A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

It's not even 4:00 and it has been a very busy day! We had our preview performance of "Looking Glass Land" today at 10:00 am for local elementary school kids and some senior citizens and it went really, really well! I am so proud of my cast and I cannot wait for opening night tomorrow!!





















After the show, Isaiah and I grabbed lunch and went grocery shopping. We got all the groceries put away and then headed off to the park here in Arena. He really enjoyed getting to go for a walk in the stroller, but was itching to get out and run by the time we arrived. I spent the next 45 minutes or so chasing after a very energetic toddler as he tore that place apart! He went down slides, attempted to climb up slides, swung on a swing, picked dandelions, dug in the dirt, and attacked a baby girl. Yup, you read that right. Isaiah gets so excited to see another little person that he sometimes forgets how strong he is! Poor little thing was just minding her own business in her stroller when WHAM!! Out of nowhere she is mauled by the bull in the china shop that is my son. I apologized to her mother, of course, but luckily this little one also has a big brother so Mom wasn't too upset. I followed Isaiah around with my camera and got some wonderful photos of our outing, except the whole "attacking the baby" part. If you click on the first photo of Isaiah, it will bring you to the Snapfish album with all 86 photos for your enjoyment!




Now, if you'll excuse me. I have a lasagna to get in the oven. I am SUPER-MOM!!! **theme music here**

A Spring Miracle

They're not dead!!! It's a miracle - I have managed to cultivate real, live, growing plants and I haven't yet killed them! Ask my mother. I'm like a Black Widow when it comes to plants. She gave me an African violet once. Dead in a week. A simple aloe vera plant that you only have to water once every blue moon. I killed it. I even managed to overwater a cactus to death. How does a person do that? It's a good thing I am much better at keeping people in better condition than plants or Isaiah wouldn't be the robust, healthy boy we have all come to know and love. In any case, I am blogging to celebrate the arrival of my gorgeous, thriving flower bed in front of our house. This past fall, my mother and I spent one of Isaiah's naps planting about 100 bulbs in that flower bed and I have been anxiously waiting all winter to see those first shoots pop up. Mom wasn't kidding when she said that flower bed would be gorgeous. It's not even May yet and I just have to brag about my flowers!

View of the whole flower bed from the front of the house.

Side view - standing in front of our door

Close up! I just love those blue/purple flowers scattered in there.

Babysitter Needed!

I'm sure it comes as little surprise that I'm going to need a little help next month while Evan is off exploring the world on the company's dime. When Evan is off soaking up the sun in California, I am in need of a babysitter for Isaiah for the afternoon/evenings of Wed, May 13th and Friday, May 15th. I had to ask off work for so many days while Evan is in China that I couldn't ask off for these two days. If you're able to come over and watch Isaiah while I'm at work on either of those days, please let me know ASAP. You know me - I'm a planner!

Coloring!

Isaiah's first time coloring with crayons! I had these Tadoodles crayons stored away since his birthday, but finally busted them out today. The first thing he did was try to eat the green crayon, but he discovered quickly that it didn't taste all that good. He got the hang of it after a few minutes and now I have a masterpiece on my fridge! Now all I have to do is figure out how to keep him from ripping the paper off the fridge and turning into confetti or a makeshift basketball. Oh, and I have to mop my floor. As it turns out, kids aren't so good at staying on the paper at all times. Who knew? Check out the videos below of this fun activity! And about 10 minutes later....

Baby's Scrapbook

You have no idea the virtual hoops I have been jumping through for the past hour just to get these photos to post the way I want them to! For some reason, Blogger wanted to rotate these photos clockwise every time I tried to upload them directly to the blog. I tried rotating the photos counter-clockwise to compensate, but that didn't work. Then I tried to upload them to outside photo sharing sites and do it that way! Long story short - Thank you tinypic.com! I finally have succeeded!

First page of the new baby's scrapbook! Nothing like a layout featuring several pee sticks to make a kid feel special, eh?

