Grand Rapids Snow Removal

I can't believe people actually pay for this!

These guys do high quality work. Quite the professionals, if you ask me. A little slow, though.

Playing in the snow

So this took place a few weeks ago but I thought you'd enjoy it anyway...

Only twice this winter has is been warm enough (with no snow fall) to take the kids out to play in the snow on a Saturday. But when it happened, we made a point of taking Lyla out to play in it. Both times we went over to our friends' house and played in their driveway and yard.

It was a blast getting to pull Lyla around in a sled, sliding down the mounds of snow that the snowplows had left, making snow angels, and building snow men. For being a relatively low-key kid, Lyla sure has a sense of adventure (so long as she isn't too cold). She loved every moment of it... and as a result, so did I.

Looking forward to this aspect of next winter and having Will join us as well.

Enjoy!!

Happy Birthday Lyla!!!! *or* Holy Moley, I Can't Believe My Daughter is TWO!!!

Seriously? When did Lyla grow up? It seems like just 730 days ago that Katherine was telling me it was time to go to the hospital. Yet somehow my Little Button became my Little Baby and my Little Baby become my Little Girl. All those country songs suddenly make a lot of sense...

Friday, December 4 was destined to be a special day even before it began. For us the magic began the night before when the first snow fall of this winter began to fall. We were forecast to get 3 or 4 inches over night and boy did we. We awoke Friday morning to a blanket of soft, white, beautiful snow covering everything.

Typically I have mixed feelings about the snow. I love the serenity and the beauty of freshly fallen snow, but I dread the cold and the exertion of shoveling our walks. But this was different because this was going to be the first snow that Lyla got to play in and that she would remember. And it happened on her birthday, what a neat gift.

I think that Katherine and I were slightly more excited about Lyla's actual birthday than the Birthday Girl was. Granted she had been talking about her birthday non-stop for at least two weeks and had made us sing "Happy Birthday" to every single person that we know, at least once. But I awoke that day more excited than I'd been in awhile.

We started the day with a special breakfast: blueberry pancakes. Special because we seldom make pancakes. They were good. Then we got dressed and all went to Target, whoopie!! Look, just because it was Lyla's birthday doesn't mean we can avoid the day to day tasks of running our lives. We all went together so that was fun.

After Target, we came home and Lyla got ready to go outside. We got her snowsuit on plus her hat and these great winter boots she got from her friend Sadie. Out Lyla and I went and shoveled the path. I had bought a small snow-shovel for Lyla a couple weeks ago and she was more than happy to help me clear off the snow. After shoveling, she and I built our very first snowman. Nothing too special, we used a carrot for the nose and leaves for everything else. Lyla really enjoyed packing the snow down. I think he turned out rather nice and he sort of looks like Grover from Sesame Street.

After playing in the snow we came in and were treated to a nice lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and soup. It was the perfect meal to warm us up from the cold. After we finished, the kids went down for naps and Katherine and I started to get ready for Lyla's party.

For her party we wrestled for a long time as to what to do. Last year we invited a few friends and their kids over, four families in total. In the subsequent 365 days, 3 of the 4 families had another child and all the other kids aged a year. As a result, having the same families over would have been pure chaos.

So instead, we invited two families for dinner. I made pork street tacos and they turned out pretty good. After dinner we did presents and then cupcakes. After dinner, the chaos slowly ratcheted up until the kids ended up hitting a wall. The following pictures will give you some idea of how chaotic just two additional families can be:

Playing with friends...

More friends, more playing...

Adults trying to converse as the kids play...

More playing...

Pretty soon Will had had enough...

So we opened presents...

And then we played with the presents...

Pretty soon Will and Kevin had had enough...

So it was time for the cake...

Lyla likes cake.

So does Ian...

So does Sadie...

And then it was over.

The next day, we woke up and played with our new toys.

Lyla drying her hair with Mommy..

Later that morning, we went over to Sadie's house for her 2-year-old birthday party. I decided that Will and I should dress a like... I'm glad I did.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LYLA!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Snow + freezing weather + direct sunshine = icicles

So it's been ridiculously cold the past two weeks. I mean, anytime you hear the phrase "... feels like negative..." when someone is telling you the temperature, you know you're in trouble. The weird thing is that over the past 4 our 5 days it hasn't snowed at all, and when the sun comes out, it melts the 2+ feet of snow that has accumulated everywhere, but because it's so cold out, the melted snow doesn't stay melted that long but instead forms icicles. And not just little, candy-cane sized icicles; I'm talking, the honkin' suckers that would do some serious damage if they fell on you icicles.

