Three is the new Two

moving on....

2010-10-26T00:10:00.000-07:00

Hi. So I've moved - now you can get the same thrilling wit and banter, just at a different address! Check me out here:

http://butlerfive.wordpress.com/

And you can also find me here:

http://thisandthatdesign.wordpress.com/

thanks for sticking around through that little 3 month (ahem) vacation. catch me over on wordpress!

Sarah

put me in the corner.

2010-07-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

just do it. put me in the corner. i'm a very, very bad blogger. i keep saying i'm going to change, i've even fired myself once or twice, and nothing seems to get through. i'm a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad blogger. i should be put into a very long timeout. in my room. where my bed is. and could you leave me a stack of books, while you're at it? i'll punish myself by not coming out until i've read them all.

anyhow, easiest way to catch up? see that big orange section in the post below? well, just keep watching. as i update, those orange parts will turn into green parts, which means you can click on them and a link will take you to that entry. I promise, i'll work hard. as soon as i'm done with all those books. :)

staggering.

2010-06-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

It really is staggering, how fast time has started to run on me. I know I probably sound as though I am 172 years old, but it's true. Time runs faster when you grow old.
And even though I'm pretty sure I don't have more than 4.7 readers, I do feel a bit guilty about the little 2 1/2 month hiatus I've taken from blogging. Not because I'm nearly positive that there are people gnashing their teeth and wearing sackcloth because they've been unable to pop in for a witty post or a glimpse of my ADORABLE offspring, but because I know there are nanas and papas and mimis and pas and even super awesome family friends who keep track of our little tribe through this site. So. All teasing about firing myself aside, sorry it's taken me a bit to catch up. In my defense, it's taken me this long just to "catch up" with my life. For reals. HERE'S WHY: (and mind you, this is not a complaint)
In the last 3 months we have: had a birthday, had a visit from nana & papa, gone to the zoo, had cupcakes for st. paddy's day, spent spring break with mimi here in oregon, gone to the aquarium, spent a bunch of days at the beach, spent easter on a farm, then gone snowboarding for the weekend, brought mimi & pa back to watch the kids while we snuck away to NYC for 5 blissful, wonderful, etc...days, started baseball (playing AND coaching), started karate, earned a new yellow belt, had another birthday, had a girls trip to Hawaii, had preschool graduation, had an anniversary, had ANOTHER birthday, (party for which is yet to come) and it doesn't show ANY SIGNS OF SLOWING. DO YOU HEAR ME, INTERNET?? I'm realizing something, here:
THIS IS NOW MY LIFE. It doesn't ever slow down - it just keeps getting faster. More people start playing sports. And demanding that you drive them places, like to play with their friends and such, and feed them THREE TIMES A DAY. OR MORE. It's staggering. So, I'm going to work hard to catch up and show you what we've done. It might not be witty, or bitingly sarcastic (well, it probably will be that) but there are pictures. Lots, and lots of pictures. So - here goes.

baseball.

2010-05-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

baseball season is upon us. playing, and coaching, and practicing, and lawn chairs and snack bags and the baby sisters pushing dollies around in tiny strollers. i would love it more if i wasn't putting a puffy down vest on my kid for games, in JUNE. i'd love it more if we hadn't had 4 rainouts so far. but it's baseball. it's striking out, getting on base, tagging home and little boys cheering and clapping. it's keeping score for the first time, it's shoulders up, faces grinning, or even taking a ball to the face. (poor jackson!) we didn't win a lot of games. we had fun. we played baseball. we pitched the kids who wanted to try, not just the ones who could get it over the plate. we took them to ice cream. we ate sunflower seeds. i love it. i grew up on it. what else do you really need?

we think the coach is pretty hot. and he multi-tasks, too.

the pitcher...

the crowd goes wild!

the mama, keeping busy

the girls...

fired.

2010-05-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

hi. so, in an effort to promote efficiency, reliability, and consistency around these here blog-parts, i've fired the blogger. she's been a COMPLETE slacker lately. i mean, it's like she hasn't even SHOWN UP to work in over two months! and get a load of that header - it still says WINTER. winter. and it CLEARLY is no longer winter. it's almost like she's had a million other things taking priority - birthdays, jaunts to NYC, visits from family, trips to Hawaii - jeeze. like i said - slacker. however, i'm I MEAN SHE's applying to be reinstated. so, we'll see how it goes. check back in a few days and we'll see if she got her job back. :)

i heart ny.

2010-04-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

new york. in april. things are blooming, and there's sunshine, and there's the plaza hotel, and central park, and the babies are all safe at home, loving time with their mimi & pa. we snuck away for a few days, shawn working, me just, well, alone. with my camera, in new york city. for four days. shawn was worried i wouldn't have enough to do, or that i might get lonely. all by myself. for the first time in, well, you know - since the dinosaurs and all. oh, it was glorious. i loved it all. except for the one day i got a tiny bit turned around, and walked about 14 blocks in the wrong direction. but even then, i loved it. i'm breaking it down by days, because there were a LOT of photos. like, a lot. you can also see the whole set on flickr.

day one.
day two.
day three.
day four.

nyc days 3 & 4

2010-04-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

Ugh. it's new york, right people? so you understand that there is so much to tell, and so much to do, and there was almost an entire day spent wandering through soho and visiting some shops i'd been yearning to get inside for a long, long time. there was dinner with shawn in a quirky, dark pub. there was a confection from vesuvius bakery in soho that included these things: toasted, crusty seeded sourdough bread, warm sweet ricotta cheese, and a drizzle of SPICY CARAMEL SAUCE. yep. there was purl soho, and of course, glassybaby nyc. there was cappucino all by myself, just sitting at a little bar inside a shop and enjoying it. there was plenty of time to photograph all the buildings, bikes, and yarn i felt like. there was a bath ordered up from our personal butler service, ready and waiting for me when i walked in the room. (shut. up. there are people who live like this? really? shut up.) it was unreal. really. a series of days, IN A ROW, where i was responsible for no one but myself. tomorrow, our last day. greenmarket, sunday brunch. mmmm.

day two. brooklyn and tiny m&m's.

2010-04-15T22:41:00.000-07:00

brooklyn. took the subway to brooklyn, all by myself. felt like a big girl in my big girl panties and pretty sunglasses. brooklyn botanical gardens was a delight, cherry trees all in bloom, nannies and babies roaming, tourists, tiny old ladies, and hipster dads all mingling in delicious sunshine and pink fluff petals. scrumptious. wandered with my camera for quite a few hours.

it was such a beautiful day, really the perfect definition of spring. i headed back to the city, only this time i got even more adventurous and decided to get off a few stops early to go to chinatown. i heard there were some sweet fabric shops just begging to be explored. unfortunately, my innate sense of direction apparently doesn't work from under the ground. i wound up a bit turned around, which was FINE, really. i used my iphone to navigate a bit, ended up in tribeca, which was pretty cool, but the whole sitch got a bit LESS cool when i realized i had wandered about 20 blocks in the wrong direction and was now very close to the financial district. folks, my hotel was by central park. my feet were tired, my camera bag was suddenly very, very heavy, and i decided to give in and just catch a cab. at 5-ish. near the financial district. pause with me now, and then laugh at me. hard. laugh so hard soda snorts out your nose. it only took me 45 min to get a cab that was going the wrong direction. this included one guy who stopped and then laughed at me when i told him where i was going. i didn't cry. really. i didn't. much. when i finally DID get a cab, he'd never heard of the Plaza Hotel. Um. Kay. Then he took me the longest stinking way possible, while I NAVIGATED. FROM THE BACK SEAT. WITH MY IPHONE. and at the end, i just paid him the $40 because my feet hurt and, well, mostly it was just cause my feet hurt. does there need to be a better reason?

after i met shawn at the hotel and recovered (read that "had a large glass of wine") in the room for a bit, we headed out for dinner. we ate at a little place the mister usually goes for work, trattoria dell'arte, which was super yum. this is why i like traveling with him: i'm kind of a giant wuss/baby/fraidycat when it comes to telling people i don't like what they've given me. for instance, the first table we were shown to was about 2 inches from the table next to it. pretty sure the man next to us was almost in my lap. pretty sure they had to pull the table OUT for shawn to get in. not exactly the nice, romantic dinner date i was looking for. so shawn nicely, but firmly, asked for another table. we chose to sit on the little street patio, which had heaters, and was sweet and lovely. DISCLAIMER: this is how you know you live in oregon: when it starts to rain (sprinkle, really) on said patio, and the wind picks up, you just put on your sweater. and then about 20 min later, you realize that every soul that was sitting on the patio but you has gone inside, and you didn't notice. and the waiters don't want to come out and serve you. :) anyhow, we finished up our bottle of wine and by that time the rain had stopped, and we went walking towards times square. not because we love it all that much, but because we had made a promise to our baby girl that we'd bring her tiny m&m's from the store in new york. and we did. $30 later. ha.

nyc, day one.

2010-04-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

i'll pretty much do anything to get the heck out of here for a few days, including being willing to basically spend the night in the airport. we met my parents after their flight, which got in at like 11:15. our flight left at 6:30 the next morning, so we did a handoff, giving them our car and crashing out at the airport until we could check in at 4:3o. other than witnessing a guy get patted down by the coppers and then calmly inform them of his outstanding drug warrant, the weed in his shoe, and the needles (recently used) in his bag, it was a pretty uneventful night. we tried to get some rest.

we landed at JFK early, like 9 a.m., and headed into the city. my man looks good in the city, folks. i'm just sayin. :)

we checked into our hotel early...because when you're staying at the Plaza, and you're a president's club member, that's how you roll. they offered to carry our bags up and have our personal butler (no pun) unpack for us, but i kinda felt like that was a little much. i had a vision of a man in white gloves fluffing out my spanx, and that was enough to make me politely decline.
anyhow - the Plaza. There's a reason Eloise liked it so much, folks. it's scrumptious.

