parking lots.

now that i have a walking toddler, parking lots have changed dramatically.

first, there's the fact that i'm constantly trying to hold his hand so he doesn't get run down by a car.

but then there are the distractions that i never knew existed:
-license plates. those are letters and numbers just ASKING to be read aloud.
-car colors. they must all be shared.
-any signs of any kind. every letter must be said aloud.
-any people around? well "hi, people!" has to be yelled. over and over until acknowledged.
-any median of any kind filled with anything must be explored. if said median is filled with rocks, plan to stand there for 10 minutes as rocks are picked up and thrown.
-every piece of gum on the ground will be touched. no matter how many times mom says, "ew, please no."
-every crack must be stepped on and the words, "BIG BUMP!" will be yelled.
-anything to climb, walk through, or presenting any interesting texture will be explored.
-if there are trees, we will stop to look for squirrels. if a squirrel is seen, you will be late to wherever you're going next.
-every bird/butterfly/bug will be chased.

basically, the parent ends up looking a bit crazy. and the trip just takes so long. sure, i could herd him along faster... but he's supposed to explore and i'm not technically in a hurry, though generally i have to pee. 

parking lots mean something very different to me these days!

food, celebrating, and crafts!

this past week or two has been filled with so much fun!

4th of july = my parents were here.

and then this happened...

the week after = my friend katie was here.

so this happened...

and i made this art for micah's room!

 then, july 13 was my birthday = my friend susan was here. and then katie was back. 

and this happened:

and then last week, we filled our time with lots of play dates and time loving on micah in between intense bouts of bad mood due to teething, 

so this happened:

 picnic in the front yard after time at the library and explored toledo zoo!

matt put these up, making progress on the slowest room transformation in the history of the world, due completely to laziness.

so, so fun though!

 then, july 18 = our five year anniversary. and we still love each other!

some friends watched micah and matt surprised me with reservations to our classic celebration spot, melting pot. aka, pregnant woman's dream--lots of food and lots of kinds of food.  we went there to celebrate one year of dating and then one year of marriage a few years later!

 holy meat.

 the gift for five years is wood...

so i made jenga (made of wood, duh) into memory jenga from the last five years of marriage... thinking that it would be fun for our kids in a few years as a family game night game! 

matt got us (me) a long wooden votive candle holder, engraved with our initials and wedding date, to be a table centerpiece... it's just on order from etsy :) 

since then, we've just been loving summer. ice cream, pool, soaking up these last months of having an only child!

oh, and i've made a few new things lately! i had my free birthday loaf of zingerman's bread, so...

made homemade garlic bread, which everyone does, but somehow i never knew it was so easy?! and good?! why did i not know.

 just mix garlic, basil, garlic powder, parmesan cheese into the butter, slather it on, cook and add cheese after a few minutes. literally rocked my world.

and a sweet family gave me delicious treats from great harvest bread company for my birthday, including cheese bread, so i made pesto chicken breast sandwiches, grilled with mozz and dipped in marinara. literally all about that bread. i'm salivating thinking about them. and it's not due to pregnancy.

then i tried a new chicken recipe (ignore the pile of cucumber... i hate salad right now, but i'm trying to still eat vegetables...)

it's called chicken francese, and i got the recipe here

so great for summer!

that's it.

we have to keep soaking it up before things get crazy again!

Micah-Isms.

we're at a funny stage in life...
and I feel like I'll regret not documenting the crazy things Micah says and does. Feel free to skip this post if you don't care. just for my memory!

So here are a few...

Matt put shelves up in Micah's room, so every time Micah sees them, he says, "books! Shelves! Daddy did it... Thank you Daddy," like 10 times a day.

Whenever Micah wants more of something, he'll say, " A more." And hold up one finger intensely.

He's obsessed with David from David goes to school (by David Shannon), so sometimes he'll just randomly laugh to himself and say,"David!"

One book has a skunk, so he wants to read it constantly and says, "kunk, PU, stinky! Sour cheese!" (He says the same thing for a poopy diaper and feet)

He kisses every boo boo he sees. He thinks a mole on my arm is a boo boo. It gets a lot of kisses.

Whenever we're in public, he'll say, "People! Hi people!!"

