Life is a journey.....

"It takes time to settle into a house, to learn to love it right, to make it feel homegrown." Janet S. Wong, Homegrown House

Friday, June 17, 2011

Oh what a busy month it has been......so far!







D graduated from preschool!! Where has the time gone? She has loved every minute of preschool, starting with her time in Tokyo, her two years at Big Flats Preschool and finishing up here in Michigan. We can only hope she enjoys the BIG school just as much!


We finally met our social worker from Oakland Family Services. We look forward to getting to know her and getting our certification. We still have some items to complete, and they still have some checks that they have to do. She will be back out to our house in a few weeks to go over our autobiographies.


We have begun to work on the backyard, starting with D's play set. The wood pieces need painting, so we started taking it apart only to discover we need to replace some of the boards. We are hoping the rain will hold off this weekend so we can get some of it done.

We are headed to Corning on Wednesday! Nathan has business and D and I hope to catch up with friends and spend time with my parents and Grandma.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Memorial Day Weekend!
























Had a fun and busy Memorial Day weekend! Celebrated our 12 year wedding anniversary, planted some flowers, started our garden, swam, and enjoyed dinner with friends! Now a short week filled with lots to do; pricing and setting up for rummage sale, finishing father's day gifts, groceries, school, etc......

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Metamorphosis































We decided to give into the commercial hype and order some butterflies (or really caterpillars) for D to watch transform. Our little cup had 5 in it (I forgot to take a picture), food in the bottom, and tiny holes in the top. We predicted maybe we would end up with 2 surviving. We watched the caterpillars double in size, and then start changing from the larval to the pupal stage. About a week for so later the chrysalis become darker, a sign that the butterfly would be emerging anytime. It was very exciting to watch, we kept checking to see if there was a butterfly and finally there was! And to our surprise all 5 caterpillars became butterflies! Thankfully the weather warmed up and we were able to release them to live our their short lives.











Monday, May 9, 2011

Spring has finally Sprung!











































D's quote, "Disney World, you sure tired me out!"







We had a fun long weekend in Orlando, we used up the two remaining days we had on our tickets. The weather was hot, but we didn't mind!

We left Michigan early Thursday morning, so we were able to get to Orlando with enough time to eat and swim. We went to Universal City Walk to enjoy a margarita at Margaritaville in celebration of Cinco de Mayo.

On Friday we headed to Epcot, Nathan was the only one of us that had been to that park before. I did some research and got some tips from friends on what to see and do. We headed right to Soarin' to get fast passes and then headed to see Crush and the Seas with Nemo ride. It started to rain as we were in riding Soarin', but it wasn't too bad and it kept it cooler out for a little while. D was able to do meet and greets with Mickey, Minnie and friends as well as Snow White, Belle and the Beast. She always enjoys getting her picture taking with them. N and I road on Test Track, it was fun. We all enjoyed wandering around the countries and eating in Italy. While we were there the International Flower and Garden Festival was going on, the flowers were beautiful (pictures on facebook) D's favorite was the Tangled display, she loved hearing the music and thought for sure Rapunzel was up there in the tower. We had to go see it twice!

On Saturday we decided to go to both Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. We really wanted D to see the Festival of the Lion King show and also Finding Nemo the Musical, both are great. She loved them both and has talked about the Lion King a lot since.

We headed to Magic Kingdom after lunch, D wanted to ride the Buzz ride, see the parade and the show at the castle. We were able to do all of them as well a few other rides. Then exhaustion set in and we headed out of the park to have dinner, swim and pack!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter Fun

































































































































We have had a lot of fun the last couple of weeks attending Easter Egg Hunts and birthday parties! D had fun finding eggs with her MOMs group friends, and then at church with her friend Matthew, and finally at school. Thankfully she didn't care too much about the candy inside!


D was treated to a movie and swimming with daddy on Thursday and Friday. She then got to see the Easter Bunny on Saturday, as well as attended a friend's birthday party at a local gymnastics place.


Nathan and I had fun playing the Easter Bunny! We got a little more creative this year, creating rabbit tracks from the sliding glass door and into the living room where her basket was hidden. D was surprised in the morning to see the mess, she was waiting to see if I got mad. She had fun finding her eggs and her basket.


We will be doing some travelling the next few weekends! We are looking forward to seeing family and also to go back to Disney!