12 years

We've been married for 12 years now. We had a small wedding in a beautiful park in Colorado with close friends and family. The weather was perfect. If you know anything about Colorado's weather in late spring then you know this was an anomaly. So many things have happened in all these years it is sometimes hard to believe...

Our daughter came along two years into our marriage, we made a big move to Seattle, I lost my father, we had our son Simon, bought our first house in West Seattle, Dan left his job so we had to sell our house and move back to CO, we bought a new house in Capital Hill, Seth was born in our house there in Denver, we took a big leap and Dan took a new job in NJ, bought another new house- word to the wise sell the old one first, our Denver house flooded, it did finally sell a year later though, Simon had major surgery to fix his Chiari Deformation and he continues to wear a brace because of it... So many things have happened. We had each other through it all though.

Here we are now 12 years later. Living on the East Coast in our big Victorian house with 3 kids. Loving life and still loving each other. The steps that brought us to this point are strange at best. We are still so happily in love and surrounded by it.


May we be blessed with many, many more years together.

I love you, Daniel. Happy Anniversary.

Strawberries

Let's go get some delicious strawberries...

Yummmm!!!

Hey, we're supposed to pay for those first.

It's too good to wait for.

Still warm from the sun.

Quick update

I am sure that this won't surprise anyone but we've had a lot going on this week. With approach of the end of the school year lots of events happen. Hannah had her spring concert on Wednesday. Dan had a massive migraine so he stayed home. Did he miss much? Only if you enjoy listening to "Hot Cross Buns" performed by the band and "The Candy Man" done by the school chorus. It is cute but painful for the most part.

(Hannah playing her violin for the last time!)

(Hannah's on the far right hand side if you care.)

We spent a bit of time packing Hannah up for GS camp this weekend. She went last year and had a blast. I hope they have a great time this year too. It's supposed to rain... Simon announced this morning that this will be the best weekend ever. They love each other so much. Don't they?

I'll drop her stuff of with the troop leader after the little School Dance is over today. I am not sure why there is a dance for an hour and a half after school but there is. I don't think Hannah was asked by or asked any boys to the dance. She's going to have some fun with a few of her friends.

To keep entertained today Seth and I are going to go pick strawberries. I want to go again next week on day after school so the older kids can get a chance to go too.

Oh, I have to share my bad mommy moment. Simon lost another tooth yesterday. Hurray. He has that goofy grin now.

Anyway, I had every intention of swapping the tooth for a crisp dollar bill last night... then I forgot. I woke up this morning and thought, "Oh, shit!" He was already awake! I went ahead and did the swap anyway. When I got downstairs Simon was sitting on the couch reading a book.

"Morning Simon. Did the Tooth Fairy come last night?"

"I didn't check!"

Off he ran to check. Phew. I don't totally suck as a mom. At least I didn't get caught.

Memorial weekend

This weekend flew by! We were rather busy Saturday and I kept up the trend the next two days. There was a birthday party on Saturday morning which the kids had a blast at. The birthday boys mom was thanking me for bring my older kids... that's not normal... They were really helpful with all the little toddlers and they showed them what to do during the games portion of the party. Hannah and Simon truly are great kids.

I dropped the herd of kids off and went to meet up with my mom at a gardening center. It was so worth the drive! I don't think I've ever seen so many plants in one place. They have a fabulous selection of mums in the fall too. I think mom was in heaven.


My mom helped me plant some new flowers in one of my beds. I wanted to put new stuff there once we got the fence replaced. It all looks so much better now. Thanks, Mommy!


On Sunday I had to make a huge trip to the grocery store to get food for our little BBQ. One of the things I was most excited about making for the BBQ was a Watermelon Cake. Next on our agenda for Sunday was going over to Home Depot. I have been begging and begging for a patio set forever and I finally got one! It is an anniversary present. We usually buy something for the house and then do something like go out to dinner. I know lots of people want the shiny jewelry but it seems so silly to me. I'd rather have something practical instead.

As Dan and I assembled the table and chairs the kids played with their new house.

