Picking out our Christmas tree

Last weekend was our annual trip to the tree farm. A few years ago we were looking for a place to get a tree that would shake it out (because we'd had two unfortunate issues with infested trees). Not only do we get a great tree with all the crawlies shaken out, but usually there is a horse-drawn ride. Sadly they weren't able to acquire horses this year, so it was a tractor ride, but we still had a good time. 

{the girls: my sister Amanda, Aurelia + I, and my mom Tami}

The weather was perfect, not only dry but actually warm! After these photos I tossed my coat in the car. 

{because, why not?}

{My girl's first tractor/trailor ride}

The tractor ride was decidedly more smelly and bumpy than the horses so we got off at the first stop. Just before stopping my mom spotted this bright green beauty and we snagged it without having to look at any others, which is ideal when young children are in tow.

{our sad attempt at taking a photo with our chosen tree}

{I love this little illustration of our tree coming down}

After walking back to the main entrance we settled in by the fire for hot cocoa and candy canes while Ben took care of the tree shaking and bailing business. 

 {sticky, sticky, sticky}

And we headed back home in record time...

Easter 2014

Easter usually happens for us in 2 parts, so we get to celebrate all weekend. It's a mix of rejoicing with our church and our families in different settings. 

The past few years on Saturday we've had a egg hunt for the boys and then brunch at Ben's parents' house with his siblings and my parents + siblings as well. Everyone gets a chance to see the little guys do their thing and then we all eat and fellowship. It's a great time and something I really enjoy every year. 

Egg hunt in Grandpa + Grandma's backyard

Opening their eggs and Easter "baskets" (book bags!) 

Usually we try to have the boys decorate eggs during the week before but we just didn't get to it this year, so we brought a kit with us and did it after brunch. It worked out okay but it was rather rushed and Kai didn't really seem to be in the mood. 

Sunday morning the boys woke up early and I was planning on sleeping in a bit until I realized their Easter baskets were set out for them to find. I popped up quick to snap a few pictures, but they were so fast I didn't get anything good. Shortly after we headed to an earlier service at church. This was our first Easter at our current church and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Afterwards we headed out to Florence where later that afternoon we would celebrate with my extended family at my Grandpa + Grandma's house. Prior to that though we met up with some friends at one of our favorite coffee shops since we don't see them nearly enough and any day now they are moving too far away. It was a nice visit, albeit quick. 

Later that afternoon we gathered at my grandparents' place to eat and watch even more kids hunt for eggs. The beach is only a couple blocks away from their house so we all walked down and had the egg hunt right on the beach. We added beanies and water shoes to the boys' Easter outfits, which I found hilariously adorable. 

For the most party I followed after Desmond and Ben kept an eye out for Malakai while they ran all over the place. Malakai took off with the bigger kids up the hill. I love that he's getting old enough for adventures like this. While Desmond was easier to follow, he had a harder time keeping his eggs in the basket. His method cracked me up, he would pick up an egg, open it and put the candy in his basket and put the egg back in the sand. Pretty smart, but I had to follow after grabbing all the empty eggs so his unsuspecting cousins didn't run along to grab the empties. 

They had a blast running around after all the eggs and playing in the sand at the same time. We got quite a bit of sand in our baskets, but thankfully most of their candy was wrapped. They also took about half the beach home with them in their shoes. I'm not the biggest fan of sand, but it was all worth it. 

Desmond enjoyed finding driftwood and "digging for treasure" with Malakai. I'm told in the picture below where my sister and Ben are laughing that Malakai handed Des an egg that was filled with sand. Brothers. 

 

We had neglected to get a family photo the day before so I'm thankful that my mom snapped this one on the beach, even though we are disheveled and mis-matched, it's a great memory. 

{April 20th, 2014}

We headed back up the house to "de-sand" and the boys got another set of Easter baskets from G'Pa + Mima as well as more treats from Great Grandpa Rob + Great Gram Rhea. We stayed to visit for a bit and then headed back home, tired and content. 

sunny days

It has been a gorgeous week of sunny days around here. We've been limited in our enjoyment of it, but have been out in the spring weather when we could. Desmond is on a nap strike so I decided to wear them out earlier in the week and we went for a walk to the park in the mid afternoon. I got some fun pictures and had some sweet conversations. 

Desmond has been narrating everything he sees, he will ask some questions but mostly he tells you what he thinks about the world. Malakai still asks a million questions a day, I love it (most of the time). As we walked by a house with freshly cut grass and clippings on the sidewalk you could smell it in the air and Kai said "mama...I smell green beans" in a disgusted voice. I try not to laugh at him when he says things that strike me as funny, but it's so hard sometimes. I explained to him that it was the grass clippings, but he insisted it smelled of green beans. 

