The Labunski's

First Snow of 2012!

2012-01-15T23:07:00.000-08:00

And boy oh boy were Levi & Asher excited!

It only lasted for a few hours in the morning, and had completely melted off by the time we got home from church. It snowed for a few minutes again this evening, but never really stuck. The forecast is calling for a "big storm"...we'll see if that turns out to be a snow storm or just a bunch of rain.

Meanwhile, here are some photos for your enjoyment. Our "big boy" camera has started seeing the light of day again, and I'm reminded of just how much better photos are out of a quality camera with a quality lens!

Levi

Asher

Asher with the lower half of Levi's face.

Asher giving Levi some direction in life.

Levi

Asher...seriously, try to tell me we don't have the cutest kids ever.

Checking out the mini snowman Daddy made.

The Mini Snowman relocated to the top of the car, where the boys could see it from inside the house.

Snow on my rhododendrons.

Snow covering our street...so pretty!

What a blessed Christmas.

2011-12-27T03:30:00.000-08:00

We didn't get all the Advent activities accomplished...not even half of them. The house wasn't perfectly clean and decorated. I still have some presents to wrap, since we still have some family members to "do Christmas" with this week. And don't even ask me about all the clothes sitting in piles to be folded and put away. The living room is tidied up (because my OCD just couldn't handle the clutter anymore), but there are still some presents to find homes for. The garage is an absolute disaster of wrapping supplies, decoration boxes, empty cardboard boxes, and other such things.

But this has been, by far, one of the most enjoyable Christmases that I can remember.

Perhaps it was the fact that I gave myself permission to not have everything perfect. Maybe it was that we decided to not fill the days with driving to/from a ton of different activities/gatherings. Or it could be that both Nathan and I are more aware than ever of just how we have been blessed by the journey of the man who was born over 2000 years ago in Bethlehem.

We had an early Christmas celebration with Kate, Eliot, and James on the 13th. They spent the night on their way up to the San Juan Island, and we had a pot roast dinner, opened presents, and battled getting the boys to bed for over 3 hours. That was, by far, the most stressful event of the entire holiday season, simply because we wanted to enjoy some time with Kate and Eliot before I had to go to work and the boys just weren't cooperating. But we made the best of a frustrating situation.

On the weekend before Christmas, my parents took the boys overnight while Nathan and I headed to Portland for a date night. We are so incredibly lucky to have grandparents that are so willing and even eager to take the boys so that we can take the time to reconnect as a married couple. I strongly believe that is very important, especially with me working shift work. We had planned on going beer tasting at five different small breweries on the east side of Portland; we made it to two breweries and an amazing BBQ place before exhaustion and full tummies chased us back to the hotel room to collapse. It was a great day, full of good beer and lots of laughs.

On Christmas Eve, the four of us and my parents traveled up to my grandparent's house in Welches for the day. The Nichols clan (my aunt, uncle, two cousins, and cousin's wife) were all going to be there; it was the first time we were all going to be in one place since before the boys were born, so I was really excited about spending that time together. It was also the first time that my uncle and one of my cousins had ever met the boys...what an event!

The Nichols didn't get there until later in the evening, so we had a chance to spend a quiet afternoon with my grandparents. It was much more relaxing than I expected it to be, seeing as how it was the boys' first time to their great grandparent's house, and I was so thankful to have the chance to enjoy that family time in the house I grew up celebrating Christmas in. After losing Nathan's grandma this year, I have been reminded of just how blessed we are that my dad's parents are still so healthy.

We didn't leave Welches until almost 10 pm, not arriving home until after 11:00. The boys slept the entire way home, and were back asleep within about 5 min of crawling into bed. I wasn't far behind. My parents arrived at our house at around 7:30 am, wanting to be there to do stockings when the boys woke up...the boys, on the other hand, slept until almost 8:30. We didn't complain, since this allowed us to get the coffee flowing through our veins after the previous late night.

After stockings and some presents, we had a relaxed breakfast, finished opening presents, played for a little bit, had lunch, and all laid down for a nap. Now THAT is how you do Christmas, lol! Nathan's dad got to our house and commenced cooking the prime rib he brought. Wow, does that man spoil us, it was delicious! The evening was filled with good food, good wine, and great company. It was so laid bck, with absolutely no stress to be had. Once again, we were reminded of exactly how blessed we have been.

I leave you now with some photos and many wishes for blessings upon your family in the coming year!

The Labunski family at the Janzen Tree Farm, getting our Christmas Tree. The farm is owned by friends of ours from church, and is a great place!

Nathan wearing the Dino Tail that Auntie Kate made for the boys for Christmas. This may or may not have been after a large glass of bourbon stout.

Bath time for all three cousins!

Bedtime story after opening presents with Auntie Kate, Uncle Eliot, and Cousin James.

Date night at Hair of the Dog brewery in Portland.

Hair of the Dog tasting flight....mmmmmm.

Tasting flight at Lucky Lab brewery.

Amazing food at Russell St BBQ. Best pulled pork sandwich I've EVER had!

Mt. Hood on the drive up to Great Nana and Grandpa Morgan's house.

The boys showing off their goodies from "Aunt" Kathy. They made out like bandits!

The annual Christmas Day photo of Papa napping with his mouth open!

I love my boys! On Christmas night.

Future OSU football stars. Go Beavs! (Levi left, Asher right)

Gearing Up for Advent

2011-11-28T05:00:00.001-08:00

For the past few years now, I've found myself less able to answer the question of, "What do you want for Christmas?" Sure, there are always those dream items that we really can't afford (new laptop, dress form, serger, etc) but I'm taking more joy out of giving gifts than receiving these day. I guess that's why the Advent Conspiracy really spoke to me this year. Our church has played videos from this movement for the past two years, but this is the first year that it truly resonated with me. For those of you who haven't heard about the Advent Conspiracy, here's the video our church showed this year. It's by far my favorite one.

In that spirit, Nathan and I decided that we are going to cut back on the gift buying, the stress, the consumerism...we have decided that we want to raise our sons to know the TRUE meaning of CHRISTmas. Not saying my parents did anything wrong in raising me, but seeing as how we weren't Christians for a majority of my childhood, Christ was pretty well absent from the celebration of his birth. Christmas was all about the tree, the cookies, and the presents...lots and lots of presents. Looking back, I can honestly say that there weren't many Christmas mornings that I would look at the pile of gifts surrounding me and feel satisfied. Even then, I think I knew that something was missing.

I don't want my sons to feel that way, ever. I want them to great each Advent season in the humble knowledge that Christ left Heaven and his Father to be born in such a humble way, knowing full well the pain and scorn he would have to endure for our sakes. I want them to know that they've already received the best gift possible, and that everything else pales in comparison.

With that in mind, I set out to create a new family Advent Calendar. Nathan got me a Silhouette SD machine for my birthday this year, and I have already used the heck out of it. Using that, I put together and decorated the below calendar.

I had so much fun putting it together. I feel like kind of a fraud, talking about wanting to avoid the consumerism and yet here I am gushing about my Silhouette. But really, it's AWESOME! I've used it for a ton of different kinds projects and the level of intricacy it can manage is amazing. Even Nathan was impressed.

Anyway, I wanted to make this new Advent calendar all about family and giving. Each day would have an activity we will do as a family. Some of them will be things around the house, others will get us out of the house and giving back to the community. With help from Nathan, friends, family, and several different blogs, we put together the below list of activities. Feel free to steal ideas if you want, I quite obviously don't have the copyright on this idea. ;-)

1st- Send Operation Christmas Child shoe box
2nd - Make scrabble
3rd - Decorate house
4th - Put up lights on outside of house
5th - Make paper snowflakes
6th - Write letter to soldier
7th - Buy gift for Angel Tree
8th - Get new Christmas CD
9th - Get Christmas tree from Janzen farm
10th - Decorate Christmas tree
11th - Make cookies
12th - Sponsor World Vision child
13th - Buy toy for Sheriff's Office toy drive
14th - Go to small group Christmas Party
15th - Have pancakes for dinner (in shape of Christmas trees!)
16th - Make salt dough thumb print ornaments
17th - Take box of needed items to Ronald McDonald house, then to Mt. Hood to visit Nana & Grandpa and go sledding
18th - Have dinner with Gigi & Papa
19th - Have big breakfast as a family
20th - Make hot cocoa with all the fixings
21st - Make special gift for Daddy
22nd - Get cocoa at Dutch Bros and go on a Christmas light drive
23rd - Read the Christmas story
24th - Have a Christmas movie party in new PJ's
25th - Go to Christmas service, then celebrate Christmas Day with the family!

We're pretty darn excited about this list, and I'm actually looking forward to this Christmas season for a change. I have a lot of my Christmas presents make, with just a few more to go. My goal is to get them all done by the end of the first week of December, so that I have the rest of the Advent to focus on family.

Book Page Chrysanthemum Tutorial

2011-10-07T09:16:00.000-07:00

I'm kind of obsessed with mums right now. Not all types, mostly the really delicate, thin-petaled ones. This was brought on by the absolutely beautiful mum in the bouquet my mom brought to our house from a dinner they went to. It's been sitting on our dining room table for the last couple of weeks, and I absolutely love it.

I couldn't find a single tutorial for a paper mum, no matter how long I looked. So I decided it was time to just wing it, using several techniques from various other paper flower tutorials I've followed in the past. After posting a picture of my first finished product on Facebook, it was recommended that I write my own tutorial...so here we go! I'll be using book pages from the hardback book I made into a purse a few days ago, because, honestly, who doesn't love book pages?!

First, cut out the pages of the book using an razor. If you press hard enough, you can get through several pages at once. I cut out 10 pages.

Using a round object, trace a circle on each page. I used one of those small pyrex bowls, which then served double duty to hold my mod-podge for the next step. Cut out ten circles.

Using a foam brush, apply two layers of mod-podge on each side of each circle. Apply one layer to one side, allow to dry long enough that it isn't tacky anymore, apply a layer to the other side, and allow to dry enough that it won't stick to your work surface. Repeat on each side, for all ten circles. I allowed them to dry overnight, but a couple of hours would probably suffice.

Cut each layer into increasingly smaller circles, making each one about 1/4" smaller than the one before it. To make it super easy, I traced the circle I just cut onto one of the original-size circles, then cut just inside that line. Repeat for all 10 circles.

Next, you're going to cut each circle into a type of fringe (aka petals). Make sure not to cut in too far, or you will cut some of the fringe off. And definitely don't cut all the way through your circle...that would be sad.

To make the previous step easier, I folded the circle in half, gently creasing each end to mark the mid-points. I then cut up the line of each crease, approximately 1/2" from the center. Repeat so that you have cut the circle into quarters. Use those lines to guide the cuts you make to create the petals. Keep in mind that you don't have to make them perfect. Not being precise about it makes it look more natural.

Go around and round off the edges of each petal. Again, doesn't have to be perfect. The sharper the scissors, the easier all of these cutting steps will be.

Pinching each petal between the pad of your pointer finger and your thumb nail, gently curl the petal upward. This is basically the same technique as when you curl ribbon with scissors, using your thumb nail as the "sharp" object. Don't pull or pinch too hard, or your curl will be too tight and/or you'll rip the petal off.

The finished circle should look like this. Repeat for each layer. If you've cut your circles correctly, the layers should nestle nicely. Place a small amount of hot glue in the center of each layer, then place the next layer on top, until all of your layers are assembled.

And here's your finished product!

At this point, you can play with how the various petals are laying to make it look more life-like. If you look at a real mum, the petals in the inner layers are really tight together, then they get further apart and slightly messier as you move out, until they get downright lazy on the outer layer. The first mum I made was using cardstock with only one layer of mod-podge, which worked just fine. The book paper, however, requires more layers of mod-podge to make it moldable because it's thinner.

Have fun and be creative!

Who Doesn't Love A Good Deal?

2011-09-04T08:53:00.000-07:00

There's this website. It's called Pinterest. And it's A-MA-ZING!!!

Think of it as a bunch of cork boards that you can designate for different categories: decor ideas, craft tutorials, clothing tutorials, printables, etc. Pretty much anything that inspires you. You then take a picture of that thing, and "pin" it to that board. Only, these boards are all virtual, and the photos that you pin to them will take you directly to the original website that you found it at.

The reason I love it so much is because I am constantly searching through craft and decorating ideas, looking for inspiration, and I've been in search of a good way to keep all the things I someday want to do in one place. And the price is sure right...totally, 100% free!

Here's my home Pinterest page, with all my boards (so far).

Doesn't it must make you giddy with organized-ness? Ok, maybe that's just me.

On a different, but related subject, I recently had the chance to return to my favorite Goodwill in Forest Grove. Many hours were spent searching for treasures in that particular Goodwill while I was in college, and no other Goodwill store has ever measured up.

Well, on Friday, I met Aunt Diane in Forest Grove to join her on the trek to Tillamook to pick up her new puppy from the breeder. Little Miss Roxie is absolutely divine, with such a sweet temperament; I'm so glad Aunt Diane now has her in her life! When we got back to the Grove, I took the opportunity to check out both the Restore and Goodwill in Forest Grove, hoping to find some treasures needed for projects I currently have pinned on my boards. Boy, did I make out like a bandit!

First, at Restore, I found a great side table for only $5! Right now, it's a dark green with a lot of scratches and stuff. But soon, all those scratches will be sanded out, and it will be refinished with a distressed white. Here's the table, pre-refinish (cause I haven't finished the darn thing yet!).

I also found a milk vase - you know, one of those old fashioned white glass vases - for only $0.99. I had been looking for one that didn't scream "way too out of date", to be used in the below tutorial.

Source: julieannart.com via Lindy on Pinterest

This is my version: vase from Goodwill, stick from the tree in our backyard, yarn from my sizable stash. Total cost: $0.99

There are three other projects (besides refinishing the table) that I have most of the supplies for, which I got at Goodwill for under $8. I will post those as I finish them. Gotta love decorating on a budget!!! I'm so excited about getting our living room all painted and decorated, I think it's soon going to be my favorite room. I'm drawing all of my inspiration for the colors from a great painting I found on sale at Fred Meyer's a few weeks ago. I absolutely love the style and colors, and I think it's going to make a great centerpiece for the room!

Oh the joys of finally being in a house that we (believe) will be in for years to come, and can decorate however we see fit, because WE OWN IT!

Warning! VERY VERY long photo post!

2011-09-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

Levi (left) & Asher enjoying their wagon in the backyard...our grass isn't that green anymore.

Newberg ladder truck helping control the Burn to Learn.

Three generations of Labunski men!

The boys fishing with Daddy and Papa for the first time.

Gigi helping Levi fish.

Lazy morning in the Labunski household.

My first fondant cake for Fourth of July.

Levi rockin' the sunglasses.

Levi with his new baseball glove.

Asher with his new baseball glove.

As a reference, the fireplace before.

After Nathan pulled off all the nasty fake rock facade.

Nathan and his dad after pulling out the fireplace.

The hole in the wall, where the fireplace and some really pieced-together drywall use to be.

The filled hole, just waiting for taping, mudding, texturing, and painting.

The tv mounted on the wall after Nathan and his dad got all the wiring done.

Levi at the Air Museum playground.

Asher.

The barn just down the road from the house I grew up in.

Elkhorn Mountains from the Interpretive Center, after my mostly uphill 5k.

Our house with the beautiful rhododendrons out front.

Sweet Baby James on his first birthday!

Luminaria at Relay for Life for Marla and Uncle Denny.

Enjoying the fountains at Discovery Meadows park.

Chowing down on hamburgers on the patio.

Asher (left) and Levi with their new tape measures.

Boys' first sparklers on Fourth of July.

Levi's first Dilly Bar.

Asher's first Dilly Bar.

On the beach at Arch Cape with Papa and Gigi.

Playing in the sand.

Dancing with Gigi & Papa to the live band at the potluck we went to at Arch Cape.

Entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park (if you couldn't tell).

Ok, I promise I'm done.

Mt. Rainier 2011

2011-09-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

Would you believe that, for all the traveling and camping I did growing up, I have never ever been to Mt. Rainier? Well, I haven't. Nathan, on the other hand, grew up camping there. So I had no idea what all the hype was about when Nathan's mom, sister, and aunt would talk about Mt. Rainier in such glowing terms.

Thankfully, Nathan's Aunt Diane fixed that problem. She sent out an email a couple months ago asking if anyone would like to join her for a few days at her two tent camp site. I somehow managed to get the days off, and we headed up there on Tuesday afternoon to join her, Nathan's mom, Kate, Eliot & Sweet Baby James for a couple of days. We arrived just in time to provide a spaghetti dinner for everyone, and then enjoy some s'mores, courtesy of Kate & Eliot.

I had to admit, I was a little nervous about taking the boys tent camping for the first time, but I think their couple of trips in the camper with Gigi and Papa helped prepare them. They did great! They were pretty good about keeping themselves entertained during the times that we were busy making meals and such, and had no problem falling asleep (and staying asleep) in the tent that night. This, in and of itself, was a minor miracle, because it was SOOOOOO COLD that night!!! Of course, the boys were probably toasty warm, because they ended up with the mummy bags that are rated for 0 degrees, while Nathan and I had some thin flannel sleeping bags and froze our butts off all night!

The next morning, we had a leisurely breakfast of blueberry pancakes with Aunt Diane and just kind of hung around until Kate & Eliot showed up to say goodbye. We then joined Jan up at Paradise Inn, had some lunch (highway robbery, I tell you...$25 for two bbq shredded pork sandwiches, four small bags of chips, and one soda!!!), then took the boys on a hike to Myrtle falls. At 1 mile round trip, it was the shortest hike from the Inn, and was absolutely beautiful.

The boys did a great job, we only carried them for the last .2 miles on the way up. Unfortunately, it was cloudy the entire time so we never really got to see the mountain itself, but the wild flowers were out and absolutely beautiful, and the views were breathtaking.

After hiking a mile and a game of "chase Aunt Diane" at the Visitor's Center, the boys crashed for a fantastically long nap in the tent before dinner. They were sleeping so hard, that Levi stayed asleep through us waking up Asher, Asher crying while we changed him, and then us packing up a bunch of the stuff in the tent. He was SO ticked when we finally woke him up, ha ha ha!

Because of how cold it had been the night before and then all of Wednesday, we all decided to cut the trip short a day and head home that night after dinner. We enjoyed some tacos made by Diane, packed up our ridiculous amount of packing stuff, and finally hit the road around 7 pm. The mountain made a surprise appearance at the last possible moment, just after we turned onto Hwy 7, and it was so beautiful! We were on track to get home around 10:30, but somehow managed to hit some major construction on Hwy 205 just outside of Portland, and ended up not getting home until around 11:30...man, that pissed the boys off! But wow did our hot showers and warm, soft bed feel good!

