NY and NE

A walk with my sister-in-law and nephew at a nature conservancy where we saw a bog.


Doubleday Field - home of the invention of baseball.

Ryan and Andrew with Ted Williams, Ryan's favorite Red Sox player at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

Me and the Babe, my favorite Yankees player.

Andrew and my nephew Sam feeding the chickens at the Farmer's Musuem in Cooperstown.

My niece Sonja and Andrew at the Visitor's Center on the farm owned by SUNY Oneonta where my brother is a professor of biology.

My dad, younger brother Matthias, and step mom Sybille (she is a professor at his college, Dana, thus, she was also in graduation attire), at Matthias' graduation from college in Nebraska.

My brother and his girlfriend Zuzana.

My grandparents, my brothers, my sister-in-law and the kiddos!

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We spent our vacation this year primarily spending time with my family. We flew out to Albany, NY a week ago Saturday to visit my older brother and his family. They have just relocated to Otego, NY near Oneonta, NY where my brother is beginning his tenure as a professor of biology at SUNY (State University of New York) Oneonta. He spends time teaching and continuing to do research, primarily at the lake near Cooperstown, NY. We loved seeing their new house and the area where they lived. It was very picturesque. Rolling green hills, perfect red barns and black and white cows like right out of a painting. They have a large lot and live in a very nice rural area. You could watch the neighbors Alpacas out their front picture window. It was great to catch up with my brother, his wife and their two kids. My sister-in-law is studying Chinese medicine and acupuncture. Her school work is really rigorous. Basically, it is like Medical School, but not in vein of traditional Western medicine. My niece Sonja is 7 and doing well at school and my nephew Sam is 4 and was a big hit with Andrew. Andrew continues to ask about Sam every day. Because they live so far away and we are all so busy we just don't see each other enough, but the trip was nice.

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Of course, there is always some hiccup in any vacation with us, and we all got sick toward the end of our time in NY. Andrew and I went to the Doctor upon our return and we continue to take our antibiotics.

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Then we had a one day turn around before driving to NE for Memorial Day weekend to see my younger brother graduate from college. He had a double major of History and International Studies. He graduated with honors and also received a special Community Enrichment award for beginning Nebraskans for Peace on his campus and an annual Peace Fest. But, don't ask him what his plans are now, he is going to take some time and figure that out...I think he's allowed. It was great to see a lot of family over the weekend and the weather in NE was really warm. Andrew had a great time playing really hard with his cousins. We also visited my mom and her parents and they were really happy to see Andrew again, even if just briefly.

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We had a great time over our family vacation, but home feels good too and we all slept really well last night:)

Vacation

We are heading to upstate New York for our family vacation tomorrow morning! We will post pictures upon our return.

Andrew latest news is that he can now count to 10 and say his ABCs. We are having a lot fun these days!

Easter

Thursday night I made these cupcakes for Andrew's Easter party at daycare on Friday.

Saturday we got a call that Andrew had won 3rd place in the Egg & I coloring contest. Here is his masterpiece!

He won this bunny.

Here is Andrew on Easter morning. He was very excited about his basket. He seemed a little amazed at the story of the Easter bunny coming to the house and leaving the basket. He just looked at us and said, "Easter bunny?"

He was pretty happy with the presents.

Also, on Saturday (sorry wrong order) we all colored Easter eggs. Here is Ryan helping Andrew place "cars" stickers on the eggs.

Look rainbow hands!

Our church had an indoor Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday after the service. (Which was good since it was raining and cold). Here is Andrew offering an egg he found to a smaller girl. AWWW!

Andrew and Jonathan were stylin' in their nice outfits and carrying their baskets.

Andrew and his pastel tie. He wasn't really happy about having to wear a tie, but after seeing Ryan in his tie he became convinced that it was okay.

Whew! We had a busy Easter weekend. We also got to spend time with my good friend Vickery and her mom on Saturday. We don't see them too often because they live in Cody, so that was a special treat. I hope that you all had a nice Easter weekend too!

WW

I thought I would update on my weight watchers status. I have lost 13 lbs.! My goal was only 10, so I'm feeling really great about my progress!

Ryan couldn't hang. He is still doing well by eating weight watchers approved dinners every night with me, but he wasn't willing to give up as much as I have given up. His job is really stressful and I think dieting wasn't very conducive to his schedule. But, he is going to start joining me in walking this Spring.

I have also really increased my exercise with pilates, yoga and a yoga booty class. I am feeling really good with the added exercise. It is a great stress reliever for me and good break from work. I often go to the YMCA over the lunch hour, that way it doesn't take time away from Andrew.

Adding in exercise and eating right has really been an improvement toward that life/mom/work balance.

Spring Fever

We're getting a little stir crazy these days waiting for Spring!

This is what mother nature brought us while we continue waiting for Spring! 9 inches on Saturday.

We did finally make it to Nebraska as we had planned in February. Here is Andrew telling Great-Grandma Jo to give the bear his juice.

Andrew making himself at home in Great-Grandma and Grandpa's new apartment.

Here is Andrew Patrick on St. Patrick's Day in his "Kiss Me I'm Irish" shirt, but he was in no mood for kissing that morning.

Andrew's Hat

I love my Giants cap!

Andrew's first word was hat. He had quite the love affair with them as baby, he didn't carry around a teddy bear instead he carried a baseball cap. But, since becoming a toddler he absolutely would not allow one to grace the top of his head, until now. Ryan brought out a hat that cousin Wade had bought for Andrew and tried to see if Andrew would wear it. Andrew surprised us both because he loved it! He wouldn't take it off. He wore it to bed, to play, at dinner etc. He also learned to pull it way down over his eyes so that it became necessary to cock his head to see us. Well this practice did not make it easy to discipline because we couldn't look him in the eyes. Additionally, he started to even trip occasionally. His babysitter Mrs. Kathy just couldn't take it anymore and she took the hat away. He was upset for a while and still asks me every morning for his hat. He will wear his hat again, but we are taking a break until he learns that he just can't have it 24/7.

Happy Heart Day!

COOKIES!

Andrew being such a good helper.

Well, we had expected that Andrew and I would both be in Nebraska visiting family over Valentine's day, but Andrew came down with RSV and ear infections on Wednesday, so Andrew and I stayed home. Since, we were all together we decided that making cookies would be a good activity for our sick little guy who needs to stay inside. We had fun and Andrew had plenty of that healing potion, sugar!

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Andrew is starting to feel and act better today, so we are relieved in that. He was pretty darn sick. We also don't have work on Monday, so we are looking forward to two more days of rest and relaxation at home together.