Eat your vegetables

I, Mike, have been meaning to blog about all the odds and ends that have been cropping up in these last few busy months- here goes.
We are enjoying Charleston in many ways; even though we are still paying for the high price of our move and we have yet to find a buyer for the house in Enschede, we are finding ways to hang in there. Its unlikely that there will be another time in our lives that matches this period for sheer amount of potential stressors (knock on wood) and we try to remind ourselves of that each day when we get overwhelmed with keeping up with the nearing thesis deadline, both working full time, and still trying to enjoy watching the boys at their respective ages do all the amazing (and occasionally frustrating) things they do. We even resort to sending each other emails from ten feet away because sometimes it is the only way to communicate some thought or plan in our crowded and needy household.
Both of the boys constantly amaze me with the things they do. Will now has four teeth, loves to follow James around and get into anything he is doing, laughs so easily and has a begun to really experiment with making more sounds and taking steps. It all seems to go much faster with him than James sometimes. This morning (unfortunately he has been waking up at 430-500 for the last week or so- though he has great naps and sleeps well at night otherwise) when it was my turn to get up with him, he pulled himself up on the couch and then turned and took a step to put a hand on my knee (I was laying on the floor pretending not to fall asleep.) It seems like every day he is more cognizant and interactive than the day before. He lights up when James comes in the room.
James is a clever little guy. He has started making the occasional joke and talks a mile a minute these days. Sometimes you wonder if he thinks maybe the answer to the question that he has just asked a dozen times might just be different if he asks it twenty times. Most of his life revolves around Lightning McQueen and his friends , but he loves making Will laugh and telling us what he needs and wants; pretty much the same thing and a constant.

Most of what I end up doing for clients as a 'handyman' is fixing what someone else built or 'fixed' poorly, and creating storage. You can never have enough it seems. These are some built ins in a walk in closet for a great client that we got to be friends with (they have a four year old boy and a girl James' age)- they even had us over for their Easter egg hunt. The bottom cubbyholes are for shoes and the hanging bars were customized for their different heights.



This is the closest nature to our house that is accessible to a stroller. Its an undeveloped area right behind the Walmart and the dogs love to run around over there. Recently, spring wildflowers were going crazy but by the time I remembered to bring the camera most stuff had faded. This is James going off on his own and then running back when he would not listen to me and I finally resorted to pretending like I was leaving. Ah, the Maier tough love.


We have really begun enjoying our membership in the local CSA. Every Saturday we pick up a big box of fresh local produce that is grown within 10 miles of our house and picked that day. Our first batch was strawberries, collards, spinach, sweet onions, radishes (red and daikon), broccoli rabe, and a ton of different salad greens. They even give you recipes; Katharine has been doing an awesome job utilizing it all and tonight we are having ribs, corn bread, and collards. And, I have to say, watching Steel Magnolias on Netflix. When I am finishing my Phd I guess I will be able to pick the movie...