THE RAMONS

The above pictures were taken in January of 2006. Scott had just moved everything he owned from his downtown Kansas City apartment to our new rowhome using his Grand Prix. I had come out for a visit to see the place I would be living after our April wedding. We took pictures throughout the house so I could show my family in Illinois. We always new this two-bedroom place would be a starter home and planned to spend 5-7 years here. Almost exactly 7 years from the day I moved in, we will move out.

We recently purchased a charming, Victorian home in a neighboring town. Scott has been on a hunt to determine if the 1875 year we were given is accurate. We are so excited about it, although it is very different from our new-construction rowhome. No more double vanity in the master bathroom (master bathroom?), no more walk in closets, no more garage. While we were house hunting, we dismissed the Victorian house for those very reasons. As we continued to look, we realized we wanted a place with character. A place where we would love coming home and not be too embarrassed at it’s frivolity. We both came back to the old home because it fit the bill. It feels genuine. It feels like “us.”

We realize that, while it is in great shape and has had many updates already, it will probably become our new hobby and creative undertaking. We will spend evenings and weekends fixing this, building that, and deciding how to think outside the box (er… closet) for storage.

For me, moving is bittersweet. I have really only lived in two homes my entire life (aside from college dorms and apartments). I moved from the home where I spent the first 24 years of my life to the home where I spent the past 7 years. Sentimental Me will miss having a view and instant accessibility of a great park. Sentimental Me will miss walking with Lucas and Scott to the library, post office, wading pool, CVS and a couple restaurants. Sentimental Me loves being able to walk around the house in the dark because I know it that well. Sentimental Me will miss being a stone’s throw from a great neighbor and fellow stay-at-home-mom, not to mention all our other sweet neighbors. Sentimental Me doesn’t like getting rid of things because we won’t have room to store them. Sentimental Me wishes we could just live in our current place for a really long time.

Then there is Grateful Me. I am really grateful that we’ve been blessed with the ability to buy a house and spend 7 years here making great memories. I’m grateful we will be within walking distance to a coffee shop, restaurants, a different (but equally good) park, and farmer’s market. We are excited about the many festivals and celebrations that take place in the park. I’m looking forward to letting Lucas dig around in the yard (a yard!) or the neighborhood garden across the street. We are excited to decorate the rooms in a more quirky, whimsical way than was fitting at our rowhome.

All in all, I think it will just take time for me to feel equally sentimental about our new, old home. While I’m not a big fan of major change, it is comforting to think that no matter where we go in life and no matter what happens, God never changes. He is constant and always there. God also continues to remind me that he is the Giver of all our good gifts and our cup overflows!

Are you bursting with anticipation for this post? As promised, here are some comparison photos of Lucas with some of my own baby photos. While most people comment on how much he looks like Scott, I can see a few of my features, too, namely the brown eyes. When Lucas was about 5 months old someone pointed out to me that he had my dark eyes and I had to take a closer look. They changed so gradually from the newborn, steely-blue color that I didn’t even notice.

I must apologize for the sparse updates. Many of you know we are moving in about a month (more on that later) and the blog is one of many things that have taken a back seat in life lately. Thanks for continuing on this journey with us!

With a new baby often comes the question, “Who does he look like?”  Or people will offer their opinions. With Lucas, I think the majority of people have commented that they think he looks like Scott. I love to think that I have a mini-Scott running around the house. I thought it would be fun to compare baby photos of Scott and Lucas. Since this post is heavy on the pictures, I will compare my own baby photos with Lucas’ in another post.  Stay tuned!

As I’ve searched through many baby photos, I think that Lucas is a good mix of both of his parents while being uniquely him!

A quick glance may leave you thinking you have seen this photo before, but upon closer inspection some things are a little odd. One night while we were in Illinois for Christmas, my brother Kacey (who is a graphic designer) started playing around with this photo. The evening ended with all of us huddled around his computer, oohing and awing as we watched his mad Photoshop skills. I will re-post the original in case you want to play a game of “Find the 7 differences.” 

In August of 2011, Lindsay and I shot some pictures in front of the white illuminated walls of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. She was nine months pregnant at the time. We had intended to return around Lucas’ first birthday to take some more shots… we finally did last month.

Here is an older video I uploaded about a month ago but forgot to post. Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful time back in Illinois for Thanksgiving and enjoyed seeing many of you. It’s hard to believe Lucas’ second Christmas is just around the corner. He just turned fifteen months and is still small for his age. Some of his favorite things to do in the park recently: swing, pick up garbage, and carry around a stick or pinecone. Some of Lindsay’s favorite things recently: leg hugs (from Lucas, of course) and looking down to a little boy requesting, “up.” Some of Scott’s favorite things recently: spring weather in December (so he can go mountain biking) and rooting for a winning team.