Shawn had to run to a meeting, so he let me loose on the city. can you even believe it? and here's how much of a GIANT nerd i am - i went straight to the New York Public Library. right? i like it there. it's pretty, and quiet, and just full of books. sigh.

somehow, i managed to while away the afternoon. sunset found me meeting the mister in central park for a walk.

We even dressed up (heels, people, HIGH heels. i kid you not) for dinner and drinks out - dinner at Five Points (yuuuuummmmeeeeey) and drinks with my sister-in-law's sister (our family is cool!) at one of my most fave new places ever...Pravda....which is essentially a russian speakeasy that is UNDER THE GROUND, peeps. they sell about 18 trillion different kinds of vodka, i couldn't read the "men" & "women" signs on the bathrooms (they were in russian), and my fresh pear martini was killer.

we even passed possibly my favorite window display of all time....before we caught a cab back to our little slice of heaven.

snow.

2010-04-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

i like winter. i like it a lot. especially when it stays in the mountains, all the way into april. i like taking off for a quick weekend getaway, staying in a cozy lodge, spending a sunny day on the slopes watching all three of my guys rock the snowboards. i like a baby that naps so i can sit in the lodge, drink coffee, and read. those boys are cute. so is my baby girl, who puts the delicious in snow bunny. (? yes. it's my blog. i can mix metaphors.)

"weady to go no'bodeing" she says. um.

loving that hipstamatic for iphone.

heading home....

down the mountain...to spring!

easter on the farm.

2010-04-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

i like easter. i like to cook for it, and find fun ways to decorate, and go to church with my kids, and pick out easter outfits, etc, etc, etc. what i do NOT do at easter is go crazy with gigantic easter baskets spilling over with toxic candy products, which are designed solely to send my kids into a tailspin of sugar high/sugar low hysteria and naughtiness. (peeps, i'm sorry. i love you, but we have to end this.)

anyhow. this is our first year in a long time that we're not having easter with my fam, which usually involves grilling, eating, lounging, and often napping. and i was kind of thinking about just skipping it. like, going to church, and going to mexican food, and going home for a nap. luckily, our friends rock. they work for wineries who throw giant - and i mean GIANT - easter extravaganzas on their lovely farm, which may or may not include grilled oysters with fresh salsa, as much delicious wine as you can handle, confetti eggs, nature walks (with SINGING) for the kids, easter egg hunts, a giant tree swing, and a general feeling of anticipation for the coming spring, even if it is muddy and drizzling. who cares. did i mention the grilled oysters? and that we all had easter dinner in our mud boots? i love oregon.

click here for the full set.

yummy.

2010-03-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

she's just so yummy, i could eat her. i mean, jeeze, can you even handle that face?

spring break + mimi = hoooray!

2010-03-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

oh, spring break. it's fab all on it's own. but it's even better when Mimi comes to visit. we're still learning this whole "visiting" thing with my parents, because, you know, that thing we're not talking about? how they moved to an ISLAND? in the middle of the PACIFIC OCEAN? anyhow. i digress. mimi was here for a whole week, and we lived it up. (p.s. if you want to skip right to the whole spring break set, click here.)

we went to the aquarium in newport.

we had a picnic at the park.

we played games...

we spent a beautiful day at the beach.

of course, it was difficult to sent her back home to Pa. but, by the time she left, we knew she'd be coming back in just a few short weeks to watch the babes... while shawn and i sneak away to New York City. NEW YORK CITY?! (please insert the voices from the pace picante sauce commercial here...) yup. mama will be set loose on manhattan. oh, what's that? i think i hear my bank account crying already. ;)

erin go braugh.

2010-03-17T23:32:00.000-07:00

St. Patrick's Day is so different when you're a parent. We didn't drink green beer, or go hang out on the street with all the crazies downtown san diego, (not that we've ever done that. ahem.) or even make corned beef and cabbage. because we have three kids, and who are we kidding - there's no way in hell they'd eat corned beef OR cabbage, for that matter. But we did make a stop for some yummy treats - The Sweetest Thing is a fun cupcake bakery, and oooohhhhweee, they did it up right for St. Paddy's. That chocolate-y bundle of goodness right there? That's a GUINESS cupcake, people. As in, a chocolate and STOUT cupcake with...WAIT FOR IT - baileys creme filling and chocolate fudge frosting. Yeah. Mmmhmmm. It was as deeelicious as it sounds. There may or may not have been an incident with a cinnamon cake, maple frosting, and crumbled bacon cupcake as well. And my little Irish lass is easy on the eyes, no?

student of the month....

2010-03-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

I know student of the month is like a totally stupid thing. And I know it makes some kids feel bad about themselves, and some feel great about themselves, and it's kind of not fair, etc. But when MY kid is student of the month....well, that's a different story, of course. Because LOOK at that face. He's so proud. So stoked to have us at his assembly. So happy to get his picture on the wall, and his baby pictures, and his fave color. So. Cute. Love him madly.

nana & papa.

2010-03-14T23:14:00.000-07:00

Nana & Papa came to visit, and it was such fun. I didn't take a lot of pictures, because mostly we were busy just hanging out, playing games, having dance parties, and eating. It was a quick weekend, but a fun one! I did snap a few pics of us hanging out in downtown Portland, doing a bit of shopping and train-watching. I swear, sometimes you'd think my kids have never been to a city before! But kids are kids anywhere, and trains are still a fascinating thing.....

spring was here.....for about 6 minutes.

2010-03-11T22:43:00.000-08:00

And oh, it was super glorious. We got out our flip flops, and cleaned off the patio furniture, and went to the zoo...

and walked on the waterfront in Portland....

....and then it all went away. And there were windstorms, and all the early blossoms blew off the cherry trees like pink fairy snow.

spring(ish).

2010-03-10T23:21:00.000-08:00

I have so much to catch up on....there have been 8 year old birthdays, new bikes, fab weather, terrible weather, trips to the zoo and so much more, including visits from Nana & Papa and visits from Mimi coming up. It's all there.....but here's to hold you over. It's spring(ish) - or at least we thought it was ... all the cherry trees were tricked into blooming and I had to snap a few frames before the more recent windstorms blew them all away.

UPDATE: I'm posting as fast as my little fingers can get to it: look here for updates. :)

Jackson's birthday

Eight? Really?

2010-02-28T22:35:00.000-08:00

My son is eight. EIGHT. Do you hear me, internet? I can. not. be old enough to have an eight year old. But look at him.

He's just such a giant boy. He has big gangly feet, and dirty fingernails most of the time, and he reads his books all sprawled out on the couch, oblivious to the world around him. He talks about science without pausing for breath for large chunks of time. He often rolls his eyes. But two minutes later, he's reading "The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil" out loud to his brother for an hour. Or having tea on the floor with his baby sister. Gah. I could just eat him up. Except for the fact that he's way too cool to let me. But just today, he let me grab his hand while we were crossing the parking lot. Gulp. Savor it now, self.

And of course, there was a party. A first time ever sleep-over party. Oh yeah. Us, and six oreo-fuled, chocolate cake-crazed, gummy snake-gobbling little boys. There was cake, of course:

And HILARIOUS conversations, and silly faces, and nerf gun ambushes:

and it's never a party without presents:

including a fancy big-guy bike, with gears and shocks and all kinds of schmancy gadgets that an eight-year old boy can love:

and there may or may not have been some sleeping bag stair sliding races - but I'm not sayin' either way:

Mmmmmm. We love us some stair sliding at the Butler household. And we love us some 8 year old, stinky boy, sleepover fun. Between some indoor camping and a big batch of daddy-made pancakes in the morning, we slept (a bit), fed them, and sent them home, all hopped up on homemade oreos and little boy craziness. A good time had by all.

oh. so. lovely.

2010-02-25T13:39:00.000-08:00

I know I'm probably the last person to fall deeply, achingly in love with this movie, but please, tell me - have you seen Bright Star? Oh, no? Get up, then, you ninny, and go rent it. Right now.

It is, without question, one of the most beautiful movies I have seen in a while. Yes, it was nominated for a gazillion awards for costume design. But oh, you have to see them:

From the opening scene of the title sequence (which is now in my top three) I just held my breath the whole time - it was so tragic and romantic and lovely and heartbreaking. Sigh. Are you back from the movie store yet? Yes? Well, then shush. I'm watching it for the second time. :)

psst. here's the trailer. just for fun.

love.

2010-02-15T22:47:00.000-08:00

oh, valentines day. i know it's silly, and mostly just a marketing tool, but i figure i can never pass up an opportunity to tell my favorites that i love them.

we had a blast making treats for the boys' classes. i saw the idea here, and knew we had to do it - especially after this little incident.

i spent the morning at aidan's class...he had so much fun and was such a sweet boy to his baby sister.

then my mister took me and the littles to lunch at one of our most favorite spots. it's a shame this baby doesn't love her daddy one tiny bit.

after that, it was running home to pick up balloons for jack, and to his school for another party. oh, lordy, the sugar content in that room was OFF THE RICHTER. i have never seen such a candy orgy in my life.

but the fun didn't stop there. oh, no. because we had made plans with our greatest buddies to meet for ice cream. yah. because the candy and the parties weren't quite enough....it sort of reminded me of this scene:

but we did have some fun, and we love hanging out with the brewers. so all in all, it was a great day.

and finally, at the end of all the candy, candy corn, sugar and syrup (okay, i couldn't choose just the one, right? scroll down to the maple syrup flask video.) we did have a tiny photo shoot with the baby and a pink balloon. and a sassy pair of boots. click here to see the set.

and then, then i had a little day of love with MY valentine. and what did we do for valentines? well, besides laundry, that's none of your beeswax. :)

celebrations.

