a shower for our baby girl...

Weekend before last a dear friend of mine threw a baby shower in honor of little sister's approaching arrival. I've been looking forward to Liz coordinating a shower for me since she offered back when Desmond was still a baby! She is incredibly talented in myriad ways, and throwing a party is surely one of them!

She also happens to be an artist {you may remember her from the Big Dandy Designs feature} and designed these gorgeous invites- the photo does not do them justice!

{I'm obsessed with this watercolored peony she did!}

Another wonderful friend, Amy (who has also been featured here!), offered to take care of the food for the day. Amy is also one talented lady, and she happens to be a chef so I knew I would be in good hands. She was so sweet to ask what I would want and asked again closer to the shower to cater to my current cravings. She even drove me to the shower, since she happens to be my neighbor. When we pulled up to Bramblefield and saw all the girly coral decorations in the garden she said "you're having a girl, I'm going to cry!" and I found myself feeling the same way. 

Everything was gorgeous and perfect. The weather was a bit hot but the wind helped with that and we made sure there was shade for those who really needed it. There was a ton of great food (thanks again Amy!), a gorgeous and delicious cake thanks to my mom, yummy drinks and pretty decor by Liz. Liz also put together games and a craft. Thanks also to Elly, Liz's daughter, for helping with preparations!

{Liz made the the wooden arrow art for our nursery!}

I can't get over how perfect this ruffled cake is, my mom is amazing! To the right are some family pictures. My sister Amanda + mom Tami at the top, my mother in law and my mom in the middle, and my sister in law Kristi, mother in law Debbie , and soon to be sister in law Vanessa at the bottom. Thanks to my mom and my sister in law, Kristi for taking photos!

I helped a bit with food before guests arrived and then went out to greet once they started to trickle in. After visiting some we started in on the wonderful food and I was able to catch up with friends and family who came from near and far. I was just so blessed to have so many women I love in the same place to celebrate baby girl with me!

The guests crafted hair accessories for little sister that I later voted on for a prize, they played bingo while I opened their numerous, adorable, and generous gifts, and a few other games after that. Liz had put together fantastic potted plants as decor + prizes. I even got to take one home!

Here I am with my amazing hostess friends, Liz + Amy...

{also, opening a darling dress my mom made and other gifts, and my great aunt Gladys measuring my belly as part of a game...you know, every pregnant gal's favorite part!}

{Ben's mom made this beautiful bear quilt to match the nursery colors}

I'm glad that I had two people taking pictures and they helped me remember to take the time out to get photos with as many guests as possible. I wish I got a picture with everyone! There were 5 pregnant ladies in attendance including myself, so I had to get a picture with all the mama's and their baby bumps...as well as with other gals of course.

{Left: friends from church, Asha and Monica; my sister in law, Kristi; my high school bestie, Lindsey + I. Right: My college roommate, Carina; my cousin Angela + her girls, and Lindsey + I again}

{Ben's grandma Helen + his mom Debbie, his aunt Lori, cousin Heather + her baby boy Otis}

{my mom + I with the cake, my aunt Deedee, and with my Grandma Rhea + mom}

I wished I could have visited more with everyone, things like this always go by in a blur like that. I'm extremely thankful to everyone who came and the wonderful gifts for our new addition. As things were wrapping up Ben + the boys came to say hello and pick me up of course. Once everything was cleared Liz + her husband Mark (who I also should thank for his hard work because their property is ALWAYS gorgeous!) turned on the sprinklers for the boys to run through. They had a blast and Liz + my mom even joined them. It was a delightful end to a fantastic day! 

planning to catch up...

I'm currently surrounded by a couple heaps of clean laundry, a cluttered dresser and headboard, and a stack of mangled yarn. That's just in my bedroom, the room that we can easily shut in case of company. However, the rest of the house is in the same state. After 6 weeks of sickness and a scary illness that resulted in an unexpected hospital stay (which we all came home from with a new sickness), it's hard to figure out where to start. I'm still not feeling 100%, we all have this lingering cough that just doesn't seem to let go and so I'm having trouble figuring out how to get the house back in order.

