Blah Blah Blog

Paige visits

2012-01-15T21:42:00.001-05:00

Aunt Paige came to visit - to meet Asher and to help out with our transition to a working mom. It was awesome to have her here. We didn't do much do to the craziness of a first week at work, but we did hit our favorite eats including DK diner for breakfast (morning - just got out of bed hair/faces).

Check out the size of those apple fritters:

Paige worked her magic with the kids and often had a sleeping (YAY!) baby in her arms.

We finally got some snow. C was so excited that she had to put all her snow clothes on to go play in it. That lasted about 15 minutes as we gathered all the snow we could to make a snow man:

Paige is fabulous. We wish we could have her here full time but alas she has her own life...

We chose a daycare over in-home babysitter this time around for the kids for a few reasons, the biggest one is that Cadie really enjoys school and being with other kids. We really feel blessed to have a new day care open up close to us that is nut-free (big relief) and just felt right. The kids have been there one work week now (3 full days) and they are doing great. C loves her teachers and doesn't want to leave at the end of the day and Asher doesn't know any different. Drop-offs in the morning have been tough for me though. Here is C on her first day of "new school."

Work days are long - the whole family is out of the house by 7:30 and we get home around 5:30. We are ALL ready for bed shortly after. I'm in need of good dinner ideas for these days - something fast that the 4 year old will eat, and did I mention that it needs to be nut, dairy and soy free?

For the Grandparents

2012-01-12T16:35:00.001-05:00

Kid update:
Asher had his 4 month appointment this week. Stats: 26 in (80%, same as C at this age), 14 lb. 13 oz. (40%, 1 lb. 2 oz. LIGHTER than miss C at this age).

We believe he is allergic to cow's milk and soy - most of his symptoms have gone away or been reduced since I have stopped eating soy, but we have had a few bad days. Hopefully they were because of hidden milk/soy and I won't need to eliminate any other foods. He will be tested again at 12 months, we hope he will grow out of this. Still a really mellow and happy kid despite all the stomach/digestion and skin issues.
He loves sticking as many fingers in his mouth as possible. Still a good eater, not a good sleeper.

Cadie loves him to pieces which is not always a good thing, but is a great big sister. And here is what happens when miss independence gets dressed by herself. "But mom, they match! See, they all have stripes."

Christmas photos

2012-01-09T20:45:00.000-05:00

Well- I tried to get a good family photo but either they were not focused right or one of us was doing something strange. I did, however, document some real sibling love. Hope you enjoy as much as I did while I was snapping away (trying not to laugh too hard):

Lucky Thirteen!

2012-01-02T15:37:00.000-05:00

13 years! Can you believe it has taken me that long to scan in one of our wedding photos? Yes, we were married so long ago that digital pictures were not a common thing.

Married even before color photographs :) If you think we look young, you should see the pictures of my siblings in our wedding album - Paige was just a pre-teen.
I just have to say that I am one spectacularly lucky lady. Eric was and is still the man of my dreams.

Changes

2011-12-18T17:08:00.001-05:00

We had suspected it for about a month but this week got test results back that confirmed that Asher has a cow milk protein allergy. This is not lactose intolerance and is something that we think Cadie had and grew out of. Our pediatrician said that most kids grow out of this by 18 months but for at least the next 9 months I will be on a dairy-free diet. Good thing there are a lot of vegan alternatives available at the grocery store (milk, butter, cupcakes, ice cream). I will not be cooking Christmas cookies this year. Sorry neighbors. Hopefully Asher will have less stomach issues and sleep better (PLEASE). He really is a mellow dude though - except when it is time to eat:

Cadie had a Christmas performance at preschool. It was her last day as she is going to start day-care three days a week in January. We will miss Ms. Nicole and the fun kids. I'm excited for the new structure and classes she will have - yoga, music, math, reading, spanish. She loves learning new things and is really soaking up so much right now. I am nervous about the full-day aspect.

We are also saying goodbye to Ms. Irene and ballet and tap classes. Maybe we will start up again next fall but for now it is time to take a little break. I'm trying to simplify life as I think things will be a little chaotic when I start my new position in January.

I start work as an assistant professor at OSU January 3rd. I teach fluid mechanics in civil engineering right away and then I teach a forestry class in the Spring. I'll be taking on graduate students and trying to get research going quickly. This is a 3-year contract appointment (non-tenure track) and so I had the flexibility of choosing part-time. I'm excited but nervous about the kids. Wish us luck!

She's Four and More

2011-12-05T22:02:00.001-05:00

Look who is FOUR!

Birthday donuts:

We have had a busy, but happy, few weeks. I keep looking around me and wanting to freeze time, or at least freeze these little moments in my mind. Maybe it is because I know that changes are coming, I want to hold on to every little minute. On Sunday I just sat and held my sleeping baby and watched Cadie play without thinking of my lists and projects. It was awesome. Why is it so difficult to enjoy the little things?

Eric had a work trip to Kuwait (yes, seriously) and so my parents and brother Tim came out to visit and help with the kids. Eric surprised us all by coming home early -on Cadie's birthday! - and he was able to join us on our overnight trip to Kirtland (church history) and Amish country. While the family was here we had Asher blessed at our church. Here is the little man on blessing day:

We celebrated the little girl's birthday with family and it was great! At four years old Cadie is 39.9 lbs, and 44.5 inches tall. Her pediatrician said she is "off the charts" in height - above the 97th percentile. She grew 4 inches in the last year. At this rate she will be as tall as me (E) at age 9. Opa and Oma Myers and the birthday girl:

Our little cabin outside of Berlin, Ohio:

The Myers clan left before Thanksgiving so we celebrated the holiday a little early. Yum. Even greater that we were invited to a friends home for the real holiday so we got to pig out twice.

Eric in Kuwait!

Amish

2011-11-20T21:09:00.001-05:00

Too much fun!

Baby Shower

2011-11-10T21:53:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago (actually more like a month ago - time is going too quickly these days), I arrived at a friend's house for a meeting for church and instead was greeted by a SURPRISE baby shower for Asher. It was really great -except for the part that I was smelly and in my comfy clothes {read: grungy and not showered or maybe even looked in the mirror that day}. Asher got some adorable clothing and things and I got to eat loads of cookies and stay out late with my girlfriends. My amazing friend Laura did all of the decorations, she should go professional with this:

The instigator/trouble-maker, Angell, and one of her cute accomplices:

Fun night!

2011-11-06T21:53:00.001-05:00

Visit from Uncle Micah
Be prepared for an onslaught of photos. My brother Micah came out to visit us and I had to document everything. And boy did we have a busy weekend: apple picking, pumpkin patch, corn maze, car tour of our favorite places (campus, Short North, Victorian Village, German Village), Audubon center, pumpkin carving, zoo, and HALLOWEEN! Of course we had to introduce him to our favorite eats: Jeni's (ice cream), Figlio for dinner, DK Diner for donuts and breakfast. The one activity I did not photograph was the zoo but I'm not sure I want to remember this particular visit as we lost Cadie and had to call security to help find her. Yep, I'm a great parent. Here come the photos:
Corn maze, we didn't need to call security or 911 to get out.

I can carry my own!

Eric found his, or maybe that is mine that he is fetching from the far corner of the patch.

I'm strong mom, I'll carry yours too!

Maybe Micah can carry it.

Yum! 20 lbs of apples.

Spider web at Scioto Audubon Metro park.

Getting creative with the pumpkins

Scary family.

Micah made Cadie's day by bringing a costume - 3 wishes please.

It was great to have him here!

2011-11-06T21:51:00.000-05:00

Asher 2 months
Seriously don't know how this boy is already 2 months old. At 2 months he is 12 lbs 5 oz and 24 inches long. He is stretching out his 0 to 3 month clothes. Checked in Cadie's baby book to find that she was 12 lbs 10 oz and 24 in at the 2 month mark. Asher started out smaller but is closing the gap quickly. Probably because he eats ALL THE TIME. still. Love him. I can't complain, he is a pretty mellow fellow. Even with a sometimes overly doting sister.

2011-10-29T16:09:00.000-04:00

Family Photos

Thanks to Tiffany at Utopia Photography. It was a cold morning but we had sun!

2011-10-23T21:35:00.004-04:00

Sous-Chef
I've been trying to get Cadie more involved in the kitchen as dinner prep time is usually the craziest time of the day. Imagine a fussy baby (he is a pretty mellow baby but right around dinner time he usually needs to be held), a 3-yr that needs attention, and a hungry/cranky mom trying to figure out what to throw together for dinner. I enticed her the other evening to help out by asking if she wanted to "paint" our food.
Homemade pumpkin ravioli! She loved it and soon took over from just "painting" the pasta edges to putting together the entire raviolis.

