Easter in Iron Mountain

We left for Iron Mountain early Thursday morning, to visit Alex and Melissa. Long car ride, took us about 6.5 hrs of driving and a few stops. Micah was really good. We left super early so he could sleep in the car. Then we stopped for breakfast, he watched Toy Story, played with some toys, then we were there! We loved it up there. Gorgeous. We went hiking a bit Friday morning and saw awesome scenery, however that is the one day we forgot to bring the camera with... :( Thursday night Melissa and I went to her place of employment (YMCA) and took a Zumba class. My first time-it was so much fun. Friday night Good Friday service at church, Saturday the boys went out fishing and hiking and the girls went shopping. Visited some good eats as well. Sunday we finally got to hear Alex preach again at church! Definately missed that. It was great to see them again and spend some time with them, experience their new environment.

Playground down the street from their house

Happy Easter!

Making himself comfy on the ride home, watching Open Season! He did great on the way home too. Played with his cars for an hour, took an hour and 40 min nap, woke up, we stopped for dinner, he watched a movie and had some treats. Never cried! Matt is now convinced we can take a road trip to Colorado this summer with him....right.

Micah's Two!!

Sunday we threw a party for Micah's second birthday! Grandma Helga organized an awesome Easter egg and basket hunt. Teague ruled in the games, but he is a year older than the other 3! (Micah, Gabe, and Finley, all 2 months apart-April, June, and August). They were so fun to watch run around.

Matt helped Micah open gifts this year. We had to move quickly because he had so many presents! A lot of clothes, toys, and balls! He is a spoiled boy.

Micah's pride and joy-his Woody doll.

Happy Birthday to you! A Toy Story themed cake! The candle in the middle is Buzz lightyear. And later in the evening, Micah actually chewed off Buzz's head. Yuck

Woody!

Side note, Mama's new toy! I love my new elliptical! Micah gets on once in awhile too, he thinks its his.

Gramps instigating tease-the-kitty time! Kramer loved it!

Silly boys!

Micah and his Tiger's gear-ready for opening day!!! In Micah's words, Go Tigers "Rawr!"

Thanks to everyone who came to the party or wished Micah a happy birthday! I can't believe he is 2 already! Time really does fly! We love that boy so much!

New Bikes!

Just a few pics from last week-I had some tired boys Saturday night! (St Pattys Day)

Art work Micah has done at daycare. Valentines Day and St Patty's Day. I'm a proud Mama!

I went with Mom to Saline this past Friday/Saturday. We stayed with Josh, Jenn, and Gabe, and we hit the Mom 2 Mom sale Saturday morning It was so much fun, bought a lot of great stuff for Micah. Clothes, an Elmo costume, Elmo dolls, Spongebob chair, and a new side rail (he busted through his old one!). Probably my favorite find is his new bike! Just a little Radio Flyer tricycle. He looks so cute on it! So far he hasn't propelled himself forward yet, but he is getting the idea. He know where to put his hands and feet, and he feels the motion as we push the bike.

Oh yeah, Daddy got a new bike too. He is more excited about his bike than Micah is about his own.

Micah does like sitting on the motorcycles. He is finally over calling them cars and will now call them bikes.

Playing in the yard. That is one handsome boy!

If you can picture it, he is saying "Choo choo!" and pumping his arm up and down :)

Kramer, Micah, and the Pig

This pig is a family favorite!!

Caught Kramer in a naughty act-what a great way to ruin our blinds. At the same time I couldn't help but laugh at how incredibly dumb he looks!

Now Micah gets to nap with the pig... A scene to make Grammy Tami proud!!

Off to celebrate my first nephew's 3rd birthday (March 11)! Teague, I can't believe you are 3 already....I still have the most vivid picture of holding you for the first time in the hospital the day you were born! You have grown so much and are such a blessing! We love you!

Kid Swap

Friday night we had Teague and Finley over so Drew and Rebecca could have a date night. The kids had a blast chasing each other, tackling each other, watching Elmo, and we sang along to Matt playing songs on his guitar. They love playing together! It's so nice Micah has cousins in the area.

