Category: Here and there

We went on a hike for Mother’s Day which was really fun. Caidoc wasn’t super pleased about hiking but I think he was just tired . He hasn’t been sleeping well lately. None of us have!

Husband and I started hiking with the littles  because I think it does us all good to get out  and unplug. We made Sundays a “no electronics” day which meant no phones except for pictures. But, I found even the pictures are distracting and keep me from fully engaging . So we are now trying no phones at all all day Sunday.

I kept feeling like I was only half way paying attention to things around me. And I hate it. I feel like I’m so busy taking pictures of the kids so that I won’t forget what they are like at this sweet age, that I never even take time to enjoy the moment.

I think I’ve been feeling this way since I got a smart phone. All of maybe a month ago, and I already feel kinda trapped. Don’t get me wrong. I love it. It’s so helpful. Right now I’m blogging on it! But I did predict that I would get sucked into the non reality of it and sure enough- I feel like I did. My electronic flow is much brighter now. Which is a bad thing.

         I think I recognized it just in time. So I’m really putting strategies in place so I’m not the person who is sitting on their phone at a party, obsessing over their social media while at  an actual social event… I loathe nothing more than when someone whips out their phone in a group of people. Pictures are the exception.

I’m no angel I’ve done it, I know. But I don’t want to look back at a photo I’ve taken and not even remember the actual memory.

  I want to be more present with my kids. More focused. I don’t want them to remember me as always looking at my phone- because no matter the reason, no matter how noble, the reason will not be what they remember. I think it also shows them how to not be reliant on electronics themselves. I discovered that the more Caidoc see me read the more he reads.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m on my phone a lot. But I’m trying to limit it to when I’m nursing or naps or after bed time. There is nothing wrong with pictures or social media. I guess what I’m trying to work on the the habitual,almost addictive process of staring at a screen every ten second if even just to “take a cute picture” , or “check my steps” , or “comment on something real quick”. I guess I’m saying, I don’t need it. I can do all that in a focused ten minutes during nursing, then be done for the next couple hours.

  

Speaking of, my time is up 🙂 time to go grocery shopping and hopefully, pick up my head and notice the world around me, not the world that’s not.

Have to share this gorgeous gift I got for Mother’s Day. I LOVE THEM.

Thanks hubs!

When did my little boy get so big?! Ack! The time is flying. I’m so impressed and proud of the person he is becoming. He’s a smart as as whip, incredibly intuitive, and so very sweet.

This was the first time he actually asked for a particular type of party, which was of course, a “tow tee” party. If you don’t speak Caidoc that translates to a “Cars” party, tow tee referring to Mater , Caidoc’s favorite character.

I’m so happy with how his party turned out, much like Zelie’s it had been in the making for MONTHS. My super rad friend Brittany took pictures (totally free!) and really saved my bacon since I didn’t get very many good ones.

He requested a “tup take!” Rather than a big cake. And “beu” candles since blue is his favorite color of course 🙂

  Although not typical to do a board like this for a birthday other than a “first birthday” I am SO GLAD I did! Because I got to “interview” Caidoc to get all the answers and oh. My. Gosh. It was the sweetest experience.

For example:

“Caidoc, what do you want to be when you grow up? ”

“A daddy. Wit a beard”

❤️
  The table looks bare but that’s because this was where the presents were suppose to go, however, it proved to be a little too low for curious hands 🙂

Like Zelie’s party, I made 90% of the decorations. I print everything at the library and cut it myself.

I used the same recipe for cupcakes as Zelie’s party but went with a cream cheese frosting instead of the marshmallow. Yum.

Busy boys in the sandbox! It was a big hit to have that open for the party.

 I splurged on this sign because it was so “on theme”. I’m planning on re selling it to recoup some of the cost… Which was like $15 so I really can’t complain haha! Loved those little “speed limit 3” signs, too cute!

    Zelie trying out the new swing set! We rushed to get this up in time for the party because it wasn’t delivered to the store on time. I’m so glad we did! It kept all the littles really busy.

We are so lucky to have such a fun space to decorate!

Since Caidoc is getting a little older I wanted to try having an activity for the party so I went with a loosely structured water balloon toss. It was a huge hit. The perfect amount of fun without totally pandemonium aka no tears!

  Ah, sweet victory 🙂

The loot! Caidoc has such generous and thoughtful friends – he made quite a haul.

He’s growing up much too fast.

Some of his buddies! He’s known these guys for a couple years now!

 

 Much to the parents dismay, I’m sure, I had gift bags full of candy for the kids to take home.  Hey, ya only turn 3 once 🙂 I think it helped most of it was hard candy which I think little kids don’t like. It just looks pretty 🙂 
Our May birthdays are over! Such fun!

Like I promised, here is the first installment of the our kids’ birthdays! Boy, May is a busy month for us! But a very fun one 🙂
  

   
  
Our darling, sweet Azèlie Eloise turned ONE! We had a party a week early since we had to fit in Caidoc’s as well (birthday’s two days apart makes for interesting logistics). I planned, and planned, and planned this party. I decided on a Sweet Shoppe theme, since she is our little sweetie 🙂 And I think it went really well. Most of the decorations I made in the most economical way I could find. My sister in law took pictures so I can show you all the neat details.

I can’t believe my baby is one. With Caidoc’s first birthday, I felt like I had finally made it to some sort of finish line, like I the hardest part was over (HA!). But with Zelie, it just left like her babyhood blazed by, and I could barely remember her infancy! It made me a little sad. But, I suppose that is the way it is with a rambunctious toddler running around and the busy year we had. ANYWAYS! I digress.

I wish I had gotten some pictures of the other banners I made, they were hard work but totally paid off and were super cute. I’m sure they will show up at other parties 🙂 But all in all I think the party was a big hit and I was able to keep costs relatively low, although, how often does our precious little lady turn ONE after all, and can one really put a price tag one the cuteness? I think not.

Cheers!

 

This chair was made by her pop-pop! Turned out to be a perfect photo prop. 

My sweet beautiful girl

In all her frills! 

Princess Zelie on her throne with her lollipop scepter. 

 

Baby Addie 🙂 

Some of our awesome and supportive friends (my brother far left)

 

Another brother and my sister

Handsome Caidoc couldn’t get enough of the bubble machine 🙂

Pink toes! I mean, what’s a birthday party without painted toes?

Trying out that walking! (she can walk, she just choses not to, like any good princess, why walk when one can be carried, right?)

Husband and baby Alex! She’s such a cutie!
Pop-pop and Zelie munching blueberries.

It’s not a party without a funny face cameo from my bro. He’s got the hots for the photographer 😉

reaching high, she wants those balloons!
Oh hey, it’s me! It was lovely to see all the months of planning and party prep take shape. 

Cupcake time! This little one year old went right for it!! “What is this mom?”

“Whatever it is its DELICIOUS! “ This photo probably sums up Zelie’s personality the best, haha! “MORE! ALL IN MY FACE! NOM NOM NOM!” Um, die of cuteness much?! Finally got a balloonOh dad I love you here have some!
Daddy’s girl! Scrub scrub, must get clean for present opening Cutest outfit, and just happened to fit the theme! Love it. It’s an Amazon find. Cousin Jack! All the glorious pudge Caidoc and cousin Macie, being so patient and not unwrapping presents for Zelie. I was so impressed! “CLOTHES! I LOVE FANCY CLOTHES!!!” “MORE CLOTHES?! I LOVE IT!!!” Seriously, she like, LOVES cute clothes. “here gramma, lemme just taste this first”

My darling, my perfect, my sweet, my Zelie belle!I love you so much baby girl.

 

Happy birthday you silly girl, you! You are so loved. 

 

The Best Is Yet To Come.

 

We spent all Saturday morning and afternoon cleaning and doing yard prep for the birthdays coming up so we needed to get out of the house on Sunday.

Husband and I have been wanting to start hiking with the kids but we were wary of how they would take it. But, we bit the bullet and it went great. We will probably invest in a good backpack for Zelie but other than than that we had a ton of fun. Caidoc hiked almost the whole way by himself. We were pretty proud. He wanted to keep going to Zelie started to get annoyed by the pack and wanted to get down and wiggle. I think we might try and go during her morning nap next time so she’s not so antsy and more willing to be placid for awhile.

 

HI! Things look a little different here don’t they? I decided the blog needed a facelift. It feels a little more clean to me now.

Things have been BUSY. Let’t start with a quick recap before I plaster a bunch of pictures of my cute babes all over this page 😉

 

1. Our weekly soccer class has exploded into a small business! With a great deal of help from my web wizard friend Brittany we started a website, and expanded our class offerings. It has taken up a lot of time to get it going and prep for classes (which is mostly husband’s job). But, I think the result is pretty freakin’ cool.  We hope that this will really take off as a part time gig, but also as a way for us to give back to our community. Since our littles are so, well, little, there is not a lot of trips to be taken or anything for the next couple years, so we can commit a good portion of our time to this program. Curious about what I’m talking about? Check it out!

2. Having the kids birthdays one day apart is uh, hectic. Well, it probably wouldn’t be if I wasn’t determined to throw massive birthday parties for them. What can I say, I LOVE PARTIES. Mostly the planning and prepping. It sounds crazy but I just love it. Do I have a future it in? I sure thought so for awhile- who knows, maybe I’ll be a wedding planner some day! After all, I am only 25 years young AND according to all the personality tests I’ve taken, organizational skills and people management are my strong points.

Wow, I got really distracted. Anyways, as I was saying, I’ve probably made a mistake in deciding to throw two huge birthday parties for Caidoc and Zelie a week a part. OH WELL. I’ve had so much fun and I can’t wait to decorate and see the party take shape.

