weekend celebration

squeezin mamma

mmm... beets are yummy & messy!

eating my toes... tasty

playing in a box w/grandma

peek-a-boo!

 I have not uploaded photos from this weekend, above are a few randoms from the past month...

We drove to Connecticut to celebrate Caleb's grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. What an incredible story. They married when Henry was 21 and Lucille was 18. Our son Samuel's middle name is Henry after his grandfather and great-grandfather. It was an intimate family celebration at Caleb's uncle's house, and the house deserves a blog post in itself. It was built in 1750 and holds so much history. We got a tour of the "compound". The home was once where Yale students had class when the British invaded New Haven Harbor. If only the walls could talk.
Back to the celebration - Caleb's aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, siblings, nieces and nephew were there for the celebration. We had dinner & dessert together and just had fun hanging out. Caleb's family hasn't seen much of Sam so he was passed from aunt, to uncle, to cousin, and back. Sam was a happy and smiley baby the whole day, until the end when he passed out in Caleb's arms.
It was great to be able to celebrate 60 years as a married couple. That's a feat seldom found these days.
Maybe I can get a few pictures up later.

Sunday we visited Calvary Christian Church, Caleb's former employer. Sam was in such a good mood and enjoyed meeting Caleb's former coworkers and parishioners. Hopefully we can visit again.

Today Sam and I went for a walk with some of my friends, Heather & Robin and with Sam's friends, Owen & Judah. Sam loves his stroller and talked away as we walked around the neighborhood. At the end of the walk I let Sam play on the playground. His favorite part was the swing and sitting in the wood-chips!! He's so fast, as soon as I put him down, he puts his fist to the ground, picks up wood-chips, sticks, leaves, dirt and puts it in his mouth... it was hard to capture on camera b/c I was worried he would choke since most of those items were of choking sizes. Oh well.

Tomorrow we head out on an adventure - Western Mass to stay with my sister-in-law for the night, Malvern, PA to visit with a college friend who had a baby girl one month after Sam was born, Washington DC to visit Shannon and Behr another college friend and her baby boy, Hershey, PA to visit Sadie - we miss her, she just moved from the North Shore, Wyomissing, PA to visit family friends, and then to the Cape to work and finally back home to Hamilton. It's going to be an eventful, whirlwind trip, but I'm looking forward to vacation after a busy work season.

This evening Caleb was working, so I made some baby food for Sam, yeah, exciting I know...
I found a recipe in a magazine, tried it one time and Sam LOVES it. It's called fruit soup.

FRUIT SOUP
approximately 1 ice-cube tray
1 ripe banana
strawberries (maybe 1-2 cupes)
pineapple (1/8-1/4 of cut up pineapple)
1/2 cup water

Put all ingredients into a pot and cook on medium high for 5-6 minutes or until all fruit is soft.
Strain fruit over a bowl, keeping the juice. Pour the fruit into a blender or food processor and add some of the juice. Add as much or little juice as you want. Pour the fruit puree into an ice-cube tray and freeze. Serve 1 or 2 cubes after a meal.
*If you have left over "juice" you can mix it with rice cereal for a delish treat. Sam loved it. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the process...

and a few obligatory pics :)

hanging out on Grandpa's reindeer skin

ooooohh... the mirror is fun!

hi Sam!

kissing the mirror.

I just LOVE this little boy!!

morning rollerblade

{image courtesy of google images}

earlier in the week i got up early and decided to go for a little rollerblade...

yup, you heard right... rollerblade... this 8 month preggo woman decided it would be nice to lace up her blades and hit the street.

let me tell you... it was AMAZING! i enjoy running, but running at 8 months pregnant is a little LOT difficult. so, i pulled out my rollerblades, turned on my ipod and hit the road.

it was so refreshing. i didn't feel large and pregnant. i felt light and fast. i rollerbladed a few miles; it was nice to get out there and go fast. it's a great feeling to exercise in the morning and get that boost of energy and get those positive endorphins flowing ;)


{image courtesy of hovey}

the above picture is along my rollerblade route...

hiatus

so... i took a little blogging hiatus...

haven't really thought about blogging in quite some time...

here's an update since our big announcement :)


baby alpine incubating at 30 weeks.

i'm now 32 weeks pregnant - for all of those non-preggo peeps... that means i'm 8 months baked. i have 8 weeks until my due date... we'll see when baby alpine decides to make an appearance...

so far i've been feeling great. i've been hiking, walking, running (well, that was a few weeks ago), swimming A LOT and doing other exercises to try to stay in shape. my favorite is swimming at chappy. it's soooo relaxing, i feel weightless in the water (which is important for a pregnant woman, believe me), and it's good exercise.

one thing i learned since becoming pregnant is that my ligaments loosen up, supposedly makes it easier to pass a child through... well, having loose ligaments makes us (pregnant people) more prone to injury... so swimming is easier on the ligaments...

alpine hiccups ALLLLLL the time... it's kind of an uncomfortable feeling, but i can't complain... the whole pregnancy has been smooth and alpine is healthy! yesterday i counted alpine had the hiccups 5 different times!!! and it can last for 20 minutes...

anyway... not much more exciting to report...

healthy baby, healthy mama, loving summer :)

yoga

a few months ago i decided to try my hand at yoga...


