Wednesday, April 22, 2015



Aspen joined me one Saturday recently for a run; she rode her bike.  It was fun but also practical: every time I felt myself getting tired I would ask her to pedal faster so I would push myself.  She looks so cute on her bike.  She rides it in a really relaxed pose, regardless of her speed.
Oakley brought down these blocks after his quiet time one day and told me they were him and me. He is so creative!
Eric and I buckled down one Saturday morning and decided we were going to work in the yard.  It was getting almost past time to plant peas, which are by far the thing we eat the most from our garden each year.  The day we picked was drizzly and brisk; really perfect actually, except that we all got a bit muddy.
The kids were really helpful; Eric and I do not love working in the yard, we do not have green thumbs, but we love the way our yard looks when we've put in some hours.  It's one thing I wish I enjoyed more.  Maybe now that the kids are getting to the stage where they can help a bit more it'll be better.  It was great being together; I remember how much I hated weeding when I was a kid, but I always fondly remember that time that we spent in the garden together.


 Playing with worms and bugs.
The finished product.  Peas are in, strawberries were planted later in the day, and the rest of the boxes are ready to go.
Eric and I are taking a trip this summer, and really want to pack light.  That means no blowdryer or curling iron for me, so I've been experimenting with different ways to wear my hair either up or with no heat.  I'm definitely a hair down kind of girl, so wearing my hair up like this (above) was a big step for me.  It took me about 5 tries before I got it right!
Well despite Aspen looking just like her daddy, she is definitely my child.  She likes to wear her pajamas when she's home (me), she likes to dance in the mirror (was me), and she likes to sneak sugar (so used to be me).  I've found a couple piles of sugar (powdered and granulated, no discrimination here) on one of the shelves in the pantry, and after confronting Aspen she fessed up that it was her.  I get stern about it because I don't like that she's sneaking when she knows she shouldn't, but it reminds me of what I used to do when I was her age.  My mom had two large drawers in the kitchen; one filled with flour, and the other sugar.  I would often sneak a clump of sugar from the drawer when no one was around.  So I'm stern with Aspen, but inside I'm chuckling to myself.
......at the park with the boys......

 ......and then when we got home they were disputing over who was going to enter the garage code.  This is a frequent cause for contention between my kids, even Birch now who chirps, "push buttons!"  So we take turns.

Birch has been sick with croup so we've been riding our bikes a lot lately to get out of the house and get some fresh air.
                  
The kids spotted a robin in this tree as we were coming home from church the other day.  
Birch is getting much more brave with going down slides lately.  Its fun to see him getting more comfortable with them. He heard a motorcycle far off somewhere before he slid down this one and said "what the....heck?".
Last night we went to a fundraiser at the zoo, which was fabulous!  But we hung out at Scentsy for a little bit beforehand until Eric got off work.  There is a huge field with hills at the Commons and the kids like to roll down them.  Birch stands at the top of the hill and just looks down, scared to death but wanting to follow Aspen and Oakley, so eventually he lets me take his hand and we run down together.

 "Mommy?  When is Daddy coming??"
The fundraiser was so much fun.  There were about 200 people or less there and we had the zoo all to ourselves, with dinner included.  The weather was perfect; warm with plenty of shade.
 What does the fox say?  Well this one wasn't talking.
 The kids each got to feed the giraffes,
 go on multiple carousel rides,
and listen to the lions roar all evening long, which we could hear from anywhere in the zoo.  It was a little terrifying; I felt bad for the lions but so glad they couldn't hurt us.

Just wanted to throw in here some of the kids' artwork.  I found this picture of Aspen on her bike on the counter this morning.  I texted it to Eric because I knew it would make him happy.
And here's Oakley's pine tree, which I love. I'll have to post a picture of one of his T-Rexes next time. He's been drawing them a lot lately and they are quite cute.

Friday, April 10, 2015

Aspen and I met up with Grammie, Aunt Annie and Aunt Mary recently to watch Disney's new Cinderella movie.  It was everything I had hoped it would be: clean, magical, fun; a perfect movie to see with your little girl.  Oh and Aspen loved it too.
Birch loves accessorizing, and I really mean it.  If one of the kids puts a shirt (or anything else) on his head as a joke he will wear it around all day.  Last week during Spring Break we took the kids out biking, and Birch wore his glasses the whole time, and even inside a store the next day.
We had nice weather during the break so one day we decided to bike downtown on the greenbelt and have a picnic lunch.  We put Birch in the trailer and (thank heavens) he was happy the whole time. We were so grateful!  It could have been a long day.