All in all, I'd say our first camping trip with the boys was a total success, and I can't wait to do it again! Maybe next time the mountain will actually be visible, lol! And now, some photos!

Levi (left) & Asher enjoying their first ever pita pocket sandwich, a Morgan family camping staple.

The boys and Aunt Diane in the 'kitchen', with the HUGE tent we were in. Thanks for the loan, Mom!

Diane's tent in the other half of the camp site.

Not sure what Levi is doing here...maybe telling Daddy that it's time to go on our hike, already!

See those clouds? That's where the mountain is, I swear!

Looking toward Paradise Inn from the Visitor's Center.

The top of the 1 mile round trip hike. We were at 5600 feet and it was about 45 degrees. But so pretty!

Top of Myrtle Falls.

The creek above the falls, looking toward where the mountain would be if it weren't covered by clouds.

Daddy and Levi on the bridge.

Levi (left) and Asher in front of the creek.

Myrtle Falls.

Daddy and the boys on the hike back down to the Inn.

Magenta Indian Paint Brush...this has always been my favorite wild flower.

The End!

Howdy...it's been a while. Sorry 'bout that!

2011-09-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

I'm fully aware that I haven't posted since April. Life has just been that lately. We've been settling into our house, doing gradual updates, traveling, celebrating anniversaries, growing twins (the ones we already have, not another pair, thank goodness!), working graveyard, and generally enjoying life!

Not much of note happened in May, that I can remember, besides a training for work which found me watching some of the local fire departments burn down a house. That was pretty entertaining, to say the least! Oh, and my parents finally got home from Mexico!!! Woohoo! They threw the boat (ok, fine, they gently placed the boat) onto a large ship and had it shipped from Mexico to Vancouver Island. They would then spend the next two months, a couple of days at a time, moving the boat down to Astoria where it now has a permanent berth! No more disappearing to Mexico for months at a time, we're thrilled!

The beginning of June was kicked off by a trip to Baker for Nathan and I to celebrate our 5th anniversary, while my parents watched the boys for the weekend. We had a great time! We stayed in the Prospector Inn, a little B&B type thing right in downtown Baker...it made it super easy to just walk home from Barley Brown's brew pub, were you could find us each night. The first night, we met up with some of our old Homebrew club and just chewed the fat for a few hours; I had forgotten just how much fun those people are, and how much I miss them! We also got to meet the new master brewer for the new brewery that is opening in Baker...and we then proceeded to see him pretty much everywhere we went for the rest of the weekend! He ran the 5k I ran at the Interpretive Center, and then at the Main Event where we went to shoot some pool on our last night. It was pretty funny.

Also in June, Nathan's sister's husband Eliot graduated with his PhD in Ethnomusicology from University of Oregon. We now have three doctors in the family; my dad, Nathan's Aunt Diane, and Uncle Eliot! Woohoo! Our adorable nephew James also turned one, so we no longer have any babies in the family. When is that niece I ordered going to show up, Kate?! At the end of the month, I joined a few friends at the Hillsboro Relay for Life...I managed to walk 9 miles, and was rewarded with about three huge blisters. Did you know that running shoes are not the same as walking shoes? 'Cause I sure didn't!

Nathan was a darlin' and let me join my parents in Hermiston for 4th of July weekend, which gave me the chance to see my Uncle Denny for the first time in a few years. He's not technically my uncle, but he was there at the hospital the day after I was born, and has been an important person in my life ever since. Unfortunately, he has been battling prostate cancer for a year now; after several rounds of both radiation and chemo, he has decided to to into hospice. In fact, Nathan literally just called to tell me that Dad got a call saying that Uncle Denny is losing his brain and liver function. So please be praying for both Denny's family, and my dad who is losing one of his best friends. Needless to say, the chance to spend time with him was invaluable to me. I also took the opportunity to make my first fondant cake, in practice for the cake I'm going to make for the boys' birthday.

A couple of weekends later, my parents took the boys again while Nathan and I headed to Seattle for a Mariner's game with Nathan's dad, as well as the wedding of one of our college friends, Denise. We had a blast seeing a lot of people we haven't seen since college graduation. Good times were had by all! The weekend before that, I got to go into Portland to meet all the girls for Denise's bachelorette party...we descended upon Darcelle's en mass, and went a little crazy...but in a good way!

August seemed to slow down just a little bit, in terms of travel. The first week was filled with a friend's baby's first birthday, having dinner with some friends on the Rooftop bar followed by seeing the Guess Who at the Yamhill County fair, then heading up to Hillsboro the next night for another friend's surprise birthday at Big Al's Sports bar. If you haven't been there, it's INSANE!!! Not only does it have a great restaurant with absolutely HUGE flat screen tv's (we were watching 9 different baseball games at the same time), it also has a full arcade and TWO full bowling alleys...all under the same roof!!!

Later in the month, we began extricating the fireplace from our living room. Nathan had ripped all of the face stone facing off of it, then pulled the darn thing apart in order to clean it before we started putting up the tile and wood mantle. Unfortunately, during that process, we discovered the stupid thing was 100% non-operational. We're talking major fire hazard here, folks. So Nathan's dad came down, my parents took the boys overnight for a fishing trip, and we proceeded to pull the entire thing out. Ok, technically, Nathan and his dad pulled it out...I spent the day organizing and cleaning out the garage and attic. That involved three trips to Goodwill and way too much garbage to fit in our garbage can. Nathan and Dad managed to get the entire thing out, including the chimney, and got a new wall put up. Sounds simple when you put it into one sentence, but I'm going to do a post of just photos from the last few months, and you'll see how intense this was!

Last weekend, Nathan's dad came back down and helped Nathan do some intense wiring throughout the house. They put the necessary wiring (both electrical and ethernet) needed to mount our tv and game consoles on the wall, put two more outlets and ethernet out in the garage for our router, and installed two more switches in our breaker box. Yes, I'm aware that may not all be the correct lingo, but you get the point. Meanwhile, I threw the boys in the car and drove to Arch Cape, where we joined my parents at a friend's cabin. The weather was absolutely perfect, the beach was beautiful, and the company was a ton of fun. We even got to go to a neighbor's potluck, complete with a live band. It was a long drive home that night, but totally worth it.

Last night we got back from Mt. Rainier. But that's a whole post in and of itself. So stay tuned!

Other than that, the boys are continuing to grow and change. Every day brings new challenges and joys. They turn three this month and...well...you know how people always joke about the "terrible two's"? Gotta say, I think the three's is going to make the two's look mild. Not saying that the boys are terrible or anything, they're just...boys. And there's two of them! They have SO much energy, they're so curious, that you can't sit down longer than about 2 minutes before they need to you get them something, get them out of something, or provide them with a new source of entertainment. But I love them so much. I love seeing the world through their eyes and watching them discover new things. I love seeing them increase their communication and learn to express themselves more and more each day. I love watching them be brothers together. They're pretty much the best. Ever.

Easter egg hunt

2011-04-24T21:46:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures from our little Easter egg hunt in the back yard. The boys had a great time.

Nathan

New Sanbox

2011-04-12T13:33:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone this is Nathan posting.
I picked up a sand box for the boys today. Yes, that is green sand. Crayola makes colored sand for sandboxes. Pretty cool stuff. The boys love their turtle sandbox. They spent the whole morning playing in it and probably will play more after nap time.

Ouch

2011-04-01T22:43:00.001-07:00

I honestly didn't expect painting our living room to be such an ordeal. Or so physically painful. But I got it all done in one day, with only one coat on one wall left by the time Nathan and the boys got back from visiting Aunt Kate and Cousin James in Springfield.

The most time consuming part was most definitely the prep work. Did you know they use a lot of glue to attach vinyl baseboard to the walls? And that the glue hardens into long strips of cement? Which then requires the application of a spackle knife to remove, taking pieces of the drywall with it? Which then requires a coat of spackle and two coats of primer? All before even touching the paint? Well, they do. And it does.

A few weeks ago, Nathan discovered that the scary wood paneling on our living room wall was only attached with nails to the full drywall behind it. It was a fairly simple endeavor to pull those pieces of wood off the drywall and then mud in the holes. Here's the before picture, just to remind you of the horror that was 1970's decorating. I look at this photo and hear the Psycho theme.

The paneling single handedly managed to make the room look dark, small, and dated. Even the unfinished drywall was an improvement. I prefer, however, to not feel like I'm living in a construction zone, if at all possible.

After about 4 hours of prep work, which included two coats of primer on the fireplace wall, I was finally ready to start actually painting. For the other three walls, we stuck to a light tan that had just a bit more yellow than the current tan, warming the room nicely. Since the room is pretty small, we wanted to keep all the colors pretty light. I finished one wall, got one coat on the other two walls, took a Dutch Bros break, put the 2nd coat on the two side walls, and finally got to tackle the accent wall (aka the fireplace wall).

Nathan and the boys got home right as I finished the first coat and had started cleaning up, to allow the first coat to dry. Nathan got the boys to bed and then made a beer run while I finished the last coat. Then it was clean up, shower time, and now beer time.

I like beer time.

Here's the finished result. Sorry it's not the greatest photo, it's kind of hard to get a good one when there's no ceiling light in the room and it's dark outside.

I must say, the fireplace is much more bearable now that it's not surrounded by dark wood. Nathan's very thankful that I won't be hounding him to tear the darn thing apart and tile it anytime soon.

The color combo makes me feel so peaceful. Not a bad thing when you have twin toddlers running around every day!

Speaking of toddlers...

The boys continue to grow grow grow. It's so much fun watching them pick up new words and see their deductive reasoning increase. I love that I can ask them to take off their shoes and put them away, and they'll take them off, line them up with the shoes on the correct sides, carry them to the closet, open the door, put them in the shoe basket, and close the door.

Unfortunately, cold season has really worked a number on the poor kids' ears. They both had ear infections a couple of weeks ago, were put on amoxicillin, and then we found out yesterday that Asher still had pretty major infections in both ears. No wonder the kid was so cranky all the time!!! The infection was so bad that his ear drum(s) actually burst this morning. So now not only is he on a more powerful antibiotic, but he's also getting ear drops twice a day for a week.

It sounded like they had a grand time at Aunt Kate's today, though. Here's a photo of them playing in the big sand pit at a park in Springfield, and a video of Levi playing with one of Cousin James' toys. Pretty hilarious.

Cutest kid EVER. Just try to disagree with me.

Ok, I'm going to take my tired, achy body back to bed, drink my beer, and watch some Desperate Housewives on Netflix before passing out.

Night all!

Boys at the park

2011-03-25T16:31:00.001-07:00

This is Nathan again with another round of photos. These were taken today at the park down the road.

Photos of the boys day

2011-03-21T18:59:00.001-07:00

This is Nathan posting a few photos of the boys from today. Enjoy!
P.S. for videos please look at my Facebook page.

Can I Get a Witness?

2011-03-06T07:17:00.000-08:00

We got the keys. We packed (about half the house) into boxes. We (I) stressed, cried, yelled, laughed, and generally lost our (my) minds.

We moved.

Last night was our first night in our new home...I don't know about Nathan, but I slept like a baby. Granted, that could have something to do with starting at 7 am and going non-stop until about 11 pm.

The whole process leading up to moving day was incredibly stressful for me, made more so by the Women's Retreat I went to last weekend. Oh, and the fact that, for said retreat, I had volunteered to head up making homemade welcome gifts, teach a craft class, AND sing in the worship band. Before you start doubting my sanity, I signed up for these things before I had any clue we would be buying a house in the same month! And each of those things individually brought me incredible joy. Unfortunately, all those things together made me want to crawl under a rock and not come out for a few months. Honestly, if I had to give up one thing, it probably would be the welcome gifts aspect...but at the same time, I feel like God uniquely gifted me to be able to fill that position. Ah well, I have a year to ruminate on that.

Women's Retreat itself was one big blessing bundled up in 50+ women and three days. First, let me say that the whole idea of a women's retreat use to make my very skin crawl...three days stuck in one place with a passel load of hormonal women...eek! But last year, the women of my church proved that thought process wrong. And this year, they thoroughly debunked it, delighting and astounding me at every turn. I've never felt more loved, or less judged. And my cabin mates were awesome...it was like a great sleep over both nights. I look forward to deepening the relationships started or continued last weekend.

All that to say that I didn't get nearly as much packing/sorting/organizing done in the month leading up to the move as I would have liked. In fact, I'd say a pretty decent chunk of the house wasn't packed when moving day came around. (Sigh.) I fail.

At 9 am yesterday, 11 of our friends and family descended upon our house. For some reason, we decided it would be a GREAT idea to have the Comcast guy show up at the new house only an hour before everyone was set to arrive, so I ended up hanging out in the new house with an incredibly creepy tech (he kept clearing his throat like he was about to hock a loogie and was kind of twitchy) while Nathan got the crew started on the house. Within about 45 minutes, Nathan came to switch places with me and I got back to find an almost full uHaul and a mostly empty rental. The only rooms with things left in them were our bedroom and the garage. WOW! I was thoroughly astounded.

We managed to get the entire house moved in less than four hours. I was able get the rental all cleaned up, and was heading back to the house before 5 pm, at which point I got the boys up from their super long nap (they were exhausted) and got them fed while Nathan puttered around the house a little bit. Finally, it was bedtime for the boys and the real work could begin in earnest. Somehow, we managed to get the living room, second bathroom, the boys' bedroom and our bedroom unpacked and in working order. Just don't open the doors to the guest room or garage, ok? I worked until about 11 pm, at which point I finally got a shower - bliss - and curled up in bed to watch a movie and rest my aching feet.

So how does that relate to my post title? While the whole moving process yesterday was pretty incredible, what will stick with me for years to come is the way that the love of our church family effected our neighbors. We've had kind of a rocky relationship with these neighbors from the beginning...one month everything is hunky dory, the next month they're mad at us for some reason or another. We've always tried to be kind and fair to them, but the mom, I must admit, is a bit of a handful and takes offense very very very easily.

But yesterday, after seeing how our adopted family rallied around us, swept in, and worked so well together while showing us such incredible love, she told Nathan that she thinks they're going to start coming to Creekside (our church). They've been going to a church in Wilsonville, but have been lacking anything resembling the kind of community she saw acted out right in front of her. They'd been considering coming to our church for a while now - there are four family that to go our church on our block alone - but according to her, yesterday pretty much sealed the deal.

Our pastor is constantly telling us that our lives need to live out the love of Jesus, so that we are witnessing not through our words, but through our actions. I know this is not a new concept...St. Francis of Assisi has been quoted as saying, "Preach the Gospel always, and when necessary use words." There's some debate over whether he actually is the one who said that, but I still like the sentiment.

I guess it kind of took me by surprise that the actions of our family, both blood and church, had such a huge impact on our neighbors...the love and care of these people have just become such an integral part of our lives that I sometimes forget that it's a rare thing. I'm so thankful that we have these people in our lives, and that they care enough about us to devote hours of work and sweat to making our move easier.

I promise I'll post photos of the new place soon...you know, once the amount of boxes diminishes a bit. Half our garage is currently taken up by a pile of items going into a garage sale next weekend...yay for getting rid of stuff!!!

The boys are adjusting pretty well to moving, all things considered. They are LOVING having their room on the same floor as everything else, so they can actually play in there throughout the day. They're currently closed in there, happily playing with their massive amounts of toys, and completely oblivious to the rest of the world...such a nice change from their desire to always be watching tv. They had a little bit of a rough patch yesterday evening when they woke up from their nap in a new room, but they were perfectly fine this morning. Unfortunately, they decided 6:30 am would be the great time to wake up. Hopefully that doesn't become a daily occurrence.

Ok, I think I'm going to go laze on the couch until it's time to get ready for church. Hope your weekend was as wonderful and productive as ours was!

A Big Move

2011-01-29T23:02:00.001-08:00

We're doing it. We're biting the bullet. We're moving. Buying a house. Eeek!

Don't panic, McMinnville friends. We're only moving a few miles down the road.

But first things, first. In only three days, I will officially be done with my 18 month long probationary period at work. And holy moly, will that be a RELIEF!!!! I know I've shared a little bit on here about how rough the last year and a half has been, but I haven't gone into great detail simply because...well...the sheriff's department asked for this website while doing my background checks and the last thing I want is for the Sheriff to be reading my complaints in excruciating detail. "Dear The Sheriff...". Ha ha. Right. Suffice it to say that I wouldn't go back and relive the last year of my life for a million dollars. Heck, I wouldn't even do it for $100 million dollars. No way, no how.

That being said, I love my job now. Seriously. I really enjoy the people I work with, I get a great deal of satisfaction out of the job itself, and I love that no two days are the same. For the first time, I can see myself staying here for a long time.

But the best part was when I called my boss the other day and basically asked her, point blank, whether it would be safe for me to sign papers for a house...after all, the last thing that I need is to sign papers and then have the rug pulled out from under me only 6 days before going off probation. But she reassured me that I have nothing to worry about, that everyone loves me (direct quote from her) and that I've settled in very well. I know that may not sound like much but...after the last year and a half, it's huge. Huge. H.U.G.E.

Now, on to the really fun stuff!

We've been scanning the house market in Yamhill County for about a year now, just keeping an eye on prices and the type of houses available. I have to admit, we were getting pretty discouraged. Everything in our price range was either old and beat up or new and tiiiiiiiiny. What's with newer construction houses these days, trying to put three bedrooms in the same square footage that they used to put two bedrooms in? Yeesh. Not only that, but most houses on the market right now are short sale...the process of buying a short sale house is anything but short. It's long. And frustrating.

But then we stumbled back across a house that had been on the market for over a year. We had seen it several times, but each time we were scared away by a really creepy photo of the white stone fireplace taken through a cracked lens. But this time, when Nathan pulled it up, the description detailed several updates that had been done and showed that the taxes were exempt. That was enough to spark our interest, so we called our real estate agent (who is worth her weight in gold) to see what that meant.

Turns out, the house is currently owned by the Yamhill County Housing Authority, which means that they haven't had to pay property taxes to, you know, themselves. This is a big deal because when they put it back on the market after an offer that went pending in June, they had to adjust the taxes for the current market rather than the inflated market. This translates into taxes around $1500/year instead of $2200/year. That makes a huge difference in monthly payments. Meaning we can afford a slightly more expensive house than we could have otherwise.

Without further ado, meet our potential new house:

I LOOOOOOOOOOVE it! Built in 1979, 3 bedroom 2 bath, it's in amazing condition. Since last fall, the sellers painted inside and out, replaced the counter tops, installed a new HVAC system with a heat pump for both heating and cooling, put new insulation in the attic and under the floor, had the electrical system inspected, installed a new bathtub in the second bathroom. The bedrooms are all a good size and the backyard is gigantic. Lots of room for a garden, running boys, and possibly a play structure.

