Time Won’t Stand Still

And I have to say that I am glad because I am leaving in 5 days for Ethiopia.  I leave on Saturday at 12:50 cst.  I cannot wait.  I certainly have a lot to do before I take off and leave Minnow and Hubby on their own for a week.  I think Hubby is much more anxious and nervous as I am.  He isn’t all that confident that he can do this whole single-parenting thing for a week.  I know he will do awesome.  He still will work during the day as we have my bonus mom watching Minnow for 3 days and then  my MIL arrives and will watch Minnow for two days.  I know it’s tough being the sole parent but he’ll do awesome.

This weekend was a lot of fun.  Hubby and my dad both finished their first 5k.  It wasn’t pretty but they finished and neither were last.  My baby bro was third overall and finished in just under 20 minutes. We had a great time.  The weather was gorgeous and we were able to enjoy an afternoon at the beach.  I made a quick slide show of the finishes of my brothers, my dad and Hubby.  A great time was had by all and I am glad that I didn’t have to run. 

slide show to come….off to bed

Yes, Yes. That Is My Child.

Well yesterday was a joyous occasion.  My dad and his longtime girlfriend have finally married.  They have been shacking up since September 2000 and its about time he made an honest woman out of her–as no 50-year-old woman wants to be someone’s girlfriend.  No my dad’s not robbing the cradle–he is in his fifties as well.  They didn’t want any fuss as they feel as though they have been married for a long time already.  They went down to the court house for wedding day.  My brother, Minnow and myself went down to be their witnesses and their guests. 

I had no idea what to expect at this courthouse wedding.  Well, our county only does weddings on Wednesday.  There were at least 30 couples there (along with their families–moms and dads, friends, children, etc) to get married.  They herd everyone into one small court room and you wait to have your number called as everyone who doesn’t know you from Adam watches you say I do.  In and out if 3 minutes unless you want to exchange rings–then its about 5 minutes.  There are no vows or repeat after mes (unless you’re exchanging vows).  It is certainly far from romantic but it is still special.  Unless of course you had decided to get married yesterday when my TWO YEAR OLD SON was part of the crowd.  He was pretty good–he was walking around a little and just talking to me.  I wanted to get him out of the court room, but the weddings happen at such a quick pace it was hard to get him (he likes to run away and giggle), grab him and walk any where before the next ceremony started. 

Finally after couple number 7 the Bailiff came over and told us we were going to have to take him outside.  My brother took him out, as I was going to take pictures of the ultra quick ceremony.  My dad and his woman were couple number 10.  Minnow watched from the window with his face pushed up against the glass making faces and cheering for his “paw-paw” mike and “ga” lori. 

On another happy note, we received our welcome bag camera in the mail today from our agency and it is a full roll (25 pics) of our little Peepers.  Hopefully court will go well on Tuesday and I can post some pics of her then.  But be rest assured she is adorable. 

Unexpected Trip

I’m going to Denver tomorrow with my baby brother who is running his first ultra-marathon (31 miles).  He had been planning to go by himself and I felt really bad.  I wanted to be able to go and support him but am already going out of town next weekend with my bff and we don’t really have the disposable income we use to when I was employed and didn’t have any children.  My brother and I have had a bit of a rough time lately–I got really mad at him for something that wasn’t really that big of a deal and I went a little off the handle.  We talked about it and admitted the hurt that both of us felt, so for me to say I was shocked when he came by yesterday to tell me that he would pay for my trip if I still wanted to come and cheer him on and support him. 

It meant so much to me.  Hubby of course was awesome about the whole thing and is going to work from home tomorrow so that I can go.  I will be gone only 26 hours, but I am looking forward to being there for my brother and am happy that he would want me to be there for him.  So tomorrow afternoon I leave and I come back Saturday evening.  I have tons of school work to do before Monday and Wednesday but family is more important. 

I haven’t been to Denver before, but I certainly don’t think that I will get to see much of it this trip.  My bro’s run is a loop so I won’t have to travel too much so cheer him on and this should allow me to get some school work done while he is running.  I can’t imagine running 31 miles.  He is training for a 100-mile ultra-marathon that he is doing in August.  He is running a 61-mile ultra-marathon in Wisconsin in June.  He is absolutely insane, I think.  But I love him and I am happy that I get to be there for him. 

I’ll post some beautiful pics from my quick trip when I return.  Wish my bro good luck. 