She assembled about 36 all by herself!

The best part- I think because she was involved in the cooking, she gobbled her dinner down without the usual fight.

The recipe:
For the pumpkin filling, in a food processor mix:
1 can white beans (I used Great Northern)
1 cup pumpkin
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
tsp garlic powder

Spoon about 1 Tbls filling in the middle of a potsticker wrapper, "paint" egg around the edges, place a second wrapper on top and press the wrappers together around the edges.
Cook in boiling water for about 4 minutes - until raviolis float to the top. Serve warm with a pasta sauce.
Adapted from J. Seinfeld's recipe from "Doubly Delicious."
yummy!

2011-10-16T21:46:00.005-04:00

TIMBER!
One of our large trees is an Ash. Unfortunately the introduced Emerald Ash Borer, a beetle that is making its way across the East, has been found in our town and it is only a matter of a few years before all of the ash trees in town will be infected. There is no good treatment, especially for large trees. As our tree had some dead limbs already that worry me everytime we have a wind storm, we made the decision to take the entire tree out. It was a sad day but somewhat exciting. It will be nice to have a non-shady area in the yard that so that we can finally grow veggies in our own yard.
Some pictures of the action:

The tree really was large! Our neighbor remembers when the tree was planted 45ish years ago. It was probably 4 feet across at the base.

Plenty of firewood for our little fire pit!

2011-10-10T06:37:00.004-04:00

Asher 1 Month
Time flies when you are not getting any sleep...
Asher weighed 10 lbs. 5 oz at his 1 month checkup, an increase of about 2.5 lbs from birth. He is chunking up - probably because he is nursing every two hours round the clock {still!}. We celebrated by having a campfire in our backyard. Cadie has been praying for "my tent and campfire to be set up" just about every prayer she says so I guess it was time for her parents to come through for her - at least partially.

We roasted hot dogs and marshmellows. Smore anyone?

Here is a 1-month close-up of the boy. Poor kid has been dealing with a lot lately, cradle cap, baby acne, and THRUSH- yuck! Luckily, he managed to avoid Eric's cold.

2011-09-26T16:51:00.006-04:00

Lay Low
I took one picture this past week:

We took it pretty easy trying to get into a groove with a Toman family of four. We are so blessed that Eric can work mostly from home this term. He is able to help out occasionally during the day. I don't know what else to write about - my brain cells are not all firing due to sleep deprivation. I'll just add some photos from a week ago (Asher 14 days old). We were supposed to have a photographer take newborn pics but she got in a car accident the morning of and so we tried out our photography skills. I'd like to take a class one day when I have some free time.

2011-09-18T15:38:00.006-04:00

Asher Goes Out
With my mom in town we had an appropriate ratio of adults to kids (at least 2 adults are needed to handle Cadie right now) to take an outdoor excursion or two. We introduced Asher to the Columbus zoo. He was snuggled warm and cozy against me and slept the entire trip.

Some of the animals were frisky with the cooler weather but the polar bears were quite lazy.

We even had a Jack Hanna sighting!

We all really appreciated mom being around. It was especially great for Cadie who was showered with attention. It has been a rough transition for C but she is doing a lot better.

The next trip was to Lynd's fruit farm for apple picking, hay ride, funnel cakes, and other yummy goods at the market.

The fresh apples were delicious - Cadie ate three before we left!

No picture evidence, but Asher spent the trip the same way - asleep snuggled against me.
One last picture of the little guy - what a cutie!

2011-09-11T16:47:00.006-04:00

First Day of School
Due to the unexpected early arrival of Asher, the outfit Cadie had picked out for the first day of preschool was still in the laundry pile. We substituted something pink and she found an empty backpack to fill with supplies the night before.
"I think I will need some yarn at school"

All ready to go!

I'm glad that she has something she enjoys to get her out of the house this fall.
Cadie is gradually adjusting to sharing the spotlight, with a few bumps along the way. Luckily grandma flew in last week to shower her with attention and love. Cadie is also getting some one-on-one time with dad. Found a giant ant to ride!

Asher is sleeping, eating, and pooping and is already back to (more than?) birth weight. He is a little embarrassed by his pink hand-me-downs. Babies are great.

2011-09-06T21:38:00.009-04:00

It's a BOY!
Asher Fielding Toman
born 9/3/2011 6:09pm
7 lbs. 13 oz., 21.75 in.

Asher is a biblical name that we liked (Jacob's 8th son) and means "happy, blessed" and Fielding is a family name. It took us a while to finally settle on the name but it seems to fit him well so far.

The story:
Asher's due date was 9/11 and we were not expecting a baby for at least another week as Cadie had to be induced at 42 weeks. Needless to say we were not quite prepared when my water broke at 1:00am Saturday 9/3 morning. I found Eric downstairs watching US vs Costa Rica men's soccer. And his response, "well I guess this is why I couldn't sleep." Our night-time emergency person was out of town for the weekend and so we called an awesome neighbor to come stay at our house with Cadie until morning. We got to the hospital around 3:30am and basically waited around until Saturday afternoon for contractions to become more significant. Me in the L&D room at 7:30am trying to pass the time:

Luckily we had the crazy football fans to watch out the window and plenty of football on TV to watch. This is the view out of our room - that is the football stadium with the Goodyear blimp circling overhead. Glad we arrived at the hospital before game day traffic. (for those of you not fooball inclined - the horseshoe, OSU's stadium, seats 105,000 people and Saturday was the season opener vs Akron. OSU fans are crazy.)

At 3:00pm we made the decision to start pitocen to induce labor as I was still not very far along. This took about an hour to kick in and then boy did it ever! Hard labor lasted about 2 hours and I was so grateful to have Eric there to lean on (literally as he totally supported my standing body) and to coach me through it. Progression was so quick that no one was ready when Asher wanted to come out. My nurse-midwife did not make it in time and Asher was delivered by the resident MD. Ask Eric to tell you a funny story (funny now but not at the time) of our nurse throwing her phone across the room as she was trying to call someone (anyone!) to help.
Cadie spent Saturday and Saturday night with two neighbor families - going to soccer practice, farmer's market, and the pool. She thought she was on vacation. Eric chose to spend the night at the hospital with me.

Cadie came to meet little brother and gave him tons of love (even though he is a boy):

She made a picture to hang in his bassinet.

We are still getting used to having Asher here, there is definitely going to be an adjustment period, but I think we make a nice little family.

2011-08-29T21:39:00.006-04:00

Summer Still
Still feels like summer around here, especially with an internal heater. Cadie hasn't started preschool yet and the pool is still open. However, the neighborhood kids are back in school and before they went back we had our annual block party. Complete with silly string, shaving cream, and water balloon fight, and a visit from a firetruck, ambulance, and motorcycle policeman. Here is Cadie after getting her "ticket" from the policeman for wearing her bike helmet - a ticket for free ice cream cone.

All the kids lined up for the frozen T-shirt contest.

The day wouldn't be complete without face-painting. Meow.

We met friends at a new splash park downtown - it was only a 7 minute drive away. We will definitely be back.

One last picture and note - we said goodbye to our beloved Subaru last week. It just was not going to work with 2 car seats, a dog, and Eric's legs. We don't have a replacement yet but it won't be anything nearly as cool. I guess it is time to grow up. Tear.

2011-08-11T21:38:00.006-04:00

Kirtland, Ohio
Both Eric and I had ancestors come through Ohio in the mid-1800's, traveling by boat on the Erie canal and landing near Cleveland. His eventually followed the Oregon trail to Idaho and Oregon and mine moved with the Mormon pioneers to Utah. My extended family has a reunion every two years for some of these ancestors and this year the reunion was in Kirtland. It is only 2.5 hours from us so we decided to join. We didn't know anyone there but it was still fun to learn about these ancestors and what they did in Kirtland.
Cadie and Eric learning how to chisel rock at an old limestone quarry.

A really cool water-powered saw mill:

The extended family worked on service projects at an old historic farm, including planting lilac bushes that were taken as trimmings from our great... grandmother's plant dating back to the 1850's.

We were able to attend church services in the Kirtland Temple. This beautiful building is 175 years old and was originally built by the Mormons in Kirtland. It is now owned by another church that conducts tours but it was really special that our extended family received permission to hold meetings inside.