2010-01-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

i do love a good birthday celebration, as well. especially when it's, well, you know - MINE!

the mama, at 32.

i love dinner out and dancing with family and besties, and i love a fancy cake made by someone who loves me and pretty candles, and being surrounded by people i love. my baby brother came to visit, we got to play outside a bit, and in all, it was a good way to celebrate the beginning of my thirty second year. so cheers, to me and the peeps who allow me to love and be loved!

(and probably one of my most favorite bits? sharing this fab-o bottle with my bro and his girl. thanks mom & dad for leaving it behind! it was well appreciated....;)

32. (or, ways the universe smiled upon me since i last blew out candles.)

2010-01-29T22:11:00.000-08:00

i do like a good list. always have. lately i've been inspired by this site, (which reminds me of a book i had in college called "a writer's book of days") and also this one, to make more lists. i think they're a nice thing to have, just in case you forget stuff. or have a lot of children, which makes you forget stuff. and also? i'm 32 today. so, the way i see it, i had better start writing this stuff down now. because, you know, when else?

and another thing is, i'm trained as a writer. i mean, i went to school for this stuff. and lately, well, i feel a little rusty. so maybe lists will inspire topics, and topics will lead to shhhh.....writing.

i'm not making any hard and fast promises, but i think you'll start to see more lists around here. hooray.

this was a year in which i know that i was extraordinarily blessed. my thirty second year sent me to san diego and yosemite and portland and paris and hawaii. my thirty second year was full of tight hugs around my neck and sweet baby thighs, of first steps and lost teeth and swinging on swings. it was a year of loving and being loved more deeply than i knew i could. i know it. and just so you all know, narrowing the list of times the universe smiled upon me down to 32? nearly impossible.

and without further ado:

32. (or, ways the universe smiled upon me since last I blew out candles.)

1. my two best guys (over the age of 8) built me a space of my own, in which I can sew and think and create to my hearts content.

2. i found myself with a wealth of new vegetables and new eating experiences, thanks to my first journey into community supported agriculture.

3. i realized my middle is happiest in a costume

4. i celebrated the first really warm day of spring with sunlight, a magazine, a homemade quilt, and perfect baby toes.

5. i discovered secret nappers on a rainy saturday

6. we explored disneyland with 1 nana, 1 papa, 4 parents and 6 cousins ages almost 1 to 7 years old. got out purchasing only 1 bottled water, 6 ice cream cones, and two star wars blasters.

7. i gave a baby her very first french fry

8. the boys learned to play marbles (again). thank you, papa!

9. i photographed 5 boys, 1 baby girl, and 6 fake mustaches. laughed hysterically.

10. we planted waaaaaay too many tomatoes

11. i finally got decent portraits of each of my babies

12. for the birthday of my sweet friend, i baked a very, very pretty cake. and it tasted UH-mazing.

13. i held my breath as my oldest pitched a little league inning

14. our whole family fell in love with a pair of robins as they built a nest, laid their eggs, fed their babies, and let them fly. all in two months time.

15. i climbed the eiffel tower. explored the louvre. rowed a boat on the grand canal at the palace of versailles.

16. i discovered (and made about 40 batches of) my new favorite salad

17. i met a friend i knew as a baby and now love as an adult. the kind you can’t believe you haven’t known forever. the kind who will never, ever be far from your heart again.

18. i sewed (and actually subsequently WORE) my first skirt.

19. the mister and i had a water balloon fight. beat the snot out of those pesky kids.

20. i ate my fill of cherries off the tree

21. i spent a long overdue afternoon with my oldest friend, and kissed the heck out of her new baby. watched our girls laugh on a blanket in matching homemade dresses.

22. i watched my last baby take her first steps.

23.i hiked to two waterfalls. waded in one. swam in the other.

24. i shared an ice cream cone to celebrate the first day of second grade.

25. i helped a friend who had watched her house go up in flames move into the home her heart had been searching for. i sat at a beautiful supper outside, breathed the sweet air around us and felt overwhelmed by the good.

26. i sewed a pincushion

27. i began photographing myself for a change, and actually liked a few self-portraits.

28. did flowers for a wedding. Mostly from my garden.

29. to the immense amusement of my mister and my boys, i surfed with the girls.

30. with fear and trepidation, hope and anticipation, i watched two people I hold close to my heart fall in love. with each other.

31. put pigtails in my baby girl’s shiny red hair

32. learned that saying goodbye is always hard, but sometimes nearly unbearable. but hello...hello feels so good after such a big goodbye.

ugh.

2010-01-28T23:43:00.000-08:00

It's so winter. it really is. it makes me want to not use proper punctuation, and wear my yoga pants a lot, and drink a lot of coffee and read a lot of books by my fireplace. unfortunately, my plan is often foiled by A) having to leave the house for food and general supplies, and B) three small children, who for some reason do not think reading books by the fire and drinking coffee is necessarily an ALL DAY activity. (luckily, they don't really have an opinion on the yoga pants! YAY!) Although that big one...by the way he's ravenously devouring books lately, i'm starting to think he's coming around. i've got my eye on him....

ahem. anyhow. it's just been a lot lately. i'm not usually one for the winter blues (seeing as how i LOVE LOVE LOVE the seasons, and the cold, and did i mention i LOVE the seasons? have you heard how i feel about FALL?) but this year, they seem to have caught up with me. as a super awesome band once sang,

"And maybe it's the time of year,
Yes and maybe it's the time of man.
And I don't know who I am,
But life is for learning."

thank you, crosby stills and nash. and thank you bill wertz, for the crosby stills and nash education.

so, yeah. i haven't really been wanting to blog, because there's lots of stuff that i just don't really want to talk about. which is probably avoidance, and probably delayed processing, and probably just me being a person who withdraws periodically, because i can. it could also have something to do with my thirty second birthday being right around the corner.....ouch. when did i get to be 32? how is this possible? i'm ninety percent sure i was like 19 just a few weeks ago.....hmmm. fishy.

so i'll leave you with some photos of one thing i do love in the winter....the oregon coast. it's so spectacularly beautiful and dramatic and dark and stormy. i love a good dark and stormy day every once in a while. luckily, i live in oregon. they are in ready supply.

family photos.

2010-01-28T22:15:00.000-08:00

Have you ever tried to take family pictures with your camera on a tripod and a timer or remote? Have you ever felt like you were a reasonably competent photographer, only to be confounded by the utter inability to get a decent photo of your entire family at one time? Huh. Me too.

Enter....the professional photographer. Oh, they are worth their weight in gold, especially when you have two little boys who can be magically bewitched by pretty girls with blond hair.

Check out Jenna at Dolce Photography. She's great. I think the photos speak for themselves. AND she was gracious enough to give us a second chance redo, when weather, meltdowns and grumpy babies proved difficult to manage. :) I uploaded just a few, but click here and here for her blog posts...THANK YOU JENNA! It was so fun to have to choose a favorite for Christmas cards this year, instead of just trying to find ONE good one....

oh, hawaii.

2010-01-27T13:00:00.000-08:00

i sorta lost momentum on the vacation posts, there. sorry. in order to be fair to our whole vacation (GRANTED it was 24 days long....) i'm uploading the rest of my photos to flickr as fast as i can edit them. i'll post a few more here, but i need to move on in the blogosphere. mostly because i'll probably start crying about the warm sun, the sand, the water....and the family.

the recap? we went to the beach, had a romantic getaway, hung out with friends we don't see nearly enough, bought a teeny baby bikini, surfed together, surfed separately, saw a bunch of fireworks, went on a hike, swam in a waterfall, got on the plane, got off the plane, got a bonus day, and then went home. all the while? we laughed and cried and got irritated with each other, and got unirritated, we did church, and christmas, and breakfast lunch and dinner, and just tried to get our fill of each other while we could. because only half of the people i love the most in the world got on the plane and came home. the other half stayed there.

so, next. winter and such. coming soon.
oh, and p.s. - thanks for anyone who followed the link to Healing Waters International. Again - consider donating if you can!

Water for Haiti....

2010-01-23T11:12:00.000-08:00

So, I'm supposed to be catching up on the recap of our little trip to Hawaii. Which seems totally insignificant right now, considering Haiti. I think that everyone who doesn't live under a rock feels a sickening sense of helplessness in the face of this kind of overwhelming disaster. Especially, especially in Haiti. I mean, they were on the brink BEFORE. What now?

And yes, you can give your money to the Red Cross, and Doctors Without Borders, and those organizations do amazing things. But they are a stopgap. They will leave, at some point. I want something better. I want to help with something today, and something that will still be helping tomorrow and the week after that and the year after that, when we've resigned ourselves to seeing these images on a regular basis, and forgotten the driving, desperate needs of children sleeping outside, with no food and no clean water to drink.

photo via AFP/Getty Images

Speaking of water. I wanted to take a few minutes to tell everyone about an amazing and effective way to help RIGHT NOW.

This is my friend Aaron's blog. Our families have known each other since we were kiddos.
He works for an organization that is doing incredible things in a lot of places around the world. Healing Waters International provides water filtration systems in some of the most desperately impoverished places on the planet. Their model is one of the reasons I think they're so great....

