monday night flashback #30

dating grant was easy. well, it was after i called to ask him out for the first time (two weeks after our second first date [that's a story for another day]). we got along swimmingly, never argued or tortured each other with silly mind games. 

the *second most stressful moment for me in our relationship was when i had to decide on a valentine's gift. i mentioned that date briefly in this post. i knew grant was planning something special and at the last minute i decided i should give him something. i wrestled with thoughts of doing something nice without doing anything too serious. we still hadn't kissed and i'm pretty sure we hadn't even used the terms "boyfriend/girlfriend" with each other yet. this is making me laugh now but i was having serious anxiety over it at the time. i ended up getting him a ten-pack of ice breakers gum (maybe i was expecting a valentine's first kiss and wanted it to be minty...).

grant picked me up in his mom's fancy trooper a few minutes after i got back from the store. i awkwardly handed him the gum and felt silly for worrying so much when he didn't give me anything. he played his cassette tape full of brazilian music and we went to dinner at rodizio grill (which has since been turned into a p.f. changs). grant tried to order guava juice but confused the waiter by asking for "goiaba" (portuguese for guava). after dinner we got back in the car and he handed me an express giftcard. he had me pegged as someone who likes buying clothes for herself, an apt assessment. 

i bring this all up now because we bought some book cases this past week and while i was digging through trinkets to display, i found these:

does this mean i can't claim to be non-sentimental? grant is more sentimental than i am. he actually taped  up a pack of the gum and carried it around in his pocket for a while (something i didn't learn until after we'd been married for a while):

i was very impressed that grant would walk into a women's clothing store solo to get the giftcard for me. and that he paid enough attention to know what my favorite store was. he's such a keeper. 

*the most stressful moment, if you're curious, was when grant said, "is it ok to say 'i love you'?" (this was two days after our first kiss) it was stressful, not because i didn't have feelings for him, but because i wasn't comfortable expressing said feelings. i think i said something like, "i really really really really like you" that night and the three scary words a week later. 

as for the book cases, we've needed some more for a while. grant regularly has piles of library books lying around and i've wanted to show of my souvenirs for ages now. 

grant put them together while the girls colored:

they became crazier and crazier:

and ended up staining their pajama knees:

awesome.

also awesome, but not in a sarcastic way:

we just wanted to emphasize how small our t.v. is.

and now a quick recap of mother's day. grant bought me the most beautiful shoes:

i love them so, so much! hazel drew me this lovely picture:

hazel (on the right) is handing me a sunflower that is thinking "love". check out the eyebrows. 

my picture from lucy:

grant wrote lucy's explanation, "all raindrops are coming because it's raining. and this is the thunder. she likes it..."

grant let me take a nap, before making me dinner and a tasty chocolate cake. and the girls went to bed in time for us to watch the newest episode of sherlock. a very good day.

and look how good lucy is getting at writing her name:

valentine's 2012

our celebrations began on february 8th, with a playgroup potluck lunch and valentine exchange:

after eating we passed out our valentines:

my craftiness knew no bounds:

trick-or-treat bag + paper heart = valentine receptacle. genius.

the girls had plenty of room to go crazy playing with their friends:

they were also able to decorate a sugar cookie each:

on valentine's proper the girls received small gifts from us:

each got her own box of chocolates, toy car, and hairbrush:

lucy was so happy to get a brush "just wike rapunzel's!"

later we made some more sugar cookies to decorate:

just look how tasty:

knives were only licked once or twice.

it was a good, happy day.

hearts for everyone

2 years ago:

last year:

 today:

they are the cutest.

i cry the day . . .

. . . that i take the tree down.