The really exciting part is that it's 100% move-in ready. We can get settled in and not have to do a single thing to it. But it also has a ton of room for us to make it into our dream house through simple cosmetic updates. We already have a list of things we would love to do to the place, gradually. And that makes me excited. I loved all the changes we made to Marla's house, how we made it our own. Unfortunately, that was very rushed. You know. We had twin babies on the way. Rushed. This time, we can take it slow and enjoy the process.

At this point, our closing date is set for March 2nd. Our inspection is this coming Monday, I meet with our mortgage broker on Tuesday to get some final paperwork done, then we schedule the assessment. After months of beating our head against the house hunting wall, this is going so smoothly that it can only be a God thing.

I love God things.

The Blessings of 2010

2011-01-06T15:11:00.001-08:00

The end of 2010 was a little bit of a rough one, health-wise. We're still all battling the last bit of it, but I think we're on the mend. Hopefully this means I can finally get my house under control...you know, get the Christmas decorations put away and 6+ loads of clean laundry folded, ha ha ha! The good news is that I'm now on a new schedule working four 10 hour shifts, which means I get a 3 day weekend, every weekend, ON the weekend! WOOHOO!

But the main drive behind this post is to reflect on the many many blessings we've experienced in the past year. Looking back, I can clearly see God's hand on our lives in our move to McMinnville and I will be forever grateful to Him for bringing us here. Some of these things I'll be writing about happened in the last half of 2009, but it all is part of the journey.

When I first found out I was losing my job in Baker, I was so very angry. We had just finished remodeling our house, we had two newborns, and we had expected to be in Baker for a very long time. The last thing I wanted to do was move back to the Valley, but this is where the jobs were. God took all choices but one completely out of our hands; the only choice we had was to trust that He would take care of us. We had no control over whether our house would sell, whether one of us would get a job before running out of income and insurance. It was a scary place to be in, but also very liberating because, as I said before, we had no choice but to trust that God had a better plan than anything we could dream of.

Each time I began to lose hope, God would provide in the nick of time. It was like He was knocking on my heart and asking, "Do you trust me yet?" Somehow, He provided a buyer for our house only two days after it went on the market. He provided a job offer only two weeks before my job in Baker ended. It wasn't my first choice, but there wasn't likely to be another offer for at least 4 more months as the hiring process for dispatchers usually takes 6-12 months (no lie). So...to McMinnville we went.

I know for sure that God had a hand in the rental we chose. Not so much for the rental itself, but for the people who became our neighbors and then our family. As we were moving our things inside, my ever-friendly father introduced himself to the young family across the street. This family later invited us to their church, Creekside, which is now our home church. They also invited us to join the small group that meets at their house.

Ever since I became a Christian, I've been searching for a church that lives out the love that Jesus personified. Too many times, I've gone to a church only to be disappointed by the lack of spirit, the lack of love for each other. This church is so alive, so loving, so...unpretentious. The other up side is that there are SO many young families, something which we were lacking in Baker. I can't even tell you how at home we feel in this church. And the pastor is such a wonderful teacher, willing to tackle the hard or uncomfortable issues as we move through each book of the bible verse by verse, rather than skipping around and pulling out verses to serve his purposes each week. It's a breath of fresh air.

Then there's our small group. What a bunch of crazies! No, really, if you saw the video I posted on Facebook from our Christmas party, you'll know I'm not lying. But they're our family. I know that if Nathan and I ever have a need, these people will be here to hold us up. I went from being an only child to having a dozen brothers and sisters, and even a couple extra parents, ha ha. I can only pray that others will find this sort of a group to walk with each day.

After we had been here a while, I tried getting involved in the Young Life club here in Mac. I had missed being involved in YL, and felt a hole where that ministry had been. Yet nothing seemed to fit. Let's face it, when you come from a group of leaders like the ones in Baker, it's hard act to follow...and I felt anything but welcomed by the group here. On top of that, my schedule always seemed to conflict with any meeting times, club times, etc. And then the other day I came to a realization.

The hole left in my life (emotionally, mentally, and time-wise) by Young Life has allowed other holes to be filled. Since graduating from college, I've felt a very keen lack of female companionship. Part of this I attribute to the fact that there just weren't many women my age in Baker, another part to the fact that I was unsure of where I fit...new mom, recent college grad, wife, etc. I never felt like I had found a place I belonged with the women of our church in Baker. Now, however, I am surrounded by women I love very much, am involved in the planning of our Women's Retreat coming up in February, and while I have yet to find anything coming close to the friendship I have with my high school best friend...I am content.

I guess that's the theme of this entire last year; finding contentment. Not complacency, not a lack of excitement for what the future may hold, but rather a joy and happiness in where I am right this moment.

I have a wonderful, amazing husband who stays home to raise our two boys, allowing them to grow up in a loving and stable home rather than being brought up at day care by someone we barely know. He then willingly lets me take time for myself after I get home, rarely complaining or demanding the same for himself.

I have two beautiful sons who give meaning to my life and light up my day with a simple smile. They show me Christ's love for me, because I now know what it means to be completely willing to give up my life for someone. It's a powerful thing.

My parents live only 20 minutes away (at least, for 8 months out of the year), and Nathan and I enjoy a close relationship with them. I get to watch my boys grow up knowing their grandparents and I'm enjoying having them constantly around for the first time since I graduated from high school. They go to the same church we do, and I can't even express how much that means to me.

Nathan's parents, grandparents, and sister's family all live within two hours of us. After two and a half years of living clear across the state from everyone, having them all so close is a huge blessing. Hopefully that continues, so please be praying that our brother in law, Eliot, is able to find a job with a university in the area!

Nathan asked me once, during a particularly difficult time last year, what I would do if it never got any better than this? What if I never get my 'dream job' or my 'dream house'. Would I be able to find happiness in the life we have now? Sometimes that man is more wise than he knows.

And thanks to God's hand on our life, I can finally answer yes.

Crying Uncle!

2010-12-25T14:41:00.001-08:00

Wow, it has been a rough few days, let me tell you. It all started with the sound of the boys' bedroom door slamming open at 8:30 am on Thursday morning. Why is this such a bad thing? Well...first, the boys were still suppose to be in their cribs, but decided to learn how to climb out of them at THE EXACT SAME TIME! All the sudden, our sleep-time routine took on a whole new aspect; namely, how to keep the boys in their cribs long enough to fall asleep. I ended up sitting in their room for about half an hour at nap time, because they just thought climbing out of their cribs was the best thing ever. It wouldn't have been a big deal, if they had been able to climb back IN once they were ready to fall asleep.

Two hours after the boys woke us up, Nathan's sister Kate, her husband Eliot, and their 6 month old son James arrived for our Christmas get together with Nathan's side of the family. We had a nice couple of hours to get ready and relax before Nathan's mom and her parents got here, which was about the time I finally got the boys down for their nap. James was also asleep, so we all just sat around the living room and chit chatted for quite a while until all the boys woke up, which was nice.

Opening presents took quite a while, just because the there were so many of us, and we had to pause half way through for the boys to have dinner. Nathan's dad showed up about that time, so we finished opening the kids' presents, then Nathan's mom and her parents headed home, and we tried putting the boys down for the night...again...and again...and again...and again, until Mommy burst into tears, and Daddy and Uncle Eliot came to the rescue. They disassembled the cribs while my hero Kate shivered on the front step holding me while I cried. Gotta love that breaking point.

We decided to just let the boys sleep on their crib mattresses on the floor until we get real mattresses sometime next week, so they could run around until they simply pass out on the floor. At that point, we were finally able to eat dinner...at 9 pm. I definitely drank a couple glasses of wine. After that, we finished opening gifts with Nathan's dad, and then played the Uno Attack that he gave Kate & Eliot, which was a blast, ha ha ha. I don't think Nathan's dad left until about 12:30, while Kate & Eliot stayed for the night.

Nathan was an angel and let me sleep in on Christmas Eve. Evidently right before I got up, Levi threw up on the living room floor. We attributed it to the stress and over-excitement of all the guests, gift opening, and sleeping arrangement changes. The boys went down for their nap, Kate & Eliot headed home around noon, Nathan laid down for a nap, and I spent some time cleaning the living room and kitchen up again before my parents were scheduled to arrive at 3:00. About the time I was able to finally sit down and take a deep breath, Nathan woke up, so we switched spots. I was laying in bed for about an hour when I heard one of the boys crying then Nathan hollering for me because Levi had thrown up all over his mattress, the floor, and himself.

Nathan jumped into the shower with the boy while I threw Asher onto our bed, turned on Backyardigans on Netflix, cleaned up the boys' room, and ran to Albertson's for pedialite and kid's Pepto. Unfortunately, the pepto immediately make Levi throw up again (that stuff is nasty nasty nasty), and he only kept the pedialite down for about 30 minutes. After canceling our dinner plans with my parents, Asher and I got ready to go to our church's Christmas Eve service because he was acting perfectly healthy. He did fine until literally the last song of the service, when he was in my mom's arms and threw up all over the jacket of the lady in front of us. I was horrified! I rushed him to the bathroom while my mom cleaned the jacket and my dad cleaned the floor. I personally kept it together until I got him home and back into the care of Daddy, at which point I broke down again.

Evidently, one of the families in our small group had been sick for a couple of days before our group's Christmas party, then several of the other kids were throwing up yesterday with no fevers, just like Levi. Because of the no fever part, we thought maybe he had eaten some bad food or something, and had no idea that it was something contagious until I got to church and talked with some people from small group. Needless to say, I was less than impressed with the fact that we knew nothing about people being sick when we got together with everyone for the party, so we didn't even have the option of staying home to avoid getting it. Now we're spending Christmas alone, without my parents for the first time in my entire life, instead of getting together with them and my grandparents like we had planned. Grrr.

Thankfully, the boys have yet to throw up again since yesterday evening. Asher seems to have completely bounced back, while Levi seems to have gotten the brunt of it and spent all morning curled up on the couch watching The Santa Movie and Backyardigans with me. That is the ONE up side to the boys being sick...they're actually willing to snuggle with me for longer than 30 seconds! Also, Nathan and I seem to have escaped the worst of it and have only had some lower intestinal problems...TMI? Sorry, ha ha ha.

We had a very relaxed morning, opening our presents then just laying around the house while first Nathan, then I, then the boys took naps. Now the boys are still asleep, Nathan's playing video games, and I'm doing this. The rest of the day will be following suit, before I go back to work tomorrow. Then only 5 more work days of day shift before I go to graveyard on January 2nd, working four 10-hour shifts with Thursday-Saturday off!!! YAY, THREE DAY WEEKENDS...DURING THE ACTUAL WEEKEND!!!!

Speaking of which, can you believe 2010 is almost over? Every year seems to move more and more quickly, it's just not right! But I am ready for 2011 to be here...last year was a pretty difficult one, with lots of ups and downs. I'm officially done with my probationary period at work on February 1st, which means a lot more job security and the possibility of buying a home without being as afraid of losing my job. So 2011 promises to be a very exciting year!

Hope your Christmases were a lot less...stressful than ours turned out to be and that you have a wonderful New Year!

It's Beginning to Look a 'Little' Like Christmas

2010-12-10T12:12:00.000-08:00

Inside our house at least...outside, it kind of looks like a reprise of Noah's flood. No, seriously, things are flooding. Our Lower City Park is now the Lower City Lake.

But hey, does that really matter when you have a bunch of fun Christmas projects to work on between all the Christmas presents you're making? On the present front, I thankfully only have three more that involve sewing...once those are done, I can go to town making little things for stocking stuffers and whatnot.

Anyway, the other day I spent ALL day making Christmas decorations. Here's some photos.

Our stockings hung...in the hallway...since we don't have a fire place or mantle.

A very small portion of our nativity, with a twine tree that took me HOURS to wrap.

My very first live garland, wrapped with fake wooden cranberries...LOVE!

Decor in the bank of windows in our living room...our Willow Tree family, Nathan's Charlie Brown Christmas book, a couple other things, and the vase with ornaments (more about that later).

The Advent Tree my mom got for the boys, to go with with the calendar below.

The Advent Calendar my mom made for the boys. Each pocket holds a mini ornament to put on the mini tree.

Bank of windows in our dining room.

A mini twine tree, with a star from Joann's and a fake cranberry wreath from Goodwill.

The stars from our Nativity Scene. I actually love these so much that they stay there year-round.

Dollar tree decor: hurricane vase hot glued to a short candle stick holder, and filled with two tubes of ornaments. Gotta love it!

Christmas-i-fied cupcake tower...I laid down small branches from the garland and then a bunch of glass ornaments from our stash of ornaments.

The grown-up version of the paper show flake. I've made 3 of these small ones and one big one while laying in bed sick. Still not sure where I'm putting them.

Felt rose wreath...grape vine wreath from Joann's, white roses made of rolled felt. Also VERY time consuming but I L.O.V.E it.

Ornament vases including ornaments: $6. Felt Rose Wreath: $4.40. Twine Trees: $7.90. Live garland: $6. Total: $24.30. You would pay that much for one of these things if you were to buy the finished product in the store. I'm very happy with how everything turned out, and how clean and simple our decorations are this year. No clutter, no cheesey stuff. Only thing missing is the tree...which we have agreed not to put up until the 22nd so Nathan doesn't have to fight to keep the boys from tearing it apart. I'm so excited to get it put up though!

In other news, I ran my very first 5k on December 5th! It was the Jingle Bell Run in Portland, and I accompanied a couple from our small group, Chris & Niki. We had an absolute blast! I ran with Niki for the first mile or so, until I was ready to set my own pace, and then took off on my own. I managed to run the entire thing, no breaks, in only 31:24.9...which beat my personal record by over 2 minutes! That's just barely over a 10 minute mile. Not bad, if I may say so myself!

Chris, myself, and Niki in our church parking lot...we forgot to take pictures before and after the race while in Portland, so we faked it!

My very first race number...I'm very proud!

I think I'll be signing up for two more races this spring: the Shamrock 8k in March (duh) and the Bridge to Brews 10k in April. (8k = 4.98 miles, 10k = 6.2 miles). The Bridge to Brews starts and ends at Widmer Brewery, with an after party complete with beer tasting at the finish line. Right up our alley, no? Chris and Niki are planning on running the Shamrock with me, and I may be able to convince them to do Bridge to Brews also.

I was going to sign up for the Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon (13 miles) that goes between Stoller Vineyard outside of Lafayette, through Lafayette, and all the way up to Carlton, where they have a wine and music party at the finish line. (In case you didn't know, Lafayette and Carlton are only a few miles outside of Mac). There's just one problem...registration costs $95!!!! For EARLY registration! Not exactly in our price range, but how cool would it be to say that I've done a half marathon? So I'm still debating...I have until September to decide. Anyone feel like donating to the cause? Ha ha ha!

As for the boys...they're two. Definitely two. Undoubtably two. They still have their moments that make you melt, but oh man...they've been a trial lately. It doesn't help that I've been sick for the past three days and poor Nathan has been a single parent. Due to their determination to get into anything and everything, Nathan rearranged our living room a bit and put the couch under the large window...which has become their new favorite perch.

Asher left, Levi right.

Ok, I think that's all for now. I'm going to go lay on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket, until the boys wake up from their nap. Blast these stupid colds!

Family Pictures!

2010-11-29T21:24:00.000-08:00

I'm so so so excited!

A gal from our church was kind enough to do family photos for us at a moment's notice, and she did a GREAT job of keeping two toddlers entertained long enough to get some fun photos before losing the light. So here ya go!

FUN!

2010-11-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

We've had so much fun in the past week, it should almost be illegal!

The Beav's game was an absolute blast...and it didn't hurt that we won. In fact, we kept Cal from crossing the 50 yard line for the entire first half of the game and kept them from scoring until literally the last minute. The rain also held off except for about 10 minutes during half time. My parents parked their camper and utility trailer in a lot next to the rugby field, which is about 3 blocks from the football field. The trailer (complete with wall-to-wall carpet, coleman lantern, coleman heater, camp chairs, and twinkle lights) made a great place to tailgate both before and after the game, and then turned into Nathan and my hotel room for the night. Unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures of the set up, but we made some great new friends. It was definitely a night for the record books.

Nathan and my parents before the game, missing the beer...that rain gear is so sexy!

Me with Benny Beaver!

Nathan and his Dad.

Nathan and I.

We got back into town in enough time to take the boys to the Trick or Treat insanity on our main street here in Mac. It was...really crazy. They blocked off all of 3rd Street and the business owners gave handed out candy. Unfortunately, the entire thing turned into one really slow moving conga line up and down the street, with only 1 in 4 businesses giving out candy. So you would shuffle for about 5 minutes and then get a piece of candy, lather, rinse, repeat. Needless to say, with two toddlers, the level of entertainment wasn't quite high enough. We lasted about 20 minutes. Thankfully, we had a ton of fun trick or treating in the neighborhood later on in the evening with some of our neighbors, and the boys were ADORABLE in their monkey costumes.

They were a little confused about the idea of walking up to a stranger's door and asking for candy, but quickly caught on...after the 3rd house, Levi was running up to the door and holding up his bag. And let me tell you, they were NOT happy to get taken out of their costumes. They loved those things...in fact, they've taken up permanent residence in our living room.

I headed back to work for three days, and then today we decided to take advantage of one of the last rainless days (seriously, it's been 70 degrees here for the past three days...isn't it November?!) to take the boys to the beach. They haven't been there since last summer, when they didn't really understand what was going on. Today, despite a ton of fog, there was no wind and it was fairly warm out. We took some beach toys and the boys had a great time digging in the sand, filling buckets, dumping out the buckets, refilling the buckets, etc. Afterwards, we went to the Pelican Brewery and had one of the least stressful toddler-accompanied dinners we've had in a long time. A lot of it had to do with our waitress being AMAZING and putting in the boys' food order right away, so they had a constant flow of food to keep them occupied. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and evening with my beautiful family. Here's some pics (Asher's in the blue jacket, Levi in black).

Wait...

2010-10-27T22:48:00.000-07:00

...it's Fall.

It's been over a month since I've blogged.

I apologize. Thing is, I tried being on Weight Watchers staff and just got too busy. If I wanted to spend any time sewing, something I absolutely love doing, something had to give. So spending time on the computer was it. The good news is that I decided to stop doing Weight Watchers staff...it was a lot bigger of a time commitment than I thought it was going to be, always in the evening between dinner and bedtime, meaning I was missing out on a lot of time with the boys. I felt guilty about that, and about leaving Nathan to do the single parent thing for even more time.

Now everyone can stop dropping thinly-veiled hints about posting on the blog, ha ha ha!

So, let's see if I can recap the past month.

