Family Alive

This exciting title was the name of the road bike race that Brian competed in this weekend. The “summit” of Mount Biloxi was somewhere around 130 feet in elevation. It appeared to be more of a hill than a mountain to me, but then again, I wasn’t riding:)

Above, Analise is holding the cow bell my Dad sent her to ring during the race. She was pretty good at it! The first event was the road race – 75 miles, on a 4 lap course. Analise and I stationed ourselves in the feed zone, stocked with several waterbottles to hand Brian each time he came through. It was 88 degrees, with a dewpoint of 79, and a heat index of 102 degrees – in layman’s terms, that’s HOT AND STICKY. Brian went with the lead group, and they battled it out until the sprint at the end. He finished in 3rd place! We were very impressed, and Brian was pretty pleased with the outcome.

  

After eating and resting for several hours, there was a time trial. This is a 3 mile race, essentially as fast as you can go, with the racers starting one at a time, every thirty seconds. You’re racing for time. Brian had used up most of his energy in the morning race, so the afternoon result wasn’t quite as exciting as the morning.

The final event of the weekend was the criterium on Sunday afternoon. This is a 3/4 mile course around city blocks (i.e. meaning lots of technical corners), where you race for an hour. They’ll ring a bell occassionally, which means that lap is a “prime”, and the winner for that lap gets a prize. Then they’ll ring a bell for the final 5 laps, and the final top 10 finishers are awareded the overall prizes. Brian had a great show of power and won one of the “prime” laps, and finished the race in 11th place. This put himm 8th overall for the weekend. I was surprised at how well he did with very little training, and Analise and I really enjoyed seeing him race.

Hi there… we did return safely from Mississippi. Brian did really well, and I have the blog mostly written telling all about our adventures. Just needs some editing and the stuff to make it look good, and I’m too tired to do it now. Cute pictures of us on the beach to share, though!

Analise and I had a friend and her daughter over today. It was fun, and I hope we can find more time for playdates. Both A and Laurel were tired, though, and things kind of unraveled near the end. When A is tired, she’s not so fun to play with – everything makes her cry:)

Today is 4 years to the day since Brian and my first date. Brian asked me out to Outback Steakhouse to make up for a painful biking experience in the first week we’d met. The best moment of the evening was over salad, as I had a huge mouthful of lettuce, tomato and crouton, when Brian swallowed hard and said, “I’ve, uh, really enjoyed spending time with you this week.” He had to sit there waiting for me to chew and chew and chew, which must have seemed like hours, until I finally said, “I, uh, really like spending time with you, too.” That was it… the rest is history:) A whirlwind month together before I left for Nicaragua, a long distance romance of 1 year and 8 months, before finally starting our lives together just over 2 years ago. God brought Brian out of a hard time I was having in Texas, and I’m still amazed at how He works things beyond our wildest expectations. What a great God – I love my husband!

Happy Birthday to Tom (Brian’s dad) and Corrie (one of our far off California family who we’ll see in just 2 weeks!)!

I’m sitting here trying to get caught up on emails, other computer work, and Vacation Bible School materials for next week. Brian’s asleep on the couch, and I think I’d better haul both of us off to bed.

Another busy day here, and tomorrow we’re on the road again. Brian’s doing a bike race in Biloxi, Mississippi, and we’re going to enjoy a hotel on the beach. I’ve only seen him race once, so Analise and I are really looking forward to it. They’ll be 3 races – a criterium (essentially racing around several city blocks for a set amount of time, and then you see who crosses the line first after the time ends), a road race (75 miles on a 3 lap course) and a time trial (starting one at a time, probably 30 seconds apart, racing the clock for maybe 10k). I’m sure we’ll have plenty to tell when we get back!

It’s been a whirlwind day… I think I’m not adjusting to the increasing speed and mobility of my daughter very quickly. She is WEARING ME OUT. She is SO BUSY! Toddling from room to room, taking her toys with her, pulling clothes out of the laundry basket (she doesn’t seem to notice if they’re folded or not, unfortunately!), pushing the basket all over the house, pulling her baby food and snacks out of the cupboards (which I thought didn’t need to have a latch on them, but after picking up a container of Gerber fruit/veggiie puffs from 3 different rooms, and cleaning up a spilled container of goldfish crackers, I might change my mind!). I’m either feeding her – which is a tedious job and doesn’t allow time to eat myself – or cleaning her and her mess (from “clearing the tray” onto the floor when she’s tired of food), or picking things up so I don’t break an ankle on a Peek-A-Block, or feeding her again… If I go to the kitchen and do anything that involves food, she feels that she needs to eat and makes desperate little “ooo”s and whimpers, all the while bringing me packages of crackers or puffs. I love it – don’t get me wrong, but she has WORN ME OUT today!

