renewing my mind

super sweet stripes

2012-01-26T10:21:00.000-08:00

aaaand we've ventured into clothing! i found this super sweet striped jersey fabric in a coral color on the remnant pile at one of the local fabric stores. there was about a yard of it - and woot woot! only $5! so of course i took it home.

now...what to do, what to do?

i considered a maxi skirt...would be super easy and quick. i could just cut a strip out of the fabric and not do anything with it (gotta love the beauty of knit fabrics that don't unravel!) and call it a scarf. but that would still leave me with oh, a yard of fabric. i finally decided i wanted to make a shirt. a t-shirt.

i perused pinterest for potential ideas and tutorials and didn't come up with a lot. then i went to made-by-rae because i figured she would have something and whattayaknow she did! even more ironic was what she had was a just posted "kniterview", an interview with a fellow crafty blogger who uses knits a lot. that day the guest of honor was dana from danamadeit. she had a lovely little tutorial for a 90-minute shirt. granted it was for kids, but i took the general premise and applied it to my own project. and here's what i came up with!

i cut up an old t-shirt that fit pretty well and used that to draw a template on posterboard (apparently before i even started i assumed i would do this again). cut out my template, laid out my fabric and started tracing the template. because i didn't add seam allowances on the posterboard cutouts, i drew a half inch extra around the templates.

then i cut out my fabric and started pinning the pieces together. finished the collar but left the bottom and the sleeves unfinished so that the fabric would roll. sewed the sides and top together. tried it on. all systems were still a go so i went to work on the sleeves.

sewed the sleeves into tubes. now came the trickiest part. in dana's tutorial, the collar/sleeves are like a onesie which changes the way it has to come together. mine was a regular t-shirt. the whole "right sides together" thing kind of made sense but wasn't as easily identified. i ended up putting the sleeve on my arm, right side out, and sticking my arm through the armhole of the bodice which was inside out. pinned it together, sewed it on and hey it worked!

went to work on the second sleeve and my sewing machine freaked out so i ended up sewing it on, taking it off (grrrr...i hate doing that) and putting it on again. (my machine has tension issues which can result in really really ugly stitches). but it is finished and i'm sporting it proudly!

now...what to do with the remaining 1/2 yard of fabric?!

a fabric book for kiah

2012-01-23T10:52:00.000-08:00

once our power was restored i could get back to my crafting, and i finally finally finally finished this project i've been working on forever: a fabric book for kiah!!

a red golf cart like papa's for kiah

i got the idea from this blog; it took me awhile to figure out what i wanted on my pages. once i figured it out it took me even longer to get it started and drawn and cut out etc etc. but i finished it! eric watched kiah most of saturday and gave me a chance to finished this and a couple of other projects i had wanted to get done (those are gifts so you'll have to wait for pictures!).

on the farm

a day at the beach

go team!
(yes i know my "T" is crooked...iron on letters that move while ironing end up crooked)

fun in the snow

a race car that zooms!

i'm really happy with the way it turned out. i did finished my book off a little differently from the tutorial; i wanted the same background for each page so i sewed the pages together accordian style. it worked though, and i love it and so does kiah!

*sorry the pictures are dark...it was gloomy outside.

snow + ice = no power

2012-01-22T10:39:00.000-08:00

we arrived back in seattle to snow!!

i was a little nervous that we wouldn't even make it back because the pilot came on and said they had temporarily closed the airport and we would wait over olympia until it reopened. fortunately it reopened quickly and we didn't have to wait at all, but came in with huge fluffy flakes of snow falling!

winter wonderland

it was supposed to snow through wednesday but monday we didn't really get anything and tuesday it was even clearer but freezing. tuesday night we had community group and there were no problems everyone made it just fine. but wednesday morning we woke up and woohoo! snow!! it snowed the entire day...kind of yucky wet snow but it snowed! you couldn't see across the lake at all and it just kept coming down!

a couple of inches worth!

we stayed home and enjoyed watching the world turn white. i worked on some crafting projects and talked to our new roomie jess who was at home that day because school was closed :).

pretty view across the lake

thursday morning the snow had stopped falling but shortly after getting up the lights started flickering and then the power went out. eric made a fire in the stove which kept most of the house pretty toasty (until i threw in some bad wood and then it got cold and i made eric come home from work to fix it). we went for a walk in the morning on the snow-covered trail, made a quick trip to target which was running on a generator and then watched as more snow started to fall.

icicles hanging off the gutters

it was freezing, which was what caused all the problems. trees covered in snow were frozen and branches would break causing all sorts of issues. because we didn't know how long the power would be out (they were saying 3-4 DAYS at that point) eric took all the stuff in the freezer over to a friend's who had power. fortunately for us the power came back on at 3am and our sanity was restored :). we are so dependant on technology!! it's sad, really.

the poor laurel bush sagging under the weight of ice and snow

frozen bush

up close shot. pretty cool huh!

back in the saddle...

2012-01-17T22:17:00.000-08:00

and by saddle i mean airplane. yeah...just a week after flying home from our christmas and new years festitivities we headed back to the airport and california. this time it was to surprise grandpa tom for his birthday! his birthday was the day aftert christmas but because we spent the holiday with my family we didn't get to celebrate the big 6-0 with him. we decided this was just not okay so up and down we went again!

kiah with the birthday boy

playing with grandma penny

it was a short and sweet visit. we got in late friday night and left midday on sunday, but we had enough time to squeeze in lunch at in-n-out, a visit to hobby lobby, a walk to froyo, and a surprise birthday party! in-n-out was delicious as usual, and nope totally wasn't sick of it considering that was the fourth visit in three weeks ;). the trip to hobby lobby however was a first for me and wow - that place is amazing and scary! it was awesome!! i learned we do have hobby lobby in wa...the closest one is in lynnwood, which actually isn't that close. close enough to make a trip maybe once every six months. or once a year. totally not convenient but it might be worth it.

the warmer weather was perfect for a walk, and the party was definitely a surprise! a little weird to be in a room full of people who "know" you (rather know who you and your child are) but don't actually know you nor you them. it was fun though, even if i was pooped from all the traveling! kiah was a trooper and did really well all day and was handling all the people pretty well until a kind-hearted soul accidentally play-bit his finger a little too hard. that resulted in the meltdown of all meltdowns and it was off to bed we went.

fam photo

it was good to see eric's family again and i know they loved seeing kiah and introducing him to their friends! happy belated birthday tom!

cheerios

2012-01-16T22:22:00.000-08:00

think i've got it this time :) enjoy!

8 months!

2012-01-13T21:01:00.000-08:00

oh man. time never passed this quickly when i was growing up. now it seems i can hardly get this post written on time before another month comes and goes!!

happy boy

kiah is so much fun (most of the time)! i am really enjoying this stage. his personality is starting to come out and he's such a goofball! kiah loves his mommy, and his daddy, and anyone else willing to be in his face giving him attention. i do think he has developed a bit of separation anxiety in the past month. i can hardly put him down and leave the room without tears. i am blaming that primarily on his post-grandma hangover, sickness, and teeth though, because he's fine being left in the nursery at church.

some new tricks...clapping his hands! he starting doing this over christmas actually, but when we got home i was working on some signs with him and asked him to clap his hands and he did!! here's the proof...

he still has not mastered crawling. he scootches backwards like a champ but all of the attention (ie. being held and entertained) over the holidays set us back a little. he's also starting doing this crazy pike/down dog position fairly regularly. he then goes on all fours, and just when it looks like he might actually move forward...we get dead fish. so far none of this bothers him. actually that is not entirely true. it bothers him a great deal when he can't reach whatever he wants. just not enough to keep trying to crawl to get it.

yoga for babies

he has started to pull himself up on things if they are the appropriate height for him to climb on top of and right after we got back from christmas i got him up from a nap, changed him and then sat him in his crib to play while i finished putting away his clothes and then watched as he grabbed the bumper, pulled, reached the railing, and stood. little stinker! good thing he has no clue how to get from his back to a seated position or we'd be in big trouble!

time to replace the vents with ones that screw down!

he is most content when standing, whether that is at his toy table, the windowsill, the couch, in front of you...he doesn't care he just wants to stand. he's taken a couple of spills upstairs on the hardwood floors which always make me feel a little guilty, and then we head downstairs to play on the thickly carpeted floor. :)

his favorite

nothing has changed in the food department. this kid eats. a lot. and he likes pretty much everything. we've revisited avocado and i am happy to report he apparently loves it now. he is great at chewing most things that require chewing and will eat chunkier foods as long as they mush a little. his favorite thing to eat, by far, is cheerios. however the way he eats them might be more entertaining than watching him eat (he eats like a bird - his mouth is always open waiting for more). i have video but it is taking forever to upload - grrrrr. check back for another post.

hilarious, i know! when not eating he's usually talking. lots of adadadadada, nanananana, blowing raspberries or sticking his tongue out in addition to his higher pitched vowel sounds. lately he's added tipping his head to one side to the silly things he does...that one we can't figure out why though. he still loves bathtime, the outdoors, and his latest favorite activity is playing chase + peekaboo. daddy holds and i chase :). his giggles are enough to get us to keep playing!

we are so in love with this little boy! he is so much fun and i am looking forward to watching him grow!

sick.

2012-01-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

so you know that little cold i mentioned kiah got while we were traveling? in addition to giving it to everyone (except me at this point), it also didn't get any better. if anything, his cough got worse and his nose stayed runny. sleeping through the night was long gone. basically my poor babe was mostly in great spirits but obviously didn't feel great.

we paid a visit to the dr upon our return home and learned that kiah has RSV and an ear infection. fantastic. we since have started antibiotics and it seems to be improving. last night might have been the first night in almost a week that i didn't wake up because he was coughing. :(

all of this has resulted in dr jekyl & mr hyde. we'll call him monkey (my normal sweet boy) and cranky (my sick-post-grandma-hangover-whining machine). monkey is usually around in the morning when he's had enough sleep. cranky shows up around 3pm and doesn't go away until dinner, where monkey makes appearances when 1) food is present, 2) bathtime is underway, and 3) he's just been nursed (see #1). cranky had a full-on meltdown in target yesterday but monkey was on hand upon seeing daddy when we got home.

new toys? woohoo!

here's hoping monkey sticks around all day!

home

2012-01-05T20:07:00.000-08:00

aaaaand we're back! i apologize for the hiatus...it's just been busy. no excuses, just busy! stay tuned for the rest of our advent adventures, all about christmas, new years, and the wonderful time spent in gorgeous weather with some awesome family & friends. if we missed you during our so cal tour...probably your fault ;). hehe i kid.

here's a taste of what's coming:

now go back and read all the posts you missed!

marriage retreat 2012

2012-01-04T21:45:00.000-08:00

after our lovely weekend in santa barbara, we dropped kiah off at my mom & dad's and drove back out to palm springs for the night - alone!! first time away from kiah overnight...and we all survived ;).

we pretty much vegged that night and got down to business after sleeping in the next morning!! woohoo....sleeping in! we recapped last year's goals and talked about how we did; some categories were great, others not so good. it is getting much faster to go through these plans every year which is great. i did realize that next year we need two nights...one day for getting business done and another for playing!

it was a good thing for us, for our marriage. we're excited about where God is leading us in 2012!

new year's in sb

2012-01-03T20:39:00.000-08:00

we wrapped up our week in palm springs with lots of pool time and golf cart rides for kiah...and a lovely little cold too. boo. i'm sure he picked that up flying. oh, the joys of having to travel for holidays.

loving the pool!

we loaded up saturday morning and made the drive up to santa barbara...it was gorgeous. just unbelievable beautiful WARM sunshine and clear skies. oh it was lovely. when we arrived the walters household was already hopping and full of guests! the girls hit up trader joes to get dinner and snacks for the weekend, came back and relaxed...i even took a nap - when was the last time i did that?! our plans for NYE weren't all that exciting to be totally honest. two babes, four parents, a pregnant lady and a few others who value sleep over celebrating will do that. ;)

i think most of us were in bed or close to it right around midnight. the next morning we were all up bright and early for breakfast and a walk around the neighborhood! we made another trip to blenders and made some cookie dough (which eventually got made into cookies). eric and i drove over to see "mom & dad #2" tony and barbara askew so they could meet kiah. he was all smiles for them and loved all the attention barbara was giving him!! he started to melt down so we decided it was time to go. a viewing of crazy stupid love was the planned activity for the evening and a great way to end the day.

babes

so cute...except the runny nose!

reese getting a little excited ;)

friends!

monday morning there was much of the same; breakfast and a walk, although this walk took us down to upper montecito for a treat at pierre lafond's :). after showers we loaded up the cars and drove out to goleta to check out the monarch butterfly sanctuary! i have never seen anything like it - very very cool. it was another beautiful day and kiah, of course, loved being outside.

butterflies!

i think the highlight of the day may have been when eric took him out of the stroller...he squealed when eric put him up on his shoulders! it was awesome :). low-light of the day...having to leave :(.

the group (minus higa)

the fam...kiah not coorperating :)

girls!

boys + reese

happy birthday eric!

2011-12-29T22:00:00.000-08:00

woohoo! another year for mr. eric. my snug bug got to hang with his fave people all day - me and kiah!! we started the day with a yummy french toast dish and presents (more home depot gift cards, cologne, tools...the usual). after kiah's first nap we headed to the palm springs tram...only to discover there was a two hour wait from the bottom of the hill!! yikes! we weren't going to be able to pull that off with kiah's schedule so we decided to go hiking in the indian canyons. it was a pretty decent trade off actually...check out the pictures!

opening presents

view from inside the canyon looking up

papa, dada & kiah

fam photo

grams, papa & kiah

kiah loved being outside (of course) and even took a little nap on the birthday boy's back :). i had never been to this part of the desert and it was pretty cool. we didn't get to see everything because a little person needed to eat but it was still worth it! we may have to go back when we're down in february.

structure up from the canyon

palm branch hut indians lived in

we finished off the day with dinner at our favorite desert mexican restaurant, las casuelas! kiah loved all the lights and people :). eric says it was a great day...welcome to 34 babe!

the extended family christmas

2011-12-27T20:52:00.000-08:00

monday morning we loaded up and drove back to ontario for christmas with my mom's side of the family. they're usually a good time and this time was no different! we started with a very yummy brunch before the boys discovered the marshmellow guns my mom and dad had made and started a sticky war out in the yard. it looked like it had snowed! there were marshmellows everywhere!

eric, kenton and rich. trouble cubed.

the boys took a break from their combat long enough to open presents, play the dice game, and take a few pictures :). hot ticket items in the dice game this year included the usual see's candy, in-n-out gift cards, and one that hardly made it across the room before getting snatched again - a $25 nordstrom gift card! eric managed to walk away with that one :).

grandma lila and her great-grandsons!

love them...miss them terribly...

the mulder family. typical.

the whole family (minus joel, alane & respective families)

dada modeling kiah's new jacket!

pretty sisters!

the "grown-up" cousins - hehehe

it was good to see everyone again, even if it wasn't nearly a long enough visit.

merry christmas!