Birch fell asleep during our ride back to the park, which was perfect because Aspen and Oakley got to play, and Eric and I got to sit for a while.
Two of Eric's close friends from high school came to town that week, which was a real treat for us. Dave, who lives in the D.C. area, came out with one of his boys, as did our friends Dustin and Rachel, currently living in California (all three have previously lived in Boise and we are crossing our fingers they will come back before too long).  We got to meet Dustin and Rachel's precious little girl, Cece, and Birch really took to her.  He really loves babies.

 Dustin, Eric and Dave.  I pinched myself later that I didn't get a picture with Rachel.
My kids sleep in until forever if we let them.  Aspen will sleep until 9:30, same with Oakley.  Birch will sleep until 8:30 or 9:00.  So since it was Spring Break we let them.  Eric took 2 days of the week off to spend with us, and one of those mornings he stepped out for some reason I can't remember. Birch had woken up but the other kids were asleep, so Birch and I cuddled in bed for what I think was an hour and a half.  We just played.  That seems like a really long time now that I look back on it but we had lots of fun.  It was awesome to just be lazy.  And spend time with Aspen, who I just don't see enough of :(

                  
Now that the weather's nicer we were able to walk/bike to church a few weeks ago.  We don't do it as often as we would like (usually 12:30 finds us scrambling to get the kids ready and to finish their lunch, grab activities and snacks, and I usually change my dress a couple times before I'm satisfied. My patient husband!)

I got a new pair of running shoes with our REI dividend.  I love it when March rolls around and that dividend arrives in the mail.  It always covers a new pair of shoes for me, and there's nothing like free shoes!  The last pair I had were Brooks minimalist Pure Connects, which I loved.  They are light yet give my feet enough cushion.  I run on the front of my feet instead of doing a heel strike, so I have to have lighter shoes, and these are perfect.  I've run with this pair 3 times now, and they are just as comfortable as if I'd been wearing them for months!
 
My Saturday run last week was pretty distracting.  The flowers were in full bloom and I had to keep stopping to take pictures!  

 This is a photo of part of my loop around the park.  Isn't it pretty?
My friend Leslie told me about a farm a few miles away that sells local honey for a great price.  We eat a lot of honey at our house and I am always looking for a great deal on it.  We made the trip and stocked up and then checked out a play area outside the barn, which consisted of a large slide and giant sandbox. We played for about 20 minutes, but then left because I didn't want to overstay our welcome.  The kids were disappointed.



Scentsy has a large Easter egg hunt that hides I don't know how many eggs, but a lot.  The hunt is divided into three age groups: 0-4, 5-8 and 9-11.  Last year all the kids were combined and the older children got most of the eggs.  This year was much better!  The kids also decorated sugar cookies and eggs.  The only pictures I got were of the kids snacking before the hunt.


Here's Birch wearing Oakley's conductor hat.  As I said before, accessories.

Last Friday I somehow was able to get my house to this status of cleanliness.
And here it is the next day.  Kids!

Despite Aspen having long and lovely hair, I am horrible at fixing it.  Every week at church I see my friends' young girls with amazing cascading braids and other styles and my poor Aspen is sporting a messy bun.  I am dedicated to trying harder to learn new styles and to practice them.  Here is a style I saw a friend do on her daughter, and I thought I'd give it a try:

It's okay but I wish I could have figured out how to bring it all the way down her back.  And here is my messy counter telling you oooodles about me.
Despite all my efforts to exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle, I have a huuuuge sweet tooth.  I only allow myself to eat junk food two days a week, but I really enjoy myself those two days!  Easter candy is my favorite candy of all, all that peanut buttery, chocolatey shelled goodness.  I've basically spent all week trying to find the best deals on it, and have bought several stashes.  Today at Walgreens I made an especially thrifty trip and texted Eric about it.  He simply replied, "You have a problem."
To close, a pose from my baby :)