3. I also signed up for my first 10k. Yes, I know I said I was going to do it in September, but I felt ready and wanted to just jump on it while I felt motivated. So I’m running in Sammamish May 23rd. Yes, I did pick a day right after the kids birthdays. Smart? Nope. Again, OH WELL. I’ve been trying to get in as much running as possible so I don’t die of shame on the trail. Here is hoping.

4. Zelie is TEETHING. I’m pretty sure teething babies is what hell is. Can you imagine? A bunch of babies just sitting around whining at you and crying and there is nothing.you.can.do. Yep, that’s hell alright. There is not much sleep going on around here. But there sure is a lot of coffee. I’m really missing yoga class at this point in my life. I’ve noticed a huge decline in energy and a huge increase in coffee intake. Woe. I’ve confided husband to do the yoga classes, yes, another time commitment. But I’me very excited for him to feel rejuvenated. Plus, he has a run to get ready for as well!

5. Homeschooling Caidoc. I feel behind in this! There is so much to do out there and sometimes I just WANT TO DO ALL THE THINGS!! But this week has been really good. More on that later since the week isn’t quite over. I’ll post about it this weekend…hopefully. This takes up a good potion of time, planning ahead, and executing while also trying to run the house. I’m still finding a balance between focusing on Caidoc learning something, keeping Zelie preoccupied and the other million lithe tasks that need to be done: laundry, cleaning, meals, gardening, etc.

6. Oh yeah, I started a garden. Hmm…so far so good, nothing much to report but I’m very hopefully I will have tons of veggies this summer. Ambitious is my middle name 😀

Allllrighty, enough of the blabber, here’s some adorable things the kiddos are up to, and some not so terrible pictures of the crazy couple who love to over commit ;p

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lucky for me, we were able to visit the fire station the week that our theme was fire engines! What a happy camper Caidoc was !

 

He was so excited to touch a “weeooweoo” aka fire engine! Haha! Such a funny little man. At the end of the tour he got a super cool hat. I should have gotten one for Zel because she is jealous of it and put a it on whenever Caidoc isn’t looking. She’s such a funny girl!!

More than one person commented that, ” that hat just belong on him” since he looked so handsome. I wouldn’t mind if he just sat behind a desk though 🙂 I think his toddler years are giving me enough gray hair as is.

This week was a big success with homeschooling, we covered the color red, letter F, and number 3, with the theme of firemen and fire engines.

This week has been INSANELY busy. I’m definitely over committed right now. It should get better in the next few weeks, but till then I’m trying to not let all my stress overload on hubs and the kids. I also tend to stress eat. So I’m trying to run instead. I only have a few more sessions of my yoga classes and I’m trying to fit those in as well to help cope with all the stress. At least that’s thew plan!

More updates later on all the plates we have spinning …

So far Spring has been lovely. Keep it up Seattle!

 

I mentioned that I was going to post about the 5k race I did, so here it is!

The Kent Moms Group that I am a member of is absolutely fabulous and definitely the most support group of women I’ve ever met. I’ve made some of my closest mommy friends through that group. Several of these moms decided to run a 5k and they picked the Seattle Hot Chocolate Run held on March 1st. I couldn’t wait to join the fun.

 

 

It was so incredibly motivating to have this group of ladies to compare notes and tips with during the month of training. When race day came I felt so ready, even though I had had some set backs during the training (stomach flu, sick kids, and my first postpartum period starting two days before the race!)

 

Chris and I packed up to the two littles at the crack of dawn (literally, it was 5 am, luckily that’s when the kids normally wake up) and headed into Seattle on Sunday. Chris was a trooper with the kids and super supportive. It turns out I wasn’t actually able to connect with my friends before the race and I was so bummed. But, alls well that ends well because I finished in 32 minutes, which surprised me because I was sure the hills around the Seattle center would kill me! I was hoping for a 30 minute finish but I also got stuck behind some walkers (even though i was in a no walk section..grr..oh well). I survived! I’m still here! Yay!

My next goal is to run a 10k, probably around September. Hubs is going to run the mud run in June and we are trying to space out our runs :). The same group of moms that did the hot chocolate run are doing the Tacoma color run in August  and I plan on joining them. I’m so excited I’ve always wanted to do one of those! It is only a 5k but I’m glad to have a mid-training push for the 10k. 

Anyways, so pumped to be back into the workout routine and have some goals to work towards.

Cheers!

 

 

Hi! I’ve been so busy with settling into our new house so I have so many projects that I’ve been working on that I will have lots of blog posts coming up.

This one was something I’ve always wanted to make but now just finally got around to it.

I love it!! It was much harder to make than the Pinterest tutorials that I read but it still turned out well. I find the most important thing about doing these DIYS is willing to be flexible with how the process goes. The vision I had for these measuring sticks was a little different than how they turned out but I was glad with the results.

 

I just love that we can keep these forever and then, if our kids have their own babies, they can put them in their houses 🙂

I can just see it now, “wait, grandma, dad was this big when he was my age? I’m BIGGER than him?!” Haha, but I’m getting pretty ahead of myself 😉