Go Ducks!

Today is the National Championship Football Game. Eugene, Oregon is buzzing with activity and excitement for our University of Oregon Ducks.

{Kai's 1st UofO outfit, Oct. 2009}

Ben sent me the following tweet just a little while ago:

Before our move last March we lived on University Street. Obviously, we were right on campus. Our house was a short 6 blocks or so from Mac Court. It was convenient to be within walking or biking distance from where we were working at the time, and it was nice to have plenty of restaurants and other amenities. Once we were expecting Malakai, it started to become a nuisance. Our college aged neighbors were loud late into the night, the traffic on game days made it impossible to get anywhere. 

So, while we support the football team on their big day, we are so thankful to not be in the middle of what will surely be a wild + crazy night on campus.

Tonight we'll watch the game on the other side of town with some family. Dressed in our best green + yellow.  

{At the game, fall 2010}

{my fave of Kai's game day shirts, 2009}

We might even have to let Malakai stay up past his bedtime for this momentous occasion. Then we'll head home to our quiet (hopefully) cul-de-sac for a good night's rest to return to the regularness of tomorrow.

Go Ducks!

nothing post

I'm working on a couple posts, but I won't finish them til next week. And since it's so late in the day on a Friday I just decided to share this little nothing post with the few that are reading blogs right about now.

Today was an especially interesting one around here. I got up at 5:45 with a very sleepy and crabby Malakai. He wanted me to hold him (love) but didn't want to fall asleep. I finally put him down to get dressed and he fell back to sleep at about 6:45. Silly bean.

So I had a rare morning to myself to get ready, make coffee, life journal, and even do a little bit of work.

Then Henry got dropped off and even though Malakai had just woken up 5 minutes prior, he went spastic. Running all over, doing this really fast marching in place thing with his legs that he does when he's over the top excited. Then he started throwing toys all over. He was TOTALLY showing off for his friend.

Once he had his breakfast and calmed down a bit I started to clean up some clutter only to spill my coffee all over the clutter, and my laptop, the floor, the raggedy upholstery on the dining room chair...mess. It's really hard to clean up a spill when all your toddler wants to do is put his hands in every part of it simultaneously. My computer survived, the floor is clean, and the chair got soaked with some stain remover and is drying in the garage. I need to reupholster them anyway.

Later the boys threw all 80-some plastic balls out of the ball pit. I tried to get them to help clean them up, it didn't work very well. It was cute, so I let it slide. Then they did it again an hour later. Gotta love boys.

{not a great photo, but I just enjoy the look on Kai's face}

Malakai also decided that slamming a giant plastic blender (toy) into my hand whilst I was changing his diaper would be the best idea. It wasn't. We're still working on the no hitting. Also, the sharing. This is a really difficult stage for teaching fairly complicated concepts. Like, how come I can hit my hand on this toy to get it to make a noise, but I can't hit my hand on mama's face to get her to make a noise?

Anyway, last night Malakai did this really cute thing, and because this post is about nothing in particular I'm going to tell you about it.

Ben was watching something on tv. I can't remember what, maybe Malakai was watching Elmo? That's not the point. Ben was laying on the rug in front of the couch and Malakai climbed up into his lap and laid himself down like Ben was the best ever comfy lounge chair. He did this for about 10 minutes and it was so sweet. I'm pretty sure Ben wasn't very comfortable in this position, but he was enjoying the moment and didn't want to ruin it by moving.

{love this}

This weekend I'm finally redeeming my Christmas gift from Ben from 2009. Yep, 2009. It was a giftcard for a haircut + massage at my favorite salon + day spa. I already used the haircut, but had trouble finding time to schedule the massage. I can't wait! I also scheduled myself a bang trim just before since I'm out doing things for me and I really need it.

And here's a photo of Ben + I at La Perla Pizzeria. It was on our little point + shoot camera, but I forgot about it when I did my update post. I like it, so I decided to share it.

{even though the bottle looks like it's stabbing Ben's eye}

Happy Weekend!

Thankful on a Thursday: the loot

This is the last of my birthday posts, for those of you getting sick of it. I was actually going to combine this with my last post, but it would have been entirely too lengthy.

We were surely blessed over the holidays with thoughtful + useful gifts from our family. Having a birthday just 4 days after Christmas isn't as bad as it may sound. I have a lot of people asking me if it was a bummer growing up. My only complaints were Christmas wrapping or themed gifts, not having my friends around (especially in college) because of the break, and combination gifts. 

