the daily nusz

Valentine's wreath.

2012-01-21T17:06:00.000-08:00

i used the same tutorial for this wreath as i did for my st. patty's day wreath that i did a couple years ago. scored the heart-shaped wreath form at joann's with a 40% off coupon for just over $3, and 10 sheets of felt at 3 for $1 is $3.33. don't recall exactly how much the maribou trim was, but it wasn't more than a couple bucks, so the entire cost for this project was under $10.

i attached a long ribbon to the back and tied the bow at the top cause i liked how that looked. the maribou doesn't really show that much looking at it from the front, but it does hide the edges of the wreath were the felt rosettes stopped.

PSA: when a project calls for a specific number of items (like 8 sheets of felt), it's probably a good idea to buy a couple extra. i ran out of felt tuesday night when i was about 80% done with the wreath, the same night that our snow hit. i didn't venture out anywhere that was not absolutely neccessary the next couple days, and it would have been really nice to finish this project up during one of those long, boring snow days. as soon as the snow started melting, i hurried my butt on over to pacific fabrics for some more felt.

thanks for looking!

robot love.

2012-01-15T19:14:00.001-08:00

i just love this robot template. you may remember i've used it before to applique a shirt for sam. well, i decided to use it again for the little's valentine shirts for this year, i love it so much. the template is from Lil Blue Boo.

i used the "poor-man's method" of screen-printing, otherwise known as freezer-paper stenciling. it is so fun, and i love the results. i'm thinking of pairing katie's with a pink and silver tulle skirt that i saw at target last time i was there....watcha think?

side note: Ashley, the creator behind "Lil Blue Boo", is such an inspiration. i've been following her blog for years and she is one of the most talented and creative women i've seen. she was recently diagnosed with cancer, and she CONTINUES to be such an inspiration with her positive, joyful outlook as she follows her mantra, "choose joy". definitely check out her blog if you are so inclined.

thanks for looking!

christmas, nusz style.

2011-12-30T20:24:00.000-08:00

here are some pics from our christmas.

sometimes they really do appear as if they all love each other.

showin' off the loot.

my mom got me this book....i love it so far! both hilarious and true at the same time.

i am SO GLAD it was not an over-the-range beer cooler!

nathan's beer holster. it will come in handy for lawn mowing, walks around the neighborhood, hell, it'll be handy for ANYTIME.

i LOVE these girls.

AND this baby! my benji.

my mom playing with benji and mater.

BRITT!! what're you doing?!

heidi is thinking of converting to islam.

hope you and yours all had a wonderful, blessed christmas.

thanks for looking!

sam goes skiing.

2011-12-17T22:57:00.000-08:00

today we went to Crystal for the first time this season. it was one of those beautiful, perfect, clear, sunny, warm days that one usually only dares to dream about up here in western WA. it was also sammy's introduction to skiing. nathan spent the day down on the bunny hill with sam teaching him the basics, while katie and i ventured out on our own.

daddy getting sam ready in the parking lot.

all ready! (he reminds me of randy from "a christmas story" here)

first time riding the shuttle!

sam's first ski lesson (taught by daddy)

katie and i on the green valley lift

lunchtime. my pizza-monster worked up an appetite out there.

lookin' like a pro already :)

this mountain always makes me happy.

thanks for looking!

sandwich mats and superhero capes.

2011-11-14T21:28:00.000-08:00

a couple recent things i've been working on. first, sam had a superhero b-day party to attend last weekend, with no costume to wear. a quick google search turned up quite a few crafty options, but i already had (almost) everything on hand to make this one by georgia leigh. i modified a bit, since i had a ton of red fleece on hand. mine was just one layer of red fleece, so it's not reversible, but on the flip side it was SUPER easy to make because fleece doesn't fray so i didn't even have to hem it! i used her picture as a rough draft for my pattern, and also her downloadable "superman" logo (although ours stands for "super-SAM" :) i also had the yellow felt and blue fleece on hand for the logo, so this was a super-economical project. the only thing i had to buy was the velcro for the closure. i made the birthday boy a cape/power-cuff as well, personalized with an "E".

superSAM, ready to defeat the forces of evil and save the world.

activating his "powercuff"

applique.

another project that i've had in the back of my mind for awhile has been reusable sandwich/snack wraps. i already try to not use baggies (for both economical and environmental reasons) but sometimes if i pack katie's lunch several days in a row the plastic containers that i use for her sandwich/snacks are in the dishwasher. and i'm lazy like that. i'd rather sew a NEW wrap for her sandwich than wash the one in the dishwasher LOL my friend gena posted a link to this tutorial the other day and i loved the sandwich wrap design. so i picked up some oilcloth and got to work.

i love how it turned out! it could easily accommodate a whole sandwich, katie usually just eats a half though :) you could also use it for cookies, crackers, grapes, etc etc etc.

and it fits perfectly in her lunchbox! (don't you DARE look at the pile of candy in there and judge me!! i'm trying to get RID of the halloween stash!!)

as always, thanks for taking the time to stop by and check out my little corner of the internet!

celebrating sammy.

