moving along nicely

Thank you all so much for your encouragement and ideas!  I really should have done this before, but the way things are just falling into place, I can't help but think that this is just the right time.  My application is submitted, so hopefully I'll hear soon enough to start the one credit little online intro. class I need to take this month.  It looks like I'm short one religion class too, so from what I understand, I'll be done when I've completed 4 classes.  I have yet to "meet" with an actual advisor, to discuss all of this, but one thing I learned last time I began this process it was that they really have no actual say, and that they need to get everything approved by the the heads of the departments.  Still, it would be nice to have everything laid out more cohesively. 

In other news, I'm getting excited for Marlee's baby shower.  Does anyone have an "elegant" sort of soup or salad recipe that they love?  We're doing a little lunch of soups and salads, probably three of each and I'd love to make them all delicious.  I've been pinning ideas on pinterest and am just beginning to discover that vast world of photographic inspiration.  It makes the idea of hosting such a thing more exciting and less intimidating. Do you pin?

We finally made a cake for Adam's birthday tonight.  He didn't love the idea of getting messy at first, and never did really dig in, but seemed to enjoy the experience overall.  Mostly, he enjoyed the bath afterwards, licking his lips again and again before I wiped off the chocolate.  He's a sweet little one.  He decided a few months back that although he could take steps, he wouldn't walk until he could do it without falling. Apparently, this month he got there.  Out of the blue he began wobbling all the way across the room, then in to other rooms.  He will still crawl sometimes if he feels like it, but it's sortof a half-crawl now, with one leg always up in front, dragging the other kneeling leg behind.  It looks completely uncomfortable, but he can get around in a jiffy. 

Kevin came home oddly motivated tonight and is on his second load of dishes and third load of laundry.  Wonderful!  Now if only I can catch the same bug tomorrow, we'll be in great shape.  It's funny how on many blogs, mine included, husbands are just known as a name that pops up from time to time, with a few little stories here and there to give the reader some small connection to said name.  When in reality, for me at least, the husband is such a huge part of everything.  He's the conversations that keep me okay on rough days, he's the reason I think about what to make for dinner when 4 rolls around, he's the hope that walks through the door (finally!) at 5:45.  He's the reason I look forward to weekends and the reason I don't have to fetch anything from the basement in the evenings.  He's the encouragement I need to be better, to stretch, to grow.  He's the one who notices (sometimes after I point out, but still...) and praises my many little nothings done today.  He's the one who puts out the cat, locks the doors, turns out the lights, then meets me upstairs, or gently drags me there.  He's the reason I hardly ever have to go down and make bottles in our cold kitchen in the middle of the night.  He's the one who keeps the future exciting and the present enjoyable.  And here I am, typing about him, as he scrubs the last pan from that dinner that I started all those hours ago with him in mind.  And he's done laundry and vacuuming and dishes tonight with me, my tomorrow self, in mind.  And while I don't generally romanticize him on this blog, and haven't given him a special title as some do, you should know that when I briefly refer to "Kevin" or "Kev", I'm talking about the best person I know.