meet my friend sarah

here are some facts about sarah wingert:

• friend since the eighth grade
• fellow ex-ballerina of romeo civic dance centre
• went to boston university with my friend lisa
• loves halloween
• is a major procrastinator
• has a degree in marine biology
• lived in equador, mass, michigan, alaska and now washington state
• fellow ex-rapp's orchard employee
• loves to drink jagermeister with adam and wine with me
• TF at western washington university
• currently studying hypoxia and benthic communities (blah, blah, blah...)
• bridesmaid in our wedding
• spoils kylinn rotton
• likes to talk about nasty fish stuff and do nasty fish things

(yes, this picture was borrowed. sorry, david)

a memorial day to remember?

why is it that it takes several days to recover from exhaustion when we have a day off to lounge around and grill?

memorial day 2005

an exciting day for the vanover household

KYLINN IS WALKING!

she has been really close for several days now as she would take a few steps to throw her ball, etc. today however, she intentionally and knowlingly started walking. words cannot describe how proud we are.

kylinn in action at 11 months and 8 days. be sure to check out the video clip, too!

guess who has a new blog!

it's my neighbor, aimee!

check it out at http://aimeepawelek.blogspot.com

a brief visit with evan

we had a quick dinner at andiamo's with special guest evan! also present were mike & sue, andy & rachelle, christian, grandma vanover and the three of us. we joined up as evan was only in michigan for a couple of days before he moves to his new home in ohio with his wife, lindsay. he is now officially out of the marine corps (after four long years and two trips to iraq!) he has an exciting new life ahead of him with their baby girl on the way!

kylinn and uncle evan

thumbs up!

this is a picture that my dad sent me while standing in line at a food show in chicago.

the search for hoffa continues...

just kidding. although i was having my front steps replaced (they cracked- new home warranty rocks!!!) and my front yard was full of italian-speaking concrete contractors, the missing body of jimmy hoffa was not found. the process took several hours and involved smashing the existing steps out with a sledgehammer thus shaking our home. in the foreground, kylinn supervised to be sure that no new "missing persons" were to be burried in our yard.

how many cement workers do you know that sing italian love songs while they're working?

i will study

right after baby swim class, the high school girls gym class comes in to use the pool. the girls often leave their textbooks and school supplies on the benches in the locker room. a notebook full of sentences was on the bench this week and i *had* to take a picture.

"i will study"

you can have your cake and eat it, too.

this coming saturday, we are having a baby bbq with clan ross (braveheart soundtrack playing in the background... kidding!) mutual friends lauren, jon and baby noah as well as our neighbors- the every-so-lovely pawelek family. afterward, we are going up to izzy's for desert.

i am putting up this picture of ky and a slice of the famous casada cake so our guests will become very excited. in the words of homer simpson... mmm cake.

"Izzy's- where the cake is the size of a baby!"

this is for you, lisa

fresh thoughts

so let me clarify something. my sister thinks that i am a name dropper. i'm not. i like to put names of everything on this blog so that i can link them. i'm a link-addict. any link that you click on will take you to a website. some are real, like saab, and some are just a little bit silly like that one.

this was in the checkout at farmer jack

A spooky post on Friday the 13th

actually today just happens to be Stacy and John's five year anniversary. They are the proud parents of Kaia and Lia.

now for the post...

This is a picture of Hatheway House in New Baltimore, Michigan. It is on the corners of 24 Mile Road, Ridge Road and Washington Street. This house had been rumored to be a hospital and sanitarium, but upon further research, it actually was a school, known as the Hatheway Institute and was built at a cost of $22,000. Four generations of Hatheway's have lived in the home and once deceased were buried in the cemetery sown the street. When the Hatheway's daughter fell to her death from the third storey, she was buried in a glass coffin at he family plot. Although it has been vacant for many years, the rumors and ghost sightings still flourish. The Hathaway House is now heavily patrolled by police due to vandalism and trespassers.

And guess what? It's currently up for sale! Would you like to purchase it for your family???


hunt for more ghosts at shadowlands

another salut to our neighbor to the south

sarah is sporting the latest in nursing apparel. this line was designed especially for our stereotypical mexicano madres. it is only available in southern california, texas, and select stores in new mexico.

my first mother's day

so how was it? well, my loving husband let me sleep in on saturday, so he slept in on mother's day. ky and i woke up around 6:30. she greated me with a full smile and a full diaper. ahh, to be a mom. no seriously, it was packed with love. my day did get better, for real.

we met up with the ross clan, and my mom at the royal oak garden show where i bought a flat of dahlia's. we had a wonderful brunch at lily's when the babies decided to throw fits of exhaustion. on the way home, we stopped at another nursery and bought more plants, only to come home and do more gardening. which i did in a mini skirt and pearls, no less. my neighbor likes to call me a "desperate housewife." i like to just pretend that i'm classy.

ky is wearing joshua's driving cap as we forgot to bring a sun hat for our little white girl

siete de mayo fiesta

this is a picture of senor adam yesterday. aimee and jeremy held a siete de mayo fiesta at their lovely casa. i believe now i have used every spanish word that i have learned courtesy of duh-duh-duh dora. and now for the runway details:

adam is sporting an authentic mexican sombrero, a faux mustachio, a "cinco de mayo" shirt from old navy, denim jeans from j. crew and adidas spezial shoes. meagan wore a denim mavi mini skirt, a knitted tank from j. crew and yellow doc marten sandals. kylinn (our dear muchacha) wore an embroidered mexican shirt from baby gap, a denim mini skirt from old navy and white keds sneakers. we also drew a curly mustachio on her.


hola amigos

new poker champ

adam took home the big pot this month, while paul took second place. in attendance were me, adam and kylinn, aimee and/or jeremy, nick, jodi, and sierra (a former student of mine- scary!!!) paul, nicol and louie, and tim. a good time was had by all.

NEXT POKER NIGHT:

Friday le 3 de June

7:30 pm at Chez Vanover

BYOB and a dish ou snack to pass

Les Enfants welcome

adam attempting to shoot his chips

dealership dudes

this is nick and tim. they work with adam and are regulars at our poker tournements. nick and his wife jodi are expecting their first baby in august.

poker time again

TEXAS HOLD'EM TOURNEMENT

Friday, May 6, 2004

7:30 pm @ the Vanover Dude Ranch

$0.oo entry fee

BYOB and a dish or snack to pass

GUYS, DOLLS, AND BABES WELCOME

new merchandise at trader joe's

so today we had to attend a graduation in berkley, home to the ross family as well as andy & rachelle. we stopped off at trader joe's (lovely place) only to hear a loud squeal , "MEAGAN!!!" it was none other than miss pink herself, lauren! she was out shopping with her cute baby noah and blogger-extrodinare husband jon. i quickly sent the pic to my sister who was shocked for me to be with her friends at her little market. tee hee. us tricky vanovers!

noah's first time sitting up in a shopping cart

may

in may i truly think it's best

to be a robin lightly dressed

concocting soup inside my nest

stirring once

stirring twice

stirring chicken soup with rice