Lots of burp rags!

The roll is my own little burp cloth that I made. Chenille on the back and cotton on the front about the same size as a standard burp cloth or lap mat.

Lots of hooter hiders...I make these because I wish I had had one when I was nursing the kiddos. My kids never liked blankets thrown over their heads and I think they would have liked these since they aren't as constricting since they have the boning. And a bonus...they have a nice little terry cloth pocket for pacifiers, nursing pads or for wiping up a little spittle.

The custom order I just finished. Three burp cloths, and matching floor blanket lined with minky fleece. Haven't met a baby yet who didn't like the minky!

Sew what?! Yep, it's that time of year again. Time to prepare for the numerous local craft bazaars. I really do enjoy sewing, probably because I have a little bit of a fabric addiction! I love a fun print and have a hard time passing one up. Now that I don't have any little babies at home to use the goodies I make, I find it cathardic to make them and sell them. I typically do two or three craft bazaars in the fall and several special orders from word of mouth or friends throughout the year. Definitly not an income, but enough to help maintain my fabric buying habit! Here's what I have been working on today.

I just received an e-mail from Steve, the photographer this weekend. Thought I would update the blog with a little blurb:

I have already submitted the images to Kelty and here's the response I got:

WOW - These look fantastic - I'm digging into them right now with my graphic designer so I'll be in touch soon on the one's that we need posted asap in high res. Fantastic job Steve, the family looks perfect, the scene looks perfect, these are really fun to look at : )

That’s about the best response I could have hoped for!

So, it seems like the photo shoot went well all around! We are excited to find out when the images get used. We will keep you posted!

On a break at the campsite

Between takes at the photo shoot. There were at least 5 tents set up by the end of the day!

Our family had the opportunity this past weekend to try out modeling for the first time and let me tell you, it really is more work than it looks! My sister in law, Esther, e-mailed me a link about a local photographer looking for a young family with the parents in their late 20's early 30's and with two kids between the ages of 4-10. Could our family have fit more perfectly? I e-mailed the photographer immediatly and attached a photo of our family. He told me he had over a dozen responses and was submitting the photos and family descriptions to his client, Kelty
http://www.kelty.com/kelty/. We didn't have to wait too long to hear that we were picked to be "the family" that the company wanted to model for their new outdoor camping gear making it's debut at Target in the spring. The photographer http://www.materaphoto.com/ is based in Seattle and wanted to head to Granite Falls for the shoot. We spent Friday evening getting clothes ready for the family which was more difficult that we thought! Steve requested we bring outdoor clothes that were free of logos or prints and were colorful. After searching all of our clothes, I didn't realize how drab we were! We had lots of browns, black and greys! Steve also requested in the most polite way that Mike bring a hat. We all had a good laugh at that! Our Saturday morning started early, as Bella said, "I think we are up before the early bird is!" We met Steve and his assistant at a Seattle park and ride before heading towards Granite Falls. We made a pit stop at Safeway for supplies and a picnic lunch and then loaded up again to find a campsite that didn't have too much light and just the right tree coverage. Once we found our site, the set up began. Because Kelty was looking for a family with only two kids, they didn't look at us having three as being a bonus so often times one of the kids became an orphan for a bit while we did some shots. That actually worked to our advantage because one of the kids would get bored and want to ride their bike or explore the campgrounds while the other kids were busy getting their picture taken. Hopefully, when the end product comes out all of the children have some representation in any or all of it and don't feel left out. Kelty had very specific shots that it was looking for (child in sleeping bag by the fire in this specific chair roasting a marshmallow) so we had fun "acting" as well. We were all exhausted after leaving our home at 7:45 that morning and not coming home until 9:30. Who knew modeling could be such hard work?!

The photographer resetting the props

Aidan spent the past two weeks at baseball tryouts for the Meeker middle school baseball team. For the first time ever, Meeker opened up tryouts for 6th graders so Aidan was nervous, but excited at the opportunity. I joined him after school on the first day in the gym when all the sports teams tryouts started and all the kids and teams are together for an informal meeting. I listened in on half a dozen 6th graders ready to bail out before try outs even started. They were so nervous! Especially since they were required to use a 28 ounce bat...much heavier then most of them typically use. Over 50 kids turned out for 15 spots. Aidan proved to be worth keeping around and made first cuts from 50+kids to only 20. He really loves to play catcher and seems quite good at it. Here's a picture of the very last day of tryouts. I got the chance to go watch with the stipulation from Aidan that "I not cheer for him!" Aidan did his best and was able to showcase his abilities and has no regrets that he didn't make the team. If you look at Aidan in the above picture he's in the black shirt with grey baseball pants on the far left. There are a few boys that have some height (and puberty) on him!