The perks of having my birthday smack dab between Christmas + New Year are pretty good though. While I used to be bummed about combo gifts, it often allows for something a bit nicer than usual. Being right after Christmas I also get asked what was missed from my wish list and then get a 2nd chance at it for my birthday. For the gift givers who are brave enough to shop just after Christmas, they can get some good deals on birthday gifts. 

Now that I'm older, I don't really mind the things I used to. I even thought I didn't want a party, but Ben really wanted to throw one for my golden birthday. I'm so glad he did. We had a great time filling our house up with family + friends. 

I was also blessed by some very thoughtful gifts. One friend is going to take me out to lunch, which I'm really looking forward to. Another gave me a beautiful card with pretty magnet. One of my aunts (who is more like a sister) brought me a beautiful bouquet of my favorite flowers. They are still lovely and fragrant a week later!

{stargazer lilies + red roses}

I also got something I didn't even know I wanted! My parents gave me my first ever leather handbag. 

I've always wanted a red purse (it's my favorite color) but never expected to get something this nice! Genuine leather, Tignanello (tea-nay-nello) designer handbag people! I must admit, I had never even heard of this brand before, but since receiving it I've found it's a popular one.

Here are some of the other thoughtful gifts I received for my 29th on the 29th...

{a planning calendar, Mary Kay products, Red Letter Words wall art, a lovely red pashmina}

I'm so thankful for...

451. loving + generous family and friends.

452. a week with a few less obligations than the previous ones.

453. Ben's mom for not only watching Kai so I could put in some office hours, but for letting me use her car to get there.

454. nursery volunteers at our church. they truly love the kids and are so sacrificial of their time + energy!

455. quiet evening chats with Ben. Last night we researched SUV's together even though there's no way we will be able to afford a second car anytime soon.

456. watching my son fall asleep. 

457. steady and enjoyable jobs.

458. Malakai's love for music. He's been singing + dancing a lot these days. 

459. the one car that we do have.

460. our (usually) quiet neighborhood. 

What are you thankful for this week?

29th

My golden birthday was the 29th of December and I've finally found some time to sit down and tell you  all about it!

On the 28th as we were going to bed I started to feel achey and had a bad case of the chills. I had a slight fever of 99.1 and felt pretty awful. I haven't had a fever for over 6 years! At 2am Malakai woke up with teething pain (no fever, thank goodness!) and my fever had jumped to 100.1 and Ben was at 99.5 degrees. I was sure we'd have to cancel all our plans for the next couple of days. We woke up late feeling achey but our fevers were gone and never came back.

Ben made us pancakes for my birthday breakfast. While he was cooking I decided to check my email and saw a tweet he had just sent linking to his blog. He had written this story for my birthday. It was very sweet and of course I teared up while reading it. Then he handed me our notebook that we write letters in back + forth (something we started while we were dating back in 2006!) he had written me a note for my birthday. I noticed that some of the letters were darker than others. He had hidden a message in it!

I figured it out quickly and the message revealed what our plans were for the afternoon. He was taking me to La Perla, a pizzeria we had always wanted to go to. It's run by the same owners of one of our favorite restaurants, Bepe & Gianni's. We got a bit of a late start, but at 1:30pm Ben's parents came to hang out while Malakai napped so we could go out.

We had a wonderful relaxed lunch. It was nice to get out just the two of us (it had been a while) and the food was awesome!

As we got in the car Ben told me to check my jacket pocket. In it was this clue...

and before I knew it we were off on a scavenger hunt! We went to the chapel at our alma mater where we first met. 

From there the next clue took us to Autzen Stadium, where we had gone to a football game on the day we found out we were expecting Malakai. 

Next was our first apartment together, which was my apartment that we lived in for a few short weeks before moving into a house.

 After that the clues took us to the starbucks drive thru where I had to use the internet to find out next clue, which took us back home.

All along the way the clues told me about my birthday gifts. One was an itunes download of my choice, another was some downtime while Ben de-clutters the house, and another Starbucks drink. The last gift was in our trunk and it was Chalk Ink markers for my chalkboard!

The whole day was very unexpected. I felt so special and was really proud of Ben for keeping it all from me for so long!

2010

This started out as one of those "year in review" posts. I was going to posts photos and a month by month recount of our year. Then, life got in the way. I also realized, that if you wanted to know what we did month by month you could just click on the posts to the lower left. So...instead of waste my time + energy on that, I made a photo collage to represent our year. It took me 10 minutes.

We just had a glorious 5 day vacation. We ate, took naps, visited with family, and I got older. Tomorrow Ben goes back to the office and I have an appointment. Back to the real world for us.

When I catch a few minutes I'll update in more detail, especially about my fantastic birthday surprises courtesy of my most wonderful husband!