During non-reunion time we wanted to check out Lake Erie. Did you know that Lake Erie has some pretty great beaches? I did not. Too bad we didn't have our swim suits handy. This place deserves another visit in the future. When I am less large. Especially since we found an awesome burger/dawg/ice cream place nearby.

On the way home we took a little time to explore Cuyahoga Valley National Park and found a... drum roll please...
SKI RESORT!

This is what a ski resort looks like in Ohio and yes that is the entire park.
Well - we will have to visit Cuyahoga again but probably not with skis (unless they are cross-country). There are hundreds of miles of bike trails and a passenger train that goes through up to Cleveland. All in all a great extended weekend.

2011-07-11T21:25:00.012-04:00

Recent Activities
This summer so far has revolved around daily swim lessons - which usually means staying at the pool all morning and then long (and much needed by all) afternoon naps but we have managed to fit in a few other fun things.
Alum Creek beach with neighbors, this is our little mermaid:

Music and crazies at COMFEST (incidently had a pretty great kid's music stage):

Watching the Tour de Grandview professional bike race: 30-some laps of a mile-long circut around our little town:

We tried camping out in the backyard but it was too hot and the kid was still bouncing off the walls at 11:00pm...

Water fun in the backyard with neighbors and playgroup:

And of course the 4th of July parade and multiple celebrations that included water fights and a hula-hoop contest. C did great with the fireworks this year, a welcome change from last year.

Now for a sneak-peak at the adventures Eric has been experiencing:

2011-06-26T17:34:00.006-04:00

Hair today, gone tomorrow
My sister Paige is visiting us - that means lots of at home spa days!
Pedicures are my favorite right now - especially since my feet have started swelling...

I finally had 8+ inches of non-bleached hair and so I asked Paige to cut off enough to donate.
Before:

Piggies:

The cut:

The skinny little 9" ponies, the donation site said that it takes hair from 6 donors to make one wig. I'm guessing it would take more than that if everyone had my fine hair.

The final look:

Cadie does not like my new do but she has been getting plenty of attention as well. She has been asking for braid "crowns" every morning. I would strongly recommend having a cosmetologist/aesthetician in your family.

2011-06-19T17:26:00.004-04:00

Swimming and Strawberries
How many strawberries can you eat before you turn into one? Cadie is on her way to finding out. We joined some friends (and brought along neighbor Kelsey) at a strawberry farm and took home 7 lbs. of fresh strawberries and full bellies (from both berries and the shortcake we had at the market afterwards). The grocery store ads just came out and strawberries are cheaper at the store this week than they were at the farm. Well, the experience is worth something right?

Cadie started swim lessons this week which meant that we were at the pool everyday - hurray! Although we had some chilly mornings - sometimes Cadie would stay wrapped up in towels for a while after lessons before she would get back in. I'm doing my best beached whale imitation but when I get up the nerve to get in, the water sure feels nice!

2011-06-19T17:23:00.002-04:00

Recital Video
You need to follow this link to view the video on youtube (limited access viewing). I'll take it off in about a week.

2011-06-12T23:22:00.007-04:00

Recital
I know I am totally hormonal right now but I could not stop the leaking eyes today as my baby got on stage today for her ballet recital. She walked right up to the front center of the stage and started twisting and shaking her tutu for the audience while Miss. Irene lined up all of the girls across the stage.

Strike a pose: Cadie and Annalise after the recital.

The video is rather lengthy but I'm trying to find a secure way to post it for grandparents and other close friends to watch. I'll post a link soon. Too adorable - grab your hankies!

2011-06-09T21:49:00.008-04:00

Indiana and Wisconsin
We found a gem - only 5 hours from us are the shores of Lake Michigan. Fine sandy beaches, dunes, freshwater as far as you can see with small waves (although Eric has done some research on surfing the lakes during windy, large-wave weather). Gorgeous! Friends have been telling us about this but it was hard to believe without seeing it in person.

Eric had a conference in Madison, Wisconsin and so we made a road trip out of it. We spent a night in Indiana near lake Michigan and spent some time enjoying the beach. I loved the grasses and sedges growing in the dunes.

Cadie loved running/tumbling down the dunes - I wish I had taken video! We are still finding sand in her hair.

Then on to Madison, our hotel on the campus of UW with views of Lake Mendota. There were plenty of things to do while Eric was in meetings.
Children's museum:

Geology museum with dinosaur bones and a black-light room full of rocks that glowed. The zoo would have been a bigger hit if it was not 96 degrees and humid but the herpetology building was pretty cool - Cadie was fascinated with the amphibs that were shedding their skin. I thought the baby lion was adorable.

One highlight was unexpectedly joining a protest at the capital. Long story short - we stepped out of a museum and onto capital square just in time for the protest. A lady approached Cadie with a bucket of sidewalk chalk, and now amidst the calls for a recall and other choice sayings, Gov. Walker will find a few spiders and sunshines (hard to distinguish between the two) on the sidewalks in front of the capital.

All in all, a good trip. We will definitely go back to Lake Michigan and Madison is a nice place, how about having this as a commons area on campus:

2011-05-27T21:39:00.004-04:00

Friends and Fun
We had a visit from friend McKade and his family!

Cadie was in heaven to have a friend sleepover. She really wanted to give up her bed and sleep on the floor somewhere. I'm not sure where this idea came from - maybe from a library book we have? Kade's family were here during tornado weather so we chose to have fun at an indoor play area with more friends.

Downtown Columbus recently tore down an old shopping mall and created a green space park. As part of the opening celebrations they had a Friday fun day for kids. Cadie rode the carousel three times.

Her version of cornhole:

Future enginerd:

2011-05-11T20:38:00.000-04:00

Warm Weather Excitement
We have tried to take advantage of any non-rainy moment we can get outside.
Success: crew game.

Success: elephants in the neighborhood. The circus elephants were dropped off the train and marched down the street to the downtown arena.
Waiting at the tracks with the paparazzi.

The little one:

Success: some gardening and lots of mud pies

Wet but still fun: Slate Run Historic Farm for sheep shearing the 1860's way

Success: Happy birthday! (29 again)

2011-04-24T21:14:00.001-04:00

Happy Easter!

2011-04-22T14:18:00.006-04:00

Happy Earth Day!
This is more of a journaling entry - I wanted to remember our day.
For work, I helped plan a tree planting/river restoration project that will take place at the end of the month, however, I wanted to get outside today to do something to celebrate Earth day. So Cadie and I braved the drizzle to visit the Wetlands Research Park on campus and take part in a "wild-egg" hunt. This was not the normal egg-hunt with 200 kids on the edges of a soccer field waiting to pounce on the egg-strewn field. We were shown pictures of the birds that visit the wetlands and told that the birds had left 92 eggs throughout the (52 acre!) park and that we should try to find them along with Olga the sneaky muskrat (stuffed animal) who was hiding. Kids under age 5 could look around a smaller pond area and the bigger kids had free rein on the remainder of the park but most of the eggs were around the trails and large ponds. Cadie and I started walking around the little kid pond and somehow all of the other little kids went around the pond in the other direction. Without competition, needless to say, in about 10 minutes she had found about as many bright eggs.
Pink one in the trees!

Easier find in the grass:

Not wanting to be an egg-hog, I recommended going for a walk and looking for Olga the muskrat. We were having a great time - we saw lots of birds, found holes "Olga's home?", and climbed a tower to an observation point. Then we found it. Not Olga, unfortunately, but a dead muskrat. Right in the middle of the trail. I saw it first but realized I couldn't do much to stop Cadie from seeing it. After I explained that, no, this was not Olga, we had quite the conversation. In fact the entire walk back to the education center was devoted to answering the question "Why did the muskrat die, Mommy?" It was sweet in a way to realize that her 3-yr old mind couldn't process death. Back at the center we opened our eggs to find pictures of birds that we then matched to a poster and found out what prize each egg gave us. Cadie came home with bird food, wildflower seeds, earth day buttons, a pencil, and a huge African violet!
Back at home with her loot:

Well, the dead muskrat wouldn't leave her mind. She even asked one of the organizers why the muskrat died and this conversation continued on the ride home. Finally, after talking about sickness being a possible cause she was silent for a while. And then, "Mom, I'm going to be a muskrat doctor and fix sick muskrats in my home with my doctor tools." You go girl.

2011-04-18T13:23:00.002-04:00

Veggies we love you
We worked in our community garden plot this morning. It was good to work in the dirt and I am really excited about the overall garden plan. Cadie asked if we were going to grow garden burgers. She is enjoying gardening much more than last year. Especially digging, making mud, and finding worms. This morning we found a little snake curled up in the straw. I definitely asked another gardener if there are poisonous snakes in the area before moving it with a shovel to the grass. I don't mind most of the critters that visit the garden but this year we put up a small fence around the area for our greens. Last year the rabbits ate all of our chard before I could get to it.

