Little sleepyhead

Eliza was happily playing in the exersaucer, so I ran upstairs to take a quick shower.  When I came back down she was sound asleep!

Five Whole Years

To celebrate our Wooden Anniversary, and to honor Jerel's life long, yet very secret, passion for the Wizard of Oz, we went on a hot air balloon ride.  It was so fun!  We had to be at the launch site at 5am, and it's about an hour from our house.  Luckily I have a friend who was willing to let our kids sleep over at her house the night before and then watch them until we got back.  Getting Zay Zay to sleep in a strange place was a bit tricky, but we managed. 

So we got up super early and headed to the launch site.  Jerel got to help a bit with inflating the balloon and it was cool to watch the whole process. 

I was a bit nervous about the flight since I have a bit of a fear of heights, but it wasn't bad at all.  I think since the basket was pretty tall I didn't have to worry about falling out.  We were in the air for about an hour and saw lots of Oregon's vineyards, and pretty farmland that looks like a quilt when you're up above it.  Jerel was laughing at me because I had my camera and kept zooming in on things down below.  I guess when you're up high the whole purpose is to see the big view; if you want to see something close up you should just stay on the ground.  He had a good point, so I quit zooming!

What have the past five years of marriage been like for us?  Let's see...there's been a lot of the mundane things in life--Jerel has taken out the garbage about 250 times; I've done about 900 loads of dishes and more than a thousand loads of laundry.  Then there have been the fun, pre-kids trips--England, France, Israel, Italy, Croatia, and Spain.  Jerel has spent about 10,000 hours at work; Mandy has had lots of different jobs from working for a book publisher to coaching preschool gymnastics and now doing CPA work from home.  In the past few years Jerel and I both lost our last grandfathers, but we've also added 13 more nieces and nephews.  (In fact since my little sister had her baby last week, for the first time in our marriage we don't have any pregnant siblings). 

Then there was the hardest part of all--giving birth to our two kids in (unplanned) quick succession.  They have brought us so much joy.  Zay Zay is almost two now and it's so fun to watch him as he talks more and more and has started singing songs.  Last night he was leading some of his cousins in Ring Around the Rosie and it was adorable!  He likes to keep repeating the "Ashes, Ashes" part so you never know when "we all fall down" is going to come.  And sweet Eliza Mae is such a content and happy baby; she smiles spontaneously all the time and although people often tell me what a cute boy she is (she wears a few too many of her brother's hand-me-downs) she's really quite pretty with long dark eyelashes and big blue eyes.  Should I write a whole paragraph about the approximately 3,000 diaper changes?  I'll save that for another time...

Jerel has been a comfort and support for me countless times.  He makes me laugh all the time and has had a calming influence on my life; I, on the other hand, have spent the last five years trying to get him to wear colors other than tan and beige, and I've spent the last four years trying to convince him I'm still just as funny as I used to be!  We were both a bit older and a bit independent (read: set in our ways) when we married, but because we have a deep respect and love for each other we are able to respect each other's need for independence while still developing a strong reliance on each other.  Our wedding announcement had a little poem in it, "Today I'll take your hand, then offer you my heart.  I'll look into your eyes and whisper, soul to soul, 'The love you give has made me whole.  You've made me whole.'"  I feel more whole, more complete with him in my life now than five years ago when I wrote that poem.  He is a blessing in my life and I'm so glad we've spent the last five years together.

A true Oregonian

After church I sat down to feed Eliza and Zay asked if he could go outside.  We have a covered part on our back deck so I let him go out even though it had been raining.  He came back inside a minute later and was absolutely soaked.  He is so efficient when it comes to getting wet, dirty, etc. 

All winter long I've been feeling bad because I only took him puddle jumping once.  As it turns out he didn't need me to take him after all, he managed to figure it out on his own.  He found where the roof drips the rainwater along the edge of the deck and makes a long (muddy) puddle and splashed around in it while it poured.  As a northwesterner myself, I'm proud that when it comes to loving rain he seems to take after me rather than his desert-born daddy!

Binky Trick

Binky Trick a video by Jerel & Amanda on Flickr.

Zay & Emma at the zo

It took me forever to get this video to upload.  It's Isaiah and his friend Emma at the zoo last month.

"Mommy walk"

When Zay wants to go outside, he cleverly phrases it as a suggestion for something I might want to do, thus "Mommy walk."  He said it a million times the other morning because I'd told him we were going to walk to story time at the library and he was getting impatient to leave.  I explained that I still needed to pack the stroller--it's kind of a long walk, so I bring extra bottles & sippy cups, snacks, diapers, toys, etc.  So while I was in the kitchen getting snacks ready, Zay took care of packing the stroller...He cleared off a whole shelf of books, shoved in every diaper he could find, and thew in a dozen Hot Wheels cars to top it off.  I'm not sure where he thought Eliza was going to sit, but he's sure a funny little helper!

The Park

This afternoon Zay, Eliza, & I went to the park with my friend Stephenie and her two kids. She has a son Zay's age and an older daughter. Zay played really well with Finley and that was fun to watch. Most of the time he just plays next to other kids rather than with them, but he actually made a few attempts to interact with Fin. He was even brave enough to go down the slide by himself and kept saying "Cooooooo" (cool) when he got to the bottom. He always says it in this really high-pitched voice; it's pretty cute.