Monkeying Around

Forts are awesome. Dad can sleep while
Ira plays

Ira had a little trouble sharing with a friend we were
babysitting, until he realized there was enough to go around.

Getting creative with the snow.

I hope no one saw me eat that yellow snow...

Dad trying to imitate Ira's camera smile

Exploring music has been fun, I wish we lived near my sister
Tiffany so she could teach him.

Ira - Two Year Celebration

What a wonderful two years it has been having Ira in our lives. Many people we meet tell us to 'enjoy him like this' while he is small and sweet, but he has only become more enjoyable as he gets older. We are particularly enjoying dance parties(that we have to have every night before bed), potty training (which he is finally catching on to), and his general curiosity.

For his birthday we decided it would be fun to get up close to some fire trucks, one of his other passions as of late.

We visited the Ypsilanti Fire department with some friends
including his cousin Janet (above)

He had his usual, silent, awe struck child enthusiasm as he soaked
in the experience.

He got to turn the lights on and off

His favorite was sitting in the back of the cab. He didn't want to get out.
We had to convince the fire Captain that he was really enjoying himself
despite his experssion.

His friends that came along. I love that he wore his (fire) boots and
is standing to attention here.

Sharon made an awesome fire truck cake for him. It was a surprise.

The happy two year old (thanks for the shirt Camille),
we got him a little train whistle that he loves.

Ira showing his dance moves off to cousin Janet.

Let the holiday traditions begin

Christmas Eve has arrived! I'm actually a little disappointed in myself, I really didn't have Christmas on my mind much until yesterday. For those who don't know, we finally heard the 4th and last rotation for the program I'm in will be in Danbury, Connecticut. We will move the first week of February.  With such a short timeline the last few weeks and days have been full of distractions and the sudden urge to make sure things wrap up smoothly with this rotation. It wasn't until yesterday I realized how unprepared I was for the Christmas. I shamefully admit I was one of those people running frantically through stores picking up 'last minute' gifts yesterday. One would hope I had made more progress since my teenage years when my brothers and I would go Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve; one day is all the progress I can report.

Luckily, we are staying in Michigan for both Christmas and New Years. We will be starting our own family traditions as this will be our first Christmas with a child, away from family. We kicked things off today with a Christmas Eve Aebelskiver brunch. You may remember me mentioning my family making them for Christmas in an earlier post. We received the strange and ever so helpful Aebelskiver pan as a gift this year and couldn't wait to put it to use. You can find the recipe I use here. What are some of your favorite holiday food traditions?

He really liked them, despite his the disgust on his face.  It's really just his camera smile.

We wrapped presents and braved putting them under the tree today. Ira has been good about not playing with them. He can feel the excitement in the air, and loves all the sugary things to eat. He's been pretty cute and funny the last couple of days. What would a family post be without some highlights of him.

He loves helping out in the kitchen. He insists, "No, I do it"

You can't let those beaters go un-licked!

He likes all the shiny and glittery ornaments everywhere. We decided to do some Christmas Art with some old glitter glue we had lying around.

The Ira in boots picture of the day. He's still obsessed with them. Since he can put them on himself you never know when he will come around the corner and be wearing them.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Fall Festival

Every place we move we try to get a feel for the community. Belleville had a family Fall Festival event yesterday and we decided to check it out. They had closed off the block where the Belleville history museum and library sit and people had set up a few little tables with activities and arts and crafts. They had a miniature old steam engine that looked like a tractor/train that was hooked up to a little corn husker or some sort of harvester. Ira really liked that. There was also a good showing from the local art community, which is amateur at best, but very expressive of the personality of the community.

Sharon and Ira at the Belleville Museum.

 They had some old chores for everyone to try out. I tried out the corn husker.

 Sharon took a stab at hand washing and ringing the clothes. It helped her appreciate our little and often less than stellar, but automatic washing and dryer.

 We even found a job Ira could do.

 The main street was lined with scarecrows that local businesses had created.

 The tin man - a little bit of irony in that one

 A weird moose thing

It was a classic small town America event, that made us want to go jump in a pile of leaves and go ask strangers for candy.  Ah, autumn.