He loves to spin in circles and say, "Circles! Dizzy!"

When being chased or chasing, he says, "Come back here!"

When we're not home, he'll say, "Back home now. Bailey!"

Oh, and speaking of Bailey... Bailey is his best friend. He'll drop food on the ground and say, "Surprise, Bailey!" Or try to ride her and say, "Ride Bailey. tail waggin!" 

He always needs to be clean--hands, floor, everything. No crumbs on the couch, no wood chips on the stairs at the playscape.

His love of the alphabet has no boundaries--he reads EVERYTHING. license plates, wrappers, stickers, books, shirts... and is constantly naming colors, shapes, and animals/animal sounds, and the names of all the people he knows.

He has crazy separation anxiety and does terribly with babysitters or at the nursery at church. Yikes.

He kisses baby and talks about babies, but the most common phrase is, "baby crying." How does he already know?!

He will imitate everything we say and do. I told him to be careful not to get his fingers in the door when shutting it, so now he pretends to do it every time and says, "Fingers!"... I told him not to eat play dough, so he says, "Play play dough now. Eat it! Pretend eat it! Nummy!"

Life is an adventure right now! Done with the obnoxious post :)

that day my brother got married.

we finally got pictures of the glorious day when Ben got married!

and Micah was ring bearer!

they're all copyright Cat Alkire Photography :)

Notice Matt standing in the background...

Micah officially spotted the cookie...

and he's now running to me, saying, "cookie cookie cookie!"

success.

New sister in the family photo!

and the reception...

hands down, favorite photo. That's the man I married!

so there it is! 

we got a new sister/aunt!

summering it up.

well, june was just kind of a month of bliss.

matt didn't work much, weather was sometimes good (lots of rain, but that's okay), and we tried to cram as much fun as possible into the month. 
parks, zoo, restaurants, lots of play time, lots of reading books, lots of attempting to eat play dough.

mom brag moment (feel free to skip...): also, we've had fun micah changes... he somehow learns everything! his colors, letters, animal names and sounds, numbers to 13 (random, i know), names of things and people... so much fun! he also kicks a ball now, runs a lot, is constantly challenging my patience, and sleeps in a big boy bed with no problems. okay, all done.

also projects, the biggest of which was matt spending an entire day (9 hours in the hot sun) re-staining our deck. let me tell you. it looks AWESOME. 800 square feet of cleaning and staining. yikes.

also: projects coming next post: pictures of micah's new room, our room redone to include a craft area, and the redecorated play room!

so, here are some pictures of the greatness that we just had...

cousins. everywhere.

loooooots of this happened.

started this, finally!

healthworks museum with grandma. 

homemade popsicles. 

don't get too excited, this is the only popsicle we were actually able to get out of the mold. so then i bought snickers ice cream bars. at least i tried, right? 

cousin time. be cuter, you two.

finally set up the awesome easel some friends passed down to us! painting just got more fun.

so artistic.

baby shower for kelsey. i looove this picture! haa

and then to kick off july, i went to indiana to visit one of my best friends  and her family and meet her new baby, blake!

learning baseball from lonnie, amanda's dad.

that's a smile of summer.

finally met this crazy character, blake!

camping, the best way. that and only for an evening.

bubbles. with amanda's mom, cindy.

indiana state dunes. beach style. he's a natural, amiright?

and i have no pictures of amanda and i together. luckily, she does, i just have to get them...

oh, and one food photo... white chicken chili. an ebright specialty that i just finally made for the first time!

recipe (stolen directly from matt's mom herself!):

2 lb. chicken, cooked and shredded(or use rotisserie chicken)

2 (15oz) can white beans, undrained

1 16 oz. jar salsa (Pace medium)

8 oz. Monterey jack cheese, grated

2 tsp. ground cumin

Combine in a 3 quart kettle. Cover and simmer 

about one hour, stir occasionally and add water or broth if too thick or 

3 hours in crock pot on high. Serve with white corn chips or scoops.

You can tweak the amounts to your preference. It 

starts out pretty thick until the cheese melts and you must watch that it 

doesn’t scorch on the bottom of the pot.

june may be over, and matt's back to work, but his july schedule looks to be the best for this upcoming year... so let the fun continue!