2011-11-01T22:51:00.000-07:00

sunday was my baby's 4th birthday. he is the sweetest, funniest, cutest boy ever. (i may be slightly biased, though.) we celebrated with family and a couple friends at what sam probably considers the "funnest place on earth", chuck e. cheese :)

big bro, little bro.

gabs and sam, lovin' the ride.

i thought this was *adorable*....austin leading preston around. preston grabbed his finger and wouldn't let go :)

feeding the ticket-muncher.

grammy/sammy.

sam opening a present and ignoring the giant mouse, while ella gives him a high-five.

sweet card from gabby (sophie helped her with it!)

modeling his new jacket.

gettin' some benji-lovin'.

cuppy-cake time!

lovely pic, i know, but somehow it was the only one i managed to get with katie and soph-ball in it.

the littlest party-goers, enjoying their cupcakes (or frosting, in benji's case).

sam and mommy ♥

thanks for looking!

halloween 2011.

2011-10-31T23:04:00.000-07:00

sam's preschool class. they had a party and then paraded around the Y, stopping at the different departments to trick-or-treat!

a few of the *wonderful* preschool teachers: bozo, harry, and wonder woman :)

makin' the neighborhood rounds.

campfire girls.

this is a combo of being high on candy and deliriously tired.

happy birthday steve!! if i were going by the candles on your cake, you're 7 now? (P.S. loved the captain america steven!)

L to R:cheetah, dimi, texas longhorn, tigger, cow, austin, cowgirl.

hope everyone had a wonderfully frightening halloween!

thanks for looking!

homecoming 2011: a pictorial.

2011-10-30T01:40:00.000-07:00

at the football game on friday, doin' the marching band thang.

halftime show!

the drummer's doing their stuff.

aus and his girlfriend meghan....i love this picture.

final score: olympic--26, klahowya--6. gooooo trojans!!

saturday, before the homecoming dance.

megs pinning on his boutonniere.

tying on meg's corsage.

are they not the cutest thing?!

meg's mom, melissa, served 10 kids appetizers, salad, baked ziti, and chocolate mousse for dessert. oh, and sparkling cider in fancy wine glasses!

me and my handsome baby.

as always, thanks for looking!

scenes from the farm.

2011-10-16T21:20:00.000-07:00

today we headed out to the pumpkin patch....the kiddos thoroughly enjoyed it (even the sullen, teenage-angst-filled one LOL) here are some shots from the day.

corn, corn, as far as the eye can see....

running through the hay maze.

children of the corn.

punching their cards....

this guy was SO sweet; i wanted to sneak him out in the back of our truck.

austin feeding him an apple.

this guy was cute too....but he seriously needs a visit to the dentist. (and orthodontist.)

wandering through the pumpkin patch.

hay ride.

ready to go.

this is as much picture-taking-cooperation as i can get from him.

saying hi to our ride.

thanks for looking!

29th birthday. (plus 8)

2011-10-10T23:01:00.000-07:00

this past weekend i went up to celebrate my b-day once again in beautiful victoria and to run the Goodlife Victoria Half Marathon. this year, though, i ditched the family at home and went up with my friend audi. (i love you, family, but sometimes a girl just needs a little getaway.) we caught the ferry in port angeles and 90 minutes later it spit us out on the beautiful inner harbour of victoria. we decided to walk to our hotel since it was pretty out. we walked....and walked.....and walked some more. 2+ miles later we finally arrived at our hotel, which would normally not be a big deal, but neither one of us were particularly light packers and hauling our suitcases (even WITH wheels) for that far was exhausting. after getting checked in and unpacked a little, we freshened up and then caught the bus downtown, where we picked up our race packets and then window shopped for a bit. then we went and grabbed a bite to eat and went on a ghost-walk tour. it was quite interesting and our guide was a fabulous story-teller. afterwards we returned to our hotel where we just vegged for the rest of the night.

audi and i waiting at the ferry terminal.

saturday morning. i slept in til 8-something, poor audi, being the light sleeper that she is, had been awake since 6:45, courtesy of the noisy refrigerator and the family next door with the crying baby. blech. after we got ready, we decided to take the trail that we had discovered that went right by our hotel all the way to downtown. first we had hoped to grab a coffee, but apparently all the people by our hotel only drink coffee monday-friday, cause EVERYWHERE was closed on the weekend. we passed some women who had coffee cups and some yummy-looking pastries and audi asked them if perhaps there was a coffee shop around? yes, they said, there was a FANTASTIC coffee shop just down a bit. so we stopped into Cafe Fantastico and had mochas and croissants. after arriving downtown, we walked around and shopped for several hours. ahh, i *almost* forgot what it was like to leisurely shop, uninterrupted, and without feeling guilty that my husband was bored out of his mind while trying to occupy the kids outside of the store.

enjoying a morning cup of coffee.

sightseeing in downtown victoria....

outside on the patio of a little cafe where we had the MOST.AMAZING. chocolate mousse cheesecake-sort-of-concoction.

this was down at the end of an alley....even their ALLIES are pretty!

i thought this sidewalk art was just incredible.