Keeping with tradition, I was able to grab one and we took pictures of it next to Lyla for comparison. You can see last year's version here. And now, this year's:



And a video of Lyla trying to figure out what the heck that thing is:

Snow days

So, last year was a record year of snow fall in Grand Rapids. This year is headed toward equal (if not greater) amounts of snow. Our friend commented the other day that we've already seen the same amount of snow in November and December that GR would typically see in an entire winter (November through March)!

That, combined with the sub-frigid temperatures, combined with the fact that Katherine is 32 weeks pregnant are all forces conspiring to keep us inside. So we've been making a serious effort to get outside on days that we're able in order to take walks. We spend equal amounts of time getting ready as we do actually outside. All in all it is quite an ordeal, but it's also been a lot of fun and totally worth it.

Here's pictures of Lyla putting on her snowsuit:




Here's pictures of me and Lyla waiting for Katherine to come out:




Here we are walking in the snow! Happy winter, everyone!

Today is the winter of our discontent

What had been a very wonderful week (democratic process, EMS that didn't make me sad, dinner with friends, business development, super cute Lyla) has rather quickly turned south and today marks a sad day for the Rings. For one, yesterday our next-door neighbors, friends, and definite answer to pray the McIntyres moved into their new house. We're happy for them because they now have a wonderful how for their family to grow in. And it's only 0.8 miles away. But that's 0.798106060606 miles farther away than they were. And that's sad. Because we miss them. We miss how much a part of our daily lives they have been. I miss hearing Ian's bathtime through the wall. I mean it's not super tragic, hide your head under the pillow sad; but it's sad.


And the sadness of today being the first day with them not right next door was served with a side of "the first snow of the year." Yippee. Seriously, of all days for it to snow, it had to be today. Boo. Now I know why bears hibernate.

The trip to Detroit

Our trip to Dallas started out rocky as Michigan was hit by a Spring snow storm on March 21st. We had planned on driving over to the Detroit area on that Friday in order to spend the night with my cousin and then leave from DTW the following afternoon. And despite getting 4 inches of snow, we carried through with that plan. What normally is a ~2 hour drive took us 4 hours and the highway was strewn with accidents and slide-offs. Needless to say it was quite stressful. It was also the first time we've ever changed Lyla's diaper in the car... parked in the parking lot of a Target... funsies.

Our evening with Laura and Andy (the cousin) was wiped out by the trip but we still had a good time talking and enjoying Lyla's cuteness. They hadn't seen Lyla since January so were quite impressed with how much she's grown. Here are the pictures of them being quite impressed:

We had hoped to spend some quality time together Saturday but (seeing as it was our first trip with Lyla) we weren't able to relax as much as we wanted. We spent a lot of the next day getting ready for our flight but did get to hang out a bit. One of the things we had hoped to do was have Andy take some photos of Lyla. Andy's quite the photographer and Lyla's quite photogenic so it seemed like a natural thing to do. Unfortunately Lyla was too tired to smile for the camera and we only got one photo of her against the stylized backdrop (we didn't even have time to put her in front of something billowy).


BTW, those are overalls, I know they look like mom-jeans... but they're not. Anyway, after a delicious lunch prepared by Katherine we headed of to the airport... which is where will pick up next time. Until then... er, bye?

Snow bunny

With Spring so teasingly close, Katherine and I have been getting more and more excited about being able to take Lyla outside. For Lyla's entire life, whenever we've taken her outside, it's been with her in her car seat, under a blanket, under a kind of fleece sleeping bag. Recently, if Lyla's awake when we're going out, she'll try and push the outer cover off of her face. And Katherine and I (being the bad guys) put it back over her head (after all, I'm no expert, but I think sub-20 degree temperatures aren't good for a baby). So warm weather means introducing Lyla to outside, blue skies, green grass, colorful flowers, tall trees... a whole new world.

For Christmas, Lyla received a cute little pink snow outfit, complete with ears and flaps that (when folded up to cover the ands and feet) look like paws. So cute!!! The problem, Lyla was way too tiny for it. The picture below was taken around Christmas, with Lyla sleeping peacefully inside the body of the suit, arms and legs flapping empty at the sides.


Fast forward to the beginning of March and you'll see that Lyla has grown quite a bit. Unfortunately (or fortunately), it isn't enough to fill out the suit yet to be practical. So tune in next winter for some serious one year old cuteness.

One other byproduct of Spring's imminent arrival is that all winter gear is on serious sale. For example, a full on winter coat that I considered buying in November for $60 at Target was on clearance this past week for $7. Now I'm no math wizard, but that's like 7/60th of the original cost. Taking full advantage of fractions, Katherine picked up a snow suit (sized for a one year old) at the local Meijer for some extremely reasonable price.

Lyla got super excited when she saw it, put it on and immediately hit the slopes. Here she is after a long day of snowboarding.