2011-04-03T21:17:00.014-04:00

Hawaii Miracle
Hawaii was so great and we did so much, I can't possibly cover everything so I will try a top 10 list.
The top 10 awesomest things about Spring Break in Hawaii:
10. Being with friends. Actually this should be at the top but I had to introduce it early so I could post pictures with these great people. We stayed at McA's in Mililani on Oahu. We have been friends with Ted and Cindy since before we were all married. Since then we have followed each other across the country from Logan (UT) to Corvallis (OR) to Silver Spring (MD). I guess this means our next move will be to Hawaii? They have crazy 7-yr old Kai. Mutual friends Matt and Christina flew in from Colorado to join us.

9. Visiting with sea turtles.

8. Lots of fresh fruit and ono grinds (good eats). Here we are eating pineapple soft serve at the Dole plantation.

7. Watching all the extreme activities. Surfers on the big waves at the North Shore, sky-divers, boogie boarders, kite boarders, and wind surfers all catching big air and doing crazy stunts.

6. Trying out new sports. Eric rode the boogie board on the calmer waters and Ted, Eric, and Matt went spear-fishing.

5. Exploring new places. Byodo-In Temple, Bishop Museum, Contemporary Art Conservatory. Here is Cadie ringing the big peace bell at the Byodo-In Temple (Buddhist).

4. Sunset cruise and whale watching trip. Humpback whales breaching everywhere! Cadie trying out the view from the Ted seat:

3. Snorkeling and swimming with amazing fish larger than Cadie. (no pictures of the actual fish but here we are at Hanauma Bay).

2. Sitting on the beach everyday. Sun, sand, water. What more could we want? Cadie would wake up in the morning and say, "let's go to Hawaii" meaning: "let's go to the beach!"

And finally... drum roll please... for those who have stuck through this whole post, here is the Hawaii miracle, the #1 most awesome thing about our Hawaii trip:
1. (Sorry for the graphic nature of this one) E not vomiting! No trips at all hours to the bathroom, no dehydration, no IV fluids needed! Totally a miracle as this was my life for the 8 weeks leading up to our trip. I'll admit that the week before Hawaii things were improving but I did not expect this. Yes, I'm pregnant! Due date 9/11.

2011-03-25T16:25:00.005-04:00

Hawaii - pictures now, talk later
It seems a little weird to follow up the last icey post with pictures at the beach but that is about how it went. We left Columbus with new snow on the ground on the morning of the Japan tsunami, spent nearly two weeks in paradise with lows reaching 68 and highs of 83, and then came home to barely above freezing highs and a broken furnace. I want to go back! Details to follow...

2011-03-01T14:14:00.004-05:00

Winter Blahs
I've been in hibernation this winter. The ice and cold had me a bit blue and not wanting to leave the house. Today's sunshine and the promise of an upcoming warm vacation has gone a long way to improve my attitude. Gratefully, we've had friends and family with fun invitations to convince us to get out.
In January we went on a shortened version on the Hocking Hills Winter Hike with friends and about 5000 other crazies. The normal version is a 6 mile snow trek in the forest past waterfalls and caves with a lunch stop along the way- free bean soup and corn bread. Our version was a leisurely walk around Old Man's Cave with plenty of stopping for pictures and fun and an awesome lunch at a BBQ joint on the way home. And of course Cadie's highlight: riding the school bus that was shuttling people from the parking lots to the hike start. The frozen waterfalls were spectacular and it was great to be in the woods.

In February my brother came to the air force base in Dayton for a week. We were able to head over one evening after work and have dinner with him. Cadie convinced him to play the arcade games with her and now wants us to save all of our quarters for Micah's next visit.

Here's to warmer weather and more happy sunshine.

2011-02-14T09:16:00.003-05:00

Laundry
I need an intervention. My laundry pile has now backed all the way up the laundry chute to the first floor.

2010-12-12T22:32:00.005-05:00

Trains, Gingerbread, and Snow
We went to a faculty member's home for a holiday party and there were a zillion trains set up in the house - most of them kid-friendly for grandchildren. There was even a train in the basement that Cadie could ride! She was in heaven - best work party ever in her view. This prompted us to head to the downtown library on Saturday where there is a train set up for the holidays - we hit the library just in time for a train story time.

Last week we had playgroup over to make gingerbread houses (out of graham crackers). The houses were totally for the adults, the kids just wanted to sneak candies and then go back to playing.

We finally got some snow on the ground last week (lots more today). Cadie was so excited when she woke up - she wanted to make snow angels. I had been explaining the concept and we had been practicing on the carpet indoors so I couldn't let her down. We pulled on all of our snow gear to go roll around in the lightly dusted grass. Snow angels were ok, the snowman did not work out. But C was happy. There is supposed to be a few inches on the ground tomorrow morning, so I think we'll go for round two.

2010-11-27T13:52:00.006-05:00

Turkey with the Eric(k)s
Turkey Trot time! I ran the 5-miler this year and finished fast enough to get a pumpkin pie (given to the first 1000 men and 1000 women finishers). Anything for pie!
Cadie ran the tot trot and unlike last year, she really enjoyed it (no sitting down in the middle of the road in tears as soon as the horn went off). She especially loved jumping in the puddles with Dad while waiting for mom to finish the race.

We headed to Cincinnati for Thanksgiving with Summer and Erik, friends from Brighton High. They had other friends over as well and that husband was also an Eric! Poor Gunnar (age 9) was the only male not named Eric and he had 6 little girls following him around. Eric T spent some quality time with him on the Nintendo 64.

We chopped down our Christmas tree at a local tree farm. Cadie loved a little tree a little too much and got a scraped face.
Luckily there was a farm cat to make things better.

This girl can not get enough of cats. Notice the kitty hat (with it's own sunglasses), and the hello kitty gloves. Unfortunately she, as well as both Eric and I, are allergic so she's stuck with boring old Molly-dog.
Carrying the final choice back to the car.

2010-11-16T22:15:00.008-05:00

A Birthday Post
Kitty cat birthday party! Cadie turns 3!
There were strawberry mice:

Kitty cupcakes:

And lots of kittens:

With all eyes on her, Cadie refused to blow out the candles. We'll have to practice that one.

And someone, who will soon have her home toilet-papered, gave Cadie makeup (just you wait until W's b-day!).

Please, don't grow up any more sweet Cadie.

2010-10-31T22:43:00.002-04:00

The Halloween Post
I spent some serious time preparing for Halloween this year and then didn't document much at all. Here is Cadie the dragon and Eric the black knight, "none shall pass."

We won the family costume contest at our community Halloween party! $25 in an account at the local credit union. AND a way cool plaque that Cadie has been carrying around:

Next year I'm sticking to store-bought outfits.
We had 256 goblins, ghouls, and cheerleaders (next-door neighbor's scientific count) show up for treats within the 2 hour designated "beggar's night". A little crazy but fun. I may post more pictures if I can scrounge any from friends who were more organized than myself.

2010-10-09T21:45:00.003-04:00

As promised
I had a hard time getting this video to post - finally had to downsize it but hopefully you can tell which ballerina is Cadie (the one who wouldn't take her jacket off).

She is also taking tap lessons because a) her friend Kelsey is in the class, b) the shoes are really cool and make lots of noise, and c) it didn't cost anything extra! Ballet and Tap are back-to-back and it is a struggle to keep her in line for the full hour but Ms. Irene does a great job.

2010-10-03T14:31:00.005-04:00

Camping: Wayne National Forest
We found an awesome campground near Burr Oak Reservoir and enjoyed a short stay in the Wayne National Forest. We cut the trip short due to forecast of heavy rain and cold temps but will be on the watch for a warm and dry weekend soon to make a repeat visit - anyone want to join us?

Cadie was so excited to sleep in her sleeping bag (thanks Micah!).

We woke up to lots of fog and chilly temps but before lunch it had burned off and we enjoyed a sunny day.

Molly dog at 11 years old is starting to slow down but she still had to try to fetch anything that was thrown in the water. Cadie soon figured out that even rocks would get Molly jumping around in the water and we finally had to separate the two of them for the health and safety of both.

2010-09-30T14:36:00.002-04:00

Kitchen Remodel
Before:

After:

Don't look too closely at the paint job - but I'm pretty happy with what a few cans of spray paint can produce. [Buckeye coloring was not intentional - C wanted red and I wanted stainless, with granite countertops].

