jammin'

I met Sara and Julian on a "mama meet-up" hike several months back. (Mama meet-up is a playgroup that has formed out of the birth center mom and baby group now that our babies are too mobile.) They are from Germany and only in Tucson for 6 months while her boyfriend (Ben) is doing research. Sara plays the banjo and badminton. Those two things alone were enough to make me want to get to know her more.

I told Ryan that I wanted to have them over for dinner...and time flew by...and we never did.

Recently I told Ryan how I was bummed we never had them over, and I was sure they had probably left by now.

Then two weeks ago we listened to this sermon, titled The Unexpected Adventure of Eating with Strangers. It was wonderful, and once again made me wish I had invited Sara, Ben and Julian over for dinner.

Well, just two days after listening to that sermon I went to a mama meet-up pool playdate and who was there but Sara and Julian!! I was so excited to find out that they were still in town. I invited them over for dinner that coming weekend (since they only had 2 weekends left before leaving, I was super excited that they were free!)...and it was wonderful.

Despite Ezra wanting everything that Julian was playing with, and practicing his dinosaur scream in Julian's face...the boys played. We chatted. Sara and Ryan jammed. First on banjo, and then on mandolin. Turns out that Sara used to play the violin which is strung like the mandolin so Ryan suggested she try it and she loved it. They were sight-reading all sorts of celtic bluegrass songs together...it was a really fun evening.

I'm sad we waited so long to get together, but soo glad we finally did it. And, I look forward to many more "adventures eating with strangers".

Mystery Solved

I drove the big green van to pick up Ryan when he returned from China. Inside the van was a large box that I assumed was from the last Ryanhood tour and just not cleaned out of the van yet.

When Ryan got in the van he asked about the box, and I responded by saying (with too much confidence), "Its from your tour in April...the van was never cleaned out". He didn't buy it and opened the box to find instructions for building a playhouse. Then we noticed the box was addressed to Ezra Green, but no indication of who it was from. We were totally confused. Where did this box come from? How did it get in our (locked) van? And, who was it from?

I considered posting on facebook to see if anyone had a clue to our puzzle. But not having internet stopped me from doing that.

I also thought about calling the company that made it to see if they could tell me whose name was used for billing.

Once Ryan got online, he saw an email from Cameron saying that he had stopped by our house while we were both gone and saw the box on our porch and put it in the van for safe keeping. That solved part of the mystery, but we still had no idea who it was from!

About a week later, our friends Katie and Steve from NYC came over with their daughter Emily, and said, "did you ever receive a package from us?" Wow, that was easier to solve that we expected...but I can't even tell you how confused we were for so many days. It was kind of fun to have a secret package.

Ezra loves it! Thanks Katie, Steve, and Emily!



And here is sweet Emily!! (Ezra wanted to make sure he had fresh breath for her...)

Re-thinking Perfect

I just read this blog post, and it was exactly what I needed to read today.

I hope it will bring the same sense of "it's all going to be okay" to your day as well. :)

childproofing...

The other night Cameron invited us over for dinner and swimming where he was house sitting. He told me to go ahead and childproof as much as I needed to. So, I glanced around the living room and thought, "doesn't look like anything is breakable" and proceeded to let Ezra run free. Good thing for Ryan. He had his eye on Ezra who of course went straight to the corner where there were 2 axes, 3 machetes, and a fireplace shovel all within his reach. Oops...I guess I missed those things. Really, I am a responsible mom.

Full House

I love that our house is small. My favorite part is that we use every single room of our house every single day. Some rooms serving multiple purposes.

The day after I returned home from my month-long stay in Michigan, our friend, Liz, and god daughter, Charlene, flew in for a short visit. My niece Haleigh also flew back to AZ with me. So in that first week back at home we had me, Ryan, and Ezra sleeping in one bedroom. Liz and Charlene in the other bedroom. And Haleigh in the living room. It was a full house indeed.

Last time we saw Charlene she was almost 3. Now, she is 4 and a half. It's amazing how much kids change in such a short period of time. She is confident, full of ideas, lots of energy, and no longer takes naps.



She wanted to make a craft project to give to Ryan when we picked him up that evening (from his return from China). It started out as a rubberband/cardboard guitar (as seen on left)...


...and ended up being a shrine of everything in our "junk drawer", including "pencil top Jesus"... (I feel like using "junk" and "Jesus" in the same sentence is probably not kosher, please forgive me)...


We spent a morning at the zoo. However, even at 9:30am it was way too hot to look around at the animals that were also suffering from the heat, so we spent most of our time at the splash park in the zoo. I think it may be one of my new favorite summer activities in Tucson.





Ezra is soo happy to have Ryan home. And Ryan is soo happy that Ezra remembers all of their old games that they play together. Here is the game where Ezra tucks his arms inside of Ryan's arms so he is trapped...and then Ryan kisses him which makes Ezra laugh super hard.


Ezra and Charlene spent lots of time in the kiddie pool...


Haleigh taught Liz how to play volleyball (under the shade of the patio)...


And when everyone else needed to nap, Charlene and I had a felt pizza party in the living room.

Switched At Birth

No, I was not switched at birth, despite my brother frequently telling me stories that I was. And, no Ezra nor Ryan were switched at birth to my knowledge.

HOWEVER, there is a new TV show called Switched At Birth on ABC Family (impressed with my up-to-date pop culture knowledge??)...and Ryanhood's song Helpless Hopeless will be played on the show tomorrow (Monday, June 27) night. I believe it's on at 9pm PT, not sure about other time zones.