I need a plan for catching up. I have a pile of mail that needs sorted, insurance and medical paperwork that need filed away, preschool lessons and finished projects, more laundry, sewing projects that range from just started to nearly finished that all got pushed aside when our healthy began to decline, a bag of items from Ben's birthday that never got put away, Sunday school projects, more shoes and coats than we need all at once next to the door, and probably more laundry. I also would like to get started on our taxes. Oh boy. At least the kitchen is clean, I have a very tired and amazing husband to thank for that (and all the other loads of laundry that actually did get put away). He's incredible. 

What do you do when you get behind on household chores and daily maintenance? Do you make a plan or just tackle it? Do you do a little bit at a time or wait until you get a chance to get it all done at once? 

I'm truly so humbled and encouraged by the friends + family who are still bringing us dinners. It has afforded us the rest and recuperation we need to get back into step with our daily lives and to focus on making sure everyone (especially Desmond) gets and stays healthy. Once again, we thank you. 

As an added note- if you haven't heard of it, the website Meal Train is incredible for setting up meals for people in need. For someone who has just had an illness (or 4), recovering from surgery, welcoming a new baby, or just could use a blessing- it means the world. We've been on both the giving and receiving end of several meal trains. I've used the site to organize meals for new parents, and for my mom after her surgeries last year. It's so easy and so worth it. 

Seaside mini-vacation

Over the summer some of our best friends, Michael + Megan, invited us to go on vacation with them to Seaside. They were gifted a week stay at the World Mark Resorts the previous Christmas. We didn't have enough vacation time to go during the week in October so we joined them during the weekend at the tail end of their trip.

We were excited about having the minivan in time for the trip, but the check-engine light came on the Thursday before. I took it for a quick free diagnostic and it was having a cylinder misfire. We knew we didn't have time to get it looked at before leaving, but Ben's parents generously loaned us their Tahoe for the weekend, so we were still able to go!

On Friday when Ben came home from work we loaded up and got on the road as soon as possible. We made a stop about halfway through at Bridgeport Village to eat a picnic style dinner I had packed and let the boys move their legs. They have a great play structure in the center courtyard. We climbed back in the car and headed to Seaside. It seemed like it took forever, it was nearly 8pm when we arrived. 

Once we got there we moved some things around to accommodate our needs in the extra room to get settled. We let the boys stay up late to wind down from their excitement and visited with Michael + Megan. Things got complicated when we went to put the boys to bed because I had packed only half of the baby monitor. Thankfully my techno-guru husband figured out that we could do a FaceTime audio-only call between our phones and mute one so we could hear them but they couldn't hear us. It worked great!

We stayed up late talking and poor Ben had to go in several times to soothe Des back to sleep, but once we went to bed he stayed asleep for a good long while. The next morning the boys came running out to the living room, where we were sleeping on a murphy-bed, wanting to play. We were SO tired. 

After a leisurely morning and a great breakfast made by Michael, we decided to head out to the beach. It was a short walk from our room to the beach access since the entire resort is right on the Seaside Promenade.

{the view from our room and a view of the resort from the beach}

{lots o' selfies}

In addition to half the baby monitor, I also forgot sand toys. So we brought some dishes and big spoons with us instead. They worked well-enough and the boys (all 4 of them) had a blast playing in the sand. It was warm and only slightly breezy, a beautiful day on the Oregon coast. 

We ate a really late lunch after cleaning off all the sand before heading out again. Michael + Megan had planned to take the boys on the carousel by all the shops down the street. Malakai only wanted to ride on the bench so he had to wait a couple rounds, but Desmond went on right away. He looked nervous when it started moving but got more comfortable and seemed to have a lot of fun.

Afterward we walked by the shops and Michael bought a bunch of deep fried desserts that we all tried. The consensus was that they were disgusting. Desmond fell asleep on Ben's shoulder on the walk home, so we let him snooze while we relaxed and thought about dinner.