Bella is so hard to get up and ready in the mornings. It doesn't matter how much time she has, it always feels like she is wasting it in one way or another. We have tried everything...picking out clothes ahead of time, helping her get dressed, threatening to take her to school in her jammies...you name it, I have tried it. On this particular morning I was running on a tight schedule trying to get her to school on the bus at 8:29, Owen to a friends house before school at 9:10 and me to an appointment in Tacoma at 9:40. I found her several times in her room searching for THE perfect shirt to wear and then 10 minutes later finding her still naked in the same spot on her floor looking for the accessories to go with the shirt. Ten minutes after that, she was changing her mind about what she wanted to wear saying her capri's were too wide. As I parented from downstairs (I find that she's like a person who you are tailgating, sometimes the closer you get, the slower they go!) and was getting her backpack ready with her lunch, her ice water and her homework. She still had her webkinz stuffed penguin in her backpack from the day before for an art project. They were drawing the animals at school and then painting them.

I asked if she needed the penguin still and she yelled down "no, I don't think so." I made my final check on her, again, still naked 30 minutes after being sent to get dressed and physically had to put her clothes on her so we could get out the door. We got up the hill and were at the bus stop when she told me she just remembered that they were coloring their animals and that she needed her penguin to see how to color it. My reply of black and white obviously wasn't helpful! Back home we went to get her penguin and at this point, we missed her bus and I would have to change my plans a bit so I could drive her. She wrote the note above and put it inside my visor in the car for me to read after drop off. I wish I could say our mornings have gotten better, but they haven't, but knowing that sweet little girl is doing her best is all that matters!

We finally got a picture of Aidan water skiing. I'm so thankful we have had this warm September and it's given him the opportunity to head out on the water to try skiing twice. Aidan has always been very cautious, even more so around the water, so I am excited for him to have this water sport under his belt and open up other possibilities on the water.

Bella's top tooth was hanging literally by a thread for days. She didn't want anyone to look at it or touch it but she could wiggle it with her spit! She wanted Mike to put floss around her tooth and slam our garage door to get it out. If you have ever tried this technique there can be a lot of fear and apprehensions involved. Mike is very good with her and wanted to show her he could be trusted so he wouldn't let the door go until she gave him a thumbs up. The first attempt at this on Tuesday night didn't end well. No tooth was lost, and she spent at least two hours crying herself to sleep because she was so disappointed. She finally faced her fears again and I tried to document her nerves through pictures as she tried to talk herself into raising her thumb up to let that door close.

Holding tight to Owen for support.

Nervous but wanting the tooth out

Seriously Mom, no more pictures

Finally out!

No big deal! Bella was definitly happy the tooth was finally out!

I am loving this unusually warm September weather. It sort of reminds me of the wonderful crisp fall days in the midwest. I finally got around to making this pillowcase dress for Bella from a beautiful embroidered antique pillowcase that my mom sent me YEARS ago. She wore it to school one day but it totally reminds me of long summer days running through fields. Love it!

Lunch at the Pink Door in Seattle

Our very frequent traveling brother (in-law) Steve, gave us some of his Mariott points for Christmas. We used them for our overnight stay in Seattle for my birthday weekend surprise. The hotel was amazing and we were treated like royalty everytime they looked at Steve's reward status! Can you say free hagen dazs and late check out? Love it! The view from our 8th floor balcony room was amazing Friday night, Saturday morning, not so much. We woke up to see this cruise ship docked and it pretty much blocked the whole view of the waterfront. So this is our "after" shot...the before is below. I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing the sun set over the water with the mountains in the background.

Part of my present was tickets to Wicked. It was AMAZING! Only wish I knew Mike hadn't seen the Wizard of Oz before we went. That probably would have helped him understand it a bit better!

Our view from the balcony at the hotel in Seattle

self portrait

Friday night was a gorgeous Seattle evening. This is the view from the balcony of our 8th floor hotel room.

Owen as a newborn sleeping on the couch...

Owen as a 4 year old sleeping on the couch!

Chocolate fondue...the moment the boys had been waiting for!

YUM!

