My Friday.

I finally got new pillow cases for our bed!  I had been using ones that didn't match on half the pillows and they were actually white shams, and they were starting to look grungy.  I found these purple ones at Ross for 5 dollars and scored!  :)  Eric cuddled with me the second I woke up even though Paul was still in bed.  And then he decided to be a brat and hide under the bed when we wanted to get out of the room.  Eleanor has gotten smarter and she was waiting outside the room because she got locked in the room for over 12 hours the other day...oops. 

Yesterday I told Paul I was going leave the house right as he did...well I finished reading my Bible after he left and then I decided a nap sounded like a really good idea.  My half hour nap turned into an hour and a half and I felt like a million bucks when I woke up. 

Paul and I have been eating a bunch of Asian food lately.  Yakisoba, Pad Thai, and Pho all in about a 24 hour period, and we ate everything with chop sticks. So fun!  Oh and this is a better picture of my new cowl neck sweater, I love it. I have worn it for two days. 

And these are my new shorts!  I finally have a pair that fit and I LOVE them.  Oh and that is my swimsuit...I was getting ready to go swimming when I took these pictures. 

Our little island out front is looking better and better.  I have been watching the neighbors yard guys and how they weed eat and edge the islands and I did ours.  I actually got it to have a good shape and I love it!  I still need to get a quote on putting a cement barrier around it but for now I am loving the edged look.  And yesterday I mapped out the backyard where we are going to but river rock in.  I had my dad help me with the math (good thing cause I had no idea how it worked), and we need two yards of river rock.  I  need to find a place that delivers 2 yards, since the place we were going to get it from only delivers if you get 5 yards which is a TON of rock. 

Today I decided to put the wheelbarrow together that we bought at costco a week or two ago.  That thing was a PITA to put together.  I probably should have waited till both Paul and I could do it together but I am awful at waiting when I get my mind to something.  We have these awesome saw horses that my father in law made for us so that helped, but I still had to hold like 5 things while trying to put a washer and a bolt onto a screw. It took me an hour!  Then when I came inside and sat down Eric came to me right away and wanted cuddles, I guess he missed me. Haha. 

It is a beautiful day outside and I am sitting inside and relaxing the last few hours before I go to work.  I really hope that my hospital isn't trauma tonight ( we switch back and forth with Tacoma General for Trauma nights), because it is memorial day weekend and that means people will be out acting like idiots and driving drunk. Oh yeah.

Hope you guys have some awesome weekend plans!!

where did the sun come from??

OH MY it is gorgeous out!  I am so happy to have the day to enjoy!  Shea got up at like 6:30 this morning and cuddled poked and hugged and talked to me until I finally got out of bed at like 6:50.  I made him some cereal, sat at the table with him, and then went back to bed. haha.  I was so tired, I don't know what my deal was.  But I ended up resting in bed until almost 8:20!  I told Jeremy to buy his lunch today.  I have faithfully made it for him every morning for the past 3 1/2 weeks since he started his job, but today, I took a break.  And I felt really good when I got up!  After a shower, Shea and I went out shopping.  I was on a mission to buy some pillows today and look for some things for the guest room.  I need to get it in shape for next month - my sister is coming to spend a couple of days with me to work on some projects, and I wanted it together in case my mom comes to stay when the baby comes, or anyone else who might visit.


I scored at Ross!  I found some sheets I like for a very reasonable price, and TWO curtain panels for less than the usual price of one.  I didn't take a picture of those, because I need to get a curtain rod.  I hung this funky one up just for now, but it looks awful.  Anyway, they are nice dark brown ones with a thermal lining and the big grommets, and then I got a white one to let some light in during the day without looking right at the neighbors front windows.
Target even had pillows on clearance - $4 for the slightly nicer standard pillows.  So yeah, I'm happy.  Shea helped me make the bed.  Here's how it looks for now:

The headboard is actually part of the crib though so that will be gone, and the bed is super low to the ground because we have no boxspring and its just on one of those metal frames.  I'm hoping to either find a boxspring or a real bedframe soon, but it will do for now.  We also need to paint the walls BADLY.  Hopefully that will happen on one of these weekends in June I have off. Then I just need to figure out a new headboard.  You don't even know the improvement it makes just having real bedding and pillows though.  It was terrible before.  Oh and that table is one I found for free on the side of the road a while ago.  I want to refinish it and do some fun stenciling on the top.

Anyway, after our morning of shopping, we came home, played outside a bit, and had lunch.  After working on the guestroom, Shea went down for his nap, and when he gets up we are going to the park with the cousins!  The clothes are out on the line and I'm going to go and do all the housework so it isn't a disaster all weekend while I don't have any time or energy to clean!  Then I have to work tonight at 6, but only for 3 1/2 hours, which makes me happy!  Tomorrow I work 9 hours and on Sunday I work 10 hours, and I'm assuming Monday will be a long day too, but I don't get to know my schedule that day until Sunday - I could end up working close to 30 hours in a span of 3 days though!  And this is kind of a weird pic, I just took it because my belly looked so weird to me, ha, and this is my new clearance maternity shirt from target.  At least I did a good job of not revealing a lot of cleavage!  

I hope you ladies get to enjoy the sunshine today!! I LOVE it!!

Today was a good day.

I woke up at 9:20, read my blogs, ate breakfast and was about to go swimming and remembered Paul and I were going to go in the evening.  I had a lot of energy, so in order to not let it go to waste I went and did about two hours of yard work.  I mowed (the new grass as seen below!! which looks amazing in real life but kinda the same as the last picture I posted haha), then I weed whacked, weeded, and then swept the whole mess up.  Tomorrow I am going to measure the beds in the backyard to see how much river rock we need to order.  I am so over weeding those beds all the time, so river rock it is, even though I like the barkdust look.  

I remembered I wanted to request The Help from the library, and when I went to look at my account after I did I was amazed.  I think I will need to rent the movie if I want to see it before 2014!  1214 people waiting for a movie, insane. 

Gabe and I went on a mini shopping excursion to the North Bend Outlets and Target today.  We tried on all sorts of clothes and nail polish.  I bought organization supplies and new clothes.  It was a very good day.  

Here are some of my newly organized drawers in "alex".  I bought that fabric organizer today at target and LOVE it.  It makes me smile to open these drawers now.  It is as if they are saying "craft with me!!"

And here are my latest organization adventures.  I finally got everything I could labeled in the freezer in the garage and I love how it turned out.  I added a few labels to my tea/spice, oil/vinegar and just about everything cupboard.  And lastly I organized the top shelf of my main dishes cupboard.  The top shelf was the catch all shelf, it was holding a bunch of stuff we never used which made it difficult to reach the stuff we did want to use.  I pared it down and separated everything into two categories.  I am super pleased with the results!  I have been wanting to do this project for a long time but Target had stopped selling that size of bin on the top shelf.  I bought a few different sizes of bins today and rearranged a few things in my pantry and voila, everything turned out how I dreamed it. 

The end. :)  Tomorrow will hold some other homely adventure I am sure. :)  Oh, and maybe I will do a little grocery shopping! :) 

tired, but content.

I love that there is a recent post from everyone!  And now that I've had a nap and the sun is shining, I am feeling much more myself than I was this morning.  I think Shea is too.  He has been super content playing and being a cutie-pie since he woke up from his nap.


I've had a good week at home.  I've been a little unmotivated to do much - this week I never seemed to recover from working over the weekend.  I also feel so crazy pregnant and it hit me just the other day that after this baby comes, I'm going to have so much less time to myself and probably be twice as tired as I feel now for a while...I really better enjoy these last weeks of only one child while I can!  My week is a little bit of a blur...I guess that's what happens when you are home every day doing kind of the same thing.  So the pictures are kind of in a random order and some things might not really flow together in a way that makes sense (no different than normal, right??)
I am 34 weeks today!  And like I said, TIRED and feeling it.  Hopefully my energy picks up again for this weekend (my last weekend at work, SO EXCITED to be done!!).

Here are my boys at breakfast one day this week while Jeremy was reading a devotional to me and I was making coffee.  Jeremy has shaved every morning for almost a month.  Apparently, this is a new habit.  I like it! haha.

We are on day three of having absolutely no tv time.  I have been reading a ton of parenting/preschool education books (mainly, because we recently decided we were no longer going to spank and I've been reading up on other discipline methods and I'm trying to get prepared for teaching Shea at home next year), and because of other convictions throughout the year, I have come to the conviction that I don't think young children should be watching much tv or dvds - if any at all.  It's funny, because I think it just started with me having Shea watch baby einstein (you know, "educational" dvds) when he was little, and he seemed to enjoy it, so I kept letting him have little doses of tv.  Having no TV means I have to get creative with our time though!  Not only do I have to distract him with other interesting things, but I can't forget about him in front of the tv for periods of time to get other things done.  It's a little bit of an adjustment, but I have to admit, I feel so much better about what he is doing with his time, and he seems much happier too!  Probably because his brain is way more stimulating working on projects and playing creatively than sitting motionless in front of a screen!  I'm sure we will still have special movie times, or short times of watching daddy play a kid friendly video game, but I'm glad that it is becoming something more special.

ANYWAY.  One of the things we did this week was make robots from old milk cartons and toilet paper tubes!  It kept him busy for SO long and he got some practice with a glue stick, which he hasn't used much before.  Here is his creation (with some help from mom, of course!):

For after nap, we had plans to make cookies and then I had this activity tray for him.  He was kind of into it for a little bit, but then started throwing rocks, so I took it away.  I'll try again with different items another day.

Here he is today during our morning snack after our walk on the beach.  I have been making "Orange Julius" knock off's lately, but changing up the flavors.  Yesterday I made it with orange juice and blueberries, today was pineapple and coconut.  So yummy! And had to make a pirate hat while we were eating our snack.  We made tunnels for his trains out of old oatmeal containers and cereal boxes today.

Last night my friend Susan took me out to get my toes done!  Best gift for a pregnant mommy ever!  My toes looked awful and I didn't want to bend over to do anything about it.  Its kind of too wet out to wear my new sandals too, but I've been wearing them around the house to break them in and because I wanted to wear them, haha.

Shea was hiding in the closet while I was taking my bump picture today.

I've also been busy, busy sewing cloth diapers!  The one in the lower right corner is completely waterproof and will fit a slightly bigger baby.  I have several of these cut out to sew up, and I only spent about 25 dollars on fabric!  I also have enough fabric I was given to make close to 20 newborn diapers (these are the ones in the lower left corner).  These will need a cover, but thats ok, because they won't be used for very long, most likely.  I am planning on cutting these out tonight while I watch So You Think You Can Dance (SO EXCITED!!! This is my favorite show and it looks so good this season!)

Crazy week.

Some happy pictures.  Steel cut oats (Becca, I don't actually have a recipie I just make the steel cut oats in the rice cooker with a timer set so they will be done when I wake up and after they are done I add stuff - usually pears/strawberries, almonds/walnuts, brown sugar, and milk).  They are my favorite breakfast ever.  I have this new app on my phone that lets me write on pictures, get ready for dorky comments!  :)  Our grass is growing, it looks way better than in this picture now, but I need to mow because it is way longer than our other grass.  Only problem being it has been wayyyyy to wet to mow for the last 3 days. Oh and a very unhealthy but absolutely amazing lunch.  I only ate half of the sandwich (toasted on the panini) and ate the other half cold for dinner and it was amazing! 

So I mentioned in my last post that my grandma wasn't doing too well.  My mom called Thursday morning (she had been with my grandparents since monday) and said my grandma was super confused.  They had a lab appointment to see if her electrolyte levels had come up and I told my mom to call me after the appointment and see how it went.  After I hung up the phone I changed my mind and decided to go to Salem right then, and call into work for the day.  I packed and showered then went on my merry way.  I stopped at Hmart to get happy things and candy for my mom because I knew she/I would need it.  I stopped for gas in federal way and by the time I left the station there were 2 cops cars, a cop suburban, and a cop motorcycle and a guy in handcuffs. Fun times in the hood.  When I got to Salem (about a 3.5 hour drive) I got caramel macchiatos for my mom and I. 

A couple hours after I got to my grandparents house the Dr's office called with the lab results which were still really crummy.  We made the decision to take her to the ER.  We got to the ER around 4 and got into a room right away.  By 8:30 we were in a hospital room where my grandma ended up staying for 6 days. It was the BIGGEST room I have ever seen ever. It used to be a triple room but now is a single, it wins an award for most awesome room ever. 

I spent about 3 hours in the morning and three in the evening every day with my grandma at the hospital.  My  mom would come for a few hours as well, but she stayed at home to take care of my grandpa.  We made an awesome team and I felt bad leaving her on sunday ( I was there for 4 days).  My grandma and I had lunch together on two seperate occasions at the hospital.  One time my mom brought me food (she had to take care of me because I was doing a crappy job of taking care of myself) and the other time they brought my grandma a whole sandwich for her lunch (which she never eats a whole, only a half) so she gave me the other half, it was actually pretty good.  My grandma is the perfect patient, always saying please and thank you, doing what you tell her even if she doesn't want to, eating when she isn't hungry because she knows it is good for her.  Perfect, amazing grandma. :) 

I don't make coffee for myself every morning, actually I hardly ever make it because I think it is too much work, but my grandparents have coffee every morning. So every morning I woke up to a fresh pot of coffee and enjoyed it to the last drop.  The picture to the top right is my grandparents living room.  I love the old refinished furniture, I love the memories that room holds.  I look at the picture and just smile. :)  My mom made awesome dinners every night.  I love having someone cook for me especially when I don't feel good.  I was sick to my stomach a few times while being there because I was worried about my grandma and my grandpa kept asking what was going on and when she was coming home.  I took this picture pre nap (I couldn't fall asleep for the longest time) and then I don't think I ended up sending it to Paul because you could see the worry and awfulness in my face, didn't know I wore my emotions so much.  No wonder my mom was taking care of me, making sure I was doing ok.  She bought me stuff to make a smoothie and some books to read on the way home from the hospital one day.  She knows what I need. :)

It ended up being amazing that I could go down and help for 4 days.  I was able to support my mom emotionally (I only was doing bad for like half hour or an hour at a time and it would pass).  I was able to be at the hospital every day when the cardiologist and hospitalist rounded as well as social work and physical therapy.  I met every nurse and cna that she had in those four days, I made sure she got the best of care.  My mom make sure my grandpa was ok, the house was clean, and that there was food on the table.  Together we made a team, and I loved that.  My mom will be down there for two weeks total ( a very long time to be away from home) and I still think she is amazing for it! :) 

On the drive home I treated myself to dutch brothers, soooo goooood.  I told my mom the accord didn't have a cd player.  I have had this car for 4 years now, I have used the cd player a zillion times.  I have no idea why I thought it didn't have one but it wasn't until I was almost home that I realized it did.  Wow, I am sooooo smart. :)   I got the most amazing gas mileage driving there and back.  I got 460 miles on the tank and 31 mph, best I have gotten...ever.  That was even in the crappy traffic I hit on the way home on sunday evening!  I was meeting Paul for dinner and then I hit this awful tacoma traffic and was in it for almost half an hour. They closed the major city center exit and it caused a hugggeee backup. Ew. 

When I got to Federal way Paul had a dinner table waiting for us at our favorite Asian restaurant.  The food was amazing.  Then I came home to these little fuzz faces staring at me.  I played about a billion games of "draw something" on my phone.  This earwax one was with my dad. He took over the game my mom and I were playing because she hasn't been able to play while she has been in oregon since it's on his itouch.  It is fun playing with my dad!  Oh and I woke up to sweet eric the next morning.  I sure did miss his fuzz face. :) 

Today I was supposed to go to work and Paul had the day off.  We both dozed on the couch and I had my alarm set for 1:20 to get up, I was procrastinating and at 1:25 I got a phone call from work saying they were putting me on standby.  I didn't get called in so I had a surprise day off with my love!  God gives the best surprises, I needed that day off to chill, relax and to have a day off with Paul for the first time in at least 2 weeks.  I cleaned the fridge, froze stuff, made salads, prepped everything so we could have Yakisoba for dinner, vacuumed, cleaned 3 bathrooms, ran the dishwasher, and did 2 loads of laundry.  Then I played darts with Paul (he is way better than me) (oh and ps. Paul put up an awesome dart board while I was gone, it's so so so fun to play even though I lose and it makes my feet hurt to stand that much. ).  Then we hung out in front of the fire with the kitties and watched a movie.  A very relaxing day indeed.  

Hope all is well, I love hearing about your lives!   

Feeling Settled

Hi again!  It's been 3 and a half weeks since we moved and things are starting to feel normal.  I forget that moving is more than just organizing and setting up our furniture again, but we also have to figure out how out how our new schedule will work and the lifestyle change that comes with moving from a rural area to a more urban area.

I have been so busy setting up our place and starting school, but I have been loving it!  I have been taking pictures of the different things I've been doing and then never get to posting them.  The weather has also been AMAZING.  It's so nice to wear short 24/7 and not feel cold, the sun is so fabulous it wipes away any bad mood.

The past weekend was our long weekend in Canada (Victoria Day).  It was so nice to have Justin around for an extra day.  We didn't go out much becuase we worked a lot on the house, especially the yard.  We're attempting to grow some grass on a bit of compost and a lot of gravel...hopefully it works.  At this point I feel like anything will be an improvement.

This weekend I dug through our 6 inch layer of compacted gravel and found enough dirt to plant some pepper plants and a raspberry bush.

Here is what our yard looks like right now with the compost and grass seed.  We doing little sections of our yard at a time.

I'm afraid of being known as the 'neighborhood garbage scavenger,' I found some cool lanterns and some pots from some of our neighbors garbage while we were out for a walk.  I cleaned up the lanterns and I'm pretty happy with them!  We don't have any lights on our deck, so they are perfect. 

One of our first weeks here Justin and I went out for dinner at a burger place across the street.  I love being able to walk to restaurants!

I think this is the most pictures I have ever posted!  I still can't beat Angela though, I don't have your photo-collage making skills. :) 

I've started looking for work again.  I am still on at the place that hired me as a teacher in March, but I never finished my training and I've tried over and over to get in touch with them, but they have never returned my calls.  I'm hoping to find another part time teaching/tutoring job, but I think I'm going to have to branch out to other options.  Other than that, life is pretty good.  

Hope all you girls are having good weather, and if not, good days at least! 

 

hash browns

I couldn't find the potatoes I wanted at Fred Meyer, so I caved and bought a huge bag at Costco.  I'm on a mission to use them before they spoil.

This morning I decided to make eggs for us before Joe went to work, and then I decided I wanted to make hash browns.  I only had half an hour, so I decided to bake the potatoes in the microwave and mash them up and finish them on the stove.

To make things faster, I peeled the potatoes raw, then microwaved them.  Well, who knew?  The peel on potatoes keeps the inside from drying out.  So now I had potatoes that were tough on the outside and mushy inside.

I didn't have time to remake anything, so I just chalked it up to experience and went ahead cutting/mashing them into my pan with hot oil, salt, and pepper.  They browned up real nicely but I didn't have time to taste them before I dumped them on Joe's plate with two over-easy eggs.  "Don't expect too much," I warned, "I have no idea how they'll turn out."

Typically my husband isn't a huge fan of making food without recipes, because to him it doesn't turn out as well.  So if I ever "invent" something I never expect him to love it as much he would love a tried-and-true recipe.

"Are they okay?" I asked after he'd had a few bites.  I was thinking backup plans: like, if it was unbearable I'd toast some bread for him to soak up his eggs with.

"They're not bad," he said, which usually means "I am able to eat them, but please don't make them again."  I accepted this.  He asked why there were some little crunchy bits of potato and some larger pieces.  I shared my mistake in peeling the potatoes before I microwaved them.

"Actually, I really like it," he said.

I couldn't tell him how much my day was made because then he'd get all embarrassed.  You have to understand, I don't get these kind of comments from my husband often, because he only says he "likes" something if the food is exceptional.  If the food is good, then it was "fine, thanks for dinner" and if it's mediocre it's "alright...."

Anyway, feeling happy right now and excited about making hash browns for the next month...haha!

another restful day!

Today has been so nice!  I started the morning with a little boy jumping in my bed as always and being a little sweetheart.  Then we got up and had some steel-cut oats I cooked overnight in the crockpot.  The recipe was OK - next time I think I want to flavor it a little differently, but it was nice having the oatmeal all ready to eat and Shea loved it.  Angela, what recipe do you use??  I'd love to try it some time!


After Jeremy left for work, Shea and I washed the dishes together (which took a while, but at least I distracted him from the idea of watching a show without a major tantrum), then we went for a walk down the spit (where all the super expensive houses in Indianola are) and on the beach.  It was already so warm at 9:30 when we went out!  After that, we came home and I got lunch prepped because a friend from church was coming over right after my midwife appointment.


My appointment went well!  I can't believe I am already so close to the end.  She gave me a list of supplies we have to buy for the home birth, and next month she will come and do a home visit and bring us the inflatable tub.  Shea was really well behaved for once - I think he is finally getting used to going to the appointments.  Normally he is getting into everything and trying to leave, but today he played nicely with the toys and cleaned them up afterward.  My boy is getting so old!  Hailey is head down (YAY!), and growing nicely, and I weigh way more than I thought I did. haha.  Oh well!


I had a really nice visit with my friend, Olivia - she started coming to church back in the fall and we clicked pretty quickly.  She is about 16 weeks pregnant now, but has been feeling so sick during her pregnancy that she basically hasn't been able to do much socially.  It was a really relaxing visit and nice to catch up.


Here was out lunch spread:


I made orzo salad, tortilla pinwheels (I am obsessed with these lately), cut up some fresh fruit and vegetables with some spinach dip, and made some breadsticks out of pizza dough (and wow, they were delicious!).  I also made some cold brew iced tea with mint and some snickerdoodle cookies, but we didn't end up eating any of them, ha.

Here is Shea playing outside with some water.  He was bored, so I got out some mixing bowls, a funnel, and some measuring cups, and let him play with it all outside. He would've played for a lot longer, I think, but the cousins came home and all the sudden the water was dumped everywhere and he was no longer a happy camper.  He was fine after they went inside though...apparently someone put sand in his water and then it was dirty and that was the end of all the fun.

This is how he poses for a camera when the sun is in his eyes, apparently.

Shea put himself to bed today - he was trying to sleep outside, but didn't like that, so then he asked me to put him in bed for his nap!  How often does that happen??  Anyway, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do during nap time - I think maybe relax and read or knit for a bit.  Then when Jeremy gets home from work we are headed out to Silverdale to go register at BabysRus and maybe go do something outside somewhere.

The start to a week off!

We have had a fun few days around here!  I was supposed to work until 9PM on Saturday, but I ended up being sent home early - at 2:40!  So, we went and played on the beach for a bit, and then had a bbq with tim and tawny and the kids played and played.  Here is John and Shea posing in their helmets:

I also had time to finish up the dining room table and chairs! I LOVE the way it turned out- it makes the whole room seem nicer.  I also moved the china cabinet over, and moved around some of the decor in the house on Monday.

Sunday I had to work from 12:30 to 9:30 and it was crazy busy!  Not only was it Mother's day, but it was super hot, so everyone (and their mom!) was out buying ice cream.  I was dead by the end of the day.  Luckily, I only have two more weekends of this!  And my boss finally did my schedule the way I asked, so I don't work until Friday night, and then have two 9 hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday.  I'm definitely glad I made the decision to stop working after this month - I really don't think I can keep up with the pace much longer than that.

I have a ton going on this week though!  Monday night was my Mom's group scrapbook night, so I had to clean the house and get some food prepared.  But, I had to watch Tawny's kids in the morning for almost two hours, then go up to the church to meet with the treasurer - this took about an hour and a half.  After that, Shea needed lunch and a nap, and I had to clean like crazy, finish three loads of laundry (which I line dried, so that took additional time) run to the store for some food, and prepare it - the day went by so fast.  Mostly because during nap time I got kind of distracted and ended up moving things around and decorating instead of cleaning.  OOPS.

Here are the new curtains I got at Goodwill recently.  They match the red pillows I bought a few months back, and now I have all brown curtains in the living room.

I took a random picture of me for no real reason. I was super hot and sweaty all day though!

Scrapbook night was fun!  4 ladies came over, and I was working on Hailey's book.  I did the Gender Reveal party pages.  It took me about two hours to do two pages.  Not only am I very indecisive when it comes to scrapbooking, but Tawny's kids were over and Shea was a little excited, so I had to get up a lot to monitor him.  I was really happy with the way the pages turned out though!

Today my sister and mom came over for a late Mother's Day lunch.  We played with her new i-pad, ate some muffins with some lattes I made, and just chatted.  Here is my sister with Shea.  I took a bunch of pictures of them and Shea was making goofy faces in all of them!

So we took a couple goofy ones together.  This one was supposed to be our grumpy faces.