Page #2! Journaling is about our first prenatal visit and our first ultrasound photo. Can't wait to have more ultrasound photos to share after Friday!

Curse you, Iowa County!!

All I want is a library card! Is that too much to ask for? Now that I am no longer teaching full time, I actually have time to read for fun and I have to send my poor husband to the library for me since I do not have a library card and apparantly I shouldn't expect to get one for quite some time. Here's how this whole headache breaks down:

We live in Iowa County - a teeny, tiny little patch of Iowa County that is snugly situated between Sauk and Richland Counties. Sauk County is part of the Southcentral Wisconsin Library System, which means they are connected to all the libraries in the surrounding counties. They get books from Madison, Spring Green, etc. Evan has a library card that he can use in Prairie du Sac and Sauk City to access this because he was smart enough to get one while we still lived in Dane County, which is also part of that library system.

However, Iowa County is NOT part of the same library system that Sauk is. They are set up with Richland County and a bunch of other podunk counties in the SouthWESTERN library system. So, I had to drive my butt all the way to Lone Rock, which is a "blink and you miss it" little town on the opposite side of Spring Green to submit my library card application. The librarian at the "library" - I use that term loosely since it looked more like a converted garage than a library - was so scatterbrained and looked positively scared that I was asking for a library card. I left my application there a few weeks ago and I still have not received anything in the mail. Even if I did get a card in the mail, which I doubt at this point, I would still need to take THAT card in to the Spring Green library and apply to be able to use my card in the SouthCENTRAL library system.

At this point, I think I'll just keep using Evan as my errand boy.

Wanted to Buy

My bargain hunter cap is attached securely to my head and I am on the lookout for a good deal on several items that we will need in the upcoming months. I am stalking Craigslist like a madwoman, but if you happen to come across any of the following items at a good price at a store or whatever, let me know!

• Twin bed (including mattress & box spring) *CHECK!
• Sheet set - twin, navy *CHECK!
• Small dresser for Isaiah's "big boy room" *CHECK!
• A minivan (I haven't given up on the dream!!) *On hold for a year. Stay tuned!

Looking Glass Land

Opening night of the play I've been working on is only a couple weeks away!! Since the beginning of March, I have been fortunate enough to be the assistant director for the SPHS production of Looking Glass Land, a spin on the classic "Alice in Wonderland" story. The play is really fun, really silly, and should be a super fun show. It's written by local playwright and actor James DeVita and our students have really done an amazing job with it and I can't say enough about the incredible set pieces we've been lucky enough to borrow from the Children's Theatre of Madison.

Long story short - COME SEE THIS SHOW!! All performances are at the River Arts Center (attached to Sauk Prairie High School). Show times are: May 1st at 7:00, May 2nd at 7:00, and May 3rd at 2:00. Perfect for all ages!

By the way, I am still in need of a babysitter for Isaiah for the evening of May 1st so that Evan can come see the show too.

Another One???

I smacked Evan in the face tonight. Not hard by any means, but I definitely did it. Why? After he had just finished showing me the map of where he'll be travelling in China, he gets that mischevious grin on his face and says,"Oh yeah. Guess what? I'm going on another trip."

That's when I smacked him.

I thought he was messing with me! I mean, seriously!! He's already going to Chicago, California, CHINA, and Indiana all before the end of June and now they've added on a three day trip out east somewhere before the end of April! Call me selfish if you will, but I am starting to get a little......well......bummed. I just feel like I'm going to be without him WAY more that I will be with him and that's not exactly what I would like. Not to mention, he is scrambling to figure out how he is going to pull of getting the basement ready before the baby comes now that he's going to be gone this much. It's going to be a crazy couple of months over here.

Easter!

