It's The Little Things

Well, we are getting settled into our new life and home here in Ohio and are looking forward to taking our little fellow trick-or-treating tonight then coming home to hand out candy! I think the last time I did either was more than 15 years ago and I'm looking forward to seeing all the kids dressed up and having a fun time.

We have moved to a small town, "village" to be exact, and are adjusting to life outside the city. Here are some little things about living in this small town that have surprised us after years in a more metropolitan area:

1. We saw the local pizza place deliver a pizza to an older gentleman in his van outside the pizza place. Yes, the workers walked out of their place of business and delivered to the man right there! They chatted a bit and then both went their separate ways. I got a salad at the same pizza place and was sitting waiting for it. The worker brought it directly to my table and it was a take out order! Service like that is usually lost in the city.

2. We've had two separate people stop at our new home to help with outdoor work. One gentleman lost his sight but regained it and as a way of showing his thanks to the Lord goes around town and pulls weeds! Another gentleman with a golf cart (golf carts are all the rage here as a form of transportation) stopped to help shovel grass out of the sidewalk cracks. His shovel is all dulled and flattened from helping thus around town. And this was all before we moved in!

3. The first day we were at the house after getting our keys an older lady stopped by to say hi, congratulations on getting the house and tell us a bit about people who had lived here before! I think in the city we'd have thought she was nuts or had an angle...but she was just friendly. I saw her later and she said congratulations again. :)

4. We went to the post office to get a mailbox for this house (they are free since the post office doesn't deliver a block away :D ). Ever since then, even before I got the address change form, they have been separating our mail into our box, even though most of it is not addressed as such and doesn't have that little yellow box saying it's different. If all post office's were so thoughtful they probably wouldn't have the troubles they do!

5. The Methodist church across the street from us hosts a free community meal once a month. We've gone now two months in a row and think it's a great idea! Why don't more churches do this?

6. Those with disabilities, the aged, the infirm, etc are not housed away here. We've seen all of the above working at the grocery store, McDonald's, taking walks, visiting, etc. There is a morning gathering restaurant and everyone there is kind to those who may be different. It's neat!

We had our first night in our new home last night and are enjoying some of the little things here also:

1. When Ethan is napping in his room upstairs I can work on the computer, watch Hulu & play music without headphones, talk on the phone and do whatever I want because he's upstairs and not in the room directly next to me.

2. The bathroom is 6 feet from our bedroom. Pregnancy, nighttime...enough said. Ahhhh....

3. We have an open porch here on a pretty busy corner of town. It's fun to see all the traffic and people. Eventually we'd like to move out into the countryside somewhere but for now I'm enjoying seeing the sights and sounds of a small town.

4. Today I didn't have butter for lunch so Ethan and I walked three blocks to the grocery store. After 3 years in the countryside with no bus service and 3 years before that having to take a bus to run errands I love walking to the grocery store, post office and pharmacy!

Ok, those are the things just off the top of my head. Overall we're just happy to be getting our boxes unpacked and rediscover treasures like kitchen dishes and winter coats! :)

Photos

Many of the following photos were taken at Greenfield Village in MI. We went with my aunt and saw an old car show (nothing before 1924? 1932? Old!), rode the train and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the village. It was rainy in the morning but cleared up to a beautiful sunny day. Ethan looks rather bummed in these family photos but I think that's because he wanted to be moving and looking, not just sitting and having his photo taken.

Ethan and I rode the merry go round. We sat in a seat that rocked. I probably should have considered that rocking and going in a circle may be a bit much, but I think he enjoyed his first ride nonetheless.

Cool old truck! You can almost see my pregnant belly, but I was also storing a bunch of things in my front pocket. So it's more of a kangaroo look.

A lot of the old vehicles had the three flags on the front.

Love this house! Ethan again looking "grrrr." Note how packed up we have the stroller...how did we ever survive without a stroller!

Ok, I can't quite figure out how to move photos around in blogger. So this is skipping back a month to the  National Tractor Pulling Championships we went to. Very LOUD!! Next time we'll bring hearing protection so we can sit in the stands and watch. It was fun to see all the tractors though.

They had a museum of old racers.

Ethan people watching.

Skipping again, back to the place we are living. Ethan was "helping" dry the silverware. Which mostly means he found the large spatulas, grabbed them and ran around the house. :D

Daddy & Ethan looking at cars on the tv. So cute!

Ethan showing my dad how to put a bottle of oil in the microwave.

Back to our MI trip! In my aunts city there is a Farmer's Market. This was a table with heirloom tomato varieties. Don't you just want to reach through the screen and eat one!

Once again, my favorite house at Greenfield Village. If I had 100 acres and money to spend we'd have a home like this. So cool!

Ethan & my aunt at Olga's, yummiest restaurant east of the Mississippi! I worked at an Olga's one summer too. Love their food and can only get it when we visit MI!

Ethan playing with my hairdryer. He loves any type of machine with a cord. Really anything machine-like or cord-like.

TJ and Ethan...when we eat out Ethan is always on the move!

"Hello camera!"

Happy daddy.

"Now hold still for just a second..."

