summer 2015: 82/89

August 31, 20153 Comments

tomorrow is the first day of fall…in meteorological terms.

back in the day, meteorologists split the calendar up by months to distinguish the seasons.

meteorological summer is june, july, august.

meteorological autumn is september, october, november.

kind of logical, huh?

cooler temperatures are finally here in the pacific northwest after out hottest meteorological summer on record!

yesterday, i spent a lot of the day cleaning up the backyard from the windstorm that hit over the weekend. i also trimmed back my hanging baskets and would like to add some pansies and other flowers/plants that might make it through the winter.

i cleaned off the outdoor chalkboard to get it ready for our annual first day of school photos which will happen in one week!

i am also preparing lists of all the projects that i have put off and really need to get done once both kids go back to school. i am sure i will find plenty of ways to fill my days without them!

although, it gets me a bit choked up knowing that i will be alone for almost 6 hours everyday for the first time in over eight years. i have had at least one sidekick with me everyday since july 2007!

the other day i told baby girl that i would miss her when she was at school. she looked at me funny and said, “But you’ll have Oddy and Rainy!”

she is super excited to start kindergarten at the same school as her brother. when i asked her what she is most excited about she said, “Making new friends!”

her brother, on the other hand, is not thrilled about going back to school, but i know he will be once he sees all his friends!

we have school supply drop off ton wednesday. we will also finally find out who they have for teachers. woo-hoo!

{spring break} operation bigger clubhouse

April 2, 201512 Comments

My parents came out to visit us over Spring Break. It was the first time my mom was able to travel on an airplane after having BOTH of her knees replaced last year! She has recovered amazingly and we had so much fun being active over the break!

One of the main highlights of the trip began after we all went to watch the little guys baseball practice on the morning after my parents arrived. Shortly after we got home, there were multiple trips to Home Depot to get supplies…to fix our large deck near the house…and upgrade where the old playhouse used to sit into a new “clubhouse” for the kids!

We removed the railing from around the existing deck between the trees and started building walls on Saturday afternoon!

Between Ryan’s deck project on our large deck and the project my dad and I were working on it was a flurry of activity in the backyard. My mom was helping out by keeping the kids entertained…which was so amazingly helpful.

By the end of the day on Saturday, the walls were framed.

By Monday morning, the roof supports were taking shape and we were measuring and cutting cedar fence boards to put on as siding!

By Tuesday, Topher was putting the roof on and nailing the last finish pieces of trim onto the clubhouse.

It was so much fun to work with my dad on this project for the kids.

We made fires in the firepit almost everyday as we worked through the changing Oregon weather.

We celebrated and played in the clubhouse the rest of the week after we returned from our other adventures.

I have plans to paint the interior ceiling white and the interior walls a turquoise color.

I will also add canvas curtains to the front entry and to cover the windows and the slide door.

Until then, it’s ready for play!

I am not going to write up a post about how we built this…it was a labor of love. However, I will say that I was inspired by and The Handmade Home’s Handmade Hideaway. Their posts were invaluable in showing my dad what I wanted to accomplish and helpful for us to figure out how to get it done.

Thank you, Topher, for helping me bring my dreams into reality. It was so awesome to work on this project with you!!

I will be sharing more details in the next weeks as I add more finishing touches…in fact, Ryan added an awesome touch last night that I will need to share with you!

home is…a labor of love.

{31 days} pallet xylophone

October 22, 20143 Comments

~secondhand and created~

…pallet parts and pieces…

…power tools…

…paint…

…and a puppy dog helper.

{You can see another spray paint project that I have been working on…trying to add more color to the backyard!}

Once all the boards were painted I just screwed them into the partial pallet.

I just lightly spray painted the pieces so that they have a weathered look.

The final product makes me smile.

home is…{31 days} a secondhand and created pallet xylophone.

Join me while I link up with The Nester every day in October for #write31days.
Click here to find a list of all 31 posts as they are published.

{31 days} a handpainted sign

October 3, 201411 Comments

~secondhand and created~

I had old boards that the previous owners of our home used for a floor in a makeshift greenhouse. They had been sitting around for almost 5 years and I decided to do something other than use them for firewood.

I didn’t take photos for a tutorial, but here are the basics:

found a font I liked
printed it the size that would work (trial and error here)
traced over the edges with a ballpoint pen that left an indentation in the wood
penciled in the indentation
painted inside the lines

I’ll need to put another coat on the paint, but I was anxious to get it up on the fence. I just screwed the boards into the fence.

This is what I call “the best seat in the house”. It’s where I sit and share my coffee with Odyssey or watch the kids play (if I am not playing with them).

We have lots of campfires…on outdoor movie nights, just to have smores, or to enjoy and evening with friends and neighbors.

You could do the same thing with different words and any size piece of wood and use it in your home or in your outdoor space.

home is…{31 days} a secondhand and created sign.

Join me while I link up with The Nester every day in October for #write31days.
Click here to find a list of all 31 posts as they are published.

{our yard} pallet xylophone

June 5, 20148 Comments

I’ve had 3 pallets in our backyard for almost 3 years.

I had one idea for a project and it just didn’t end up working out.

So, the pallets leaned against the fence for the kids to climb on and look over into our neighbors yards.

Until a couple weeks ago.

I took a jigsaw and a dremel saw-max to the pallets.

Now, I have a few projects in mind for the pallet parts and pieces.