The boys turned 2 years old on September 21st. TWO! We have two 2 year olds. Please be praying for us. We had a fun little birthday on their birthday with my parents, then a big party the next Saturday with the whole family and several friends. It was a ton of fun.
I got asked to make a purse for a fundraiser auction for the local children's shelter here in Mac. Ended up finding and falling in love with the fabric and pattern designer Amy Butler. It was a very time-consuming project, but also very satisfying to make something for such a great cause!
Locked my keys in the car outside the Dutch Bros only 3 blocks from work...on my way to work...on the morning of the first frost of the season...while wearing stiletto heels. I had to wait outside for 30 minutes until the tow company showed up. Thank goodness for wool jackets, understanding coworkers, and AAA.
Went to the Jimmy Buffett concert at the Rose Garden with my parents. What a blast!!! We ate at the Alexis (Greek restaurant in downtown Portland that my parents have been going to since they opened 30 years ago) before the concert, then went to the Horsebrass Pub afterwards...didn't get home until almost 2 am. Thank goodness we found an amazing college student babysitter, who is use to staying up that late on a school night!
The boys have learned how to say uh oh, bye bye, night night, and many other things. They're also learning how to take directions. I can usually ask them to bring me something, and they'll go grab it and bring it to me. It's a very cool thing to watch your kids grow and learn.
We've found the boys' Achilles heel...the OPB cartoon called Caillou. Nothing special about it, but it hypnotizes them. The other afternoon, Asher was throwing a full blown tantrum. Screaming, crying, kicking of feet, the works. Nothing I did made it better. I even took him upstairs with me, thinking he just wanted to get away from his brother for a bit. No dice. Turned on Caillou, and he immediately laid down on the end of the bed. And he stayed that way, not a peep out of him, for a good half an hour. I was even able to doze on the bed with him. Thank you Canada for writing such a soothing show.
I turned 27. Yeesh. I'm only 3 years away from being 30. You know, as old as my husband is now. And that's OLD! Ha ha ha, love you honey! We had a small party at my parents house, just them, us, and our friend Andy who was bach'ing it while his wife and daughter were in Arizona.
While Dad was at chukar camp (before you ask, chukar is a game bird), Mom offered to watch the boys while Nathan and I had a date night. We decided to head into Portland to the Melting Pot, an amazing fondue restaurant. Spendy, but amazing. It was the most romantic outing we've had in a long while. Afterwards, we curled up in bed with wine and a movie. It was a lovely night, and I FINALLY got to wear my sexy black 'victory' dress. The only picture we got was with my iPhone in the dimly-lit restaurant...it didn't turn out very good, so I'm not going to share it with you. Sorry!
We think that Asher is going to be left handed. We were flipping back and forth between a baseball game and a football game on tv. Asher was constantly imitating whichever sport was on. During football, he was throwing our stuffed football with his left hand and then falling down like he had been tackled. During baseball, he was swinging this rattle thing...left handed. We've never shown him how to swing a baseball bat. Awesome! His mommy, grandpa, and great grandpa are all left handed, so it runs in the family.
This coming Saturday, Nathan's mom is watching the boys while we head to the Oregon State homecoming game with Nathan's dad and my parents. We're getting to spend the night down in Corvallis, so bring on the tailgating!!! Because of the game, I'm taking Saturday and Sunday off...so I'm getting a four day weekend. YES!
The boys are going to be monkeys for Halloween. McMinnville does a great trick or treat thing on 3rd Street (our main street) where all the business along the street start giving out candy starting at 2:30. Sure beats knocking on peoples' doors these days.

Ok, I think those are the highlights. I'll finish up with a couple of photos and I'll try not be to be as remiss in posting from now on.

The boys climbing the wall at the best park in town...no one is ever there! (Levi top, Asher bottom)

The boys love going down the BIG slides! (Asher) They're pretty fearless.

Two years old! (Asher left, Levi right)

My sewing center with my new organization shelves (gift from mom and dad)!

Asher sitting on Levi's lap because they were afraid of the vacuum.

Levi tried taking his shirt off and it got stuck. Goofy guy.

The purse I made for the children's shelter auction.

Another bag I made for myself from the Amy Butler pattern book I got for my birthday. Much more complex than it looks!

All that being said...

Have a wonderful Fall! Welcome the rain, the frost, the fog, the beautiful leaves. It's a magical time of year.

What's Your Ministry?

2010-09-23T00:23:00.000-07:00

As Christians, we're called to reach out to those around us. To love...not just those who are easy and convenient to love, but to love everyone. To share the wealth, both literally and figuratively.

In our small group, we just started reading "Outlive Your Life", a Max Lucado book about reaching out to those less fortunate and really living out the New Testament. Tonight we read the first chapter, which consisted of about four pages and yet managed to make me squirm by quoting all these numbers about poverty, starvation, death due to preventable diseases, and orphans. Now, I'm not saying any of those numbers came as a surprise. Far from it. But they made me squirm because of how overwhelming it all seems. I feel like I'm a single raindrop in a vast desert.

However, if I'm being 100% honest with myself (and with you), I'd have to admit that it really makes me uncomfortable because I'm just not one of the people called to international missions, and that makes me feel like a bad person. Maybe it's the profession I'm in; every day I am reminded of just how broken our own community is. How can I cry out for a country half way around the world, when my neighbor is crying out for help? Thankfully, I know that God has ignited a fire in those with a gift and passion for international ministry. I just know I'm not one of them.

So...what now? You really can't escape the fact that God calls each of us to our own 'ministry' according to our gifts. It's all well and good for me to say that my calling is in our own backyard, but tonight I was convicted...I can't let this be an excuse to sit back and let my life pass by day by day, living for myself.

See, I know what my ministry is. It's pretty simple, pretty cut and dry. One way or another, it's teenagers. My heart breaks for them, even the ones that make me want to rip my hair out each time our officers contact them YET AGAIN. I miss being involved in Young Life so much, and I had to admit to myself tonight that I've been throwing roadblocks up in my own way for about a year now.

Ok, I have to give myself a bit of a break...my schedule for the past year hasn't exactly helped. I worked almost every single Monday.

But the biggest hurdle has been that I'm wanting another group of leaders like my Baker co-leaders. They were family, and they were safe. Comfortable. The leaders here in Mac are...young. As in, college age. Single. Childless. I went to a couple of clubs and leader meetings as my schedule permitted and felt like an outsider. It's hard to get excited about 9 pm leader meetings when you have children and work at 7 am. I'm also not good about making idle chit chat with people I've never met. It's something I hate about myself, but there it is. So I quit putting in the effort to go to the meetings and to club.

What a cop-out, right? Being involved in Young Life isn't about making me feel good. It's about showing kids the love of Jesus. Yeesh Lindy, get over yourself. As Nathan told me tonight, "The needs of the kids don't change, no matter who your co-leaders are." Reality check.

So, there's some re-prioritization going on here. Stay tuned.

Oh, and I'm in an editing frenzy. Tonight was more of Dani and Tyrell's wedding photos. The next couple of days will be finishing those up and then attacking photos of the boys' birthday and bday party. Thank goodness I don't have to work for the next two days!

And the boys' big birthday party is Friday evening! So excited!

How Many Years In the Making?

2010-09-07T22:52:00.000-07:00

Dani, my best friend from college, got married on Sunday. I was in the wedding party, plus she and Tyrell were kind enough to let Nathan and I play photographer with our new lenses. Here's just a little sneak peek.

Oh and hey look! It's me...being a cheezmo.

That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by!

An Invitation!

2010-08-31T21:25:00.000-07:00

*Oops! Accidently put the date on the original invite as Saturday, September 25th...the party is actually Friday, September 24th!

The Flowers and the Bees

2010-08-29T22:25:00.000-07:00

Some more examples of just how awesome the 85mm lens we got is. My parents have huge bushes of flowers off their front deck, which are just swarming with honey bees. The detail this lens was able to pick up was just awesome.

Check out that pollen on the bee in the bottom picture. Amazing!

Ok, bedtime now.

The New Additions...

2010-08-28T22:27:00.000-07:00

...to the camera bag, that is.

After Nathan shot a wedding in Pacific City this month, we decided it was finally time to invest in some fixed zoom lenses for portrait photography. The clarity in a fixed zoom lens is so superior to a zoom lens.

The two lenses we invested in were the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G and the Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D. We're kind of in love with them. They're definitely taking some getting use to, as you have to move your body to zoom rather than adjusting the lens, but the quality of photos is totally worth the amount of movement involved. And hey, it's photography AND a workout.

Levi

Asher

There's a ton more photos to come...we took the boys out to the Evergreen Air & Space Museum this evening to play on their huge play structure and explore the airplanes they have around the buildings. It was a ton of fun - the boys even went down the super tall slide all by themselves! Over and over again! I'd love to share more of the photos tonight, but this momma has to be to work in about 8 hours. So I'm off to bed.

A Form of Torture?

2010-08-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

The boys would say yes.

This evening, we set up the red step stool in the kitchen, oiled up the clippers, and gave the boys their very first haircut.

They were less than impressed.

Levi

Asher feeling Levi's pain.

Levi being comforted by Daddy.

Asher's turn.

Asher

Levi sympathizing with Asher.

Levi's finished product.

Asher's finished product.

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to give them their first haircuts; I thought it was going to tug on my heart strings or something. But now they just look so handsome and like such big boys! It will be fun to get them dressed up in big boy shirts and pants, to see how grown up they look.

And I gotta admit...they look a whole lot better without the beginnings of a baby mullet.

GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!!

2010-08-11T23:22:00.001-07:00

No, that wasn't a belated response to the World Cup.

I actually reached my weight loss goal today!!!

Knowing I had to weigh in at 6 pm, I refrained from snacking after lunch, went for a run between work and weigh-in, and managed to hit 127.6 lbs! Oh man, am I excited! I reached goal literally only 11 days short of a year after starting Weight Watchers.

The Stats:

Beginning Weight: 174.4 lbs

Total Lost: 44.8 lbs

Goal Weight: 128 lbs

Final Weight: 127.6 lbs

It's been a long road, but so totally worth it. Especially when I look these two photos side by side. You can click on the image to see a bigger version.

And to reward myself?

I bought one of these puppies:

A Kindle Latest Generation. It holds 3,500 electronic books. Drool. Have I mentioned how much I love to read? It's back ordered, so it won't arrive until around September 8th. But this latest version costs $50 less than a used Generation 2 (the last version). How does that make sense? I just don't know. But I will be absolutely giddy when it arrives.

Now I just have to maintain within two pounds above or below my goal weight for six weeks, and then I become a Lifetime Member. At that point, I get to be a member for free, as long as I weigh in at least once each month and stay within those two pounds above or below goal.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it on here, but both my mom and dad are doing Weight Watchers as well. They both reached their goal and recently both became Lifetime Members, which is just so exciting! It has been fun going through this experience with them, and invaluable to have the support.

YAY!

Be Still My Heart

2010-08-06T13:17:00.001-07:00

While I was sleeping in this morning, Nathan brought out our fancy camera and started snapping photos of the boys, in preparation for the wedding he's shooting tomorrow in Pacific City.

Levi

Asher

Asher again...so serious.

The last photo just kills me. That's a little boy staring into the camera. I know I keep saying they're not babies anymore, but I think I'm still living in a state of denial.

The first two photos, on the other hand, make me smile like a loon. I just love my boys.

Laugh or Cry

2010-08-02T21:29:00.000-07:00

In my line of work, we have the choice to either laugh or cry. 99% of the time, we choose to laugh. In order to laugh, we develop an incredibly dark sense of humor.

Tonight, I looked death in the face. Not my own death, but someone else's. A complete stranger's. I think I heard that her name was Laura.

It all started innocently enough. As it had been almost two months since Nathan and my last date night, we decided to call in a babysitter and have a date night. We started at the Rooftop Bar, on the top of McMinamin's Hotel Oregon here in town. So-so food, mediocre beer, great location. After a beer and some Cajun tots, we decided to relocate to Golden Valley, the local brewery. Good food, much better beer...and a more extensive wine list.

Not long after we had been seated on the patio and received our first drinks, I noticed an elderly lady a couple of tables away looking like she was struggling to breathe. Seeing as how we were in a restaurant, my first thought was choking. I saw someone I assumed was her son get up, walk to her side, and start talking to her. I could see she was having problems, but the son looked pretty calm, so I kept an eye on her while going back to our conversation.

Next thing I knew, a lady at the neighboring table was rushing to the older lady's side, attempting the Heimlich. Did I mention that the lady's face was blue? I told the son I was a 911 dispatcher and asked if anyone had called 911 yet; still looking deceptively calm, he said our waiter was calling.

As a dispatcher, one of our first thoughts in a medical emergency is to get the phone as close to the patient as possible, in order to give instructions and get timely updates on the patient's condition. I immediately ran inside, found the waiter who was on the phone with one of my fellow dispatchers, and directed him back to the patient. By the time we got back out there, other bystanders were getting the lady on her back on the floor. She was blue. Everything about her was blue. Not knowing if anyone else knew CPR, I kneeled down at her side at the same time a young man kneeled on her other side and asked if we should do CPR.

Thank God for repetitive training...he started doing chest compressions while I gave direction from memory. 30 compressions, 2 breaths. 30 compressions, 2 breaths.

Once upon a time, I thought about becoming a paramedic. Now I know I didn't miss my calling. I like having the phone between myself and the picture that is now stuck in my mind.

There was a point, after the first set of 30 compressions, when the man doing compressions hesitated when I asked him if he would be willing to do rescue breaths. As an Emergency Medical Dispatcher, you don't ask someone if they will do rescue breaths. You just give instructions and then work around a refusal if one pops up. But I saw exactly what he saw. I saw the human being he was about to lock lips with. I had to ask. He only hesitated a moment before diving in, but that moment seemed like an eternity; an eternity filled with the question of whether I would be willing to take his place if he said no.

I didn't know the answer to that question. I only felt relief when he continued. I still don't know the answer to that question. And that bothers me. But I was there.

I was there, pushing everyone to continue when they thought they heard her breathing but didn't have the training to see that it was agonal breathing...the last breaths. I was there watching her color get better when we did continue. Watching the food gradually come out of her throat. Watching her start to come around.

I was there when the paramedics finally arrived. Our instructors weren't lying when they said that two minutes feels like two hours to the person on scene. Once the ambulance arrived, I started shaking.

I was there to watch her being wheeled to the ambulance. Awake. Conscious. Arguing with the paramedics about going to the hospital.

I could have cried.

Instead, I laughed. And cracked inappropriate jokes. That's how it works.

Later, after everything had calmed down and the ambulance had transported their patient to the hospital, I made sure to find the man who had actually done the CPR. I wanted to let him know that he saved a life tonight. It would have been wrong for the night to end without him knowing that, without his help, that woman would have died. I saw exactly what he saw right before he blew into that woman's mouth. It wasn't pretty. It didn't look like the movies. It was messy and disturbing, and I'll probably have nightmares about it. But he kept going. In my eyes, he is the hero of the night. Nathan said he heard that the man was an off-duty officer...I didn't recognize him, so maybe he wasn't one of ours, but it wouldn't surprise me if he was an officer somewhere. That kind of bravery and compassion is easy to recognize.

I think I'll be nervous about eating out anywhere for a while.

My Little Monkey

2010-08-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

Check out Asher's new trick.

There's a reason we call them our monkey boys.

My Dining Room

2010-07-31T10:10:00.001-07:00

Ever since we moved in to our rental (a year and a month ago already!), our dining room has been totally geared towards our boys. In other words, the table was as small as we could make it, the chairs were kept in the garage so the boys couldn't fall off of them, and the only thing we really used the room for was feeding the boys in their highchairs.

But that has all changed since switching the boys to their boosters seats. I bundled Levi and Asher into the car one morning, zipped out to Walmart, and snatched up a great area rug to center the dining room table over since our chandelier makes a horrible center to the room. I love actually having a dining room! Now I just need to find/make some thing to put on the wall to the right of the sliding door. I'm tired of not decorating just because we don't own the place.

Then it was off to Dollar Tree to get supplies for a centerpiece my friend Carly had shown me on this blog. I did a slightly different, more colorful version of the bottom piece, and I haven't hot glued it yet, but I love the effect...all for only $3!!! I'm sure you will recognize the fabric underneath as being scrap from my diaper bag extravaganza; as soon as a cute place mat or table runner catches my eye, this scrap will be going to better use, but it works for now! Then I just went outside to the tree in front of our place and grabbed a couple bunches of leaves to go between the hurricane vase and the candle. For free!

Again, it's a work in progress, but that's half the fun! I love the little hands you can see trying to reach the extra leaves in the corner of the picture...it's the story of my life these days. One eye on the project, one eye on the tiny hands trying to steal scraps of the project.

Speaking of tiny hands...my mom bought the boys some clothes and brought them over after Weight Watchers this morning. Both Levi and Asher are obsessed with trying to put clothes on themselves; problem is, they think everything goes on their legs, including shirts. It's awfully cute to watch them try so hard, though!

Asher putting on jeans.

Asher trying on the shirts...as pants.

Levi just being darn cute.

I have a couple of very handsome boys, don't you think? They need haircuts, though. And I'm fighting the idea the whole way. But Levi's starting to look like he has a mullet, and I'm just not that devoted to my Eastern Oregon upbringing to support the comeback of the 'business in front, party in back' look.

And speaking of Weight Watchers...I weighed myself yesterday afternoon and I was exactly 128.0 lbs! My goal weight! This morning I weighed myself without any clothes on and was at 127.8...unfortunately, there's a pesky law regarding nudity in public, so even my lightest dress put my 0.2 lbs above my goal weight at weigh-in this morning. 0.2 lbs! ZERO POINT TWO! Isn't there a mercy rule for this sort of thing? You know, where they say, "You've been working so hard for so long, 0.2 lbs really is nothing so we're just going to say you're at goal weight!" Wishful thinking, I guess. So now I have to be SUPER good for another week, because my body just does not like to stay right at 128 lbs. Thankfully, after I reach goal I just have to stay within two pounds of 128, which I can easily do. So...keep me in your prayers, your fingers crossed, send good juju my way, whatever works for you. Cause I'm ready to be there, for pity sake!

A Big Step

2010-07-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

Up until now (as in, this very morning), we have been allowing the boys to eat breakfast in the living room while watching their morning OPB cartoons. Also up until now, breakfast has been fed to the boys by Daddy or Mommy's hands, as it consists of oatmeal and bananas...not exactly the most toddler + carpet friendly meal around. We've let this continue so long simply because they hadn't yet started fighting us on eating lunch and dinner in their highchairs.

Until now.

All the sudden, Asher was throwing fits and refusing to eat every time we stuck him in a high chair or booster seat. Every meal was beginning to feel like a battle. It wasn't until last night - when I took him out of his high chair to switch him to a booster seat, and he immediately ate the forkful of food he was refusing only 30 seconds earlier - that I realized maybe he was refusing to eat simply because he was confined to a chair.

