On Saturday we went to the wedding of a couple of our friends and had a BLAST. They are so sweet and such a cute couple. We wish them all wonderful things the world has to offer. WELCOME TO THE CLUB GUYS! 🙂
The lovely wedding ceremony
Loves gravel he does hahaFlirting with Olivia 🙂
On Sunday, Husband spoiled me and let me do a massive splurge on crafting supplies. I’m very excited about all of them. Some of them include getting back into knitting sewing, yay! Here is what I’m working on knitting, except mine is pink. It’s going to take a really long time because I knit very, very slowly. Haha.
I’m also going to try a craft from my friend’s blog, because I have a disgusting lamp that needs serious help. My lamp is very large though, so this craft will also take some time I think.
Here is what I made on Sunday while my boys napped.
My first burlap wreath! I am really proud 🙂 It was harder than I thought it was going to be.
May I draw attention to the flowers? I love them. They also both have pearls in them, but I hadn’t stuck in the second one when I took this picture. Also, sorry for the crappy picture, I used my iPod Touch.
A close up! I LOVE this wreath! NOw we have some fall decorations ready to go.
Annnd to finish, why not some super cute pictures of Caidoc..
He LOVES “snorts”Driving already 🙂A box of Caidoc!
Husband and I hadn’t had a vacation in a long time, well, anything longer than a weekend that is, and we had some days off saved up. We had thought about where we wanted to go on vacation and quickly ruled out any plane rides since we figured that it would be rough with Brownie. California? Idaho? Nah, too long to drive. What’s not too long to drive, but also somewhere we love and really want to explore? Why, Portland!
For those of you who don’t know, Husband and I met at the University of Portland, so the city and especially campus, since that’s where we spent most of our time, naturally. When we were in school there, we didn’t really have the opportunity or the funds to “do” the city justice. So we decided to go back and see all the sights we didn’t before, show Caidoc where his parents fell in love, and just relax. We set up a budget and allowed for lots of spending (which makes it really feel like vacation doesn’t it?) so I didn’t even have to cook at all! *sigh!* What a luxury.
The first place we visited was the Portland Children’s Museum, my friend Michal gave us free passes! Such a treat. And we got to visit with her as well, it had been way too long since I’d seen her.
Caidoc is diggin’ the Portland Children’s Museum !Our little curious boy.
Looking at the fishesIt’s safe to say this place was Caidoc’s favoriteWater fun!
He’s in heaven!Driving awayAnything that makes noise is pretty much a winner
Michal and I! We haven’t seen each other since we were…16? wow!
Caidoc was a huge fan of Michal 🙂He is just the cutest 🙂
Thanks Michal! We had so much fun! Caidoc had a blast!
We also visited campus and picked up some swag for Caidoc (who knows, maybe he will be a Pilot some day?!), we went Finnegans Toys, the Saturday Market, and the zoo!
Visiting where we fell in love 🙂Walking lotsOutside our old dorms!
Over looking the WillametteAfter Sunday massCaidoc FLIPPED when he saw this mommy elephant and her babyPeeking at the rhinowow!Best part of the zoo 🙂Saturday Market
Caidoc found a mini sumo wrestler friend 🙂So cute 🙂
Oh yeah, that happened
Fun in the pool !Super cool!Our great travelerSo excited for vacation!Blocks at the book storeBeing super flyFinnegans!Playing at Cathedral Park, where husband and I had our first Valentines Day date
At the Salt and Straw, the BEST ice cream in townWe were all about it!On our way home 🙁
We got to see and do so much and didn’t even get pictures of everything, including going to the delish Deschutes Brewery, Portland’s best deep dish pizza, basking in the sun with Husband while Brownie slept, and so much more! One of the highlights was being able to visit with some college friends we hadn’t seen since our wedding, BJ and his cousin Jason, and Andrew and Maggie. So much fun!
Well, vacation is over and, as you can tell, I ate my weight in food during vacation so my next post is going to be all about fitness and our family plan for getting back on track to healthy living!
It’s days like today that make me realize how lucky I am. Nothing particularly special happened today, it was not particularly different from other Tuesdays, and nothing particularly amazing occurred. In fact, Caidoc was pretty ornery this morning which led to a triple mocha from Bigfoot Java (which then fueled my annoyance, only with myself this time, for spending unnecessary money and consuming unnecessary calories). After an hour or so at Caidoc’s favorite park, “Train Park” we call it, in 75 degree weather, I felt ashamed for my foul mood. We went home and I became productive, it always makes a day go better when you accomplish something doesn’t it? All-in-all, I was irritated and whiney in the morning, but I worked out, cleaned, cooked, and watched my baby sleep in the afternoon and my day magically became wonderful. Those things may seem mundane but it’s those little things that made me realize/remember several things:
1. I am so lucky that it takes little things like holding my baby’s hand while he sleeps to turn a day around.
2. I love, and I mean LOVE being a mother, even on the worst of days (which today was really not) there is no where else I’d rather be, and nothing else I’d rather be doing.