2011-12-25T16:25:00.000-08:00

and our advent adventures come to a close with gifts and time spent with family! it was quite a late night but we did make it and are so glad we're here. the weather is unbelievably warm and sunny...and just as it got nice and rainy back in seattle ;). perfect timing!

we started with breakfast for kiah and then stockings and presents before naptime rolled around. perhaps the highlight of the morning was discovering "weinerbucks" ($5 gift certificates to weinerschnitzel) in our stockings when linnie found 5 in-n-out gift cards! whaaat?! my dad decided to play a little prank and couldn't keep the smirk off his face when lins kept pulling out gift card after gift card and the rest of us were like, "what the heck?! i don't want weinerbucks!". even better was the fact that he planned it and pulled it off by himself...and even told my mom "this is great - i'll get all the weinerbucks back!" which he totally did. we all had a good laugh about it :)

the weinerbuck incident of 2011

kiah wasn't too excited about his new clothes (even though mommy was) but he did love his new trains! growing up we played with brio trains all the time, even though technically they were my brother's toy. our set grew over the years and may have gotten passed on to my younger cousins, but i think they found their way back to my mom's. now kiah has a starter set all his own...a special farm train version picked out by papa ron :). the tracks are the same but the train got upgraded - battery power! it's pretty cool; kiah mostly just chews on the pieces and destroys any track you create but eventually he'll figure it out!

kiah starting to figure out the paper

trains!!

think i may have to use that for kiah ;)

mom modeling the scarf i made her

some gift highlights...we got my mom a new sewing machine (hers was ancient!) which she was pretty excited about...dad got a new kindle fire and i got him (and kenton) hooked on angry birds which i found hilarious...a ridiculous amount of home depot gift cards for eric...lots of pretty things for me & linnie...and lins getting my brother back by putting a bag of lemons in his present (by getting back i am referring to the year he put potatoes in a huge box to trick her).

kenton's lemons - hahaha

dad & bud strategizing over angry birds

we spent the rest of the day lounging, sitting by the pool and eating! it was a very nice, relaxing day spent with family...finished off with a fantastic meal, good wine and laughing so hard my stomach hurt. all of my favorite things!

pool time!!

christmas-y seesters :)

highlight of kiah AND papa's day :)

advent: day 24

2011-12-24T16:17:00.000-08:00

almost there! our advent activity for today was to read the christmas story to kiah before we celebrated christmas as a family! we all had some breakfast (cereal and applesauce for kiah, cinnamon rolls for us!) then sat down and listened to eric read from luke 2. once done it was time for stockings and presents!

kiah is obviously a bit young to really figure out gifts and how to open presents, even if he did like ripping the paper. i suspect by his birthday he may have a better idea :). i have been working on a present that was supposed to end up in kiah's stocking but i didn't get it done on time. oh well...once it is completed i'll share :). we also opened our gifts from tom, penny & jen since we weren't spending christmas with them this year. here are the pics to show what fun we had!

kiah playing before we started

the tree and pile of presents!

opening stockings

ooh more paper to rip!

think he's excited about this gift?

you have no idea how excited i was about this :) thanks jen!

the giant mess after...

once the fun stuff was over it was naptime for kiah and time to pack for eric and i! we managed to get everything packed and house mostly cleaned up before leaving...pretty sure that was the first (and probably the last) time that's happened! aaaaand we're off to palm springs!

advent: day 23

2011-12-23T21:38:00.000-08:00

two activities in one! since yesterday's advent activity didn't happen we had double duty today. but it worked out because today's activity was handing out cards and cinnamon rolls to those lucky enough to enjoy them :) i don't think i got any pictures of the rolls, but i did snap one last year. speaking of which, i just went back to search for the post i was SURE i wrote about these ridiculously amazing cinnamon rolls and was aghast to discover it didn't exist. how is it possible that i missed that?! i apologize, sincerely, for this oversight. these cinnamon rolls are THE cinnamon rolls from pioneer woman and let me tell you they became a christmas tradition last year. absolutely easy to make and to die for good, you must get thee to the kitchen immediately and make! now! (candace they would make you sicker than a dog but they would totally be worth it.)

mmmm....wish i still had a pan of these babies!

tonight we were also fortunate to host eddie, natalie and their son ryley for dinner. natalie is currently my bsf leader, and her and eddie recently started attending mars hill. they live right up the street from us so they are in our community group too! and if we didn't need another connection, ryley is also a westmont grad :). that is actually how we met. the very first year i joined bsf, i would follow this car with a westmont parent sticker home every week. one night eric and i were driving around looking at siding on houses (i know, so random) and i spotted the car. eddie was out front, so we introduced ourselves and natalie came out and we got to meet her too. the next year natalie ended up being the bsf leader for some friends, which led her to mars hill...and that kind of catches us up to now.

anyway, ryley was a business major like eric, and as it turns out currently works for one of eric's good friends from westmont. really we live in such a small world. we had a lovely evening of conversation and yummy food and i think everyone really enjoyed themselves! here's to friends and small worlds :)

advent: day 22

2011-12-22T21:18:00.000-08:00

up for today? cinnamon roll making!! except it didn't quite happen. it was a little crazy busy getting ready for our trip and christmas and all that jazz. i needed more time than i had so today's activity got pushed to tomorrow when eric wasn't working and i had help with kiah. :)

BUT something fun did happen yesterday (beside glass blowing that is)...my grandma miersma came to visit! she is spending christmas with my aunt marlene and uncle bill up in mt vernon where my cousin bill lives. i got to pick her up at the airport and then she got to see our house for the first time. it was even nice and sunny for her! we gave her her christmas present, she got to play with kiah, and i set up her new kindle fire for her too :). it was great fun and i'm so glad we got to see her and hang out for awhile. unfortunately i didn't get any pictures which was pretty dumb of me to forget. poop. well grandma will just have to come back ;).

and for your pleasure, here's our christmas card for those of you not on our mailing list (if you want to be added, leave a comment!)

advent: day 21

2011-12-21T20:14:00.000-08:00

ooh! i think this may have been the best advent adventure this year :). also might be considered our christmas date, since eric and i flew solo for this adventure: glass blowing!

a few months ago living social had a deal for a mini glass blowing class in redmond. eric gave me the green light so i bought two and because it was going to expire i finally signed us up. this was a very cool experience and we definitely want to do it again.

the class was pretty full but it went quick; everyone was done within two hours. this was probably due to what they would and wouldn't allow us to do, but it was enough! the instructor had been blowing glass for 16 years and walked us through the process before getting started. he pulled the glass out of the oven for us (i wouldn't have wanted to do that part anyway), then we rolled it in whatever color we had chosen - red, yellow, green or blue...although he pulled out purple later. once it was rolled - level, 45 degrees, dot on the top - it was put in a warmer oven, then rerolled in color, put back in the warmer one more time and if needed the instructor would roll it in color again.

the glass oven - on 24 hrs a day

our color options (red, blue, green) and in the background you can see the bench we sat at

hot glass being rolled in purple color

once colored properly, we the student sat down at a bench to shape the hot glass properly. we had the option to add texture (a waffle pattern) if wanted, and then the actual blowing occurred. this required a third party because the student was using giant pinchers to help form a bubble in the glass. the instructor was rolling the pipe that held the hot glass and giving instructions on how much air to blow in the glass. once the proper size, we had the choice of making a float (flat topped) or an ornament (looped on the top).

us on our date night :)

it was totally cool and we definitely want to do it again!! aren't they so pretty??

eric's green ornament, risa's blue float

advent: day 20

2011-12-20T20:13:00.000-08:00

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and
shall call his name Immanuel."

Isaiah 7:14

advent: day 19

2011-12-19T20:08:00.000-08:00

the final movie night of advent adventures 2011. because eric was out of town i actually just watched it by myself :). home alone 2? yes please!

it will be interesting to see how movie nights change in the future due to kiddos...haha who am i kidding?! nothing will change!

advent: day 18

2011-12-18T20:08:00.000-08:00

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Luke 2:13-14

advent: day 17

2011-12-17T21:30:00.000-08:00

today's advent adventure was the gingerbread village! you may remember our visit last year; this year was better but that may be because of one station in particular ;). auntie mary came along for her first gingerbread village experience.

daddy providing entertainment while we waited in line

fam photo

with auntie mary!

the theme this year was famous train stations from around the world...and i brought along the real camera this time so here's some cool pics!

the train station from the island of misfit toys...this one was actually the best one!

abominable snowman!

new zealand's...santa was wearing shorts & flip flops!

australia's flinder street station

some train station in canada

my favorite one!! grand central station NYC

the minions!!

so the minions...i love the movie despicable me so i was quite excited to see this!! i was NOT happy that i didn't get any good pictures though! i don't know why...sometimes my new camera doesn't like me. even with the anti-shaking thing on. oh well. after touring the village we headed over to nordstrom grill for dinner - very yummy!

BUT...the best part about our evening happened on the way there. before we left i remembered to grab my packages for the homeless and put them in the car. since we were headed downtown i knew our chances of handing at least one out were pretty high. sure enough, we get off the freeway and there is a dude standing on the corner holding a sign. eric rolls down the window and hands him a bag...the guy shakes his hand, says thanks, and turns around to put it with his belongings. then, he turns around and literally HUGS our car then kisses the window! i would have taken a picture but the whole thing was just so crazy and weird! i know it was a small blessing, but honestly it was the highlight of the evening. probably the highlight of our month! i can't wait to give out more...although i don't expect that reaction every time ;).

advent: day 16

2011-12-16T23:01:00.000-08:00

we had another christmas movie night schedule for today's advent adventure...and this time we did actually watch our movie on the right day :). it was the original "the grinch who stole christmas"...just a quick little trip down memory lane! movie night was a good call for friday nights, as by the end of the week both of us are a little worn out and ready to plop on the couch. snuggling is an added bonus!

so far it really has been fun to do these christmas related activities. eric has loved it, and it's fun to surprise him with outings and other cool things each day, even if it is just a scripture day :). we are definitely starting a tradition!

advent: day 15

2011-12-15T22:50:00.000-08:00

today's activity: drink hot chocolate with a candy cane stirrer! we did actually do this activity, but it was after we had some fun at toys-r-us picking out kiah's christmas present(s)!

i won't spoil the surprise by posting what we got...you'll have to wait until he opens his gifts to know :). don't worry...christmas is only ten days away!! (augh! seriously?!)

advent: day 14

2011-12-14T22:38:00.000-08:00

advent adventure today? bellevue botanical gardens "garden d'lights"! this is the third year we've toured the nighttime light garden and each year they add a little bit more to keep you interested. kiah looooved it - bright lights, outdoors, and a ride in the stroller?! yes please!

the lake complete with fountain

kiah checking things out with daddy

peacock!

fam photo...hahaha kiah looks a little deer in the headlights!

salmon jumping! can you see it?

the dragon was new this year

as a random side note, we've had some crazy mild weather this december so far. temps hovering around 40, sunny days, not much rain...it has made our outdoor activities much more pleasant!

7 months!

2011-12-13T14:27:00.000-08:00

the arrival of calvin has had me thinking about kiah's arrival. hard to believe that was seven months ago. time passing this quickly makes me feel old. boo. ok on to the stuff you really want to hear about!

kiah john is such a joy. he is so much fun right now!! he likes to play, is pretty good at entertaining himself for at least five minutes - haha i joke, he actually can do closer to 20 minutes - be read to, go outside or anywhere that is not home, loves people, and watches everything. and by everything i mean everything. especially food. if you eat in front of him he will literally watch every bite go from your plate to your mouth. it is hilarious and ridiculous...i swear i feed him! a lot!

he is much more content on his tummy these days

he is busy. very busy. when he is awake he wants to play or be around a lot of people (by a lot anyone other than mommy will actually suffice). he likes to run errands because it is different and usually someone else is talking to him. he also loves bsf and church for the same reason :). he has started to move and is pretty close to crawling. he scootches backwards when he attempts to crawl right now. he could still walk before he crawls because he would much rather stand than sit. he refuses to bend his legs when i try to set him down, and always wants to play at his stand up toy. this requires an adult to sit next to him because he has a tendency to bail every once in awhile. he has gotten better and has even removed both hands at the same time briefly standing before falling on his bum :).

push up position - so close to crawling!

as he learns and understands more, our role as parents has definitely been made more noticeable. this is most obvious during mealtimes. here are a few video clips to show you what i mean :)

i'm sorry...i find these very entertaining. i don't know why he does that grunting/arms straightening thing but it is pretty hilarious, and he often is patting everything with his hands. at the end, when he leaves his mouth open? that is how most meals go...with him leaning forward waiting for the next spoonful. oh! and you may have noticed his latest skill - babbling! he just started doing that yesterday and today has even more consonants than yesterday! the whining however, is something we are working on, because i don't want to listen to that for the next 20 years. i know that right now whining is a result of him not being able to clearly communicate with us what he wants, so we are trying to teach him sign language to solve that problem. so far, i'm pretty sure he understands what the signs mean but isn't able to sign back yet. soon though i hope he will!

three...two...one...

