My father in law asked to see larger images of the winning photos for the father’s day gift that the kids and I made for Ryan.
Here they are in color…
And, in black and white (which I used in the frames)…
home is…every photo of my children is a winner.
Did you see the Jones Design Company post this morning about the Summer in Snapshots series on the Starfish blog?
I had never visited the Starfish blog, but quickly decided to add it to my list of blogs in my RSS reader.
I am going to try to take part in the Wednesday linky party every week.
Did you see that she was inspired to put together a Summer List after reading Meg’s blog?
This will be a good way for me to document our summer fun without having to type a blog post each day!
I will still be posting a photo of the day. I’m going to try to capture more than just my kiddos, but they are my favorite subject!
home is…sharing good ideas through blogging.
That’s how much time my husband, Ryan, and I have spent together.
Between his travel schedule for his new job and my weekend away that’s about how much time we have spent together in almost 2 weeks.
Yes, I did just mention his new job.
It’s a new job at a former company.
It’s a good move and good fit for him.
It’s a good move for the family.
It’s been kind of crazy the last month or so.
The kids and I have had a good week. We’ve stayed busy.
I’ll post about that this weekend.
For now, I just wanted to say hello.
And, let you know I had a little anxiety attack this evening.
Yesterday, on one of our adventures, I noticed a bump on baby girls wrist.
We were at the park and supposed to be having fun, but I had a bit of an anxiety attack there, too.
She hadn’t done anything to hurt it. In fact, she just reached out to hold my hand, as she does multiple times a day, and I felt the bump.
I slept on it last night and when I checked her wrist this morning it was still there.
It doesn’t seem to bother her, but I called the pediatrician to get it checked out anyway.
We got in this morning. It was not our regular doc, but one we have seen before. He’s an older gentleman. He’s probably seen hundreds of kids (or more) over the years.
He thoroughly checked it out and told me that it is probably nothing to worry about but to keep an eye on it.
Probably nothing to worry about.
I didn’t worry about it for most of the day while we were busy, but nap/quiet time set in.
I thought about it.
When she woke up from her nap I got her out of her crib and felt her wrist.
Still there.
And, now she doesn’t want me messing with it.
I snuggled her on the sofa and then I started getting anxious.
Probably nothing to worry about.
But how can I not worry. She’s my baby. And, I’m worrying.
I called my mom in tears. It helped to hear her tell me that it will be okay.
If you pray, please pray that it is nothing to worry about. If you don’t pray, please send good ju-ju.
And, Ryan isn’t here to see it.
I sent him this photo last night.
I’m not sure if this makes it look worse than it is or not as bad as it is, but you can’t really tell what it looks like unless you look at it in person.
Anyway, it’s probably nothing to worry about, but I can’t help worrying.
I just want my hubby to come home and my baby to be okay.
home is…a tired mommy after a long week.
I didn’t write over the weekend because I was busy here…
…having a lot of this…
…with my friend, Melissa.
We left Portland at noon on Friday and drove 6 hours to Spokane.
The sun was shining.
We stopped once to pee, once to get gas, and chatted the entire time.
I think it was the fastest 6 hours of my life.
We stayed at the historic Davenport Hotel in downtown Spokane.
{The hotel deserves it’s own post, so I will write one later.}
We got our room, went downstairs for cocktails and dinner and went to bed so we could get up early to get in line for the show.
On Saturday morningwe were up and out of the hotel before 8 am with coffee and scones in hand.
There were already people lined up when we arrived at 8am.
Here is a map of the show and vendor names. {click on it to see it larger}
We bought our tickets and stood in line for 2 hours until general admission was let in. Serena came by and handed us a map and said hello. I should have asked her to take a photo with us, but I am never good at that kind of thing.
Here she is talking to some men who were filming her at the show…
The show was huge, the vendors were great, displays were beautiful, and the other people from all over the country (and Canada) we so friendly.
I usually just bring my camera and take photos on one of these adventures with Melissa, but this time I planned to look for a couple of things…one of which was cowboy boots for the kids.