3. So many people don’t get to experience joy and fulfillment and love that I get to daily and I should really thank God that I do.
4. I have the most intelligent and sweet little boy in the whole world.
5. My husband couldn’t be any more amazing than he is.
Here is a quick look at our last weekend where we spent time with both the Blacks and Peterson sides of the family (my dad’s family and my mom’s family). It was a wonderful time and Caidoc especially loved all the attention lavished on him (oh, first borns 🙂 ).
Caidoc is all ready to experience the market, he’s not skeptical, it’s just sunny 🙂
Cruising away!
Super cool wooden puzzle toys (Grandpa spoiled Caidoc and got him an adorable mommy/baby elephant)
Super cool wooden puzzle toys (Grandpa spoiled Caidoc and got him an adorable mommy/baby elephant) you can see it in the middle shelf, SO cute!I decided my brother Elliott needs thisWhew! So much walking mom! I need to relax and put my feet up!“I’m a cool dude”Me and my baby. He’s reaching for the camera which, whenever he sees, he decides is his. Unfortunately, this usually ruins most pictures.The view from my grandparents house. It was magical to be able to take my son to the place where I vacationed as a child, and the place I have such fond memories.On Saturday we headed to Enitiat to see some of the dad’s side of the family. Caidoc enjoyed playing with lots and LOTS of cousinsMore spoiling by cousin Stacey. She is actually my second cousin so I have no idea her relation to Caidoc. We just default and call them all “cousins” 🙂Determined to dump out the poolHe’s so handsomeLoveyPlaying at grandpa and grandma, he LOVED it thereHe looks so holy here, with the light shining on him 🙂“but I don’t WANT to snuggle mom!”Caidoc and great grandpa playing with the Fisher Price toys my mother played with as a child, so special! Also, my grandpa is pretty cool, check out those suspenders!
Caidoc LOVED playing with his great grandma, I remember doing the same thing as a kid
HAPPY BOY!
We were also able to go see my Uncle Mark and Aunt Kathy and cousins Cass and Tori, Caidoc got even MORE spoiled there and was able to spend some time with some epic stuffed animals and play in the pool!He’s in love!
After all that fun, the weekend was over and we headed home. Husband was our dutiful driverAnd Caidoc passed out for the trip, thanks little man!
We had such an amazing time with family, we look forward to next year! Love you all.
…Seriously, I take forever to put up new posts. Of course, I have a plethora of excuses, all of which involve the classic “exhausted”, “rather spend time with husband”, “my child is a crazy person and doesn’t understand how to entertain himself”, and above all, “we-don’t-have-cable-and-I-refuse-to put-my-kid-in-front-of-a-screen-(not that he would sit still anyways)-and-he-HATES-it-when-I am-on-the-computer-so-I-have to-wait-till-he’s-sleeping-but-then-I-want-to-sleep-too..”, so yeah.
Lil’ Brownie had his first zoo trip! He loved it, even though he was feeling sicky (so my awesome husband carried him most of the time, thanks hubs!). Caidoc’s favorite, by FAR, were the elephants. He loves elephants. Since we went so early in the morning, we got to see one being cleaned! Lots of animals were out, which made it very worthwhile. I’m only posting a few pictures here, feel free to head over to my Facebook page if you want to see more.
My handsome men!Watching the elephant get scrubbed“Do you see that dad?! It’s a real elephant!”“Look mom!”Lovin’ it!Happy family…except the distracted skeptical Caidoc
And that’s all! I’m officially in “Husband Appreciation Week” aka, Chris is out of town. Wish me luck!
Today’s post is is brought to you by these thrifty parents right here!
Notice our judgey lil man
Lately, Husband and I have been on a bigger-than-usual thrift kick. We’ve been selling stuff we have just lying around that we never use, eating better and cheaper, and saving, saving, saving! We take so much joy out of getting rid of things we think we “need” and being able to put more money away, especially for our little man’s education trust and our retirement accounts.
Here are some of the ways we’ve been particularly thrifty and have fun at the same time!
Husband’s Finds
We buy our Huggies wipes and diapers from Costco. Bulk, baby! Well, on each package inside are these little tags with codes on them, if you go to the Huggies website you can enter each code and earn points. With those points you can get toys or baby gear. It’s a tedious process and takes time but my awesome Husband has been putting them in and gathering them diligently. And here is what he earned for our little man, free of charge!
An adorable tool box, with hammer, wrench, and screw driver, and lots of screws and nails! Eco friendly wood too 🙂And this super cute froggy bubble holder, complete with three wands, bubbles, and a handy handle!
