February Wrap-Up

It's been awhile again since I've written about what we've been up to over here.  Let's back up a few weeks and wrap up February.

Valentine's Day at our place was fantastic.  John got Megan a big pink rubber ball which she loves!  I got a beautiful bouquet of daisies from Megan since John knows how I feel about him buying me flowers - there was no way I could get mad if Megan got them for me.  Megan got John and me some framed photos of her with each of us - she is so sweet!.  John and I did not go out this year.  Instead, I turned our kitchen and dining room into Red Lobster and we ate at home.  We feasted on crab legs and shrimp scampi accompanied by a salad, strawberries, baked potatoes and steamed broccoli.  It was delicious and I did enjoy eating the crab legs here at home more than in the restaurant.  And they were so easy to prepare - just boil for about 4 minutes!

I am officially ready for spring and my car seconds that.  The snowy roads and my little Saturn have not been cooperating lately.  I should have been keeping track of all the Mondays that I had to drive Megan in to G&G Lewis' place with freshly fallen snow.  Last Monday was Presidents' Day but we had also gotten dumped on the day before.  Luckily for me many people were off of school and work so the traffic allowed me to get into Minnetonka with no issues.  Getting to the cities was not a problem, it was actually getting into my in-law's neighborhood that did not go well.  As I tried to go up South Street I soon realized that would not be an option and started to back down.  Problem was I didn't back up straight and ended up in a snow bank.  Good thing for cell phones because I was able to call Valerie who grabbed a shovel and a couple neighbors to come help dig me out.  John Sr. was busy digging out his own car from the driveway so he could come get Megan from where I was at so I didn't have to try the back way into the neighborhood.   

This past Sunday John and I had another opportunity to play our instruments in the Trinity Orchestra.  John was able to rearrange his work schedule to make it to Wednesday night's rehearsal.  However, there was also a mandatory store meeting scheduled for Sunday morning slightly interfering with the church service.  John, being the mastermind he is, came up with the almost perfect way to sneak out of the meeting early.  He wanted me to send him a text around 7 saying I was having car problems and needed to leave.  I couldn't believe he was asking me to lie like that, and on a Sunday for that matter!  The plan wasn't executed the best since I forgot to send the message until quarter after.  John still made it in time for the service, just missed a little bit of the rehearsal.  It was a beautiful service.  We played on the three hymns and did an arrangement of Be Thou My Vision during the offering.  Both of my parents and John's mother were able to make it to church to hear us play - and I think watching Megan was just an added bonus!  They reported that Megan really got into our postlude which was a medley of spirituals like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and Oh, When the Saints.   We're looking forward to our next performance on Easter!

The roads were a little deceiving yesterday too.  Driving home after church there were several times when I tried to brake and actually caused the car to skid.  Once I wasn't able to straighten out or stop while fishtailing and ended up gently running into a small bank of snow on the side of the street.  My car and I am fine, just a little embarassed since John and my parents were both there to witness. 

We finally got all our Christmas returns and exchanges done within the past couple weeks.  Thanks to the Explorer's 4-wheel drive we were able to brave the elements and get stuff accomplished on some of the nasty weekends.  We still need to run out again this weekend to pick up stuff for Megan's upcoming b-day party.  Megan also got a pair of new fishies Saturday.  The new yellow/orange fish and orange & black fish look great and provide great contrast to the others we had previously and are good replacements of a couple that ended up dying that we got the last time.

I think that about covers it.  Otherwise we've just been hanging out here enjoying Megan.  I'm still trying to get organized and get into a cleaning groove - not working!

Another Home Depot Apron

Today Megan spent the day with Daddy and Grandpa Lewis at the Home & Patio Show at the River Center. She had a blast walking through all the booths helping Daddy collect free stuff, smiling at the visitors and getting her usual attention, and watching Grandpa's plumbing demonstration. While Grandpa's class was going on Megan was given a Kid's Workshop apron. It's still a little too big on her but is oh so cute. John and Megan almost got to be on an interview with Kare 11 about the show until they found out that John wasn't a normal visitor, he is a Home Depot employee. Shucks, but Megan sure caught their eye!

