Walking Girl

I have been missing in action lately. The reason is that I have been chasing little miss E around. She took her first two steps on Saturday, January 16th and then the progression happened over the week. Benjamin now says "Come quick, she is getting into mischief." We have progressed from him grabbing her and pushing her away to being the alert system. It is working out much better. Here is a video of all the first steps we have captured!

Romanticized Love

I have a confession. I am a hopeless romantic. I love a good clean romantic movie. There is just something about curling up in comfortable clothing with a my favorite t.v. watching blanket (thank you Jenny Reeder for the wedding gift!) and getting into a good movie. Yet is seems like after my so-called perfect romantic movie mode, I have a new notion of what romance is. "Oh, insert swooning here, wasn't it so romantic what character 'x' did for character 'y'" I say to Stephen." If he was lucky enough to get through the movie with me, he will join in with the parts that he thought were good. Almost always after that the conversation turns a bit melancholy. Somehow in the same cyclical turn of events it will always turn into "why don't you do more romantic things for me like 'x' does for 'y.'" It ends the same way with him reminding me that it is just a movie and made up story about what could happen. And I always say "but honey, it could be a reality, could you just do something romantic for me?"

My hopeless romanticism seems to stem more deeply than most. My roommates in college would tease me that I could fall "in love" with just about anyone that I could set my mind to it. There were multiple boys that I "loved" whom I also didn't even know. It didn't matter to me that I didn't know them, I still "loved" the way they got the mail everyday at a certain time or how they wore the same crazy shirt to ward prayer week after week. I would see the romance in that. To me I could make up a story about how the shirt was so meaningful because of unnamed reasons or the reason for the mail visit was just to see me walking home from class. I could seriously "love" many a boy who didn't know more about me than my name and that I was a twin.

Fast forward to my life now. You see, I didn't marry a romantic soul. His idea of romance is being sent to Costco for something on the way home from work and bringing me home some flowers. Such a nice gesture but nothing romantically out of the ordinary. I used to think that I wanted a Mr. Darcy. I haven't read Twilight, but I know many a women young and old yearning for an Edward or Jacob. I just wonder if too much emphasis is being placed on a romanticized ideal of what love is.

I now know that I just want someone who loves me. The kind of love that is predictable, enjoyable, fun, and healthy. The kind of love that finishes a sentence, knows what the other is thinking with a glance of his eye, or laughs wholeheartedly with me or at me if the situation arises. I married a human not a character or story. I married someone who cooks and cleans. I married someone who wrestles, tickles and really plays with his children. I married a man that will go downstairs and fix me the exact drink that I want if I ask him to. If that isn't love then what is? So when my husband and I have our cyclical conservation after one of my romantic movie nights, I am going to refer to this post and see that love and romance is standing right next to me.

Happy 5th Birthday Benjamin!

Benjamin woke up to a few surprises. We started a tradition of decorating the house the night before for a birthday party. It is only for our little family but always a welcome surprise for the morning. Benjamin got to open two presents in the morning. Both were treats for breakfast, Captain Crunch (he thinks this is extra special because I never buy sugar cereals but he ate it at Aaron and Hannah's house over Christmas and loved it) and powdered donuts. I would have made something else, but I had to be the substitute teacher all day for preschool so I didn't have much time in the morning.After preschool, Benjamin opened a few more presents and played with his three new Stars Wars figurines Hans Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Chewbacca.
Then for dinner he wanted Japanese food and was very emphatic about his very own bento box with teriyaki beef and potstickers. So we headed out to our favorite Japanese restaurant. Emma loved the tofu from the miso soup and the rice, and Benjamin out ate me from his very own bento box.
We then came home to open the rest of his presents blow out the candles on his cake, and enjoy cake and ice cream.

We hope that you had a great 5th birthday buddy! We love you!

11 Months Old

Family Portraits

Benjamin's preschool had a fundraiser for family portraits, and we had ours taken. We were really pleased with how they came out!

Utah Trip and a Big Disclaimer . . .

We have been in Utah for the last two weeks and got back on New Year's Day. We spent the first part with Stephen's family and then headed to see my family for the remainder of the time. I feel very bad to say that because of my lack of planning, we didn't get to see any friends while we were in town. Even though I tried to be a good friend and make contact/plans ahead of time, it just didn't happen. It is hard because we really only get to see family twice a year, and so when we are in Utah it gets entirely devoted to them. Not only did we miss out on seeing friends, but we also missed eating at some of our favorite restaurants like Cafe Rio and Stephen trying his first Inn-n-Out burger. For all those that know me, it is really saying something if I missed my Cafe Rio tortilla soup fix. I hope that I can be a better friend the next time we head to Utah~ which is yet to be determined when it will be. I promise to make plans ahead of time!