Adults only

The best thing about a baby not nursing is the freedom you gain. We've took advantage of our freedom and awesome babysitters to spend 3 days away for a friend's wedding. Stacey and I roadtripped it with Keisha and old school Mariah. We thoroughly annoyed John and David with our inability to sing quietly. It was awesome for a 10hour drive.

Church at Gonzaga University

Stacey and I had a particularly fun Saturday night... :)

Baby J turns 1!

I love that when I look at my little man, I think I can see what he'll look like as a grown man. Any other mom's of boys think that? The ballons were his favorite thing. He squealed with delight at Party Depot watching them blow up the masses of Saturday birthday balloons.

We were scheduled to have an outdoor party, but the weather turned wet. So, we went to Out of this World Pizza. It's the hot spot for kids in our neighborhood. Pinkie and all her friends loved it. Baby J just got passed around to people, sneaking their cake and soda.

"I'm ONE!" I love having a baby boy. He adores me, I him and that's just a dream come true.

Eggsellent Easter

{easter egg sorting and resorting and resorting}

Easter was divine! We celebrated at our house with the discovering of baskets, the hunt and then church. After, we drove to my parent's house and had a grand hunt and dinner. Pinkie found the most money eggs and I got a $4 lottery ticket. Big winner baby! {awkward picture- only one taken}

My grandma and seester are quite known for their party planning passions. Everything was adorably decorated and placed to perfection. This is so out of my realm of creativity.

I've been wanting to make Pinkie a real dress. Not like a repurpose or refashion or throw together. But, like, a real dress with a pattern and precise-ness. I convinced {read: bribed} her to wear it by letting her pick out the fabric and buttons (which are glitter hot pink) and a whole lot of gum. I found the pattern and tutorial on The Cottage Home.

{only picture I have... sad}

The dress looking amazing! When they say press and remeasure and iron seams down and clip corners, they really mean it. It changes the whole quality of the dress! Love Love Love!

{beautiful eggs}

We dyed 36!

Coming soon! Baby J turns ONE!!!

I've lost a preschooler...

{snowing in March}

I'm pretty crappy at the blog lately... or actually for 11 months, when Baby J arrived. Two kids so dramatically changes life that it smacks you in the face. Like life is saying, "ha, you thought you could handle it... well take this!" I'm rolling with it, but non-essentails defintely go by the way side.

{are you kidding me? the cuteness is overwhelming}

One great thing about this new, fast paced, full time working mom life is that I've lost 60 pounds. I credit Weight Watchers and never sitting down. I'm loving it though. I get a whole new wardrobe that's just been hiding in my closet since Pinkie was born. And I look at my legs and don't recognize them. I never thought I'd be struggling with my weight. Ugh.

One month til he turns ONE! Are you as happy {sad} as me?

old and wise with cute kids

John woke up this morning and couldn't walk upright. He thinks being 30 means he's geriatric. I woke up and decided to enjoy a Saturday morning of coffee and cartoons for hours without being stressed that 'studies show children under 5 shouldn't watch tv'... blah blah blah... those people don't have kids...

And I'm grateful that a long time ago I got over the need to have everything new and latest edition because my sister gifted me a great camera (to replace the Christmas broken one) and it was gifted to her by our grandpa, so it's well loved, but as long as it captures the cute fat rolls on little baby, I'm happy.

Christmas Eve day we had an amazing brunch. We ate our entire caloric allowance for like 3 days and Baby J got love from Auntie Shanna.

Here's Pinkie doing her best impression of an Angel. It only lasts for a few seconds though so don't blink and take a picture.

I wanted to make a lot of presents again this year. My GreatGrandma passed away in September and I was gifted her amazing stash of fabric (lots of polyester!). I found this cute pattern and made make-up bags for all her daughters, grand-daughters and great-grand-daughters. The outer fabric and lining came from GG's stash. I think they were cute and the sentimental value was important. I conquered sewing zippers, too!

For Pinkie and her 2 beautiful cousins, I made crayon rolls. I'd been wanting to make them forever! I think they are adorable. When Pinkie pulled hers out of her stocking, she said "No, thank you Momma. I don't want this." {heart crushed}

But, they are adorable so I make her carry it around in her backpack. Ha!

A favorite place to go when the rain sets in here in OR is the Children's Museum. John, Pinkie and Baby are fixtures there. Pinkie loves the make-up station.

Baby J can roll over, crawl, pull himself up to standing, clap and wave. I love having a baby! His thighs and cheeks are so big I can't stop kissing him.

We made salt dough ornaments from Prudent Baby. I thought about entering their contest, but ours were not quite show worthy. But, glitter should did rock Pinkie's world for a good 30 minutes. (that's a pink reindeer, duh)

Pinkie had her first gymnastics show! It was awesome! She got (we bought) a trophy and it sits right next to her pillow most nights. Thank you to everyone who came to watch her!

bah hum bug

So, my camera is broken. Really broken... and I can't download any of the pictures from preparing for Christmas, baking with Pinkie, her first gymnastics performance or Christmas day. I'm mourning...

