Gram and Grandpa come to town

My parents came to visit a few weeks ago. They stepped right out of Skype and into real life! Steven and I went to meet them at the airport and as soon as Gram bent down to his level he recognized her and gave her a big smile. Skype truly is a wonderful invention!

We did a lot of fun things while Gram and Grandpa were here, including going to the zoo for the first time. It was still pretty chilly, so many of the animals weren't out, but we bought a membership and Steven and I have been twice since then in warmer weather and have seen many more animals, including the grizzly bears in their new exhibit!

Some photos from Gram and Grandpa's visit:

Trying on the sweater Gram knit for him--for next winter! She knit the 24 month pattern, but he's already so big!

And she knit a hat, too! It was a little big so it might be perfect next winter.

Hanging with his best pal, Grandpa. Steven always lights up when Grandpa appears on Skype. Gram and I play second fiddles to Grandpa and Daddy.

 

Getting tangled in Gram's new knitting project

And more tangled

On the way down...

Helping with the yard work

Checking out the chickens at the zoo's hobby farm

Chasing the chickens

Investigating the cow and goat

The zoo was fun but tiring!

We also had professional pictures taken again to mark Steven's first birthday, but I'll post those separately, hopefully soon!

Belated birthday post

So Steven turned 13 months a couple of days ago, and I was reminded that I have yet to post about the events of his actual birthday over a month ago. Sigh. So a bit belatedly...

We discovered just a week or so prior to his birthday that Steven is allergic to egg whites. While he most likely will outgrow this completely (about 2/3 of kids do by age 5), and while he probably would not be allergic to egg whites that have been thoroughly cooked (i.e. baked for a long time in a cake), the doctor thought it would be best to avoid them altogether until he is at least 18 months. So I used a trick I found online of using a cake mix and adding 12 oz of soda instead of adding the usual water, oil and eggs to the mix. I used sparkling water so as not to add extra sugar or artificial sweeteners.

The cake itself actually turned out really well--nice and light and fluffy. The problem was the cake pan, which was a novelty pan shaped like the number one. Despite a thorough coating with cooking spray (and, on attempt #2, flour as well) the cake stuck to the bottom of the pan and tore the cake apart. After it happened the second time I said "oh, well, I'm not making three cakes" and just decided to patch it back together and hide the flaws under icing.

  

It was just the three of us for Steven's birthday. We decided to do cake in the afternoon instead of the evening, which turned out to be wise, since he was on a bit of a sugar high afterwards. He was uncertain of what to do with the cake at first, but once he figured out it was food, he got into it.

Next we opened presents from Mommy and Daddy. The first was a reading chair to put over by his shelf of books in the family room. He wasn't sure how to sit down in it.

The other present from Mommy and Daddy was a tent. Steven loves playing under a blanket with us so we thought he'd liked a tent to play in.

April Flooding

We recently had flooding along the Grand River, as well as along the Thornapple River. These two rivers conveniently meet at Ada, which is why a town was platted there. With Grand Rapids so close, it never grew to the size or importance that was originally envisioned, but it is still a pleasant little place. However, the flooding along both rivers made for significant viewing, and I thought I'd post a few of the more interesting pictures here.

The ballpark lot before...

... and after

The entire ballpark was flooded

But five days later only the infield and right field were