brave tornado survivors.

Woo hoo 32!

My birthday came and went yesterday. It wasn't really too special of a day, but it was a good day.

It started out great - for some reason, Adele has thought her birthday was coming up and we should be having a birthday party for her. So when I told her it was my birthday, our conversation went like this:

Me: "Adele, it's my birthday today!"
Adele: "It's my birthday too!"
Me: "Oh really?"
Adele: "Yeah!!"
Me: "Well happy birthday to you!"
Adele: "Thanks Mommy! Happy birthday to you too!"

Both kids took good naps while I got some much-needed cleaning done, and both kids were in good moods. We had a very enjoyable dinner out at Olive Garden (thanks to Grandpa Hille for a gift card that arrived in the mail yesterday!), and to show that we don't eat out much, Adele was excited over everything:

"I got chocolate milk!" she told the waitress.
"My pizza!" she exclaimed to us.
"What is this??" she asked excitedly about the after-dinner mint.

We then headed over to Gigi's Cupcakes for some dessert. Adele came with me to pick out a few and called out (yelled) "SURPRISES!!" (One time she and David went out and got cupcakes and brought them home as a "surprise" - ever since then, cupcakes have been referred to as "surprises" by Adele.)

And finally, we ended the evening sitting around watching The Voice.

While we were out to eat, David and I started talking about how much our lives had changed in the last 2-3 years. It wasn't so long ago that we were living a very different life - in the rainforest, celebrating birthdays with college students studying abroad, traveling around Latin America just the two of us. It hit us last night how normal we seemed now. Family of 4, Olive Garden, sitting around watching a tv show. 

Sometime I'll analyze that more. For now, I'll go back to what I said in the beginning - my day wasn't extravagant, too out of the ordinary, or overly special. Some might call it normal. But it was good. 

Here's who I got to spend it with: