love the sun!

My last few days have FLOWN by!  The weather has been amazing and we have been drinking it up!  Friday I took Shea to a local Gymnastics place called Zero Gravity.  They have open Gym three times a week, so we went with my mom's group to try it out.  OH MY did he LOVE it.  This kid is so athletic - I have no idea where he gets it (definitely NOT from me).  He was going crazy on the huge trampoline, and balancing on the balance beams.  He is definitely going in gymnastics next year when he is old enough.

After that we went and met Jeremy for lunch and went to a nearby park.  It was so fun and warm out, I couldn't believe I didn't even need a coat!  We all had so much fun just playing outside (I feel like it has been forever since I just ran around outside) and Jeremy and I threw a baseball around while Shea went crazy on the playground.

I worked that evening, and then Saturday  morning Shea and I headed out for a day full of errands.  We went to several stores, I got a new maternity shirt at Ross for only $3.50 (and its so cute, I might wear it after I'm pregnant if its not too baggy).  We met up with my friend, Susan, for lunch at a nearby cafe then walked over to the waterfront park and let Shea play while we talked for another hour or so.  SO NICE.  Shea made it home just in time to crash and then I cleaned out the car and tried to decide what to do with the rest of the day.  Jeremy came home tired from his men's group work party (they went around the community doing yard work/odd jobs for people for free), so we both just wanted to do nothing.  Then my boss texted me and asked me if I could come into work ASAP.  I wasn't doing anything, so of course I was willing to pick up the hours.  IT WAS INSANE.

The place was a total mess - ice cream everywhere, the lobby a mess, the girls who had been there all day looked like they were going to collapse.  So I came in with fresh energy and ran around for 3 hours straight trying to serve customers and clean that place up.  I ended up working until 10:15, and today my boss is having me come in 2 hours early.  I'm a little scared because only two of us are scheduled to work...haha the weather gets nice and everyone is buying ice cream - literally lines down out the door for 4 hours straight.  Nuts!  At least we get good tips.  And we all have a lot of fun together - I love the girls I work with.

Anyway, this morning Jeremy made an amazing breakfast for us -  scrambled eggs, hash browns and sauteed vegetables.  I made some coffee in our french press with a free sample we got from starbucks (so glad - I didn't realize we were out of coffee when I was out shopping yesterday).  And we had some fresh strawberries.

Shea is watching a show right now (but he was playing in "his box" all morning long - have I posted a picture of that yet?  its been his main time occupation for the last week and a half), and we leave for church in about half n hour.

This is the only picture I have today, because I didn't have my camera on me much.  I wanted to show Angela how dorky my pose is by the statues though.  haha.  This was in January 2008 - my hair is really short too.

  

It's been a wonderful week.

This week started out wonderful. Pastor Tommy is preaching through Revelation and he is doing an amazing job. I could have listened for another hour and it would have been awesome.

On Sunday evening Paul got off work at 5pm and we all (my mom, Paul, and I) drove up to Seattle to take my little bro out to dinner for his 19th birthday. We went to a small Italian restaurant

Paul and I got our rings re-rodiumed (more white gold put on) this last week as well as got them cleaned. We have lifetime warranties on the rings so can get this done whenever we want. I must start doing to more often because my ring looks brand new!

This is my view at work, well part of my view. The rest I probably wouldn't be allowed to take pictures of. I answer that phone about a million times a day.

Yesterday Gabe and I went shopping. It was a fun girls day out. We started with lunch at Panera, then Gap, Nordstroms (where Gabe got danskos and I am jealous!), Romy, and many other places, it was awesome. Oh we went to a scrub store and I got new pants and one new top. :) OH and I FINALLY have a pair of jeans that fit. :) Then before after all of our shopping we stopped by Krispy Kreme. Fabulous!

