The Lieslands

Mari

Andrew

Bonus – Andrew Soccer

It took us a minute to find the sweet spot in our new neighborhood and it was pretty cold and misty, but our first Beggars’ Night was a success.

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PS – I forgot to mention that there was one guy who was passing out hotdogs. He was grilling in his driveway and he told us that he buys 400 of ’em. Interesting.

Tuesday marked the end of the soccer season. Andrew played and I coached, and we both had a good time. We plan on doing the same in the Spring, and Mari may be joining us. I am not quite sure if she is ready to start yet, but I think she may be planning on it.

Andrew turned six a couple of weeks back. We had a big party the day before his birthday, in conjunction with his friend Bianca, who was turning five. This party involved a parade, skyline, cool weather, cool lighting, and cool people.

The day of his birthday was more chill. Soccer was cancelled because of the snow so we hung out at the Reagens’ some and then headed to Mimi & Papa’s for dinner.

» here are some pics from his actual birthday

Once I get some pictures from the parade I will post those.

We used to deal with diapers, pacifiers, and baby monitors.

Now, it is soccer, school, and Capoeira.

Where has the time gone?

Two years ago the pacifier fairy paid a visit to our house in Cincinnati to take Andrew’s pacifiers. Elliot stopped using his pacifier when he was one, so the only one left was Mari. Heading into a long weekend we decided it was time for the Pacifier Fairy to come visit again. We hung Mari’s pacifiers in a basket in a tree in the back yard and, sure enough, the pacifier fairy came again.

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Our weekend started off well, with a bike ride on Saturday morning. It ended well, too, as today was spent biking, at the Iowa Cubs game, and the Iowa Midwives pot-luck for dinner.

The bike ride this morning actually wasn’t too great, as I was headed to meet our naturopath to talk about my pink eye.

The I-Cubs game was fun. It was nice to see some baseball, and it was cheap and easy. The only problem was that I kept cheering for the other team by accident, probably because they looked a little like the Reds, and the I-Cubs look like, well, the Cubs. The other team was actually the Albuquerque Isotopes.

The Iowa Midwives pot-luck was a lot of fun. I feel like I knew most people there, and the ones I didn’t know I was glad to meet. There was Capoeira, belly-dancing, guitars, food, & good weather.

We just got back from a great bike ride with our whole family, the Reagens (Susan’s sister’s family), and the Liesses, Susan’s parents. We start off by Erin & Nate’s house, and rode along the river for about an hour. We stopped for lunch at one of the beaches along the river. The kids had a great time playing.

Then we had to ride back to our cars.

Andrew and Mari have been taking Capoeira classes at the Roots Capoeira Wellness Center. It is a Brazilian martial art that is sort of like a combination of martial arts and dance. It is really neat. My favorite thing about it is that it is always set to music and has a really nice rhythm.

Kathie, Susan’s mom, made some great grilled pizzas last night. First she grilled the crust for a few minutes, put some toppings on, and then grilled a little longer. My favorite was the BBQ Chicken & Mango.

While she borrowed the neighbors’ grill, the kids had a great time jumping on the trampoline with their cousins.

PS – This is actually a double-post, as I also posted it on my the dinner blog. I was going to just post it there, but I decided to post it on both.