Sure enough, as soon as he was in the booter seat, he was refusing to eat again. An ear-splitting 30 minute tantrum followed, as we tried to get him to feed himself while in the booster seat. It was painful. We ended up leaving him alone downstairs to cool off (nothing we were doing was stopping the screaming and crying), then giving him his sippy of milk and putting him to bed at 6:45 without dinner. Before you start thinking of us as terrible parents, let me remind you that this boy eats a TON of food throughout the day, and was flat refusing to eat dinner. He wasn't going to starve and is no worse for wear this morning.

At that point, we immediately resolved to not allow them to eat anywhere except at the table. It was time to nip this in the bud.

We've also decided to move the boys' lunch to just before their nap. For some reason, the boys' schedule had ended up being as follows: 8:00 wake up, breakfast, 12:00-3:00 nap, lunch, 5:30 dinner, 8:00 bed. This results in a space of only an hour and a half between lunch and dinner. Up until now (notice a theme?), that short amount of time hadn't been a problem. But we're hoping that by moving lunch to before their nap, they will be more hungry for dinner when it rolls around.

Well, this morning was my morning to get up with the boys, and I was determined to start the new eating rules. It worked like a dream! I'm sure some of you aren't all that surprised, as your almost-two year olds have already mastered the oatmeal on their own. Just let me remind you, we have twins. Twin boys, no less. Who are obsessed with throwing things on the floor. Oatmeal + twin boys = HUGE MESS! But not this morning!

I set up the booster seats, made two bowls of oatmeal, put two place mats down on the table, and let the boys go at it. They immediately dug in, and dig a great job. No mess! Ok, there was a little mess, but just right around their mouths. This is a huge deal, and an even bigger relief.

Levi (left) and Asher (right).

Asher

Levi

One of the best parts? It's officially time to retire the high chairs! My tiny dining room is heaving a sigh of relief. Now if only I could figure out how to convince the boys not to push the dining room chairs all over the place. Area rug? We also need to invest in some vinyl place mats that will stay in place and keep the boys' dishes from scooting all around the table.

Unfortunately, the chandelier in our dining room (you know, the one you would logically center your dining room table under?) is in an absolutely ridiculous spot. They put it smack dab in the middle of the room, rather than taking the breakfast bar into consideration. So when you center the table under the chandelier, the breakfast bar feels crowded. Sigh. Oh well, at least we don't own the place! Again, I'm thinking maybe an area rug? Maybe that would help create a new "center" to the room.

Or maybe I'm just too OCD.

Yeah. That could be it.

The Never-Ending Diaper Bag

2010-07-28T01:08:00.000-07:00

Y'see, there was a pattern sale at Joann's last week. Any Butterick pattern for only 99 cents each; normally, patterns range anywhere from $8-$12. I was all over it. Surprised? I didn't think so. Three dress patterns, one short sleeved jacket, and...the diaper bag. I've been considering making diaper bags to sell, but wasn't sure if it would make sense...time-wise.

Let me tell you...time-wise, this pattern doesn't make ANY SENSE!!! Don't get me wrong, the actual sewing part is super duper easy and the pattern directions are a breeze to follow. But there are SO MANY PIECES! It took forever to cut out all the pieces. For-ev-er. I also had to change a couple of things - for example, I shortened the strap a good six inches on each side because otherwise the bag hung down to my knees. No joke. The other really annoying thing was that the pattern didn't tell you to add the velcro to the flap until the very end...which requires you to hand stitch three strips on. Sewing thick velcro by hand is NOT easy. Or comfortable. My thumb still hurts. Instead, I would move that step to just before sewing the flap front to the flap lining, which would mean being able to sew the velcro on by machine.

Thing is, I absolutely love this bag! It has a ton of pockets (three on the outside, five on the inside), is very sturdy, the main pocket is HUGE, and the long strap is a definite step up from the double short straps on our current diaper bag. Whenever we lean over to hold the boys' hands, the short straps immediately slip off our shoulders. Very annoying. This new one can be hung from one shoulder, or across your chest.

Oh, and have I mentioned how much I absolutely love love LOVE the fabric I found? Seriously? Who could say no to this fabric? I want to buy up Joann's entire stock. THAT is how much I love this fabric. Okay, maybe that's a little excessive, but I am considering buying more of the fabric to make a matching clutch and key fob.

The fabric. Love the little birds!

The whole bag.

The large front pocket.

Velcro side pocket.

Elastic side pocket.

HUUUUGE main pocket!

All the interior pockets, plus the key lanyard.

I think my favorite part of each project is showing the finished product to Nathan. His reactions are always gratifying, especially when he says things like, "This looks like something you would buy in a store." Thanks babe!

So, final conclusion? I would definitely make this bag to order, but the price would kind of need to make all the cutting worth my time! Ha ha ha!

Thoughts From Yesterday

2010-07-24T06:55:00.001-07:00

I had these random thoughts while driving around town yesterday, but completely ran out of time to post them...until now. At 6:55 am. The morning after getting off work at 1:00 am. After going on a 2 mile run. I need a nap.

I saw a man driving a beautiful red classic car, while dressed in sailor whites. Complete with the sailor cap. I felt like I had stepped back into another era and it made me smile.

Running a 5k in 85 degree weather is never comfortable. Or advisable.

I'm only 0.8 lbs away from my goal weight.

That's after getting up to 5 lbs above goal weight due to a friend's birthday party last Sunday that involved a little bit of splurging. Just a little. Ok, a lot.

Night before last I looked at pictures of the boys' delivery. I don't remember much of the delivery. I had been up for over 24 hours and was on magnesium. The pictures hurt my heart to see how absolutely tiny the boys were. I had to go in their room and snuggle Levi, just to remind myself that they're big and strong now. This was at 2:30 am. Thankfully, Levi didn't get mad at me.

Why do people think it's ok to take their very young kids on a walk at 11 pm? You would be amazed at how often I see people pushing strollers past the police department when I get off shift.

I bought a potty training seat yesterday.

Just the idea of potty training twin boys makes me shudder.

So does the idea of moving the same twins from cribs to real beds. Please no?

I am ridiculously excited about switching to day shift next month.

It's almost August.

Where did summer go?

Ok, it's shower time now, then off to Weight Watchers. Then it's nap time.

Boys and Craftiness

2010-07-16T01:31:00.000-07:00

As promised, I will try to post photos of the boys every time I post photos of projects I've done. I haven't felt particularly crafty or motivated lately - my job is kind of pushing me to the mental/emotional limit, but what's new? - thus the lack of posts. I prefer to keep things positive and happy on this blog, especially after how many ups and downs we've had over the past couple of years. But tonight, after my nightly browse through the craft blogs, I was inspired. But first, pictures of the boys that Nathan has taken with his phone!

Asher (left) and Levi (right) laughing at the birds at my parents' place.

Asher playing with the "mower" at our small group's bbq.

Levi sat in this swing and plucked at the ukulele for half an hour, completely content. That's our musical boy.

This is a "remember when" shot...the boys passed out back in August 2009, when they were only 11 months old! Where did time go?!

Yeah, my boys are pretty darn cute!

And now the crafty half of the blog. I've been wanting to make a fabric rosette headband for a while now, and finally got motivated to do it. The best part? I can wear it three different ways!

As a headband...

As a brooch to dress up a boring tank or tee...

Or as a fun necklace, unflatteringly referred to as a 'bib necklace' these days...

Btw, I decided to give myself a haircut the other night. I'm waiting to meet my goal weight before I use the gift card my mom gave me for the local salon, at which point I'll get a trim and some highlights. But this was just to get rid of some of the excess bulk at the back of my neck, where my hair grows the fastest. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

And let's not talk about the weight loss thing. Ok, fine, let's talk about it. I'm hovering right around 130 lbs...2 lbs away from my stupid goal weight. I'm frustrated. Annoyed. Tired of hovering. And missing running...but running in 90 degree weather is no fun, and my current schedule doesn't lend itself well to hitting the trails in the late evenings or early mornings when it's actually cool out. And forget being able to afford a gym. Ok, I'm done venting now.

Sweet Baby James

2010-07-15T01:43:00.000-07:00

I finally finished editing the photos I took of my sweet, adorable nephew James. They came out a lot better than I expected...and Pioneer Woman's photo shop actions rock my world! Here is a sample!

He's positively edible, and I can't wait to see him again!

My Boys

2010-06-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

I love my boys. Every day they are getting more expressive and just plain fun to be around. And Nathan regularly sends me picture text messages while I'm at work so I can see the fun things they're doing when I'm not there. It helps me feel more connected...thanks babe!

These are the ones he sent me last night. You know it's summer when....

Asher

Levi

Levi and Asher being guys in Daddy's chair.

What was it I said about them not being babies anymore? Oh yeah...they're not babies anymore.

Sad.

Kind of.

He's HERE!

2010-06-27T02:48:00.001-07:00

Yes, yes, this is a week past due, but (as always) it's been a busy week.

Without futher ado, meet our nephew James Sebastian Grasso!

Thanks to my parents watching the boys overnight, Nathan and I were able to make a quick trip down to Springfield to meet Baby James. He is so very sweet, and I only heard him really cry once when he was super hungry. The rest of the time...he slept. And ate. And slept. And ate. And slept some more. Ah, those were the days. It was fun to watch Kate and Eliot grow into their new roles as parents, even for as short a time as we were down there. And it was so wonderful to hold a newborn again! I kept offering to let other people hold him, feeling guilty for monopolizing him, but not minding in the least when they let me keep him! Ha ha ha.

I'm sure other people have had this same experience...but holding a newborn makes it glaringly obvious just how big our boys have grown! When we came home, I was brought face to face with the fact that my boys are no longer 'babies'. Sad in a way, but you couldn't pay me enough to go back to twin infants. No siree.

I did have the opportunity to do a couple mini photo shoots of Baby James, although he only lasted about five minutes after being put down before deciding it was chow time again. Hopefully we'll go down there again very soon and we can get our timing a little better. Thanks, Kate and Eliot, for such a cute model! I'm hoping to get those photos edited during my weekend (Monday & Tuesday), so I can get them to the proud parents and show a couple of them off on here!

On the weight front, no, I'm not at my goal weight yet. I went up a little bit after eating so much salty food during our trip to Springfield, and ended up not going to my Weight Watchers meeting this morning because I simply couldn't sleep last night...I was up until about 5:30 am. Ick! I'm hoping to reach goal this week, so I'll keep you posted.

The good news is that I made a quick trip to Old Navy while in Springfield because my jeans were getting way too baggy and I kept having to hike them up every few minutes. Ladies and gentlemen, I now fit into a size 8 jeans!!! To give you a little perspective, I was in a size 18 jean when I started this journey.

And then I ducked into Goodwill this afternoon to find a cute dress to remake into a skirt, and found this little number.

Size 6. SIX!!!

I honestly can't remember the last time I fit into a six of anything, let alone a dress.

*Side note* Six is a very odd word. Look at it for more than half a second, type it a couple of times, and I promise you'll start wondering if you're spelling it right.

I did find a dress made of really cute fabric to turn into a skirt; size 14, perfect for a redux. Here's the before and after.

I'm not 100% happy with it, I think I'll end up shortening it a bit to make it hit right above the knee. But I love the fabric! I bought half a yard of white stretchy cotton knit fabric to create a wide top band, attached it to the skirt portion that I cut off the dress, folded the band over in half, and there you have it...a comfy skirt with a little built-in tummy support.

Ok, bedtime. It's so hard to force yourself to go to bed only an hour or two after you get off work; 0100 is avery awkward time to go off shift.

But first, a dose of cuteness...well...you'll see:

Levi rockin' the Mariners hat at Toys R Us.

Asher being...Asher. What a goober.

New Dress!

2010-06-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

I'm on a little bit of a dress kick, have you noticed? I saw this dress on a blog and absolutely fell in love with it; from then on, I was on the look out for a pattern that would make this bodice.

I finally found one that I could modify to look the same. After that, it was just a matter of finding a fabric I liked for the bottom half. I'm still not 100% satisfied, but it will work! Here's the finished result!

The main difference I can see is that there aren't any gathers at the top of the skirt, where it meets the midriff. But that's ok by me! My second go at sewing with a pattern was much easier, and went much more smoothly.

Oh, and an update from my 5k extravaganza...no, it was not poison oak or ivy - all of my welts are completely gone. Thank God! But in exchange, I'm barely able to walk down stairs because my thighs and knees are so sore! No pain no gain, right?

5k!

2010-06-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it! Not in an official race, but Linfield College has a great bark path around a pretty field, right next to Albertson's. Two laps around that puppy and you've ran a 5k. I woke up from my nap this afternoon full of motivation; at our Weight Watchers meeting this morning, several people got 5k charms for having walked or ran a 5k and my thought was, "I can do that, darn it!" Of course, not one to do anything half way, I wanted to run the ENTIRE THING.

So I did. In 30 minutes.

Not figuring in the fact that this is the first day we've had sunny weather in WEEKS. According to our digital thermometer, it's 79 degrees...in the shade. I thought I was going to die for the last 1/4 of the run. But I managed to run the ENTIRE THING. Afterwards, I walked into Albertsons, bought some water, and stood in the freezer section for a while. Go ahead, you can laugh at me.

The other mildly comical, mildly annoying aspect was that there were several parts of the path that were muddy, forcing me to skirt the path into the grass a bit. I've been known to have some pretty extreme rash reactions when tall grass hits my sweaty legs, and this time is no exception. Either that, or I had a run-in (literally) with some poison oak/ivy, since I wasn't keeping an eye out for it. Bummer. :( Thankfully, Nathan's mom gave us a great first aid kit that she put together herself, and included in that kit is a Benadryl Itch Relief Stick. I have a feeling it's going to be my best friend for the next few days!

I haven't updated you guys on my weight loss journey lately, mostly because I've been so focused on getting solo at work that my weight loss has kind of been on the back burner. But now I'm focused and ready to go! This last week, I tracked ALL of my points, and after a three week plateau of staying at the exact same weight, I lost 1.4 lbs! Here's the stats:

Starting weight: 174.4

This week's loss: 1.4 lbs

Current weight: 131.4 lbs

Total loss: 43 lbs

Left to goal: 3.4 lbs!

So hopefully I'll be reaching goal in the next week or two! I'm determined! And you better believe I'll be asking for that 5k charm at my next WW meeting!

And now I have two children who just woke up from naps and are squawking for lunch!

Been A While...Sorry 'Bout That

2010-06-09T23:49:00.001-07:00

It's been a pretty wild past few weeks. Not to mention stressful! I've been looking down the barrel of finishing up my training at work, something that has quite literally been almost a year in the making. Kid you not...I started last July. Yes, that's a normal amount of time, but it was getting...old. Tiring. And after having it pushed back a couple of times I wasn't going to believe it until I got the "Congrats, you're solo!" email from my boss. Today, I got that email!!! What a relief! I feel like I can breathe again.

The boys have been a ton of fun, of course, but a total handful! They're so adventurous that they want to touch, taste, smell EVERYTHING. Funny story. Last Sunday we all went up to Nathan's dad's to hang out after church. The boys have become incredibly adept at feeding themselves from plates with forks; in fact, they pretty much refuse to eat without some sort of utensil. Well, we were eating hamburgers and macaroni salad, not exactly a clean combo; the boys had macaroni salad all over their faces and hands. Levi, who was sitting next to me, saw me wiping my mouth with a napkin and held out his hand in a rather demanding way. So I gave him one, helped him wipe of his mouth, and showed him how to wipe off his hands. He got it immediately, so cool! Of course, Asher wanted to try it too! They're such smart boys! The kicker was when we found Asher crouched behind his grandpa's recliner, pulling kleenez out of the box. He would pull one out, wipe his mouth, pull another one out, wipe his mouth, pull another one out...you get the point. It was pretty hilarious!

Nathan's sister's baby is due in three days. THREE DAYS! I can't even tell you how excited I am to meet my little nephew...although I'm sure it's nothing compared to how excited Kate is to not be pregnant anymore, ha ha ha!

My parents were good enough to agree at the last minute to watch the boys overnight on Sunday of Memorial Weekend, so Nathan and I could get away for a night to celebrate our fourth anniversary. At Kate's recommendation, we booked a room at the On The Beachfront Inn in Lincoln City, splurging a bit on the Ocean Room which came with a hot tub on our own private balcony overlooking the beach and ocean. It was a minor miracle that there was even a room available! The inn is actually a collection of four different inns, all catering to romantic getaways, going so far as banning children under 12 years old except on two floors. Love it! We stayed in ALL day and night, only going out once for a walk on the beach, and even brought stuff for fondue and wine so we could eat in. I know it was the most relaxed I've been in...years? I heartily recommend this hotel for anyone looking for a getaway with your hunny!

Other than that, I almost broke my arm on Sunday. We got back from Nathan's dad's house, I picked up Levi to take him upstairs to bed, and tripped over the boys' riding car. Both my feet went out from under me, and the only thing I could think was, "Don't let Levi hit the floor". So I caught myself with my left arm locked at the elbow. It was by far the most pain I've ever felt; I literally was rolling on the ground, almost unable to breathe, for a good five minutes. Fortunately, nothing was broken. I have almost full movement, but still some pain whenever I try to lift or push/pull, and I'm undecided as to whether I need to visit an orthopedic surgeon. It's so hard not being in Baker where I know all the docs! Where's Dr. Sandefur when you need him?!?!

But really...life is good! I was going to leave you with a cute video of the boys, but it reveals the "Welcome to the World!" present I'm making for our little nephew! So once he's arrived, I will post it. Now I'm going to head upstairs to bed. Night!

In Remembrance...

2010-06-01T00:12:00.001-07:00

I've never had to worry about my loved one not coming home from a war zone.

I've never laid awake at night wondering where my husband is...whether he's safe...whether bullets are flying.

I've never been alone for months at a time, struggling to keep a home and family together while my other half fights for freedom.

I've never been an 'army' wife. Selfishly, I thank God that I've never had to bear that burden.

I thank God for those who have made this life I enjoy possible. The husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brother, and sisters who leave behind comfort and love to protect the freedoms of their fellow countrymen and those who are unable to protect themselves. The husbands, wives, sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers who are home with a piece of their hearts missing. And those who have given the ultimate sacrifice.

To all of you...thank you.

Ask me if I support war and I will say no.

Ask me if I support our troops...

And I will say...

Always.

Sniff Cough Cough

2010-05-28T12:23:00.000-07:00

Well, the boys are sick...again. Last night they both had fevers in the 101 degree range, and they're battling runny noses and coughs. Fun! So please keep both them and us in your prayers, especially since Nathan and I are suppose to escape to Lincoln City on Sunday night to celebrate our 4th anniversary! We have some great plans, a room at an amazing hotel on the beach with a hot tub on our balcony, and we REALLY don't want to miss out on that. Plus it just breaks our hearts to see the boys so miserable.