THIS is why i love her :D

chinatown

this just tickled my funnybone.

for dinner, we caught a water taxi over to spinnakers where we met our friend ruby and her husband ed. we had a lovely dinner with fabulous company. we then parted ways, and audi and i did something monumentally stupid; we decided to walk back to our hotel on the same trail that we had taken that morning. what we both failed to realize was a) how dark it was out, and that the trail was not lit and b) how deserted the trail was at night. we armed ourselves with pens while audi schooled me on the best places to gouge if attacked. thankfully, i ended up not needing that information and we arrived back at our hotel safe and relieved, where we turned in for the night.

on the water taxi. this is the number of taxis that drove by before one *finally* picked us up.

sunday morning. race day. we got ready, grabbed a bagel and headed out to catch the bus. look at the schedule and see the first bus on sunday morning doesn't stop there til 7:48. FRICK!! that is not going to work for us since the race starts at 7:30. we start to walk back to the hotel to call a cab when we run into a couple other people with bibs on. they say they're taking a cab and we are welcome to share it with them. whew. we get there, find ruby and head to the start line after a porta-potty stop.

pre-race.

the race itself was surprisingly not that bad for me, considering my utter lack of preparation. and when i say that, i am NOT even kidding. i think i maybe ran, say, 3 times in the month before the race? with the longest distance being about 4 miles or so. i just didn't have time to train properly with the extra cycling classes i've been subbing, so i went in with zero expectations, except to have fun. i realized around mile 5 that i had to pee, but refused to stop for such a minor inconvenience. around mile 7 i started to run out of fuel, and decided to try and gag down a gu at the next aid station. managed to get about half of it down (the vanilla actually wasn't half bad) and it didn't take long til i was feeling a little more energized again. then, around mile 9 or 10 (just when i needed a lil' pick-me-up!) there was a young guy in front of me, probably late teens, who was yelling out encouragement to the sidelines. "good job, man-with-baby! good job, dog-walker! good job, aid-station-volunteers! good job, kid-with-sign!" and he would give them a thumbs-up. i could not help but laugh, it was so comical. at one point i started to get all hopeful-like, thinking that *maybe* i could pull this off in under 2, but as it turns out, i finished at 2:02:25. almost 10 minutes from my PR, and just over a minute from last year's time, but a time i still felt pretty good with. my running mates were right behind me, with audi coming in at 2:03:17 and ruby coming in at 2:03:41 (third in her age group!)

then we hustled back to the hotel so we would have time to shower and clean up before check-out. the bus driver took one look at us, sweaty and disheveled, with our medals still on, and told us to put away our money, the ride was free and congrats on the run :) after taking the best-feeling shower of my LIFE, i got packed and we went to check out. hauled our stuff onto the bus for one last trip into downtown, where we attempted to shop whilst dragging our luggage behind us. eventually we gave up and decided to go have lunch at a place we'd seen and had wanted to try, called the "flying otter grill". it was right on the water and it shared a building with the seaplane terminal, so we ate while we looked out and could see the seaplanes coming and going. then we meandered on over to the ferry terminal to wait for the boat.

the view from the flying otter.

audi at lunch. i thought she looked like a cute french girl! :)

across from the empress on our way to the ferry.

i fell asleep on the way back home at one point, and awoke to a crowd of people talking and pointing over the railing outside. audi and i hustled out there to investigate, and there was a pod of orcas breaching. the last ones i saw were a mother and baby together, one big fin and one little right next to it :) it was the PERFECT ending to our trip.

back in the states again, audi dropped me off at the olympic peninsula visitor's center where nathan and the kids retrieved me. we then went to my mom's, where we had dinner and a relaxing evening. on monday, we lazed around all morning and then went into town and browsed around the shops in the afternoon. we ate an early dinner at "el serape" mexican cantina on water street (which i wouldn't necessarily recommend, their food was sub-par) and then went back to my mom's for cake and presents. it was a long, fun, exciting, tiring, happy, wonderful weekend! thanks to everyone who helped to make it so memorable!

love this pic of my mom and katie.

getting ready to make a wish.

thanks for looking!

B.A.D. is good.

2011-09-24T17:51:00.000-07:00

today we headed over to the Brownsville Marina for "Brownsville Appreciation Days". katie was performing a program with her music class. i was quite proud that she actually got up on stage and sang (or at least lip-synced.)

her good buddy sophie came to watch her, and when she was done i took the girls on a little sailboat ride in the harbor right there while nathan and steve went to the "daddy playpen" (otherwise known as the beer garden.)

after that we all went to grab some burgers and dogs for lunch, and then we walked out on the pier. as we were walking, one of the crew from the sailboat "lavengro" asked us if we'd like to go on a 1-hour sailboat ride for FREE. being the thrifty person that i am, i jumped at the opportunity. the boat was leaving in 10 minutes so i high-tailed it back onto shore to hunt down austin. when i found him he was with britt and cici, so they all came on the sailboat with us.

the lavengro.

katie and austin, ready to set sail.

cici and britt.

steve and soph-ball.

the crew wasted no time putting everyone to work. here's nathan and austin helping to hoist the sail.

watching the sail hoist.

captain sophia, bringing the boat into shore.

nathan.

me.

thanks for looking!

back to school.