We are going to try to invite ourselves over to someone's house with cable TV so that we can tune in ourselves. :)

Reunion!

Ryan returned home from China on Tuesday evening. At first, Ezra wasn't so sure what to make of him. Perhaps it was the facial hair. Or, the fact that Ezra had grown to associate Ryan with magically living within the computer. But by the time we made it home from picking Ryan up, Ezra was attached, and only wanted Ryan to hold him. In fact, Ezra still prefers Ryan to be the one holding him, or at least within arm's reach at all times.

Our neighbor, Roger, made a sign welcoming Ryan home. By the time we actually made it home though, it was dark out...so Roger had moved his solar powered pathway lights next to the sign to light it up. Oh, he makes me laugh.



Ezra helping Ryan edit some video (like I said, he really wants to be around Ryan at all times)...


And, our little man in his Chinese formal wear...

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my father...

to the father who always makes sure there is a full tank of gas in the car...
to the father who is always ready to play a game...
to the father who is up for dessert no matter the time of day...
to the father who comes to our house on vacation and checks off all the items on our "to do" list...
to the father who always has a "trivia question" waiting to ask everyone...
to the father who Ezra reaches out his arms to be held by...

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Farewell mosquitoes...

...I mean Michigan. :)

Actually, the mosquitoes weren't that bad except for the one day I mentioned earlier when we were at the park. But, that is coming from me, who doesn't get bit by mosquitoes. I know, who knew it was possible to grow up in Michigan and not have a mosquito bite? Well, me. But, I am one of the few I think. Ezra on the other hand gets horrendous welts from mosquito bites that swell up to being about half the size of his entire arm, leg, or wherever the bite may be. Poor dude. At least he doesn't know to itch them yet, so they heal somewhat quickly with no scabbing involved.

Onto nicer topics though....

HUMIDITY!

Ezra has been a little worried that his hair won't be quite as curly when we get back to Arizona, so he found a way to solve that problem...

...grandma's basket of old curlers...


He thought she could use a little curl too...


And what's a visit from Ezra without leaving little treasures to be found later...think of it as an Ezra scavenger hunt Mom and Dad. :)


Thanks for the visit...we love you!

She won!!

Well, perhaps not overall...but she finished, and that's winning in my books!

Way to go Nik and Carla!

The Graduate!

My oldest niece, Alyssa, graduated from middle school today! There have been so many nice things I've been able to do that I didn't expect while here: attend Alyssa and Lydia's band concert, feast at Alyssa's middle school band dinner with live music. (They have a very active music program at her school which is awesome.) Alyssa's 8th grade graduation. And, tomorrow I am going to get to cheer my sister on in a 5k!

Alyssa is definitely one beautiful and very smart girl. She received awards for history and english. She's already been taking high school level math and science classes. And was voted by her class as "most musical". I love learning more and more of who she is...such a sweet teen.

make way for ducklings!

On Thursday we headed back to the zoo for more fun. This time we remembered to bring stale bread to feed the ducks. The hard part was making sure Ezra didn't eat the bread (he can't have wheat). :)

Haleigh was quite skillful with her technique in feeding the geese...


Lizzy and Ezra preferred the chase 'em down method...

Lake Michigan parts deux et tois

Yesterday Ezra and I drove to South Haven to meet up with my friend Kerry at my grandpa's house. It was wonderful. My grandpa and Barb made us a feast for dinner (every meal with them is a feast), then we went down to the State Park to play on the beach. Ezra fell asleep on the drive to there, so I left his bathing suit in the car assuming he'd sleep in my carrier the whole time we were at the beach. Wrong. Oops! So, I let him go naked. I am sure he much preferred being naked anyway.

Playing in the sand with Kerry. Note his farmer's tan on his legs...his arms are just as bad. I have no idea how this has happened since I lather him with sunscreen all the time...oh well, it's cute...and so is he.


Testing out the water that felt oh so nice!


After playing in the sand and water for a while, we strolled the beach as the sun was setting and Ezra fell asleep. We walked on the edge of the water...my pant legs getting wet...our hair and faces and windblown...I just love that feeling.


Kerry and I stayed up late talking after I put Ezra to bed. And then this morning we headed back to Lake Michigan to play in the sand again. Thanks for visiting Kerry, I loved getting to spend time with you!

This is Michigan

We went to Lake Michigan over the weekend. A late afternoon swim and playing on the beach. So lovely. It was fun to watch Ezra work up his courage to stand in the water...and then eventually 'run' towards the lake on his own. He was a big fan!

















We are heading back to the lake this afternoon...

Visiting family

Today we drove up to Shelby to visit my Great Aunt Dorothy, and her daughter Karen. Dorothy is my Grandma Echelbarger's sister-in-law. Although her circulation in her legs isn't so great...she's still quite active. She is the town's 5th grade class' penpal. They all write her, and she writes them back each individually. She knits. She's always is in the middle of a puzzle. She quilts beautiful quilts. By hand! Oh, and she's a red-hatter. :)

Ezra playing in the yard. He was actually quite intrigued by mole hills and determined to catch a mole by hand. Unsuccessful, but had fun trying.




I'm not sure if you can see how dirty his face is, but it was nice and coated with a fine layer of black dirt.


The old, yet so classic footstool that turns into a chair...


Our little shepherd...


Playing on Great Aunt Dort's grandparents' piano...




Karen (my mom's cousin), me, Ezra, and Great Aunt Dorothy...