Last night was wonderful. I rushed back to my house because Steve and Kathy were coming over for dinner at 5:30. I got home at like 5:20, started preheating the oven, mixing up pizza dough in the mixer, defrosting ham, cutting up olives and lettuce, slicing a cucumber, and by 6 dinner was on the table. I forgot to take pictures! Then after dinner Kathy and I made pumpkin scones while the boys put up a new garage door opener. :) I added about 1/2 a cup more flour (maybe even more) and just made a simple glaze of powdered sugar, some pumpkin spice mix and some milk. So so so good.

After Steve and Kathy left Paul and I went straight to bed (at 9pm), turned on the fire, and watched Broken English while the kitties snuggled in front of the fire. Pure Bliss.

Yesterday Gabe and I also went to Tacoma Boys. I got a ton of fresh fruit and vegetables for an awesome price. We had a giant grapefruit, kiwi, pumpkin scone (and Paul had the Krispy Kreme I got him), and a chai tea latte for breakfast. Oh heaven.

After breakfast Paul and I laid in the sunshine in the living room and watched the kitties play. Eric was being adorable under the kitchen table and Eleanor was being crazy and watching him.

Then Paul and I went swimming. Paul told me to pack warm clothes because we were going somewhere afterward but wouldn't tell me where. He didn't want to cooperate for my pictures on our mystery drive.

We wound up in Renton and were going to find a subway to eat at since we have a giftcard, but there weren't any close so we went to a Pho restaurant and it was amazing! We got bubble tea afterward for dessert. So yum.

Then we went to Lake Washington and walked all around the trail. It was 59 degrees out, the sun was shining, and it was so so so beautiful! My husband has the best ideas!

I saw this sign and could help but squeal inside a little, how sweet is that! Oh and I have a picture of me posing in front of this same statue forever ago, and so I made Paul take one today. :)

I love pictures, my new phone apps, and making collages. I have had the most wonderful day with my love and plan on the second half being just as wonderful. We are currently laying on the couch with the show White Collar playing.

And that my friends is my day. I have loved reading all your updates!!

Playing Catch-Up

Hi Ladies!

I just had a great time catching up and commenting on all your past posts.  They are really fun to read.
I don't know where the time has gone-this past week has just felt busy.  I think school work is catching up to me again.  I've found it hard to feel motivated this semester.  I feel very separated from school life (obviously its a 2 hour drive there!) so when at home I don't feel like a student.  Reality is starting to hit me though.  I have three assignments due next week!  This means I actually have to do homework this weekend.

Some exciting news-well semi-exciting.  I applied for an ESL teaching job here in Simcoe (I was shocked there even was a job in this small isolated town)!  There was one advertised for six hours a week teaching 3-4 students.  It requires TESOL certification (which I'm working towards) but I figured it wouldn't hurt to apply anyways.  Yesterday they left a message saying they want to me answer some pre-interview screening questions!  I know its the super early stage, but I'm just excited that they actually called.  Even though I'm not quite qualified and don't have the teaching experience I feel at peace-I've done my part and God will do the rest.  I'll keep you informed if anything progresses.

Here are some photos of a project I did the other day.  As soon as I started, I remembered to grab my camera just for you guys!

I bought this canvas picture at a thrift store for $4...its not that I didn't like it, it was ok.  But I felt like it was very generic and I wanted something more unique.

I decided to cover it with some remnant canvas fabric I had bought.  

(it matches my green theme in the kitchen) 

The longest part of this project was hunting around for the staple gun and scissors.

Ta-Da!  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  This now hangs over our dining room table.

I napped.

Yes.  Shea took a nap.  I took a nap.  Now I'm sitting with a cup of tea, in sweats and NO braw (why did I spell that like that??  I thought about erasing the "w" but that is how I said it in my head) about to go play a round of carcassone with Jeremy.  And I'm baking cookies. 


And because of Amber's comment on my last post, here is my weekly pic (fully dressed this time, haha)!

And this is the one I had to share - Shea is picking up on belly modeling, as you can see.  

We also spent the morning at the KiDiMu (Kids Museum on Bainbridge) with my mom's group.