2011-09-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

today my older 2 kids went back to school. on one hand i dreaded it: the return to SCHEDULES, and HOMEWORK, and RESPONSIBILITIES. on the other, i rejoiced: a little peace and quiet, a reprieve from all the bickering and craziness during the day.

katie, in front of her second grade classroom.

this is the most cooperation i could get from austin; what can i say, he's a 16-year-old boy.

while the older ones were at school, sam and i took the opportunity for a little playtime at the park. funny how one of the hottest days of the year so far is just in time for back-to-school. at least sam got to take advantage of it though. we checked out the new play structure at lion's park. not terribly impressed with it, but they DID have this cool rock that spouted water into the sand around it for a "sandcastle-building" area. he and his friends had a ball playing in that mess.

sam and gabby, on top of the rock. NOTE: disrobed barbie in gabby's hand, she was apparently playing "naked barbie pool party", good thing sam likes that game too.

sam.

when the kids were all done playing, they were SO full of sand.....

that we had to strip them down and hose them off. (good thing they are all adorable enough to get away with running around the park in their skivvies!! :)

thanks for looking!

Bremerton Blackberry Festival.

2011-09-06T20:04:00.000-07:00

we went to the blackberry festival last saturday. the weather was beautiful (so nice of summer to finally make an appearance the week before school starts back, eh? but whatever, i'm not going to complain.) we walked around and checked out the vendors, ate lots of yummy food (of which the highlight was fry bread with blackberries and whipped cream on top, YUM) and sat and enjoyed a couple shows at the children's stage.

chalk art contest entry

sam coming out of a bouncy toy.

manette bridge as seen from the end of the boardwalk.

ferry coming in!

sam investigating the waters.

sam and mommy.

aus with his girlfriend meghan and his brothers.

thanks for looking!

dahlia.

2011-08-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

i first saw these on pinterest and loved them. i used this tutorial from "not martha" to make a felt dahlia barrette/pin and am so pleased with how it turned out. all i had on hand was some poly felt, but i'd like to get some nice quality wool felt to try this with, the colors are so much more vibrant.

i used hot glue instead of fabri-tack on mine and it was so easy, it dried instantly and i didn't have to set them under anything and wait for the glue to set. these would make a great teacher's gift for back-to-school!

thanks for looking!

scenes from the lake.

2011-08-21T21:38:00.001-07:00

we went camping this weekend at lake quinault with some friends. here's a brief sampling of our weekend.

us, in front of our campground. it was just to the left of this sign.

sam helping tiff and andrew set up camp.

testing the water.

dimi and lauren chillin' in their tent.

austin getting some quality "benji-bonding" time :) (that was our tent up on the hill in the back)

ANYTIME is a great time for a pedicure! katie painted sam and gabby's toes for them.

dinner friday night. note how artfully andrew arranged the dogs.

katie thinks rabbit ears are HILARIOUS.

s'mores. need i say more?

dimi, lauren and aus playing "go fish" (at which apparently dimi was CHEATING *gasp*) LOL

saturday was perfect weather for a swim in the lake....

followed by a canoe ride.

benji just hanging out.

many hours were spent by the littles catching and releasing inchworms.

we couldn't leave without checking out the "world's largest" spruce tree....

thar she is.

all the kiddos.

nathan and i.

thanks for checking out our weekend escapades!

whaling days 2011.

2011-08-02T22:49:00.000-07:00

saturday morning heidi and i ran in the whaling days "whale of a race". i didn't PR, i ran it faster last year by over 2 minutes but at least this year i didn't feel like i was going to hurl when i ran it. i still did okay, coming in at 33:39. then heidi and i booked it over to the new Y in silverdale to clean up before the parade. our families met up with us to watch the parade, and i made it just in time to see austin marching with his scout troop as he does every year.

the only pic of me and heidi that we both looked good in.

high-tailed it back to the parade just in time to see austin marching with his boy scout troop.

troop 1539's "camping" themed float.

katie, soph-ball, and sammy.

thought this was pretty cool.

pretty horses.

baby goat!

i tried to chase this guy down and lick him but he was too fast.

having fun watching the parade....

me and my boomer-boy.

sunday morning a bunch of friends and i took part in the Hui Hei Hei Wa'a Dye's Inlet Dash. it was cold and rainy, but we persevered. after we lost our first heat, we were a little discouraged, but we tried to stay positive. we went on to win the second, and third, and FOURTH race, to take home the WINNER'S trophy! we were SO stoked.

right before the first race, note the apprehensive look on my face.

my little tree-frog.

once jeff was there (our original steersman that we had during practice), we were ALL smiles.

hanging out between races with quincy.

right after we WON! me and my biggest fan.

L to R: jeff, rhonda, me, heidi, tricia, hollie.

that means we're winners :)

not to BRAG or anything.....but look at the size of our trophy!

afterwards, we had a celebratory beer at the beer garden with all of our supporters. thanks SO much to everyone who came out to cheer us on: my husband and kids, my mom, the watson family, mitch, wendy, the brown's.....i appreciate all of you!

3rd annual nusz family camping trip: i think it's a bona fide tradition now.

