Woznation

Wil really got into Easter this year!  Last week, we attended the Easter Egg Hunt at Patterson Park.  Last year, it rained and they moved it indoors to a very small school.  And, Im sorry to say, it was miserable.  I forget if I have a post on it or not.  This year – outdoors – it was wonderful!!!  And pure chaos! In a good way.  They had all the parents with the kids (Wils age group 0-3) stand around the outside of then pen, with all the eggs in the middle.  Then they counted down from 10 and had everyone just run in and have at it!  Phil was smart and grabbed a handful of the eggs for his sweatshirt, so when Wil dropped his or older kids took them, Phil would just toss one or two out right in front of Wil for him to ‘find’ and put in his basket.  Genius.

(For all the galleries, you can click on one and they will open-up for a clickable slideshow)

Then for Easter, we dyed eggs and had an Easter basket.  We tried to get him to have some Eater ham, but Wil is still a strict vegetarian.

Both sets of grandparents had sent some fun presents for him.  He had a great time opening and playing with his new goodies.  Yaaay for fun family-filled holidays.  Happy Easter everyone!

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I attended a statistical conference in Orlando during the week of spring break.  Luckily, that meant Mark and Char could come help watch Wil while I was away.  Since Phil commutes so long each day, he would have to work very short days in order to drop-off and pick-up Wil at daycare;  with Mark and Char here, Phil could work his normal hours and they got some one-on-one time with the only grand-baby!

Everyone had a great time.  Wil has learned to ham-it-up in front of the camera, giving his best ‘CHEESE’ whenever Busia and Dziadzia had their phones out.  He loved playing with Dziadzia’s hat and Busia’s necklaces.  He learned to say ‘IU’ just in time for the Big Ten Tournament.  Mark and Char brought some new Lego blocks for Wil, too!! Wilek loves stacking them together and saying ‘TA-DA’. Everyone had lots of fun at the park, a trip to DC, the library, and fun with new toys at home.  Thanks for coming Busia and Dziadzia! Wil had a great time!

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In the last 6 weekends: I was in Denver, Phil was in Yuma, we both went to Phoenix, Annakate came to visit, and Celia came to visit. Oh, and I turned 30.  I have also been working full time thanks to 2 extra projects I picked up, on top of my normal teaching and research hours.  So weekdays and weekends have been full to the brim! Its been a whirlwind!!   I know I owe people some emails and thank you notes; Im pretty sure there are some bills that need to be paid; and I should probably catch up on laundry eventually…..But, hey, its been a good few weeks.  Phil and I both have a few more trips planned in the next 14 days.  But things should finally slow down by mid-March.

When Annakate came to visit, we checked out the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, which is one of the oldest parts of Baltimore.  It had cute little homes and book stores.  Then that night, Annakate and I got gussied up and went to the fanciest restaurant in Baltimore, Charleston.   Except, instead of getting $300 tasting menus,   we sat at the bar and ordered dessert 🙂  Then on Sunday we headed down to DC for a quick walking tour, and hopped into the Natural History Museum!  It was a perfect visit!

When Celia and Dave came to visit, Phil and I did a first – we hired a babysitter!!  We have had babysitters in bloomington (and randomly in DC when we did the army 10 miler), but we have somehow never hired a babysitter to come to our house in Baltimore before! Miss Wendie, from Wil’s daycare center, came over to watch him for the afternoon while the 4 of us went out to watch the IU vs Purdue game down at Canton Square.  We finished the afternoon off at Romans, our favorite dive-bar down on Decker.  Then came back and ate cake for my birthday.  Nothing beats a  birthday with your best friend!!

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Phil takes work trips to Yuma, AZ often and always flies through Phoenix to get there.  With his flight paid for, we always said it would be so great if I could come along and see my sister at the same time!!  So the timing finally worked out that Wil and I could come along!  Phil went to Yuma at the end of January – and I met him in Arizona with Wil when his project was over where we spent 4 days with the Harrisons.  That also meant – I got to take the longest flight to-date with Wil, ALONE.  but Im happy to report that a tablet full of sesame streets kept him happy for most of the trip!

