Which animal says "quack?"

Micah's two new favorite things are ducks and going to the park - which go hand in hand because these feathery friends can be found at the local park that we frequent! :-) He loves to "quack" too (if you listen real close, you can hear it on the video clip).

Mountain man?

Yesterday morning Micah and I went upstairs in our PJ's to hang out with grandma while daddy kept sleeping downstairs (he needed the rest). Upon our arrival upstairs, Micah promptly brought me his hat and shoes and wanted them on. So, I put them on. He looked so incredibly goofy, but he loved it. Must've helped him play better or something...

Saturdays with the Ruths

Today is Saturday, glorious Saturday. Scotty and I absolutely love the weekends. At the moment Scott is at the library learning PHP/MySQL, Micah's napping, and I'm enjoying some quiet to myself. I thought I'd seize this rare opportunity to update our family blog a little (believe me, I've been "meaning to" for ages)! Thought a recap and photos of our Saturday outings would be a good place to start, which will give you an overview of the life and times of the Ruths (what we call "family adventures"). :-)

February 7th:
On this crisp winter day, we hopped in the car and headed west on M-6, and then connected to another highway. We found ourselves in Saugatuck, MI, near Lake Michigan. We discovered a quaint little tourist town which was pretty quiet (probably booming with life in the peak summer season), ate a scrumptious lunch and walked around for a bit, until the "crisp" air turned too cold for us and then we headed home.



February 14th:
After about a month or so of open houses and e-mailing our Realtors, we met up face-to-face for the first time since August (when we met them while they were Scotty's parent's Realtors in their relocation to MI last summer). Neither of the two houses we saw will likely be where we call "home," but it was good to get out and see what's on the market.

It was followed up by a delicious Valentine's Day lunch at Cafe Connection - our new favorite place to eat (as you will soon find out from some of our subsequent Saturday outings)...


February 21st:
Hmm...I can't quite remember what we did on this lovely Saturday, but I'm sure it involved driving by houses we were interested in seeing, and of course, lunch at Cafe Connection.


February 28th:
Again, I can't remember all that took place on yet another great weekend, but it looks like it involved plenty of R&R.


March 7th:
This was the day after I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed, so I still had slight "Chipmunk Cheeks" and awful bad breath. I had a nice little "pharmacy" set up in my bathroom, and managed to meet up at Steak 'N Shake with some friends from Chicago who were in town (Josh and his girlfriend Mallory).

(Note: check out Josh's website - he is a personal chef in Chicago, and Scotty designed his site). :-)

The following Sunday I ate fluffy scrambled eggs made by my wonderful, caring husband.


March 14th:
The biggest thing of this Saturday was a surprise visit from our neighbor Kori and her 4-year old son, Joseph (we attend the same church). Joseph came to deliver a toy he had outgrown - his John Deer Gator. After he made sure his mom had replaced the batteries, :-) he handed it over to Micah, who immediately fell in love.



March 21st:
Last Saturday was spent super house-hunting (we saw about 8 houses with our Realtors), followed by another delicious lunch at our favorite new diner...looks like Micah's gabbing on daddy's cell phone about it. :-)


Today, Saturday, March 28th:
After last weekend Scotty and I are BURNT OUT on house-hunting, and have relinquished our intense search back over to the Lord, so today we have absolutely NO plans of seeing any houses for sale. As for Cafe Connection? Not today...Scotty's coming home from the library soon and plans on making spaghetti and meatballs - from scratch. He's been in the kitchen a lot more since I've had my wisdom teeth removed, and I must say, he is quite the chef!

Going Under...

It was Friday morning, March 6, 2009. Scotty drove me to Dr. Huizinga's to get my wisdom teeth removed. I was nervous. We entered the peaceful lobby of the oral surgeon's office and checked-in. The receptionist asked me if I had anything to eat or drink in the past 6 hours and I said no. I asked her what would be the problem if someone were to eat or drink something within that 6 hour time frame leading up to the operation - nausea? Her response was as follows, "It may cause someone to aspirate, and then it would go in their lungs and lead to potential death." I mumbled something like, "Oh my, thanks for the explanation", and then sat down next to Scotty to wait until they called my name.

I picked up where I had left off in "The Survivor's Club" by Ben Sherwood - a book that we had just gotten on Amazon earlier that week. I started reading about a woman who had a knitting needle pierce her chest when she tripped on some stairs. I glanced up at Scotty, who was already busy with some work on his lap-top, and said, "I don't know if I should be reading this right before I have surgery..."

My name was called shortly thereafter, and as I left my book and coat with Scotty I also leaned over to give him one more kiss before my mouth underwent oral surgery. Not sure when I'll be able to comfortably kiss him again, so this is my last chance, I thought to myself.

The assistant led me to a dental chair, clipped a drool bib on me, placed something on my finger (to monitor my heart rate?), and then turned the TV on in front of my while she left to get Dr. Huizinga. The scene before me was a gentle, flowing brook, then melting ice, then penguins in the snow. I knew what this staff was trying to do - calm down their patients! It wasn't entirely working for me, because I couldn't get over the fact that the snow in which the penguins were playing was kinda nasty looking from bird waste, and the penguins themselves were a little dirty with who knows what...raw nature isn't spic and span.

Dr. Huizinga arrived, along with his assistant, cheery and enthusiastic. As he inserted an IV into my arm, his assistant placed a tube over my nose and told me to breath in the laughing gas. That ripply, goldenrod tube around my face made me feel as though I looked like a character from Star Trek. He asked me what I did for a hobby and I told him I took care of my 18 month old son, as I thought to myself, This laughing gas isn't having any effect on me, I'm still wide awake. I asked him if he had any kids, and he said "Yes, two." We chit-chatted about their names, and that's all I remember...

Before I go under...

In a matter of minutes, Scotty and I are getting in a car and driving to Dr. Huizinga's. I am having all four of my wisdom teeth removed. I am a little nervous. I was afraid I wouldn't sleep last night, but I actually had a good night of Zzzzzzzzzz's. Thank you Lord!

I had meant to update my blog yesterday, but it was one of the things I had to cut while I was getting other things done before I go under - vacuuming, dishes, prep-ing Micah's meals for today, talking to a sister or two :-), etc.

Over the past 12 or so hours I've been realizing several "lasts" for a while - last crisp food (carrots and dip, 9 pm), last comfortable teeth brush (a few minutes ago), last gulp of liquid (sometime before bed last night)...

Here goes.