2011-07-24T22:47:00.000-07:00

this weekend we went on our THIRD annual family camping trip. kind of by accident. we were SUPPOSED to go on a road trip to AZ to visit family and friends, but after our recent jaunts to hawaii and san diego, our finances and schedules dictated that we keep it shorter and closer to home. i suggested we go camping and nathan quickly agreed. i got a bit panicky when i started looking a couple weeks before and EVERYTHING was booked, but i lucked out and scored the LAST available spot at Kalaloch campground on the WA coast, in the Olympic National Park.

got an early start friday morning, and were at our traditional firewood spot before too long. poor missy, she had to sit on TOP of the firewood after we had it all loaded....we really need to invest in a small trailer or roof rack.

our campsite.

upon arriving, we quickly set up camp and then explored the beach by our campsite. i was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was; most WA beaches i've been to are quite rocky, but this one was nice and sandy. afterwards we drove up the road a bit to the Kalaloch Lodge and Mercantile. it is a quaint little lodge with a GORGEOUS backdrop. we picked up a couple supplies at the mercantile and then headed back to camp for dinner and an evening campfire.

Kalaloch campsite beach

sam helped by walking the dog.....

while i made dinner.

sam helping with KP duty.

a beautiful sunset.

we had s'mores after dinner (i made mine with Trader Joe's Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. YUM.) then we turned in for a restful night, thanks to the sound of the ocean surf and my discovery last year of WHICH camping pad i needed to sleep on.

saturday morning we woke bright and early. i made some yummy breakfast burritos while the kids got ready and played around the campsite. then we headed over to the Big Cedar Tree.

exploring the inside.

then we went to what i think has got to the the COOLEST washington beach i've been to yet....Ruby Beach. it had gorgeous sea stacks, and tons of driftwood, and super-fine sand, and lots of tide-pools to explore. we saw sea anenome and sea stars and tons of other cool sea critters.

ruby beach.

purple sea star sam found.

playing on ruby beach.

after a couple blissful hours we went back to camp for some lunch. everyone else played around while i slaved away making macaroni and cheese LOL

sam and daddy playing some frisbee

my big tree-climber

my little and medium-sized tree-climbers :)

okay okay....so i wasn't exactly slaving away......here's what i was doing while waiting for the water to boil.....

after lunch we hiked the kalaloch nature trail, and then ventured over to kalaloch beach by the main lodge. the beach there did not disappoint....it was wide and sandy and had lots to explore.

disturbingly bulbous tree on the nature trail LOL

aus and sam flying a kite on kalaloch beach.

missy LOVES the beach.

he is very proud of his "house" that he is standing inside of.

a thirsty seagull pausing for a drink.

afterwards we loaded up the kids who promptly proceeded to pass out in the truck, so we drove around and explored a little in blessed silence. went down to 4th beach, where nathan and i jogged the short trail down to the beach while austin stayed with the sleeping littles.....

me, inside a ginormous old tree root.

when we got back to camp i made dinner and we ate, and then we went to the evening ranger presentation, entitled "salty dogs". it was about the differences between sea otters and river otters. the kids enjoyed it, it was thoroughly entertaining and about a bazillion times better than the ranger presentation that we endured last year at sol duc. then we went back for our nightly campfire/s'mores ritual.

eating s'mores. note the towel/bib required for sam to eat a s'more without ending up covered in marshmallow from head to toe.

my favorite part of our evening ritual :)

we tucked the kids in and then (tried) to enjoy some time by the fire, alone. unfortunately, the sporadic flashlight beams from our tent and the hysterical giggles, interspersed with the occasional "BUTTCRACK!!" or equally hilarious (insert-your-own-juvenile-toilet-humour-here) outcries refused to cease from our sleeping quarters, and we finally turned in ourselves, exhausted but happy.

sunday morning we woke up and broke camp. i use the term "we" loosely, since nathan and austin did pretty much ALL the work while i cooked bacon, potatoes and eggs for breakfast. then we loaded up and headed home. i'm already excited to go camping again, and am thinking that we *may* have to do it sooner than next summer. hmmm, nathan has some time off next month....and lake quinalt is looking pretty inviting....

as always, thanks for looking!!

independence day.

2011-07-05T23:04:00.000-07:00

it was a low-key day. we went over to my friend heidi's house for a BBQ...there was food and volleyball and friends and sun and lawn games and kids and a fire and sparklers and fireworks and much fun and laughter.

austin and his BFF steven (steven's mom obviously never told him about his face sticking like that....)

while we were playing volleyball, we had our very own cheer section LOL.....you can't even see the funniest part of the whole thing: "dolphins" is spelled out PERFECTLY backwards.

meghan, dimi, steven, austin.

firing up the party.

nathan showing katie and sam how to light their sparklers in the fire.

our "fourth-of-july-guy".

a bunch of the kids lighting sparklers from each other.

thanks for looking!

rock n' roll 2011.