I found ’em.
I also found an old sign that reads “sunflowers” and an old chalkboard (you can see part of the sign in the photo below before I snatched it up).
I thought about buying this guy for Ryan…it’s a Blue Grouse. I didn’t. When I showed Ryan the photo he said I should have. I shouldn’t have second guessed myself. Next time I will be on the lookout for a Blue Grouse mount!
And, for some family in New York (you know who you are), if this sign hadn’t been $125 I would have bought it for you to put in your front yard(s).
We took one 3 hour cruise through the entire place in the morning, stuck our purchases out in the car, and went through again without our hands and bags full. It took another 2 hours…and our hands and bags were full again!
Our feet were hurting from walking the concrete floors in out boots. {Of course we wore our boots!}
By 4 pm we were ready to head back to the Davenport for a cocktail and some dinner.
The rest of the evening was spent exploring the hotel and reading about it’s history.
After dinner we headed to the room to get some sleep to get back on the road to relieve our husbands from daddy duty.
We did stop at Chaps, which Serena highly recommends. I understand why. Super cute place with amazing food. We just got pastries and coffee to go, but it was worth the short drive out of our way to go!
On the way home the weather was perfect, we made awesome time, and we chatted the entire way. We discussed what we would do differently the next time…that topic deserves it’s own post, too!
In a nutshell, the weekend was well worth it. It was fun, inspiring, rejuvenating, and I will definitely be making future trips to Spokane for the Farm Chicks Show and otherwise!
Did you know that 5 years ago, in 2006, Ryan went to the Farm Chicks Show with me?! I wonder if Ryan would rather stay at home with the kids alone for the weekend or go to the Farm Chicks Show? Hmmmm.
Hey, if you were at the show, leave a comment to let me know what your favorite part was, where you came from, and where you stayed! Also, if you have a blog and wrote a post about it, leave a link to your URL!
home is…a girls weekend at the Farm Chicks show!
We had a great Memorial Day weekend.
I went on an awesome run on Sunday morning through one of the only neighborhoods we would leave our current neighborhood for.
Two houses were for sale…at amazing prices.
We called our realtor, and I went with the kids to look at them this morning.
Do you remember when the little guy said this? It’s like he was psychic or something, right?!
We’ve talked about moving or adding to this house…down the road.
It wasn’t in the plans for this summer.
Although, now we are thinking about it.
THINKING. About. It.
We don’t even know if it is worth it to sell our house.
One of the houses has an amazing yard and is right across the street from a park, but doesn’t have what we need inside.
The other house is great.
Perfect, really.
The only downside is the backyard…nothing compared to our current one that we love so much. And, even with the smaller yard, we would be just down the street from a park. So, there are trade offs.
The house has everything that we want.
It has a great layout. I already have our furniture placed in my mind.
And, really no remodeling to do…just move in!
There is a room that is separate from the main bedrooms that could serve as a guestroom/space for me with an attached full bath that is shared with the family room.
The family room would be a playroom for the kids…it even has a mini fridge and bar area which would be great for snacks, etc.
It also has lower level…something we really want. It would be perfect for Ryan’s home office (he could even enter his office without having to enter the main house) and an exercise room.
It also has a huge unfinished storage area under the main floor. HUGE.
It really would be perfect.
Oh, but do we really need to add this to our plate?!
I asked whoever is in charge to guide us…the universe, God, etc.
I had just decided that I was going to be happy in our current house and just start working on things here. We’ve had estimates for landscaping, painting, etc. To really have what we ultimately want would take a major addition, a kitchen remodel, and a remodel of two full baths. Probably not something we are willing to take on right now.
Moving would be easier.
I think.
home is…the possibility of adding to an already full plate.
Well, it already was.
The whole day was good.
I’m tired and want to go sit in the hot tub again.
I’ll post about our day tomorrow.
I promise…
home is…a perfect spring day at the beach with nana and bops.
I told you we were going on an adventure.
Well, we’re here.