If you aren’t already singing it, what are a few of your favorite things?

As you may have guessed from this sneak peek, Lucas was a chicken for Halloween. I got the idea from this year’s October issue of Parents Magazine. It seemed easy enough to make/assemble. (And this little guy has the cutest chicken legs.) I purchased the long-sleeved onesie which he can wear this winter as a layer under t-shirts. I cut out a “comb” from red felt leftover from last year and sewed it on a plain white hat I bought at Hobby Lobby. The yellow leggings I made by tracing around some slim fitting pajama pants he had. Lucas wore the hat for the Halloween party in the park, but on Halloween he was not interested in wearing any of it, so we didn’t take him to any neighbors’ houses. Maybe next year. Scott took these pictures a few days later.

A few of you have asked about pictures from the Mustache Dash. My friend Valerie and I had fun with it. Another friend, Chelsey, came to cheer us on and take pictures. Unusual for a 5k, we even received mustache-shaped finisher’s medals. Lucas even tried on a mustache for about an eighth of a second.

Here is a batch of fall pictures that have been queuing up for the past month or so. The first set was taken at a company outing at a nearby pumpkin patch/petting zoo. The weather was nice; Lucas liked the roosters the best.

Here is another pumpkin patch–this time with some friends from our church and some local Burmese families that we work with. Lindsay, along with some of the other folks in the pictures, spend time with them weekly working mostly on their english.

Last weekend, North Kansas City held a Halloween event in the park near our house. It was too cold for Lucas to wear his whole costume, but the hat worked pretty well. You’ll see pictures of the rest of it soon.

Here are some shots of us playing in the park. Some were taken when Lindsay’s parents were here, and the rest were taken last weekend. We can’t seem to get Lucas to wear mittens. I’m not sure how that’s going to work when it gets really cold.

Here are some family updates:

• Lucas is walking everywhere; falls often, but is quick to get back on his feet. Loves music, especially the accordion, tambourine, and trumpet. Says some things: water, cracker, baby, happy, doo-doo, vacuum, park, soccer. Becoming a picky eater.
• Lindsay is working on a clothing project for Lucas. She has a Mayan cooking class with a friend this week. Ran in a 5k over the weekend in which she wore a (fake) mustache.
• Scott has started playing soccer again after taking the summer off to mountain bike. Hopes to continue biking into the late fall–hard to do with shorter days.

Sorry we’ve not been super active in the past weeks. I’ve rediscovered my passion for mountain biking, so I’ve had to sacrifice picture posting time while the weather is nice. Here are a couple videos though.

Lucas shows off his dance moves in this first one. It’s old, but too adorable to leave out.

Here is Lucas showing off his new skill: WALKING! Yes, he’s walking now, and he definitely prefers that to crawling.

I started thinking about Lucas’s first birthday party about 2 months in advance. I found inspiration in a photo of a cake that had a paper bunting (triangle flags) topper. Somehow that led me to “sailboat” and I ran with it.  I figured this may be the only birthday where Lucas has no preferred theme. I had so much fun creating many of the decorations for this party. It was my creative outlet for awhile. Some items I bought from a couple different craft stores, but most of the handmade decorations were ideas I saw on Pinterest. I also had a lot of help once we arrived in Illinois.

In Peoria, my mom had many of my requests on hand and helped me assemble some of the decorations, as did my sister-in-law, Stephanie. In Belvidere, Aunt Carol brought some blue punch with frothy, ice cream waves. My mother-in-law, Lois, made a lot of the food (specifically the deviled eggs which we turned into sailboats). Allison helped with the watermelon shark whale. Everyone had a hand in the cute life preserver “thank you” cookies (making the dough, cutting them out, baking, frosting, bagging). And a special thanks goes to the two cake bakers. That’s a birthday party’s main decoration! Lindsey made a delicious coconut cake for my little Sculpey sailboat topper, which I plan to turn into a Christmas ornament. And, in keeping with tradition, Grandma Cannell made a very special sailboat shaped cake complete with foil wrapped coins scattered throughout.

I don’t plan on going all out on the decorations every year, but the first year birthday is extra special. Just remind me of this in about 10 months when I get that glassy-eyed look while perusing Pinterest.

A couple weeks ago we flew to Chicago for a couple weddings–my cousin Phil and Lindsay’s cousin Andrew. We spent the week in between these events in Peoria and Belvidere. Conveniently, this trip coincided with Lucas’ first birthday, so Lindsay brought some decorations and we threw a few parties. Lucas nabbed a bunch of sweet loot in the process. Here are some pictures from Chicago/Peoria:

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…and here are some pictures from Belvidere:

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Lindsay will post later with more detail about her birthday party ideas/decorations. Stay tuned.