Harry was thrilled to see a big backhoe in the alley behind our house.  We of course had to go check it out!

So handsome!

Wyatt is getting so big!

Look at that smile!

Ok, so he can do it for about 20 seconds until he topples!

Harry at 8 months

Wyatt at 6 1/2 months

I think they look noticeably different, but there are some similarities.  Harry was just so itty-bitty.  It warms my heart to see my little sweeties – they are both just so super cute.  Anyone who’s not super biased like me agree?  I mean c’mon people!  Aren’t these just the cutest boys ever?

I let Harry watch this video and now he wants to go back.

I told him that we might go back if we visit Chicago again.

Now he wants to go to Chicago “Not Now” which means “Right Now!”

OK, we’ll just pack up the van and drive 6 hours.

It was really fun though.  I really would like to go back to this museum sometime!

Making playdough

Finding things to chew on

Painting on the plastic man

OK, this was totally MY favorite part.  If you look closely you can see little dots in a vertical line on the screens.  So, you would go and stand in front of the screen and it would create a really stark shadow.  If you stood under the dots (that were cascading down the screen) they would pile up on top of your shadow.  You could hold out your hand and “catch” the dots too!  Does this make sense?  It was so awesome.  How in the world did it work?

You took your picture with a little camera and your face became the face of the butterfly, bee, or beetle.  It was way funny!  Then you got to fly around different places in Chicago.

Sears Tower

Part of the city

Ginos East Deep Dish Pizza!!!  YUMMMMM!  This pizza had a sausage patty on it that was literally the size of the pizza.  Seriously.  Sausage in every bite!!!  David really liked it, and it was almost too much for me, but still really really good.  Wyatt enjoyed the placemat, napkins, keys, and his pacifier. 

We ended up getting a hotel to stay in  - the Farfield Inn in downtown Chicago.  It was TOTALLY worth it!!!!  Even just to have a place to sleep rather than in the freezing car.  I like staying in hotels because for us it is still a novelty.  We enjoyed a really great breakfast – waffles, oatmeal, cereal, juice, hot chocolate, yogurt, etc etc it was a lot of fun an we were able to take our time because the museum didn’t open until 10:00.  Wyatt liked the yogurt.  David had left for his test earlier, but he did manage to grab a little egg sausage sandwich.  He normally doesn’t eat breakfast.

David was taking a test for the Presidential Management Fellowship which maybe we’ll explain later, right now Wyatt is getting hungry!

We took a wonderful and chilly walk to the museum in the double stroller.  I loved the walk – I think is was a little less than a mile. 

David also got to visit his Uncle Ron who is at Northwestern University Hospital recovering from a severe heart attack. David said he looks pretty weak, but according to David's Aunt Melinda and cousin Chris who were there, he's looking much better. We're blessed to live in a world where medical technology saves lives.

After eating lunch we headed back to Columbus, arriving at about 11:00.  It was such a FAST trip, but so so fun to get away for a while!

This is what Wyatt was probably thinking when we fed him rice cereal for the first time.  I mean this kid is solid and long and big and he was so ready for solids!  At this point he was really watching us eat and you could tell he just wanted to grab a fistful of pasta.  We’re working toward that.

Notice Dave is feeding him.

Ever since Wyatt was breathing air Dave has been trying to sneak him food.  He likes him to experience “flavors.”

It’s not a bad thing – Harry will now eat spicy chicken wings that, for me, create a fiery sensation on my lips that I don’t really dig.  Harry does dig it!

Wyatt is so adorable when he eats, what can I say.  I love feeding him!

Also in the news:  David had his 27th birthday!!!!! 

I made a white cake with raspberry filling and cream cheese frosting.  Here’s the first try – I wanted to let Harry go at it on the sides and this is what happened:

I thought it was hilarious and would make David laugh too (he was taking a nap when this magic was happening)

Here’s the top:

It looked okay but the fact that there was seriously like an entire extra cup of frosting was just kind of gross to me.  Although believe me, I could eat spoonfuls of this stuff.

So I wiped it down and this is how it turned out:

Really though the cake shouldn’t be the highlight of his birthday.  It’s all about Dave!  Here are 27 things that are great about DAVE!!