A Boy’s First Worm and a 2nd Birthday Party

Minnow touched his first earthworm today.  How exciting for a little boy.  He did try to stomp on it but I stopped him, teaching him that we must be nice to all creatures–note to self “do not stomp spiders in front of young child”.  He then picked up the worm and put him back in the dirt pile.  He thought it was pretty cool.  He spend half of the morning holding up his finger reminding me that he “touched a worm.”  A true highlight of a young boys life. 

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The worm touching was just the first in a long line of excitement today.  We celebrated Minnow’s 2nd birthday–his acutal birthday is Monday but that really isn’t a great day for a party.  Minnow had a great time.  He loves having company.  He got lots of great presents–mostly clothes–which is awesome as the child doesn’t really need anymore toys and I figure that this is one of the last years that he can get clothes before he starts making that face when he opens that clothes.  Come on–we all know that face.  Just think back to that sweather your grandma gave you when you were 13.  Yeah. That’s the face.  The highlight in terms of presents was the 6 pack of bubbles and the bubble mower. 

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What 2-year-olds birthday party is complete without a Mickey Mouse Cake.  I am proud to say that he blew out his own candle and helped himself to the cake before I could even cut it.  Did you know that you can cut pieces of cake too big?  I didn’t.  I can’t believe that pieces of cake can be too big.  Live a little people!

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Lastly, the mural is Minnow’s new big boy room was completed today–after 14 hours of work by an absolutely amazing artist.  I hope that Minnow will love it for years to come.  I think it turned out absolutely amazing….We are having a mural also done in Peepers room.  I’ll post pictures of it on Monday when it’s finished. 

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It has been a crazy weekend and I am now ready for a glass of wine and some relaxation…

Peek-A-Boo

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I know I have been sporadic in my posting at best.  Well, I am here now.  So, let’s chat.  Things here at Che Dalai Mama have been busy and crazy.  This past weekend, we had a dinner party on Friday–it went off without a hitch.  It was small only 5 of us, but when you haven’t hosted a real party at your house in about 4 years, you feel a little pressure.  It was nice and fun.  The food turned out great and Minnow was a party animal.  He stayed up partying way past his bed time but did sleep in on Saturday til after 9am.  That was great. 

We had carpet installed last week as well in our upstairs.  We have lived in our house for nearly 8 years now and the floor covering upstairs was circa 1950 and falling apart.  When we first moved in the house, we didn’t use the upstairs at all, except for storage of all the crap that I refuse to throw away because “someday I might need it.”  We eventually turned on room into a guest room (for my MIL who comes for a week every year)–using a beautifully ugly berber area rung in the mustard variety of colors.  Chic Chic–I know!  Once, Minnow was due to arrive we had to clean out another room and upstairs to make it fit for a child.  That sadly, left us with one room left to pile all of my junk in.  Now, with Peepers’ impending homecoming we needed that other room.  We moved Minnow into what was the guest room and cleaned out the office–code for room with all my crap in it–and turned that into the guest room for this past Christmas when my MIL was visiting and it will now become Minnow’s big boy room and Peepers will move into her room.  The original nursery is now a playroom.  I know could it be more confusing?  Hubby is often perplexed by my convoluted overly complicated plans. 

So, we needed carpet.  We thought of doing Pergo–as that is what is in the playroom.  But would have been too much work for us to accomplish prior to Peepers coming home or by the time she goes to college.  We also felt that carpet is a better choice for a bedroom.  Minnow love his “car Pot.”  He thinks it is two words with the emphasis on Pot.  Its pretty cute.  So, to make a short story longer we got carpet and before we got carpet we had to paint.  I spent a lot of time painting prior to carpet installation.  So, we can now use nearly our whole house.  It is amazing how much bigger a house feels when you add on 3 rooms you can actually use.

Then there was easter.  Minnow had his first Easter egg hunt.  Personally, I don’t know why they call them hunts.  It is really more of an Easter egg dash and boy are they fast–it must have been over in about 2 minutes–3 tops.  Minnow did okay–he got a few eggs.  He got really mad while we were waiting for the hunt to start.  He didn’t quite understand why he couldn’t go and get the eggs as we waited.  We had to hold him back by both arms and he was not happy.  He got to sit on the Easter bunny’s lap. 

We then colored Easter eggs on Saturday night.  If it were up to Minnow all of the eggs would have been brown.  He did get to make one brown egg (had to put it in all the colors). 

Minnow enjoyed Easter.  He got a basket–he had to find it.  He got tons of gifts at my Grandma’s house from my aunts and uncles and his grandpa and grandma.  It was crazy how much stuff he got–especially since his birthday party is this weekend.  I cannot believe that my little baby is going to be two.  Off to put the little one down for a nap and to try and get caught up on my school work.