At least we know if they aren't successful in life they sure can do a lot with a box. :)

The BBQ today was very nice. I love having little get togethers. The food was yummy and the new table outside provided a great place to sit, visit, eat, and watch the kids from.


Oh, and the Watermelon Cake was delicious. What is it you ask? Watermelon. Literally. Cut the melon into the shape of a cake and use whipped cream (home made today) to frost it. I just decorated the top with some fresh fruit. Yum!

Bizarre

Am I the only person who always has bizarre things happen around them? It may not always be directly happening to me. Sometimes it is a family member or friend. I suppose we can all play the I know someone who...

So, I found out yesterday that one of my great aunts died. It was sudden, unexpected, and quite the accident. With her arms full of grocery bags she stumbled at the top of a stair case and fell backwards cracking her head on the ground. I'll spare you the rest of the details. The only positive thing that came out of her tragic end was that she was an organ donor.

I had been talking with people back home and heard there were tornado's in the Greeley area. A few of my other aunts told me what they saw was really devastating. Come to find out a bit later in the day my brother in law's office building took a direct hit from a tornado! I've been close to tornado's, I've seen the wake of a tornado, but I've never been directly in one. Hiding in the stair well while the building rocks and all the windows blow out doesn't sound like fun to me. His truck is totaled but otherwise he is fine. Phew.

With the funeral for my great aunt only days away I don't think I am going to be able to make the trip back home. The flights are all expensive and with needing a rental car and eating out... It adds up. Ouch. I did like the idea of getting to see some friends while I was there but with only a few days filled with funeral service stuff and family there wouldn't be much visiting with friends.

Other than these strange occurrences things are fairly normal in my house hold. The big kids had a half day of school today. Hopefully we'll have a good long weekend. Maybe a little BBQ is in order with our friends out here.

New hair and a new quilt

I am so happy with my huge king size quilt. I love envisioning something and then bringing it to life. Ok, I also like when it looks like I thought it would!

Here is a shot I took of myself so you could see the new hair style. I like it. The only down side is I have to blow dry my hair or it doesn't look all that great. I am a wash and go kinda gal. Lazy? You bet!

Well, we have to run off to a birthday party in a few minutes. We have like 5 or 6 little kid birthdays just this month. It's expensive to have friends. :)

I am going to work on the binding for my baby quilt this week. I finished up the machine quilting while watching season 6 of Sex and the City. Hey, I have to get all caught up so I can go see the movie!

Rain puddles

What do you do after it rains?

Round two

I can't believe I am saying this but I am on my second round of antibiotics for strep! I woke up yesterday with a sore throat. I just knew what it was. Dan probably thought I was out of mind but I got an appointment with the doctor as early as I could to get a culture done. Positive yet again. Crap! It was caught early so I am not having too hard of a time with it. Once I got home I called the pediatrician so I could take all 3 of the kids in at once. The nurse tried feeding me a line like last time about if they weren't showing symptoms there was no reason to check blah, blah, blah... I wanted to get them checked anyway. One of my beautiful little monkeys had to be a carrier. I'd find out after school if I was right.

Against all rational thought I went and got my hair done knowing I had strep. I figured I wouldn't be kissing the stylist or sharing drinks so I could manage to keep it to myself. Many hours later I walked out blond again with a cute hair style. I let the guy do whatever he wanted with my hair. I like it. I know a few people with similar cuts. (I had a request to put a picture up... I will. First I need to shower and get out of my pj's.)

Seeing how it took soooo long to get my hair done I made a mad dash home, wolfed down a bit of lunch, got Seth up from his nap, and we went to the school to help set up for next weeks Book Fair. (I washed my hands first. I didn't want to get everyone sick!)

We dropped my neighbors daughter off after school and headed up to the doctor. $60.00 worth of co-pays and 3 swabs later we found our little culprit. Little Seth's test came back positive! I knew it, knew it, knew it! Ha! Of course, I share things with him all the time so he seemed to be the most likely one to be sick. I made sure to not share while I was sick last time so I don't know if he got me sick originally or not. I think he did though. He ran a fever the weekend before I got sick and had a fever the following weekend too but no other symptoms.

Hopefully this will be my last round of antibiotics.