I was going to make a nice entertaining post of milestones for Analise, but now I’m just going to put them here in bullet form before I fall asleep at the keyboard:

• Using a fork – first attempt catapulted a green bean across the room
• Favorite foods – lasagna and any sort of beans, particularly baked beans. If there are beans to be had, she will see them on your plate and “oo-oo-oo” until she’s got some.
• Gerber Fruit/Veggie Puffs – I’m not sure who invented these, but they are making a lot of money from us. Analise is addicted to them – we currently have at least 6 containers of them in our cupboard. She gets frantic when she sees them, whether in their container or in a tupperware. They’re essentially puffed rice with a little flavor, practially no nutritional value until you eat 70 of them (and though she eats a lot of them, Analise only eats about 40 or so a day). And then there is the fun she gets from carrying them around, hearing them shake inside the container…
• Nutrition??? How in the world do you know toddlers are getting any nutrition at all? I try to give her fruits and veggies and meats in a good variety, but she’s so dang picky! One key is that if it’s on my plate first, she’s definitely more interested than if it goes straight to her tray. And then add in the fact that most of the food ends up NOT in her mouth… We have noticed, though, that she has progressed to getting about 50% of food into her mouth, rather than the 15-20% of last month.
• Climbing – She’s just learned to stand up in her little rocking chair, which gets an immediate “no”, of course. But the day after she started that, I turned my back and looked over to find her ON THE COUCH! She’d climbed up onto the rocker and right on up. It’s disconcerting to find your toddler on the couch when they’ve never been there!
• Learning to share – I’m learning, that is. Whatever is on my plate is what she wants. Tonight it was tacos, and the beans/meat topping was her desire. I think I got 1 or 2 beans the whole night. She’d also like everyone else around her to share when I run out – she was “ooo”ing and eyeing everyone else’s beans when my plate was clean. This lesson is especially painful when dessert comes around…

  I think that about sums it up… especially the glowing smile and the big brown eyes in the photos. The whirlwind that is Analise…

  

It’s time to get caught up! I’ve been wanting to recap our trip “up north” last month for a long time, so settle in:)

First off,
Happy Anniversary to Steve and Corrie, Dena and Dan, and Anna and Hal – all celebrating in the last week. We love you guys and pray many blessings on your lives together!

Our first destination was Iowa to see my sister and her husband, but on our way there, we were able to stop at my cousin’s in Evansville, IN for dinner. Analise enjoyed getting to meet her cousins Mia and Cooper. I wish we were closer so that Analise and Mia could play together more often!

We drove through the night to arrive in Waverly, IA at 5am. My grandma and her husband drove over from Indiana, and my parents came down from Wisconsin, so we had a mini family reunion. The highlight was celebrating Analise’s birthday and Father’s Day. Analise got her own mini bundt cake complete with a candle (top picture). Analise was very meticulous with her gifts, tearing tiny pieces off the wrapping one at a time. When she saw both the Baby Einstein DVD and book, she was excited and looked them both over intently (above). Below, Analise is enjoying Brian’s first Father’s Day gift, the book Daddy Kisses.

While in Iowa, we visited with a friend I met in Nicaragua, Tami, and her husband Ryan. See Brian’s previous post and the super cute video of Analise “cat fishing”.

After Iowa, we headed to Wisconsin for a week in the “home country” of Shell Lake. *SIGH* It’s always good to go home, isn’t it? Though it was oppressively hot and humid (more like Alabama weather!), we saw lots of people and had a relaxing week. One highlight was seeing my old friend, Meg, and her 2 1/2 year-old son, Simeon, and enjoying ice cream (above). We also met my college roommate, Dena, and her son, Derek, in Wausau for an afternoon at the splash park (below). Our little monkeys were too busy trying to drive the tractor to smile at the camera, and you can see my anxious hands in the left corner and Dena’s reaching hands in the right:)

TO BE CONTINUED…

We’re road-tripping to South Carolina with Tom and Beverly (Brian’s parents) to visit his Grandma Anne Toone. We’ll meet a bunch of family, too, as a reunion and celebrating Grandma’s 80th birthday are on the agenda. I’ve got a bunch I want to blog – specially catching up from our last trip! – so you might find something if you check back while we’re gone. Maybe I’ll go blog crazy and get caught up! We’ll be back on Monday night. See ya then!

Here’s the pictoral run-down of the Big Event! I love the picture above – Analise modeling her heirloom dress after the party. It was worth the effort (see here for the background story). She looked like an angel, and not even I noticed all the little flaws that I’ve been listing in my head. (There are more detailed pictures of the dress at the end of the blog.)

We had a great time yesterday celebrating Analise’s 1st year with our Alabama friends and family. I finished Analise’s beautiful, handmade smocked dress at 10:30 Friday night, while Brian wrapped her gifts. With some great organized help from my in-laws, we had a relatively easy morning getting everything together to get all our stuff to the park for the shindig. The only bumps in the road were Brian forgetting the presents, and the Toones forgetting the fruit, both easily remedied by a couple quick trips.