Christmas Break Day 2

I have LOTS of plans for my 2 weeks off for Christmas. Yesterday was Christmas shopping and sewing. I'll post about this year's sewing project after the gifts have been given :)

Today, we are indoors and trying to be quiet. Daddy worked the night shift last night so as we were rising he was falling asleep.

We are working on: these delicious cookies, these fun (but dough won't rise?) pretzels, and these cute ornaments that will end up as presents.

the days of our lives

We happily move on with our lives each day. We have fallen into that category of working family and we come together each afternoon to cuddle, relax, eat and prepare for the next day. It's exhilarating, yet exhausting. I'm so looking forward to having 2 weeks off for Christmas- a perk of being a teacher! Baby J is 7 months old! He's sitting up (so awesome) and possible saying 'dada' depending on who you ask.

Here's a little throwback to Christmas with Pinkie when she was 18 months.

She loves these pictures. I love these pictures too. Is it bad to miss that little, bitty girl?

I'm hoping this year our visit to the Mr. will fulfill her dreams.

She wants 4 things: a pillow pet unicorn, a Vidia Fairy doll,

a Princess Minnie doll and Hello Kitty pjs.

Pinkie says brother wants a caterpillar and clothes. How generous she is...

To delight the Princess

I'm a sucker for my girl, Pinkie. I decided to throw a Halloween Party for wee ones because I just thought she'd get such a kick out of the costumes, the people in our house and all the candy. It worked.

Year One- Ladybug, Year Two- Puppy Dog, Year Three- Snow White,

Year Four- Tinkerbell

I think we've just begun many years of princessy pinkness.

Little J was a Baby Tiger. I love that Carter's made such warm, cozy costumes. Auntie Shanna was also Tinkerbell at Pinkie's request. Gunner = Nerd, Grandma = Witch, Shanna and Pinkie = Tinkerbells, Brooke = Cheerleader

I served Carrot Fingers from Food Network. Don't they look gross? Who thinks of these things?

We also had Chili, Chicken Toes, PBJ Witches Hats, Pumpkin Pudding, Bat Bites and Goblin Juice. Thanks family and friends for coming!

MIA

It's been over a month since I've posted anything. Not that thousands read my blog, but my friends do and I feel lame. The basic reason is that I am missing in action. My brain is MIA, time has gone MIA and the space for all the fun hobbies I have is MIA. Since this school year started I have no time for anything besides work, kids and sleep. It's stressful. Working full time and away from my babies for so long has really gotten me down. There's nothing I can do about it now and you can't have a home for those babies without a job, but it's like a punch in the gut every morning when I walk out the door at 730am.

Now, my life is great. I wouldn't trade it EVER. Here is what we've been up to.

On our trip to San Fran last weekend (20 hour road trip with 2 kids = worst thing ever), we stopped at Wildlife Safari. Me and this bear are kindred spirits. We feel stuck in a cage and we're just looking for some good food to make us feel better. I know, stupid, yet strangely how I feel today.

This is how Pinkie felt about riding in the front seat without a seatbelt while in Wildlife Safari. It's pretty awesome to a toddler. She kept telling us it was unsafe.

John took a lot of pictures of the animals rear ends...

Grandma Mary and Baby J 5 months old! His thumb never seems to leave his mouth unless he trades it for the whole fist. He's rolling over and over and over. He talks and talk and talks. And lastly, he eats and eat and eats. Baby J is the perfect baby.

And now you know why it's so hard to walk out the door at 730am.

S

recap.

We did it. We made the rite of passage, the pilgrimage that is Disneyland. Many months ago we started planning for this trip. Our motto: 'Go big or go home.' We did Disneyland right. We got the 3 day pass, we stayed at a nice hotel close by and parted with our money freely. We went home for naps and kept the expectations low. We were ok riding the same ride 8 times and handing out lollipops like hugs. It really was an awesome trip. I want you all to go and follow the aforementioned rules. It works. The Tea Cups- rode 4 times. Winnie the Pooh - rode 8 times. Buzz Lightyear- rode 4 times. Tinkerbell- saw her 2 times. Ariel- saw her 4 times. Sleeping Beauty- saw her 4 times. Snow White- 3 times.... you get the idea... And this is what Baby J did the whole time...

Seriously, Disneyland is awesome. I want to go back.

--- And this is my GG. She passed away last Monday. She was 91.

She lived the life though:

the Great Depression, a World War, at least 5 husbands, 4 kids, tons of grandkids all the way to great-great grandkids. She cooked like a mad woman and loved bleach. Had a mean crush on Chuck Norris and loved us all quietly.

Way to go GG. See you up there.