BLAST OFF!!

he is a sweet boy; loves to laugh and giggle and play rough. he smiles at people he recognizes and will usually smile if i ask him to say "hi" to strangers. last week when eric was out of town i was talking to him on the phone and put him on speaker so kiah could hear and kiah's whole face lit up when eric started speaking to him! it was SO cute. i love him so much, couldn't imagine life without him!

advent: day 13

2011-12-13T13:37:00.000-08:00

cookie baking day!! yippee, woohoo, and yay all rolled into one big ball of dough :)

last year i did a big cookie baking day on a saturday with a bunch of ladies, breakfast, mimosas, a few kiddos, and one full kitchen. because of our schedule this year i decided not to do it, but i did do a smaller version. just me & my friend rachel! jen was supposed to join us, but a two-day old doesn't really allow for fun cookie baking much less anything else (fun or not). oh and chasing a 14-month old around kinda inhibits that too :).

so it was me and rachel and the boys. the boys slept for a good portion of the morning which actually allowed us to get something done! she made some almond sugar balls and i went with almond sugar cookies (haha i just realized how similar our cookies are. oops). we've definitely got more cookies than we need but that's what friends and holidays are for, right? she took a big plate to sam & jen on her way home so we didn't end up with too many for us, but seriously i still have cookies coming out of my ears!

maybe next year i'll go back to the big ol' party, since i hope to have a slightly more open kitchen by then. not remodeled, but more open!

advent: day 12

2011-12-12T10:48:00.000-08:00

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
Luke 2:11

speaking of being born...look at this little sweetie who was born yesterday!!

calvin james delay

december 11, 2011

11:40 am

5 lbs, 8 oz

19 1/2"

i just have to say...calvin is teeny tiny itty bitty and oh so cute! kiah was just 1/4" longer and 3 lbs heavier at birth - haha!!

advent: day 11

2011-12-11T10:45:00.000-08:00

aaaand the busyness of the season may have caught up with us a little today. our activity was to watch a christmas movie together (woohoo!) but we didn't quite get there (booooo).

we didn't even do all that much beyond going to church...but it didn't happen. maybe tomorrow, because i need to get me some home alone action going!! eric has some big deadlines for work this week, and really any movie watching has to occur when kiah is asleep and my friend kelly hosted a girls night to watch pioneer woman and eat desserts and craft. it was awesome :). but all of that meant no movie. i didn't mind too much because eric watched "the help" with me saturday night (which was so good btw) and i got to snuggle then!

and just for fun, here's a pic of my boys at church yesterday :)

advent: day 10

2011-12-10T10:38:00.000-08:00

yay for a post with pictures!! haha...i kid. our advent adventure for day 10 was the greenlake pathway of lights! this is a pretty cool event actually. greenlake is just north of downtown seattle and a popular place for runners, joggers, bike riders, walkers, and dog-owners to get outside and get moving! a small lake that i'm sure someone swims in (but i personally think that would be disgusting) but is more often used for crew or kayaking, greenlake has a nice 2.8 mile paved path all the way around. further out there is a dirt trail that has left a big groove in the grass for more serious runners not interested in weaving through the often crowded paved path.

during the holiday season, volunteers set up hundreds of bags with candles all along the path. various groups play instruments or sing carols at points along the walk and they even hand out cookies & hot chocolate - for free! the very first year we did this it snowed...not hard but it snowed and made the evening even more magical. this year thankfully it was dry, and also pretty crowded! we opted for the ergo rather than the stroller and i'm glad we did. i saw more than one empty stroller with the baby/kid in the ergo because it was too cold! it made it easier to manuever around people too! it was nice to get out and breath some fresh air. those of you who are blessed enough to live in an area with nice weather probably think i'm crazy but it gets to you here, all the gray and rain. you start to go crazy and you don't even realize it.

a bunch of lights on a dock

fam photo :)

the "ships" (canoes) all lit up and ready to go!

the only minus on the evening was poor planning on my part, and maybe a lack of understanding on eric's part. i told him we needed to get there right at 5pm in order to get home on time for kiah to eat dinner. well, we didn't quite stick to the timeline and i didn't bring any food along, which resulted in a screaming car ride home. well, almost all the way home...we stopped at a whole foods to get all of us some food. i think part of the screaming was due to being strapped in a car seat as well as not getting fed. sorry little dude :(.

my men are not a fan of the flash :/

advent: day 9

2011-12-09T10:28:00.000-08:00

so today's activity wasn't exactly Christmas or holiday themed...but it does happen to occur every year around this time so i'm calling it a holiday tradition anyway :). we celebrated another great season with the overlake girls varsity soccer team! woot woot!

this year's team party was a bit shorter due to a little person's bedtime, AND i managed to bring my camera, not take any pictures, and then leave my camera there so day 9's activity had to be photographed with my phone. boo. sorry for the ultra-boring post!

i promise more fun tomorrow!

advent: day 8

2011-12-08T10:32:00.000-08:00

i'll be honest right off the bat - i stole this idea from my good friend kelly. she has a heart for others unlike anyone i've ever met and i have loved this idea since she first talked about it. i can't wait until kiah is old enough to help and understand what we're doing. on to our activity!

today's activity was putting together bags for the homeless. i headed to costco and grabbed some socks and protein-type bars, baked some chocolate ship cookie goodness, and printed off cardstock with scriptures on them. the plan is to put them in the car to have them available to hand out when you see those people at the freeway offramps. next year i hope to be a little more on top of this particular activity and will budget better so that i can include a $5 gift card to mcdonalds and a crocheted beanie. the beanies may still make an appearance in a few of these, as i suspect we will not give all of them out this holiday season. don't know, maybe we will!

almost ready to go!

i think i mentioned last sunday's sermon at church was a video on the history of mars hill...what i did not mention was that really the message was on giving. eric and i both feel called to be generous and have been working lately to give more than we have in the past. this includes our time, talent, and treasure. time - serving both at church and in other ways (like the gospel mission). talent - for me this would be the gift of hospitality, which right now means hosting our community group. treasure - money. i feel God challenging us to grow in all three areas. and it is good, because He is good. we are sensitive to the fact that God has blessed us immensely and he calls us to steward those blessings well. we take that job very seriously and hope to teach our child(ren) how to do that as well. this is one way we can tangibly show them how to be generous and care for the poor.

"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." romans 5:8

advent: day 7

2011-12-07T17:21:00.001-08:00

advent adventure for day 7...christmas shopping!! i actually do the majority of my christmas shopping online but there are always a few things you just need to see and feel and touch in order to feel good about your gift purchase. i received a gift card for gap kids for kiah and there is an outlet in north bend, just 20 minutes or so away. shoot by the time i drive to the mall and find parking it would easily take that long, if not longer. the outlets were not crowded at all and i did manage to scratch a couple of things off my list!

twins with mommy :)
(shut it uncle bud)

jen and grace tagged along so we made the outing that much more fun by taking her new double stroller out for a spin...i think the kiddos liked sitting next to each other! although that thing was definitely a little harder to manuever through doors than the single BOB :). what might have been more awesome though was the looks we both got when the other mom wasn't around. most people assumed both babies were mine (or in her case, hers)! speaking of both babies, jen is about to have her second - sunday!! her due date is christmas, but the dr is concerned that baby boy isn't growing so she is getting induced this weekend. she is pretty happy about it, as she did not want a christmas birthday! i can't wait to meet this little guy!!

all bundled up!

advent: day 6

2011-12-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

"and the angel said to them, 'fear not, for behold, i bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.'"

luke 2:10

advent: day 5

2011-12-05T23:13:00.000-08:00

we made kiah's "first christmas" ornament today! i found this idea on pinterest and knew it was easy enough to recreate. it was very easy...but it took a few attempts to get one that was "legible" :)

attempt #1

attempt #2

the final!

with the flash...

i think kiah liked the paint in his fingers...think they make edible paint? :)

advent: day 4

2011-12-04T23:03:00.000-08:00

today's advent adventure was just to decorate the tree and the house! i did have to do this solo since eric was left for his trip but that's okay. the only thing we have left to do for decorating is put the lights up on the house. hoping we can finish that next weekend! :)

the tree!

my christmas card display

precious moments nativity from my childhood

the front door!

i paused in my decorating to go to church...we started a new series today called God's work, our witness. the first sermon chronicled the history of mars hill, which was very very interesting...i recommend checking it out if you are not familiar with mars hill! kiah is now old enough for the nursery and with the launch of the sammamish site we can actually attend a service that fits with his nap schedule. he LOVES the nursery, as there are other kids to watch and keep him entertained. he's always pretty wiped out by the time we leave :). today was also the last day we were scheduled to serve at the bellevue location, so mary came over to watch kiah while i drove downtown.

eric and i serve in the financial ministry, which means we count the offering after the service. there is a very specific set of guidelines that we follow and it has really been a blessing to see God's people give faithfully. i have been encouraged by serving in this area and am amazed at what God has done. there are many reasons to celebrate this season, but his blessing on our life is definitely one of them!

advent: day 3

2011-12-03T22:02:00.000-08:00

today was a busy advent-adventure filled day! our official advent activities included getting a tree and attending the redmond lights festival, but our second thanksgiving celebration had been rescheduled to today due to eric getting the flu last weekend (ick).

we usually go to a u-cut tree farm, pick out our tree, enjoy the experience, get back way too late and almost always get into an argument about one thing or another. because of a business trip for eric today had to be the day we got a tree. because of kiah's schedule and the day's scheduled events, we decided to opt out of the u-cut experience this year. we had a slow morning before heading over to "auntie mary's" house for our thanksgiving lunch. we had some new faces at the table this year! joseph is a colleague of mary's who is currently in the states for work. he normally spends the majority of his time in india :). tammy, who i believe introduced joseph and mary (hahahaha i just caught that), is a friend of mary's also from the working world. tammy moved to seattle a year ago, spent thanksgiving with us last year and also served at the union gospel mission last week. and finally a friend of mary's who just moved to seattle in september rounded us out! (i can not figure out how to spell her name for the life of me, and rather than butcher it i will refrain).

ready to eat!

the meal was very yummy and we were all pretty stuffed! instead of going for a walk we played carroms, a traditional indian billiard game (think pool + shufflelboard). eric and i were neck and neck until he put away the last carrom man for the win. next time!!

kiah needed another nap but we were planning on heading out to pick up our christmas tree, so mary volunteered to watch him while we snuck out. he was a good boy and slept the whole time we were gone :). we stopped at home to switch cars (the last thing i need to add to my list of things to do is vacuum my car), drove down the street to a tree lot, picked out a tree, paid a ridiculous amount of money for it, had it thrown in the back of the truck, drove home, switched cars again, and went back to mary's. we convinced her to join us to go check out the redmond lights festival and piled in the car!

so the festival activities started at 4pm at redmond city hall. they had some musical groups performing, and then the cool part of the evening was walking the burke-gilman trail to redmond town center. the trail was lit with sandbags & candles (i think not real candles) and everyone participating was given these blinking red lights so you would be easily seen. pretty cool right? except we didn't leave until after 5pm and skipped the walk. i'm pretty sure the walk was the best part of the evening. we went straight to redmond town center, which was a total ZOO, and didn't really have anything too interesting going on. well i guess if we had showed up hungry, yes. there were a bunch of restaurants/stores with booths giving away free food samples and a chili cook-off between a restaurant, the city police, and the city firemen. we weren't hungry though, and kiah was too little to really appreciate any of the kid-geared activities. on the scale of fun holiday activities, this scored pretty low for the three of us. it may have been redeemed had we done the walk...but because we skipped that part we may never know. looks like it won't be making it into our yearly rotation :).

all bundled up!

we finished up the evening by getting the tree on the stand and in the house, and it's not even crooked! eric did such a great job :).

advent: day 2

2011-12-02T21:23:00.000-08:00

ooh day 2 was such fun!! it involved dressing up, going out sans baby, and spending some time with my man! for the past two years we have attended a "lessons and carols" concert at benaroya hall the week prior to christmas. this year we decided to switch it up a bit and attended a traditional christmas concert at benaroya featuring the rainier symphony, northwest university choir, and university presbyterian church choir. the two concerts were similiar - both featured choir and symphony together and both had audience participation (by far the best part!), but that is where the similarities ended.

the only picture we snapped that night - dang it!

we started off our evening with dinner at the bar at wild ginger, a local thai seafood infusion place across the street from benaroya. it was very yummy!! we headed over for the concert, found our seats and enjoyed the show. in my honest opinion, the lessons and carols concert was much better. this concert wasn't bad, i just really enjoy the other one. we bolted as soon as it was over, skipping the encore to head back to the eastside and to a christmas party!

our friends throw this pretty large and swanky christmas party every year (except last) and we were bummed it happened to be the same night we had concert tickets. we did manage to make it there before the party was over and enjoy a drink or two! we even caught some friends who hadn't left yet :). it was such a fun night and i really enjoyed the chance to sneak away with eric for some time away from kiah. don't get me wrong...i love that kid to pieces but eric is my first priority (behind Jesus of course). sometimes that priority gets a bit messed up when you have a demanding infant but it needed to be reset. we both decided date night needs to be a much bigger priority!!

advent: day 1

2011-12-01T16:42:00.000-08:00

"for to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

isaiah 9:6

advent

2011-11-30T16:11:00.000-08:00

advent: the period beginning four sundays before Christmas and observed by some Christians as a season of prayer and fasting; the coming of Christ at the Incarnation

origin: middle english, from medieval latin adventus, from latin, arrival, from advenire

advent, or the period leading up to Christmas, always seems to be such a crazy and busy time. sometimes i don't mind the busy. other times i hate it. we do try to find ways to remember WHY we're celebrating, and eric really loves traditions. not sure why but he is always looking for something we can do as a family that will become a tradition. most of the time those things are fun!

after seeing some cool advent calendars on pinterest and other blogs i follow, i decided i wanted to make one for our family to put those traditions to good use! i remember having advent calendars as a kid, the kind where you punched open the little hole and ate your (usually nasty) chocolate for the day. i'm sure eric had similar calendars in his childhood. as a child these were an easy (and awesome) way to count down the days until - woohoo! - Christmas and presents and no school. other than that i don't seem to recall them pointing me towards the real reason for all of the holiday hoopla. because of that i wanted our family advent calendar to be a little different.

here's what i ended up with:

i borrowed the idea from this blog, although of course i subtracted and added a few things to make it my own. here's the scoop...each day is represented by a felt envelope. each envelope is filled with a ghiradelli's chocolate square (mint, caramel, or peppermint...yummm!) and a small square of paper. on the paper is printed either an advent/christmas related activity or scripture. SO! for the month of december i'll be blogging our advent adventures. if we have an activity planned, you'll get a post about that. if it is a scripture day, you'll get scripture. hope you remember the reason for the season and enjoy this crazy time with family and friends!

splish splash

2011-11-26T13:18:00.001-08:00

enjoy!

give thanks

2011-11-25T12:32:00.000-08:00

thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. i mean, other than reflecting on all of the reasons we have to be thankful, let's be honest...it's about food. and good food at that. mashed potatoes definitely make it on my all time favorite food list! this year we had planned on spending thanksgiving with friends, like usual, but were going to move our dinner to saturday because we had volunteered to serve at the union gospel mission in downtown seattle.

our day looked a little like this: kiah woke up at his usual time around 7am, and eric had left before 6 that morning to workout and go to men's morning prayer. kiah and i hung out until daddy came home, played some more, and he went down for his nap. then the real work began. eric helped me cut up some green beans, i toasted my bread in the oven for stuffing, and we set about cleaning up the mess we were creating. kiah woke up, green bean casserole was warming in one oven, and stuffing cooking in the other. eric and kiah headed over to sam & jen's while i went for a quick run and packed up the food. i joined the party and found the place full of food and yummy smells!

we put the kiddos down for a nap and sat down to enjoy the fruits of our labor. it was delicious! sam did a great job with his first turkey and everything else was pretty darn good too! it was time to go too soon but the delay's were awesome and offered to watch kiah while we were serving. we had been planning on taking him with us and eric would wear him in the ergo, but he was still asleep and we were a little worried about people trying to touch him all the time. in the end i am SO glad we didn't take him; it would have been really difficult running around like that with him. plus he probably would have thrown a fit about being in the ergo for that long.

the union gospel mission has been around for quite awhile in seattle. i think they said it started in 1932. they run a day shelter with pastries, coffee, and bathrooms. at night they offer beds for about 100 men, who are required to shower and can stay for free unless they come back for multiple nights in a row, in which case it costs $5/night. one of the coolest things they do though is their addiction recovery program. the program takes up to 25 men at a time and has had a waiting list in the past. participants can leave whenever they like so it is completely voluntary, and the gospel is a main component of the program. the guys in the program stay in dorm rooms and they all have "jobs" in the building. eric had some cool conversations with a few of the "program guys"; got to hear their stories and encourage them.

in our aprons!

anyway...as volunteers we were assigned our own jobs for the next dinner shift, got a tour of the building, and then were welcomed to eat with the program guys before the doors opened. i was so stuffed from our lunch i decided to pass. pretty soon it was 5pm and time for dinner! the line of primarily men came in and sat down. my assigned job was to replace soup packets on the table when the seats emptied, but i think i did a little bit of everything. the kitchen was a bit slow at churning out plates of food but we ran them when they were ready, grabbed drinks, napkins, pie...whatever they requested we (mostly) filled. i did ask a guy what he would like to drink and he replied "you got any dos equis?" i tried not to laugh and responded we didn't have any of those here to which he said he would take a cola. at least he had good taste in beer! ;)

dinner ran from 5-6pm and then the doors were closed. we helped clean up a bit, passed out handmade knit hats/beanies to those who wanted them, and had a really neat conversation with a guy named maurice who asked us what church we attended. eric gave him the address for mars hill downtown and he gave eric his phone number. (side note: i was amazed at how many of these homeless guys had cell phones! i'm not sure how that works but i was surprised.) we left to go rescue sam and jen from kiah, but not before eric had a marketing conversation with the guy who runs the place. i think they're going to meet for lunch soon :).

it was such a rewarding experience; we are definitely going to do that again. everyone was really nice and no one grouched at us, although i had somewhat expected to be grouched at at least once! the men were very thankful and appreciative and it was humbling to know how excessively God has blessed us with material things. a good and sobering reminder to steward well His gifts at all times during the year, and especially during the holidays!

happy thanksgiving!

saved through childbearing

2011-11-19T21:51:00.001-08:00

last week i posted a link to a blog post about moms to infants and toddlers. wendy, the blog's author, has written a follow up post that is a great description of the santification that happens through child-bearing. i found most interesting the point that even NOT bearing children is santification. another highly recommended read!! click here to read her thoughts :).

