Buddies

Happy Easter!!!!

Only our second holiday away from any family and....we made it! Mike laughed at me when I said I wanted to start the tradition of buying a bunny and letting it go after the "big day". But I swear I remember Easters when the bunny actually did show up. Plus. our Easter egg hunting Yorkie was not here. So I missed a little critter. But furry animal and family aside, it was really fun! We went to church at Mountain Top and had brunch at the Resort. Then we played in the yard, had an egg hunt, went for walk, and skyped the family. I remember when I was living up north, I would look at the jcrew and Lilly catalogue wishing to buy cute spring dresses for the day, you know those where long underwear were not required. Well this year I experienced the most lovely 80 and sunny southern Easter! Awesome!

Easily Amused

That's Mike and I. We are so easily amused when it comes to watching Jack. Hours are spent in our backyard just playing. I used to dream of these days when I was stuck working at the office. My dream was always to have a family and get the excuse to do all the little kid things again! Just get to spend days outside in the sun with a hose and little to no clothing on (the clothing only refers to Jack).

He is so curious about everything, just trying to figure out how things work, and what is supposed to do what.

It's fun to look at the world again in little kid vision. Because we can. We are parents now.

The simplest things are fascinating. And wonderful.

It's like we have all the time in the world and nothing to get done. Just to play and enjoy.

I love that.

To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature.  Most persons do not see the sun.  At least they have a very superficial seeing.  The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and heart of the child.  The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Easter Egg Hunt

Gina hosted an Easter egg at her house for the kids on Friday morning. Hilarious to watch. For a whole 10 seconds they were really good at finding the eggs and putting them in their own baskets...then they started to grab them out of each others, dump their baskets, and throw the eggs. They had a great time though so that's what matters:)

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! I have a little bit of treehugger in me so in honor of today, I wanted to pass along what we are teaching Jack here at, Our Postma Home, about how to be responsible with the beautiful Earth God gave us. Jacky Bear, not going to lie once you were added to our family it made going green all around a little harder. I just couldn't talk Mike or Mom (or myself if I'm honest) into the whole cloth diaper thing. So many more green things I dream of doing, but here are our daily staples that I am trying to teach Jack to do everyday. Almost everything I learned from my Mom and my Oma, green is not a fad for our family, my Oma doesn't even know what she has been doing since she came over from Germany is called "trendy" these days:)

1. Turn off the lights when you leave the room. Use the natural light when you can.
2. Don't use air or heat unless we absolutley have too. My big exciting purchase last month was screens, I LOVE having the windows open and that cross breeze reduces the need for fake air.
3. No purchasing of bottled water. We only break this rule in August and September here when we have house guests. Besides that bottled water does not enter our cart. Water is always with us but in reusable containers (like adult sippy cups).
4. Don't use the car for short distances use your feet.
5. Recycle. Mike is really good at enforcing this. It totally turns me on.
6. Buy organic and local when we can. Whole Foods is far from us and the farmer markets are not open in the winter months. But when we can we buy organic and local. Once we settle down in a house I am starting a garden asap.
7. Use green cleaning products. This includes the mixes of just water and vinegar, water and baking soda, lemons. But also I go for Mrs. Meyers & Seventh Generation.
8. Reuse plastic bags for diaper bags. I used to use them as our kitchen trash bags too, but Mike finally made me cave and buy the large normal kitchen bags. Love taking reusuable bags, but I need my poop bags.
9. Turn off the water when we brush our teeth or wash our face.
10. Carpool with your buddies...Jack is learning to "strollerpool"

Lastly, it has been a blessing to be living with Jack in this mild climate so that he can spend as much time outside as possible. If he enjoys the outdoors he will care for it more. At least thats what this Mom learned from hers and hoping it will be passed on!

A Mother's Joy & A Father's Pride

Back in Bama Again

We woke up in Chicago with snow on the ground and ended the day in Bama at the park with shorts on!