2010-09-23T22:12:00.005-04:00

Ballet!
More of higher quality to come... I will definitely take a real video camera to the next class. Little girl ballet class has replaced the baby panda as my ideal of "adorable!"

2010-09-12T21:34:00.006-04:00

Cincinnati
We spent the weekend in Cinci visiting my high school buds Summer and Erik and their 3 cute kids. First stop: Newport Aquarium (Newport, Kentucky! not to be confused with the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon).
The shark tanks were awesome but my favorite was a huge octopus that was getting fed and enjoying a head/body rub from an aquarium employee.

We all went to a Red's game Saturday night. The stadium was amazing and the fans were really feeling it. The kids and their dance moves were featured on the jumbotron so our evening was fufilled.

2010-09-06T21:59:00.009-04:00

Block Party!
We have awesome neighbors. Every fall they close off the road for a block and have an all day party with kids running crazy and adults hanging out in front lawns and the middle of the road. There are about 20 houses involved. This year we even had a bounce house (five steps from our front porch -lucky us!).
I'm not sure what got crazier - the water ballon/silly string/shaving cream war that the older kids planned or the after-party "bar" on lawn of the house across the street from us (we could hear that one going well into the wee morning hours).

One neighbor, firefighter Jason, brought in a city fire truck for the kids to climb in and opened a hydrant to spray off the shaving-creamed kids.

Eric learned the ins and outs of "cornhole." (A midwest tradition that I am going to have to do a separate post about.)

And Cadie was content to be driven around by the cute boys.

It wouldn't be a block party without a pot-luck dinner and a pinata.

AWESOME!

2010-09-02T22:06:00.007-04:00

End of Summer?
When C woke up from nap today it was 90 and humid so we headed to the pool. This is likely the last pool day as it closes on Monday. Boo Hoo. I'm getting excited about fall but wish the summer could last a little longer.

The neighborhood kids are back in school. We woke up on the first day of school and one of the neighbors had left back-to-school messages for all of the kids.

2010-08-15T21:17:00.004-04:00

Yellowstone!
Highlights include:
Golf with Uncle Micah (staying in a cabin on a golf course),

Rockband with Grandma busting out Bon Jovi,

Hiking around the geysers and waiting for old faithful (nearly not faithful that day),

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, making our way down over 300 rickety stairs on the side of a cliff,

Splashing in the rivers - getting wet!,

Meeting and playing with Grandpa Ed and Grandma Rene,

Hanging with family,

And, of course, the wildlife.

2010-07-23T21:56:00.003-04:00

Keeping Busy/Wet
With the hot and humid summer we have looked for new ways to have fun and stay cool. On many days this means heading to the pool, sometimes with a buddy (next door bff Kelsey).

Homestead park has a "toddler farm" area with spigots, showers, and a cow to milk. Cadie and playgroup girlfriends enjoyed the showers:

We've also found new fountains. Easton mall not only had these fountains but the zoo (did you know that Jack Hanna IS the Columbus zoo?) brings baby animals every Monday for kids to touch and see. We got to see a baby fox, alligator, armadillo, rabbit, tortoise, and flamingo. Kelsey and Cadie braving the shooting water:

Just because we are in Ohio doesn't mean we don't have beaches (hah). Alum Creek State Park is great (minus the goose poop). I need to get a life jacket on this kid though - she has become fearless in the water.

Tomorrow we are expecting a high of 94 with 80%+ humidity. If you haven't experienced this - it is basically the conditions of a steam room but with the addition of direct sunlight. Pool anyone?

2010-07-16T22:08:00.003-04:00

Ohio vs. Oregon, RAIN
When people in Ohio hear we lived in Oregon they usually ask about the rain. An interesting fact is that Columbus Ohio and Corvallis Oregon, on average, receive the same amount of rainfall each year (~37 inches). The difference is that Corvallis gets most of it between November and May in a drip-like fashion while Columbus has summer thunder storms that are short and deliver a lot of water. In a single summer afternoon storm we (Columbus) can get the same amount of precipitation that will come in a 3 or 4 day Corvallis winter storm.
Cadie woke up from nap and immediately put her swimming suit on to go to the pool - unfortunately a large storm came in while she was changing and we went from sunny to downpour. Well? Why not enjoy the water? The alley hosted a flash-flood river, perfect for splashing and riding a bike.

(Note to Pac-NW friends who were like me before moving here and don't realize that it can be rainy and warm, it was in the 80s - I was not freezing my child)

2010-07-09T15:14:00.006-04:00

Oregon
Here are pictures of some of our favorite people and favorite places that we were able to see during our recent trip to Oregon. I have a few hundred more pictures where these came from. We had an awesome time and wish we could have stayed longer (especially at the coast with the cool temps - coming home to the heat and humidity has been killer). Cadie especially liked the giant sandbox at the ocean and having friends around all the time to cater to her every whim. I loved just sitting around talking to friends (and family) - this usually involved food. What could be better? I wish I could bottle you all up and take you home with me.

Although many things in Oregon are still the same there were a few changes that tug on my heart. The difficult things that some of our friends are experiencing and the strength and courage that they exemplify makes me want to be a better person and make the most out of every moment. This reminds me of a quote from a horrible (but strangly good) movie, Harold and Maude. Also quoted recently by my friend at her husband's funeral:
Maude: "A lot of people enjoy being dead. But they are not dead, really. They're just backing away from life. Reach out. Take a chance. Get hurt even. But play as well as you can. Go team, go! Give me an L. Give me an I. Give me a V. Give me an E. L-I-V-E. LIVE! Otherwise, you got nothing to talk about in the locker room."

2010-05-31T21:21:00.002-04:00

One more picture...

2010-05-31T20:57:00.003-04:00

Summer, here we come
Visit from out-of-town friends, parade, gardening, grilling, Grandview Hop, church, naps, bike ride, COSI (science museum), and a Clipper's double-header. Unfortunately a church breakfast was rained out and it was NOT dime-a-dog night at the ball park or this weekend might have been in danger of exploding from awesomeness.
A great way to start the summer if I can just keep my head in the game for one more week of classes.

Cadie wanted to know where the Clipper's Parrot, Krash, was at every moment but when we finally got up close she wasn't so excited.

2010-05-17T15:39:00.005-04:00

Oddities
Elephants in our neighborhood (really!) on their way to the circus downtown.
The climbing gear finally getting some use - Eric fixing roof damage from pesky racoons. Finally, we always know what season it is or what holiday is coming up based on the costumes on our neighbors geese. Can't wait for the pool to open!

2010-05-10T22:20:00.003-04:00

Ohiopyle, PA and Fallingwater

More to come, but after an awesome weekend with a self-imposed computer ban, I need to write 2 exams and figure out a few lectures.

2010-04-15T21:55:00.002-04:00

Car Rides

We have spent a lot of time in the car recently - a spring break to Amish country (planned) and a weekend trip to DC (unplanned). Cadie seems to enjoy going places as evidenced by the full tantrum she threw when we pulled into the garage this evening. "No Cadie's home!"

2010-04-02T15:43:00.003-04:00

With a little help from my friends
My camera's memory card is full and rather than organize, download, and delete I'm ignoring the problem and relying on friends to take photos for me. Here are some recent great ones:
Playgroup at the park this week with 80 degree weather (from friend Amber):

Out to dinner a few weeks ago with freezing weather: Cadie wishing for warmer weather with her swim suit on top of her clothes (from sister Paige):

I'm teaching 2 classes this term and unfortunately they are on opposite days so I am on campus every afternoon M-F. The great thing about this term is that both Eric and I are only teaching classes that we have already taught - things are so much easier the second time around. We just finished week 1 but the stress level around our home is much lower than last term.
C's vocab is growing exponentially (finally!). I love the funny things that come out of her mouth. Today: (while inspecting her straight arm) "Mom, where elbow go?" and then bending her arm to get a better look: "Oh - hi elbow!"

2010-03-21T21:42:00.003-04:00

Spring and Such

This isn't the greatest photo but I don't want to look at the snow pictures anymore. Something happened in Columbus a couple of week ago and we went from freezing weather to flowers. I don't ever want to go back. Ok maybe next year but right now I'm trying to soak up the rays any chance I get.
This week is spring break but not really, next week the maddness begins anew. Eric and I are spending the week in preparation for next term.
On a happy note, we signed up for a community garden plot again and have been planning our veggies. Yum yum. I love summer.