6 months!

2011-11-17T22:03:00.000-08:00

kiah hit the 6 month mark last sunday...where has the time gone?! half a year?!

here's the latest stats after his dr appt on wednesday:

weight: 18 lbs, 9 oz (75%)
height: 28.25" (97%)
head: 17.75" (85%)

we're thinning out and getting taller over here apparently! i fully expected him to weigh more than he did, but i'll be honest...not going to complain about his weight slowing down. the kid is heavy enough as it is to haul around!

sitting up nice and tall with his friend gracie

kiah is a champ at sitting up now and rarely bails. on occasion however he gets too excited about looking behind him or reaching for some toy and eats it. best part about the sitting up is bath time by far! he LOVES the bath; he gets a huge grin on his face when we get in bathroom and start taking off his clothes. he fishes around for his toys, squeals and splashes, tolerates us dumping water on his head, but the real fun begins when we lay him down. we started filling the tub with only two inches of water or so and when we laid him down he figured out his feet could make really big splashes! he goes nuts and water is flying everywhere...it's pretty funny :).

he is most content sitting up and has begun to tolerate being on his tummy for longer periods of time, but he refuses to even attempt to roll over and hasn't quite figured out he can crawl. i'm sure it won't be long until he does both but for right now he just gets pissed that he's still on his tummy. he does love playing with his stand up toys though and is getting much better at balancing as he stands. he just might walk before he crawls or rolls!

mommy's model :)

so i was surprised about the fact that he had only gained about a pound since his last dr visit because this kid can EAT. i wish i had some video of him eating because it is awesome (i do have video of bathtime but since my blog is not private and there are too many sickos out there y'all are going to miss out on that). kiah learned very quickly that grabbing for the spoon significantly slowed down the rate at which he got food and now eats with his arms out at 45 degree angles. he leans forward with his mouth wide open and tongue hanging out waiting for each bite and he yells if you don't get that next bite in there fast enough. so far the only food he has spit out and refused to eat is avocados. i know, right? this can't possibly be my kid. my only guess is that they may not have been ripe enough. we'll keep trying. i am making most of his food and actually enjoy that process so far. definitely cheaper which is an added bonus!

prior to learning hands = no food

he is such a joy, and despite the fact that teething has turned his normal sleep-through-the-night habit upside down he is usually pretty happy. and, because i'm his momma and i just have to brag a little, i must say that i get comments EVERYWHERE that typically go something like this: "oh my gosh what a cute baby! i just want to pinch his cheeks!" we usually agree :).

my sweet smiling boy

i'm looking forward to celebrating his first christmas in another month and doing some fun crafts to commemorate it! will attempt to document crafts and post to share!

take a vote!

2011-11-16T18:11:00.000-08:00

let's play the "who does kiah most resemble now?" game :)

eric 6 mos

risa 6 mos

marisa's mom denise age ?

linnie, marisa's sister, 4 or 5 mos

kiah, 6 mos

so who wins? leave your comment below!

a season ends

2011-11-15T10:12:00.001-08:00

it was a marathon day but not one that ended quite the way we wanted. oh we could blame it on a lot of things...less than ideal playing conditions, travel, weather...but at the end of the day those are just excuses. we didn't get it done.

i'll expand on a few of those excuses though, because it makes for a more interesting post :). the team took the bus to spokane on friday and spent the night. the game was at 2pm, which was a bit later than we would have liked due strictly to having to drive home that night. we played at newport high school, which is an hour north of spokane still (spokane being about a four hour drive from seattle). it snowed friday night but was dry saturday morning, just a little chilly. apparently the school had tried to find a turf field to play on in spokane, but all of them were being used for first round state football games.

the team got up, ate breakfast, and were studying and/or packing stuff up while i hopped on my very quick flight from seattle to spokane. upon arriving we loaded up the bus and headed north. found the field, which was a grass football field with a huge crown in the middle. i literally could not see the other sideline from the bench.

i'm not sure if the team was nervous or if they had a hard time adjusting to the grass, but either way we were not ready to play when the game started. our goalkeeper made some amazing saves in the first five minutes of the game to keep the score even, but eventually they did score. it was 1-0 at halftime. in the second half we finally showed up and took control of the ball. one of our senior captains evened the score shortly after halftime and not too long after that the snow started to fall. it was really starting to come down and combined with the wind it was hard to look down one direction because the wind drove the snow in your eyes. time expired and we headed to overtime. we had a few close chances in the first 5 minutes but weren't able to convert, and were oh-so-close early in the second five minutes when suddenly it was two vs one deep in our defensive end. and just like that the game and our season was over.

it was so shocking and ended so quickly it took a little while to process. it was relieving and disappointing all at the same time. this season was so different for me because i wasn't there every day. there really wasn't a whole lot i could do about that, and it took some getting used to, but i still wish i could have been there more often. i am looking forward to next season already, as each new season brings with it new excitement and a clean slate, and the possibility of greatness. don't most new beginnings feel like that? either way...here's to next august!

quarterfinals = road trip!

2011-11-11T13:04:00.001-08:00

the overlake girls soccer team is back on the road again!

wednesday we managed to pull out the win after regulation, overtime and a shootout that went to 9 shooters! that's right, 9 shooters!! can you believe that?! it was ridiculous and incredible all at the same time...i don't think i've ever seen a shootout go into that many shooters. if you had told me that was the way it would go before the game started i wouldn't have believed you. (well, the shootout was a possibility, but not 9 shooters!) you can read about the game here and here.

and now the team is headed to newport washington, which is about an hour north of spokane right on the idaho-washington border. this is very reminiscent of our state journey in 2009, if you might recall. snow is predicted in the forecast for all mountain passes and most of the eastern half of the state, while the western half drowns in rain. i will be joining them tomorrow via plane (praise the Lord i was not looking forward to that drive) and then taking the bus home. kiah and eric are going to sit this one out and chill at home. the last thing we need is another virus to set in!

the girls are excited and so am i...it's a fun time of year! stay tuned for results :)

give me grace

2011-11-09T13:43:00.000-08:00

i just read this and i have to share. i know there are other moms-of-babes reading my blog and if i benefited from this, so will you.

http://www.theologyforwomen.org/2011/11/give-us-grace-parenting-advice-for-moms.html

i so needed to read this.

what extra hour?

2011-11-06T21:52:00.000-08:00

our weekend consisted of some soccer, crafting, playing, and quite a bit of snot. thursday morning i noticed kiah had a little bit of a runny nose but figured it was another tooth. by saturday morning we had a full blown snot faucet. poor kid. last night was terrible...he had so much mucus stuck in the back of his throat he couldn't breath. he woke up two hours after we put him to bed (which is NOT normal) and eric tried to get him to go back to sleep but everytime he put him back in his crib he would wake up.

i called the microsoft health line (they have a dedicated 24-hr nurse hotline) to get some suggestions on what we could do to help him breath. the nurse was quite helpful and suggested a humidifier, sucking what we could out of his nose, saline drops, elevating his crib, and because he had a fever, tylenol. we did everything except the saline drops because i didn't have any. eric had already given him tylenol because we thought it was a teething issue, and i pulled out the humidifier and got it going. unfortunately he was up twice more that night which made for a miserable mommy & daddy today. he's been a champ though and is still his happy little self!

saturday afternoon i snuck out to watch a playoff game...but not one that had any relevance to our season at overlake except that one player on the field was a former owl. she transfered just before school started in august and i dearly miss her - both on and off the field. her team won and they open their first round state game in eastern washington against the #1 ranked team in their division. best of luck to the lady crusaders of eastside catholic!

i attended a baby shower for my friend laura who is expecting her first, a baby girl named claire elizabeth, today. laura's doing purple in the nursery so instead of loads of pink there was quite a bit of purple! to be honest it was a nice change and it meant i got to have some fun with girl colors - woohoo! here's some pics of a few of the things for claire:

carseat blankie

burp rags

newborn pouch for a photoshoot :)

i used my food processor for the first time tonight and as promised, here is the full report. i love love love love love love love it!!! seriously. this thing is amazing and i'm wondering how i managed in my kitchen for so long without it. first thing to get "processed"? cheese :). we eat a lot of cheese around here and most of it shredded. i have a trip to costco planned this week so i took what was left of the block of cheese and shredded it. again...amazing! i can already tell the shredding plate is going to get a lot of use around here! the next thing i used it for was to puree butternut squash for kiah, which was a big hit! i think for the most part i'm going to like making his food. it's way cheaper and i know exactly what's going in his mouth. some stuff though i'll still buy (like prunes; who wants to puree prunes?) but for the most part i'm gonna try to make it!

look at all that cheese!

in other news...we open up our first round state game against meridian on wednesday night. we met them earlier this season and came away with a 3-2 victory. this game is going to be a little different though; it will be played on turf, will most likely be wet, and both teams should be rested. last time we played on their home field (grass), had played the day before, and it HOT that day. hoping the result is the same even if conditions are not! GO OWLS!!

okay time for bed. we completely missed daylight savings time today but it didn't matter. an extra hour doesn't count when you're awake for double that at 3am :(.

**oh! and a special note for kelly...for whatever reason i can't leave a comment on your blog (grrrrr) but do want to keep reading! use marisaloper@gmail.com for my email :)

november already?

2011-11-04T16:28:00.000-07:00

is it really november already?! here's what's been going on since our return home!

this picture is from a few weeks ago but it was his first time in a shopping cart! he really enjoyed the new view!

sunday october 30th marked the official grand opening of mars hill bellevue AND the big surprise announcement - mars hill sammamish!! we now have a mars hill location right in our backyard, only ten minutes up the hill. we are really excited about this new opportunity and looking forward to seeing what God does on the plateau. you can read more about it here.

we officially started solid foods on monday. he had been getting rice cereal or a vegetable at dinner time but now we're doing two solid feedings a day. the kid LOVES food. he yells if you don't feed him fast enough, leans forward for the spoon, and so far has liked everything we've given him - peas, carrots, prunes, applesauce, rice cereal with cinnamon, and bananas. coming up in the next couple of weeks we'll introduce peaches, butternut squash, broccoli, cauliflower...and whatever else sounds good :). i think the additional calories have made him a much happier baby and he was pretty happy to begin with!

halloween wasn't too exciting but we did get the little man dressed up :). microsoft does a party for the kiddos...they used to have the kids trick-or-treat from cubicle to cubicle (or office) but threw a party this year instead. so we headed over to visit eric at work with sam, jen & grace. check out these two sweeties in the car :)

friends :)

kiah got lots of compliments from fellow in-n-out lovers!

trick or treat!

man kiah looks really chubs in this pic!

gracie was a flower - so cute!!

tuesday we had a celebration dinner to bring together the two congregations. the place was packed! earlier that day though kiah had woken up bawling (which isn't all that uncommon) but even after he ate he was still crying. hard. i stuck my finger in his mouth and was shocked to feel a very sharp edge coming through! his first tooth!! poor kid. some tylenol made the evening bearable for everyone and he's actually been in good spirits since then. totally explains the horrible weekend of sleeping you can barely see it but once i can get a good picture i promise i'll post it!

i left the party a little early because we had our first playoff game the same night! we played lynden christian in a winner-to-state game. this is the first time this season we've met them on the field; last year we played them in a loser-out/winner-to-state game. and both times we walked away with the win! the team played really well and are excited to be going to state. we also played last night in a seeding game against u. prep. not our best game. kinda had a repeat of senior night last week. we're still waiting to find out what we will be seeded (apparently some last minute changes are affecting the decision) but we will be playing tuesday or wednesday in the first round of state! i'll keep you posted.

kiah cheering on the owls at last night's game!

kiah has discovered his tongue and now you often see him as the picture above depicts :). he almost always has his mouth open anyway, so sticking his tongue out is just the next step! kiah's also taken up "talking". it is actually adorable, except during church when it is just distracting. i caught him earlier today playing and talking...he does this almost all the time while playing. if he's slept enough he'll wake up talking. i love it!!

and the last piece of news from the last week (man it's been a busy one!) is the kitties have been kicked outdoors. yeah. sad day. there were a few things that preceeded this decision but the final nail in the coffin was they were peeing under kiah's crib. yahgross. pretty sure ernie peed under it WHILE I WAS IN THE ROOM!! so for now they live outside. they do get to come in the garage at night. they aren't really thrilled with this arrangement. two funny things: 1) bert killed a shrew already, and 2) they spend almost the entire day on the deck. before, when they snuck out or were allowed out and snuck off the deck, they were out in the yard and who knows where. now they're forced out and they hang out on the deck all day?! wonder how long that'll last...

and that's what's new in november!

pumpkin patch, texas style

2011-10-31T22:40:00.000-07:00

our flight home didn't leave until close to 6pm saturday so we had a couple of hours to kill before needing to be at the airport. i wanted to find a pumpkin patch so we could take pictures with kiah and i thought it was a great idea to do it while we were in texas because the sun would be shining. and it wouldn't be muddy. :)

we got the name of a farm and directions from our hotel and off we went...and went and went and went. we drove 40ish minutes outside of austin to find a pumpkin patch. and upon arriving at the address this is what we found:

uh...where in the world are we?!

