Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Bedtime Stories

T needed some portrait shots for a weekly assignment and to keep the kids entertained J told them a story (T is pretty sure its just the plot line to Mad 3, but she lacks the proof of that right now since the movie is still in production). Whatever it was, the kids were captivated and we got some pretty cute pictures of them.

The one that made the cut.

No they aren't related, why do you ask?
on the edge of their seats
"what sound do lions make?"

all three of the kids

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Embroidery Love

T used to embroider as a kid with her Grandma Draper, but wasn't something she paid too much attention to at the time. Over the past few years shehas really wanted to get back into it but was having trouble finding any resources to learn (or relearn). Finally she came across a wonderful site called Sublime Stitching and its just been a cascade of resources and inspiration ever since. These are pillow cases she did for the kids on her break from school. She's currently working on a gift for Cousin Julia, so no pics of that yet. Don't want to ruin the surprise! B has also requested a second pillow case with flowers and the Eiffel tower, so that's up next.


P.S. If you are in the PDX area and are interested, there is info on the Sublime Stitching website for a local group that gets together to embroider and craft. Another item on the reasons we love/miss Portland list!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Long time, no blog.

Its been brought to our attention (a few times) that we have been remiss in our blogging of late. Its true, we haven't done so much as a "Merry Christmas" or a "Happy New Year." And we didn't even comment on the aging out of the 20s that J did recently. We're sorry about all of that. But not really too sorry, because we've been enjoying our down time! But we'll try our best to make up for the lackluster blog now. So, lets go back to December; we had a lovely, quiet Christmas holiday. We made cookies, ate lasagna and relished our new gifts. Santa was good to us this year (we must have been good), he brought us a doll house, a toy piano and a waffle iron. All of our loved ones were very good to us as well, we truly were spoiled. We got a lot of games and puzzles to enjoy more family time, and several books, which we always love. We also had our first tastes of mulled wine and its pretty safe to say that J is a big fan, he thinks everyone should make a batch next holiday season. Especially if you want him to come knocking on your door.

We had a very quiet New Year's Eve, we barely managed to stay up to ring it in! We must have made quite a site, J reading and T embroidering; at about 10:30p J suggested we go to bed and T had to remind him that the ball wouldn't drop for another hour and a half...what a wild way to spend the last NYE of our 20s!

And speaking of embroidery, T has rediscovered the joy of this craft. Its become a major hobby for her, and hopefully more soon...we'll just let you marinate in that for a bit. Not quite ready to share or unveil all of that yet. Although this does seem like a good point to mention that we bought a used sewing machine with some of our Christmas loot, its still in the box but hoping that changes this week. As usual, so much we want to do and time just seems to keep slippin' away.

The kids are back in gymnastics, after
taking November and December off,
and they are both doing absolutely fantastic. Its good to see Miss Kelsey again and we think the time away made them both realize how much they actually want to
be doing it, so they listen better and try harder. We're starting to think about where we should send B for preschool in the fall. T and a friend (Miss Melissa) recently started co-op
play dating twice a week, so the four kids get to play for half a day and Melissa and T take turns watching/playing with them so that they each get a couple hours to themselves. T uses her time to take a hatha yoga class and occasionally have lunch with J. They are considering
adding a third day, which T would use to do homework and other projects.


A couple of weeks ago we celebrated J turning 30, with a nice lunch and
fancy cupcakes as a family. Later we had Miss Kelsey come over to babysit and we went out for Thai food and we had planned to see Black Swan, but C had other plans for us. For the first time ever, we had to end a date early to come home to a crying baby...um toddler. Turns out he was just playing us to see how late he could stay up at night, but it took us until the third night to figure that out. He owes us $21.

T is back in school, after six weeks off between semesters. She's taking a portraiture and a creative writing course and
is very excited about both. We're all working on time management and being more organized, as part of our resolutions (of course). We're also starting to run, with the goal of celebrating turning 30 with a half marathon sometime this year. All in all we're starting the year feeling very strong and positive and excited about where 2011 will take us.