The boys ate dinner and went to bed a few hours later. We ate a really late dinner and stayed up talking into the night. 

Sunday we woke up to clouds and fog that wouldn't burn off. We relaxed most of the morning. The boys colored, played video games and read. Michael made paper airplanes for Malakai and he was instantly hooked.

{checking out the foggy beach}

We took the boys to the small play area and game room at the resort and then decided to go for a walk on the promenade.

{caught instagramming}

{Michael, Desmond, Megan, Ben, Malakai, + I}

Malakai got sick of walking pretty quickly but we enticed him to go further by pointing out the swing set on the beach. Megan got this adorable picture of us that I just LOVE.

On our walk back Malakai + I found a caterpillar. After Kai tried holding it, Michael set it free.

{the boys LOVED air-hockey, Megan + I keeping each other warm, Kai with his new friend}

We relaxed some more back in our room until dinner. Megan and Michael made some amazing meals  (including Puerto Rican style plantains!) and introduced us to some yummy snacks over the weekend. Megan also read stories to both boys a few times which they loved. She even brought a childhood favorite of her own to share with Malakai called Mr. Pudgins.

After dinner we packed up our circus and headed home, but not before Megan loaded us up with a ton of food to take home with us and the most amazing brownies of all time!

{sunset from our room, back on the road}

We loved every minute of it and count ourselves blessed to have such awesome friends that would invite us to come share in their vacation with them.

Oregon Zoo Road Trip + College Pals Reunion

A couple months back some friends of mine from college and I got to talking about orchestrating a mini "reunion" of sorts. We hadn't all been together since my wedding in 2007 and it felt about time to see each other, meet the kids, and catch up in a more personal way than instagram photos and facebook updates. Portland was the most "central" for all of us and with the kids we decided on a trip to the Oregon Zoo.

After 2 reschedules and one person having to cancel, the rest of us and our families got together on June 1st. Ben and I decided that if we could swing it, staying over night in Portland the night before would work best. That way we wouldn't have to wake up at 5am to get on the road to meet everyone. While we had a ton of fun staying overnight with our newly-wed friends in their lovely home, we probably would have gotten more sleep at our place. Desmond is very particular when it comes to night-time sleep. He didn't get to bed until 10:30 and was up several times. Malakai had a cot next to our bed and was so stoked that he was out pretty quickly, although that was also 10:30 because he took a nap on the drive up.

Speaking of, our drive up was fairly painless. We borrowed my father-in-law's Tahoe for the storage space. Malakai slept the first half, we stopped and ate a picnic dinner outside of a starbucks and then piled back in. I had purchased Kai the soundtrack to Jake and The Neverland Pirates (which has been newly added to Netflix and he's obsessed) and he listened to that with his 1st pair of headphones for the rest of our drive.

{on our way!}

Desmond was happy to talk to himself for most of the ride. Except for the last 10 minutes of our 2 hour drive he kept yelling "WALK! Please?" -he was so totally done sitting.

We had a great time catching up with Reid + Carina, even though our kids were determined to stay up all night.

{Kai showing his TAG reader to Reid + Carina}

At the zoo Malakai was so excited he could barely contain himself. We tried waiting for our friends before going through the gates but he just couldn't stand it, so we went through and waited at the first exhibit.

{mountain goat, bears, and ducks}

Once Caity and her husband Trevor and their son Roman then Reid and Carina arrived we began to explore the zoo. The guys kept us on track with the maps so we were sure to see everything that was open. (Sadly we didn't see Zebra, Panda bears, Tigers, Gorillas and a few others). 

{{At the farm exhibit, seeing a cougar, getting help to see some livestock from Reid, checking out the Polar bear- who jumped in the water right in front of us!}}

Most of the pictures are of Malakai because Desmond was pretty exhausted. He fell asleep on the 15 minute drive to the zoo and would be skipping his nap to spend the day at there. He was fairly content to graze on his snack and watch the animals from his stroller. I did take him out for the animals that he had to be lifted high to see and to let him run around a bit.