Excited to try out the Melting Pot

Aidan LOVES fondue! He was introduced to fondue many years ago at the start of our annual New Year's Eve party at the Anderson's. The tradition continues and so does his desire to eat it! He had been begging me for years to take him to The Melting Pot, but I could never stomach the expense for our family of five, let alone the fire/burn hazard with having small children around hot cooking equipment, but thankfully, I stumbled upon a special summer deal they had which included four courses for half price. I approached Aidan with my idea of having just one friend come along to the Melting Pot instead of having a birthday party. The costs would be similar so it seemed like the perfect alternative. Aidan invited his friend Brian to join him and the boys couldn't have had a better experience trying out fondue and I can't think of a better way to have spent Aidan's 11th birthday, then to share it with him over a good meal.

Aidan getting his ski's on behind the boat

Aidan is a bit leary of the water but finally worked up enough courage to attempt what he had been talking about all summer....learning to water ski. In all the years in the innertube and even kneeboarding, Aidan had never really been in the sound. He had never fallen off the tube or had to just float in the water until the boat turned around and picked him up, which might have brought out some of his apprehensions. Mike helped him out be diving head first into the sound. Despite it being a gorgeous September afternoon nearly 85 degrees, the water in the sound is always hovering around a chilly 55 degrees. No one wants to spend too much time in the water, especially just sitting there trying to get up on ski's! Mike floated out in the water in an innertube helping to hold Aidan and reassure him.

Here is Mike holding Aidan before the rope got tight

And the release...Aidan didn't make it up on this particular attempt but after 3 times, he was standing up and skiing on his own...no help from dad in the innertube!

We capped off Aidan's birthday with his favorite teriyaki chicken dinner and blackberry cobbler.

He blew all the candles out on one breath. Hope he made a good wish!

Bella striking a pose before her first game of the 2009 soccer season!

The boys getting comfy at the game, prepared to watch the action.

The lady Puma cats! Bella is the littlest one on the far right.

Aidan opening up his birthday cards on the morn of his 11th birthday

I love love love the local farmers markets that are popping up all over our communities! I finally made it down to the newest Brown's Point farmers market this past Thursday afternoon. As cheap as I am I don't think there is a better value than fresh local produce.

Getting ready to say good-bye on the first day of school.

Owen started his final year of pre-school at Marine View this week. He goes 4 days a week from 9:30-12. I remember dropping Bella off at the very same pre-school balancing Owen as an infant on my hip and looking longingly at the moms dropping off their kids and having the WHOLE pre-school time to themselves. I never thought the day would arrive when that would be me, but we are finally getting there! So what do I do with my time in the mornings? So far, I have been able to go to my boot camp exercise class (and shower afterwards!) and the biggest milestone...I was able to go to my annual physical without having to drag one or more kids! My annual physicals typically only happened when I was pregnant with the kiddos, so to take the time to focus on me is a huge step in this mommys life!

First day of school dessert. I had some leftover cream cheese dip but no more strawberries to dip it in and I had some fresh picked blackberries that were a little too sweet to eat on their own. So, I whipped up some homemade pie crust, filled them with cream cheese (1 stick of cream cheese, 1 jar of marshmallow creme whipped together) fluff and piled it high with blackberries. A lovely after dinner treat!

I'm going to try to put an end to the after school "what can I have for a snack" question with this genius red snack bin. Before the kids pile home from school, I am going to fill it with the appropriate snacks that they can have (fruit, popcorn, pretzels, etc...) and viola...problem solved....hopefully!

Some of the bounty from the garden. Peas, green beans, tomatos, and a red pepper

The little baby carrots that I pulled out. I didn't space them and thin them well enough so they didn't have room to get big. Next year, I will learn to thin them out no matter how well they are growing in the beginning.

Owen wanted a first day of school shot taken as well...even though his school doesn't start for a week!

Bella and her curly piggie tails off to second grade.

Bella peeking in on the first day of second grade

All ready for middle school!

My purse full of popcorn ready for the movie UP...it was one of the best animated movies I have seen in a long time!

It's our tradition on the day before school starts to take the kids out to dinner to discuss that years goals. I'm not a big new years resolution person, but I always make/set a new goal for myself at the beginning of the school year. What better time to do it than when your routine and schedule starts to change and a new habit can be fit in? My new school year resolution this year? Stop eating anything that isn't fruits or veggies past 7 pm. This is going to be super hard for me! For example, just last night between 8:30 and 9:30 pm, I ate half a watermelon, 1 bag of cheerio's snack mix, 1 chocolate molten cake, and a whole peach! We shall see how it goes!

Owen's major bruise and run in (literally!) with the wall. It was raised about an inch high when it was swollen. Mike doesn't usually freak out and gather his things to head to the ER when the kids crash, but this time he was prepared to go. Jeepers!