2011-06-26T10:19:00.000-07:00

yesterday i ran the Seattle Rock 'n Roll 1/2 marathon for the second time. i went with some of my best friends and we stayed the night before in a friend's apartment. there was much fun and silliness (and a little nervousness and frustration thrown in there too!!) here are some of the highlights:

crazy car on the streets of seattle.

at piecora's getting our pre-race carbs on.

tatooooz!

random goofiness.

my mantra for the race, in purple sharpie.

getting ready to board the shuttle to take us to the starting line.

we did it!!

all three of us that ran had new personal best times which was pretty awesome. i beat my old time of 1:57:43 by over 4 minutes, with a new best of 1:53:10.

afterwards we went to pike's place and walked around--minus heidi who wasn't feeling well :(

is any trip to seattle complete without a visit to the infamous "gum wall"?

clockwise from top left: what i imagine heidi's would've looked like if she had been there; rhonda's gum; michele's gum; audi's gum.

thanks for looking!

san diego, part 2.

2011-06-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

yay for free wifi in the airport so i can finish up blogging of my travel adventures!!

let's see....friday was a lazy day. nathan took the car to work so i slept in, meandered down to eat breakfast, facebooked a little, read a book, and generally lazed about like i don't get the opportunity to do at home. when he got off we headed up to temecula valley, were we visited several wineries. our last stop was at Stuart Cellars, where we had dinner outside while a live band played. we won't talk about how i may have had a few too many glasses of wine and was feeling a bit green by the end of the evening.

the first tasting room we visited.

the second winery.

me at leonesse. still coherent here, ha!

Leonesse was probably the prettiest winery we saw.

at oak mountain winery.

our last winery, where we had dinner. i will choose to remember it pretty, like in this picture :)

saturday we drove over to julian, a quaint little town about an hour away from san diego. we went horseback riding at Julian Stables, which was awesome. i've always just been handed a horse already saddled and ready to go, but here we got to actually get our own horse ready, including currying and brushing them, picking their hooves, and saddling them. it was so cool. then we headed back into julian where we had lunch at a little BBQ joint and then had some of their world-famous apple pie for dessert. after wandering down main street and torturing nathan as he endured shop after shop, we headed back to our hotel and had appetizers and drinks at the bar, and then i tortured nathan some more by watching "Black Swan".

us with "Harry Trotter", nathan's horse.

me and angel.

sunday. probably my favorite day. we went over to San Diego Bike and Kayak tours in la jolla and started the morning out with a bike ride from the top of Mt. Soledad, the highest point in coastal San Diego. it was a gorgeous morning with breathtaking views along the way down. we rode along pacific beach on into mission bay, and then turned around and headed back to la jolla. we grabbed a quick lunch at the Cheese Shop when we got back and then readied for the second half of our adventure. we headed out in our kayak into la jolla cove, among the many caves that dot the coast there. sea lions languished on the rocks just yards from us, and one even popped his head out of the water not too far from our kayak. i wanted to harness him, drag him behind the kayak with us, and take him home to live in my bathtub. we ended up in old town that evening, and had dinner at cafe coyote, which was suggested by my friend heather, and had the most delicious margaritas and pork carnitas.

ready for our bike ride with our brain buckets on.....safety first :)

our guides getting the bikes ready for us.

view from the top of Mt. Soledad. it was a bit overcast in the morning, guess this is the "june gloom" everyone warned me about.

some kayakers down in front of "sunny jim's" cave....we were down there just a short time later!!

we got sandwiches here for lunch, two thumbs-up for my turkey, jack, and avocado sammich!!

i just picked this hottie up on a street corner in old town.

monday i drove nathan into work and then went running at pacific beach. it was a beautiful morning, overcast and a touch cool, perfect for a run. when nathan got out of school we went over to coronado island, where we checked out the Naval Air Station, and then went down to coronado beach where we grabbed some lunch at Miguel's. they had THE BEST tortilla chips i've ever had, and they served it with some deliciousness they called "jalapeno white sauce". it was to.die.for. then we went and rented a couple beach cruisers and rode around the island, exploring for awhile and envying all the rich people in the gorgeous homes who live there. that evening, we went on a dinner cruise aboard the Lord Hornblower, and had an immensely fun time people watching on the dance floor LOL

coronado beach with our beach cruisers :)

dinner cruise.

coronado bay bridge with downtown SD behind it.

tuesday. our last day here. we decided on a lazy day....we headed over to ocean beach and grabbed some lunch at some little hole-in-the-wall place that i ate at last time i was here, and that had super-yummy burritos. then we went and sat out on the beach and read and watched the surfers for awhile. when we were sufficiently crispy, we drove over to the Cabrillo National Monument. First we checked out the tidepools, which were WAY cool....and then we drove up to the top and saw the monument and the lighthouse there. the VIEW from the tip of Pt. Loma was absolutely incredible. after a couple appetizers and drinks back on the beach, we went back to the hotel to pack *SIGH*.

little dive mexican food joint but the food is DELISH.

tidepools at cabrillo national monument.

i loooooved it here....so pretty!

view from pt. loma.

juan. he did something really important, like was the first white dude to set foot on the west coast of the US or something. yeah, he was a big deal.

stairs inside the lighthouse.

we thoroughly enjoyed our getaway and were sad to leave the land of sunshine, but glad to come back to our own beautiful piece of paradise and our kiddos. to close, here is a lovely shot that nathan took in the hotel room.

thanks for looking!!

san diego, part 1.