The rest of the visit was glorious!!  Wendy and Nate’s house is gorgeous, huge, and kid-friendly – Making this one of the best trips we’ve taken in a long time.  I think Wil thought that he was at a theme park for the whole 4 days.  He loved playing with all the new toys, his cousin Luke, and even stopped and waved at baby Elise a few times, haha.  On Saturday, we went to the zoo, then out to eat for Nate’s birthday, then came home to watch the IU game.  On Sunday, we went to the train park and came back to watch Baltimore win the Super Bowl!!  On Monday we were able to go see Wendy’s campus before heading back to the east coast.

Thanks for hosting us guys!!  We had such a great time!!

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I finally was able to compile pictures from our christmas in bloomington.  Wil had a rough few days with some molars coming in and an undiagnosed illness.  He was quite grumpy and wasnt very cooperative with the camera, but he was starting to get back to his old self by the end of the trip. We even had an extra few days of vacation thanks to some snow that cancelled our flight home!  Wil got to go sledding for the first time (in some questionable ‘snow gear’).  I took nearly zero pictures but was able to get some from Wendy, Char, and my Mom.  Thanks guys for catching these memories!

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***Yikes  – I had this all set to post the day before we left for Indiana, but never hit publish! Better late than never!  Working on a Christmas in Bloomington post!***

We took Wil to see Santa again this year!  It started off well, with minimal fussing getting into his fancy clothes.  He was looking pretty dapper:

Until we actually got up to the big guy.  Then we werent too happy.

Hahaha.  I love it.  Santa was very nice about the whole thing.  Santa also came to daycare today, and apparently Wilek’s whole room (1.25 to 2 year olds)  all cried.  Babies and Preschoolers are fine.  Wil’s age — not so much.  Maybe next year!

We also got a small tree at home.  Wil seems to like the lights and ornaments when hes held up close, but since its on the table hes not that interested most of the time.

Hes changed so much in a year!

Merry Christmas all!

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Halloween was kind of a bust this year.  I had a late meeting and wasnt able to pick up Wil til nearly 6. We missed the first round of trick-or-treaters.  Wil was not a huge fan of the Yoda costume – mainly the head-piece.  And it was a pretty chilly night to sit on the porch.  But we got dressed up and did the song and dance for a few pictures.  We still have a few trick-or-treaters come by (but had lots of left over candy – yum!).

We had done pumpkins the weekend before.  I tried to get Wil involved and thought he would like feeling the seeds inside the pumpkin, but I was wrong.  I guess hes not really into slimy things yet.  But once they were cleaned out, he enjoyed taking the tops on and off.  I saw a cute idea to trace his hands and carve them on the pumpkin.  (It of course didnt turn out quite like the tutorial! ha.  Im not very crafty).  I made the other much simpler.

I think next year he’ll be ready to walk around the neighborhood and it’ll be much more exciting!

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We have been in autumn mode over here.  Everything has been fall, pumpkins, hay rides, and petting zoos! We went to a pumpkin patch a few weeks ago where they had burlap sack slides, goats and turkeys, tractor rides, and hay mazes.  Then just last night, they had a small lantern festival in the park where you could go ‘pumpkin hunting’ in some hay and all the kids dressed up in costumes to walk around the park with lanterns (we forgot ours.).

Its been lots of fun!  We are finally carving pumpkins today!!  I think Wil will really like sticking his hands in all the seeds.  I’ll get some Halloween and pumpkin carving pictures up at the end of the week!

Phil had a trip out to Yuma so he got to stop by my sisters in Phoenix and meet baby Elise!  Who made her way into the world on September 27th!  I also wanted to throw in a picture of Wil throwing a tantrum and with his morning hair.  Enjoy.

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