Very serious shopping going on here (this is with another boy from our church/mom's group)

Alright!  I'm off to continue enjoying my relaxing day before I go to work at 5 tonight.

I vacuumed.

Just had to brag.  I just vacuumed the whole house.  Hard floors and everything.  It felt like it took all morning but I think it actually just took an hour.  I used my Kirby and figured out how to use it better by actually reading the instructions.

Leaving now for lunch with my mom, which is hard because Wiggle just put her front paws on my arm and is looking up at me adoringly and purring.  She hates it when I get up just when she's made herself comfortable!

Another week! yesss, anoooother post.

IT'S MY DAY OFF!!


Sorry.  I am exhausted after this weekend of working!  Saturday I worked 9 hours, and Sunday I worked 7, but had to close by myself, which just makes it feel like 2 hours was added on because of all the extra work!  Friday night was the winter auction at church, and I washed dishes for TWO hours straight.  They just kept coming, and I was wearing my leather boots and they are not made for standing in one place for long periods of time, haha.  I have today off, and then work the next 4 days (but luckily, they are all 5 hour days!).  I have so much I want to do today, but I am happy that I've just been able to sit around in my PJ's, play with Shea, and relax this morning instead of running around like a crazy woman cleaning.  Shea asked for Oatmeal today, so I thought, "Oh, good, I'm going to start with a healthy breakfast and then maybe we'll go for a walk!"  Well, I did eat some breakfast.  But I just finished a homemade latte and a small nanaimo bar as well...and there has been no walk yet. hehee.  OH WELL.  I guess I have to put that on my "diet diary" for my midwife though.


Just thought I'd share a few things I did on my LAST day off, because I took pictures.


I finally dealt with our ugly curtains in our living room!  I had to kind of switch around some curtains from other rooms to get enough, but thats ok, because these will probably stay in the living room long term, where as the other rooms will get new ones (and they aren't as necessary in the other rooms).  I made this white sheer curtain in the middle from an old swag (I think thats what its called...it was just a long sheer piece of fabric that normally wraps around the curtain rod to make a valance of sorts).  I cut it down the middle, and then sewed two pieces together for each side of it.  I love the look.  The other windows just have the brown curtains, but I hope to get more white curtains.  Because I love having light come in, but I HATE looking at our neighbor's house through our windows.  The old gross blinds were super moldy and I had to scrub out the windows too.  Gross.

I also went to Goodwill with Shea and SCORED big time.  I figured at least Candice would appreciate my finds. :)  I got these two red throw pillows for $2 each!  I love them and they have brown accents on them which match the curtains and my brown pillow.  I think I know have my color scheme for this room when we finally (hopefully) paint in here!  They cleaned up nice, too!

I also picked this up for Shea for $1.29.  These go for like $25-$30 new.  Isn't that ridiculous?  There were like 5 brand new ones there and he LOVES it.  It even makes noises (oh joy...) 

And I got tons of clothes for Shea.  He has really needed pants/new long sleeve shirts because he's been growing like crazy.  3 pairs of pants (nice brands), jacket, 3 shirts, shoes, a sweater, and a shirt for me all for like $20

I love good Goodwill trips :)

AND my sewing labels came!  I ordered custom fabric and just have to cut them up and sew them into little labels.  They turned out so cute (hard to see here).  Can't wait to add them to the clothing I've made for my shop and finally put some items up - this is pretty much all I've been waiting for.

And of course, last Thursday I took my belly pic.  I think it shrunk a little this week?  Who knows.  Maybe I've been eating less.  Hard to tell what is baby and what is me!  I need to start doing something other than looking down in all of these pictures, too. ha...I hate taking pictures like these of myself, I feel so awkward.  But I don't have any weekly ones from my first pregnancy, so hopefully it will be fun to have when I'm done.

Post-Kauai Post

Oh my gosh!  Who updated the blog?  It looks AMAZING!  I know it was either Angela or Becca.  I love it!!!!