2011-06-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

as much as it pains me and my OCD nature to write about another vacay before i've finished blogging about my HI vacay.....it is now or never. (and since nathan's in school and i've got time to kill i figured i might as well waste some time on the computer.) i arrived yesterday and nathan picked me up from the airport. after a quick stop at the hotel to drop off my stuff we headed up to Torrey Pines. we parked at the far end of one side of the beach and walked the beach down to one of the trails, and then walked back on the trail. it was SO beautiful and peaceful. after dinner and a quick target run (alright, maybe NOT so quick....) we came back to the room and watched 127 hours. i really really liked it, no matter what jeff says :P

torrey pines beach.

these little buggers were all.over.the.place. (and quite brazen!)

this pinecone was as big as my head, and probably as heavy. (and aptly named "the widowmaker" LOL)

this morning i got up an ungodly hour to take nathan to his school and then went running at one of my fave spots in san diego, Sunset Cliffs. it is so incredibly beautiful there, running along the cliffs and watching the waves crash on the beach (and did i mention the cute surfer boys?! :) after he got out of school we went on a 2-hour harbor cruise of san diego bay (the sea lions were my favorite part!) and then met our friends Beth and Brandon and their fam for dinner at World's Best on Pacific Beach. (though the service was lacking a little, the food was great.) AND i got to see their brand-new addition, miss ella! (even though she was asleep almost the entire dinner....)

in front of the USS Midway, before the harbor cruise.

a GAGGLE of sea lions!

coronado bay bridge.

can't wait to share more of our vacation adventures with you soon!

hawaii: part 1.

2011-05-07T14:54:00.000-07:00

so i have been wanting to blog about our vacay since we've gotten home but every time i sit down i get SO overwhelmed about all the stuff we did and everything that i want to include that i just give up before i start and go clean or something. so today i decided that i am going to START it, and i will just break it up into chapters so that it's easier. so here it is, chapter 1.

Sunday morning: rise at the butt-crack-o-dawn. hurriedly get ready and pack last-minute stuff as my husband frantically rushes around, giving me an update of the time every 5 minutes.

"hun-bun, it's 5:30. we have ONE HALF HOUR til we need to leave."

"hun, it's now 5:35. 25 minutes."

"hun, are you going to be ready to walk out the door in 20 minutes? cause it is 5:40."

you get the idea.

we manage to get everyone in the truck, children snuggly buckled in their seats, luggage stacked to the ceiling, back-up travel mugs of coffee and everything, and are only running about 9 minutes behind schedule. i'm silently gloating that i was such a model of efficiency getting out of the house (because for me, 9 minutes behind schedule translates to AHEAD of schedule.) we're driving along, and get about a half-hour away from home in port orchard, before it occurs to me that we MAY need the kids' birth certificates to board the plane. crap. Crap. CRAP.

nathan pulls off to the side of the road while i tear apart the truck looking for something, ANYTHING, with the airline's phone number on it. it's not on our boarding passes, and what the hell happened to the phone book that belongs in here?! damn i wish i had a smart phone right now. ach. i finally find a scrap of paper somewhere in the depths of the truck with Hawaiian Airlines phone number on it. call them to verify that yes, in fact, we DO need their birth certificates. mother-effing-fabulous. i see my level-headed husband, who normally takes everything in stride, start to panic.

there is not really anything left to do at this point but turn around and go back home and grab them, and PRAY that we make it to the airport in time. we turn around, drive home, and i dash in and out of the house in an just over a milli-second (thank goodness that i am an organized person for the most part and knew exactly where they were). we got back on the road and raced against the clock. luckily, there is not much traffic on the road at 7 on a sunday morning, and we arrived at the airport just shy of an hour before our flight left. fate was smiling on us, because there was NO line at the airline counter either, we got checked in and our luggage checked quickly, and the security line moved along at a decent rate as well.

our plane, waiting for us!!

here we gooooo!

the flight was uneventful, the kids were relatively quiet and well-behaved, and 6 hours later we arrived in honolulu. what a day. bring on the pina coladas.

finally. we have arrived in paradise.

thanks for looking, and stay tuned for part deux!

trash-to-treasure storage jar pedestals.

2011-04-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

i loved this idea when i saw it over on eighteen25.....and i love when i have everything for a project on hand already. i took some pickle jars and some candle holders that i had, spray-painted the lids/candle holders a matte black, and then glued the jars to the candlesticks.

i still need to get something for the 3rd jar....i'm thinking some pretty jordan almonds maybe? and i love that i can change them out for the different seasons!

thanks for looking!

summer bag.

2011-04-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

when i bought this plaid madras patchwork fabric, i didn't know exactly what it would become, i just knew it was AWESOME. after contemplating some shorts for the boy, a sundress for the girl, and a matching "dolly and me" set, i decided my first project with it would be something for ME, and it would make the perfect summer bag.

made using the "phoebe bag" pattern from artsy craftsy babe.

(obligatory bathroom mirror pic with cheesy colorsplash effect LOL)

i was so excited because they were blowing out this fabric for 4 bucks a yard at walmart. srsly, that is a STEAL, comparable fabrics at joann's retail for $15/yard. (i went back a couple days later and bought up the rest of the bolt, they had lowered the price to $3/yard. SCORE!) i used a navy quilting-weight cotton for the lining (that i found in my stash). it only used about 1/2 a yard of the patchwork, so for about $2 and materials i had on hand, i made this cute summer hobo purse! i love it.

thanks for looking!

apron/hot pad set.