They work in poor communities where the water supply is contaminated, and community members have access to water that is not safe to drink. Bottled water is out of reach, due to cost. They partner with local churches, already committed to helping those in their community, to install, maintain, and manage various water filtration systems that take the available water supply and make it clean and drinkable. The water is then sold at a price that covers the operating costs and yet makes it accessible to even the poorest members of the community. Through their 83 projects, they now serve about 120,000 people each day with clean water.

If you're looking for a way to help Haiti, they can provide a solution right now. Because of their strong presence in the Dominican Republic, and a partnership with Compassion International, HWI is able to provide gallons of clean drinking water in Haiti for about two dollars per gallon, while continuing to provide water to the communities they already serve. The cost basically covers the container and the transport. Please, if you're interested in giving to something that will be effective RIGHT NOW, TODAY, then check out their website and consider a donation online. In addition to providing clean water today, the second phase of their plan includes becoming a permanent presence in Haiti and installing 50 water filtration systems that will continue to provide clean water for years to come. It's under $10,000 to permanently affect a community. If your organization or employer is interested in sponsoring one, check out the website for more info.

Think about it. Pray about it. And the next time you fill your water bottle or grab a bottled water, consider Haiti.

so this is christmas....

2009-12-25T12:08:00.000-08:00

my fave shot of the day. the opposite of present fatigue!

And it WAS a good one. See, every year we have this resolution - that the amount of presents under the tree won't be a tiny bit sickening, that THIS is the year we're going to scale it back, take it easy, our kids are completely spoiled, blah blah blah. And somehow, every year we get to Christmas morning, and there's a pile of presents the size of Texas, and by the time they've opened one fourth of the stack, the kids have present fatigue - glazed eyes, crazy smiles, and "WHAT'S NEXT!" mentality. Ugh. It makes you want to throw up just a teeny bit.

But this year, it all came together. Because we got on a plane on the 15th of December, we skipped it. We skipped almost all of it. We didn't put up a tree, or lights, or decorations at our house in Oregon. We didn't go to the mall, and fight the crowds, and elbow people to get the last Buzz Lightyear talking whatever. We just....got on a plane! And we told the kids this was their gift. And pretty much, they were okay with that.

We did a tiny bitty bit of shopping at a super cute store in downtown Haliewa called The Growing Keiki, and then we went for ONE trip to target. One. That's it. The kids each got their very first gaming device - and I'll pause now for all the stones and torches to be thrown. In our defense, my 7 year old has never once owned a video game, and we've decided not to own one for our family. Mostly because I'm pretty sure it would be impossible for them to fight their father off long enough to use it. So Jack got a Nintendo DS, and Aidan got a Leapster with a Star Wars reading game. And a few books, and some body boards. Chloe got a new baby and some hair pretties. And that's it! Shawn and I didn't buy presents for each other, although we did splurge on a getaway for a few nights. (coming later...)

We were done opening presents in like 20 minutes flat, the kids were ACTUALLY excited about what they got, and then we hopped in the bus and headed out to watch the 30 foot surf break in Waimea Bay. Now, our bright idea was shared by about 47 million other people - so it was a bit of a long trip. Like an hour and a half, to drive what usually takes about 20 min. Mimi taught Aidan how to play "go fish," Jackson read a book, Mama read a book, and everyone was pretty much happy. And when we got there it was beautiful, and dramatic, and we even scored a super choice parking spot in a totally cut-throat parking situation. Generally, a great day. We got home too late to cook the ham we were planning on, so we had some snacks and cheese and went to bed. Christmas, over, done, and pretty darn easy and fun. The best part? When we get home - I HAVE NO DECORATIONS TO CLEAN UP!

Oh, and last thing: the BEST presents of the year, by far, were the handmade, hand drawn books that Jackson created for everyone in the family. Each of his siblings, and all the adults got a personalized story for them. Yeah. I pretty much wanted to bawl. But I kept it together, seeing as how it was Christmas, and I didn't want to frighten the children.

it's european.

2009-12-25T10:30:00.000-08:00

So, technically, this photo should have gone in with the previous post. HOWEVER. I felt it necessitated it's own post.

Ummmm, yeah. Because mister? It's not enough that you're wearing a speedo in the first place. Or that you're still wearing it at the top of the hill, FAR AWAY from the water. Or that you're standing by the stroller while whatever woman you procreated with goes to the bathroom or whatever - she obviously doesn't care enough to tell you to PUT ON SOME SHORTS. But really, really. The propped up leg? That's the BEST POSE YOU COULD STRIKE? IN YOUR SPEEDO? And p.s. - I think your fanny pack is getting damp.

And just for the record - yes, that is my shoulder in the lower left corner. Because I forced my husband to act like he was taking my picture, to get this shot. Obviously, he could be more convincing, seeing as how the GUY IS LOOKING STRAIGHT AT THE CAMERA. Because we're all about the subtlety.

glug. glug. glug.

2009-12-24T23:55:00.000-08:00

That's the sound of my kids, trying to snorkel. The snorkeling didn't work out so well. There was a bit of crying and refusing to put faces underwater, and wanting to see the fish WITHOUT putting the face underwater. Finally, I told Shawn to stop whining and go back to the beach.

Nahh, just kidding. That was Mimi. Nahh, just kidding again. But once we sent the kids to play on the shore, Shawn and I had a great time snorkeling, exploring, and vaguely remembering that thing we once had in Mexico, long ago.....a honeymoon.

We spent the afternoon at Haunama Bay, which, although crowded, is a pretty awesome place. And how's this for a bit of good old fashioned capitalism - instead of walking up and down the steep hill to the bay, you can take a tram. Which is .75 cents on the way down - and A DOLLAR on the way UP. Love it.

christmasery.

2009-12-24T23:10:00.000-08:00

Mmmmhhmmm. It's a word. I just decided it is. Here are a few glimpses into our general Christmasery.
The "Living Nativity" was good fun - as most programs involving children in Bible costumes usually are. Click here to see a few photos from the fun.

Chloe's christmas dress turned out pretty darn cute...

We also took a trip to see the Honolulu City Lights. And let me tell you, other than the crowds, it was FAB!! We loved the displays, and I think our favorite part was when we promised the boys we could ride a trolley, but neglected to do our research....finding out only after we were there that they were by RESERVATION ONLY. As in, "no, children, you can't get on that trolley. Even though it's empty." Thankfully, my kids never EVER whine or fuss or throw a fit. Especially NEVER in the middle of a crowded street, full of cheerful Christmasery families. And they NEVER spontaneously burst into tears when they see a full trolley of happy families drive by shouting "MERRRRY CHRISTMAS!" You can imagine how fun the walk back to the car was. Yeah. Some photos, anyhow.

We planned on heading into Waikiki to have some dinner, and see all the pretty lights there. But um, remember how my parents have that VW van? With racks on top? It doesn't fit into any parking garages. Like, at ALL. So somehow, we ended up celebrating the Honolulu lights at.....BURGER KING. Yeah. Luckily, the kids really liked their sponge bob crowns. So, you know. That was fun.

Well, it was fun. It was new, and different, and ohhhhhh, so warm. And it may just be our new holiday tradition. But next time, I think we might try to get a reservation on one of those trolleys.

more beaching,

2009-12-23T00:04:00.000-08:00

So, it's shocking, I know, but we've been spending a lot of time at the beach. Gasp. It's HAWAII, people. The boys haven't been doing a ton of surfing, mostly beacause the surf is BIG. I mean BIIIIIG. But they're having fun playing in the shore break, building castles, and for the FIRST TIME EVER Coco is letting her feet actually touch the sand without being all like "HELLO, this is HOT LAVA, here, folks. COULD YOU PICK ME UP RIGHT NOW?" And maybe even getting some on her hands. And in her diaper.
Some beaches we've been to, and loved:
Shark's Cove. (no sharks, as far as we could see with our kids snorkle masks.)
Sunset.
Laniakea. (The turtles, the turtles are so cool. Seriously, they are just right there. Like big, giant, real life turtles.)

tree hunt, hawaii style.

2009-12-22T22:58:00.000-08:00

Apparently, there was a problem with the Christmas tree situation in the HI. When my parents shipped their container here, there were about a bazillion containers of Christmas trees headed this way, all from...you guessed it - Oregon, baby! Unfortunately, we hear they turned away about, I don't know, a BUNCH of containers of Christmas trees because of a bug. Or a fungus. Or a pest. Whatever. There's a shortage. Someone in my parents' church paid $160. For an 8 ft. tree. I KID YOU NOT. So. We set about looking for an alternative. And wouldn't you know it, there's a tree farm in Wahiawa that sells Norfolk Pines, which are originally from New Zealand, if you're wondering. They grow here, and they're kind of crazy and different, but so is Christmas in Hawaii! We may have found a new holiday favorite tradition....:)

hawaii!

2009-12-19T22:00:00.000-08:00

We made it. We're here.

After a few sketchy moments with the Delta ground crew in Portland (explain to me how you sat my 4 year old 20 rows away from me again? and how you don't see that as a problem? and how my husband has to get all up in your grill to make you find us a seat together?) and a very long flight (1.25 hours delay - see previous sentence about seating issues, and add in some headwinds) we finally got to Oahu.

And folks, it's lovely. I'm a PacNW girl deep in my heart, but in the middle of December there is something sweet and wonderful about 80 degrees and sunny. Plus, there's my parents. Who now live and work here. So.

Lots of photos. Click here if you want to see the whole set on flickr. We're beaching, and lounging, and hanging around in the sunshine. Today we went and cut down a crazy Hawaiian Christmas tree (also know as a Norfolk Pine.) More photos will follow, but here's a start. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, right?....

zoolights.