1.  Always working on a project be it household or other, and he is great at fixing stuff.

2.  If he doesn’t know how to do something, he’ll learn it (i.e. building a huge gazebo on a hill with no building experience)

3.  He sings super silly songs to all members of the family

4.  He is super, and I mean SUPER smart.  Seriously, folks.

5.  Likes savory instead of sweet

6.  Is a T-shirt kind of man.  I can barely get him to wear a polo, but in the end this is a very cheap way to go – and we like cheap!

7.  Bought me an electric blanket and also a bed warmer for Christmas!  This man knows me!

8.  Loves our boys more than anything.

9.  He is super good at standardized tests

10.  HE CAN COOK!!!!  I’m not joking I consider him a chef, not just any old household cook.  He has taught me many things about cooking.

11.  Stays up on the news

12.  Gives a lot of time, thought and prayer to his calling

13.  Does 101 pushups every morning – He hasn’t missed a day in 7 years I think (minus Sundays) Oh, AND he does 320 crunches a night – I think…or more.  He also enjoys church ball and stays in good shape. 

14.  Is always looking for a more efficient way to do anything.  Drives him nuts when I don’t use keyboard shortcuts.

15.  Really is passionate about his career choice

16.  Loves adventure and will take risks

17.  Loves sports and has learned to “just drop it” when games don’t turn out like he wants.  I really respect him for that!

18.  Tries to sneak spicy foods to Wyatt

19.  Has come up with scads of great and fun nicknames for me

20.  Thinks I’m amazing at music, even years after I stopped “really practicing”

21.  Planned a great anniversary surprise trip for me this past December

22.  Loves to eat new cuisine – especially at holes-in-the-wall.  They have the best food!

23.  Still blesses the food in Italian

24.  Did I mention how much he loves our family?  He is a great, great father. 

25.  Started a paintball business that we run out of our basement!

26.  Can fix almost any computer problem.  He always asks what I’d do without him around to keep up our computers.  I say, well I’d probably have one computer that did word processing, internet and Photoshop!  It’s really cool what he has done with our computers and media!

27.  Still likes to climb trees.  This last summer he had about 10 kids wide-eyed and amazed as he climbed the tree in our front median.  I remember him not wearing shoes and that’s how he likes it

Ok, so those are just off the top of my head.  I love you, love you, love you. 

Thanks to two things I love:  Google and You Tube

I searched for “How to fix water flow in standard bathroom faucet”

Found a video on YouTube

Fixed the aerator (this is what David has suspected all along)

After literally months and months of low pressure -

OUR WATER PRESSURE IS BACK!!!!!!!

……one of those things that literally took 5 minutes – it was just a matter of getting down and doing it!!!

Harry LOOOOVES this place!  Still talks about it almost every day.  It might become a Utah tradition!

We went twice.

Thanks Grandma!

First: Megan, Harry, Grandma, Dave and Wyatt.

Second, Megan and Harry.

Harry really enjoyed the smaller bounce areas that didn’t have huge slides.  Although, he squealed with delight when David slid on his back with Harry on his belly!

DRAAAGOOOON!

Really, Wyatt was waving his arms like he was Herbert von Karajan but the picture makes it look like he was ready for a tropical island beach!

Forgot to say that the real name is KANGAROO Zoo :)  Harry has always called it “’Roo Zoo”

Welcome to our new blog.  I’ve updated the URL, changed the theme and I’m starting over. Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions for the new site and I’ll gradually continue to update it as we go along.  MeganAndDave.com should redirect here and any bookmarks should automatically redirect to the new site.  All our old posts and comments have been moved.

Why, you might ask, did I redo the site?  Good question.  Maybe it’s like getting a new haircut – the old one was two years old and I thought we could use a change.  I also like the new URL better (no more megANAN-d-dave – never good to go anandd in the middle of a URL where people mistype it).  Plus, the theme is all new.  Unfortunately, if you still are using Internet Explorer 6, the theme might have some issues with black rectangles in the header that don’t belong – I’m not an expert at CSS and couldn’t figure it out, so just switch to IE8 or Firefox if you have any issues.  If you’re curious, the background is a picture of some basil from our garden that I stitched together with Photoshop into a tile that repeats.  I chose it because it’s different from every other background on a blog I’ve seen.

I’ll hopefully now find some time to actually blog rather than working on the backend of the site.  I had a rockin’ trip to the Rose Bowl (Go Buckeyes!) and a few weeks with family in Utah that were amazing.  I’m sure Megan will shortly provide pictures…