Anna and Michael's Graduation

Sam, Inga, and I made the trip up to Hillsdale to see Uncle Michael and Aunt Anna graduate. This was probably the last graduation we will attend for sometime because I can't think of anyone else at Hillsdale that we know. We shared a cabin at Michindoh Conference Center with Sam's brother, Andrew, and his family. Andrew's sister-in-law was also graduating. Inga had a great time playing with her three boy cousins. They got themselves pretty wound up before bed playing peek-a-boo and giggling like crazy.

 The graduates before the ceremony

 Ronald Regean, the latest addition to the walk of neo-cons

We got a bit nostalgic and visited the Ramp. Proof that is an awesome name for a college house, the house is still called the Ramp. The college recently cut down the trees behind the house to make way for the new IM sports center. I figure they will probably tear the house down eventually, too.

 No more woods

 Fire pit is still there!

Lydia feeding the bottomless pit

I honestly didn't pay that much attention to the ceremony. Dr. Arnn's speech was pretty typical. The class president gave a decent, short speech. The speaker was some professor from Oxford who talked about why Hillsdale was so great for being independent and not having majors like women's studies. It wasn't bad and it was short, which counts for a lot. What can I say, it was the fourth graduation I'd attended. We left pretty soon after Anna and Michael walked because Inga needed a nap so we missed milling about with all the graduates, etc.

Anna and Michael had a graduation party at their house complete with a keg of Oberon! It was a nice time although Inga just couldn't fall asleep. She was up until nearly 11pm until Sam ran to the store for some Advil. As soon as that stuff kicked in she was out cold. Poor thing is working on more teeth. She was a pretty good girl on the ride home, though. We also learned she really likes Panera Bread's broccoli cheddar soup!

8 Months

Inga is 8 months old today. That also means we've been in our new house for one month. Inga has made the transition rather well. She is pretty used to sleeping in her own room. She is even adjusting well to going to a new babysitter on Wednesdays. Fortunately, Inga is pretty happy go lucky so far.

She has two teeth now and I think is working on a third. She likes being able to eat more food from Mom and Dad's plates. She can also pick up those cereal puffs and feed herself. This is the benefits of teething, but the downsides include being extremely needy for Mommy (and Mommy only) and using lots of baby Advil (that stuff no are cheap). Oh well, it's just another one of those baby phases that seems so long at the time, but is just a little blip. 

No crawling yet, although she is really trying hard. I'm expecting some sort of army crawl here soon especially with the laminate floors. She is also really close to pulling herself to standing. I am slowly baby proofing the house. The big thing I need to get is a gate for the basement stairs. Her biggest new "skill" is giving kisses. She will give one when you ask and spontaneously. This is very Mommy approved!

The "nice" portrait

With her favorite stuffed animal, Ornery the Otter

I was sitting on the couch today writing some emails while she played on the floor in front of me. It went a bit too quiet all of a sudden and I couldn't she Inga. Then I heard a muffled noise from underneath me. This is what I found.

The little explorer

Inga has been helping out in the yard a lot, too. Our yard needs tons of work since we bought a new build. Our front lawn is coming in rather nicely, but there are lots of problem areas to dig out, weeds to pull, lumps to smooth out, trash to pick up, and trees to tend. Inga just catches a ride on one of our backs while we dig and rake kind of like you would see in Africa or something. Inga enjoys being a part of the action and we get a great workout. It's like conditioning for backpacking. LeConte Lodge, here we come!

To prove Inga isn't all sugar and spice and everything nice, this is what happened when I told her she couldn't play with the camera.

Our First Visitors

The Petries visited for weekend. They were the first overnight guests at our new home. We had an excellent time catching up and watching our daughters try to play together. Inga was so excited to have visitors, but seems happy to have a quiet house again.

Saturday we enjoyed a late dinner after the kiddos were in bed. On Sunday, we had a leisurely breakfast. I liked that extra cup of coffee and conversation on our deck during morning nap (both girls took a morning nap at the same time!). We then took a walk at Dawes Arboretum. Afterwards we met our friend, Kevin, for a late lunch before we parted ways.

Sarah, Laila, and Inga (Inga LOVED Mrs. Sarah)

Smelling the rhododendrons

Catching a ride with Daddy

Laila and her daddy hanging out under a pendulous Canadian hemlock

Looking towards the apple tree collection

Planting Trees

The other weekend Sam and I bought nine trees and two tons of brick at the local FFA fundraising auction. (That's Future Farmers of America not free fatty acid.) We went to the auction just to check things out after our neighbor said they had lots of trees. We knew we wanted to plant trees on our lot as there aren't many, but weren't planning on doing that for awhile. Well, it was just such a good deal we may have gotten carried away.