 {Malakai checking out the lion, he claimed it was his favorite.}

At the beginning of the trip Kai had let us know he wanted to see lions and dogs. We thought we might see wolves (we didn't) but unbeknownst to us, there were wild dogs in the exhibit right next to the lions. Sadly, they were asleep so they weren't too exciting. He was still pretty happy about it. 

 There were a LOT of monkeys. Countless types in multiple areas of the zoo. Most of them were pretty fun to watch, Kai got close to a couple and really loved it. Desmond enjoyed saying monkey and pointing from his cozy spot in the stroller.

Malakai also enjoyed this random tunnel thing and both boys LOVED the creepy crocodile. For the entire time we were in there (which wasn't long because it was a muggy indoor rainforest) Des kept saying "a-die-oh" in an effort to say crocodile. I held him close to it, and he giggled with delight.

The bottom left photo of the above collage is Caity, Carina, and myself. The day was going fast and I knew we had to capture a picture of the three of us before it escaped us. I really wish we would have taken one of our whole group together!

My personal favorite was the sea lions. Malakai was enthralled and could have stayed watching them all day. These 2 sea lions, 1 brown and 1 white, were literally swimming the same lap over and over again. Desmond found a group of teenage girls that would giggle every time he danced around...so he didn't even notice the sea lions.

 {Here's Des continuing his dance in front of a fish tank. Then stealing Roman's zoo-issue car/stroller.}

Last but not least was the train ride. We parted ways with Carina + Reid at this point and the rest of us piled into a train car together (again, I wish I had a decent picture of all of us but we were busy holding on to kids who wanted to wiggle around). The train ride is 25 minutes and we rode a real steam engine. Caity + Trevor's son Roman is really in to trains and was even more excited than my kiddos about this experience, it was adorable.

After SIX hours at the zoo we said goodbyes and we piled our stuff and ourselves back into the car. Both boys fell asleep before we even moved from our parking space...which was a problem because our next stop was the Nike Employee store. One of my best friends works in legal at Nike so she put us on the list to shop that day. It was a bit stressful because the boys were crabby but in the end we made out with a cool pair of shoes for Kai (our main goal) and a nice little jacket for me.

After that we found a McMenamins and ate dinner. We decided that now that the kids were happy and full we should let them burn off some energy before putting them in the car for the trip home. We googled and found the nearest park. It ended up being a disaster...Kai ran straight for the field near the play structures only to fall into a hidden swampy mess. He was covered and his bum was saturated. Ben took him to the car to clean up and I took Des to the play ground, but almost immediately encountered a giant shard of glass and called it quits. The kids weren't too happy about the short-lived trip but were tired enough to settle in for the trip home. Des talked to himself for nearly the entire 2 hours and Malakai passed out after zoning on his piratey tunes.

 The next day I took out a zoo passport we had printed from a site online (I've pinned it but don't have the energy to find it to link here). Kai was too excited to see the animals to care about this at the zoo, but loved thinking back on what we saw and drawing in the animals that weren't included in the book.

Overall it was a successful trip with our little family. We were so glad to finally get our kids up to the zoo, to see Reid + Carina's house for the first time, and to meet up with Caity and her family who we haven't seen since our wedding nearly 6 years ago! Let's hope it's not that long until we meet again!

February 2013

I can hardly believe spring is here...I mean, where did February even go?

Here is a bit of a recap of how last month went for us....

On the 2nd, Ben turned 28. We celebrated by going out to breakfast, but then after nap I headed up to Portland. I had a bachelorette to attend, and my sweet husband gave me the go ahead to miss the evening of his birthday for it. I'm telling you, he's one generous and patient man.

I had a blast at Carina's bachelorette and felt about 10 years younger, if only for an hour while we were out dancing. I also started a 2 week vacation. I figured I was going to be away from my job for 2 weekends, I might as well take off the days in between and spend some focused time with my boys. It was WONDERFUL.