2009-12-14T11:35:00.000-08:00

A few pictures from our annual trip to Zoolights. No big. The pictures aren't that awesome, because I sort of refuse to learn about using my flash, but we had a great time. And we continued our family tradition of bribing the children to skip the two-hour line for the train by promising them a plastic light-up toy from the gift shop. It works every time, folks. Coming up.....HAWAII.

hunt.

2009-12-14T00:54:00.000-08:00

Um, so I am frantically trying to catch up on posts so that I can get to this: WE ARE IN HAWAII, PEOPLE!! It's beautiful. And sunny. And warm. And sunny. But I have this compulsive like, THING that won't let me put up that post unitil I finish the ones from before. Damn you, type A personality. Damn you. Anyhow.

We love the christmas tree farm. We really do. We've been going to the same one since we moved to McMinnville, and it's the best. There's hot chocolate, and sunshine, and chickens, and homemade treats, and lots of mud, and best of all, a wagon ride with horses and jingle bells and all the works. So, this year, even though we didn't get a tree (WE'RE IN HAWAII, PEOPLE!!!) we couldn't let the season pass without a trip to Northwest Family Farms. So, we helped the Brewers hunt down their tree. And it was great! And did I mention all the sunshine?

obligatory family christmas tree farm pic!

the crew, carrying the giant tree

the mamas. isn't my friend amy just too cute?

just so you know, this is james. my daughter's future husband.
because seriously, who would not want to sit across the thanksgiving table
from that face for the rest of your life? and how could you not love a
three year old who calls your daughter "baby o-ey" and kisses her on
both cheeks whenever given the opportunity?

The main problem with my children is that they're just so un-photogenic. Sigh. I guess I'll just have to keep trying.

And p.s.? Please lock up your daughters between the ages of two and seven. Because I simply cannot be responsible for their actions when he looks at them like this.

Or this.

Or when he smiles at them like this.

Oh dear. We're in for some trouble with this one.

After working hard to build consensus on the PERFECT christmas tree, we refueled at Zippy's Pizza. Of course, the pizza and the company were the best, and the arcade games are always a hit, but on this lovely Saturday in December the highlight of the day was the vending machine full of fake .... mustaches. Seriously, I hope everybody who has children enjoys them as much as we do. Because our kids are super fun. And after all the trauma of raising them, the least they can do is put on a fake mustache, stand against the wall, let us take their pictures and laugh hysterically about them for years to come. I mean, come on.

giving thanks.

2009-12-13T11:50:00.000-08:00

Of course, there is so much to be thankful for. Like, duh.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Exhibit D:

above photos are by Jenna, at dolce photography. that post coming soon.

This year was a different Thanksgiving for us. We were in McMinnville, Shawn's family was in California, and my parents were in Hawaii. New. Different. Not necessarily the holiday we were hoping for. But, like I mentioned before, we have so much to be thankful for. And that includes an amazing community of friends, who invite us to come and have dinner at their house. We had such a great day. It felt just like home, and just like family. And that's saying a lot, because our families are pretty great.

So thanks to the Collins family for being our fRamily on Thanksgiving, and all the time.

Hattie & Chloe had a great time microwaving their babies.

Shawn felt quite at home - taking a teeny snooze post-turkey.

working girl.

2009-12-13T11:22:00.000-08:00

That's right. That's me. Apparently you CAN earn a paycheck from just pouring wine for happy people! I helped out some friends over the few weekends around Thanksgiving, and boy, it was fun. I almost hesitate to call it work. But I did earn a paycheck. :)

fundraising.

2009-12-12T10:18:00.000-08:00

So, remember how we're not talking about the fact that my parents moved to Hawaii? Well, before they moved, they had to downsize a bit. Like, a lot. They also needed to raise some funds for their new church, which needed a lot of work and some new chairs. So, in addition to an awesome donation from our great church, we came up with a fun way to raise a few more bucks. We invited a big group of friends to come over and buy a chunk of a sizeable wine collection.

Can I just say, it was a GREAT party. I think it might have been my best party yet. My house was full to bursting with people we love, and who love my parents. There was amazing food, great wine, a few tears, great conversation that lasted till the wee hours, and to top it all off, we raised an extra $1100. I kid you not. Our friends are amazing, and generous, and some of the best people I know. Hopefully they will enjoy their purchases!

No action shots of the night - I was just a bit too busy!

making us happy today.

2009-12-11T08:55:00.000-08:00

try not to smile. try it. dare ya. and try to keep your feet still, or your booty from shaking. we're loving this song and video at our house today. we even had an impromptu dance party in the car on the way to school when it came on the radio. hope you enjoy it too!

What she did while I made her a bottle.

2009-12-02T09:50:00.001-08:00

Stinker. I seriously walked away for two minutes.

Where'd November go again?

2009-11-23T11:29:00.000-08:00

Well.
Evidently the last month (or two!) has gone by, and I sort of forgot to blog about it. Ooops. It's been a tad busy, to say the least. We've still not posted about our trip to San Diego, Halloween, various fall events, and oh yes - my parents moved to Hawaii. Last weekend. And that's pretty much all I'm going to say about that, because it's not really something I'm processing right now.

Denial. It's not just a river in Egypt, so I've heard.

So here's what I'm going to do. I've done it before, I'll probably do it again. I'm going to do a catch up post, with links to the posts I missed. Just click on the title, it'll jump you right to that post. Cause I know you're dying to sit and read my blog posts all afternoon.

11.11.09
beach baptism & bonfire.
11.10.09
fancy clothes and a new purse.
11.01.09
hallow'een.
10.24.09
october.
10.7.09
san diego roundup.
10.5.09
anticipation.
beaching.

So, this catches me up through mid-november. Which is aproximately the last time I downloaded my pictures. Seriously. So I'll catch up from here. In my spare time!

beach baptism & bonfire.

2009-11-11T18:04:00.000-08:00

Our friends wanted to get baptized, and had for a while. They really wanted my dad to baptize them together, but hadn't found a time to do it. Then my parents took a job in Hawaii. Which I'm still not writing about. Anyhow. The only time to do it was the middle of November, on a stormy day, on the Oregon Coast. We were actually going to do it on a Saturday, but a small ...um.... tornado touched down at the beach house we were going to use. Ahem. So we rescheduled, for Sunday. It was raining off and on, but they went for it! It was a very cool moment for them and for both my parents. And I mean cool in both senses of the word. Ha. Ha.

We thought we would have to make a run for it if it started to rain, but the skies cleared, the rain held off, and it turned into a beautiful night for a bonfire, good company, chili from the pub, and maybe a cold growler (to wash down the chili of course!) I do love Pacific City. It's one of my favorite beaches on earth. Even when it's cold, and almost rainy.

It could have something to do with the people, of course. Have I mentioned that we have super friends and a super cool family? Or......FRAMILY, as we like to call them!

fancy clothes and a new purse.

2009-11-10T14:53:00.000-08:00

She's such a girl. She wanted a purse. She dragged mine all around the house for a few days. We went to the store to buy one. They were all so......ugly. And plastic. And ugly. So I made her one! I think it turned out smashingly. And I think she agrees. I used the pattern for the simple tote in Bend the Rules Sewing. Fab, and easy.

Also, she keeps getting new dresses. It's just that she can walk around in them now, and it's cute, and she asks for them so nicely. "Pretty pretty, mama?" Could you say no to that? Apparently, none of us can. Even her Nana, who gave her this little ensemble. Could it be cuter? Have you checked out Tea Collection? You'll die. I'm not kidding. You'll fall over and die of a heart attack from sheer cuteness overload. Don't blame me. I warned you.

hallow'een.

2009-11-01T14:10:00.000-08:00

It pretty much speaks for itself. Except this year, we tried something new. We got the kids dressed up, and headed downtown Mac for the annual trick-or-treat thing. Which we will NEVER repeat NEVER do again. It was crowded, and basically like standing in line for way too long, for way too little candy. Nice thought, but no thanks. As we were on our way out, we ran into some friends who have a tasting room on third, and were enjoying the spectacle with their kids from the big windows looking onto the street. Suddenly, things were looking up! There was wine! Friends! Chocolate! It was a much better time. :)
We raced home to meet up with mimi & pa for trick-or-treaters - the boys took the kids out, and the girls answered the door. (YES! GOOD PLAN!) Fun was had - especially when Melissa showed up as Tammy Faye. Chloe cried. For good reason. Scroll to the end...just grab a tissue for that mascara if you do!

Costume notes: we did get a super cute Queen Amidala costume to go with the boys' costumes from Nana, but, being newly independent, Miss Coco flatly refused it. I'm pretty sure it was the headpiece she wasn't hot on, but without it, you couldn't tell what she was! So, the night before Halloween, we happened to be in babies r us for diapers, and found the pink princess dress. For SIX DOLLARS. New policy - always shop for costumes the night before Halloween!

cheating.

2009-10-27T11:09:00.001-07:00

Even though I'm supposed to be catching up on our trip to San Diego, I'm cheating. Cheating on my own vacation. Because it's fall, you see. And I love fall. You might remember me mentioning it here, here, here and here. And I've been taking lots of fall pictures, and walks, and loving it all day long, but not blogging. Because I haven't put up pictures of our trip. Ughh. So guess what? Here's some fall. To get me through.

october.

2009-10-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

see that book he's reading? that's stewart little. one of my all-time faves.
actually, MY copy.
like, from when i was 7. sniff. gulp. sniff. i'm fine. really.

