home is…no words, just photos.
Tag: Pacific Northwest
time to catch up
It’s time to catch up a bit, don’t you think?
{first}earthquake
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.
this space
I’ve missed this space.
This space to write and share our adventures.
Like the one I went on with the little guy a couple of weeks ago when he had a day off from school.
We dropped baby girl off at school where he got to visit with all of his former teachers. It was just awesome to see him feel like such a big kid. He was confident, well spoken, and polite.
After that, we ventured high above the fog that was blanketing the valley down below.
He loves to climb and hang from things. His arms are so strong.
He also loves to observe and collect. A bobcat lives in this nature park, so we looked for her. We were talking a lot, so we never saw her, but we saw a lot of other beautiful sites, collected sticks, feathers, and leaves.
I got some awesome, dedicated one-on-one time to talk to him about what he likes, why he likes it, and what is important to him.
That’s important to me.
It was good morning.
Baby girl and I get our time together as well. She likes to go for stroller rides while I run. One of these days, I will miss pushing the double BOB.
We also talk and stop to look at the beauty that is fall.
Ryan got to have a special date night with baby girl when he took her to the school Octoberfest for the first time. The next morning when I took her to school she said, “Mom, last night was the best night ever.”
Halloween happened around here, too. I made all of our costumes…animals of the Pacific Northwest. The little guy and Ryan went as wolves, baby girl was a bat, and I was an owl.
And, now, it is officially the most wonderful time of the year.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday…I love the food, the football, the family. I love slowing down to just be.
My parents will be visiting us for a week over the holiday…I can’t wait. We have much to celebrate and give thanks for.
Stay tuned…I plan to share more in this space.
home is…what is important.
backyard movie night
happy summer!
you’d think i was new to this blogging thing with how long it took me to write this post!
well, i’m back and have lots of things to share with you, but first…
we had our first backyard movie of the summer saturday night.
it didn’t all go as smoothly as planned…
lorelai had complained about her stomach hurting before we ate dinner.
i dismissed it.
she didn’t want to eat much dinner, but i asked her to eat 3 pieces of her hot dog.
she chewed…
and, chewed…
and, chewed…
and spewed.
she got so sick.
all over the dining room, kitchen, and bathroom.
this was a first for us.
almost 6 years of parenting, and this is the first time we had to deal with a vomiting child.
she fell asleep while i was holding her on the floor of the hallway after her bath.
she cried and cried about our friends coming over for the movie.
we texted them and let them know what happened.
we were still planning to watch a movie, but wanted to inform them of lorelai’s sickness in case it was a virus.
luckily, they decided to still come over…they said, “it’s gonna take a lot more than a little vomit to keep us away!’
don’t you just love good friends like that?!
in addition to lorelai’s sickness, we also had a few technical difficulties:
1. peter pan was an HD movie and would not play through our projector, so we had to choose another movie (luckily we have plenty to choose from)
2. this time of year it stays light until after 10pm in the pacific northwest, so once we tried another movie we found it was still too light to watch it.
the kids thought it was fun to watch it on the laptop and that is when we changed our game plan…
we went for a quick walk around the neighborhood, regrouped, let it get a little darker, and chose a different movie.
jackpot!
the girls settled right in…it was the newest tinker bell movie, secret of the wings.
once we moved the cozy coupe and the “trailer” up from under the playhouse, the littlest of the bunch was happy.
eventually, we could all sit down and watch the movie…
or, sit back and relax in the chairs around the fire pit.
the movie ended, and shortly after that lorelai got sick again.
i took her upstairs to another bath and i snuggled her in bed with towels at the ready.
she was so sad.
luckily, that was the end of it for her sickness.
she ate fine all day sunday, and other than getting worn out from the heat, was back to her normal self.
so, i had a few questions from instagram followers and thought i would post a few tips for outdoor movies, so here it goes!
essential supplies
1. projector
2. laptop, iPad, or iPod
3. speakers
4. movie screen (i made ours from a painters drop cloth)
5. extension cords
you’ll want to get a feel for how everything needs to be set up…do you need a table for the projector? how far should the projector be from the screen? what connects to what (i.e speakers connect to the laptop, laptop connects to the projector)?
we always do a test run by ourselves or with neighbors for our first movie of the year…there are bound to be some minor glitches and you want those worked out before you invite the entire neighborhood!
fun stuff
1. snacks: last night we just did popcorn and popsicles. last fall we had a theme and centered the snacks around that. or, you can just have everybody bring their own snacks.
2. drinks: just like the snacks…keep it simple, BYOB, or provide something that goes along with the theme of the movie
3. blankets: thrifted quilts are awesome for backyard movie nights…i have a stash of them and put them on the air mattress and on the grass. in the cooler months i stick a few thrifted afghans on the chairs around the fire pit and in a basket on the deck in case people need one.
4. chairs: use what you have or ask everybody to bring their own
5. twinkle lights: twinkle lights just make the whole scene magical. we have ours up year round in our backyard and it just sets the scene for a festive evening.
backyard movies have become one of my favorite things about summer in our backyard. we hope to have a lot more movie nights well into the fall…as long as the rain stays away!
home is…back at it with backyard movie night (and blogging).
self photo challenge
Today I am linking up with The Paper Mama for her Self Photo Challenge…
Obsessing over…
why my calves and feet are aching constantly for the last two days. was it the shoes i wore? is it my lack of exercise? do i need more water? more magnesium? more potassium?
Working on…
getting art hung up on our walls. it’s only taken 4 years.
Thinking about…
how to get an my life organized. my house and life feel a bit scattered lately. at home i feel like ikea, toys r us, and michaels exploded all over. in my brain i feel like i want to do so many things and i just need to get it all organized on paper.
Anticipating…
Ryan coming home tomorrow and having a fun weekend with him and the kids.
Listening to…
my little guy tell me that he doesn’t feel well with Cat in the Hat in the background. (he just drank his “quiet time” hot chocolate)
Eating…
nothing right now. worked out and ate some almonds afterwards. drinking water.
Wishing…
for more time. but reminding myself to be thankful.
home is…following the lead of another Pacific Northwest blogger!
the much hyped snow storm
the much hyped snow storm
finally showed last night.
big fluffy flakes,
like rockets in the night.
down came the rain,
and washed the snow away.
the much hyped snow storm
is history today.
home is…a little tune to itsy bitsy spider.
get moving…
Happiness consists in activity: such is the constitution of our nature; it is a running stream, and not a stagnant pool.
~John M. Good
I love moving water.
It is one of the things I love the most about living in the Pacific Northwest.
Whether it is the great Columbia River, the smaller rivers and streams, the Pacific Ocean, or even the falling rain there is moving water everywhere.
A good friend, Mike Gould, once asked me if I stood next to a river which way would I want to instinctively go? Upstream to find out where it started? Or, downstream to see where it ends? What about you? Which way would you choose?
home is…being the running stream, not the stagnant pool.
stephany taddeo 