(image courtesy of googles images)

i had been wanting to get involved, but couldn't find a good place.

i went for a run one morning and ran by a house that advertised yoga. i took a brochure and stuck it in my shorts (hey, i was interested and desperate times call for desperate measures...)

when i got home, i took a closer look at the brochure and i could NOT believe my eyes!

yoga, monday evenings, 7:30pm, FREE

does it get any better than that?!

it took a few more weeks before i had a free monday evening.

i went in my old navy "yoga pants". i have to play the part, right?

it was the most relaxing, fabulous exercise i have experienced. i was hooked.
most mondays, i end up here - to relieve my body of the day's stress, exercise, and enjoy some "me" time that's really good for me.

if you have never tried yoga, i encourage you to try it out. it's a most wondrous exercise and way to relax your muscles.

running in shorts...

today i looked at my thermometer and it read 67.7F

can you believe it?! almost a SUMMER temperature...

so, on my lunch break... i busted out my shorts and t-shirt and decided to go for a jog... it was fabulous. i came back from my lunch break refreshed & rejuvenated :)

i live along the Ipswich River - such a nice little spot...
it's a TIDAL river... it experiences high and low tides just as the ocean would.

today, as i ran along the river... it was the highest i have EVER seen it...

there used to be a large boat shop near the river; this past july, it caught fire, burned to the ground, and what was left fell into the river... Talk about an environmental hazard... the shop practically blew up... so many combustible materials...
there has been much controversy about rebuilding a condominium on the lot where Melanson Boat Shop once stood...




today as i ran by i wondered if that was even possible... there was no lot at high tide... it was completely covered with water...

however... back to my run... glorious... to run outside in december in 67.7 degree weather...
could not have asked for a more perfect day to begin running again...


...again... i was on a running... hiatus... sabbatical... umm... break...


now, i'm back... i think :)

Avkoppling = Relaxation

Weekends are great. The feeling that the day-to-day life of the 5 day work week is over and the weekend is yours to enjoy, to do what you please. Weekends can be a way to catch up with what you haven't had time to do during the week, or a way to relax and "koppla av" as they say in Sweden.

Helgerna finns för att ta det lugnt och koppla av. Det känns skönt att kunna väcka när man vill på en lördag morgon och njut av dagen. Jag var ut och gick en promenade med min mamma, bara gå tillsammans, prata lite och ser alla nya hus som blir byggt i vår område. På en lördag är man inte jaktad, man kan kolla in i varje nya hus och undra hur det ska se ut när den är färdig byggt. Senare på dagen är det ärende som gäller. Det som jag ser fram emot efter solnedgång är hockey. Oj vad jag tycker det är kul. Att knytta skridskor, sätt på min hockey jersey, öppna dörren till is och "bara åk". Vilken härliga känsla! Visst är det sent på kvällen, men det är bara dig, din team och den härliga känsla att åka skridskor i en timme så hårt man kan. Efter, blir man helt slut och den kvällen när man ligger i sängen och sover, då sover man BÄST! Sen är det söndag morgon. Jag vaknar och hoppas att jag kan sova längre, men det finns barn som jag är söndag skol lärare till. De vill att jag är där för att sjunga, leka och har det kul med de. Då stiger man ur sängen, duschar, äta frukost och skynda sig till kyrkan innan barnen kommer. Eftermiddag blir det Amerikansk football som gäller, eller en promenade. Söndag eftermiddagar finns för att göra ingenting. Vilken helg! :)

Something to think about:
"Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine." - Anonymous

Saturdays are meant for relaxation. I love Saturdays. It's nice to go for walks feeling the breeze on your face, and the sun shining brightly. As I walked through my neighborhood, there's no sense of hurry. It is just a lazy Saturday morning. I can talk to my mom as we walk and peer in the different houses being built. We go inside the skeleton houses and plan out how it's going to look when it's finished: bedroom here, kitchen here, fireplace there, master suite here.

After a relaxing walk, you can take care of errands that you weren't able to finish during the week. There's no hurry.

Once the sun sets, the highlight of my weekend has arrived. Playing hockey. The feeling you get as you tie your skates, pull your jersey over your head and snap your helmet in place. I grab my stick and head for the ice. I love the sound of the click as the door opens and the scrape of my skate on the ice. A quick warm-up of skating around the rink and shooting on goal. Then, it's time, the sound of the puck hitting the ice. Gametime. It's the rush you get, struggling to get to the puck as it is pushed into the zone. It's the feeling you get when you and a teammate block off the defense behind the net so one of you gets the puck and the defense loses. It's the sensation of making a pass under pressure and watching as your teammate's stick slaps at the puck and the puck hits the back of the net. It's the satisfaction of coming off the ice completely exhausted, knowing you gave the game 100%. That night, the best feeling is pulling the covers over your head and falling asleep, your body completely worn out.

The next morning, you struggle out of bed. Sunday. It's time to teach Sunday School. Some people may think it is silly to spend a "valuable" Sunday morning teaching Sunday School. They would rather sleep-in. Well, pulling my worn-out body out of bed is difficult, I will admit. However, the satisfaction from seeing the 5 year old's face light up when I tell him we're doing an obstacle course, or the sound of the 4 year old's voice when I tell her we're going to sing her favorite song - she starts belting out the tune with a smile on her face before the rest of the class has even comprehended which song we're singing. Teaching Sunday School is such a reward. The children are so fun to teach and they always have funny stories to tell. They want you to think they are special and you leave knowing you've left your footprint on a child's life.

Sunday afternoons are filled with family dinner, football, and just enjoying the laziness of a Sunday. The feeling that you have nothing to do till Monday morning is satisfaction enough.

“Att våga är att förlora fotfästet en liten stund.
Att inte våga är att förlora sig själv.”
- Sören Kierkegaard

This sums up my weekend :)

"I’m looking forward to looking back on all this."
- Sandra Knell