October. It's been interesting for us. It started with a vacation, then a rainy homecoming, and then we got the sick. Like, I'm pretty sure it was THE sick. The SWINE FLU, people. And of course, it came right on the heels of vacation, and right as the Mister had to turn around the day after vacation and take off again. For a WEEK. Leaving me at home with three children who were off their schedule, sick with the flu, and generally just bonkers. And HOME. For a week. Dear school, I love you so much. Let's never be apart this long again, mmmkay?
It's a miracle I made it through without harming someone - myself, them, possibly random passers-by on the street. Although I do believe at some point I probably scared a few people with my crazy eyes. Anyhow. We did make it through, and then we got to get out and enjoy the fall sunshine a bit. I love fall. I really, really, really do. Shocking, I know.

this baby got her first pigtails. it's true. she promptly ripped them out and
threw the ponytail holders on the ground. but it was cute while it lasted!

Aidan.

2009-10-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

Some recent quotables from Aidan.

Me: Aidan, that behavior is unacceptable. Aidan. Are you listening? Do you hear me?
Aidan: Sorry Mom. Can't hear you. I turned my hearing aid off.
Me: (Wetting my pants) Go to your room.

Today:
Aidan: Mom - Chloe has a stinky. I know, because I smelled her....Butler.

harsh.

2009-10-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. Once again, it's been a while. But this time I have a real, live, bad internet connection excuse. See, we were on vacay. In San Diego. And yes, they DO have internet in San Diego. But for some reason unknown to me, the router at my in-laws house HATED me, and only me. We're talking full on long-term feud, leave you out of the will, disgrace you in all possible public media outlets, Rosie O'Donnell versus Donald Trump hate. It never once in 10 days let me on the internet. Let me start by saying this: Internet, I missed you.

So I will be catching up in the next few days. Once I can tear myself away from google-ing all the things I thought of in 10 days. In the meantime, let me tell you about our transition home. Here's what we left:

Here's what we came home to:

I do love fall. I really do. But that transition was a bit.....harsh. Today, however, I got out my sweaters. And I was good.

san diego roundup.

2009-10-07T12:35:00.000-07:00

We did so much. We hung with our cousins, we played at the beach. We swam, hot-tubbed, had dinner on the patio, saw good friends, rode a carousel, shopped, played, visited our alma-mater, the San Diego Zoo on a perfect fall day, had dinner at the restaurant Shawn & I worked at when we got married. Things were the same, and different, and we did feel a teeny bit old. We showed the kids our favorite places to eat and surf and where we lived during college. We showed Jackson the building we lived in when we brought him home from the hospital. We had good talks with people we don't get to see face to face often enough. (TINA! That's you!) It was wonderful. And fast, and over all too soon.

this is the view from the dorms we lived in. i'm not kidding.
suddenly that little run-in with academic probation makes much more sense, right?

anticipation.....

2009-10-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't been to my house recently, here's a bulletin - WE ARE FULLY AND COMPLETELY OBSESSED WITH STAR WARS. It's been an ongoing thing for a while now, hence last year's Halloween costumes, the birthday party, and daily dress-up/lightsaber fighting/millenium falcon building sessions. We tried to explain to them during the costume discussions this year that you can dress up as something OTHER than Star Wars characters. We were met with mostly blank stares. And a few comments like "huh?" and "why?" We sort of gave up. Especially when Nana told them they could pick any costume off the star wars website, and she'd buy it for them. They love their Nana. Seriously.

So.....the costumes were waiting for them in San Diego, along with the costumes for their cousins. We decided to make a big deal out of the presentation - making them all wait with their eyes closed, patiently, until everyone had theirs. It was AWESOME to see them all......so excited, trying soooooo hard not to peek. They did a great job, and much excitement ensued, along with a full dress up session.

beaching.

2009-10-05T11:34:00.000-07:00

Oh, we do love the beach. We especially love it in California, in october, when it's warm and sunny and we can dip our toes in the salty sea and feel the warm santa ana winds, surf with our cousins and hold our hands on our heads like a visor to block the SUN from our eyes. That's right, I said the SUN. It shines there, apparently, ALL YEAR ROUND.

(This was the first time I could convince Coco to let me put her on the sand.
She fussed for about 2.5 seconds, and then ran straight into the ocean. I mean STRAIGHT IN. No fear.)

who do you want to be today?

2009-10-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Umm, we do a lot of dress up at our house. There are spaceman costumes, pirate costumes, knights, cowboys, firemen, star wars and even a chicken suit floating around somewhere. But so far, Chloe has been pretty much fine without any dress up happening. For the last few days, Aidan has basically lived in the Darth Vader costume, removing it only to use the restroom and when forced to take a shower (and yes, he took a nap in it. for the last two days. whatever.) We asked Chloe if she wanted to dress up. She brought the tutu and the Princess Leia hat. Hmmm. Interesting combo. Regardless of the indiscriminate mixing of genres here, it made for some pretty cute pics.

Chloe Louise, one year post-op.

2009-09-29T22:44:00.000-07:00

So, this morning I woke up and it was like every other morning. I got up, made coffee, got little people dressed for school, made more coffee... and then I looked at the date, and realized it was September 29. I realized that one year ago, we turned our baby girl over to the doctors and let them fix her head. I had forgotten. Forgotten that today was the day, sort of forgotten that whole crazy time. But when I remembered, it knocked me down onto my behind, and made me sit there for a few minutes.

A year ago, I woke up (although "woke up" usually indicates that a person has slept...) at 3:30 in the morning to nurse my baby for the last time before her surgery, praying that she wouldn't scream the whole way to the hospital. We drove, anxious and quiet, an hour to the hospital. We sat. We waited. We checked her in, we changed her into an impossibly tiny hospital gown. I kept thinking to myself that if she freaked out and screamed, I'd just shut down. Or get hysterical. Or something. I just couldn't do it. It seemed like she got it, because she was fine. When they came to get her, our nurse was this totally tough, really BIG man. But he took my baby girl so gently, cradled her with his giant hands, he patted her back, and he told us she would be fine. Of course, I didn't believe him and I cried my eyes out.

But she came back. We got her back, and she was fine, better, even. We spent the week watching her so closely, jumping at every sigh or cough, sleeping little (thanks to the AWESOME cots) and praying much. Did I mention that we made some friends?

And now, we can't imagine life without her. We live for her baby laughs, her silly nose crinkles, her funny sense of humor, and even for the times when we ask her to do something and she looks us right in the eyes and calmly says "no." We do have a few side effects. We think her head may possibly be a magnet for bonks. So. Many. Bonks. It's like the floor jumps up to hit her, sometimes. And of course, we totally freak out react perfectly calmly every. single. time. The other lasting side effect? Well, this one's for me. Every time I see, hear, or read about a family having to send their small child off for a surgical procedure? Even something so terrifying as a tonsillectomy? Instant crying. And I mean INSTANT. CRYING. Not sniffling, not a single teardrop. We're talking ugly, unexpected, undignified WEEPING, people. And while it's happening, I'm usually like "no really, I'm okay. It's just the surgery.." while laughing at what a retard I am. And crying. Brothers and Sisters last season? Get out. Grey's Anatomy? Killer. Seriously, I just have to stop watching television. Or the news. Or reading. At all.

Anyhow.

The amazing part about the whole thing is that we forgot. Life was just going, and Chloe was so amazing, and funny and smart and silly and pretty and we forgot that today was the one year anniversary of all that fear and hope and every other emotion mixed in.

Isn't life good?

sweet 'lissa.

2009-09-21T21:56:00.000-07:00

i love to bake. i really, really love it. but more than that, i love to bake for people i love. and i had the pleasure last week of getting to bake for one of my most favorite peeps EVER. sweet melissa got to be the center of some sneaky surprise party planning for her upcoming birthday, and i had the honor of baking her cake. for my fellow coffee lover (read addict!) i thought that the espresso chiffon cake with chocolate fudge frosting sounded just right. and oooooh, baby, it was. as was the beautiful night with friends at the NW Wine Bar. it's fun to be a grownup, and have grownup parties at pretty places. and with friends like this, you can't go wrong.

happy birthday, wonderful girl. you are a treasure - and i'm thankful to have you!

sneak peeks.

2009-09-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

projects. so many projects! now that school is back on, my fingers have gotten a bit itchy to start (and perhaps ahem! finish) some of my works in progress. here are a couple of sneak peeks....but I can't give away to whom or where they will end up going.....

baking...

sewing...

details to follow the finished products. in the meantime, totally enjoying this while sewing.

I totally remember second grade.

2009-09-14T20:42:00.000-07:00

Don't you? I remember my teacher. I remember kids from my class, the playground, getting time out on the wall for cutting in line for foursquare. I remember writing in my journal and having a slumber party. And strangely? It doesn't seem like all that long ago. (it was!) It certainly doesn't seem far enough away for me to be sending my biggest boy off to second grade, but that's what we did last week. (sigh.)

And, for the first time to public school, no less. Talk about anxiety! There were some tears, and some nervousness, and a little bit of insomnia the night before. Then Shawn told me to get a hold of myself, so I did. Thankfully, Jackson slept like a baby and was up, dressed, teeth brushed and thrilled to go in the morning! I got to walk him in and even take a picture or two (SUCH an embarrassing mother, I know. could you just die?)

After dropping him off, we met up with Aidan's best buddy Luke at Starbucks for a "coffee date". Two middle children who didn't start school for a few more days - needless to say, they were thrilled to be there without any of the "bigs" to boss them around. They were so great. They sat at their own table, chatting about superheros and Star Wars and giggling about secret things. After his buddy left, Aidan and Chloe and I hung around for a bit, finishing coffee and playing "chess," which basically means Aidan sets up all the pieces (in the correct order, of course) and then uses his guys to knock my guys down. :)

of course, Chloe had to get her bitty hands on a few pieces as well...but what cute bitty hands they are!