 

but only when it poked me as i de-fluffed it. i won't miss the cat tempting fate by chewing on the wires. i will miss the pretty shadows on the wall:

morning and night:

luckily, we were able to rectify our holiday faux pas and took a family picture in our sunday bests yesterday:

we're all looking at the camera! a festivus miracle.

we even tried to include oliver but by then lucy was done.

 now on to the next holiday:

bidding a sweet adieu

we'll be without interwebs (again) starting tomorrow or friday. cricket was a quick-fix and now that the happiness of having access to the 'nets has worn off, its inconsistent speeds (particularly slow at night)  are starting to annoy us. so, i've done the unthinkable: i signed us up for comcast. we've had a beef with them for years though we've never been direct customers. for the first 5 years of marriage, grant and i lived without the internet and cell phones (the golden years for grant. he really does not love technology [he took a hammer to a phone he thought was broken once. good times.]). anyway, one sunny day a comcast person, who was installing something for someone else, knocked on our door. grant answered, let him say his part, and told him we weren't interested. when pressed, grant said we were students and couldn't afford it. the man actually scoffed and said, "what? you can't afford 30 bucks a month?" hence the bad taste in our mouths when we think of them. since at&t and cricket haven't worked out, and since we'd rather go with an established company: comcast it is. assuming they are better prepared to handle installations, we'll be back up in a week.

valentine's has been lingering around here (i took the next couple pictures yesterday. i don't think that balloon is ever going away...):

and i'm not sure oliver's a fan:

the girls enjoyed their special treats from grandma:

this monday for family night, we made some dinosaur cookies. i used the cookie recipe from here and used brown sugar. a very tasty switch. we brushed them with an almond extract-spiked glaze:

and then covered them in sprinkles:

they didn't look much like dinosaurs but they sure were yummy:

and finally, we seem to be making progress:

farewell, cyberspace! we hope to be back soon . . .

ps. i almost forgot to mention the most important thing: saturday is the big day!!! yep, folks, grant (maybe) and I (can you believe it?!) will be running 13.1 miles. on the beach. in 60-70 degree [humid] weather. i'm very excited and can't wait for the weekend! i'm only sorry i won't be able to blog about it for a little while. but rest assured you will receive a full [possibly over-detailed] report on my return.

mes amours

hazel made her daddy a beautiful valentine's card. she was pretty excited about the hearts she drew:

we didn't do anything big for the holiday. friday night was our babysitting swap so grant and i were able to go see true grit, after the fastest eating of panda express this side of . . . something. fancy, fancy. yesterday we kept it simple: i made a delicious dinner that actually included vegetables. cooked vegetables. and i ate it. then we all sat down and watched despicable me. lucy laughed so hard whenever anyone got hurt. hazel just looked concerned the whole time but said she liked it. 

grant fell asleep. excusable considering he's up by 5 most mornings. this semester is as predicted: crazy busy and crazy stressful. grant has so much on his plate, i'm pretty sure i couldn't name all of it, and he's a perfectionist/overachiever (he actually got an A+ in one of his classes last year. i didn't think that was even a possibility in grad school). anyway, he's smart and works hard. the only way i can help him is by making his flash cards, which he uses to write his vocabulary words on (we have hundreds of these for coptic, syriac, greek and hebrew):

i didn't think it would be a big deal: cut the note cards in half and punch a hole in them. it was slightly more involved: the hole punch had to be on the red line.

so i had at it. grant concentrated on writing out his words and i hole-punched away:

it didn't go quite as smoothly as i'd planned: i punched the hole on the wrong side:

grant has since forgiven me, probably because i made this for him.

i thought i'd throw this in for you, mom:

my mom made that teddy bear for me when i was, i don't know, around 10 years old. in the past few months, lucy has decided it's hers and can't sleep without it. and since we have a picture of lucy sleeping, we'd better have one of hazel:

they're so precious.

i forgot to add that even though we talked about not getting each other anything, grant went with the girls to the bookstore to buy me this book (because he knows i'm a fan). he's such a trooper. he asked where it was and headed back to find that it wasn't there. then waited in line to ask again, got some dirty looks from the man with the complicated order ahead of him (who even made snide comments about grant, who was holding lucy, letting hazel walk around), was told that the shipment never came and gave up. he's such a sweetheart. i've since ordered my copy and can't wait to get it!