fortunately we were in the right place and although it wasn't what i would typically expect from a pumpkin patch they did have a lot of fun stuff to see and do. we were just happy to be outside in the sun! a major bonus: kiah slept the whole way there!! yippee! after the sleep disaster the night before i was a bit concerned for our flight home so any napping was highly encouraged...i didn't care too much about the when or where.

after walking around and checking things out a bit, we decided to buy a ticket because i wanted to do this:

yeaaaaahhhhh, that's what i'm talking about ;). a pumpkin launch!! it was pretty fun too. after killing our five pumpkins we headed over to snap a few pictures. i gotta say, the people in texas are very friendly and quite nice. someone offered to take our photo, which was greatly appreciated. we wandered around a bit more but decided to hit the road before kiah needed to eat again. it was worth the drive...because kiah slept the whole way back!!

the fam :)

my sweet boy!!

come and get it!

touring austin

2011-10-30T14:46:00.000-07:00

we stayed in downtown austin the first night, only a block or two from the capital building so once kiah and i were up and at 'em for the day we took a little stroll to check it out.
what a beautiful building! we were told it was purposely built taller than the white house...those texas rebels. it was very pretty though, and huge! these are great photos but they show the top of the dome and the floor under the dome. i thought it was interesting that the four seals on the floor are the four countries texas has been governed by at point (do you know which four? answer below!)

the top of the dome

the four countries are: spain, france, mexico and the united states

the capital building at night

before long it was kiah's naptime so we headed back to the hotel. i took along a bunch of yarn and my crochet hooks so that i would have something to do during naptimes. good thing i did...there isn't much to do in a dark room for an hour or so a couple of times a day when you have to keep quiet! i've been crocheting quite a bit lately but almost everything is a gift so you'll have to wait to see what i've been working on!

after naptime eric came and picked us up to take us to our new home for the next two days, the westin austin at the domain. the domain is a high end retail space with apartments above most of the stores. the nice part was i could walk to all of the stores, and if i didn't feel like walking i could call the shuttle (a slightly larger golfcart) to pick me up and drive me :). it was great since i didn't have a car and was pretty limited by kiah's schedule (or lack thereof) anyway!

thursday afternoon eric's team met for drinks and appetizers at a restaurant in the domain, so kiah and i joined them for a little treat. they were more than happy to see us and entertain the little man for awhile. thursday night was a bit more successful in the sleeping department but eric still got up twice and i got up once, which is three times more than normal. at least he slept in his own bed that night!

friday eric worked and kiah and i did some shopping between naps. i had a return and got that all taken care of, plus kiah had had a major blowout in both pairs of pajamas i brought so we made a stop at macy's for a new pair. eric was finished with work fairly early and kiah hadn't really been napping super well so eric took him for a run in the stroller. apparently this area of austin is still under development and sidewalks were in shortage. what should have been an hour long run turned into an almost two hour adventure. bonus? kiah slept for a good chunk of it. minus? we were totally late for dinner with my uncle bob, his wife christle, and their girls amy & jaime.

it was all good though, we made it eventually! we went to gumbo's, a cajun joint in downtown austin(apparently there are other locations as well) and keeter was our waiter! don't worry...he did a fantastic job :). the food was fantastic; pretty sure it was steaks all around. it was a fun evening catching up with family we don't see very frequently; in fact i think our typical "last saw you" is marked in years! kiah kinda melted down halfway through dinner and even a diaper change and some food didn't help. he did like the ceiling fans but was the happiest once we got outside :).

from l-r: uncle bob, amy, me, eric, kiah, christle, jaime & keeter

we said goodbye to the fam and headed back to the hotel for the night...and one of the worst nights we've had since becoming parents ensued. kiah woke up every two hours (or less) and it took concerted efforts to get him to sleep. finally eric put him in the car and drove around austin at 5 in the morning to get him to calm down. it worked, but not for too long. it was awful. by the time he went down for his first nap we were both crawling in bed too! fortunately for us he did nap because we had a fun outing planned for that afternoon!

welcome to texas, y'all

2011-10-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

i know we just got back from a long trip but we took off again, this time to austin texas! yippee for more sunshine and warmer temps!!

the flight out was...okay. it takes a bit longer to get to texas than to southern california :). kiah did fine; he napped a bit and because we were stuck in the very last row of the plane, was somewhat entertained by the constant flow of passengers using the restroom. he did get bored however and i have visions of not so fun flights in our future. :/. (good thing the kid is cute and loves people!)

the seasoned traveler

between arriving at our destination, getting a rental car and finding our way to the hotel, i got a voicemail from my cousin keeter (keith, really) saying he had heard we were in town and he lived only a few blocks away from our hotel! sweet!! i gave him a call back and we made plans to meet up for dinner. he only moved back to austin a month ago so he was still learning his way around downtown as well. we ate at stubb's bbq - delish! we told him we wanted authentic austin food...no chains, no anything we could get somewhere else. you may recognize the name stubb's; it took me a minute but then i realized they sell their bbq sauce in the grocery store!

after dinner we walked around 6th street a bit, listening to pieces of live music through open doors and windows. it had been really hot that day and was SO warm that night; i loved it! kiah was pretty happy about it too and loved being in the stroller, outside, in warm weather. we decided to keep him on pacific coast time since our trip was pretty short. it was really much easier that way...his bedtime was 10pm texas time so we could actually go to dinner and hotels have lovely blackout curtains which meant it was easier to sleep until 9am texas time.

the real fun began at bedtime, when kiah pretty much freaked out when we put him in the hotel crib. it didn't help that we did nothing that night that was a part of his normal routine. he ended up spending the night in bed with us...which meant neither one of us really slept all that well. he also didn't sleep well and woke up a number of times. it was a learning experience i guess. i should have brought a blanket or sheet or something from home to help it smell more familiar, and been a little more adament about following some part of his bedtime routine. you live and learn, right? poor eric had to actually get up on texas time...but me & kiah slept in a bit :).

a quick soccer update

2011-10-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

today was our last regular season game. senior night. so crazy - the seniors this year were freshman my first year coaching. been through a lot with these girlies and hope we can finish this season with a state championship! we finished up the emerald city league with a loss to u prep. not our best showing today and we're having some trouble with injuries. hoping all of that clears up before our first playoff game next week.
here's where we currently stand:
finished second in league with a 11-3 record, 13-3 overall record. open the tri-district tournament next tuesday against the winner of cedar park (a fellow ECL opponent) and lynden christian.

and off we go!

growing and growing...

2011-10-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

mars hill bellevue celebrated their new building sunday and it was amazing! this was just the soft launch; the official grand opening is next week. pastor mark will be preaching live and they'll christen the new baptism tank :). this has been long awaited...i think we started down this road two years ago! it is so cool to see how God is working in this area, even more exciting to be a part of it!

children's ministry was busting at the seams all day which is a good and bad problem to have on the first day in a new building. good thing there is a huge announcement planned for next week which will affect all of this. they have a sweet system for checking kids in to the childcare...you register your child(ren) with the barcode for both you and your spouse's driver's license. arrive at church, scan your license, and the computer automatically prints off a nametag for your kid! pretty sweet and efficient. we are registered but haven't put kiah in children's ministry yet...for one he wasn't old enough until this month and church usually coincides with his naptime :(. so far that hasn't been a problem except he is getting a little louder when he is awake...he likes to talk (wonder who he got that from?!) and make high pitched baby noises. i love it, just not when we're in church :). he's done great so far at bsf in childcare so i'm really not worried about church. just waiting for the right time!

stay tuned for what the big announcment is!

chicken chili

2011-10-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

so the other day i had no idea what to make for dinner, and i hadn't gone to the store since coming home. eric had taken some chicken out of the freezer before he left but didn't use it so it was thawed and ready to go. i threw it in the crockpot and figured i'd come up with something. i didn't have quite everything for the white chicken chili recipe i have, and didn't have all of the ingredients for tacos. it was cold and gray out so something warm and tasty sounded yummy. here's what i came up with (and it was delicious!!)

1 lb chicken breasts
olive oil
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 can rotel, mild
1/2 C rice
5 C chicken broth*
2 tsp cumin
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp minced garlic
cheddar cheese, shredded

coat bottom of crockpot with olive oil; add chicken and cook on high until done (won't take long, an hour or so). the chicken sticks without the olive oil and is a pain to clean so don't forget that step! shred the chicken with two forks. add beans, rotel, rice, broth, garlic and spices. stir and turn heat down to low. when the rice is cooked you're done! top it off with cheese and if desired, sour cream. we ate ours with cornbread which was also delish :)

*if you want more of a soup result, add all 5 cups. if you want a taco filling, add 2 cups only.

post-vacation blahs.

2011-10-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

i. am. tired.

10 days of traveling with an infant is sure to do that to you. add in a weekend with 4 besties and another infant, too many long car rides (also with infant(s)), a birthday, a month birthday for kiah, and an amazing wedding weekend and even the best of you party animals would be exhausted. however it was an awesome trip and i was not happy about leaving.

in order to spare you from having to read the marathon of all blog posts i've decided to split this one up by event. (you may have to go back to read the posts as they will be posted by date event occured) just know that we all made it home, are all tired and a bit off schedule, and this one in particular wishes we could have three saturdays in a row just to right ourselves a bit.

first up on the event list: suite love reunion 2011!

on the dairy

2011-10-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

this is what one does on the dairy when you haven't been in awhile. take a golf cart ride and shoot guns. :)

me & jenni...managing the golf cart

kenton has three guns and all three got fired sunday afternoon. the boys started with a shotgun, going after pigeons (or "rats of the air" as kenton called it). when the pigeons all took off and weren't coming back they switched to target shooting. that's when jenni and i got involved :).

eric with the shotgun

the first one i shot was a little guy, a 40-caliber glock...something cops carry apparently. it had a little kick to it but not bad. i came pretty close to a bullseye; not bad for my first attempt!

like my outfit? yeeaaaah. go shitkickers. and los doyers!

that's mine!

jenni shooting

the next gun was a rifle, a nasty hunting gun. this sucker was huge. and heavy. and had a scope. i shot this one once and that was enough; it was quite loud and had a nasty recoil. i did hit the target even though it was way further away, although we never checked the paper between kenton & me so we're not sure who hit what. not something you do on an average day in suburbia, but on the dairy? most anything goes :)

kenton lining up the scope on the rifle

eric shooting the rifle

the boys on their way back from checking the target.

the mulders stopped by to say "hi" and "bye" to kiah (oh and us too)...then we hit up in-n-out one more time so eric could enjoy the deliciousness that is fresh patties and grilled buns!

phil & aley's wedding weekend

2011-10-17T22:57:00.000-07:00

this was definitely a highlight of our trip. a long weekend at a sweet resort (thank you mom and dad!!!), a marriage celebration for two cool peeps, lots of family to spend time with, HOT weather, the beach, good food, good drinks...really this list could go on and on.

my cousin phil and his now sweet-as-pie wife aley met and started dating in high school. their parents are friends. their families hang out together a lot. which meant this wedding was one big party with extended family & friends.

papa & kiah by the pool!

we headed out to huntington beach thursday afternoon and hit the pool asap. we joined my auntie min, uncle rick and the groom who were already relaxing poolside. my mom joined us shortly and we waited for kenton & jenni to show up so we could go to dinner. it was unbelievably beautiful that day for october at the beach. very little breeze, so clear you could make out all of catalina island and WARM! we walked to ruby's on the pier with kiah screaming the whole way in the stroller. grams was able to get him to sleep before we ordered our food so praise the Lord we ate in peace! eric flew in that night and i was so glad...i had missed that boy!

the sunset thursday pm

friday morning eric took off early to work at microsoft's office in irvine so mom, kiah and i hit the mall. among the few purchases we made was a dress for the rehearsal dinner for me ($13.50 at forever 21 - score!!) and a ridiculously cute bow-tie for my little man for the wedding. linnie pinnie had flown in to lax early that morning and bud & jenni had very graciously picked her up. because we needed to practice jenni brought linsers to the mall so we could take her back to the hotel. we got to practicing later that afternoon and did sit by the pool for a bit but the fog had rolled in and it was a little chilly.

chillin' by the pool

we sat through rehearsal to get a feel for how saturday would go before heading to dinner with the rest of the wedding party. the food was great, company was better and it continued back at the hotel (well for the guys anyway...me and lins went to bed!).

lins, me & mom at rehearsal

aley & her dad at rehearsal

saturday dawned a little overcast but i had made running plans with sue & alan the night before so we hit the boardwalk on the beach. it was busy but not too bad and by the time we were done the sun had come out! after getting our run on we took kiah back out to the sand so he could experience the ocean for the first time. he loved it! i think because it was loud and he was outside...and he didn't even mind that it was a little cold. after the water we stopped and shared a strips with cheese for lunch (did you really think we would go to the beach and NOT get strips?!) before hitting the pool. kiah loved the pool and loved the hot tub even more!! before long it was time to get ready and get going.

the wedding was beautiful; i loved the bridesmaid dresses and all of the purple and aley was gorgeous! i do think my little guy may have stolen some attention...isn't he so cute?!

papa & kiah

beside the open bar and cigar roller on site, it was just plain ol' dancing fun for most of the night! my grandma was an awesome help and stayed in the room while kiah slept so we could stay up a little later :). i hit bed before midnight but eric stayed up with the boys...i knew my morning would come early with a certain someone! sunday was slow as we packed up our things to head back to grams and papa's house for one more night.

our little family :)

sisters - sisters

the girl cousins & aunties!

yay for family vacations...we need to do another one. asap.

5 months!!

2011-10-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

seriously time is flying. i know. i say it all the time but he is getting so big and i love and hate it! kiah is starting to pick up some new tricks, the biggest being sitting up!! so crazy...one day he could only sit up leaning on his hands, the next he sat straight up and beamed at me. it was adorable.

so proud of himself!

look at me dada!!

he is also starting to be waaaay too interested in food. watching us eat, pulling at our plates...his pediatrician said we could start solids at four months, but he didn't need it if we wanted to wait. i decided to wait until after our trip because i didn't want to deal with the hassle of food. however he did try banana and ate it :). grams thought it was still in his cheeks but nope, he ate it. i knew he would. since then he's had more banana and some rice cereal, which he gobbled up. we're headed to austin at the end of the month so i'm hoping to hold off a bit more before starting up a routine with the solid food.

first golf cart ride with papa! loved it, of course :)

he is such a joy and for the most part a good boy. he tolerated our traveling pretty well (except for the whole car seat thing) and other than getting a bit overwhelmed at times was happy! he is starting to show a bit of a temper though...gets that from his daddy? ;) if we keep him fed and napping on a regular schedule though the temper tends to stay at bay. he still loves loves loves the outdoors and LOVED the beach and the pool, particularly the hot tub (definitely gets that from his daddy!).

he learns new things every day and it is sometimes scary what he picks up on. i love being his mommy so much and being able to witness him grow and develop. what an amazing gift motherhood is!!