You will also see a random picture of Rudy, my parents dog. We are watching him again for the week. The highlight of that picture though, our fatty cat Kramer likes eating his food! He will eat just about anything!!

So then Saturday night we drop Micah off at Drew and Rebecca's house and we get to have our date night. I'm such a fun date, I had to get up several times to run to the bathroom during dinner. We ended our date their, and I spent the rest of the night in the bathroom and in bed with the stomach flu. Blah! Matt was great, he took care of Micah and got him up for church this morning. Poor thing, little did Matt know 24 hours later he would be doing the same thing I was doing....sorry baby! Now it's my turn, barely recovered, to take care of sick hubby and Micah (Micah isn't sick, thankfully! However he did puke in his bed randomly Thursday night, so we blame the bug on him). What a weekend over here!

Singing Old MacDonald

Intently watching Elmo

Wow, its been too long!

Sorry for the delay on the blog! We have been keeping really busy in the Maier household! Matt has had basketball games (coaching) every Monday and Wednesday night, I have had clinicals 3-11 Tuesday and Wednesday nights, I work til 8 on Thursdays, and Matt has been gone 2 of the last 3 weekends! (one for the youth retreat, this past weekend he went ice fishing with the guys) Good news is Matt's bball is done a week from tomorrow, and I have the next 5 weeks off of LMC! I will miss the pay, but I won't miss the extra paperwork! Instead I'm working extra at the hospital. EPIC (our electronic health records/charting) goes live this next weekend, so it will be quite interesting to get adjusted! Other than that, we are taking a mini vacation this next weekend, heading up to the cabin to relax. Or how it will probably go, Matt ice fishing while I watch Micah, haha. Here are a few pics from the past few weeks:

Micah found this under the bathroom sink and unwrapped it himself! He thought he was so cool with his huge "sticker"

He likes to pick this shirt out of the Goodwill box in our bedroom and likes to wear it over his own clothes

Micah believes bath toys aren't only for the bath!

Yesterday Micah and I visited Jess and Myke in South Bend for the morning. We met their puppy, Carmen. She is so cute! She was way to excited to see us :)

Micah liked Carmen, but loved her cage!!

We will try to be better about updating!

End of January News

Today finds me (Matt) staying home playing daddy for a boy who has not quite been himself the last couple of days. Micah has started going to daycare, which seems to be a great opportunity for him to interact with kids his age, but is also the best place for him to pick up all kinds of bugs. He was running a 102 temp yesterday and today is too unfit to be able to go back to daycare. This marks the first sick day I have taken in order to care for my boy.

Other news is that Jennie and I are working through our second miscarriage. It's been somewhat surprising and disheartening that we go through this a second time, but we're trusting God through it all. Through this we are reminded what a blessing we have been given in the form of our "healthy" son, Micah. We have been experiencing first hand empathy and compassion by many who have shared similar experiences in their own lives. Be praying for us down the road that we will trust God to work things out, as we are learning this is a matter completely out of our hands.

Jennie has started another round of teaching as an LMC clinical instructor. This means we are in a period of time where we are working many hours. She still has some shifts on her floor for nursing, I of course am teaching, and then coaching after school hours. We are trying to make the most out of every opportunity we have to spend as a family. Weekends are proving to be precious time.

Some pictures / video of the last few weeks:

Lovin' his ball pit.

Then Kramer ate the ball pit!

Snow day. Ready to play!

All bundled up.

Making a trek up the driveway.

... and it tastes good too!

Did another academic "beard" challenge for my 2nd grade students. Got to sport a nice chinstrap-fu manchu-soul patch thing for a day. Not sure what Micah thought of it. Jennie's not too crazy about her younger looking husband either. I think I'm making her feel like a cougar! Hard to believe I had been wearing the beard for about 2 years! Of course my mom didn't even notice it was gone.