Malakai looks so big to me, walking around without someone holding his hand (until we come to a street of course, no one lecture me please). 

Kai got ahead of us once we were on the path to the park, Des had to catch up with him and I felt super slow lagging behind them. They did wait up for me when they got to the park, how nice. 

{not quite heavy enough to teeter totter on their own}

They climbed around on the play structure and went down the slides a few times as usual. It amazes me how independent Des is compared to the last time we played at the park on a regular basis (early fall). He's all over the place and I'm not too worried about him stepping off of ledges to nowhere. 

I always suggest they run up the hill when I want to wear them out and head home soon. It's their favorite part of this park. Kai took off and Des ran after him...

This is the only photo in this post that I edited, because I wanted to see the joy on their faces but they were a bit backlit. However, it doesn't post large enough here to see. Click through and you may be able to view it bigger. Such happy kids!

At the top of the hill they discovered a patch of dandelions with a cucumber beetle in it and they had to investigate. 

I suggested we go on a walk before heading home but Des was breathing hard after the hill so we found a picnic table to take a rest but instead they both picked me flowers. 

{I came home with handful of daisy and dandelion tops}

On our walk Malakai declared that white trees are made of paper...I love the way his mind works...

We walked a few blocks away before Kai declared he wanted to go home, so we turned around and  headed back. This was the first time that they've both walked the whole way to and from the park. In the past Des has gotten too tired and needed to be carried back or we've had the wagon. They were pretty exhausted so we took a rest when we got home and early bed time went very smoothly. 

Des is still on a nap strike so I'm thinking with this pretty weather (if it lasts) I need to get them out of the house in the mornings to wear them out in hopes he'll actually go back to nap. Mama needs a break!

I can't wait for this weekend, while I have a lot of decluttering to do I plan to spend some time outside with my guys! 

Happy Friday!

snow + ice

Now that it has all melted, I'll commemorate the "arctic blast" of 2013. Let me preface for my readers that aren't so familiar with the Pacific Northwest, we don't get a lot of snow in the valley. In Eugene, Oregon we're only an hour away from the snowy mountains and that's where we go to experience large amounts of snow. Our usual winter is very wet and when we get snow it is still very wet and usually February or even March. Imagine our surprise when we were having temperatures in the teens and then woke up to a few inches of snow last Friday, dry + powdery made-for-tv type snow. Instead of melting by 10am, it just kept snowing. It snowed at our house nonstop for over 12 hours. It was glorious!

It was a blast to play in. If you follow Ben or myself on Instagram or Facebook you might have seen some slow motion videos Ben captured that day. If not, they're work a look!

We had a cozy morning watching the snow drift down like a fairytale while Ben made waffles (yes, I'm  a blessed wife) and sipped our hot coffees and snuggled the boys close. Desmond loved watching it come down, Kai was surprised but asked to go back to bed after we showed him it had snowed. Not the reaction we were expecting, but he warmed up quickly.

Just before lunch we ventured outside to play. It was about 17 degrees out, getting the boys layered took just about forever for about 15 minutes of play time. It was worth it though. 

Later that afternoon we bundled up again and decided to take a walk down to the park. It has snowed so much more that we sank into snow and didn't touch the ground, which was so surreal in our own neighborhood. 

Des in the snow around 11am, and again around 4pm…quite a bit deeper!

I laughed as I watched kids running down the street with snowboards, a total first for me. There is a big hill at the park so they were taking advantage. 

Ben + Des headed straight for the teeter totters and then all 3 of them tried out swinging in the snow. We were only there for about 5 minutes because it had taken so long to get there in the cold, it was getting dark, and a bunch of cold wind was blowing. We trekked home for hot cocoa and dinner.

The next day it was no longer snowing but the temperatures had fallen below 0 so everything stayed pretty well preserved. We went out to the park again, taking the wagon this time. 

 

It was interesting to see the difference between the night before and that morning. I took this shot of the same area of field next to the park…

My little dare-devils tried to play on the slide and climb the icy equipment until we distracted them with the deep snow and attempting to build a snowman. At one point Desmond started crawling around in the snow and laughing hysterically

The snow was too powdery to build a snowman at that point, which was just fine as the boys got cold enough to come in fairly quickly. In fact, I began to suspect that they just wanted to play outside so they could have hot cocoa when they came back in. 

We spent most of Sunday inside, but Ben + Kai played out front together during Desmond's nap. Kai had a blast throwing the snow at a tree and watching it stick. He also helped daddy shovel the snow from the side walk. 