I’m so proud of Husband! Our little man loves these treasures too 🙂
My Finds
I don’t have any pictures of my finds, well, because they are not finished yet. I am making our little man a felt board! I got a bunch of felt on sale and am able to make everything else I need from supplies I already had, so this whole big board will be only about four dollars! I am so excited about it. It is going to be a farm scene. So far, I have the pigs, cows, chickens, a barn, sun and clouds all cut out and waiting to be glued together. I am being held back by needing a a hot glue gun (which I will borrow), so till then, no pictures! Felt boards have a fond place in my heart since I grew up with one that my mom loving made, I hope my little man likes his too.
So, that’s all for now! I’m really sad about he lack of pictures I have since our camera has been missing for some time (the pictures above are from my iPod Touch, another present Husband won! He’s so enterprising!). We suspect our little Brownie has run off with our camera, but it’s been missing so long that we think it is long gone 🙁 we are in the market for a new one. But still, I am really bummed since we’ve not had our last one long, and it was a birthday present from Husband. Oh well! Letting go of material things one baby at a time I guess 🙂
Sunday was husband’s second Father’s Day. I totally slacked on the celebration and I feel like a shmuck for it. Normally we do breakfast in bed for occasions like Father’s Day and Mother’s Day and birthdays and I didn’t do that. Chris woke up and played with Caidoc and I…slept. I know. I am a lazy loser! BUT, I did make him a yummy dinner the night before (I know, its no excuse…). We had bacon wrapped asparagus and a de-lish strawberry salad with balsamic vinegar dressing.
Bacon wrapped asparagus drizzled with a caramelized onion sauce
It was yummy.
Sunday was really fun though, and Chris got some gifts that he needed, because I am unfailingly practical. He was very kind and claimed he was pleased, but let’s be honest…I got him socks and underwear (to defend myself that is what he asked for, but still I couldn’t make it a little more exciting?!). So, I really slacked this Father’s Day but I swear I’m gonna pick it up next year (if you are reading this hubs, you can totally hold me to it!).
Can I just say what an amazing father Chris is though? You really have no idea. I can’t even explain his patience, love, and just all around AMAZINGNESS that he shows every day. I’ve never seen him lose his temper or get angry. He is always trying to teach Caidoc new things and interact with him and do what is absolutely best for Caidoc no matter how exhausted he might be from work. I’ve never seen or heard of a father who does as much as he does. For crying out loud, he just spent the past hour wading through our neighborhood dumpster looking for the three shoes Caidoc threw into the diaper pail. Did I mention he OFFERED to do so on his own volition? So yeah, Chris was literally wading through poop for his son (and for me since I almost killed Caidoc once I discovered where the shoes might be).
I’m sitting on my, well, our bed eating my lemon sorbet, which is one of my favorite treats EVER and it always put me in a good mood. Tonight, the sorbet just adds to the good mood I’ve had all week. One thing makes the top of the list though…
My dearest friend Emily got engaged recently! I couldn’t be happier for her or more thrilled. What’s better than two people in love? Those two people getting married of course! Because, let’s face it, a celebration of love is quite possibly the most wonderful kind of celebration there is. I’ve known Emily a long time and she is my very best friend, which I think made hearing the news all that more exciting. This is the girl I spent many a hour with talking about boys and weddings and love while eating frosting in our dark dorm room in the middle of the night. That’s how all deep conversations happen don’t ya know 😉
So, the chase is over guys! Sorry! She’s one fabulously TAKEN woman! YAY!
We are pretty fabulous (this picture is older than I care admit)
My lemon sorbet is melting quickly, so I’ll finish the point I meant to make by this post.
Emily’s awesome news got me thinking back to when I got engaged, and what that meant for me.
Relationships always have a degree of superficiality to them. Come on, admit it, you are not totally, completely one hundred percent yourself around anyone. Some little part of you is always acting a little differently, a little not quite you all the time. This espcially applies during “The Chase” when a guy is after a girl and the dating commences. When you’re dating someone you are almost ALWAYS putting on a show of some sort. You’re either always wearing makeup, or always put on deodorant, or always sitting up straighter or laughing a certain way, something is always not quite genuine. I’m not saying that’s bad! It’s nature! You act that way because there is some tiny part of uncertainty, some tiny part of you that knows that that relationship could end unless you play the charade. I’ve felt that way many times.
But that changed when I got engaged, specifically, the exact moment when Chris got down on one knee and I suddenly was struck to the bone with an intense feeling I’d never felt before.
Peace. I’ve always had a turbulent dating life, but that wasn’t what made this feeling happen. It was in that moment that I had an opportunity to have a relationship that meant no end. I was being offered a opportunity to willing decide that none of the charade mattered between us, and that he would love me even if I wasn’t wearing make up or if I spent too much money, or if I snorted when I laughed, or if I gained ten pounds.
That’s what getting engaged meant to me. It meant no uncertainty. It meant permanence, and in that, peace.