Life’s a beach.
We’re visiting Bella Beach, Oregon. You will find the link in the left sidebar under in the “where i get inspired” section.
We came here with Nana last October to celebrate our 10th anniversary.
We liked it so much we decided to come to Bella Beach again when Nana and Bops said they wanted to go to the beach during their May visit.
We are staying in a different house this time…it’s right next to the one we stayed in last fall.
It’s amazing.
Ryan’s parents have the entire first floor to themselves…including a huge family room, bedroom, full bathroom and one car garage. The main floor has a big master suite with a king sized bed, the kitchen, powder bath and great room. Then the 3rd floor has a huge bedroom with two sets of bunkbeds and a queen sized bed, a second bedroom with another queen bed, a full bath, and a reading nook. Outside there is a wraparound porch with ocean views, a hot tub, huge fenced yard, and a fire pit with seating.
I could stay here for a while…
Really, I would take any of the houses in this little development. For a full-time home or vacation home.
We could sleep 14 in this house…there are 6 of us.
We have an extra bedroom…do you want to come stay with us?!
The weather isn’t perfect, but Ryan and I sat in the hot tub tonight.
Well, it was perfect for sitting in a hot tub with a glass of wine.
We’ll probably have a fire and roast marshmallows tomorrow.
Baby girl walked in the sand for the first time tonight.
She’s also sleeping in a big bed for the first time by herself.
The kids are also sharing a room.
I am so excited to experience more family vacations like this. This is what life is all about.
The little guy is really into winning right now. So, he wanted to beat the girls (we drove two cars since we brought the dogs and don’t have room for all the gear, dogs and 6 people in just one car) to the beach house. Ryan was busy closing deals on the drive down, so the girls actually won (and we got to stop at Mojo Coffee in Lincoln City for a cup of Stumptown). Once we arrived at the house Nana answered a call on my cell phone…it was VERY important to the little guy to beat the girls to the house. So, I got in the car and drove around the corner while Nana took baby girl to the playground. We waited for the boys to “win” and then showed up at the house after they had gotten out of the truck
Here are some photos…including a couple of the boys celebrating their “win”.
(I did them in a slideshow because internet is S.L.O.W. here.}
And, we will have some downtime for a couple of days before the fun starts.
Remember the “behind the scenes” action I was telling you about. Well, it’s still going on.
By the way, have I told you how much I love living in Oregon?!
Last month we were enjoying our last day out on the slopes on a perfect Spring skiing day and now we are out at the beach.
It’s gonna take a lot to convince me to ever leave this state…
home is…a little down time at the Oregon Coast.
We hung out around the house today.
The kids played with Nana and Bops while Ryan worked and I ran some errands.
The kids and I went out to dinner with Nana while Ryan and Bops headed out for H&H with the boys.
H&H is a monthly meeting of the minds that Ryan has with some of his buddies. They visit various brewpubs thoughout Portland to eat, drink, and raise a ruckus. Bops got to be a part of that tonight.
I am sure they will be home well past our bedtime.
Maybe one of them will fill us in on what happened.
Maybe one of them will write a guest blog about it….ahem, Fil.
I got to go to a yoga class today.
Always good for the mind and body.
I did not take any photos today.
Not even with my iphone!
Tomorrow we will go on an adventure.
I will take more photos then.
home is…a day without photos (it doesn’t happen very often around here).
Ryan’s parents are visiting us.
They arrived this afternoon after a long flight across country from New York.
We spent the afternoon playing outside in some of the most beautiful weather we have had all year.
We’ve got a lot of hanging out to do and an adventure planned.
Stay tuned…
For now, we all need to get some rest.
home is…visits from the ones we love.
…when you title a blog post the name of a Britney Spears song?
You get a ton of visits to your blog.
Not that I pay much attention to my statistics, but I took a quick look at them last night.
People like Britney.
I’m sure they weren’t really planning to visit my little old blog.
home is…writing a quick blog post about something random because i have a lot to get done today.
stephany taddeo 