Here is the first one…

…pallet parts and pieces…

…power tools…

…paint…

…and a puppy dog helper.

{You can see another spray paint project that I have been working on…trying to add more color to the backyard!}

Once all the boards were painted I just screwed them into the partial pallet.

I just lightly spray painted the pieces so that they have a weathered look.

The final product makes me smile.

home is…pallets, paint, and power tools.

evolution of my happy place

June 4, 20142 Comments

This year I have been taking “daily” photos of our backyard. You can see them in my instagram feed or #dailybackyardphoto2014.

I actually take a couple a week, but it is really fun to see how the yard changes with the seasons.

I get comments each time about how people love our yard.

It hash’t always been my happy place, but has evolved into my happy place in the 6+ years that we have lived here.

When we moved in it already had “good bones”. Awesome 80-100 foot tall douglas firs, a large deck, a flat grassy area held up by a rock wall that separated a lower “dirt” area that was great for the dogs.

The dog runs fit almost perfectly into the lower corner of the yard.

It stayed this way for 3 years. That was all we needed at the time. The kids were young and we didn’t need much to keep them amused…grass and a few toys and it was just fine.

About a year after we moved in we had some landscaping plans drawn up for the front and back yard. Eventually, I talked Ryan into an idea to build a platform between the two trees in the middle of our yard so that the kids could have a play/tree house.

Later that year we had the landscaping done. It was a bigger project in the front yard. In the back yard, we added a gravel path through the lower dirt, had some stone put in, and added gravel for our fire pit area.

Since 2011, the backyard has been my happy place. We’ve hosted birthday parties, backyard movies, impromptu late night fires with the neighbors, and spent hours and hours out there as a family.

It gets a perfect mixture of sunlight and shade during the summer.

After the leaves fall, it opens up to get more light during the dark winter months.

In late spring, as the leaves fill out the trees and the grass finally fills in, we can fully enjoy our happy place.

Here are more posts about the landscaping and playhouse:

{update} play-tree-house

my husband rocks

{in our garden} the big dig…and move, and build, and fill, and plant

play outside every day

friends around the campfire

home is…evolution of a happy place.

time to catch up

April 7, 20146 Comments

It’s time to catch up a bit, don’t you think?

spring 22

{first}earthquake

City map

YES.

There was an earthquake here last night…and we slept through it.

I guess a lot of people in our area felt it. So crazy.

{second}spring break

The day after we went skiing we drove 90 minutes from home in the opposite direction…

We stopped at Camp 18 for breakfast.

Then we hit Cannon Beach.

It’s been YEARS since we had been to the coast. Ridiculous, right?

It’s only 90 minutes away!

Lorelai was really too young to remember the last time we were at the coast.

She loved it!

We spent less than an hour on the beach, but the trip was well worth it. I love that we were skiing on Mt. Hood one day and running from the waves the next. So blessed to call Oregon home.

{third}at home

The tulips are in full bloom in our front yard. I am pretty sure that I want to add a bunch more colors for next year. I just love tulips.

We are starting to spend a lot more time outside. It’s awesome.

We started seeds for our vegetable garden. Giving it a try this year instead of buying already started plants. The kids love squirting the dirt with the water bottle each day. I am hoping we will see green sprouts sometime this week!

Speaking of green, there’s a lot of it sprouting all around the neighborhood. The grass in the backyard needs a little help (always a battle with the shade, the acidic soil from all the pine needles, and the dogs and kids on the grass in the muddy winter). The white on the ground is wild cherry blossom petals that snow down from a huge wild cherry tree in our neighbors yard.

{fourth}out and about

We took Ben for a walk at the dog park near our house yesterday.

The trillium are blooming throughout the forest floor.

The kids love exploring and I can’t wait to more of this with them over the summer!

{fifth}adventure

Yesterday evening was beautiful. We should have been upstairs doing a bath and a shower, but we played outside for a while longer.

They are so silly together. They really bonded over Spring Break. It’s pretty amazing to watch them together. They have their moments of nastiness, but they really are great friends. I am so thankful that they have eachother.

It’s supposed to be mostly sunny and 73 degrees today, so I’m planning to take the little guy out of school early so the three of us can go on an adventure.

home is…spring in the beautiful pacific northwest.

attitude is everything

May 6, 2013April 6, 20201 Comment

We’re fighting seasonal allergies around here.

Mine start in March, and start to clear up about now, but the kids are having a rough go of it right now.

Lorelai and I were up at 2:30 am…and haven’t been back to sleep (she slept for 20 minutes right around 6 am).

I was throwing myself a pity party this morning.

I don’t do well without sleep.

I was in tears this morning…feeling sorry for myself.

It didn’t feel good.

So, I decided to change my attitude.

Not always an easy task, but it can be done.

The kids and I went to school and gave Reece’s teachers a gift for Teacher Appreciation Week.

(i will blog about it later this week, but until then you can check out what we did the last two years here and here)

Both of his teachers said they had had rough mornings and that the gift helped them to feel better.

Spread kindness.

I realized that in the hurry to get out the door we forgot Reece’s lunch.

I texted Ryan, and he offered to drop it off at the school.

Accept help.

Lorelai and I went for a run down to the river. The endorphins and vitamin D surely helped to boost my mood. In addition listening to a little Maroon 5 and Adam Levine helped push me harder…I ran 3.75 miles the longest I have run in over a year.