We are back from Kauai.  We just went from Sunday through Friday!  I don't even want to tell you about the warmth and the relaxation and the wonderfulness.  You would be so jealous if you knew the wonderful week I have experienced.  And Washington, frankly, sucks right now.  We got away just in time.

We did Snuba, which is like a cross between snorkeling and scuba.  You have a scuba tank attached to a raft on top of you, so you can go down further than snorkeling but you don't need all the scuba training and stuff.  That was fun!  I saw two huge turtles - one under a rock that I was right next to, and one swimming (I almost said flying). 

Joe and I did a hike that was only 2 miles each way but it was BRUTAL uphill the way up. I was pretty proud of myself though, I had quite a bit of energy going up!  I took a nap when we came back, for which Joe made fun of me - but then he went to bed at 7 PM and slept until 7 AM!  I was bored when he went to bed so I went to the hot tub and talked to this Polish couple we had talked to a few times before.  I kept calling them "that couple with the girl with the big boobs" because, wow.  I guess I've seen really big boobs before, but maybe not in a bikini?  And the girl was so pretty and so tan, but also so nice and sweet. 

I didn't get as much sun as I wanted to.  I did get more sun than I did on our honeymoon though.  It rained the whole day before we left so I didn't get a chance to even out my sun exposure.  I got burned but not too bad.  It's already darkening to tan - YAY!  If only I could keep it.  =(

We had breakfast in every morning - that was nice.  Fresh tropical fruit, pop tarts, bagels and cream cheese, tea and coffee.  Two mornings I went to the beach and just spent an hour by myself with a Bible.

It was really nice going back somewhere we had been before.  We hardly even needed to use our GPS!  We felt very comfortable and familiar with the area.

The flight there was pretty uneventful.  We packed our luggage so we wouldn't have to check any bags, which meant we had to pack all our liquids in 3 oz. containers.  We bought shaving cream and toothpaste in Kauai.  But on the way up, they were practically begging people to check carry-ons for free, so we let them check one.  Ha - I don't even know how it got to Kauai, because when we finally found our bag, it had no label or anything on it.

One fun thing, on the way there we had an interisland flight between the main Honolulu airport and the smaller Kauai airport.  Sitting in the row in front of me was a little girl who was crying, and the flight attendants were  trying to console her, telling her it would only be half an hour till she'd see her family.  I switched seats with the man who was sitting next to her.  She stopped crying almost as soon as I asked her name, and then she talked nonstop for the rest of the flight.  She was only seven and she'd only been away from her family for a couple days in Honolulu.  She kept saying things like "You know that big water slide at this park" and I kept saying "I don't live in Kauai, so I don't know where this stuff is."  But she kept saying "Do you know ____?  She's my teacher.  Do you know ____?  She's my godsister and I don't like her because she hit my puppy."  Anyway, everyone and the flight staff was like "wow, you're so good with kids" and I was all modest about it, like "Yeah, I like them."  Except for one Hawaiian lady who was like "The fasten seatbelt sign is on, you're not allowed to get up now."  I smiled and said "Oh, okay, thank you" and was thinking "Oh, really?  That's what that sign means?  Do I look stupid?"  I got up anyway though.  And Joe chatted with the old man who had been sitting next to the girl while I chatted with her.  Fun.

On the back our flight to Honolulu got delayed.  Which meant we were close to missing our connecting flight from Honolulu to Seattle.  But a lot of people on our delayed flight were also headed to Seattle, so we weren't too worried the plane would leave without us, because that would mean leaving without half its passengers and then dealing with a LOT of angry people.  Super stressful getting on the delayed flight, because everyone was stressed and mad, and there wasn't room for our carry-ons so we had to put one in the front with the strollers and stuff, and one under the seat of some random nice couple who had room under their seat.

I made Joe take some pictures just because I knew you would all be like "We want to see pictures!"  But I don't have them on my computer yet.  There aren't very many, either.

But here is a picture Joe just took of all three cats on the couch together.  I missed them so much!