Ezra, Darling...

I love you so, so much...

My sweet, sweet baby boy.

How we're ever going to get you through your infancy, with Felix's toddler-style lovin', is beyond me...

Eat your veggies, my dear. Grow up big and strong.

And I'll keep my back turned if you want to sneak Felix a pinch once in a while...

1,826 Days and Counting

On Friday, July 10th Brian and I marked our 5th Wedding Anniversary!!! We take turns planning the celebration, and this year it was my turn. In the afternoon we drove down to Ohio to visit my fam and snag a free babysitter. (You're the best, mom!)

I packed up nice picnic dinner in one of these jim dandies:

And we headed off for Stan Hywet, where the Ohio Shakespeare Festival was putting on As You Like It.

I've always loved this old, historic mansion. I grew up within walking/biking distance, and have many memories of visiting the house and grounds with friends and family, on field trips, and for choir performances, festivals, etc. My mom even took Brian and me there when he first visited my family for some casual engagement shots.

Good times. So it was the perfect place to return to celebrate our half-decade of matrimonial bliss.

After taking advantage of the complimentary bug spray, we found a picturesque picnic spot by the pond:

And enjoyed dinner:

Then it was time for the show.

The acting was great, and the play itself even better. Wow, Shakespeare was a total genius--the play gave me so much to think about in terms of social dynamics, gender roles, and relationships (man, I'm such a family therapist). I think every time I read or see a Shakespeare play, I appreciate the old Bard a little more.

But I appreciate my Brian even more! I'm so, so, so thankful to be married to such a sweet, funny, intelligent, hard-working, family-loving, gospel-centered, faithful, forgiving, creative, talented, cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute man! He totally meets and exceeds all of my girlie, high school lists of characteristics I hoped for in my "future husband".

Here's a list of a few reasons why I love him, just because making a list is so intrinsically fulfilling to me:

• His wacky sense of humor will keep me entertained for the rest of eternity.
• He would walk 10 miles in the heat to save 50 cents.
• He's dedicated to providing for our family through a career that is exciting and fulfilling, and won't sell himself short, even though it means sacrificing right now.
• He listens to me babble on and on when I'm in a philosophical mood. Usually. Or at least he does a good job of fake-listening.
• He plays with my hair.
• He likes jelly bellies, nerds, and mike&ikes. That's so cute.
• He plays the piano like a crazy talented jazz genius. He's got serious mad skillz.
• He wants to have infinity babies with me, and like 6 or 8 of them in this life.
• He despises clutter and disorganization, yet he holds onto school papers like he's gonna try and sell them on ebay, and scatters his clothing like a rock star--He's frugal to a degree I've never before witnessed in any human being, yet he really likes refined food and clothing. (It's our incongruences that make us interesting).
• He always drives the whole way whenever we drive anywhere, as long as I do my duties as navigatress, cheerio-and-toy-and-book-throw-at-kid-er (???), back masseuse, toll ticket holder-oner-to-er/money getter, and snack passer-overer. And English language slaughtererererer.
• He has cute little endearing idiosyncratic habits that I'll refrain from listing, 'cause then they wouldn't seem quite as idiosyncratic. (OK, just one: He wiggles his feet when he's eating something for dinner that he really likes. Ahhhhhhh! SO cute)
• He watches Simpson's on his computer so I won't know, haha :)
• He's a hopeless idealist and pretty much a perfectionist. Just like someone else I know.
• He somehow chose to marry little old me.

Sigh... I think I'm in love.

For eternity.

What Have We Been Up To Lately?

Potty training (with a best friend)

Being super cute

LOVING life!

Dropping off the growth curve... :(

(Skinny, sad baby in a truck...)

And promptly starting the Biggest Winner diet (Laura concoctions like... millet-green bean-lentil-egg yolk-yogurt-banana-brewer's yeast smoothies. [Oh baby, pour me a glass.]
Or on boring days just oatmeal-plum feasts)

"Bike wide wif Mommy"

or Daddy

Strawberry and pea picking with family and Gramma!

And eating TONS of field-fresh baby peas and berries!

Learning to sit!

Being the ideal baby

Spending some quality time with our wonderful neighbors

And loving "feniwy" :D

We've Moved!

To a charming blue house near a park. With a fenced backyard. And the world's best neighbors, who are keenly interested a Brian's job search, and in getting our kids to laugh. (I just want to add that we got a screamin' deal on this sublet due to the decreased demand in this college town in the summer for housing.)

It's a great place to be for the summer, but hopefully we'll be able to move out fairly soon when we find a job!

Felix calls it the "blue home-again" because when Grandma Polly came to visit a while ago, she would always chant, "Home again, home again, jiggity-jig" as we pulled in the parking lot".

Grab Yer Life Boat

Having your toilet explode is a sure-fire cure for mid-week boredom. Strap on your snorkle mask, Felix, we're going swimming!

OK, I'm being overly dramatic. It wasn't that bad.

It was this bad!

jk.

Truth: I went to flush the toilet and it just kept flushing. And flushing. And flushing. And there was no shut off valve thingy down by the floor where there should be such a valve thingy.

So I took off the back of the toilet to mess with some stuff. I guess I messed with the wrong stuff, cuz the next thing I knew there was a geyser shooting water all over the bathroom. It was spraying up with ferocious force to the ceiling and raining back down all over me and everything else in the bathroom. Then the water started pouring out into the hall and our bedroom. Oh man. It's like 6:05 so I have to find the number for the after-hours emergency maintenance service, which takes a little longer. Not a big deal if you jammed a sippy cup valve down your garbage disposal. It is a big deal if Lake Michigan is being siphoned into your apartment at a brisk clip.

So finally the guy arrives to shut off the toilet. (It takes him a couple of trips to his truck to find the right special tool to shut the thing off. Toilet valves are not a cute place to showcase your proprietary designs, Mr. Toilet-maker.) And we're left with a couple of inches of standing water and a bathroom that has become a family-size shower.

Luckily, Woodbury Gardens called a carpet cleaner guy and footed the bill to have our carpet ripped up and padding replaced. Felix had a blast in our apartment-turn-funhouse--climbing through the piles of furniture and running over the undulating sea of carpet, drying out for four days by six of these bad boys:

They're loud. But they're better than the alternative!

MBA Kids' Graduation

You May Call Him Master-Master Hall

The bigger one, not the two-year-old (though I'm sure Felix would like it if you deferred to him as your master as well). Hooray for Brian! On May 1st he graduated from the Ross School of Business with an MBA, and from the Music School with a MMus. Goooo, Brian!

We were so lucky to have Dave and Sharon came into town to watch Brian receive his diplomas and celebrate with us. Well, that was the excuse, but I know they mostly just wanted to see the grandbabies. :D

Brian being inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma (smarty-pants business society)

Brian Hall, MMMBA. aka Mr. Adorable (um, to me at least)

Where's Brian?

The Hall Clan

Bri, Ez, and Me.

(Felix was probably chasing a school bus or something)

Plotting out his next move...

Dad & Son :)

Thanks for coming out to visit us, Dave and Sharon! We love you a ton.

And I am so very proud of you, Brian! Some day when I'm all grown up maybe I'll get a master's degree, too.