And this one was just supposed to be crazy or something.  I was playing around with the google picture editing effects too, so my pictures almost look as cool as Angela's. :)

I also made this artwork on Monday.  I had an old black canvas that I just wrote on with chalk.  Then I took a frame I had laying around because the glass broke in it about a year ago, and it happened to be the exact right size to fit around the canvas!  I love this wall now.

I took my sister back to the ferry about an hour ago, and Shea and I are watching the original Robin Hood disney movie while eating hotdog cornbread (I made corn muffins and stuck a third of a polish sausage in the middle of each one before I baked it.  Its a hit, apparently).  I have to do dishes and tidy the house tonight, because a friend from church is coming over for lunch tomorrow right after my midwife appointment in the morning.  I'm hoping I'll have some time to cut out some more diapers and sew them together after Shea is in bed too.

Thursday we are headed to the children's museum in Seattle, and then Friday morning I have a playgroup at the park and I work that evening.  I LOVE that I have had so much time to get things done around the house, play with Shea, visit with people, and still feel like I have some down-time before going back to work.  I am definitely going to enjoy every minute of my time before this baby comes in June, and try to give lots and lots of attention to Shea before we have to learn to share mommy between two little ones.  Shea is getting more and more excited about Baby Hailey and talks about her a lot.  I know he will have some trouble sharing mommy, but I am so looking forward to this new time and know he is going to be such a good big brother!

Hope you have been enjoying the beautiful weather as much as I have!  I love my fall and winter, but OH summer just makes me happy!

Summer, hot weather, and a day off work. :)

I have probably said this multiple times, but Eric is such a cuddler.  Every single morning as of late when he hears me wake up he runs to the bedroom and hops on the bed to chill with me for about half an hour while I catch up on all my blogs, facebook, instagram and all the random stuff I do on my phone in the morning.  Then we get up together, I go feed him, rub his belly, and he is a happy camper.  We have our routine and I love it.  He is my baby till I have a real one and he loves it. :) 

This is the awesome view of Mt. Rainier I have from the windows at work, I am so spoiled!  A friend actually took this picture and I stole it from her facebook page.  I was wayyyy too busy this night to be taking pictures. :)  

Last week was nurses week.  There were a few of these funny e cards making their way around the interwebs.  Excuse the language on it but I laughed out loud when I read it.  It's so true, there is absolutely nothing glamorous about nursing. 

And again, Eric.  This boy knows what I need though.  Sometimes I am tired and not wanting to go to work and his sweet face comes naps with me, or today (bottom left picture) I got nauseous all the sudden and Eric appeared and plopped down on the couch within a minute to snuggle me. :)  Sweet boy. 

Paul and I had a busy day today (Paul even more than me).  Paul got up at 5 to go shooting in the mountain with some friends.  At 11 we went swimming, then subway, then the library, then home to grab the laptop and Kathy's mothers day present.  Then we went to Paul's grandparents visit and show them a slideshow of our vacation to Maui.  It was so good to see them and chat with them.  Then we went to starbucks to pick up a coffee for Kathy and drove to her house to give her her gifts.  She so lovingly fed us scones with fresh strawberries and we had a nice little chat out on the deck in the sunshine, it was wonderful. :)  Oh and we also went to Carpenito brothers to pick out some garden stuff.  No stuff from seed this year, we are kinda late (and lazy).  I also got a paper that quotes river rock prices for u-haul and delivery so I am going to measure the square feet I need for the river rock hopefully tomorrow so we can get that ordered and get our back yard looking more fabulous.  

The only things in the garden this year are beets, peas, and tomatoes.  Low maintenance and awesome.  Paul helped me weed that bed (we had rototilled it earlier this year and it had grown a bunch of baby weeds).  Paul mowed the lawn while I finished up the bed, I swept the porch while he swept the front yard, and he finished sweeping and weeding the front yard and cleaning the front windows while I made us dinner of mac and cheese (the organic annies kind is awesome!) and a fresh fruit salad. We ate outside on our little blanket and it was awesome until the mosquitoes started attacking us and we went inside.  

I plan on doing a ton of yard work this weekend if I don't end up going down and visiting my grandparents. My mom is there right now but my grandma is kinda sick and she is the caretaker for my grandpa, so I may go down to help out if things don't start looking better soon.  Please pray for them both and my mom as she helps takes care of them and takes them to Dr. appts!