It was in the upper 80’s but we had a covered area decked out for the picnic. A few Baby Einstein decorations, Jim Nick’s BBQ pork and chicken, baked beans, chips and queso dip, fresh fruit and a plethora of cake:)

Analise was thoroughly impressed to have a sizable 2-layer cake (NOT the one in the picture above, but in the 3-cake picture, the bottom right) all her own (free, courtesy of Publix bakery!), and she diligently squished it all over, and even tried eating it with a fork, below. After all the confusion over the cakes, I have to say I was partial to the cheaper cake from Publix over the high-end bakery cake. But every sure enjoyed having all the cake to sample – and there was more than enough!

She wanted to touch anyone nearby, but we all stayed just out of reach to avoid being smeared with chocolate buttercream. The only way to get her clean was by hosing her off!

We took a little hike up the hill to the waterfalls we discovered a few weeks ago. It was fun to share the unexpected treasure in the middle of suburbia with our friends. I think they were duly impressed:) Here’s part of the birthday crowd – the Kawell family and all the Toones.

Last, we let Analise enjoy her presents. She got a great new metallic soccer ball, a Leapfrog caterpillar pal, a cute bunny bath towel, an orange stuffed dog, and a Leapfrog Fridge Farm. The latter allows you to put together animal parts, like the front half of a purple cow and the back half of a pink pig. It tells you what you’ve created in a funny little song, and it also has a little banjo number that’s causing Analise to bounce up and down with excitement. Very cute! It’s our personal favorite. Sidenote: It’s always helpful to get toys for your little one that you will enjoy too – makes you more likely to sit down and play with them! Here’s a sweet picture that Brian caught of Analise and uncle Matthew walking to the playground.

Finally, here are a few more detailed pictures of the dress. The first one below is the back of the dress. The top of the dress is “smocked” or pleated and embroidered. The embroidery was the easiest part. Then after the dress is put together, the satin ribbons are woven into the embroidery – much harder than you’d think. The ribbons tie at the back. (There needs to be 1 or 2 more snaps so it doesn’t gape as it does in the picture.) The lower picture shows the smocking/ribbons up close. I’m glad I did it… but I’m glad I’m done. Back to a low difficulty hobby like scrapbooking for a while. I think I have enough pictures to keep me busy!

We visited our friend’s Tammy and Ryan in Iowa, and had a great time cooking out and
relaxing in the country. We relaxed partly by shooting potatos at a sign in the yard
using Ryan’s homemade potato gun (handy for tossing t-shirts at church youth events). My
brother-in-law Hal is a potato gun sharp-shooter hitting the sign twice.

To get there, I rode my bike from Waverly (about 70 miles away) to Elgin
and enjoyed much of the northeastern Iowa rolling hills and valleys.

After dinner, we sat around and talked and watched Analise play with the cats.
Download a 1 minute video: MPG (4.5 MB)
Or watch the video: Stream (Real Player)

It’s Party Time! We’re getting ready for Analise’s first birthday party tomorrow.
Here’s a map, satelite photo, and a topographic map of the location. We’ll probably
hike the 100 yards up to the waterfall at some point during the party.

We’re all excited!

Cake Dilemmas. Kristine was trying to order a cake for Analise’s birthday party this weekend.
At first, she had succumbed to ordering from a wonderful place called Edgar’s bakery,
which has the best tasting cakes around. It’s a bit more expensive though, and
the round cake she had ordered was said to feed 12-16. She was going to make
cupcakes to supplement the cake needs. Then last night we celebrated Great-Grandma
Locke’s birthday with a tasty cake from the Publix grocery store bakery. So we decided
to go with a Public cake instead of the Edgar’s cake. But when she called to cancel the Edgar’s
cake, they had already started the cake and could not cancel the order. So now we have
two cakes, a free toddler mini-cake from Publix, and no cupcakes. Three cakes for a
very special birthday girl!

If you can’t make it to the party and want to see a video of our toddler giggling up
a storm playing with a cat at a friend’s house in Iowa on our vacation last week, then
read the next post!

Ok, just so you know where I’m at right now, I’ll share my TO DO list before the birthday party this weekend:

• Finish smocked birthday dress. This is the neverending project. People pay $50+ for these dresses, and I can now see why. Just when I think I’m close to being done, I’m not. AG.
• Scrapbook one page for each month of Analise. This was a high hope I had, but its not going to happen. Bummer, because it would be far more relaxing than working on this silly (but pretty!) dress.
• Make queso dip. Sat. am project in the slow cooker.
• Make fruit salad. I think my wonderful mother-in-law is going to take care of this (fingers-crossed!!).
• Make cupcakes (to supplement cake).
• Wrap birthday gifts. Thankfully, there are only 3.
• Pick up BBQ and beans at Jim Nick’s BBQ. (Sat. am) Mmm, makes me hungry already!
• Pick up birthday cake from Edgar’s bakery. (Sat. am) I had hoped to do it myself, but now I’m being realistic.
• Pray it’s not 90 degrees or storming during party time!
• Chase my busy little toddler around. To be done in between all above activities, leaving no time to catch my breath. She’s a busy girl!

Ok, so you probably won’t hear from me until after the party. But I’ll be back this weekend to post a fun recap of the event. It’s started small, but it’s growing to be quite the gathering! Wish y’all could join us!