I think Megan needs to be made the official 'Home Depot mascot' since she looks so good in orange and her hair matches the apron! Plus, I think she could really help sell a lot of merchandise.

 

Megan's New "Do"

I'm sure you've all noticed Megan's new hairstyle in several of the recent pictures I've put up. We got the idea from cousin Alexa and it looks good on both girls. It is also my attempt to help Megan look like more of a girl. (John's still getting comments from Home Depot customers who look at Megan's Christmas picture and think she's a boy... you can also look at the eagle pictures below and see what I mean...)

She generally lets me put the binder in with no problem and doens't touch it at all through the day so this is working out really well. At first she wanted to keep looking up to see what I'm doing but she seems to have gotten used to it! I'm glad because this is a super cute look!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Home Depot Customer Appreciation Weekend

To compete with the new Menards opening up in Eden Prairie, the Home Depot decided to have a customer event this weekend.  John worked on Saturday so I drove Megan in to see the exotic birds, primarily parrots.  This trainer was nice enough to let Megan pet both the blue and white parrots.  She also tried to get the white one to sit on Megan's arm.  Although Megan had no idea what was going on and will never remember this, it was worth it to see her face light up with big, big smiles.



Today, Sunday, the bald eagle was featured!  This is John's favorite bird and probably favorite animal and he was so proud to show it to Megan.  No one was allowed to touch the eagle but we were still able to get close for a few photos.  She was absolutely beautiful!  She weighs only about 11 pounds but sure looks bigger than that.  Megan was a little drowsy at this point but did a good job of keeping her hands to herself.

There was also free hot dogs, popcorn, root beer floats, games and face painting for kids. We didn't think Mean would hold still long enough to get her face painted so we opted for cute painted-on earings instead.  You can see them in the first couple pictures.

Here's one last picture of Megan hanging out in the breakroom right before leaving.  She had a fun weekend visiting the Home Depot!

Too Cute Tuesday: Cruise Pictures

One might say I 'had my chance'... But I'm glad I convinced the pirates to let John come back home with me ;)

I showed this pirate who's boss...  Rrrrrrrrr

John had a big job to do... holding the two ships apart.  (Our ship, Majesty of the Seas, was on the right, while its sister ship, Monarch of the Seas, was on the left.

I guess I really am that short...  I'm standing next to a wax figure of the world's largest man at the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum in Key West.

A picture of John and me on formal night.  Our tablemates were nice enough to take some great pictures of the two of us.


Pictures of the towel animals that our room attendant left for us throughout the trip.  Can you tell what they are?  Dog, Elephant and Monkey.  We went to a demonstration on how to make some of these creatures so I surprised our attendant with a turtle and sting ray.

Random Thoughts & Quotes

The weekend before last Megan spent Saturday night at my parents' house.  John had gone fishing with my dad earlier that day and we were at their place a little late celebrating my brother Kevin's birthday so we decided to just leave her be.  It was nice to get a full night's sleep in our own bed and Megan would be dropped off in time for church the next day.  John must have thought I missed Megan because as I was getting ready in the bathroom that morning, he crawled in, opened up my brush and makeup drawer and started tossing things out.  Just like Megan would have if she would have been there.

Last Saturday night we did a grocery run to Mackenthun's.  Megan got a little antsy riding in the shopping cart, so John told me to push it and do the shopping and he would walk with Megan.  They walked hand in hand up and down about 5 or 6 aisles.  She was so proud of herself and did surprisingly well.  If you've ever been to Mackenthun's you know they have a little gifty aread.  You should have seen Megan's face light up as they rounded that corner and she saw all the bright and shiny things!  I think most of the shoppers liked seeing Megan walk, but I'm sure there were plenty of people thinking, "pick that girl up and get out of our way!"