The next day, I headed back home as soon as I could to continue Ben's birthday weekend celebration. After the boys woke up from nap we headed to Ben's parents for a Superbowl/Bday party for Ben. Just a little party with both of our immediate families.

The following weekend was THE wedding. Carina and Reid's big day was one of my favorites of all time. Ben and I left the kids home with his parents for the entire weekend (which was a first and made me nervous- mostly because of their sleep habits). We stayed at my High School best friend's place and had a great time catching up with her and her husband. We had the rehearsal, dinner and then stayed up late talking with Linds and Adam before crashing and then SLEEPING IN (glorious!).

Then February 9th, Ben dropped me off at the Crystal Ballroom and I dove into the preparations that were already underway (While Ben cavorted around Portland by himself, and thoroughly enjoyed it). Things moved quickly and the wedding started just after 5pm, beautiful ceremony, cocktail hour, dancing, dinner, dancing. Ben and I had a really fun night, and we realized it was the first time we really danced together. I passed out shortly after we got back and then the next morning we were off to visit a Portland church and we even ate lunch before rushing home to our boys. It was so good for us, our marriage, our kids...our whole family. The boys did GREAT and Ben and I felt rejuvenated and were so relieved to discover that our children didn't disintegrate without us.

A few days later we took the boys to see Liz's lambs. They get bummers every year and invite everyone to come out for a feeding to see them. I love it just as much as the kiddos do. Ben was there, he just did all the photo taking...

All month we had about a million different types of appointments that kept us quite busy (more on that later and NO I am not pregnant again, haha). Then I came down with some weird stomach thing (yes, I'm SURE I'm not pregnant) and then the next day Ben was out with the stomach flu. Then we had some sort of food poisoning a few weeks later. Hm, perhaps my cooking is killing us slowly.

The weather was randomly dry and sunny and we spent some afternoons and weekends outside. We mostly let the boys play, even though we have a LOT of yard work to catch up on.

Malakai went back and forth with potty-training all month and I wanted to tear my hair out or throw him a party a handful of different times. Yeah, it's been a roller coaster ride.

Desmond is talking up a storm, he started repeating just about anything he hears. He's such a little parrot in that regard. He also LOVES to mimic anything Kai does, so we've had a lot of talks with Malakai about setting a good example for his brother. Good example- cleaning up toys, playing gently. Bad example, running around and literally bouncing off the walls, climbing chairs to reach things on tables. Sigh.

Things at work have been different for both Ben and I. I don't really like to go into details about our workplace joys or woes too much here, so I'll just leave it at that. We are both gainfully employed and while it's often a struggle to make ends meet due to our long term debt (we have ZERO debt outside of our home and student loans, but those 2 things are more than ENOUGH), God always provides somehow and we are able to make it work.

So...that was our February, a short month packed with more activity than should actually fit.

fall festivities

This past weekend was one event after another for me and I'm still recovering. Friday night we scooped up the kiddos and went to a friend's birthday party, which happened to be just down the street. Then we woke up earlier than usual for a Saturday morning and headed out to pick up some cupcakes we had ordered from The Sassy Cupcake for their latest fundraiser.

Our next stop was the pumpkin patch, but it was raining and had been for quite some time. Unfortunately we had told Malakai about going to get a pumpkin so we didn't have much of a choice. As true Oregonians we headed out in the rain. Sadly, the horse ride out to the patch wasn't free this year, but Kai was fine checking out all the pumpkins lined up at the storefront. He and Des picked out their pumpkins and we sloshed around in the muck before piling back into the car, all cold and soggy.

Once we got home we changed out of our muddy clothes and the boys went to work coloring their pumpkins. I even gave Kai the choice of carving his if he wanted, but he preferred to draw a few faces with crayons and then try carrying it around. Desmond even colored on his a bit, but then become more interested in trying to sit on it.

Next I headed out to meet my friend Carina and her sister-in-law, Michelle, for Carina's 1st bridal fitting. She lives in Portland but had found her wedding dress down her a few months ago. It was lovely to see her in it again. Then the three of us headed out to lunch at an old favorite, Sweet Basil Thai. 