30

2011-10-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

the day came and went as i knew it would. that i would wake up, feeling no different than the day before, and go to sleep feeling no different than any other day. except i would be 30.

i bid farewell to my 20's by stuffing my face with in-n-out for dinner and generally not doing much that day. went for a run, hung out at my parents house, and spent some time with family! the only bummer about my birthday this year was that eric was at home and i was in california. it kinda sucked not being able to celebrate with him too.

kiah at my birthday dinner :) how adorable is he?!

because i was gone i didn't get any actual presents on my birthday. i did receive a scarf, gloves, and 2 mixed cd's from my girlies over the weekend. the mix cd's are an AWESOME gift idea (thanks kp!)...they were 30 songs for 30 years. i got one song for every year, starting in 1981. see? awesome. :)

when eric arrived on thursday i received my gifts - a sweet pair of ray-ban wayfarer sunglasses and one more that was awaiting me at home...a food processor!! yippee!! now i can make kiah's baby food ;). both of those gifts were from eric and all of my family & eric's so thank you to everyone who contributed! here's a pic of the sunglasses, and when i use my food processor for the first time you'll be sure to hear about it :).

not bad, eh?

i will admit that i was not really looking forward to turning 30. i don't know why; birthdays have never really freaked me out or been a very big deal but for whatever reason this one felt...different. like i was losing something i was never going to get back (my youth?). i got over it though, and now it's done. i'm 30. here's to a great decade!

suite love reunion 2011

2011-10-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

i can't believe it's been a year since our last reunion...it feels like it was yesterday. and yet, A LOT has changed in one little year.

we went from five college roomies to five college roomies plus two babes, who were only weeks old in utero last year. instead of shopping, movies, eating out and a lot of walking around, we mostly stayed put, pushing strollers or taking turns playing peek-a-boo or "monitoring" while the two moms escaped for a little while.

kiah loved his auntie stephie!

steph (aka phannie/stephie) was our wonderful hostess for the weekend. she lives in san ramon and fortunately for us, her family lives not too far away so she was able to borrow some baby gear and a babysitter! everyone arrived thursday late afternoon/evening and friday am we all were lazy, laying around in pj's for most of the morning. we got out to visit steph's mom and go for a walk in the afternoon and ordered pizza for dinner that night.

ready for our walk!

reese being entertained :)

saturday am kp started us off by going for a run, and the rest of us followed suit in one way or another! we took a walk down to starbucks that afternoon before heading out for our requisite trip to cheesecake factory for dinner. steph's sister michelle was a DREAM and offered to babysit both babies by herself so we could go to dinner and enjoy our meal. seriously she was crazy. reese is 4 weeks younger than kiah and the hours between 5 & 7pm are not nice for either of them. fortunately kim (steph & michelle's older sister) and her daughter katelyn stopped by right as things were getting a bit hairy for her :).

the five of us got to cheesecake and, as usual, the wait was ridiculous so kiki and i took the opportunity to go in to the mall ALONE!! hallelujah! we seriously ran inside, pretty much beside ourselves to be able to shop without a baby or stroller or having to worry about timing the next feeding, etc. it was awesome. and hilarious. i'm sure we looked ridiculous :). cheesecake was pretty yummy and we topped it off with a stop to yogurtland on the way home! yippee!!

*yogurtland has finally made it's way to washington, but unfortunately for me it is located on capital hill, downtown. not even remotely close enough to be worth the drive, especially with crappy parking and a baby in tow.

me & kiks after our solo shopping experience :-D

all five us!

we watched bridesmaids which was pretty funny before heading to bed. sunday am was semi-lazy as we started to pack up and clean the mess we had made out of steph's condo! we did find time throughout the weekend when both babies were asleep to do our traditional questions and as usual that was my favorite time of the whole weekend. i love hearing more about their lives, the stuff we don't get to witness because we live too far apart, and the good, bad and ugly of where their hearts are at. it is such a blessing to have relationships like this, where the pretenses are stripped away and you're loved no matter what. i wish we could do reunion weekend three or four times a year.

before long it was time to go. boo. that may have been when the real "fun" began, as i was heading south with kiki, kp & reese...in the car. for a 5 and a half hour drive back to santa barbara. wanna know what happens when you have 30 minutes left and one kid has been screaming for two hours and the other starts wimpering? this:

yes. totally against the law and dangerous. but our sanity was at stake, especially for kp who had been in the back seat for the second half of the drive. the first half both babies slept the whole time and were just fine! we finally made it back to kiki's, where kp bolted (not that i blame her let's be honest) and the rest of us ate dinner before climbing in bed.

besties and babies

*oh yeah - i got a new camera! woohoo!! so the much improved photos are thanks to eric's bonus :).

an update of sorts

2011-10-01T21:42:00.000-07:00

i realized i needed to do an update post, so here you go!

kiah went in for his 4 month dr appt this week and here are his current stats:

weight: 17 lbs, 3 oz - 90%
height: 26 1/2" - 93%
head: 17 1/4" - 90%

he has dropped a little in weight and gained a bit in height as far as percentages go, which corresponds pretty dead on for what we can visibly see. he has definitely lengthened out in the last month and he is looking leaner. the only chubby spots are still his cheeks and his little thunder thighs ;).

my happy boy!!

it is amazing how much he learns every week. in the past two weeks he has started reaching for things above his head (ie. putting his fingers in your mouth, nose, or eyes when you stick your face in his), rolling from side to side when on his back, blowing bubbles, sucking on his lower lip, and cooing/talking/giggling a lot more. he thinks snorting is hilarious and is very ticklish. he is oh-so-close to rolling from back to front and sitting up on his own...he actually sat up today for a couple of seconds! mostly he leans forward to grab/eat his toes and then tips over. :)

he loves being read to, being outside (i am SO screwed now that summer is officially over in seattle!), any toy that plays music, and being bounced or thrown around. definitely all boy when it comes to that...the rougher the better! he likes playing games; being "dropped", peek-a-boo, etc. i'm pretty sure he knows what "i'm going to get you!" means :). it is so so fun to watch him grow and we love watching him learn new skills and get smarter by the day!

stroller coma ;)

we've taken a break on the home projects for the time being, and i for one am thankful. i am realizing that i am pretty pooped by the end of the week and i need eric to give me a little break from being a mama 24-7. in addition to that we're saving the funds for a big project next year - new windows & siding and depending on cost and feasability, a small addition. i think we are in the process of getting an engineer out to determine feasability which will then help us determine cost.

the overlake girls varsity soccer team is having a fantastic season thus far, sitting at the top of the emerald city league standings and undefeated!! woot woot!! i'm so proud of these girls; they've been working hard to earn this spot. next week we start our second go-round through league and hope to maintain that first place spot and perfect record! it has been interesting cutting back on my involvement with the team...but that feels like it might be a separate post.

we celebrated our little friend grace's first birthday today!! we say this is kiah's girlfriend :). doesn't the birthday girl look so pretty?! and a little scary...the boys flanking her are 4 months old (two weeks apart) and almost as big as the birthday girl! she's itty bitty but oh so cute :).

levi, grace & kiah - happy birthday to gracie!

kiah and i leave thursday night for ten days in california, splitting my time between san fran, santa barbara, and orange county. i am SO not prepared for this trip, not mentally, physically - literally i have no idea what i need to take for the two of us to survive. eric will be joining us for the second half of the trip but we are going to miss him (particularly when it comes to hauling everything through the airport with a 4.5 month old). stay tuned for more on our traveling adventures!

1 picture!

2011-09-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

me :)

2 songs

2011-09-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

how am i ever going to narrow it down to two songs?!

1. gabriel's oboe by ennio morricone (from the mission) - i walked down the aisle to this song. it is beautiful...i love the oboe part.

2. how deep the father's love - i love this song...tells the gospel story in three short verses. love love.

this was really hard; i love so much music. if i had based my answers on what song has the most plays in my itunes, ray lamontagne's "you are the best thing" would have won, hands down. and i do love that song but didn't feel like it accurately reflected me. if i had picked a song based on how many "versions" i have downloaded in itunes, it probably would have been amazing grace or o holy night (or some other christmas song, since those tend to get re-done by new artists every year). i do love amazing grace but it's not my absolute favorite. i love hymns so anytime i buy an album with hymns on it, inevitably amazing grace is one of them. anyway...there's a little bit more about me & my music :).

3 films

2011-09-24T08:26:00.000-07:00

1. the sandlot. it's been my favorite movie for years...i'm pretty sure i have every line memorized and it still makes me laugh :).

2. the count of monte cristo - i've only seen this movie once, but i loved it. i need to watch it again.

3. despicable me - i watched this for the first time just before kiah arrived and it became an instant favorite. i love the minions!

4 books

2011-09-23T17:26:00.000-07:00

yikes this one is going to be hard (i love to read but picking favorites? oh man.)

1. les miserables - we read this in high school and i loved it (i also love the broadway version; the music is amazing!). such a great story...it's got a litttle bit of everything - romance, history, revenge, grace, redemption...it may be time to read it again :).

2. the harry potter series - yeah it's supposed to be just one but i can't pick one. the whole series was amazing!! also something i need to read again...

3. the bible - it seems cliche, really, but i honestly do love this book. the truth just seeps into you, changes you...i can't escape it.

4. the help - i just recently read this and loved it. i finished it the same day i started it, which says something. i don't do that with many books. haven't seen the movie yet but hope to soon!

okay that was hard. obviously. it took me forever to get this post done!! :)

the dress

2011-09-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

i started on this project awhile ago but got derailed...due to mommy brain, not enough sleep, and lots of visitors. but thanks to my mommy i got it figured out AND finished! woot woot!!

this was my first time following a pattern, and it was both easy and hard. some of the instructions were hard to figure out, but the actual sewing was pretty easy. ha - mom did the zipper, so maybe i shouldn't say that ;).

either way, i'm glad i tackled my first pattern and maybe i'll try it again!

5 foods

2011-09-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

oh man...how do i narrow this down?!

1. mexican food - pretty much any and all, with cava in montecito taking the top of the list

2. ice cream - do i need to explain this?

3. bacon-wrapped filets from the met. steak that melts in your mouth.

4. salted dark chocolate caramels - fran's (local chocolatier) makes great ones, purple (local restaurant) has house-made ones that are delish, and trader joe's just introduced an amazing bar that is fabulous AND priced appropriately at t.j's prices! :)

5. in-n-out. #3 with no onions and a dr pepper. don't care what haters say about the fries. still love it!!

crafty crafty!

2011-09-16T21:55:00.000-07:00

so when kiah does actually take a nap, although short, i have been sneaking in some time for crafts! pinterest was the inspiration for these and they were super easy, turned out great, and were very inexpensive!!

i made three sets, one for my sister, one for my mom, and one more for a housewarming gift which has yet to be given (but i'm sharing anyway). cute huh!!

centsational girl posted a blog on how to make your own printable art for free (woohoo!!) so i also made my sister two picture/posters. one is a favorite bible verse of hers, the other her name and fun words to describe her :). i like the way they turned out and she loved them!

one big day!

2011-09-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

tuesday was quite the day! we'll start with my momma :)

happy happy birthday to my mom! her birthday present from the whole fam was a surprise ticket up to visit us! yay! and she was totally surprised...which was awesome! she is pretty hard to keep a secret from but considering we bought the ticket 5 days before she left we managed to pull it off. even dad didn't spill the beans (we were all shocked). we told her saturday night and she left on sunday :).

i haven't spent her birthday with her...in probably 8 years. because 8 years ago, on her birthday, i married the best guy ever. i can't even believe eric and i have been married for that long...it's crazy. so much has happened in the last 8 years but the Lord has been gracious and faithful. by far the best part of this crazy ride has been becoming a parent...

tuesday marked kiah's 4 month birthday!! is he really this big already? he is, indeed! this sweet sweet little boy is getting so big so fast. he readily offers up smiles for pretty much anyone but especially his momma & daddy :). he loves being in loud places with lots of people and outside in the stroller or in someone's arms. he's still a fantastic sleeper...at least at night anyway! not the best napper anymore, which apparently runs in the family. neither eric nor i were good nappers as babes so it stands to reason kiah wouldn't be one either. i'll take sleeping through the night over naps, it just means my house is messy and laundry backed up and i don't get a whole lot done!

we didn't do much to celebrate tuesday, although mom did get a massage! actually she helped me with a special craft project most of the day...more details coming soon :). for now, what you're really waiting for - pictures!

isn't this face awesome?! kiah had fallen asleep in the stroller and was a little freaked out when he got in the car cuz mom was a little overwhelming for him :).

mom blowing out her birthday candle!
all dressed up and ready to go to BSF!

snuggly in his football pj's!

happy birthday!

2011-09-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

this is a special week...we have lots of celebrating to do! it starts off today with grandma loper's birthday!! we decided to send special birthday greetings kiah-style :).

he definitely ended up with a green mouth by the end of this photo session...oops! i tried to warn daddy but he was a little slow to snag the paper away :).

6 places

2011-09-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

1. santa barbara - went to college (a very defining time in my life), met eric and got married there, and at some point will move back!

2. palm springs - we vacationed here a lot growing up and now it is one of my most favorite places to be...between october & april, that is :)

3. costa rica - one of the most beautiful countries i've been to (i haven't been to many though)

4. seattle - i have come to love this city; it's clean, lots of arts & sports...and on a sunny day you can't beat it!

5. huntington beach - i grew up on this beach, eating strips with cheese and having bonfires...burnt hotdogs & s'mores...mmmmmmm

6. snuggled up in eric's arms :)

7 wants

2011-09-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

1. i want california (and texas) and seattle to not be so far apart.

2. i'd like a new camera since i broke my old one.

3. i want a crazy world where eric didn't have to work so he could hang out with me & kiah all day :)

4. i want an overhauled kitchen that included new pots & pans, a food processor, and comfy seating since everyone always hangs out by the food!

5. i want to be able to be extraordinarily generous...and i think i married the right guy to accomplish this, at least on a small scale.

6. i want a culture that is not so dependant upon cars as their main mode of transportation.

7. i want to be the kind of parent who can lavish her children with good things (physically, spiritually, emotionally) yet also lovingly discipline and disciple them to be good stewards of God's gifts.

8 fears

2011-09-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

1. losing someone i dearly love

2. leaving kiah without a mommy and eric without a wife way earlier than is fair

3. crickets. completely irrational, but i hate them.

4. certain movies...the thriller/drama/scifi ones. if it is too close to the realm of actual possibility i get really freaked out. case in point: primal fear (TOTALLY freaked me out) and i am legend (i made eric turn it off half-way through because i was so scared).

5. dying. not death, but the way in which death occurs...i think most humans are attempting to avoid suffering so i have to imagine i'm not alone in this :)

6. rodents & snakes (shrews that the kitties bring in my house in particular).