I was so nervous about traveling with Jack on my own. I mean I am an experienced traveler and so is Jack at 16 months. But the thought of long delays and sharing a small little seat for longer than an hour and a half started to give me ulcers:) But I got some great advice and LESS is MORE when traveling with a toddler, clothes and carry on wise. We made it through security faster than all of the business travelers. Winner.  Thank goodness for slip on Sperry's & Uggs and my super easy stroller! Best gift from Ben and Leah ever. That and I am pretty organized when it comes to traveling, not at everything, but at traveling yes. 

Anyways, the flight was basically on time and Jack was occupied with crayons and snacks. Once we got on the plane a sweet older lady offered to switch seats with me because the person next to her didn't make the plane. Jack in his own seat was much easier. So much easier that I am convinced I could have brought Dutch too. 50 minutes into the flight Jack passed out. It was adorable, but I was laughing at how he could barely sprawl out in the seat. He is growing so fast it is starting to make me sad. 

I had to wake Jack up and when he saw Mike I am pretty sure he thought he was dreaming. After about 10 days I am happy to be a family again! Plus, this southern spring weather is nothing short of gorgeous! We were missing our shorts.  

Conquered my fear and ready to do it again...

Leah's Barrington Shower

Leah's Shower in Barrington on Sunday was so much fun! It was so important to us that the day was perfect for Leah. Filled with love, good food and wine, elegance, and little personal touches. So incredible to be surrounded by so many wonderful women. In the group of 25 women that attended it was amazing that not one was divorced, many married for 30 to 50+ years. What a fabulous example for the new couple just starting out on their marriage journey!

Leah and Ben were truly spoiled with gifts from everyone:) And the Bride was so appreciative which makes giving gifts all the more fun! Thank you everyone for coming from near and far, and all of the love your are sharing with the Rinkers-to-Be! Thank you Mom for helping out so much and letting me host the shower at your house, Oma thank you for your amazing desserts you spent all week on, Dad and Opa for watching Jacky Bear, and Leah for marrying Ben!

We did Bellini's as a cocktail because after Ben and Leah got engaged on Naples Pier they went to a restaurant on 5th Avenue called "Bellini's" to celebrate. 

There was a cookbook to write "Words of Wisdom" for the groom in! 

Oma's amazing desserts all handmade! And Barbs yummy cheesecake bites that I need to make! 

Set the tables with fresh potted spring flowers from Mom and I cut out marriage quotes to scatter around the table.  Mom made the cute table favors that had Divine chocolate and Jelly Belly's (Ben first brought home Leah for Easter). 

The Rinker/Pranke/Postma Women! Thank you Aunt Deb for coming down from Wisconsin and taking all of the pictures!

Leah's Dutch Oven from the Hamiltons

Getting her first set of china.  And how cute is Mrs. Dejonge in the background! 

I made her wear the veil for some pics:)

Love this picture! Getting all of her bedding from Mom. 

Jack LOVES that his Aunt Lala is always helping him get his treats:)

I finally can participate in the sister pictures! Love the Mandel girls:)

Leah brought Mom and Oma beautiful tulips and daffodils.

They guys and Jack showed up at the end of the shower. Jack was loving all of the lady attention. The weather was unseasonably warm, like 80 degrees and sunny. So after the shower was officially over a lot of people stayed and chatted on the deck, and of course the guys helped themselves to leftovers! I was exhausted by 7pm, for some reason I felt like a nervous bride all day and couldn't eat a thing, then at the end of the day I had wine and I was out like a light! It was my first time cooking for so many women, of which many I know are outstanding gourmet cooks themselves. But everyone seemed to enjoy the popular Birmingham dish I recreated, "Tzaki's Friday Special". Figured since I couldn't host the shower at my Bama home I had to add a little southern touch:) 

All in all a great day a celebration! 

But it did take Mom and I few days to get the house back in order and to recover from all of the excitement...