2010-02-14T19:26:00.005-05:00

Snow and Such
We had to play in the snow at first while it was all new and pretty but now I just want it gone. In the meantime, we've tried to come up with creative indoor activities.
Here is my snow angel - notice the corduroy pants and rain boots. I avoided buying snow clothes for Cadie this year in hopes that we wouldn't need them.

I love this picture, Cadie and Eric wearing their baby carriers.

Eric and I went to the Columbus Blue Jackets game Friday night. It was my first professional hockey game. There were some similarities to the high school and college (USU) games that I've been to - mainly the exact same music was still blasted and the occasional punches were thrown. Overall the Blue Jackets were much more exciting to watch especially with a goal at the first 22 seconds and two more within 3 minutes. One weird thing (to me at least) was the man playing the organ. I expected Brewmeister Smith to pop out somewhere.

2010-02-02T11:54:00.002-05:00

Last night's bedtime stall tactic

After all the kisses, hugs, songs, stories, etc. as I was walking out of her room:
CADIE: Mama?
E: Yes?
C: Dee-dee baby bum?
E: Yes, Cadie you have a little bum.
C: Mama whoa bum?
E: Thank you, Cadie, yes I have a big bum.
C: night-night mama.

I think this came from a bathroom conversation earlier when I was explaining that she needed to sit on the kiddy insert for the toilet or she might fall through...

2010-02-01T21:40:00.004-05:00

Goings on
We have kept ourselves busy lately. Eric and I are both teaching this term and my sister Paige has moved in with us to help watch Cadie. This little girl has grown up so much in the past few months. It seems she learns something new each day. My recent favorite: I asked her to hold my hand as we walked through a parking lot and she replied "Cadie's self," and held her own hand as we walked.

2009-11-29T20:47:00.004-05:00

Thankful
Thanksgiving is such a great holiday. We spent a great weekend together and were able to focus on the things that we are most thankful for. (Family, Friends, Food, Fun!)
Started off with the Turkey Trot and Tot Trot. Cadie was excited to run the 100 yard tot trot and practiced running beforehand but as soon as the air horn went off and kids were running en masse she sat down in the middle of the road and needed to be carried. She was very pleased with her finisher's medal, however.
Eric had better luck with the turkey trot - he met his goal of being one of the first 1000 men to cross the finish line (there were close to 5000 participants!) and qualify for a free pumpkin pie!
We ate a large and yummy Thanksgiving dinner with friends Jeremy and Liz and Cadie was able to chase their cat around all night and wrestle with Baxter. We found a tree farm not too far outside of town and cut a Christmas tree. Cadie had a great time chasing the cats...

2009-11-18T16:22:00.003-05:00

Birthday on the Toman Farm
We had a crazy kid party to celebrate Cadie's b-day. We wanted to keep it small but with with parents and siblings we packed in 30 people (including newborns). We had a farm theme and I'll spare all the details but here are the cute cupcakes.

Cadie was so excited to have her favorite people in the same place together. Every time I saw her she was dragging someone new around by the hand. When everyone left she totally crashed, here she is in the collapsed tent gripping her balloons.

It took a few days to decompress from the craziness so for her actual birthday we were pretty mellow. I had to go into campus and so Cadie and Eric got to hang out. We made Cadie's day by riding the campus bus - seriously this smile didn't leave the entire time we were riding.

2009-11-16T14:12:00.003-05:00

She's 2! "Deedee two!"
[Cadie about to take a worm that she dug up down the slide with her and then push it on the swing]

Happy birthday my sweet girl.

2009-11-08T20:24:00.004-05:00

Great Weather and Good Friends
I think I have said this before but I love all of the hardwood trees here in Ohio and all the color! We have been spending as much time as possible outside. This week the spectacular weather made it even better to enjoy the outdoors. Someday I will take a basic photography class and learn how to take amazing pictures but in the meantime my photos may have either great colors in the background or good detail up close but probably not both.

My good friend and advisor from Oregon State, Arne, was in Ann Arbor Michigan for the weekend. Cadie wasn't feeling great so I drove up (about 3.5 hours) on my own to meet Arne and his family for dinner. I was able to hang out with my friend Amy from high school as well - I was planning on staying at her home but her family was wiped out with a flu so I ended up crashing at Amy's sister's home. It was so fun to see everyone and nice to be on my own for a night. This was the first time that I have ever been away from Cadie a full 24 hours! Between caring for sick kids and husband Amy still managed to make me a fine apple crisp and peach french toast. YUM.

I drove home just in time to attend the "rally in the ally" on the next block. Our neighbors invited us to their block party where they had closed off the ally, rented a bounce house for the kids, pulled out a big screen with the OSU game for the adults, and were grilling up some grub. We have really great neighbors!

2009-11-01T21:26:00.005-05:00

Halloween Adventures
We have had a week+ of dressing up crazy and eating lots of junk. "Beggar's night" on our street was my favorite although we don't have many pictures. Friends Liz, Jeremy and Baxter (tigger) came over for dinner and joined us out on the front porch with all of the rest of the neighborhood (plus some!). Liz is faculty in public health and was a sick person "should have got my flu shot!" We had over 200 kids at our home in 2 hours and nearly ran out of candy. Luckily Read's stopped by with a cute princess and pea pod and some backup candy.

Cadie actually had 2 costumes and wanted to be a lion for playgroup.

And the full Toman getup:

2009-10-19T21:54:00.004-04:00

Unplugged
We took an extended weekend trip to explore a little bit of Northern Ohio. The area was beautiful! There are so many different hardwood species around here and the autumn colors are gorgeous.
We started off in Kirtland Ohio, a small town with historical significance for our church. Here is a picture in front of a home that my great-great-great-grandfather (got that?) lived in during the 1830's. Crazy that it is still a home!

Then we headed to Holmes County - Amish capital. We stayed at a B&B and definitely need to head back again. We took a buggy ride, toured a cheese factory, ate lots of good food, and shopped for furniture. My favorite part (besides the buggy ride) was sitting out on the porch watching and listening to the buggies go up and down the road. I could seriously adapt to the Amish way of life - horse and bike transportation, no TV or internet, and living local.

On the way home we passed the Longaberger Basket building. Yes this is a functioning office building. Sorry for the quality of the picture, Cadie was cranky in the car and we were not stopping.

2009-10-13T21:04:00.005-04:00

Fun!
Enjoying crisp weather at the park

Friends over for playschool (learning about eyes and ears).

2009-10-07T20:11:00.003-04:00

Camping
Our next-door neighbors invited us to their family tree farm an hour south of Columbus to join 70ish of their other best friends for a night of fun and camping. I'm ashamed to say that this was Cadie's first experience in a tent. But happy to report that she slept well - better than her mom who was awake checking on her every hour. The 20+ baby kittens were a hit as was the pumpkin carving and running around crazy with her BFF Kelsey. Now that we pulled off one night in a tent we are trying to squeeze in another adventure before the weather turns really cold.

2009-09-25T21:46:00.002-04:00

Fall Festivities - Let's go!

I love this time of year - besides the great weather there are so many festivals and activities. We already have something planned every weekend through November!
Last weekend we hit the local Ox Roast and Eric ran a 20K in the Hocking Hills area just south of us. This weekend is all work/back to school parties but I'm also trying to squeeze in Oktoberfest.
Hocking Hills is the closest we get to mountains around here but it is beautiful. Lots of trees, even some coniferous! I thought there would be lots of hiking trails for Cadie and me to explore while Eric was running but we only found a short one to a playground area. I'd like to head back to Hocking Hills sometime when we can stay longer.
The Ox Roast is a local tradition and fund-raiser for the high school. It was fine but I think we'll enjoy it more when Cadie is big enough to ride some of the carnival rides. She did enjoy the bounce house and I won a 2-Liter by tossing a ring!

2009-09-13T19:27:00.003-04:00

Virtual Pat on the Back
I'm giving myself a virtual pat on the back for my amazing shopping skills. A friend here in Columbus taught me a little about Couponing and my life has changed. A couple of weeks ago I made my biggest get yet. Here is all the stuff I brought home for a measly $3.72. (For those of you that don't know - one bottle of juice by itself is normally close to $5)

I was able to do this with coupons on top of sale items and "bucks back" from previous shopping trips. Then, at the register I got $3 in bucks back and $5 off $25. I used both of those register coupons this week with manufacture's coupons and sales to get 3 jumbo packs of Huggies for $5 each. CRAZY! Now what to do with all this money I'm saving...