Megan is getting so good at waving hi and bye.  One day before work last week I needed to leave but picked Megan up (who had been laying with John in bed) in order to say goodbye.  As I picked her up, she started waving to John.  I think she wanted to go with me!  Because of her recognition of the word "bye" I also have to watch how I word my sentences.  At our Super Bowl party on Sunday, Megan was holding some toy and I told her to "go by Daddy".  Well, she started waving at John thinking I said "bye Daddy".  Guess I should have said, "Megan, go to Daddy"...

After we got home from my grandparents' place on Sunday we had to do some mad cleaning to get ready for John's parents who were coming over to watch the Super Bowl with us.  John was such a good help during the cleaning efforts and totally initiated and manned the much-needed refrigerator cleaning.  I looked at him and said, "Your parents can come every weekend!"  He instantly knew that I meant they could come because it got them cleaning so he replied with, "I clean for your parents too, you know."  I told him, "Fine, then they can alternate weekends!"

Our Little Stairmaster!

Megan has known how to climb up a flight of stairs for some time now. She still lacks motivation and we mostly have to bribe her with a bottle or pacifier to get her to move. However, just in the past several days, she has become aware that the steps go up, but you also go down. For our set of stairs we have two steps going up to a 3'x4' (or so) landing area, then make a 90 degree turn to your left and continue going up. On the landing area is where we've been storing Megan's Fisher Price barn. She loves to climb up the two steps and play but it always made me nervous because you never know when she would just decide to walk or crawl back to the living area or continue going up the steps on her own. Last week we started working with Megan to go down on her tummy and just late last week she demonstrated to us that she can do this on her own! We still should be somewhere near (definitely behind her when doing the big set) but don't need to worry as much. I actually catch her laying down on on the landing and slowly inching herself back, using her toes to find the edge of the step. It's cute to watch her try to perfect her new talent by repetitively going up, down, up, down.

This morning when we were getting ready to leave for the day, I was standing on the second from the top step wanting Megan to walk towards me so I could pick her up and carry her downstairs. Instead, she stopped walking about two feet before she got to me, dropped to the floor, and started using her feet to try and figure out where the step was to start going down. Only thing was that her head was facing the top of the stairs! I helped Megan manuever her back end around so so it faced the right direction and she could go down a few steps before I lost patience and carried her down the rest of the way.

I think it's great how fast Megan caught on to this concept. Her searching for the steps is just the cutest thing ever! Our own little stairmaster!

Visiting GGG's & Super Bowl

Since John doesn't work many Sundays anymore and because my grandparents hadn't seen Megan in awhile, we decided to pack up and head over to their place after church today for a delicious brunch.  Megan was all in purple, Great-Grandma's faaaavorite color.  At first Megan didn't know what to make their place as she had never been there before, only seen her GGG's at our place and my parents' place.  I hadn't been to their place in quite some time and had even forgot about their end table full of toys which Megan soon tore apart.  Some toys I even played with when I was a child, including the Fisher Price apple that Megan is holding in the pictures below.  We had a very nice visit and Great-Grandma & Grandpa always love seeing little Megan. 

Our Sunday fun didn't stop there.  We had John's parents over tonight for a little Super Bowl party of our own.  It was nice to have some party food and just relax.  Megan is trying to wave to the camera in the picture below.  She was a bundle of energy as usual she always loves spending time with her grandparents!

A Happy Husband at Work

John said to me one day a couple weeks ago, "You know you like your job when you don't mind missing your breaks, having a short lunch or having to stay late". 

That was so good to hear and like music to my ears!  For the eight-some months that he worked at the Chaska store I could tell he wasn't happy.  Now a month back at EP, it is so nice to see John in a better mood and to walk in the door with a smile on his face at the end of the day.  The more regular daytime hours and Sundays-off are an added bonus!