We picked up Jackson to big smiles, stories about fish tanks and cool playgrounds and OH MY GOSH you should see the hot lunch! and headed to our favorite celebration spot - Serendipity Ice Cream - to meet up with Mimi and share all the details about the day. It was a great day, and I am so amazed and inspired by my brave little seven-year-old. He walked into a new school, a new class where he knew NOBODY and didn't have a whiff of fear. Total confidence, waiting to see what great things were in store for him. Don't you wish we could all be like that? I think he earned the Maui Wowie....

chloe found the cupcake display to be overwhelming...couldn't stay away!

chloe needed new school shoes too, dontcha think?

Finally, I'm going to post shortcuts to my last few updates. I'm backdating, because for my own records, I like to have things in order. Shocking, isn't it? So, in case you can't scroll ALL THE WAY down, like maybe your scrolling finger is sprained or something, here are the shortcuts!

sweet. (august 28. Amy, this one's for you.)
girls can too. (august 26. heather, for you!)
i wanna send flowers. (august 23.)

old friends.

2009-08-31T19:09:00.000-07:00

There really is nothing in this world like an old friend. Somehow they still like you, even after the overalls, dirty hair, nirvana-listening phase, after the dr. martens with jean skirts phase, through many ugly haircuts, drill team incidents, swim meets, every boyfriend saga, road trips listening to alanis morissette on endless repeat....they remember it all. They will sometimes even wear a pale peach, nearly strapless dress (which upon later reflection was not. that. cute.) and stand up next to you while you get married. And somehow, through some miracle of goodness, they STILL LIKE YOU. And they barely ever bring up aforementioned incidents. And when you get together, even if it's been two years or more, it's like not ONE DAY has passed. Not one. Because you laugh, and you talk, and you remember funny things, and you discover new things, and the only difference is that now there are a lot more babies. Really, really cute babies.

Case in point:

Amira. those eyes. those cheeks!

See what I mean? Really. Cute. Babies.

For anyone who read to the bottom - details. The dresses on both babies were made from the pattern in Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. Super fun, super easy. The park with the amazing water feature is Jamison Square Park in the Pearl District, downtown Portland. It entertained all three of my kids for a good couple of hours. If you don't like kids, I'd stay away from there on a sunny day. But I suppose if you don't like kids, you've got a whole host of other problems, and you should probably just stay in your apartment with your 47 cats for a very long time.

sweet.

2009-08-29T23:56:00.000-07:00

I've had this post in my head for a few days now. Actually, it's been rattling around in my head for about a year, but about a day ago it came to fruition.

Let me back up. Last August, I stood on a hot, hot summer night, holding on tightly to my dear friend as we watched her house burn. The house, the yard, everything in it. Thankfully, the people were out. But everything else, all the memories, the photos, the antiques, the writings, the beloved baby blankets and stuffed cookie monsters, the school papers from her three boys - all gone. We stood on that street and I held on to my friend as every THING in her life disappeared. It was heartbreaking. It was overwhelming, and surreal, and frightening, and it made your heart want to just fall out of your chest and stop beating.

And I was lucky enough to have their family in my house a few days later, lucky enough to be able to just feed them, and house them, and love them, and give them a place to rest their dazed heads while they figured out what the hell to do next.

I was lucky enough to be there for the last year, watching them sort the details, and the insurance, and the receipts (OH DEAR LORD THE RECEIPTS!) and the replacing and watching them try to find a home. Because they needed a home. Not just a house. They needed a place that fit, that slipped on like that old, perfectly worn in pair of jeans. They needed it, and they deserved it.

Last night, I was lucky enough to see the fulfillment of that need. As the sun set over the fields of wheat, and the light turned everything golden, we sat down to dinner in their new backyard. We opened wine, fixed plates, fed babies, laughed, talked, ate off of beautiful new dishes, wiped our faces with pretty napkins. There was boy laughter everywhere, tree-climbing, ice-cream, and finally, the porch swing.

As we sat on the beautiful swing, on their wide, friendly, welcoming porch my heart was just full to bursting. My baby girl sat in her daddy's arms quiet and content, while he gently rocked the swing with his bare foot. My friend sat in her lovely (new to her) antique rocker. Her husband relaxed on the porch, passing out the last few bites of ice cream. I looked around and realized that there is so much sweetness - more than we can ever imagine until we taste it. One year ago we had the bitter taste of smoke in our mouths and our hair. But it was gone, replaced, and our children's laughter, the summer air, the golden fields coated our mouths like honey. We drank it in, and I looked at my friend, and I knew the goodness of life. And later, as we were getting ready to put our sleepy kids in the car, she looked at me and said "It's a good house. It feels like home." And that was all I had hoped they would find.

chloe.

2009-08-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

Chloe Louise. We just can't seem to get enough of her. There is way too much tickling, kissing, nose-crinkling, hand clapping, baby singing, counting to ten goodness - it just makes your heart full to bursting. It makes your ovaries hurt. But not too much. Not enough to say, procreate again. Nooooo, no no. Just enough to make you thank the sweet universe for sending this delicious bundle of girly goodness your way. Every. Single. Day.

her first oreo cookie, courtesy of her mimi.

she liked it.

alot.

girls can too.

2009-08-26T21:52:00.000-07:00

It's true. I proved it to my boys today. Mind you, I didn't say that girls can do it prettily, or gracefully, but this mama proved that girls can paddle out and get wet, and maybe even catch a wave or two. Sort of. With a lot of falling down in between. Not to mention the wetsuit. OH SWEET JESUS, THE WETSUIT. Here's an idea. If you're going to make a wetsuit for a woman, think about what area she might feel uncomfortable with. I'm guessing you'd probably pick THE TORSO. Like, the lovehandles. Or the belly roll from the three babies. (and the ice cream. shut up about that, anyway. it's from the babies, obviously.) Then, MAKE THAT SECTION A DIFFERENT COLOR. That way your eye will INSTANTLY be drawn to it. Lord almighty, what kind of idiot thought of that? Probably one who's never had babies. Or eaten ice cream. Or anything else, for that matter.

Anyhow. Another great day at the beach. This time, I had a FRIEND!!! Someone to talk to while all the boys were in the water!! (Chloe is fun, but she doesn't really hold up her end of the conversation, if you know what I mean.) Heather, you're a lifesaver. And super fun. And we want to keep you forever.

Followed by dinner at the pub, root beer floats for the boys, and general feelings of contentment, tiredness, and goodwill.

surfing...

2009-08-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

We went and stayed a night in Pacific City last week, which really is one of our favorite places on earth. We usually go for the day, or camp in the cabins there, but since it was last minute and everything was full, we were forced to upgrade to the lovely Inn at Cape Kiwanda. Bummer. (or not!) We explored tidepools, climbed the dune (I use "we" figuratively on that one!), roasted marshmallows, and had yummy breakfast. Since I took approximately 400 photos (ahem) in two days, I've been a tiny bit slow in processing them. And oh yes, my husband was away for five. days. in a row. Here are the first few. The rest will probably end up on flickr. Enjoy.

saying goodbye...

2009-08-24T09:03:00.000-07:00

My parents are pretty awesome. For more reasons than just this one, but this one is definitely near the top of the list. It seems like every summer we are dropping them off at the airport for one more fabulous travel adventure. And as much as we all miss them (and the free babysitting!) while they're gone for almost a month, I love that they are still having so much fun together. When my children are grown (sniffle) I hope the mister and I are still rocking the free world the way Mimi & Pa are!

This time around, it was 3 weeks in Peru - two weeks with Extreme Peru and the Durans, then another week to see Machu Pichu, the Smiths, and of course, Lake Titicaca. (snicker.) Granted, they'll be home in four days, so this post is approximately 3 weeks late. However, the pics are cute. So here you go.

she just loves her pa...

jackson reads the menu

chloe...lord help us.

chloe wouldn't keep her bow in...so Mimi was giving her a demo. Isn't she cute?

i wanna send flowers.

2009-08-23T21:27:00.000-07:00

Someday, in my alternate life universe, I want to be a florist when I grow up. Not like a carnations and baby's breath florist, but more like the one who created the carved radish boutonniere I wanted for my junior prom. A coooool florist. I got a chance to play, and practice this last week when Amy let me help her with a wedding she was doing flowers for. It was so fun. Added bonus, all the flowers (except for the mums) are FROM MY YARD!! Who knew?! So next summer, if you know anyone who wants flowers done for their wedding, tell them to call me. If they like hydrangeas, that is.

turning my kitchen into a workshop

bridal bouquet

bridesmaid bouquet

toss bouquet

table centerpiece

another table centerpiece

Overheard.

2009-08-18T12:31:00.001-07:00

jackson: aidan, do you know what the streets in heaven are made out of? SOLID GOLD.
aidan: (pondering...) well, that would be hard to drive on, i think.

more summer sewing....

2009-08-11T23:45:00.000-07:00

Another fun project from my favorite new book...."Weekend Sewing" by Heather Ross. And she's really not kidding - this took me about 2 hours, start to finish. I think it turned out pretty cute. Instead of making spaghetti straps, I whipped up some bias tape from a coordinating fabric and used it for the straps and the trim at the bottom. Fun. Cute. Best model ever. Too bad she won't stand still for a photo! But she does say "dress. pretty." Can't ask for more than that! :)

hats.