2009-09-06T22:01:00.004-04:00

Toman Blogging
I finally blurbed our blog for 2007 and 2008 into a book. It has been fun to look through the past entries and remember what we did, especially in the months leading up to Cadie's birth and just after. That seems so long ago! It reminded me of why I keep up this blog. It is a great way to share our activities with family and friends but it is also the best way for me to journal our family memories and activities. One day I'll be a witty blogger that has hundreds of followers but for now I'm happy with the boring day to days of the Toman Blah Blah Blog.
That said, here is what we have been up to. Cadie and the playgroup visited a firestation and had an awesome time with the firefighters and their gear. Fireman Smith put on all his clothing and gear including oxygen mask and worked with the kids to not be afraid of him in case they are ever in an emergency and need his help.

When we walked through our home for the first time I stood by the front door and said "that would be the perfect place for my baby grand." Ha ha. I didn't have a baby grand and Eric thought I was nuts. But... a vigilant eye on Craig's list brought about my dream. Eric's mom visited us for a week just after we got it and Cadie would lead us all into the front room and have us clap for her piano performances.

Eric was away for a week at the end of August for a conference and then had a major deadline so we didn't see much of him. We have been busy this last week making up for it! We watched wild turtles and frogs at a local metro park, ate gyros at a greek festival, played at the science museum, and caught the last Clippers baseball game of the season. Here is a picture of Cadie and Eric in front of the large lilly pads at Goodale park.

And here is Cadie eating a hot dot at the ball game (it was dime a dog night!)

2009-08-17T15:55:00.004-04:00

Nauvoo

2009-07-16T20:21:00.003-04:00

Independence
I'm a little late for an Independence Day blog but we had a good one here in middle america. We have actually had an independence month. Cadie's favorite word, "no," has morphed into a favorite phrase, "no, Deedee!" With "Deedee" the term that she uses to refer to herself, this new phrase roughly translates into, "no thank you, I will do it myself" without all of the polite parts. This new independence has caused some difficulty (especially trying to get out the door in a hurry) but it is pretty cute. Here is Miss Independence with piggies and borrowed "eyes."

2009-07-04T20:09:00.006-04:00

On the Move
We can sum up the last month with three words, "go, go, go!" Feels a little like a Dr. Suess book.

Cadie and I spent a few days in Utah with family while Eric worked in central Oregon. Cadie and Aunt Paige on the piano:Then we joined Eric in Oregon and were able to visit friends, family and the coast. On the day we went to the coast, it was a beautiful day inland but a bit blustery on the beach. The weather didn't stop Cadie from testing the water and tasting the sand.

It was fun to see how much all the kids had grown. Eric, Cadie, June, and Duncan.

We stayed with the Hale family in Corvallis. They are so great! Cadie wrestling with the Hale boys.

My cousin Heidi and her family were in the middle of a move but still kind enough to let us crash at their place in Portland. Cadie and second-cousins Sam, Rachel, and Anna in Portland.

We all got home (luckily on the same flight - had a bit of bad luck and missed the first flight) just in time. The next day was the start of the Tour de Grandview, a professional bike race that rode circuits around our neighborhood. We witnessed a crash - Cadie yelled "uh oh!" but the riders were alright.

There are days when I really miss Oregon but there are great things about Ohio. Our garden just about doubled its size while we were away. Anyone like any kale?

2009-05-29T23:15:00.002-04:00

I can just about taste Summer
If we make it through this final week of classes with our sanity it will truly be something to celebrate. Helping us cope... The pool opened and weather today was nice enough to enjoy it!

Bike ride into downtown to feed the Canada geese (and crash a wedding party that was hanging out along the bike path).

First fruits of our labor. Our garden plot at the community gardens is in full lettuce and turnip greens production. Yummmm

2009-05-07T20:38:00.003-04:00

A little lady
Miss. Cadie is growing up so fast! I see it best with pictures - she looks so old! She will be 18 months next week. Most of our pictures of late have an open-mouth little girl. This is her reaction when we ask her to smile. Breakfast on the front porch.

Making cookies with Mom.

Cadie made a chili pepper pinata filled with Kix while I was at work on Cinco de Mayo. This picture was taken seconds before she destroyed it. (Thanks Laura! what I cute idea!)

Finally, one real smile. Her first bike! We are all so excited about this one.

2009-05-02T20:58:00.004-04:00

A little decorating
Finally did something to Cadie's room. Thanks to Paige for the tree.
More house/yard projects to come!

Our neighbor has an amazing tulip garden - I had to take pictures.

2009-04-15T15:15:00.003-04:00

Pictures
Life has been a little crazy with Cadie getting one illness after another (latest was Roseola) and me (E) teaching at OSU this quarter. We have managed to squeeze in some fun. I'll document with photos:

Community easter egg hunt (or scramble). This picture was 5 minutes before the start and before the crowds. It lasted maybe 60 seconds and there was probably only one egg per kid. Cadie at least got the package of animal crackers that she had tried to pick up before the start.

Easter! What a great time of year.

Meet the sheep (and all the other baby animals) at Slate Run historic farm. Cadie loved the ducks and chickens, was a bit hesitant with the baby pig and lamb, and did not want to even get close to the horse. But the entire car ride home she kept telling me about the animals - she would say "HI!" to get my attention and then do the sign for one of the animals - usually horse or cow.

2009-04-03T13:42:00.003-04:00

Fooled Me!
Don't put sprinkles on that cupcake!

Unless you like sprinkles with your mashed potatoes and meatloaf.
Thanks to Laura for this fun idea.
And dessert:

Watch out for worms!

2009-03-25T21:07:00.004-04:00

Paige, DC, and the National Marathon!
My sister Paige flew to Columbus for a visit - we enjoyed a St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin!

Paige drove with us to DC. We stayed with the McArthurs and Kai taught Cadie some moves.

I'll end with the worst family photo ever:

I guess this picture says more than I can - we were all pretty beat at this point but the race went well and Cadie eventually got a nap. :)
Eric ran marathon #2 and I ran the half. I beat my time goal by 35 seconds (finished in 2:24:25) and felt great the entire time. I think we are both finished with long races for a little while. We need to work on our speed so that we don't have to be out on the course as long.

2009-03-11T14:05:00.004-04:00

Spring!
We hit 78 degrees yesterday but are back to the mid 40s today. A little weird but I'll take it. I ran in shorts and a T-shirt and was still dripping sweat.
I love love love this first spring in a new home. We have bulbs coming up everywhere! It is a happy surprise every time I go outside.
Cadie is growing just as fast as our bulbs. She had a growth spurt and at her 15 month Dr.'s appointment was 33" - she had grown 2.25" in 3 months.
My brother is in Iraq again - here is a little clip we sent him.

2009-03-01T20:31:00.005-05:00

Detroit

Cadie and I took a quick trip up to Detroit to visit some friends. It was great to see Amy and Angie and their families. Cadie loved hanging with all of the kids - she would follow them everywhere. We need to work how to share toys though...
Ang is 38 weeks pregnant and was still up for an all day adventure at the Science Museum. Amy was an amazing hostess - I'm still dreaming about the peach french toast. I just have to say that I had the greatest group of girl friends in high school. I love that we can still get together and hang and be totally comfortable.

2009-02-15T19:48:00.005-05:00

Tornadoes are better than Hurricanes
We had tornado warnings last week and lots of wind and rain. Unlike hurricane Ike we had no storm damage and our power stayed on. We did have a front lawn full of "spikey bombs" (so-named by our 10-year old neighbor) from our Sweet Gum tree. Cadie helped me rake the bombs up. They were not nearly as fun as leaves to jump in though.

Plenty of spikey bombs still left on the tree.

We met up with friends at the Columbus Science Museum and stayed in the water area for a while. I think she is a hydrologist in the making. I love that they provide rain coats but next time I'm bringing water shoes and an extra pair of socks.

2009-02-02T11:28:00.004-05:00

Snow/Ice Day
We had a snow day last week for about 9 inches of snow and a lot of ice. Eric said he was more excited as an instructor than he was as a student to have a day off. We went on a skiing adventure around the neighborhood. I've become soft and cold-averse and so I was happy when most of it melted yesterday. Here are some pictures...

2009-01-26T17:24:00.004-05:00

Obama Inauguration Part 2: Movie of the crowd
I figured out how to shorten one of our clips to share. Here is the end of the presidential oath and the cheering crowd. Eric goes a little spin-crazy with the camera but you can still get a feel for the number of people.