On the plus side, I have a new combo of clutch and key fob that I absolutely love! Here's a photo of the clutch I made a few weeks ago, with the matching key fob I finished last night.

The fob makes it super easy to find your keys in your purse...or, if you're not carrying a purse or are wearing a skirt with no pockets, you can loop it around your wrist so you don't continually drop your keys! Plus it's cute!

Burnt Flower Bobby Pin

2010-05-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, while at a wine tasting at Arbor Brook winery with Nathan and my parents, I saw a gal with an adorable fabric flower on a bobby pin in her hair. I woke up this morning wanting to wear something similar to church, but knew I wouldn't have enough time to perfect the kind of folding that her version required.

So I found this tutorial for a burnt edges flower. Rather than stitching the layers together, I used a dab of hot glue between each layer of fabric, to attach the button (which is oyster shell, it just didn't show up very well in the photo), and to attach the bobby pin to the back. The entire process, including cutting out the circles free-hand, only took about 5 minutes, with the following result.

And no, I didn't wear this hoodie to church. I took this photo after a much-needed nap.

I have so much fun doing these simple, sometimes practical, sometimes just for fun projects. I was actually thinking this morning at church, after a friend asked me how to make my dry-erase frame calendar, that it would be a ton of fun to regularly have a girl's project day. We could choose a few projects to do, I would tell everyone what supplies they would need (because let's face it, I'm too poor to buy everyones' supplies), and then we could gather at my place to make said projects. Sounds like fun to m! Especially if we choose practical projects, like the dry-erase calendar. 'Cause who doesn't need more adorable organization in their lives?!

An Angel In Our Midst?

2010-05-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what reminded me of her today, but when the boys were in the NICU in Boise they had an amazing respiratory therapist named Shandi. She was quite literally a breath of fresh air, and there were several times that her kindness helped Nathan, myself, and even my parents keep our sanity in what otherwise would have been an overwhelming time in our lives.

All the nurses at St. Luke's in Boise had these weird intercom things that they wore on their scrub shirts. At the press of the button, you could say someones name and it would let you talk to that one person instantly. Well, one of my maternity floor nurses showed my dad that if you pressed the button and said, "Beam me up, Scotty", it would make the Star Wars beaming noise. It would also say, "Live long and prosper.", although I don't remember what the code word for that one was. Anyway, Shandi had a big enough heart to play along when my dad told her to try it (anyone else would have probably laughed it off and ignored him), and that kind of sealed the deal for all of us. We always looked forward to seeing her, and before we were discharged from the hospital, she gave me her email address so I could send her photos and updates of the boys as they grew.

About two months after we had brought the boys home, I came across Shandi's email address and decided to email her the link to our blog. We had become close with a lot of nurses in the NICU and I would have loved for Shandi to share this with all of them. Much to my disappointment, when I sent the email I got an error message back saying that her email address did not exist.

Another month later, we travelled back to Boise for the boys' preemie follow-up appointment. After getting the all-clear from the doc and the occupational therapist, we decided to take a quick trip over to the NICU to see if any of our favorite nurses were on. Unfortunately, most of the ones we had formed friendships with were on night shift (it's a whole lot quieter in the NICU at night, much more conducive to conversation).

Here's the strange thing...one that quite literally gives me goose bumps. We specifically asked for Shandi, knowing she usually worked days. The girl at the front desk had never heard of her. She asked around. None of the nurses had ever heard of a Shandi. Not even the other respiratory therapists had ever heard of her. This was a mere three months after being discharged from the same NICU. Not nearly enough time to have enough turn over that no one in the entire department would recognize her name.

I believe in angels. Shandi, if you're out there and even if you're fully 100% flesh and blood human, you were an angel to us during a very difficult time. And if not...

God sends you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it.

Two In One Day?!

2010-05-17T23:21:00.001-07:00

I really wanted to post a couple of photos of a project I did tonight after the boys went to bed, and after Nathan and I watched Stephen Hawking's show on OPB about time travel. But I figured I should probably satisfy those of you who really only come on here to see the adorable photos of the boys. Because really, they are pretty stinkin' cute.

Asher at Grammy and Grandpa's.

Levi couch cushion surfing, their new fave thing to do.

Asher couch cushion surfing.

Asher playing in the backyard.

Asher (left) and Levi (right) playing in the backyard.

Levi playing in the backyard.

We've pretty much lived outside for the past few days, enjoying the b-e-a-u-tiful weather before it starts raining again, which will supposedly happen tomorrow. Sad day. Ok, hope that tides you over for a couple of days. :) These boys are getting harder and harder to capture on camera without the blur effect!

Btw, McMinnville is a pretty great place for crazy summer-time events that take over downtown. In Baker, there was Miner's Jubilee. Here, there's Turkey Rama. Also the same weekend, there's Who's On Third. But to kick it all off is the ever-entertaining UFO Festival. I kid you not. Evidently this UFO/alien shindig is second only to Roswell, NM in size. Pretty impressive, no? And the thing most of the locals turn out for?

..............................the parade.

(Sigh) I love this town.

And now I'll allow myself the luxury of sharing my evening project - because posting photos of my awesome boys is such a hardship, right? I have this great window of opportunity on most evenings. It happens after the boys go to bed, but before I go to bed. Usually, we put the boys down for the night (they don't fight it very often, it's great), spend some time together, and then allow ourselves some "quiet time", during which Nathan plays video games and I work on a project.

This weekend, Mom gave me this dress, knowing I'd be able to refashion it. Cute dress, but I'm sure you can easily see the problem.

I think the Ringling Bros left one of their tents behind.

Rip the top half from the bottom half, run a couple of seams up each side to trim off some of the bulk, add a band of thick black elastic to the top, and you have a skirt!

And now, as you can probably tell from the circles under my eyes in this photo, it's time for bed. Night!

A Domestic Day

2010-05-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a day of puttering around the house. Nathan spent the day brewing beer in the garage, so the boys and I did projects. Or, more accurately, the boys got into everything while I split my time between keeping their paws off the hot glue gun cord and getting projects done. AAAAH! Have you ever tried to unload and reload a dishwasher with twin 19 month olds in the same room? Try it some time. I dare ya!

Anyway, with how ridiculous my schedule is, I've been in the habit of printing out a paper monthly calendar and putting it on our fridge. Thing is, we're out of printer paper. And I'm tired of printing out a schedule only to have it change two days later. So I found this tutorial online, and then tweaked it a bit. I also found this one, but hated the idea of using chalk in the kitchen, so I modified it to look like the calendar. One trip to Good Will and a trip to Joann's, a couple of hours with the hot glue gun and stickers (and twins) later, and voila!

I'm pretty darn happy with how they turned out! Love the black and yellow! And if I ever need to change it in order to match a different decor, all I have to do is cut the yellow fabric off the backing and hot glue a new fabric to it.

On a different note, on Saturday I applied for a VERY part time job as a receptionist for Weight Watchers. It's only a couple of hours a week, greeting and weighing in WW members at the weekly meetings. While it's nothing major, it will still be a little extra moolah on the side, plus I can't think of a better way to give back to the organization that has helped me, my mom, and my dad to lose weight. I have a phone interview type thingy with a recruiting assistant on Wednesday morning, so we'll see what happens! I'm pretty excited!

And now it's time to go hang out with the family.

PS. Nathan made a comment that all of my posts on here are about my sewing and craft projects. I'm thinking maybe I should start another blog to just put my projects on, and leave this one for just family stuff. Any thoughts?

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T22:16:00.001-07:00

How was your Mother's Day? Mine was great. I loved pretty much every moment of it, up until my energy failed right around dinner time. Then again, that could have something to do with sitting for hours in the hot sun and having drank nothing but coffee and wine all day. Not smart. But it was SUCH a beautiful day here and my parents were pouring SUCH good wine...

Anyway, the first half of yesterday was spent being lazy. Essentially, I went back to bed after giving the boys breakfast (they kept me up most of the night coughing) and took a blissful nap until around 1 pm. Then as soon as I got up, I was struck with motivation. This doesn't happen very often, let me tell you, so I take full advantage of the situation when it strikes. I started cleaning the downstairs, did three loads of laundry, folded and put away FIVE loads of laundry (I had been procrastinating on the folding/putting away aspect for about a week), vacuumed, swept, washed windows, and ended with finally organizing and putting away the huge amount of Christmas decorations which had been cluttering up the garage and making it very difficult to do laundry. I even swept the whole garage.

All of this was finally completed somewhere around 9 pm, at which point Nathan asked if I would like my Mother's Day presents early. Seriously, who is going to say no to that? He first handed over The Jerk with Steve Martin...if you haven't seen it, hunt it down. Now. Go do it. It's a classic, and they just don't make movies like that anymore.

And then...pretty much the best present ever...a wooden sewing table to replace the saw horses and particle board I was using!!!! So ridiculously excited!!!! It's absolutely the prefect size for the space we have, and it's even a folding table despite being nice wood. Love love love! Needless to say, I spent the rest of the evening watching The Jerk and sewing...after enjoying some wine and popcorn, of course!

This morning Nathan informed me that he should probably stay home from church with the boys since they both have runny noses (wait, when DON'T they?!), so he would drop me off after getting some coffee for us. First, let me say that I love my boys. Dearly. But as I've expressed on here before, they've become pills about holding still and being quiet. Which means we've started showing up late to church so that we don't have wrestle with them through worship. So this morning I got to relax, thoroughly enjoy the worship music, and just soak in Pastor Steve's message. Afterwards, my parents and I met up with my dad's parents at Dobb's Winery in Dundee (about 7 miles out of Mac), where we sat on the patio and - what else? - drank wine! Then it was off to my parent's house to sit on the porch and - what else? - drink wine!

Nathan showed up with the boys after they woke up from their nap and had lunch. It's so much fun watching the boys with my parents, and it was wonderful to be able to let them just run around the yard to their hearts content.

On a different yet related note, both Mom and I were asked by our Weight Watchers leader to be part of the group to share weight loss success stories at a meet & greet event they're having on the 22nd. Wow, how flattering! Along with telling our stories, she asked that we bring before and after photos; so Mom and I searched through photos dating back to just before we started WW in August. Here's mine.

SHUDDER!

To celebrate how far we've come, we had a mini mini photo shoot for our 'after' photos. Here's those photos, along with a few others from the rest of the afternoon. But before I leave you with those, I have one more thing to say.

If you haven't seen it, watch the latest Saturday Night Live with Betty White (short gal from Golden Girls) on Hulu.com. I've been cracking up pretty much non-stop.

And now, photos! (For a point of reference, Asher is in the blue shorts, Levi in the orange.)

GOOOOO BLAZERS!

2010-04-29T10:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the Portland Trail Blazers haven't exactly been playing up to par for this round of the playoffs (let's face it, three out of five games have been pretty painful)...but the good news is that we went to the one home game that they actually won! And it was an awesome game!

Backing up a moment...

I was at work last Tuesday when I got a text from Nathan asking if we would want to go to game 4 of the Blazers vs Suns at the Rose Garden on Saturday. Evidently a couple that is a part of our small group had accidentally bought four tickets instead of two, and were trying to get rid of them...Nathan just happened to see Matt's Facebook status just minutes after he posted it and immediately said something along the lines of, "I'm pretty sure we'll want them, but let me ask my wife!"

Let me tell ya, it was a rough week at work last week, so having the prospect of a fun outing with just my hubby (Nathan's mom offered to watch the boys for us) was the only thing that really got me through. The rest of the week seemed to draaaaag, but finally Saturday arrived. Nathan and I were upstairs getting ready when I heard crinkling of plastic downstairs. I ran downstairs to see this...

That's a full box of Cheerios all over the floor. Evidently the boys are now able to grab things off of the window sill where we WERE keeping the Cheerios box. It's moments like these where you have two options: a) freak out over the mess, scold the children, and generally get your dander up or b) laugh your butt off, grab the camera, and snap some photos before cleaning up the mess. We chose option B, obviously.

Finally we got out of the house, dropped the boys off at Grandma's, made a quick stop at Fred Meyer to pick up some Blazer apparel, and made our way into Portland.

The game was SO MUCH FUN. I think the average score difference was about 3 points, and I was either on the edge of my seat or on my feet the whole time. Oh, and the best part...we won! I am a big fan of watching sporting events in person rather than on tv, and whooboy do the Blazers have some awesome fans!

Getting food.

Warming up...Blazers on the far court, Suns (boooo!) on the closer half. If you look close, you can see Nash's greasy hair to the right of the basket.

Blazers WIN!!!! 96 to 87!

Fun was had by all!

After the game we joined Matt and Amanda at Deschutes Brewery in downtown Portland for an early dinner then headed home. All in all, it was a great day.

What I Learned About Patterns

2010-04-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

Up until now, my experience with sewing patterns has been limited to the simple purse patterns I've found online. After making SO MANY PURSES (which I still love doing), I needed a bit of a break...a change...a challenge. But not too much of a challenge.

Last Saturday, I sent Nathan to his best friend's house in Hillsboro for the night, and my parents took the boys for the day. Which meant I got to spend as long as I wanted at my current favorite place on earth...Joann Fabric. On a side note, have you ever smelled the fabric from Joann's? It smells wonderful. Anyway, I spent a good hour just leisurely wandering through the different fabrics, changing my mind, gathering supplies...and picking out a pattern for a dress. I've loved wearing dresses since losing all this weight, and at my last Weight Watchers meeting I saw one of our leaders wearing the cutest dress ever. So I found a pattern very similar, scooped up some Springy fabric that had caught my eye a couple weeks earlier, and headed home.

I thought I would be able to complete the dress before going to pick up the boys four hours later....WHOOO BOY was I wrong!

Here's what I learned:

Pattern measurements aren't truly accurate...they run big...especially if you're only 5 feet tall.
Patterns have a bunch of symbols that take deciphering. It's a pain in the butt.
Bodices are a pain in the butt.
Concerning the above-mentioned item: if you get half way done with the article of clothing, only to discover that you made it too big, you have to take it COMPLETELY apart in order to cut it down to size and then sew it all back together.
Sewing clothes takes a lot of patience...something I do not possess in large quantities.

And finally...

There's nothing quite as satisfying as completing such a project, putting it on, zipping it up, and having it fit perfectly. To look at it and say, "I made that. 100% from scratch. Cool".

There's the finished product.

I think I'm going to make a clutch to match...I'm just trying to decide whether to make it black with a accent flower out of the, er, flowered fabric, or flowered with a black accent flower. Did you follow that? 'Cause that was a whole lot of "flower".

In other news...we will possibly be facing some major changes in our lives, but I can't really talk about it on here yet. (No, I'm not pregnant.) But I promise I will share as soon as I can. The boys are growing in leaps and bounds; they're running, babbling like crazy, and climbing on EVERYTHING. The other day they gave each other real kiss for the first time...just about melted my heart.

I have to admit, having 18 month old twins has its share of frustrations. First of all, it is pretty much impossible to keep them happy and quiet during worship time at church. Monkey-see-monkey-do is the main culprit, since as soon as one sees the other one moving around, he wants to be moving around too. They are in such constant motion that holding still for longer than about 30 seconds is pure torture. And let me tell ya, these kiddos are pretty vocal about their displeasure...and since church is in a big open ballroom, there's really no where to execute the ever-important 'timeout'. Thankfully, our church has an amazing nursery where the boys get to play with all the other kiddos under 2 years old during the sermon. Praise God! Otherwise, church would not be an option for the next year or so.

The boys have also decided that their nap time take place starting at around 11 am and going until around 2 pm. We're down to one nap per day. So going out to lunch after church is also currently out of the question since church gets out around noon. I tried taking the boys to McMenamin's Rooftop bar (it's on the roof of Hotel Oregon and is one of the best places to eat outside during the summer) with my parents and grandparents. Of course, it was the day it got up above 70 degrees out. The boys were tired, hot, squinting because of how bright it was...all a wonderful combination for tempter tantrums. My parents and I ended up whisking the boys back to the car, I drove them home, put them down for naps, and got my lunch about half an hour later when my parents delivered it.

So here's our list of things to avoid taking the boys to for the foreseeable future:

Fundraising banquets where teenagers are giving their testimonies...and where your children are the only children under high school age.
Anywhere that keeps them away from their cribs during nap time...unless it is in the car, where they sleep wonderfully.
Basically anywhere that requires them to be quiet and contained for long periods of time.

There's really it at this point, but I'm sure the list will grow. And before you judge and say that we need to be teaching our boys to be quiet and respectful, consider that we are dealing with twins...twin BOYS no less. Before you tell us we should be exposing our boys to these situations, pop out a set of twins yourself, wait 18 months, then try taking them into these situations. I wish you the best of luck. We'll get there. But I also value my sanity, and some things just aren't worth the grey hairs.

Plus, I'd rather enjoy the time I have with our boys by keeping them as happy as possible.

Asher with the bucket hat.

Levi with the bucket hat.

Asher, Nathan, and Levi. I love my boys!

One last silly thing to share before I wrap up this ridiculously long post. The other night, I was going through my closet and decided it would be fun to try on my wedding dress. The last time I tried it on was right after I found out I was pregnant with the boys and was almost 20 lbs heavier. I actually had to pin the darn thing on to keep it from falling off of me! I have to admit, I wish I looked like this on my wedding day.

And with that, I'm off to bed. I ran just over a mile in 10 minutes tonight, which kicked my butt but felt really good. I then walked three minutes and then ran another mile in 10 minutes. Tomorrow morning, I plan to do it all again before tackling 2.25 miles in 25 minutes on Friday. So, yeah...bed is calling my name, loud and clear. Night all!

BABY!!!!

2010-03-31T23:43:00.000-07:00

No...not mine. I keep telling you, I'm not pregnant and it's not going to happen any time soon. Or ever, if I have anything to say about it!

But my sister in law is!!!! But you already knew that. She's 29 1/2 weeks along and I am so incredibly excited to meet my little nephew in just about 10 weeks. Hear that sis?! TEN WEEKS!!!!

Last Saturday, we got to celebrate the soon-to-be new addition to the family (not to mention Momma) at a baby shower. After getting off of work on Friday night, I drove up to my mother in law's in Hillsboro and after some chit chatting, set to work on some decorations. I think I finally fell into bed around 1:30 am, with an alarm set for 8:30 am.

A few decoration adjustments, a shower, and a quick trip to the Party Store later, Mommy, Daddy, future Grandma (on Daddy's side), and one of Mommy's friends arrived...just in time for Mommy and Daddy to be whisked away by yours truly for a whirlwind maternity photo shoot. Have I mentioned lately how much I love maternity shoots? No? Well I do. They tickle me pink...or blue...depending on the gender of the baby. Ha ha. Anyway.

Here's my fave photo out of the whole shoot. It makes me miss being pregnant...NOT! HA HA HA! PSYCH! But seriously, I love capturing the beauty of an expecting mother. My sister in law makes such a beautiful soon-to-be-mommy.