{my lovely friend, Carina and some amazing pumpkin curry}

We made a stop at the mall to look for bridal party accessories and chat about what we'll each wear and what style she's going for. I also grabbed a last minute detail for my Halloween costume. 

I got home late that afternoon and spent some time snuggling my boys before getting ready to head out again. Ben and I were going to a costume party, on our way out the door we realized it was the first time we've ever dressed up together. 

{We went as Where's Waldo + Carmen Sandiego. The lovely bird is my friend Liz, and the hostess of the most fabulous parties}

We had such a good time hanging out with adults late into the night without our children. We haven't stayed out that late since before we had Malakai! It surely made me feel young again...until the next morning that is. 

Sunday was work/church and then I had a movie date during the boys' nap time with my mom and sister to finally see The Help. I went straight there to my in-laws where Ben had brought Des and Kai for us to have dinner. 

Then this morning was flu shots, groceries, errands and gymastics. Can you see how I'm a bit exhausted? Still, we had so much fun!

Desmond's 1st Birthday, a Barnyard Bash!

 The last few weeks I have been overwhelmed with blessings. Ttere have been hardships, as usual, but even through them- blessings have flowed. A couple weeks ago the boys came down with a virus and we had the worst night sleep (aka no sleep). We were showered with offers to bring meals, dessert, and coffee. I was shocked at the outpouring of kindness.

Yesterday we threw Desmond his 1st birthday party. We were once again, so blessed by the entire event. So many friends and family came to wish Des well and they really showered him with gifts. The party was at our friends' home, in their barn...an actual barn, complete with authentic sheep poo! Truly, Mark + Liz have a gorgeous place and it was so generous of them to not only let us have the party there but to help us decorate, set up, and clean up. We are so blessed.

 Des was all smiles just about the entire time. You know how most kiddos have a tantrum at their 1st birthday party, well he only whined a bit when his little boots started to hurt his feet. That was all, what a champ! Sadly, Kai made a grand entrance, complete with melt-down. Which is what happens when he doesn't get his nap and then we put him into a social situation. He warmed up once we brought out the Stomp-Rocket, something I got with his birthday money and waited to pull out at the party.

While I was putting up decorations it began to rain, but it let up and stayed clear the rest of the day. It was so humid though, that even paper things under cover felt a bit soggy. I had a few activities planned that we could do under cover because of the rain; pin the tail on Bulls-Eye and bean bag toss. With no rain, kids were content to run in the field and climb on the tractor, so we never needed the games.

{aunt Kristi played solo}

{our little family, Des with G'Pa, and sweet cousin Delia on the tractor}

Kids and adults alike were entertained by the cider-press. Mark built it himself in college and it was really fun to watch, and the cider was delicious! 

We got the party rolling pretty quickly and started with gifts for a few people who had to leave early. Des received so many gifts, all of them so nice! The boys will be entertained all winter long and then some! 

Shortly after we brought out Desmond's birthday cake and sang to him. My talented mother, who the boys know as Mima, baked a cow cake per my request. Growing up she has made a lot of cakes like this one, and not only are they delicious, but incredibly adorable!

I made Des a banana cake for him to dig into. While we were singing the wind blew out his candle. I nearly attempted to relight it, but knew it was too windy and he wasn't going to be blowing it out anyway. Then he dug in...

Friends and family alike showed up dressed to theme, it made for an even more authentic feel for the whole event. Although, technically, I don't consider my dad as being in costume since this is pretty much his regular attire...

Once our guests were gone and we cleaned our stuff out of the barn, we moved over to the BBQ area and had a little after-party with the immediate family. I had BBQ chicken in the crockpot and Liz provided us with some corn straight from the garden. We had dinner, then moved again to the fire pit to relax and have a few s'mores.

 We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day or a happier birthday boy! Thanks to all who came, and Happy 1st Birthday Des!