A friend by any other name...

Who said internet relationships weren't real?   Today we proved that guy wrong by blazing a new trail on the road of friendship, at least in our lives, that is.  A year ago Cortney joined an online forum of mothers who share a hobby in scrapbooking.  The original board was a relatively large one, but over time some individual friendships started to emerge and a few of the other women from the board started to chat via instant messenger.  Though they are, for the most part, spread across the continent, one other woman on the board lives only two hours away, and today we got up early, packed the car, and trekked over to her house.  Sure, anything could have happened:  the kids could have fought, the husbands could have clashed, and, perhaps worst of all, the two moms could have found that, as compatible as they were across internet, they just couldn't mesh in real life.  Fortunately for us, what happened instead is that the kids loved each other, the husbands exchanged stories, and the two moms picked up in person exactly where they had left off on YIM.  While there we shared bagels and coffee before heading over to the Frederik Meijer Gardens to enjoy the beautiful Christmas displays, especially the Polar Express train exhibit, and on returning to the house the kids (including the husbands) all played while the two moms went out shopping.  The day was a complete success, and we greatly look forward to future outings of all kinds.  So, to whomever it was that thought internet relationships couldn't last, we plan on proving you wrong, too.

Happy first birthday, Calvin!

Well, it happened.  Calvin turned one.  For so long this day seemed like it was far, far away.  Even yesterday it seemed like it couldn't possibly be here, and yet it arrived.  We tried to keep his party small so that he wouldn't become overwhelmed, but he did very well and our concerns were likely unfounded.  In fact, he spent most of the party wandering around ingratiating himself to his guests, asking for food, and being generally adventursome.  He enjoyed eating dinner outside, and took his time doing it... savoring either the food or the attention, or possibly both.  Of course, the dinner was nothing compared to the cake!  For his very first cake we made him a sugar free carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (both sweetened with applejuice) and when he was presented with his own personal cupcake he poked at it for only a brief second before diving right in, trying to fit the whole thing in his mouth!  We expected some frosting mess, but he was too in love to waste any of it on such nonsense.  And though we know that the first birthday is really more about the parents and their guests, Calvin seemed to know that he was the star of the day... or maybe he just always assumes he's the star of the day, but either way it was a very successful and fun evening, and we are sad that it is behind us.  When the sun dawned today we still had a baby, but now with the official age defining party in our past, tomorrow the sun will dawn on the parents of a toddler.

You can see all of the pictures from his party in his 6/9-15 album. 

And the special today is....

We've had a special week filled with milestones and celebrations.  Monday's special was a birthday dinner at the Hillers' house.  Tuesday's special was Calvin's introduction to bananas, and to "chunks" of food.  Wednesday had several specials:  Cortney's birthday (the big 3-0 - shhhhhh);  Moose's birthday (the big 3-5, in human years, that is); Calvin learning to sit himself up; and, Calvin learning to truly crawl (Not on his tummy like in December, and not backwards like earlier this month, but forward while on hands and knees); Thursday's special was...well, Thursday actually wasn't special; but Friday?  Friday's special was (is) a celebratory work party with Jon's bosses and co-workers and Calvin's introduction to drinking water (which, by the way, he loves).  We think our downfall was Wednesday, when Calvin's friend, Liesl, came over to celebrate [Moose's] birthday and showed him how to crawl, but it was worth it because she brought with her Cortney's friends Becky and Julie who took her to lunch (a very courageous outing with three kids under the age of 14 months), and even brought a maize and blue cake, Spartans though they are.  This afternoon may have brought some reprieve, though, following a nice birthday lunch that Cortney and Calvin shared with friends Erinn and Leah, in the form of a book that doubles as a sort of play pen.  Yes, a book/play pen of sorts (thank you, Leah).  You'd have to see it to believe it so we took pictures.  It may not be sturdy enough to hold a determined child, it might be just the thing to deter a considering one.

We're going soft...

And we're not referring to the fact that we most definitely ate more than our fair share of fattening holiday goodies.  No, this is more in reference to the way we handle the cold weather.  Actually, the problem isn't so much the cold weather, but the lack thereof.  With our uncharacteristically warm winter this year we haven't even had to lift a snow shovel yet!  So when the cold weather finally hit yesterday we found ourselves shivering and bolting for indoors with temperatures just barely dipping below freezing.  That's just not right.  Now, to be fair, the wind was pretty strong and the wind chill was pretty low, but we're still disappointed in ourselves (and our lack of winter weather).

But back to that bit about eating too many goodies...we enjoyed a wonderful dinner party on Sunday night, complete with several courses of really fantastic Peruvian food.  A delicious soup, followed by two different kinds of fish, followed by beef, followed by cheesecake.  Yum.  We'd love to recommend the restaurant to you, but it's by invitation only and we were just that lucky.  Actually, it was dinner at Patty's home with her family and the Hillers, and it was a really fantastic party with good company and good food at.  Poor Calvin only got peas and squash out of the deal, and boy does he have a way of making you feel guilty when he eyes your food with those puppy dog eyes!

Happy 2007!

Wow!  2007!  And Calvin has enjoyed yet another first holiday celebration, although this one he slept through completely while we partied in the next room (at least he's a good sleeper).  We had figured we would end up ringing in the new year just the two of us with our own (sleeping) baby year - we took Steve and Rachel (who, by the way, rang in their new year as an engaged couple after a very special Christmas Eve proposal - yay, yay, yay!), but as luck would have it, someone actually wanted to spend this, the greatest party night of the year, with us boring old parental types...Andrew and Amy, our good friends from around the corner, came over for dinner, baby play, music, snacks, and the traditional dropping of the ball and champagne toast.  Good company really adds a lot to any celebratory situation, and we had a really wonderful evening - and a LOT of good food.  We are really looking forward to (and bracing ourselves for) all that this new year has in store for us (including a new tax break), and we wish all of you out there a year full of beautiful blessings.