Until I have her permission, that's all I'm going to share (especially since it's the only photo SHE has seen so far!) but here are some photos from the baby shower. It was a Woodland Critter theme, and too much fun to decorate for!

Pudding "dirt" dessert (complete with worms) and the cloth diaper cake I fashioned.

Ants on a log! Take you back to kindergarden, much?

Toadstools (made of hard boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, and feta cheese).

I heart wooden blocks...bought these for the boys and couldn't resist using them as decor.

Using found objects for decor is way too much fun...found these in mom's garage.

All in all, I think it was a success...although I missed the last half since I had to jump into the car in order to be back for work at 5 pm. Quick trip! But it was worth it. And now a parting shot...of me...indulging in the decorate-your-own-cookie station. Don't judge, I worked hard, man!

Ok, Seriously

2010-03-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

Here's the low-down on our family for the past week or so. The boys started with runny noses, which then progressed into coughs, prompting Nathan to take them into the doctor last Friday while I was working. Usually when they have coughs, it's the only symptom we're able to see of ear infections. Sure enough, another bout of double ear infections for the both of them.

Fast forward three days, to this Tuesday. I wake up with a ridiculously sore throat, so bad that I'm barely able to talk. Here's the funny thing about being a 911 dispatcher...without our voices and our hands, we're pretty much useless. So I called in to work and managed to croak to the supervisor that I wouldn't be into work. Nathan took the boys up to Hillsboro to his mom's so he could make a quick Costco run (we were pretty much out of diapers and wipes, both essential items in our household these days) so I was able to have the house to myself for a good six hours or so...bliss, I'm telling you, pure bliss. Unfortunately, Nathan called me before heading home to inform me that the boys both had pink eye. Wonderful. They most likely caught it from the neighbor's kids.

The next morning, my throat didn't feel any better...another day home from work. So Nathan and I both took the boys to the doctor, where they were issued a prescription for eye drops...at $75 for 3 ml of fluid! EEK!

Yesterday I was feeling better, so I left poor Nathan (who was also starting to feel under the weather) home with the boys and headed to work. The bright spot in this week of ickiness was that I found out that I'm to start shadow phase on Tuesday! This is the last phase of my training before I go solo. The training supervisor said I should only need 2-3 weeks of shadow phase, which means I should be solo by middle of April! Yay! Unfortunately, by the end of the night, I felt like a bus had hit me, put it in reverse, and repeated the job. Besides my throat hurting again, my left ear was completely plugged up and hurting. Great.

Then to top it off, I woke up this morning with (what else?) pink eye. While my left ear is no longer completely plugged up, both of my ears are slightly plugged. Unfortunately, Nathan and I aren't established with a doctor here in McMinnville, which means no available appointments for me. I'll probably end up going to Immediate Care this afternoon...I thought I'd wait to see how my ears do, but they're steadily getting worse. Lovely.

Because of how much I've been sleeping in an attempt to get well enough to work, I really haven't seen the boys since Wednesday, but I think they're starting to feel better. Nathan, on the other hand, is feeling like crud, although he has so far managed to avoid pink eye (knock on wood). I think I jinxed myself when I gloated over the fact that Nathan and the boys have required doctors visits and prescriptions, while I have not. Gosh darn it.

So seriously...enough already, ok?!

"Old" Shirt Redeux

2010-03-15T18:05:00.000-07:00

I saw this tutorial on one of my craft blogs last night and I simply had to make it. It required finding an old jersey shirt that I wouldn't mind cutting up...not hard with all the shirts I've shrunk out of lately!

I bought this shirt about 30 lbs ago. I loved the cut of it, and the fabric is SO soft, but it's that kind of fabric that clings and shows EVERY bump. Then, once I could wear it without worrying as much about bumps, it basically hung off me. Sad day. :( Fortunately, it was perfect for this project!

All it took was cutting the shirt along the side seams, cutting the sleeves off along the seams, cutting out a bunch of 4" squares from the fabric, laying the squares overlapping, and sewing one seam down the center. SO easy! The most time consuming part was cutting them out and pinning them together.

Here's the result:

It's so much fun to wear, nice and light for spring, and oh-so soft.

And I just had to share these. $4 at Walmart, and they are by far my favorite earrings ever. Very light weight for how big they are, which makes them much more comfortable to wear than some large earrings I have. Oh, and did I mention that they remind me of spring? I'm kind of on a spring kick right now.

Sorry the photo is blurry, I took it with my phone.

A Little Action Happy

2010-03-14T00:54:00.000-08:00

I admit it...I went a little Photoshop action happy tonight. I finally got a copy of the photos I took during the Women's Retreat from my mom, and decided to play with them a bit.

By the way...a 16 oz skinny kicker at 4:30 pm...on the night that Daylight Savings kicks in...not smart. Just sayin'.

Anyway, the lighting wasn't real great when I took these photos and I was using my parents' smaller camera rather than our fancy Nikon, so I wasn't super happy with how the photos turned out. To put it bluntly, they were very blah...grey...lifeless. So I kicked the actions into high gear and here's what I got!

Mom, don't you dare copy these photos from this blog! I put quality copies on your jump drive!

Today after the boys woke up from their VERY long naps (they both have double ear infections AGAIN), we headed to my parents' place, dropped off the boys, drove to Oregon City, and....

...gave Bandit to another home.

Please don't give us a hard time about this. It's a decision we have been working on since around November, and it wasn't an easy one to make. I think we feel guilty enough about it without anyone helping us along on that front. We finally decided that we simply aren't able to give him the kind of attention he needs and deserves, he doesn't really have anywhere to run and play, and his maintenance training was severely lacking. So after posting him on Craig's List, we got a reply from a wonderful woman with four children, who grew up raising Springer Spaniels, and was an absolute perfect fit. We spent about half an hour at her house this afternoon, just getting to know her and watching Bandit bond with her 11 year old son. Before leaving, we made her promise to call us if he doesn't work out for their family for any reason, and while we weren't happy about giving him away, we were confident that he is in a place where he will be loved and cared for.

Meanwhile, back at my parents', the boys were doing their darndest to tear the house apart.

Asher trying on Grammy's shoes.

Levi in the cupboard.

This is their favorite place to play at Grammy and Grandpa's.

Before we arrive, this cupboard is filled with tupperware and plastic bowls. By the time we are ready to leave, the entire contents of said cupboard is scattered throughout the kitchen, dining room, and living room. These boys don't do anything half way.

In closing, I would ask that you be praying for our little family. We are trying to re-evaluate our living situation in order to be better stewards of our money, and we have a lot of big decisions facing us. I'll give more details as things arise, but for now please keep us in your prayers.

And now, since the clock says 1:19 am but it's really 2:19 am, and since church starts at 9:45 am...I'm going to bed.

Night!

Victory Dress

2010-03-03T22:48:00.001-08:00

I debated on posting this before reaching the magic number, but I just can't stand it anymore! One of the things I really wanted to reward myself with was a sexy little victory dress to wear when I 'force' Nathan to take me out on a fancy date when I reach my goal weight.

Mom and I went shopping after Christmas, and I found a little black dress (I've never had one before) that reminded me of the dresses that Helen and Tara wore for the Biggest Loser finale on season 7, which I absolutely loved!

Btw, I totally loved these two girls during season 7, which has definitely been my favorite season so far. As soon as I saw these dresses, I wanted one! So when I found the black one that reminded me of these dresses (and on sale no less!), I HAD to buy it!

It's a juniors size 9, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to fit in it even after reaching my goal weight. So imagine my surprise when I tried it on last month and it fit! A little snugly, but IT FIT!

Here it is! I'm a couple of pounds lighter now than I was in this photo, and I'm not ashamed to say that I'm pretty happy with how I look in this dress.

Refreshed

2010-03-02T21:27:00.000-08:00

It's Tuesday night, and I'm sitting in the living room with my hubby, watching American Idol (no, I'm not a regular watcher) and enjoying a Deschutes Brewery Inversion IPA. Mmmm. The boy-o's are sound asleep in their cribs after a trip to Grandma's up in Hillsboro, and I had the house all tidied up and the bathroom cleaned by the time they all got home. It feels good.

This last weekend, I spent three days at our church's Women's Retreat at Twin Rocks Camp on the coast. I was so nervous about going. You see, I have a very hard time connecting with other women. Having been brought up as 'one of the guys', I've always been more comfortable around guys and I feel so awkward around women, especially in large groups. I think a lot of that had to do with being overweight, but that's a whole other can of worms that I just won't go into. So I wasn't sure about going on a retreat with a bunch of ladies...I'll admit it, I was pretty skeptical about whether I'd enjoy myself.

But oh my, it was wonderful! Every single one of the 60 or so women were just amazing and beautiful. We laughed, we cried, we built relationships. While I was ready to go home by the end of the weekend (I missed my boys!), I was sad to see it end. The theme was "Loving Well", and we watched a conference by a Christian speaker named Beth Moore. I had heard of her before, but had never heard her speak...OH...MY...GOSH! She's amazing! One part HILARIOUS, one part spiritual wisdom. If you haven't heard her speak, look her up!

This particular conference basically explored the idea that in order to love other people (and ourselves) well, we first must be well loved; however, we need to not look for that love from other people, but rather from God. Only then can we free other people up to love us 'pretty well', and spill God's love for us out into other people. There was a lot more to it, and it made me take a real deep look at myself and my relationship with God, but that was the general gist of it. As I said, it was an amazing weekend, and I hope I can hold on to and apply the things I learned to my life.

The other bright spot in my life is that work is going better. I have to admit, I felt like I was constantly beating my head against the wall for the past couple of months, and I wanted nothing more than to toss in the towel...(un?)fortunately, I didn't have much of a choice in the matter since I am the only income for our family, and I had to just suck it up. In the past week, something seems to have clicked, and I'm not making as many mistakes. I'm also not butting heads with one of my coworkers anymore...the coworker who helped me lose almost 5 lbs in a week because I wasn't eating or sleeping. No bueno. But again, things are better, and I have hope.

As for the boys, they both have two of their upper molars. Not fun. They're now working two bottom molars, and they're pretty miserable. The good news is that spring is coming! Which means more outings to the park, where the boys LOOOOOVE to run...in opposite directions! Pretty funny. They've also adjusted their sleep schedules forward a couple of hours; they're now going to sleep around 8:30 and waking up around 8:00 am, which means their night-owl Daddy is also having to adjust. Thankfully, they still take a 2 hour nap each day, which means Daddy gets to take a nap. Still no true words yet, but that's pretty normal for twins; generally, twins start talking later than singleton kids, because they develop their own method of communicating with each other.

And now, the random cuteness of the day!

We went for a walk on Linfield's campus a couple of weeks ago, and then put the boys in the bed of the truck while we put away the diaper bag and stroller. They weren't sure what to do with it, which was pretty funny. Levi on the left, Asher on the right.

Enjoying some time in the park with Daddy during one of the first warm sunny days of spring. They like bouncing on this 4-seat teeter totter thingy. Levi left, Asher right.

3, 30, and 4

2010-02-10T23:14:00.000-08:00

I am currently in the midst of training for running my first 5k. This is something I originally planned on doing waaaaaaay back in the summer of 2008...you know, the summer of "hey, you're having twins"! Pregnant with twins = no running 5k. Doctors orders. Instead, I went on bed rest.

Last summer was yet another summer of huge life changes. Again, no 5k. So I am determined that this summer will be the summer I finally run the stinkin' 5k.

Anyway, the training I'm doing is called Couch 2 5k (C25k), and it's a program that takes nine weeks and moves you from being a couch potato to being able to run a full 5k in that amount of time. I've started this program about four times, and have always had to quit for one reason or another before even getting to the third week. Today, though, I started the third week and I don't have any desire to stop! YAY!

30:

Along the same lines, I weighed in at WW tonight, and lost another 1.2 lbs! I weighed in at 139.6 lbs, so I'm now officially in my 130's for the first time since probably high school! YAY ME! So excited! Not only that, but I'm only 0.2 lbs away from reaching my 35 lb loss mark. Wow.

Remember those adorable purses I made a while ago, one for myself and one for my sister in law? Well, I made a couple more. One for me, and one for my mom for her birthday. Here they are:

My purse.

My mom's purse.

I got the pattern from madebyrae.blogspot.com and it is so much fun to make. Not only that, but the options for fabric combinations are limitless and it's really the perfect size purse. Love it. Thing is, I've received a TON of compliments on these bags, and several people have encouraged me to make them to sell. Ok, I'll bite. I purchased the commercial license to sell the purses, and now already have an order for four purses, with a few more coming down the pike. If anyone is interested, I'm selling them for $25 and can do custom orders!

I'm also considering opening an Etsy.com shop, which is an online market place where you can sell handmade and vintage items for incredibly small fees (approximately $1 to sell a $25 item). Mom may join in and sell some of her jewelry. It would be great to earn a little extra money on the side to supplement my current income. So spread the word, and I'll be sure to post the link to the Etsy shop once it's up and running!

Ok, enough about that, I'm exhausted. Night all!

Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer

2010-02-05T23:06:00.000-08:00

Once the walking started, it was only a matter of time until the boys' natural sense of rhythm would show itself. It began as a simple bobbing up and down, and has morphed from there. I could continue to describe it, but I think I'll let you see it for yourself! Please excuse my hysterical giggling.

Oh so funny! Things just get more and more entertaining with these boys!

I kept meaning to share this video with you all, but it's been a long week. Hope you enjoyed it!

Off The Scale Victories

2010-01-27T23:51:00.000-08:00

One of the things that Weight Watchers really encourages is finding ways to mark victories besides on the scale. It's wonderful, because there are definitely weeks where the scale fails me. Or maybe I fail the scale. I dunno. Either way, without off-the-scale victories, I would be totally discouraged. Take this week for instance. I gained 1.2 lbs. Not a surprise, I didn't track my points for a single day, so it was totally my fault. Failed the scale, and all that.

But that was totally off-set by my afternoon. I'm a bridesmaid in Dani's wedding in September; she and her future sister-in-law/maid of honor picked me up for a trip to David's Bridal for an afternoon of trying on pretty dresses. I haven't tried on pretty dresses since picking out my wedding dress...about four years ago...when my dress was a size 18. Yikes.

When we got there, I asked the sales assistant to measure me to figure out my new (completely unknown) dress size. After measuring and consulting her sizing chart, she announced the magic number to be....

...16 or 18.

Umm, no. That was my size 30 lbs ago. She was pretty determined I'd need at least a 16, so I let her grab that size in a sleeveless dress. After putting it on and zipping it up (sans bra), I walked out of the dressing room...and came about an inch from flashing everyone in the store when the dress attempted to drop to the floor.

Next came the size 14. Still baggy, still gaping, thankfully not a strapless. The sales assistant grabbed the back of the dress, pulled it tight, and said, "You know, I think you could fit in a 10. That's why I hate those size charts."

SIZE 10! REALLY?!

Sure enough...

Granted, this wasn't the first size 10 dress I tried on, but this is the one that, when I walked out of the fitting room, everyone went "ooooooooooooooooh". That's always a good sign. The dress is a little snug, but I'm still losing weight (not counting this week) so it will fit perfectly by the time I reach my goal weight. The blue isn't the color I'll be wearing, but they only had three dresses in the entire store in my color.

This was one of them...the fit looks a little funky because it's two sizes too big so they had to put clothes pins on my back, but at least you can see the color!

I was honestly worried the color would look horrible with my skin tone, but it's really not bad!

And just for giggles, here's the first size 10 I tried on, the one I loved until I tried on the dark blue one. And dude, it has pockets! Tabitha, the maid of honor who just had a baby, ended up choosing this one, citing the pacifier carrying pockets as the determining factor.

In other news, Asher has a sharp tip of a molar poking through his upper gums. He is in SO much pain. Add a runny nose and copious amounts of drool to the equation and the little guy is miserable. He woke up last night screaming his brains out and wouldn't be consoled for a good 20 minutes...it was painful.

Dear Molar,

Please hurry up with this whole breaking-through-the-gums thing. I'm tired of seeing my baby in pain. And the non-stop drool isn't real fun either.

Thanks,

Mommy

Here's my man hanging on the boys' big pillow, watchin' tv, and petting the dog with his feet.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my boys? I just hope this evil molar makes a full appearance soon so we can have a little bit of peace around here...until the next one decides to show its shining face...cusp...whatever.

Craftiness!

2010-01-26T01:37:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned before, I have a love for craft blogs. Actually, it borders on an addiction. Only problem was, I'd find these great blogs, browse them for a while, close the window, and promptly forget what they were called! So I decided to finally bite the bullet and make a new blog roll to the right side of our blog titled "Craftiness!". It includes the Make It and Love It blog that I got most of my Christmas gift ideas from. Love it!

I don't know about the rest of you Mommies out there, but I NEED a creative outlet. Since theatre has been pushed to the side and Young Life (my insanity outlet) is a no-go due to my work schedule, random and useful crafts have become my outlets.

Most of the crafts are very simple and easy to do, accomplished within an hour or two. And a lot of them use things you have around the house or cheap fat quarters that you can get for about a dollar at places like Joann Fabric or Walmart. My favorites, though, are the ones that use things that are laying around the house begging for a purpose in life.

Hope this gives some of you a fun place to look for craft ideas! And keep checking back because I will be adding to the blog roll as I find more fun blogs!

POST EDIT*** There's just one problem with this blog roll...I CAN'T STOP ADDING TO IT! There are just too many great craft blogs out there!

Two Things

2010-01-23T01:34:00.000-08:00

One:

I have officially lost 30 lbs. Well, technically, exactly 31 lbs. I am now 143.4 lbs and only have 13.4 to go! YAY!

But even more exciting...

Two:

Kate and Eliot are having a.......................................

.......................................................................................

BOY!!!!!!

I'm so excited, our boys are going to have a little boy cousin. I simply can't wait to meet this new little blessing in the family and hold a newborn in my arms again. No, that doesn't mean I have baby fever, for pity sake. I'm just totally excited about seeing my first nephew...and then be able to give him back to his mommy when he starts crying, ha ha ha. I'm not even the mommy and the next 20 months are going to seem interminable!

Here's to miracles!

Just Shy of 30

2010-01-11T14:25:00.001-08:00

When I weighed in on Saturday, I had a mixture of feelings as I saw my weight. First, I was excited because I had finally kicked the holiday slump and lost 2.6 lbs that week. And then the disappointment set in...

...I was 0.2 lbs away from hitting my 30 lb loss mark! GRR!

Oh well, that means hitting it next week will be a cinch. And since I'm so close, I figured I might as well do some photos to commemorate the occasion.

But first, a reminder of "before":

Shudder.

And now, 5 months later and 28.8 lbs lighter!