I have worked on the binding of my big quilt. I am almost done. Binding is a great thing to work on in the evenings while watching TV. Over the last week I have also gotten a bit more quilting done on the baby quilt. I will post pictures later.

My mom is going to come over tomorrow and help me do some gardening in my back yard. I am excited about that! See, I'll have lots of pictures to share.

Gifts received

All the Pay It Forward gifts have gotten to their destinations! And they were well received! Hurray!

Scylla got the reversible cooking apron with the matching pot holders.


Rialityfreak got the fun flower pin cushion with 3 fat quarters to go along with it. I hope she'll be able to make something fun with them.


Lastly, Country Mouse received the mystery gift. I made her a table runner (with horrid stitch length, so sorry) and a little mouse to go with it.


I had a wonderful time participating in this little endevor and I hope the three of you enjoy paying it forward.

Mothers Day

First off, a very Happy Mothers Day to all of you wonderful mamas out there. We have an impossible and frustrating, yet wonderfully rewarding, job. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Ok, there are days when I'd like to sell them to the gypsies... :)

My sweet husband and the kids got me gift certificates to a hair salon. My lovely roots (gray hairs, aka "my naturals") have been showing for a while now. It costs so much to get your hair done and there are always things I'd rather spend money on if I have the choice (fabric!). So, now I can be a blond again. Woot.

Well, we've had a weekend of sick kids. Simon got sick on Thursday night and he tried to go to school on Friday but he had to come home early. I was at the school wrapping the flowers for Mothers Day gifts and I saw him going to the nurses office. We talked about it and I convinced him he needed to come home with me. He was very upset about it because they were having an Ice Tea Party in the afternoon for the moms. I also had to cancel a craft thing we were having after school at our house. He needed to be home though. He got a fever in the evening to top off his day of diarrhea. One of the moms at school told me she hoped I wasn't sick for Mothers Day. Of course, I interpreted that as a great Hall Mark Card idea, " May you not have diarrhea on Mothers Day."

Yesterday when I got home from Costco (I now remember why I try to go there during the week, it's so busy on Saturdays!) Hannah had a fever too. Today, well, today Dan isn't feeling all that hot either. I sent him back to bed. He did get up with Seth and run out to get me coffee and doughnuts. Am I next to get this strange fever? Let's hope not.

I am going to spend my day basting and maybe beginning to quilt the baby quilt. I swear the colors of this quilt aren't this pastel. I'll have to take it outside to get a good shot of it.


I should say I'll quilt today if Seth will let me. He wants me to play Playdough with him. This evening I am going to a Survivor Season Finally Party. Yes, sadly I watch Survivor. My mom hooked my on it not too long ago.

I hope you all enjoy your day today. Hug your babies. I know I will.

Quilting?

Do you remember when I used to talk about quilting from time to time? I remember it fondly myself. Ah, the memories...

Just kidding.

I finally got a chance to work on a baby quilt. I have all the blocks pieced and I threw them up on the design wall. I like. It's so darn cute.


I am going to attempt machine quilting this one by myself. I know I can do the design. The issue I have is keeping a consistent stitch length. Grr.

Also, I am going to make a trip to the post office today. I have a few packages that need to be sent out. I'll share more photos after the gifts arrive at their destinations.


I truly enjoyed creating gifts for the people who are participating in the Pay It Forward exchange. I hope they find themselves having fun trying to come up with creative things to make for their three gifts.

Half Marathon

We did it. We finished our half marathon today. I have to be honest and tell ya I am a bit sore now that I've quit moving. I don't walk 13.1 miles very often! It was strange to have people running by you as they finished their marathon while I was strolling along towards the end of my half.

We had to start our day very early. They race began at 7:30 am. I'd usually sleep in on a Sunday morning if the kids let me. I got picked up at 5:45... yeah, early.

It was cool and foggy down on the water front. It stayed cool for us through the whole walk.


So, all in all it was a good experience. I think I was already talked into trying to run a 5 mile race in the fall. Anyone have any good suggestions for getting started with running? I don't think I am the personality type to get really serious about running. No NYC marathons for me. I am more of a yoga kinda gal. Does that make sense?