7. creepy tow truck guys. one of the times i locked the keys in my car i called a random tow truck company to open my car for me and freaked out after the guy not only charged me $200 (NO JOKE) but was just generally creepy and he knew where i lived and yeah. it was bad. i cried.

8. that i'm not doing enough. this centers mostly around being missional and sharing the gospel with those people in my life i know don't know the Lord. if i truly understood the shortness of this life i think i would be much more vocal about my faith (which also leads to fear of man issues, but i'm already at #8 so my list is complete).

black bean quinoa salad

2011-09-07T08:42:00.000-07:00

i made this the other night to try something new and it was fantastic! i had been inspired to branch out of the usual side dishes i make and quinoa is good for you and easy to make (just like rice). i recommend if you're looking for a yummy summer salad to add to your rotation :)

black bean quinoa salad

1 1/2 C uncooked quinoa
3 C vegetable broth
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 C chopped fresh basil
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp grated lemon rind
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 package frozen edamame pods
4 C chopped tomato
1/2 C chopped carrot
1 can black beans

combine quinoa & vegetable broth in saucepan; bring to a boil over medium high heat. cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until broth is absorbed and quinoa is tender. remove from heat.

combine olive oil, salt, basil, and next six ingredients in a large bowl; whisk until blended. stir in quinoa.

cook edamame according to package. add edamame, tomato, carrot, and black beans to quinoa mixture; stir qently to combine.

*i served my salad warm which was pretty tasty, but it was just as good the next day cold for lunch!

nine loves

2011-09-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

so i suspect this one will be much easier than the last one!

9 loves

1. my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ

2. eric, kiah, & my friends and family...i suppose that goes without saying, but i really do love 'em.

3. food! i really really really love food.

4. mars hill church - m.h. is the reason we are still in seattle. now that they're opening a church in orange county though... ;)

5. football - yay yay yay it's football season again! woooohoooo!!!

6. cooking/baking - see #3. enough said.

7. the beach - no place i'd rather be most of the time!

8. a good book - i like getting lost in a story, wrapped up in it so that i can't think about anything else.

9. a fantastic meal with good friends and/or family laughing hysterically - best way to spend an evening ever!

happy labor day!

2011-09-05T09:40:00.001-07:00

today is the last official day of eric's two-month paternity leave/vacation. tomorrow it is back to my present reality...and i'm really not ready. not even close. it has been such a blessing to be able to spend time together as a family this summer; for eric to spend time with kiah and with me, for me to be able to have some "me" time even with being on a fairly short leash because of nursing. neither of us are looking forward to tomorrow. i think we'd like to freeze time today and play it on repeat :).

eric was a busy little worker bee this summer when he wasn't playing daddy & hubby. he put railings up on the stairs in the backyard, put up the fence by the stairs plus a gate, finished the fence up by the driveway, replaced the garbage disposal, cleaned up the garage, fixed some insulation in the attic...and had time to build a pretty sweet bike ramp and take an epic journey in a little boat.

to be totally honest one of the best things about him being home so much this summer? when he said "you have a hard job. i don't know how you get anything done." seriously this was huge for me. i feel like it releases a lot of pressure to get everything done; to be super mom & wife who looks amazing with a well-behaved kid, clean house, and dinner on the table. not that i won't try to attain this at least once in awhile, but at least his expectations are set accurately!

i feel so blessed that eric works for a company that not only gives him paternity leave but gives him four weeks of it! and allowed him to take 3 or 4 weeks of vacation in addition to that time off. it has been a sweet time together and i am going to miss him dearly this week.

10-day you challenge

2011-09-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

candace started the 10-day you challenge after stephanie and then kelly joined in...so i think i've been inspired to do the same. here goes nothing!

10 secrets (this one was HARD!)

1. i am a picker...and no one is safe (especially my poor husband and children). it's a genetic trait i inherited...just ask my mom or her sisters ;).

2. honestly i hate tv but really enjoy dumb teeny bopper tv shows. my latest guilty pleasure is "the lying games"...recommend it if you too are a closet teenage drama lover :).

3. i am an extrovert who really enjoys spending time alone, at home, to recharge.

4. i hate onions. that may not be a secret to some, but i can't stand 'em. i tolerate them cooked in things, but raw? ugh. i will pick them out of my food.

5. i was SUPER shy as a kid...like the kind of shy i got in trouble for because i wouldn't smile or say hi to people. apparently that's rude.

6. i really enjoy giving gifts. i like knowing what someone wants or needs and picking it out, thinking about what they would like - colors, brands, fit, etc. it gives me great joy :).

7. i wish i knew how to speak at least one other language fluently. preferably multiple languages. partly because i think it would be cool to be a spy :). mostly so that i could give that gift to my children.

8. since becoming a mom i care significantly less about what i look like...and i mean significantly. (see #9)

9. more often than not i'm lazy. i try to fool myself into believing this isn't true, but it is.

10. i married up, and this is something i only recently began to believe.

care to join in the fun? let's hear your 10 secrets! :)

take me out to the ball game!

2011-09-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

kiah went to his first mariner's game thursday! we went with auntie jess & troy which was so so fun. we don't get to see them often enough and it was great to catch up! plus jess loves hanging out with kiah (who wouldn't?!) ;).

how cute is his little mariner's outfit?!

at safeco they give first-timers a little certificate with the baby's name, the date, who the m's played and who they attended the game with - how fun is that?! kiah was pretty enthralled by everything going on at the stadium...all the lights, sounds, people. there was so much to look at!! daddy did manage to get him to sleep in the ergo sometime in the 7th inning and he snoozed until the game ended. we didn't see much of the game but we did have a good time!

giggles

2011-08-27T15:30:00.001-07:00

i got this a week or two ago...boy loves his daddy!

toys & tricks!

2011-08-26T14:59:00.000-07:00

kiah's been up to some new tricks lately! he really is so much fun :). he is SO close to rolling over but just isn't quite there yet. if he knew he could he'd be rolling already. but since he has yet to figure that out we're still waiting!

because he is good at holding his head up and really prefers to sit up (or stand up) and look around i decided he could give the exersaucer a try. he loves it! he gets tired after awhile but it's been fun to be able to sit on the floor and be eye level with him. he isn't strong enough to sit up on his own yet but i think that day is coming soon.

i finally managed to snap a picture of him grabbing both feet...if he knew they actually reach his mouth they'd be in there!

daddy loves laying on the floor just talking to him...eric is going to have some serious withdrawals when he goes back to work in a week. i think we all are in for a rude awakening come september 6th!

and it begins...

2011-08-24T14:46:00.000-07:00

soccer has started. it is that time of year again. (really? already? i am so not ready for this.) because my new job of mommy is my first and primary responsibility i am stepping back this year and helping out with the team in a volunteer status. which means i'll be at practice one day a week (without kiah) and attend games with kiah but i'll be sitting with the parents.

the team is looking good this year despite losing a few key players. i'm excited about where the season will take us and look forward to spending time with the team. we have a good group of ladies this year who like to have fun and happen to be good little soccer players too! i'm hoping to be back in that state title game come november and i think these girls are ready to play :).

random update

2011-08-20T14:37:00.000-07:00

here is a random update of sorts.

check out all that jam! all in all we canned 20 half-pints, 9 pints plus a few extra containers of fresh jam that we gave away to friends and neighbors. hopefully this will last us the rest of the year ;).

we finally hit 85 degrees here in seattle which has meant lots of boat rides, some wakeboarding/skiing, and many afternoons of jumping in the lake. kiah still enjoys all these activities thus far so mommy & daddy will continue to take advantage of his good-nature and spend time outdoors!

i've been crafting a bit but no details or pictures yet, as most of what i've been doing are gifts. soon though, i promise! pinterest has been the inspiration for most of the crafts...that is a dangerous website! i can waste an entire two-hour naptime cruising around on there. that is precious time so i need to cut back my pinterest surfing until after bedtime :). don't know what pinterest is? i'm so sorry to introduce you (i kid, of course)...

one of the crafts on my to-do list is to make another one of these adorable hats!! my friend melissa made this one for kiah and i LOVE it - so cute! just have to decide on the colors...what to choose, what to choose...

three months old!

2011-08-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

i can't believe kiah is already three months old! seriously?! and i know i'm totally completely biased but he is so stinking cute i can't stand it :).

how adorable is that outfit?! and the shoes!! gah.

kiah is currently wearing 3-6 month clothes and size 3 diapers. we think he's gained maybe a pound since his last weigh-in at the dr but he's full of new tricks since then! his hands are constantly in his mouth and anything in reach of his hands typically winds up in his mouth as well. he's been grabbing his feet too (which i've been trying to get a picture of but don't have yet) and i suspect those will end up in his mouth eventually too :).

he is super strong and likes to stand up. he still hates tummy time but loves "airplane" and will hold his head up forever if you fly him around the room. he loves being outside and on the boat, and might be the world's best sleeper ;). new this week - sleeping for 10+ hours at night! woohoo! mommy now has (the opportunity for, anyway) a night life again!

doing stand up, stand up

eric reads him a bible story from the Jesus storybook bible at night and kiah has started reaching for the pages...think this kid might be a reader! it's funny...he won't grab for the toys hanging on his playmat but goes crazy for books! who would have thought?

by and large the one thing most people comment on (besides his chubby cheeks) his how social he is. the other day i stopped at a bagel place to get a sandwich and he just started talking away to these two ladies, telling them his whole life story! smiling flirting...it was actually adorable :). he is very good natured and loves being interacted with.

see?! so cute :)

we are so totally in love and he is so much fun to "play" with. i love watching him learn new things and recognize both eric and i. i'm loving my role as mama! :)

berry pickin'

2011-08-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

we're staying busy around here! kiah went to his first sounder's game with uncle kenton and even sported his awesome sounders onesie :). although it was a bit loud (especially when we scored) he was a champ and did just fine!

not the best family photo...

kenton & eric did complete their "epic journey" and managed to take a boat from our dock in sammamish out to the sound...from fresh water to salt water. they went through the locks and everything! the 36 mile journey took a ridiculously long time due partly to a motor that kept dying but they did have nice weather!

boater kenton on lake washington

kenton's childhood bestie luke lives up north in lynden with his wife olivia and sons james & levi. they came down and spent the night and in the morning the boys enjoyed some wakeboarding and another round of ramp jumping. kenton managed to complete his backflip (which was documented on video but i don't have it) before rushing like a madman to catch his flight home.

would you ride off this thing?!

since kenton's visit grandpa & grandma loper came to visit too! while they were here eric and i got to go on a little date to molly moon's ice cream! yummmm :) this all homemade ice cream shop is located on capital hill in seattle and had a line out the door when we showed up at 9:00pm. i went for a scoop of strawberry in a waffle cone and eric opted for a scoop of maple walnut in a waffle cone. he even treated me to a t-shirt that was on sale (it has an ice cream scoop on the front!). we picked up a pint of theo chocolate (theo as in the local chocolate maker that i toured with mom, dad & kenton while waiting for kiah to show up) for tom & penny and headed home. it was amazing how many people were out and about on a monday evening downtown...the city is definitely vibrant and alive compared to suburbia. i love it :). although i do love our house and where we live, there is part of me that just for awhile would love to live in an urban setting where cars are optional and walking mandatory.

besides giving mom and dad a break and spoiling kiah with hugs, walks in the stroller, and some new books, we also took grandpa & grandma raspberry picking for the first time! i made jam for the first time last year and seriously underestimated eric's affinity for homemade jam. we ran out in february or march so i knew i was going to have to step it up this year to have enough. i had gone picking with rachel & levi two weeks prior and picked about 5 lbs of berries, but i wanted at least 10 more. well, four adults picking berries resulted in 15 lbs of berries!! woooeeee that's a lot! but i was happy :). i commented that i can't wait until kiah is old enough to help pick (raspberry vines don't have thorns) because the berries hide under the leaves and 3 year olds are just the right size to spot the berries and pick them!

i should have gotten a photo but i didn't. kiah slept in the stroller again for most of the picking and then we all enjoyed lunch in the cafe at remlinger farms. that place is definitely a cool place to bring kids who are old enough to enjoy it! plus it has an indoor play area...a must in a state where rain is a year-round reality :/. grandpa & grandma headed home and we were left on our own again!

when kenton comes to town...

2011-08-04T16:37:00.000-07:00

...this is what happens:

weekend fun!

2011-08-03T16:04:00.000-07:00

kenton (aka bud, uncle bud, butthead) and his lovely girlfriend jenni came to visit! this was jenni's first trip to seattle so of course we had to hit all the typical spots, and include a stop at the flagship nordstrom store so she could shop and kiah could eat ;).

pike's place

kenton & jenni at the space needle

we spent most of saturday on the lake as it was beautiful!! jenni has a camera that isn't broken so these pics are hers. sunday it was drizzly and gray but we still made it to church, breakfast in queen anne, the theo chocolate factory, gasworks park, and a drive-by of the fremont troll :).

kiah ready for the am wakeboard session

jenni's visit ended much too quickly on sunday evening but fortunately uncle bud is here til friday!!

verdes chicken enchiladas

2011-08-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

i stumbled across this recipe in my files and realized i had never made it, although it sounded quite good. it was fantastic, so i'm sharing! you can make this dish one of two ways; the traditional enchilada (fill tortillas, roll, then pour on sauce) or layered casserole-style. the original recipe called for layers...next time i'll try the traditional rolled enchilada (fill the tortilla with chicken and cheese and pour sauce on top).

verdes chicken enchiladas

1 lb chicken breast, cooked and shredded*

flour tortillas

8 oz sour cream

1 can green enchilada sauce (18 oz) (or 2 10 oz cans)

1 can fire-roasted diced green chiles

3 C shredded cheese

preheat oven to 350 degrees. spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray and set aside. mix sour cream, chiles, and enchilada sauce together in a bowl. layer tortillas in bottom of prepared pan. add a layer of chicken, a layer of sauce, and a layer of cheese. repeat one more time, and add one more layer of tortillas and cheese to finish. cook for 30-35 minutes until cheese is melted and heated through. let sit for 10-15 minutes before cutting.

