Just Because....

Just because it's summer.....must mean that I am lacking in inspiration! I have neglected the blog lately. Not on purpose but I haven't really found anything terribly inspiring and now that "birthday season" is over (oh thank god!!) it's time to actually get a few things done around the house. Like paint that damn cabinet in my bathroom that I have meant to paint for almost a year now! I started sanding it this week and now it's officially sanded and primed but not painted yet. ::sigh:: Oh and Andy has been working on the deck(s) which desperately have needed a good cleaning and staining. He spent 6 hours on Saturday doing the cleaning part... and hopefully after today the rain won't come back for awhile so he can do the staining part! (I will help if I have to....not that I am jumping for joy at that chore!) Real exciting stuff over here! That along with swimming lessons daily, making sure we go to the library so that Matthew has plenty to read (a major chore! he fights having to read!) for the summer reading program, gymnastics classes, and probably other things that I am too tired to remember right now. In fact this week, a friend of mine pointed out that I had said at the beginning of summer how I looked forward to the end of the school year just so that we wouldn't have so much daily running around. Yeah....that worked out well, huh?!

So just for fun....a few more "diva" pictures of Mason's friend Clara from a couple of weeks ago at a BBQ at her house. Of course, when you put Mason in the pictures, the dynamic changes a bit! ;)

Goodby Six and Hello Seven!

oh not the cat! It's Matthew's birthday today! ;) But in searching for some old pictures of Matthew, I came across this pic of Guesseppe testing out Matthew's highchair. I'd forgotten how it rather amused me and felt the need to post it. (especially since it prominently featured the 'beer farts' jar, which the same cat actually broke later!)

I still can't get over how quickly seven years have gone. Andy and I were just discussing this morning how we remembered when our nephew Jayden turned seven and how we thought wow...it will be forever before Matthew is that old or that big. Yeah...that forever lasted real long, huh? Pretty amazing how that chunky little baby managed to grow up and become the smart (and sometimes sneaky!), resourceful, and loving kid that he is.


Matthew's first birthday and Gymbo the clown who he adored!


Second birthday and the kitchen he got, which we still have and it still gets played with!Third birthday and Matthew had a new brother at this point!
Fourth birthday at Oaks Park! Lots of fun but it's a hot and crowded time of year!

Fifth birthday and for some reason I have like zero good pictures of this particular birthday year!
Sixth birthday and he is wearing his birthday crown that he made when he was still going to occupational therapy.
And last night...Happy 7th birthday Matthew. xoxo, mwhah!

I don't Understand!

Around SE Portland, I see plenty of people getting into the "reduce and reuse" mode of things, particularly with grocery shopping and the popularity of reusable grocery bags. As I understood things, wasn't the point to cut down on the useage of those plastic bags that are going to be in our landfills forever? I thought a lot of people got that point, but apparently not our local newspaper! Why oh why does the Oregonian insist on delivering its paper in a plastic bag? On a perfectly good July sunny day? I just don't get it.....do the people in charge over there not get the message about our environmental problems? Or maybe it's just because I am a mom and occasionally notice the ridiculousness of of some things and look towards the future for my children. I am just vastly confused!

10 Years Ago....

We were married!

I still can't get over how fast ten years went by. (and it seems even faster since we had kids!) It's amazing how much has changed, such as becoming parents, job changes, responsibility etc. On the other hand, some things haven't changed. I am still continually amazed and impressed at the man I married. I am still thrilled that I married my best friend! And I still look forward to growing old with him and sharing our lives together. Happy 10 year anniversary Andy, I love you! xoxo

And....check out who else is celebrating their 10 year anniversary!!! :) Happy anniversary Amber & Andrew!!

A Little Excercise For The Boys

Mason loves when either one of us play on the Wii Fit. This particular evening, he was begging Andy to play just so he could play along. When you watch the video, you will probably hear my laughter in the background. I just found it all quite funny on that day and you know that when you are trying to be quiet, laughter is even more immanent!

And Today's Activities Included.....

Yummy Yummy Berries! I had a wild hair today and decided on total spur of the moment to take my children berry picking. Completely unplanned, but we had nothing else going on and it certainly beat staying at home and cleaning, or going to the grocery store. (which I have Andy at the store right now, with my list in hand!!)

We drove out to Sauvie Island Farms and got quite the bounty of blueberries! We could have gotten just as many raspberries but all three of us were getting tired by then so only a smaller bowl of them. Still, at a $1.50 a pound... totally worth it! Plus, the boys enjoyed picking the berries/treasure and I think they actually liked the idea of 'harvesting' their own food. The weather was perfect too, not very hot but absolutely gorgeous out!

Black Bear Diner

I know this is a little slow in coming, but for Father's Day, I managed to go out to breakfast with Andy and my dad and mom before going to work. We ended up at Black Bear Diner out in Beaverton. It was pretty good, the kids had a lot of fun, and in Purple Mockingbird fashion (code name for Red Robin!!) they had a 'Black Bear' that comes around and waves hello. The kids thought that was pretty cool but really the best picture was for the dads of the day! :)

The Diva That Is Clara

Last month, I took the boys to Mason's friend Reason's birthday party. One of Mason's other friends, Clara was there and at some point I wanted a picture of her so I asked her to stop running for a second so I could take a picture. And this is what I got:

And then after a few minutes of posing, it was back to water balloon fights and playing!!