Here is Lydia and me in Hong Kong as we brought in the new year...we made it home in time to work at 3pm!
Here is the Malysa family. They sure are a handsome bunch.
Here is oma and opa with the children. We warned the kids that they had to behave around oma because she will not put up with it. Opa discussed the Bears with them and how he is going to the play-offs to watch them win.
Here is Tante Heidi and Owen. Owen was really glad to see her again. Heidi has been trying to get to Grand Rapids for some time now, but her school semester has been busy. She is studying to be an RN.
We went to Pietro's for dinner. It is one of our favorite Italian Eateries. Oma was quite good at ordering in Italian. (There is nothing prettier than Italian spoken with a German accent!) The waiter flirted with Heidi (as they all do) and he offended Oma with his smart mouth. She made sure to stick out her tongue at him when he was not looking.
Anna ate a lot of pasta from everyone's plate and Owen gummed a spoon the whole time.
Owen really does not understand what that means, but he is very excited to be a part of the family. Owen really enjoys pulling the dog's hair, playing with his older sister, throwing his body around in attempt to crawl, waking up a couple of hours before the rest of us and making high pitched squeals, and most especially....he enjoys the snuggles from his mother.
Owen is not a very distinguished young man as of yet... we are still working on that. Owen is all boy though. He seems to have some roughian in him....maybe a rugby player?
We are praying that Owen grows to become a spectacular young man; a man, as was the Psalmist David- a man after God's own heart.
Subject line: Your preschooler is 25 months old!
Preschooler. Wow! This is going way too quickly; can someone help us to adjust?
French Silk Pie
My mother HATES when I open things before the open date. She is so cute. Despite this flaw within her personality, I knew she would love the pics. Thanks Opa and Oma!
It looks as though my desk chair and my laptop are having a smurfy day as well!
In the previous post my lovely sister-in-law referred to me as Hitler (she wrote Hilter...but we can forgive that.) The reason that she calls me that is not because I am evil dictator who lords over my home with expectations that uberhumans could not perform; although that sounds nice.
The reason that she called me that is because on a certain Tuesday this past summer the family from Chicago was going to come to Grand Rapids and we were all going to go to Frederick Meijer Gardens for a nice afternoon. In my haste to get groomed before they arrived; I shaved with a razor that was a few shavings past its usefulness. I butchered my face...but only under the nose and around that crease that connects the upper lip to the center of the nose. Needless to say I walked around the Gardens with a ridiculous looking bandage that covered that region of my face. Heidi thought that it would be fun to refer to me as Hitler!
Too bad Hitler ruined that great piece of facial hair history though. I think I may try that moustache sometime in lieu of the goatee.
Some friends are really great to keep. If you notice in the next photo his eyes are a lot like Frank Sinatra's...not that he can look at you for more than 3 seconds without his Asperger's kicking in.
Kevin is a great buddy to have. He is working on his Master's of Divinity at Boston College. He loves the crazy Kennedy-type liberals that live in that city. He is the most conservative guy there.
Sometimes he is really crazy and makes me invert my outlook on life. Why don't you send him an email and tell him what a great guy he is:
kev_vs@yahoo.com (tell him to start his blog.)
Don't worry readers, the tacky Calvinism bears were under $4 each. A small price to pay to promote your theological presumptions.
In the Millennium, will a majority of the children have chosen bears? We will just have to wait and see.
Parents should always take the time to read to their children. Reading to your children is the cornerstone of a life time of learning. Even if it is just for five minutes talking about the pictures on the page, this time spent can be a seeding of a passion for learning.
". . .the Lord does not in vain prepare nutriment for children in their mothers' bosoms, before they are born. But those on whom he confers the honor of mothers, he, in this way, constitutes nurses; and they who deem it a hardship to nourish their own offspring, break, as far as they are able, the sacred bond of nature. If disease, or anything of that kind, is the hindrance, they have a just excuse; but for mothers voluntarily, and for their own pleasure, to avoid the trouble of nursing, and thus to make themselves only half-mothers, is a shameful corruption."
Here Owen eats a Little People horse in celebration on meeting this milestone on time.
The hind quarters are always the most tender.
Anna whispers to him that horses are not for eating unless we are in another great depression or Mexico. Owen is somewhat embarrassed, but not surprised.
Owen does not care about eating horses. He is glad that he can sit up and see the world around him. He is happy to be alive as well as happy that he has this great rubber ducky outfit from his "aunt Moes"
Owen is a very sensitive boy. He will react in more emotional ways than Anna ever did when she was his age. Owen gets his feelings hurt very easily. He will cry if a toy is removed from his hand...In a loving way by his older sister. (While she says, Anna's toy!)