*i'll cook my chicken in the crockpot to make it easier to shred. cooking it in the skillet was fast and easy though!

kenton and eric devoured this...over half the pan was gone and the leftovers went the next day at lunch! it was delish!! next time i may serve it with a mexican rice or possibly add black beans to the filling. either way it was yummy :)

a kiah update

2011-07-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

time it is a-flyin'! i promised an update on kiah once we visited the dr and got his stats, so here it is!

weight: 14 lbs, 7 oz (97%)

height: 24 1/4" (90%)

growing like a weed that boy is! i was pretty sure he was going to weigh more than he did but 97% is pretty big :). the dr said everything else looks great and not to be concerned with his size. he looked at both of us (eric got to come along since he is on vacation!) and said we probably have nothing to worry about. he got his first shots at the dr's office too, which was pretty much the most horrible thing ever (for me at least)! kiah bawled his eyes out, poor kid. granted getting shots 10 minutes before naptime probably wasn't the best timing either. he did run a low fever the rest of that day and the next, but was still his happy self! the only good thing was he slept 9 hours that night - amazing!!

as far as his latest tricks, he's added a few new things recently. we pretty much sucked at doing tummy time while on vacation so once we got home it was time to get it in gear again. for the first few days he still threw a fit every time we put him on his tummy but now he is getting the hang of it and lasts a lot longer! his neck muscles are getting so much stronger and he is very good at holding his head up both when we hold him and when he's on his tummy.

pretty soon i'll be rolling!

daddy likes to play "stand up stand up" with kiah too and little man is getting really good at bearing weight on his legs. all of this makes me a bit nervous, as it appears kiah may be following in his daddy's footsteps. eric ran before crawling or walking and i have a sneaky suspicion kiah will be doing the same. he has discovered his hands and they are constantly waving, in and out of his mouth, or grabbing his o-ball (his friend burke is a fan of the 0-ball so we decided to try it - success!).

just chilling

kiah is such a social baby. he is most content when someone is talking to him and he will definitely talk back! he loves to look around and if too much is going on around him while it is time to eat you can forget about him getting a full meal in! he is still a good eater (obviously, he's huge) and is SUCH a good sleeper! yay!!

his current schedule consists of three hour chunks of time. he is awake for 90 minutes during which he eats, plays, does tummy time, etc and then naps for 90 minutes before the cycle starts all over again. he goes to bed around 8:30pm, i wake him up at 10pm for one more feeding (which he is barely awake for) then he has been sleeping until 6am! yippee for 8 hours of continuous sleep!! mommy and daddy are very very happy (and a lot more rested) with this new talent! in the mornings one of us will go get kiah, calm him down, and usually bring him back to bed to sleep until 7am when he eats and we start our day. one of the best parts about eric being on vacation right now is that i get to sleep in on occasion! so thankful for a husband who is a partner as well as a spouse!

we are getting better at reading different cues for this kid...which makes meeting his needs a lot easier! when he's tired he gets fussy, yawns, will rub his eyes, and suck his fingers/hands. swaddle him up and put him in his crib and he's out in less than 10 minutes. hungry? flat out screaming and tears (he usually doesn't do this, but on occasion he will wake up early from his nap starving). bored/overstimulated/hot/cold/needs a diaper change? just complains :). this sounds like crying but it's not...there are no tears and he just kinda yells. his normal state is pretty darn happy though! he smiles for pretty much anyone, particularly the guys.

kiah loves being outside and so far has enjoyed the lake and the boat! eric took him in the water awhile ago and although he squawked when his feet first dipped in (it was hilarious) he didn't cry or complain even though the water was up to his waist! we got a reusable swim diaper which so far i really like. it fits well and since they don't make disposable swim diapers small enough for him this was a better option. and at $10 you can't beat the price! the boat is one of his favorite places for a nap...as long as the ride keeps moving. it seems to be like the stroller or the car or even the ergo - he's happy as long as you're in motion. stop for more than a second or two though and he starts complaining :).

family photo op on the boat

found my thumb!

we are so so so in love with this little boy! it's hard not to be when he greets you with smiles and coos. i know i am blessed to be his momma, and thankful the Lord has granted me this opportunity!

fatty the cat

2011-07-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

so friend mary has two kitties...buddy & fatty. buddy is the clumsiest cat you'll ever meet and fatty is one of the fattest. no joke. mary was in india for most of the month of may so our family members stayed at her house when they came to visit after kiah was born. my mom and dad were laying in bed one morning when buddy jumped on the bed no problem. fatty attempted to jump on the bed and didn't make it. we all had a good laugh about that one!!

here is a video displaying just one of the reasons fatty is so fat. eric calls him garfield :). and yes, fatty eats like this on a regular basis.

doom and gloom

2011-07-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

well we're back in the doom and gloom. ok, maybe not doom, but definitely gloom! (although the forecast is definitely "doomy".) this is one of the coldest summers on record, apparently, in seattle. the rest of the country is baking in ridiculous temps and we are still bundled up in our fleece, which is a year-round staple around here. i thought last year was terrible...this year is shaping up to be worse, if this continues. ugh.

we didn't do a whole lot on our last day of vacation; sat around in our pajamas for awhile! auntie sue did get to babysit while eric and i went to in-n-out for lunch one last time. and in true eric & marisa fashion we almost didn't make our flight because of the checked baggage time cut-off :. fortunately we and our luggage made it and kiah, despite not sleeping much this flight, still did pretty well!

i did come home to blooming lavender and gladiolas (and a ton of weeds) though! last year i planted my lilies and gladiolas too late, so gladiolas were small and the lilies never came up at all. considering i do not take very good care of my garden/yard i'm always amazed anything grows :).

kiah seems to get that we're home, and has been on a much better schedule. i think he missed his crib, although granny sure had a nice set up for him!! she borrowed the idea from my aunt jeannette, who loads her pack-n-play with an egg crate before adding a sheet to make it extra plush. she swears by it and kiah did sleep pretty well at their house! he missed his lamby chair though and when he woke up a bit early from his nap yesterday he was quite content to hang out in there while i finished making snickerdoodles!

yummm...i love snickerdoodles, but for whatever reason rarely make them. i think it has something to do with the fact that the recipe i was using tasted fantastic right out of the oven (warm and soft) but as they cooled got harder and harder. baking them too long? who knows. either way i decided to try a new recipe, and success! i now have a huge tupperware full of snickerdoodles that are still slightly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside :). here's the recipe!

snickerdoodles

1 C butter at room temp

1 C vegetable oil

1 1/2 C sugar

1 C powdered sugar

2 large eggs

4 1/4 C flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp cinnamon

preheat oven to 375 degrees. cream butter, oil, 1 cup of sugar, and powdered sugar until smooth. beat in eggs until well blended. combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt in another bowl; stir or beat into butter mixture until well blended. in a small bowl mix remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and cinnamon. roll dough into 1" balls then coat in cinnamon-sugar mix. bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. cool on cooling racks.

i used my stand mixer for all of the mixing which was a beautiful thing :). these are still best right out of the oven but taste pretty darn good today too!

oceanside!

2011-07-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

ah, three full glorious days at the beach! friend mary's parents own a condo in oceanside which we called home for the weekend. although small it was perfect - right on the beach, private parking, and sweet views of the waves crashing 24/7.

view from our living room!

saturday morning kiah hung out with auntie linnie while mom & dad slept in...which was awesome :). thank you auntie linnie!! once everyone was awake and out of bed we all went out for a walk on the beach. it was overcast but by the time we got back to the house the sun was out and we were ready for some waves! kiah was crashed out in the ergo during the walk and had another hour or so of naptime left so i hung out upstairs while everyone else hit the beach. i didn't mind; i knew there was plenty of time for sun-bathing, boogie boarding, and smashball!

on our morning walk

once he woke up and was fed we joined the crew on the sand. mary's brother steve had come down for the day and some of linnie's friends joined us too. we got kiah's sunhut all set up and he was perfectly content to talk to whoever stuck their face in there. he got a little tired again so daddy swaddled him up in my sarong and off to sleep he went! it was nice to have so many helpers around since it meant i could play smashball with linnie for a bit and then hit the water with mary! so so fun...i haven't boogie boarded in YEARS! the water was not that cold once you committed and just went all the way in :). saturday night my parents joined us and we enjoyed some tri-tip for dinner before crashing.

sweet set up on the sand!

sunday morning we woke up to more overcast skies but as predicted warmer temps. all 7 of us piled in my mom's car to hit up the beach breaker cafe for a DELICIOUS breakfast! 5 out of the 6 adults at the table ordered their abc omelet - eggs, bacon, cheddar cheese and avocado - yum!! eric opted for their crunchy banana french toast which also looked amazing. the omelets came with a side of coffeecake too...oh man. i'd like to go back for another helping of that breakfast!

kiah went back with granny & papa while eric, mary, linnie and i walked down the street to a surf shop. my sunglasses broke somewhere between santa barbara and oceanside (boooo) and i wanted to look for a new pair, plus mary said they usually had good stuff on sale. we struck out on the sale, but i do think i found some sunglasses. they were a bit more than the $5 pair i broke so we decided to wait on purchasing...i should have bought a hat instead though!

we walked back to the condo to watch the women's world cup final and saw team usa choke during p.k.'s after letting japan back in the game - twice!! so frustrating. they didn't get beat, they lost that game themselves. it was time for some more sun & waves to cheer us back up after that so back outside we went! poor papa ron couldn't really spend time outside and wasn't allowed to go in the water so he got to hang out with kiah a lot :). good thing those two are great pals!

sunday night we added four to the crew for dinner! kenton & his girlfriend jenni came down and mary's aunt & uncle/cousins came up and we enjoyed some gourmet burgers, asparagus, snickers salad, watermelon & chips! it was actually a lot of fun and the first time uncle bud met his nephew. so cute :)

uncle kenton & kiah

i really enjoyed talking to cindy, mary's aunt/cousin for awhile. her daughter just had given birth to her first baby, their first grandchild, a little boy named carter. we had an interesting conversation around a program called "growing kids God's way" (www.growingkids.org). cindy leads (or has lead) a small group study for young/new parents through their church through this program, which starts with "babywise". we've been following the babywise principles and thus far are pretty happy with the results. kiah is sleeping 7-8 hours at night, has gained weight easily (maybe a little too easily?!) and my body is on a regular routine for feeding which means a lot less uncomfortableness for me! anyway it was a neat conversation and i'm interested in learning what other things growing kids has to offer. mars hill is a fan of "shepherding a child's heart" by paul tripp which eric and i are planning on reading this summer while he is off and i think the two teach really similar things. i'll keep you posted on what we learn :).

anyway...monday morning mom, dad & linnie pinnie left early so she could catch her flight back to texas (BOO). kiah experienced his first trip to a very busy in-n-out (YAY!!) for lunch before going back to clean up and enjoy one more dip in the ocean. the beach was busier monday than on sunday which was a little crazy but it was hotter that day so that might have something to do with it. we got our stuff packed up, dropped mary off at the train station, and hit the road back to chino. we actually made really good time and were able to make it to grandma's pizza birthday dinner! there were a few more family members there who hadn't been able to make the shower the weekend before so i was glad we were able to go :).

mmmm...in-n-out!!

only one day left...do we have to go home? :(

santa barbara baby!

2011-07-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

auntie linnie flew in late wed night and eric ditched out on his conference early so thursday morning we slept a bit later (linnie snuggled kiah at 5:45 am when he fussed) before hopping in the car (ugh -again) to drive up to santa barbara! oh how we love that place. we really would love to move back there, but so far the Lord keeps saying "no/not yet".

kiah slept the whole way up and we rolled into town around 11:30am. if it hadn't been time for kiah to eat i'm pretty sure our first stop would have been blenders or little alex's :). instead we headed straight for tom & kirsten's new house in montecito. they had their first baby - a little girl named reese ryan- four weeks after kiah was born! reese has pretty bad reflux and spent some time in the NICU after she stopped breathing a few hours after she was born. she is on medication now and sleeps with a monitor at night and is doing much better! she is teeny tiny compared to my chubby-cheeked chunk but tom & kiki aren't very big people so i suppose that has something to do with it ;). kp and stephie were already there hanging out and it was just one big party of girls and babies (and eric, until tom came home). stephie gave the babes giants onesies so hopefully we'll get a picture of the two of them when they fit.

reese in a little hat i made for her :)

reese & kiah...we were not on top of things and this is the only pic we got of them together!

we sat around and talked mostly, and had some more friends drop by for a visit before going to grab pizza for dinner. kiah fussed most of the meal so eric and i took turns walking him outside to calm him down. his schedule was a bit out of whack because of all the traveling so the poor kid was fussier than usual. after dinner everyone drifted off to bed but not before watching a few episodes of arrested development :). i had never seen the show but it was pretty entertaining.

friday morning kiah woke us up and after feeding him we put him in the stroller and went for a short family run. i quickly took a shower and we drove down to the beach to meet annemarie & burke for breakfast! eric went for a "real run" (i'm so slow that running with me can not be considered much of a workout for him) so it was just the girls and their boys. burke is also two weeks older than kiah but they seem to be following the same growth chart...and i have to say that is a little relieving! most comments i get with him are "what a cutie! how old is he? wow - big little guy for two months, isn't he!" or something along those lines. we had some fun snapping pictures of the boys - click here to visit the bollman's blog to see the little old men on the beach :). again it is so great to have friends who have kids the same age!

after a super yummy breakfast of blueberry wheat germ pancakes we made a quick stop at the beachhouse to get eric another t-shirt and of course had to pick up one for kiah too. we couldn't resist - so cute!! we hung out at tom & kiki's for a bit before packing up our stuff and loading up the car for our drive through "carmaggedon". if you hadn't heard about it you must live in a hole...but we had to drive right through that stretch of 405 before it was shut down. we made it through without any problems but drivers were definitely on their way OUT of l.a. for the weekend! we made it to huntington beach to pick up auntie linnie and said hi to auntie sue and the mulders before continuing on down to oceanside, our home for the weekend! amazingly traffic wasn't too bad and we did make it in time for dinner. everyone went to bed early so we could enjoy the next few days at the beach!

of course we had to stop at blenders on our way out of town!

a little of this, a little of that

2011-07-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

wednesday was supposed to be spent with a little more time at home and a little less time in the car...unfortunately that was not how it went. :/

we did spend the morning at home watching the womens world cup semifinal game- awesome!! go team usa! while not nearly as dramatic as the quarterfinal game against brazil it was a good game and a good solid win. after cheering on the ladies we met up with val & carter for some yummy lunch at wood ranch. i had never been there before but was quite pleased with my tri-tip sliders, salad & mashed sweet potatoes! carter is two weeks older than kiah but kiah has him beat on size so far. it was fun to catch up with val and compare mommy life. i love having friends who have kids so close in age to kiah! it helps keep my sanity :).

carter & kiah

after lunch we went up to the hospital to check on my dad. the doctor found a melanoma on his leg a few weeks ago and he had surgery to remove all of the cancerous tissue. the dr took a pretty decent chunk out of his leg and also removed two lymph nodes just to make sure. the whole process didn't take long but still ended up taking all day. papa ron wasn't too happy to hear no swimming or working out for three to four weeks but better safe than sorry!

i kept my mom company for a bit and we stopped at the store on the way home, but because i had used the stroller while we were at the hospital kiah was NOT happy when he had to go back in the carseat so we could meet up with fred, alane, sue, alan & the boys for dinner. auntie sue was more than happy to hold him the whole time only giving him up so auntie lane could have a turn for awhile. when we got back from dinner kiah was all smiles again for papa ron which i'm pretty sure made his day, especially since he was a bit grumpy after his ordeal at the hospital.

wednesday also marked kiah's two-month birthday!! because we're on vacation his appointment is a little later than it would have been so i will wait to post a full update on him until after we see the dr. he is definitely gaining weight with no problem so i am very curious to see where he's tipping the scales at this point. stay tuned!