I love Easter! It seems like every year when Easter comes around, I am really pumped. I love going home to see family and I know they look forward to seeing us (at least, I hope they do), but especially I enjoy going back to visit our home church in Waupun on Easter. They really put on a rocking service and this year was no exception. What a way to celebrate our risen LORD! Edgewood has come a long way even in just the nearly 5 years since we've been married there and their mission as a church has been more clearly defined....and it shows. It is a very worship oriented atmosphere and I really enjoyed getting to celebrate Easter there yet again this year. Not to mention, Roger's sermon on being "religious" versus knowing the Gospel was wonderful and really gave me some ammo, so to speak, that I have been lacking when I have had some people lately say to me, "Oh, sorry. I'm just not religious like you," when they've said or done something they're afraid will offend me. We also enjoyed the rest of our weekend by celebrating Evan's birthday with his favorite pizza and spending quality time with family on Easter Sunday. Isaiah even enjoyed poking around in his Easter basket and got plently mad at me when I finally took it away - he was trying to eat his Reeses without unwrapping it! We are happy to be home and all the boys slept really well last night. In fact, Brian has yet to get up from bed today and it's almost 10:00! Me, not so much. I ended up on the couch again due to my coughing fits, but I'm hopeful it will pass soon. Today we have a checkup appointment for Isaiah and I think he has to get a couple shots, but I'm not sure. Tomorrow, Brian gets a haircut (finally!!!) and I have a prenatal checkup. When I went to the doctor for my cold on Friday I found out I had actually lost six pounds, so I am hopeful that I won't have to hear my doc get on my case about my weight this time! :)

A Little Trip

I just got word today that I am going to need a passport. "Why a passport?" you might ask? Because I am being sent to China on business. I will be leaving May 22 and returning on June 5. I will be travelling almost the entire time. They need me to audit 6 probable vendors for our wholly owned Chinese plant.
But seriously, it is a good experience and always looks good if I am applying for jobs in the future.
It should be a very busy trip and I'll probably be offline for much of it. Sarah is more than a little bummed, but understands that I have to do it. She'll need a little attention from the rest of you since she will obviously get lonely in the house with only Isaiah for 2 weeks. I'm sure she will appreciate any visits.
Some of the stories that the guys have brought home from their trips over have been quite interesting. I should have my laptop by then and will see if I can post a few blogs about my experiences.

Prayers for the Heckels

If you're reading this, please send up a prayer today for my cousin, Christine Heckel, and her family. Christine's baby was due literally a day after ours, so we were going to have little ones of exactly the same age. Unfortunately, a complication arose this week where her amniotic sac detached and the baby didn't make it. It was a perfect little boy and they named him Ryan Daniel. Please keep them in your prayers as they deal with this very, very difficult loss.

Sick Day

My return to day by day subbing has not been without incident. Yesterday, I had to abrubtly run out of the classroom I was working in and barely made it to the restroom before I.....well....lost all my lunch. I spent the rest of the afternoon feeling awful, so I went home before 8th hour and went to bed until Evan came home with Isaiah at 5:30. I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a truck and didn't really improve all night. So, I had to call in sick today to Day #2 of subbing! I am home with my little guy today, but he has exponentially more energy than I do. I'm just trying to rest up and keep some food down so I can get back to work tomorrow.

On a lighter note, Isaiah gets his first haircut later this afternoon! I'll be sure to share before/after photos!

My "Me Day"

I dropped Isaiah off at the babysitter's at 9:00 am this morning and then turned around and came right back home - do not pass GO, do not go to rehearsal, do not collect $200. Why? Because today was my "Me Day!" I plunked myself down at my scrapbooking table (which was a disaster area, I might add) and plowed through five scrapbook layouts! So, the new baby now officially has one, yes ONE, layout in his/her scrapbook! Here are some snapshots I took of a couple of the newest creations from my addiction on my "Me Day." I'll try to add more later. And now, I'm off to pick up the nugget!

Elmo or Camera?

Sometimes Isaiah has a hard time deciding which item will be more fun to play with - the toy or the camera Mommy is using to record him playing with the toy. In this case, the toy was the Elmo Live I scored at Target for 50% off - the very last one of the shelf, I might add. I rock. Anyway, here's the video of the first time Isaiah played with it (this would have been Monday), but he quickly gets distracted by something else!