Mom's Birthday

Mom had a birthday today...her age will remain unknown...you can guess. It is hard to imagine that a year ago she was not an abuela but this year she has 2 grandsons. How life goes by. Mom I love you thanks for all you do and have done.

Aaron's First Baseball Game

Last night we took Aaron to his first baseball game. We have a local minor league team and so we did a full night including the food and game. It rained before and after the game but was very nice for the actual game it was nice. The final score was 4 to 3 for Curve.
One of the mascots...Diesel Dawg. The team is the curve named after the Horseshoe Curve. SO the the mascots are named after train actives. The other mascot is Steamer a green smoke stack.

Another special part was that Grandpa Graffius was there with his brother Uncle Weston and his wife Carol. So there was 4 generations at the ball game. A very enjoyable evening Aaron stayed up past bedtime.

Memorial Day (Decoration Day)

I am slow but I am not totally late. The original Memorial Day was the 30th of May. It began after the Civil War. And with all that went on this weekend I did take sometime to reflect on the service of those in the military. Sometimes you think of other people serving or that is the army a blob of unknown people. But when I took a minute to think the number serving or have served is high. Both my grandfathers, grandma Lorna (nurse in WW2), my brother and my cousin Seth, these are only the immediate family. If I consider the extended family of second cousins, great uncles, etc. there are many. I encourage you to consider those who have served and are serving and say thank you. I am not sure that I could but I appreciate the freedom they protect. THANK YOU! Our weekend included visits from friends and family alike. This is Chris with his youngest Hannah. They took time out of their holiday to drive up to Pennsylvania. Thanks.
This is all three kids together. (Aaron, Ryan, and Hannah)
Aaron meets his great grandpa Graffius for the first time. Yes there was ice cream but it wasn't the Meadows.
We finally got to use our deck furniture. We had a picnic that included friends and family.
Tuesday was a big day for me. We left Aaron for the day with Abuela(this was a first). It made shopping easier but it did feel a little weird. Perry and I do clothing and shoe shopping once a year and this was the day. Aaron did great and I did fine. It was a nice day with my hubby.

Amanda's New Hair Cut

Before... After...This is a self portrait so it is only so so, but you get the drift It is shoulder length, layered and I have a little bit of a bang.

You may have noticed that my hair was getting pretty long. When it is long 95% of the time it is up. I had decided that when Aaron came I would get it cut. So after a 1 year plus with one trim in the middle, today was the big day. I went to the local votech. Yes this may sound strange but it is a great place to get a hair cut. Yes they are students but they are under teachers and so they want to do a good job; they get graded. At our votech they do hair cuts, perms, pedicures and manicures. Not only do they do a great job but my wash, haircut and style was only 6 dollars. The only drawback is that the students are sometimes slow because they want to do it right. The teacher cut my hair and the student a first year student dried and curled it. It took 2 hours. It may not look like it but it is wash and wear. I also gave them free range but you don't have too. By the way the votech also does state car inspections. You might want to check out your area votech or community college you might just find a good deal.

Everyday life

How life has changed. This is a day in my life with Aaron

5:30AM Aaron wakes up and wants a bottle

7:00AM Breakfast

9:00AM Aaron has nap...I try to get stuff done

9:45 AM Nap is over

10:00AM Aaron Bath

12:00PM Lunch

2:00PM Aaron nap

2:45PM Bottle

3:00PM Maybe second nap for Aaron

5:00PM Feed Aaron

7:20 PM Perry home dinner sometimes on

8:00-9:00PM Put Aaron to bed

9:30PM Go to sleep myself

Doesn't seem like a lot to the outside world but when the day is done I am tired and exhausted.

Odds and Ends

It has been a good week. I am finding a routine that works for both Aaron and me. Aaron crawled on Wednesday. He also has gotten two teeth. He loves to go for walks in the stroller. He prefers to be outside but it has been too cold. David and Kim hooked us up in the long sleeved clothes department. We had our first official pictures taken. The fellow who was to take them had a family emergency so we went to plan B...Walmart.

Of importance today is Perry and my anniversary. We have been married six years. I am thankful daily that I waited for the right man. I am thankful God gave me the perfect man for me. I am reminded daily of his thoughtfulness especially as we figure out this parent thing. He has given me rests and tolerated a crazy house. He looks for ways to be helpful. Thanks I Love you.

Mother's Day

David had a brillant idea to cook for the men to cook for the family for dinner. So there was grilling, macaroni salad, guacamole(one of Aaron's favorite foods) and too much food in general. Dad had an aweful lot of comments for just being responisble for the beans.
Perry was the official griller.
The rest of us played with the babies. The final result was good food and fun.