2009-01-26T15:08:00.005-05:00

Inauguration 2009
I've been waiting to post these pictures in hope that Eric will add the commentary. He was out in the cold waiting in line earlier in the morning and met some awesome people. But as it has almost been a week I'll post the photos and hope that he can add comments later.
We were incredibly fortunate to attend the inauguration in DC. Our friends the McArthurs were given tickets and they shared with us.

The short story is that we (mostly Eric and Ted) waited in line for security for our section for over 4 hours and when it was evident that we were not going to get into our ticketed section in time we left the line in search of a place where we could watch on a jumbotron. Another section farther back on the mall was also having difficulties getting people through security fast enough and shortly after the ceremony started they took down the security for this section and let anyone in. We found a great spot where we could see and hear. I didn't realize until I saw pictures from the sky how many people we shared this moment with. 1.8 million packed along the 2 miles between the capital and Lincoln memorial is just crazy.
I really can't describe the emotions of the day. I think this is something that will take time to realize. I'm very humbled to be a part of it though. When I figure out how to use iMovie I'll post a video clip of all the people around us. It is very moving to see so many different people gathered together with so much joy and hope for the future. We even had nuns on one side of us!
After the inauguration we walked behind the capital to get to the metro. We happened to walk by just as the Bushes were leaving. We watched Executive One take off with the Bidens and Obamas waving goodbye.

Cadie and Kai stayed warm at the McArthur's home with a babysitter.

What a great day for this nation and the world. We pray that our new president will be guided as he leads this country.

2009-01-07T11:47:00.006-05:00

Kitchen Help
Now if I can just teach her to do dishes!

2009-01-02T11:50:00.007-05:00

Stud and his wife
Today is our 10 year wedding anniversary! Holy cow!
I don't have any digital wedding photos to share... but here are some new and old photos to celebrate.
This is crazy Eric preparing for his bike commute in Columbus on the coldest day of 2008:

And here is giddy Eric trying to keep his eyes open at the hospital just over a year ago:

What a stud!
Here is one of us in Hawaii a couple of years ago:

And the oldest digital photo I could find of the two of us - kayaking in Maine 2003:

2008-12-22T12:56:00.004-05:00

Santa?

WARNING: if you are under 10 years old PLEASE do not read this post. It is really boring. I promise.
I'm taking a cue from my friend Kara B and throwing up a post that I hope will promote some discussion (maybe controversial?). I really would like to hear your opinions on this matter.
With Christmas coming up we have had many adults ask Cadie what Santa is bringing her and if she has been a good girl this year. Although she has no idea what they are talking about (she is 13 months old!) this is starting to worry me. Why so much Santa? Wouldn't it be great if we didn't have to deal with Santa at all?
I've started to think seriously about a Santa-free Christmas. But how to do this?
I have no problem explaining to Cadie that Santa represents the spirit of giving, the biggest roadblock that I see is how to keep her from explaining that to others kids.
So there you go - has anyone done this? Any suggestions? Am I totally crazy? Is it impossible?

2008-12-11T15:08:00.002-05:00

My Little Monkey
Cadie picked up the sign for "monkey" this week. It is hilarious! For her birthday she got a stuffed monkey that she likes to wrestle with because it makes funny sounds. She kept calling it a dog (doing the dog sign) and we would correct her with the sign for monkey. Sunday she busted out the monkey sign and won't stop. Anything that she doesn't know the sign for is now a monkey. This morning I entered her room and she was running back and forth in her crib signing "monkey" and making monkey sounds. Eric and I both started laughing.
We started signing to Cadie at about 8 months and she picked up a few basic signs but wasn't totally into it. This past month though it seems she has really taken off. It is great to be able to communicate with her!
My favorite example of how great baby sign language can be is this story: We had been showing Cadie the sign for "bed" for a couple weeks every time we put her in her crib. One day I was sitting on the couch watching her play and she stopped, crawled into my lap and did the sign for "milk" and then the sign for "bed." I knew exactly what she wanted - no tantrums or waiting for fussy/cranky mode to kick in. It was time for a nap!
Here is the monkey sign (and the monkey wrestle) caught on video:

2008-12-02T11:19:00.004-05:00

Turkey Day in Chicago
Thanks to the Brooks for a fun weekend in the windy city! Loved the food, loved the city, loved the lights at the zoo, and loved being with good friends. Cadie loved following McKinley everywhere.

2008-11-19T15:49:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday Cadence Abigail!

Cadie had her first birthday on Sunday! We were all sick so we canceled the party but still let her dig into that cake. It was neat to have family join us via webcam. She wasn't so sure about eating the cake but enjoyed throwing it on the floor. Molly enjoyed that part as well.
The bath afterwards was almost as fun.

2008-11-16T10:54:00.004-05:00

New Addition to the Toman Household

We have great neighbors. Within the first hour of moving in we had a plate of brownies and within the next couple of weeks many of our neighbors stopped in to say hi and introduce themselves with more cookies and treats. Our next door neighbors decided that with three kids and three fish tanks their home was a little too crowded so last week we adopted a 10 gallon tank with guppies and platies. We now have a fish room and Cadie loves watching them. She learned a sign for fish and wakes up in the morning doing the sign.

2008-11-09T19:42:00.005-05:00

Knitting Again
A Hanna Andersson catalog that came a few weeks ago had the most adorable sweater dress on the cover. It reminded me of the hand-knit Norwegian sweaters that my grandmother made. I was inspired to dust off my needles and start some new projects. The first: Cadie's leggies.
This is my first attempt at creating a pattern and I'm "publishing" it here so I can link to it from ravelry.
Cadie's Leggies, size 12 months.
Materials.
Set of size 5 double sided needles.
Sport-weight yarn, I used a "baby soft" cotton/polyester blend.
Stitch Glossary.
k=knit
p=purl
Pattern.
Cast on 60 stitches, divide among 3 needles.
Row 1: Join round, *k2, p3, repeat from * to end.
Row 2: *k2, p1, k1, p1, repeat from * to end.
Rows 3-20: Repeat rows 1 and 2.
Rows 21-60: k60
Rows 61-80: repeat rows 1 and 2.
Bind off and weave in ends.
Changes I'll try next time
These turned out a little short and stubby for my 11-month old's long skinnies. Next time I'll decrease the total stitches from 60 to 50 and add about 20 rows to the middle section.

2008-11-04T15:31:00.004-05:00

Shoe Obsession
She likes heels and furry ones the best.

2008-10-30T13:26:00.002-04:00

Yummy for my Tummy Halloween Style

Dinner in a pumpkin

1 smallish pumpkin
2 lbs. sausage or ground meat
1 onion
3 cups cooked wild rice
8 oz baby bella mushrooms
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 oz sliced water chestnuts
Good glug of worcestershire sauce

Cut off a lid on the pumpkin and clean out. Slice onions and saute until tender, add meat and worcestershire and brown. Combine meat mixture with remaining ingredients and spoon into hollowed pumpkin. Put lid on, place pumpkin on a baking sheet and cook at 350 for 1 hour or until the inside meat of the pumpkin is tender.
Enjoy eating the pumpkin meat as well.

2008-10-24T10:56:00.005-04:00

Monkey See Monkey Do
I didn't realize that I talk on the cell phone while walking around that often...

2008-10-19T21:36:00.003-04:00

Fun Fall Weekend
We had a crisp fall weekend and enjoyed the weather and outdoors. Cadie finally got a helmet and she had her first ride in the bike trailer. She didn't like the helmet much but once we got moving she was happy and babbled along talking to her doll and anyone else that we saw. We visited small town Ohio (Circleville) for a pumpkin festival and were amazed at the crowds and at the HUGE pumpkins - the winner was 1375.5 lbs. We tried out the pumpkin fudge and pumpkin pie but couldn't find the famous pumpkin burgers. We didn't stay around long enough to watch the parade but did see "Miss Pumpkin," or maybe it was one of her attendants, walking through the crowds.

2008-10-13T15:48:00.003-04:00

Cadie Version 2.0 (Walking!)

2008-10-03T16:10:00.006-04:00

This is my hair.
This is Eric's favorite story-time book.

We found it at the greatest book store, Powell's, in Portland. My favorite bits are "This is my hair when I see a bear" and "This is my hair when my brother cut it."
One of Paige's last duties while she was staying with us was to cut my hair into a cute A-line, chopping about 8 inches off the back. She made it so cute with her drying techniques and straight-iron. However, now that she is gone I'm having problems replicating the style. So I'd like to add a couple of pages to the hair book.
This is my hair when Paige does it:

This is my hair when Paige is gone:

We miss you Paige!