Saturday morning the local excavating company came by to dig the holes. Sam and I were not about to dig 9 holes by hand. We were just going to plant a couple, but our neighbor came over with his son-in-law practically begging to help. (My neighbor had his whole family over for Easter and I think there were too many women in the house.) We ended up putting all 9 in the holes and fully planting 6. We still have 3 left to fill in with dirt. It was a long day of working and made a little harder by a very teething baby (first tooth finally made an appearance!). I am really happy with the trees. They will look very nice in a few years.

6 Norway Spruces along the property line

Sunset Maple in the back corner

Dawn Redwood

Hemlock in the front yard

7 Months

What happened to my little cuddle bug? I used to rock her to sleep every night and now she prefers Ornery the Otter and her thumb. Sigh. She's growing up too fast.

She is fully established on solid foods and only wants milk for snacks and comfort. She is starting to explore more textured food, but doesn't have any teeth yet. Although, I keep thinking she is going to get some any day now. We have been using the baby Advil nearly everyday for the poor girl.

She wants to be a part of everything Mommy and Daddy do. Now that we have a bigger kitchen I can set her on the floor near the pantry while I make lunch and dinner. She just chews her toy and watches everything I do. She was even content to watch Mom and Dad unload bricks the other evening (part of our patio project).

She is a vocal girl. I wake up to lots of burbles and raspberries. Every few days she discovers new sounds. She is also picking up language and getting better at communication. She understands the word "nursies", which is of course the most important word to understand.

Mostly she is just really happy and giggly all the time.

Bear hug

Still got that gummy smile

Can I eat the camera?

We got a life vest for her since we are going on a beach vacation and staying at a house with a pool. She thought it was super awesome.

The Big Move

We closed on our house on Friday and moved on Saturday. We've been pretty busy packing boxes and getting all the loose ends ready for moving. I even remembered to take pictures of the move.

A couple weeks before moving with boxes stacked in the corner

Empty kitchen on move day

Our new house and the sweet 26' moving truck

Grandma watched Inga while we moved boxes and furniture

The new living room (notice Inga making a bee line for underneath the couch)

New kitchen

New dining room

Super happy to have a big place to play (and super happy for her new consolation prize lego set)

We had our washer and dryer and stove delivered on Monday. I didn't know I would be so happy to be able to do laundry. Inga has her own room and is adapting nicely after a rough first nice. She sleeps a lot better now that midnight snacks aren't so easily accessible. We still have a lot of work to do not just on the inside, but the outside as well. The yard is a total mess and all our neighbors keeps immaculate lawns!

Side note on the Inga front, she now says "Da" when Daddy comes home from work and "Mama" when having a total meltdown.

The Boring Half of a Business Trip

A few weeks ago, Sam went to a super important trade show in Anaheim, CA. Right across the street from Disneyland. For anyone who's ever worked a trade show, you know they are usually in a pretty cool location, but you're too busy working to actually see anything other than the convention floor. So it always sounds like Sam is going someplace exciting, but I really know he is actually standing on his feet all day talking to customers and then going out to dinner to talk to more customers. Disneyland is just a cruel temptation.

Well, that might be me trying to make the best of being stuck in Ohio instead of out in California. Anyway, while he was gone the weather turned rather spring-like. Inga and I took a walk around Dawes Arboretum to scope out some landscaping ideas for the new house.

Teton tower Colorado blue spruce.

We walked the conifer glen since nothing is flowering quite yet (aside from daffodils and crocuses!). I saw several nice plants for low ground cover, but liked the Teton tower the best.

Buckeye "17"

17 Buckeyes planted to form the numeral 17 since, that's right, Ohio was the 17th state in the nation.

Having a great time in the sunshine. (ERGO Carrier FTW!)

After our walk, Inga discovered that a dress is also great to play with! She doesn't wear dresses very often and was pretty excited to be able to chew on her own clothes. Also in this picture are a couple new toys because every little girl should get new toys as a consolation for Daddy going away on business.

We picked Daddy up from the airport the next morning. Inga took her morning nap in the car on the way to the airport so was very confused when I woke her up in a strange place. She was even more confused to see Daddy in the strange place. I'm not sure if she thought she was dreaming or what, but she warmed up to Daddy pretty quickly.

For those wondering (or not), we will be moving to our new house very soon. Don't worry (you weren't), I will post pictures of the house as soon as we are moved in (you know, in like August).