More August Photos

Ethan still loves the vacuum cleaner.

Sound asleep.

Tee hee! This is two blocks from where we are living. Yeaa gizzards! :D

Whenever he gets the chance he sneaks into the dogs cage.

Hello!

It's getting colder here and I can't find Ethan's jacket....

...so he's stuck going out in my pink jacket, and his pink pacifier. Later I don't think he'll be thrilled for these photos. :D

My mom's outdoor cat trying to break in. She jumps up several feet to hang on the back door screen.

Ethan helping me put cracked pepper in the deviled egg bowl.

Love that smile.

This is a curious look.

And for those waiting for pregnancy photos...sorry! I keep forgetting to take one. Pregnancy brain?

August Photos

Here are some August Photos.

Always a climber. These boxes are in our bedroom and are filled with the things I left here when I went off to explore the world. We truly are surrounded by boxes!

Ethan loves other children and babies...even himself!

Step one: open bottom drawer and crawl into it.

Step two: stand up in bottom drawer, then open drawer above slightly.

Step Three: Using second drawer, prop oneself up on to top of dresser.

Step Four: Giggle triumphantly at success! (never a dull moment here folks!)

Isn't that cute! We were resting on a warm day under some shade. He had some nice ice water in his sippy cup.

We went to an antique engine show at this fairgrounds. Does anyone know this song? I couldn't get it out of my head the whole afternoon.

Ethan pointing to my mom's flowers asking "that?" (He's on my lap pointing to the flowers in the photo saying "that?" right now!). My mom has an amazing green thumb!

I made a lemon meringue pie and my meringue turned out! Had to share. :)

My hometown had a car show! That's downtown there. We live just a block or two from that stoplight straight ahead.

My town also has a nice playground with a toddler size area. Ethan is navigating these steps all by himself.

There was also a parade down main street. Tractors, fire engines and a few pickup trucks. The school band and cheerleaders and one cheering group that was handing out pancakes! (Ethan on my lap is asking "that?" Tractors!)

He LOVES pushing his strollers!

At the park, Ethan and TJ walking. Ethan's just learning to come with us so we have lots of divergent moments like this.

Baby #2 at 12 weeks. :) It was awesome to see the baby moving around and waving those arms and legs.

This and That

Well, I'm still not thinking in a very linear fashion so I thought a blog entry of odds and ends would be fun. :)

He is getting so long! Sleeping toddlers & babies are lovely. I love how he sleeps next to - or on - his blanket.

Ethan is learning to say "no," but hasn't yet learned the true meaning so we end up with fun little interactions like at the restaurant yesterday. I took the soy sauce away from him and moved it across the table while saying "no, no, no." He looked at me and grinned and said, "no, no, no" in a fun sing-songy voice!

"Look mom, I can take out my icky diaper can and strew the diapers all over my room!"

I'm having a terrible time keeping Ethan from hitting the cat with things. Whatever he finds to carry around also seems game to thwack the cat with. The cat though does not run away, so my sympathy for her is lessened.

Ethan is now our little climber. He can climb up and down his changing table now. Don't worry, he's only allowed to do these feats with parental supervision.

Life/culture here is different. It seems like it should be the same but it just isn't! There isn't any major difference but there are bunches of small ones. For instance, when I call somewhere here I'm often put on hold, and the hold "music" is two beeps. The first time I heard it I thought maybe another call was coming in or that I'd been cut off!

We miss Winco, Cash & Carry, and Costco. There is a Sam's Club here, but so far nothing like the other two.


Ethan LOVES helping me move things! Nothing is too small. Today it was a box, two days ago a large bookshelf. He is very angry if I stop for a break; somehow he senses that it's only a break, because once it's in the final spot he happily runs off to find something else to play with.

I have music playing in the background and Ethan will stop to do a little dance. It's more of a sway, but very cute.

This is a little video of a happy fellow dancing and playing. Can you see it?

Today Ethan figured out how to play the piano with his behind. It was a very loud performance!

One of my current challenges is finding things. We weren't expecting to still be living out of boxes three months into our time here and it is driving me a bit batty! For example, while Ethan is asleep I want to read some of my favorite books that I packed in the "open soon" pile of boxes...that I now can't find! Nor can we find our bathroom box with my makeup and TJ's clippers. It's warm here and swimming would be fun, but where are the swimsuits? And so we go! Half our things are in my parents garage and half are in storage and I think some that belong in the garage must have accidentally gone into storage.

Ethan seems to have thrown away my round brush, and between that and the humidity here my hair is pretty wild these days!

We visited the Smucker's headquarters near where TJ's family lives. Smuckers owns a LOT of brands!

Ethan does NOT like water. At all. Not even a little. We want to go swimming and yet if he gets near a pool he just screams his little head off. So I guess once we go swimming we'll have to take turns!

I am now 12 weeks pregnant. Based on the whole two weeks pregnant before you are really pregnant we can date this child to our trip to Ohio. God has funny timing.

Yesterday I got a call from our Oregon dentist asking if I wanted to keep my appointment on the 16th. Another loose end!

We have headphones to listen to the tv/computer and talk on Skype phone. Ethan thinks they are super!