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?

Strep throat!

I must have angered the gods again. I have strep throat for the first time in my life and OMG does this suck. ( My mom says I had strep in high school but I swear I had tonsillitis... I could be wrong, it wouldn't be the first time.) Not only do I have my big half marathon on Sunday but Dan is out of town today and tomorrow. He was very sweet to me yesterday while I wallowed in misery on the couch all evening. He even offered to cancel his trip but I knew I wouldn't die... I just felt like it.

Seth and I went to the doctor today and he was so good. We had to wait for freakin' ever to see the doc but when you are sure you're sick and you already paid the co pay, you aren't leavin' till ya see the doctor! I started on the antibiotics and here's to hoping I feel better for Sundays loooong walk! Luckily the big kids have Theater Week so they are staying after school all week long for 2 extra hours to practice for the Friday performance. I think we'll be having Mickey D's for dinner tonight. I can fathom standing in the kitchen to cook anything up tonight.

On to happier things.

Simon and Hannah at their performances.

For all of Simon's belt tests so far Dan has held the board for him to break. This time it was my turn. I was worried that maybe I'd do it wrong or it might hurt but all my silly worries were just that, silly. He broke the board like a champ and I didn't sprain a wrist or break a nail. :) He did a great job.


Hannah was so cute tumbling around. I shouldn't say cute anymore about her since she is beginning to look so grown up. She is only 9 so I can still call her cute for a while.

She is an novice gymnast but she is learning and loves it. She is so good on the bars. My mom was there and she got some great pictures.


Once I am all better I'll get some quilting updates posted. I got my huge quilt back and I noticed a few areas that had tension issues. I am trying to decide whether or not I should make her fix it or if I should live with it. It isn't a show quilt and most people would never examine it so closely.

The art of juggling

Wow, a whole week since I posted last. Oops, sorry 'bout that. Time just gets away from you sometimes. I've been trying to remember what's been keeping me so busy and it turns out it's nothing to terribly exciting to tell ya the truth. But since you are so kind to check in on all of us I'll share whats been going on.

Hannah and I had a fun time together on Saturday. We had a bit of mommy daughter time and had ourselves a little pampering. We each had a manicure and a pedicure. It was so much fun.


I have my big half marathon coming up in less than 2 weeks. To prepare for it last weekend we walked 10.2 miles! I think I can handle the 13.1 miles on the day of the race. I am excited to do this. I've never participated in a marathon of any kind. I know walking it isn't all that challenging but you have to start somewhere, right. Maybe I can work into running. Maybe.

I've also worked a bit more on the last Pay It forward that I have to do. I am not going to share pictures of it until after it's recieved. The two remaining ladies don't know what is destined for them. Will it be the adorable pin cushion or the mysteriously unrevealed project.... hmmm....

Also, there is a big yard sale going on tomorrow that I have been trying to get stuff together for. I am amazed that there is always more stuff that we held on to for no reason and it needs to be gotten rid of. Where do these things come from and why do we still have them? This isn't the Great Depression where I need to keep everything that could possibly be reused. I should let it go to someone else who could use it and make room in my house. Maybe make a bit of money too!

What else? Ah, Simon is testing for another belt today (The novelty has worn off for me. I think they are handing the belts out just to get you to fork over more cash every 2 months.) and Hannah has a gymnastics recital tomorrow. Tomorrow will be so crazy. I don't understand why things always have to happen on the same day. Not only is the yard sale and the recital tomorrow but Simon has a birthday party to go to! AHHHH!

Parenting is actually the art of juggling.

And lastly, I got to go out last night with the MOMS Club. We went to The Melting Pot for dinner. It was my first time going there. It was very yummy yet very expensive. I had lots of fun though. I mean really, spending a day with friends, food, and chocolate, it is always going to be fun.

There you have it. More than you ever wanted to know about my week. :)

Fire

Did that get your attention? I have been waiting for a few days to finally get some pictures of our field trip this week. I forgot my camera! We went to a Firehouse. It was so much fun to watch the kids trying on the clothes and pretending to drive the truck. I even put on the big hat to try and convince Seth he wanted to do it but he just said no. The hat was pretty heavy.


Simon looked so cute in full gear!


Hannah mostly drove and pretended she was on her way to put out fires.


Seth, well, he adopted a big fire fighter. He drug the poor man around and made him help him on the truck. The fireman was very nice to Seth. (Sorry the picture is blurry. I didn't take it!)


We all had a great time. It was so fun to take the kids there.

Other than that, I haven't done to many fun and exciting things this week. The weather has been nice so I've spent quite a bit of time outside with the kids. Seth loves his new sand box. It is actually a pretty sweet deal because I can bring a book out and sit with him while he plays with his dump trucks in the sand.

I have made a bit of progress on my last pay it forward I have to do. Once I am done with it I'm going to make the baby quilt out of the Dandelion Girl fabrics I bought, do a quick quilt for Project Linus, and then on to the big king size quilt for my aunt. If I keep up this pace she'll get her quilt by her 20th wedding anniversary (she only got married about 2 years ago). I'm quick like that.

Tomorrow I get to be really exciting and go pick up composters for my mom and I. I live life on the edge, I know. Actually it'll be neat to have a compost bin. Hey, free dirt, right?

Paying it forward

I made another of my pay it forward gifts. Just one more to do!


Yes, this is some funky and unusual fabric. I chose the frogs for my friend because she just recently won her first law case and her clients were well, frogs.

To add to this gift of a reversible cooking apron, and to have a bit of fun with Hannah, we made pot holders last night.


I like helping her make things. It's hard not to step in and do it myself though. She won't get good at things if I do it for her...

I got one of my quilts back last week ahead of another one that I am waiting on. I hate waiting.


I threw the binding on it. This quilt just makes me happy. I can't explain why I like, I just do. Is it the colors? Mellow and ocean like. Probably.

Farm animals and the ocean

Two posts in one day? I can't help myself...

Today is just gorgeous! Tiff suggested we take the kids to Atlantic Farms again and let them see the animals. Um, ok. Sounds like fun to me!

The office was closed so we didn't have to pay, of course that meant we couldn't get food for the animals, but we were able to walk around and see them. The kids had a blast.


We were done walking around the farm and not quite ready for lunch so we drove a few minutes away to the ocean. A little running around on the beach and collecting sea shells is just what we needed. There was a little bench with a great view of the water where we ate our lunch. Also added for Seth's enjoyment a new house was being built near by too.


It was such a lovely way to spend the day. Ahhh.

Now the little man is wiped out and taking a nap. Maybe I can get some work done with some fabric. I am very good at ignoring the sink full of dishes in favor of playing with fabric. Oh, I got some pretty fabric in the mail yesterday to make a baby quilt with! It's so totally girly and cute.