Tuesday I made an attempt to take the boys in the snow on my own. Yep, it was still here. It was like it had snowed the day before, not 3 days ago. We just kept getting freezing weather that preserved it. It took 45 minutes for me to get them and myself suited up for the 20 degree chill. We kicked around out back and then attempted a snowman, but Des kicked it down. We tried again, but he was more of a snow-mound. It's hard to pack powdery snow. Kai gave him a big eye that looked like a patch so we decided he was a pirate. Then we went in of cocoa, naturally. 

The rest of the week we just observed the snow from inside. Enjoying it's bright glow and watching the birds eat the berries off the trees out back. Last night it "warmed" up and the rain finally came, turning the snow into quite the ugly mess outside. It's incredible how quickly snow disappears when it rains. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our winter wonderland, thanks Alaska, for sharing your weather. 

Celebrating Fall

We've done a lot of things over the last couple months to celebrate the season.

In September we went out to Johnson Brothers Greenhouses nearby for a harvest event. They had cider and cookies and a free flower potting station for kids. 

When we arrived we realized we didn't have Desmond's shoes. We both assumed that they were in the car because he typically takes them off as we are going somewhere we've given up on putting them on until we arrive to our destination. So we just doubled up on the socks and carried him half the time, he didn't seem to even notice.

The boys loved digging in the dirt, picking out flowers and planting them. They especially loved watering them with the piggie watering can. The gal that helped them through it was great with kids. We browsed a bit and headed on our way to warm up. The boys were very proud to display their creations out front.

We get a LOT of leaves at our house, from the very beginning of fall and into the winter. The orange and yellow leaves are thanks to our giant maple tree out front. It dumped two times what you see covering our yard and driveway in the pics below. The boys really enjoyed playing in them, and thankfully Ben was able to get the majority off the yard before the rain made them soggy.

We have a lot of leaves in our backyard too from several small trees. Kai loves to help rake them up with Ben. There is another gigantic tree just waiting until we get all these leaves up to make it's contribution. 

There have been a handful of sunny afternoons, warm enough to head to the park. I love watching these two play together, such little buds. 

More recently we made a visit to one of the farms down the street from us to pick up pumpkins. Unfortunately the whole experience of riding the wagon out to the pumpkin patch and picking a pumpkin is too expensive for us. Thankfully our kids don't yet know what they are missing. They are totally thrilled walking up to the pumpkins on display at the store front and we are just as pleased to use free pumpkin vouchers we received from our mortgage advisor's office.

After getting pumpkins we stopped at a park on the way home and enjoyed a few more moments of sun. Then the boys colored them (we don't carve yet!) and set them out front for display. 

Last Wednesday we stopped at the other farm down the street for their last day before closing until spring. They have a play ground and goats, so the boys thoroughly enjoyed playing there. Thankfully it was nice and sunny, and not too cold.

For Halloween we didn't really have much planned for costumes, I couldn't get the boys to commit to anything so I didn't make or buy costumes. At the last minute I convinced Desmond to wear Kai's old Batman PJ's with the cape for his costume, and Malakai wore this awesome spider shirt that Grandma Debbie had made him. It was NOT a costume though, he was NOT spider man. Just Kai, in a spider shirt. He was very serious about that.

Ben and I didn't do costumes, but he did wear a Batman T-shirt to match Des, which rendered him the nickname, "Batdad" at the Harvest party that night. Our church puts together a HUGE harvest festival for the community out at Camp Harlow (which is a ministry that they run). There were tons of games to earn candy in several different buildings, plus a petting zoo with a lemur, bunnies, a wallaby, tortoise and snakes. Des feels the same as mama when it came to the snakes.

We are planning as long as we can to take our kids to the Harvest party and avoid the door-to-door trick or treating trend.

I'm so thankful we made the extra effort to get out and enjoy the fall weather before it turned into the rainy cold mess that it is here in the winter, which is surely just around the corner!

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.

leaves

If you follow me on Instagram you may be familiar with the gigantic maple tree in our teeny front yard. It is gorgeous this time of year as it drops bright golden leaves all over our yard (and the neighbors, hehe). While Ben isn't a big fan because of the time it takes to clean up, not only do I find it lovely to look at but it's useful too.

Who needs fancy toys or tv when you have endless leaves (and sticks...and dirt...) to play with?!

Surprisingly Desmond just played with the leaves and didn't attempt to eat them. Malakai wanted to whack everything with a giant stick, so I let him play in the pile of dirt we have leftover from March's yard redo...we should really do something about that. 

{Malakai showing Desmond how it's done}

It's a bit chilly out, but warm enough and dry enough to play outside some. I'm hoping we get more days like this to wear out my boys. 

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!