2009-08-11T23:40:00.001-07:00

Hat shopping. At a REAL hat-maker. Beautiful, beautiful creations. Pricey, but pretty. Followed by a whole evening of girl time - shopping, eating, drinking, laughing - all the good stuff. I'm so lucky. Love my friends. Love Portland. Love the hubster, for keeping all the kids and not caring when his wife stays out till two in the morning.

Best. Commercial. Ever.

2009-08-08T13:20:00.001-07:00

Had to share this. If you have more than one child, you will be laughing your butt off.

To the Ice Cream People.

2009-08-03T23:04:00.000-07:00

Dear Ice Cream vendors,

Here is a small piece of advice. When a nice mommy with three sweet, ice-cream loving children comes to your truck to buy ice-cream, don't tell that mommy that you don't like people to take pictures of your truck, which attracts children like flies on - well, you know. It makes that mommy think:

A) you are most likely operating your business illegally or without proper permits.
B) you are probably a pervert.
C) you are a kidnapper.

If none of those things are true, then I sincerely apologize. Could you please tell me why I can't take a picture?
If any of those things are true, then never, ever come back to our cul-de-sac again.

Thank you.

What's on your night stand?

2009-08-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

I saw this floating around the internet somewhere. (see below post about rabbit holes and time suckage...) It made me laugh. Usually there is sooooo much junk on my night table, but about a week ago I just couldn't take it anymore! Plus, I hit the bookstore and used up all my credit last week. Soooooo.....here goes.

click on the picture to read the captions!

Books. Lots and lots of books. Want to know what I'm reading? You know you do. Your day won't be complete until you've got the skinny on my intellectual intake. Admit it. Here are the close ups:

On the top shelf:

on the bottom shelf:

On the left side, not pictured:
Dayplanner which I no longer use, thanks to iphone :)
The Cub Scout Book
The Bible (NASB)
Bon Apetit, July
Gourmet, July
Chloe's baby book (waiting to be filled out)
The last 3 issues of Vanity Fair
Pottery Barn Home (book)
Various catalogs (which need to be recycled)

So there. That's it, in it's entirety. Are you totally entertained? Me either. Okay, I do have a tiny confession. I removed something before I photographed, only because it was way too gross to publish on the internet. Apparently, last night after bathtime somebody neglected to take their used, ear-cleaning Q-tips to the trash as instructed, and instead left them on MY NIGHTSTAND. I was so tired I didn't notice until I went to take a picture. Eeewwww. Somethings I do for the good of the public. You can thank me later.
Bloggers, come on. Take a pic of yours, and post it. Just for fun. Commenters, tell me - WHAT'S ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND?

I did manage to get a few other things in today.

2009-08-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

Like this new skirt.

fabric is anna maria horner, good folks, small gatherings

I ripped apart an old abercrombie & fitch skirt I've had for literally like 10 years. Because, seriously, I think it's been 10 years since I went in that store. But the skirt, I've loved and loved well. It was starting to show its age, and was perhaps a bit (ahem) snug. Apparently it's been washed so many times that it shrank. Two sizes.

Anyhow.

I took it apart and traced it onto new fabric. Didn't bother to stop and make a pattern, which I'm now kicking myself for because I love it. I used an invisible zipper, which I learned about on this pattern. Of course, if you read the instructions you don't have to rip it out. Three times. But if one does read the instructions, this is SO easy to do. And it's - you guessed it - almost invisible when installed properly. Another fun and easy technique I hadn't thought of before was to just use some homemade (or storebought) binding as a waistband. It's not bulky, sits nicely, and eliminates the need for a lining or anything else. Love it!

Also. Do you sew? Do you have one of these?

Have you not told me about this for a reason? Because it is wonderful, and time-saving, and my new favorite sewing thing-a-majig. You just feed your two-inch wide strip of fabric in with a pin, attach said pin to ironing board, and presto-chango! Binding. Amazing.

What's that you say? These have been around since the stone age? Well. Thanks for telling me.

What I did today.

2009-08-03T12:27:00.000-07:00

Granted, it's only 12:28 p.m. But so far, today, I have done this:

Woke up. Made my three children sit in bed and watch cartoons on PBS so that I could sleep for 15 more minutes. (damn you, insomnia!) Made breakfast and coffee. Surfed the internet aimlessly, following rabbit hole after rabbit hole, in my pajamas, for much, much longer than a mother of three should ever do while her children are awake. And so far, that's it! Yup.

I should take a shower.

Two concerts in two weeks? What the?

2009-08-01T23:35:00.000-07:00

We don't get out a whole lot around here. What with the three children, and....well, they're mostly the main impediment. Anyhow, we feel like real grown up people now that we went to TWO concerts in the last TWO weeks. Both in the BIG CITY (you know, Portland.) Last Friday, we celebrated my mom's upcoming birthday by taking my parents (and Chloe - she's free!) to see the Indigo Girls at the Portland Zoo. The boys stayed with sweet Melissa (Aidan is now in the throes of a teensy weensy obsession - as in "mom, you're sitting where Melissa sat last night when we ate pizza"), Chloe got to enjoy some one-on-one with the four grownups (she obviously doesn't get enough attention), and we even got to catch up with friends! It was SO hot - although little did we know it would only get worse this week! Please excuse the crummy cell phone pics - it was hot, and I forgot my big camera, which apparently they wouldn't let me bring in anyway. Humph.

By Sunday, Mac was at 102 or so - so we hit the beach with good friends. It was cool, foggy, exactly what the heat doctor ordered. They brought their pup, and of course my boys were in total doggy heaven. They want a dog so bad. So not happening, right now.

Then, on Friday, we left all three kids with Mimi and headed back to Portland to hook up with Switchfoot at the Crystal Ballroom. Love that place. Love those guys - specially this one - and we got to bring some friends, who also had no kids for the weekend. We stayed out late, ate gobs and gobs of sushi, hung with people we don't see enough, laughed WAY too much, hopped from bar to bar, and generally acted like the fun people we were so, so long ago.

Making smart women everywhere wish they were dead.

2009-07-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

Please, please tell me she's not pushing for the White House in 2012. I don't know what I might do.

Anyhow, one of my all-time fave magazines, Vanity Fair. Combined with one of my all-time fave hobbies - copy editing other people's publications and then feeling a deep sense of satisfaction. I won't even get started on what I used to do to the local newspaper in Bellinham while I was in high school. People might start to get the impression that I was wierd or compulsive or...anyhow.

I can't really begin to express how much I love this. Please read it. All the way through. And then try to stop yourself from poking out your own eyes with a dinner fork in your distress over the state of American education and/or politics.

summer = photos. photos. and more photos.

2009-07-28T00:05:00.000-07:00

Mostly, that's because I don't sit down long enough to write anything. Partly, it's because all three children are home all. day. long. and my brain is turning into radiator fluid from listening to them screech at each other all. day. long. Also, partly, it's because my 14-month old went from crawling to walking a few steps to practically running in about three point seven days. So if someone could invent a way for me to 1) take a shower and then 2) think my blog entries out in the shower (what? I never do that...barely ever.) and then 3) automatically beam them to a thought recognition device implanted in my laptop while simultaneously putting two children in time-out, keeping one small child from shoving her fingers in the (non-babyproofed) electric sockets, and resisting the urge to start drinking at 10 in the morning, let me know. Maybe you'll get more than pictures.

In the meantime, here are some pictures. Enjoy.

Bust out the baby gates....

2009-07-21T22:49:00.000-07:00

All hell is about to break loose.

Cheers.

Final Paris entry - Versailles.

2009-07-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

It's Versailles. There's not a lot to say about it that hasn't been said. The palace was beautiful, extravagant, a bit sickening in its excess, when you think about the fact that it was built on the taxes and backs of a lot of wretched, poverty stricken people. The thousands of people filing through with us didn't seem to mind. I think luxury is like opium sometimes. It lulls you into thinking the rest of the world and it's suffering isn't right outside the door. That's the only explanation I can come up with, anyway.

Anyhow. Once we got out to the grounds, and could breathe again, I was amazed by the beauty and precision with which the experience had been manufactured. The sun was shining, the fountains were going, and even though there were literally thousands of people visiting the grounds that day, it didn't feel like it. My favorite part? Well, I loved Le Petit Trianon, and I adored La Hameau de la reine, but my favorite had to be the Grand Canal. We waited in line, left a drivers license, and hopped nimbly (read crawled awkwardly) into a real life rowboat. With real life giant oars. With which we were supposed to navigate the Grand Canal. It really was fun, once we got the hang of the rowing. And by we, I mean Shawn. I didn't row. I felt it was my civic responsibility to recreate a life like scene, so I simply reclined in the boat and allowed my husband the joy of rowing us around. For like an hour. Loved it.

The next day, we got up early, got on a plane, and headed back to reality. And trust me, reality moved right in and took a seat, in the form of two bratty french kids who kicked my seat for ELEVEN HOURS while their parents put on their sleeping masks and took a snooze.

But the beauty of a trip like this one is that we remembered something very important. We remembered why we decided to get married 10 years ago. (And the fact that both were content to eat our way across Paris is definitely in the top five reasons.) But probably pushing the number one spot is the fact that we have so much fun together. We like to just hang out and do stuff together. And although we love the new dynamic that a family of five has created, we remembered that we also once loved being a family of two.

from the train

even the coffee cups are cuter in paris...

hall of mirrors

marie antoinette's roses

temple of love

rowboats on the grand canal

my gondolier...

relaxed.

blue steel...

beautiful sky over versailles...

us.

our post-row refreshment...

on the train...