Only 14.2 lbs to go before I hit my first goal weight! Really, honestly, I'd love to lose a total of 50 lbs, which would put me at 124.4 lbs, but we'll see how 130 looks and feels first.

And now I'm off to work. It's my Friday, yay!

Is There A Craft-Blog Anonymous?

2010-01-07T22:37:00.000-08:00

I'm addicted. Really and truly addicted. If I were to allow myself, I would spend HOURS on various craft blogs, looking for fun crafts that I can do without spending any money and using only the materials I have on hand. I get such a kick out of re-purposing things around the house that I would normally just be tossing and using them in ways I normally wouldn't.

Who's ever heard of a tshirt necklace? I surely hadn't until stumbling across it on a (what else?) craft blog. I had recently gone through my closet to exorcise some of the now-too-baggy clothing and knew I had a tshirt or two in there that could be sacrificed to the rotary cutter.

The finished product:

I also refurbished a necklace my mom made for me a few years ago. I absolutely loved this necklace, and it meant a lot to me because Mom and Marla bought the Murano glass pendant for me on their trip to Italy. Unfortunately, the wire holding the necklace together snapped, and it has been languishing in a small box ever since. After seeing the necklace my Weight Watcher leader was wearing last week, I was inspired. I grabbed some of the thin brown ribbon I had used in some Christmas gifts, strung on the pendant and clasps, made a few knots, and VIOLA! Good as new!

Besides being crafty today, I also managed to sweep/mop/vacuum all of the downstairs floors AND get the kitchen and dining room cleaned up. Nathan took the afternoon to retreat to his man cave (aka the garage) and cook up a batch of homebrew while watching the National Championship college football game. Meanwhile, our friend/neighbor from across the street, Sarah, came over and we spent a good couple of hours just chatting. All in all, it was a very relaxing and productive day...especially considering the fact that I didn't get to sleep until about 6 am (crying babies) and didn't wake up until about 2 pm.

Speaking of which, my sleep schedule continues to be on the complete fritz. Lately it's been 'awake until 3 or 4 am, sleep until 11 or 12'. Not cool. In an attempt to remedy this problem, I took a Tylenol PM...about half an hour ago...which means it's setting in right about now. Which, in turn, would explain why spelling correctly is becoming increasingly more difficult.

I think that's my cue. Night!

Our Sons: Upright & Mobile

2010-01-02T23:30:00.000-08:00

We're not sure what prompted it. Maybe something clicked in their brains. Maybe they were tired of rug burn on their knees. Maybe they were tired of having to crane their necks to see anything higher than six inches from the ground.

All I know is that right as I was laying down for a nap this afternoon, Nathan came running up the stairs into our room. There are really only two types of things that make Nathan run up those stairs: something really really good or something really really bad. He burst into the room and informed me that Levi, our firstborn, had successfully walked a good 7 steps or so in our living room all by himself, without any prompting. I smiled, exclaimed over how very cool that was, and went to sleep. I'm an awesome Mom like that.

I have to admit, I was a little worried that Levi would walk a couple of times and then give it up for a few days. But as soon as the boys got up from their naps, Levi was at it again. It took a little encouragement, but he loved how excited Mommy and Daddy got over his new trick.

Not to be outdone, Asher promptly went to the corner of the wall he was using to hold himself up, let go, and walked a good 4-6 steps. And giggled. The ENTIRE time. Stinkin' hilarious!

And now they won't stop. The distances are getting further and further, and their balance is steadily improving. I predicted that they will be running by next week.

Thank goodness they both got little monkey backpacks with leashes as tails for Christmas!

DBSKKMBAS Strikes Again

2010-01-02T02:31:00.000-08:00

I have an affliction. It comes in a 12 oz cup. It doesn't strike very often (due in large part to budgetary restraints) but when it does, it strikes with a vengeance.

I like to call it Dutch Bros Skinny Kicker Keeps My Butt Awake Syndrome.

Aka DBSKKMBAS.

Ok, maybe that's a little unwieldy, but we dispatchers work in acronyms all the time and it's kind of a hard habit to break.

Speaking of dispatchers, I recently rescued my favorite mug from my 'lost my job and had to clean out my drawer' box and it is currently holding the Sweet Dreams tea that I am using to combat the DBSKKMBAS. It was a present from one of my fellow dispatchers in Baker (thanks Jill!) and had been retired from public life due to the fact that my boss would probably not appreciate the sentiment printed on it:

9-1-1: Trained to save your ass, not kiss it.

Heh heh, it still gets me every time.

But on to other thoughts. Like the following...

...is anyone else ridiculously relieved that the holidays are over? My relief mostly stems from the fact that I now have no "excuse" to eat like a pig anymore. There's no more 'but it's the holidays' creeping in the back of my head. On to more weight loss, starting with a (very scary) weigh-in tomorrow - I mean THIS - morning.

I'm also relieved to be done with all the planning and list-making that is involved when you are making most of your Christmas presents. While making said presents is incredibly fulfilling and much easier on the pocketbook, it also takes a LOT longer. That being said, I'm totally going to do it again.

Christmas was relatively relaxing (yes, I'm just NOW getting around to posting about Christmas) considering how many people were at our house. I had to work on Christmas Eve, while Nathan and the boys enjoyed dinner with my parents and grandparents here at our place. I did, however, get Christmas Day off, so we all slept in on Christmas morning and got to spend a little bit of time with just the four of us until my parents and grandparents arrived around 10. We did the whole stocking thing (stockings are a big deal in my family), had breakfast, and then proceeded to rip apart our presents while the boys took a VERY LONG nap. Their presents got piled under and around the coffee table...yes, there were THAT many presents for them.

At around 4, Nathan's dad joined us and got to watch the boys open their presents. Both Asher and Levi actually helped with the opening of some of their presents, until they got distracted by the toys coming out of them. What a huge difference from their first Christmas! Then we had an amazing dinner of prime rib, mashed potatoes, and Lawry's original recipe cream corn. Wow. Ask me to tell you about eating at the Lawry's The Prime Rib mansion in Chicago some time. I'll start to salivate and then eventually get around to telling you the story. Again, despite having a full house, the evening was very laid back and we were even graced with my father in law playing the guitar and singing for us while we made dinner. It doesn't get much better than that.

New Year's was more of the same. I had to work New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, both of which were remarkably quiet despite being a notoriously rowdy holiday. I got home at 11 on New Year's Eve, early enough to ring in 2010 with Nathan and his sister and her husband, who had joined us for the night. Nathan had uploaded all the short videos we had taken of the boys since they were born onto his new PS3 that he got for Christmas, and we watched a couple of them. I had forgotten just how tiny and helpless they use to be, my goodness! It literally brought tears to my eyes and caused me to demand that my sister in law gestate faster...

...speaking of which, I don't think I've written about this on here yet, at first because it wasn't public yet and then because of the holiday whirlwind, but I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNTIE! Kate and Eliot are expecting their first little one in June and I simply can't wait to have a newborn in my arms again...with the proviso that I get to give this newborn back to its parents when it starts to squall. No, baby fever has not hit me and I don't see it hitting any time in the foreseeable future, so don't ask. Not happenin'. Two is enough, thank you very much.

Oh, and did I mention that we got snow here on Tuesday? According to the weatherman that morning, we were only suppose to get a couple wet flakes transitioning into rain. Instead, we got about three or four inches worth...which THEN transitioned into rain. Pretty much all traces of it are now gone, but not before a snowman 'magically' appeared on the patio at work, complete with broccoli eyes, a celery mouth, a carrot nose, and a fireman jacket. I love working with people who have such an awesome sense of humor! Unfortunately, by the time we got back to work the next day, Mr. Snowman was reduced to a couple small piles of snow surrounded by vegetables. At least I can say I got one snow-fall in this winter!

Ok, I have to get up in about 4 1/2 hours, so I should probably call this good. Sorry there aren't any Christmas photos to post, but we didn't take our camera out all day (bad photographers!) and I have yet to nab any photos from my parents, grandparents, or Nathan's dad. We'll get them eventually...and a goal for this year is to get our online family photo album updated. Yeah. Bear with me on that one.

Night!

Just When You Think You've Got It All Figured Out...

2009-12-29T02:10:00.001-08:00

...your child is once again up at 2 am, crying his little eyes out.

GAH!

Levi has been changed, given a bottle, snuggled, read a book, given Tylenol and gas drops, and allowed to play until he curled up on the floor with a teddy. Which Mommy took as a very good hint to put said child to bed.

And now he's is alternating between 5 minutes of quiet and 1 minute or so of crying at the top of his lungs. Eventually he will cry himself to sleep...

...right?

RIGHT?!

Seriously, both the boys have been sleeping SO well for the past week or so, it's been blissful.

To escape the frustration and exhaustion, I'm going to journey back to happier days; more specifically, last night, when the boys had another confrontation with Daddy's spaghetti sauce and body painting came back into vogue.

Asher: Who made this mess?!

Oh...right...that would be me.

Attack of the spaghetti sauce!

Levi: I'm cleaner than my brother, Mommy!

Touch the camera?

SPAGHETTI GRIN!

Needless to say, Asher is a bit more... exuberant than his brother in the art of spaghetti sauce painting.

The good news?

Levi has now extended his quiet times to about 10 minutes at a time, and the crying fits have shortened to about 10 seconds long. Hopefully this is a good sign

Here's To You, Boys In Blue (And Brown)!

2009-12-23T23:43:00.000-08:00

This was sent to me by someone who shall remain nameless, and my co-workers and I found it pretty hysterical. Maybe you have to be in law enforcement in order to get it, but there is a lot of truth hidden behind the comedy. Most people hate cops until the moment when they need the police the most. Either the officers are 'harassing innocent people' (HAH! what are those?), not getting there fast enough (what did you expect to happen when you moved to the very edge of the county?), or doing their jobs in other unsatisfactory ways. For 98% of calls, they're the 'bad guys'. My job is sometimes hard and thankless, but I wouldn't ever trade them places.

_______________________________

Police Harassment

Recently, the Chula Vista Police Department ran an e-mail forum (a question and answer exchange) with the topic being, "Community Policing."

One of the civilian email participants posed the following question, "I would like to know how it is possible for police officers to continually harass people and get away with it?"

From the law enforcement side, Sgt. Bennett, obviously a cop with a sense of humor replied:

"First of all, let me tell you this...it's not easy. In Chula Vista , we average one cop for every 600 people. Only about 60% of those cops are on general duty (or what you might refer to as "patrol") where we do most of our harassing. The rest are in non-harassing departments that do not allow them contact with the day to day innocents. And at any given moment, only one-fifth of the 60% patrollers are on duty and available for harassing people while the rest are off duty. So roughly,
one cop is responsible for harassing about 5,000 residents.

When you toss in the commercial business, and tourist locations that attract people from other areas, sometimes you have a situation where a single cop is responsible for harassing 10,000 or more people a day.

Now, your average ten-hour shift runs 36,000 seconds long. This gives a cop one second to harass a person, and then only three-fourths of a second to eat a donut AND then find a new person to harass. This is not an easy task. To be honest, most cops are not up to this challenge day in and day out. It is just too tiring. What we do is utilize some tools to help us narrow down those people which we can realistically harass.

The tools available to us are as follows:

PHONE: People will call us up and point out things that cause us to focus on a person for special harassment. "My neighbor is beating his wife" is a code phrase used often. This means we'll come out and give somebody some special harassment. Another popular one is, "There's a
guy breaking into a house." The harassment team is then put into action.

CARS: We have special cops assigned to harass people who drive. They like to harass the drivers of fast cars, cars with no insurance or no driver's licenses and the like. It's lots of fun when you pick them out of traffic for nothing more obvious than running a red light. Sometimes
you get to really heap the harassment on when you find they have drugs in the car, they are drunk, or have an outstanding warrant on file.

RUNNERS: Some people take off running just at the sight of a police officer. Nothing is quite as satisfying as running after them like a beagle on the scent of a bunny. When you catch them you can harass them for hours.

STATUTES: When we don't have PHONES or CARS and have nothing better to do, there are actually books that give us ideas for reasons to harass folks. They are called "Statutes"; Criminal Codes, Motor Vehicle Codes, etc... They all spell out all sorts of things for which you can really mess with people. After you read the statute, you can just drive around for awhile until you find someone violating one of these listed offenses and harass them. Just last week I saw a guy trying to steal a car. Well, there's this book we have that says that's not allowed. That meant I got permission to harass this guy. It is a really cool system that we have set up, and it works pretty well.

We seem to have a never-ending supply of folks to harass. And we get away with it. Why? Because for the good citizens who pay the tab, we try to keep the streets safe for them, and they pay us to "harass" some people. Next time you are in my town, give me the old "single finger
wave." That's another one of those codes. It means, "You can't harass me." It's one of our favorites.

_______________________________

I have to admit, I get pretty defensive when I hear someone make a blanket comment along the lines of "all cops are jerks". There are so many misconceptions about what it is our officers and deputies do while on duty, and I think if the general public knew what they deal with on a daily basis they'd be a little more forgiving if an officer or deputy is a bit brusque with them. After all, when was the last time you had to tackle a guy so hopped up on drugs that he had no concept of strength or pain? Or the last time you had go to a fatal car crash and then inform the mother that her child was killed in the accident? While most people are good, law-abiding citizens, they only make up a tiny portion of our calls...and most of THOSE calls are medical.

Next time you see an officer pulling someone over or arresting a shady-looking character, just remember that they're making YOUR world a safer place. I, for one, am incredibly proud of and thankful for our boys (and girls) in Blue and Brown.

...brown is worn by the Sheriff's Deputies. FYI.

Another Day, Another Project

2009-12-22T01:48:00.000-08:00

It's almost 2 am and I'm still up. Really Lindy, must you do this to yourself?

Here's the problem: I rented Julie & Julia. And me being, well, ME there was no way I could sit through a movie without a project to keep my little hands busy. Thankfully, I needed to make an ornament to give my boss for our ornament swap at work. Anyone can go out and buy someone an ornament, but a handmade one is so much fun not to mention one of a kind. And I just happened to finish it at the exact same time the movie ended. Fate? I think so. It would have only taken about 3o minutes (if that) if I hadn't decided to do some decorative hand stitching around the edges and on the front.

Also, here are a couple of pictures of the purse I made for my sister in law. My mom was very sad that she didn't get to see the finished product since she was with me when I found (and fell in love with) the corduroy fabric I used. So here are a couple of photos, Mom.

Ok, it's seriously time for bed now. Night all!

PS. I'm trying to find a fun project that will give me an excuse to go out and find some fabric that I absolutely love...you know, without hoping to get lucky at the remnant bin. I don't want to make any sort of clothes yet, though, on account of the whole still losing weight thing. Any ideas?

Speaking of losing weight, I DID manage to lose another 0.8 lbs when I weighed in on Saturday. It was a minor miracle. I have now lost a total of 27.4 lbs!

Peace Like A River In My Soul

2009-12-20T23:27:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day.

A little hectic to start out with, but good. Asher kept me up until about 4 am (I was on baby duty while Daddy got some much-needed rest) so I got to sleep in a little bit while Nathan fed the boys their breakfast. Unfortunately, in my sleep-deprived stupor I miscalculated how long I could sleep in; somehow I thought sleeping until 9:45 would give me and hour and a half until our 'departure time' at 10:15. Don't ask.

We didn't get out of the house until 11:00. Oops.

But get out of the house we did, and headed up to Hillsboro to have Christmas festivities with Nathan's mom's side of the family...but not before dropping the boys off at Grandma's and braving Costco on the last weekend day before Christmas. One word: stupid. We did, however, manage to get in and out of Costco in 25 minutes flat. And yes, I do believe that may be a world record. It was nice to have a chance to hang out with my husband, just the two of us, doing the sort of every day stuff we use to be able to do so easily...you know, before twins.

The Christmas festivities were a bit delayed, yet incredibly relaxed which was a bit of a departure from the norm. I think my favorite part was that the gifts were all truly from the heart. With the budget being a bit tight for all of us this year, we had to get creative with our gift giving and it was such a pleasure to sit back and watch how touching each gift was. It's so easy to lose ourselves in the commercialism of Christmas and this year I really desired something...deeper. I think I got my Christmas wish.

After we got home, I (fueled by a Dutch Bro's skinny Kicker) immediately tackled the four loads worth of laundry that needed folded and put away, not to mention the dusting and rearranging of our room that has been taunting me for weeks on end. Seriously, does anyone want to hire someone to just fold and put away my laundry? That's all I want in life...to not have to fold and put away FOUR LOADS OF LAUNDRY. EVERY WEEK. Guess I should have thought of that before having twins.

I had just gotten done with putting away said laundry and was proceeding to give our master bathroom a much-needed scrub down (Got the toilet bowl cleaner from Dollar Tree, Kate. It works like a charm!) when I heard something resembling an "OH NO!" from downstairs. Evidently the downstairs bathroom door had been left open and our sons immediately proceeded to give themselves a bath in the dog's water bowl. Keep in mind that we had already attempted to put Levi and Asher to bed at this point, so we thought leaving the door open was safe.

Needless to say, a 10:30 pm bath became necessary. Have I mentioned how much the boys enjoy splashing in the bath these days?

I realized tonight just how much I wish I could be home for the nightly bedtime routine. It's pretty much impossible for Nathan to pull off the whole bath-and-a-story act by himself, with twins...they're just too wiggly. Tonight after their bath, however, we turned down the lights, curled up on our bed, and read The First Christmas while the boys snuggled with their new stuffed animals from their Auntie Kate and Uncle Eliot. Once the story was finished, they immediately settled into their cribs and I haven't heard a peep from them since. And I can pretty much same the same thing for their father, too!

I, on the other hand, finished cleaning the downstairs. I love that feeling when you get your house all clean and tidy, and then you have some time to yourself to just enjoy the order of it all before it is torn to shreds again by your children/husband/dog. Determined to make the most of it, I settled into the recliner with my down blanket, a cup of mint tea, and P.S. I Love You (the only movie that is 100% guaranteed to make me cry EVERY TIME).

Like I said, it was a good day.

Remember how I mentioned that Asher kept me up until 4 am? Here's what I did to fill the time until I was certain he was going to stay asleep for longer than 20 minutes at a time.

I must say that I've become a bit addicted to sewing. I can't seem to stop. I guess I find it soothing and rewarding, something that gives me a bit of a break from being mom/wife/911 dispatcher. I found these two fabrics in the 99 cent fat quarter bin at Joann Fabrics and instantly fell in love...they're so soft and I love how they contrast (one is modern while the other is flowery-girly) and yet compliment each other so well. And the pattern was incredibly easy. You can find it here. I left out a couple of elements because I didn't want to clutter up the simplicity of the outer fabric but I made a second purse for my sister in law with more of the detail work and it was still quick and simple.

Now I just have to find my next project!