2011-04-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

april is birthdays GALORE for a ton of kids that we know. here is a gift that i made for a little girl katie goes to school with. i used the same tutorial as the last apron i made from Skip to my Lou. for the matching hot pad, i simply sandwiched some quilt batting in between 2 fabrics and quilted straight lines 1.25 inches apart, and then bound it with bias tape. i'm also giving her some shrinky dinks with the apron/hot pad (that i scored at target for $2.50!)

thanks for looking!

bibs.

2011-04-04T08:48:00.000-07:00

lots of babies born lately.....here are a few bibs i've made for gifts. i deviated from my normal pattern and tried something new, using bias tape to bind them. i used this tutorial from Purl Bee, but omitted the pocket and used cute cotton prints on both sides with fusible fleece in the middle. it makes a little smaller bib than my usual, suitable for newborns, and i love how the bias tape contrasts nicely with the prints.

.

(excuse the crayon on my model's face)

i love the blue/brown houndstooth this one is backed with.

thanks for looking!

seattle: our anniversary in pics.

2011-03-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

a couple weekends ago nathan and i went to seattle for the weekend for our anniversary. our anniversary is in february but nathan was in guam at the time, so here are some pics from our belated 12-year celebration.

a cherry blossom on alaskan way.

my husband banging his head on a tree because i ALREADY stopped to take a pic. and he's got a backpack on cause we hiked it this weekend with no car.

after dropping off our stuff at the hotel, we went about exploring Queen Anne. we've driven through it before, and seen the TV towers on top of it from the Space Needle, but i wanted to walk around and explore. i've got a back issue of "Sunset" that talked about the stair climb, and there are stair cases allll over Queen Anne to explore.

Queen Ann high school sits at the top of the hill and was built in 1908. it was converted into condos in 2007.

a really cool, ornate house in Queen Ann.

their front yard was gorgeous too.

TV tower at the top of Queen Ann.

we ended up hiking over to lake union, and followed that for awhile.

houseboats. we ended up at a little place right by the fremont bridge called the Nickerson Street Saloon, where we enjoyed a late lunch.

we hiked back to our hotel on the other side of Queen Ann, this is on an urban hiking trail in Kinnear Park.

we stopped back by our hotel to freshen up a little and then headed over to the underworld tour. it was a hoot and our tour guide (a girl named "Forrest") was a stitch. i'm glad i finally crossed this off of my bucket list after living here for 6 years.

the state hotel. you could rent a room here for 75¢ (per hour LOL) it was utilized by many of seattle's early "seamstresses". ahem.

after the tour we stopped for a midnight bite at local 360, who had THE most delish macaroni and cheese. it was YUM. (i snapped this shot the next day while walking around.) then we headed back to our hotel where we both COLLAPSED. i had worn my running watch around on friday just to see how far we went and we ended up putting in over 13 miles. good training, if nothing else.

the next morning after enjoying a yummy breakfast buffet at the hotel, we took a cab to nathan's favorite store, the REI flagship store. (i'd had enough hiking by this point.) here he is standing in the front of it. afterwards we went to the retail district and walked around Pacific Place and Westlake Center. we saw the movie "Paul" (okay, not quite as funny as i'd hoped for) and then just strolled around the streets of seattle for a bit, before going back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

we had reservations at the Metropolitan Grill, which several people had recommended to us. it did not disappoint. the atmosphere was outstanding, and the food (however pricey) was fabulous. the best part? the ONION RINGS. they were HUGE.

sunday before heading home we stopped by Pike Place, where nathan got his "daily dozen" donuts and i got some gorgeous flowers.

one of the many flower stands in the market.

then we hopped back on the ferry and back into real life. though it was nice to get away for a bit, it's always nice to come home, too.

thanks for looking!

his and hers.

2011-03-17T18:44:00.001-07:00

a friend of mine recently asked me if i would be able to duplicate some pillows that she found on etsy for her friend's wedding shower. after looking at them, i decided they looked simple enough to make.

pillows from etsy:

(from seller HAWThome, retail $65)

pillows that i made:

jen said that her friend's bedding was navy, so she asked if i could do navy pillows with white writing. i used a navy blue bottomweight for the pillowcase and some white wool felt for the letters. (if you have never used wool felt, you MUST try it. once you experience it's deliciousness, you will never go back to the cheap, polyester sheets.) i did an envelope style back, which is easy-peasy. i am very pleased with how they turned out.....i hope jen and her friend love them too! (and, i made them for about $55 less than what they would have cost!)

thanks for looking!

lucky number 7.

2011-03-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

last month my middle babe turned 7. having a birthday so close to christmas (just over a month after) results in having a pretty hard time shopping for her sometimes. being a minimalist-at-heart, i hate having to buy "stuff" for the sake of giving SOMETHING. this post gave me an idea, that i suggested to katie: "how 'bout we ask your friends to bring donations for the animal shelter instead of presents to your party?" honestly, i fully expected for her to shoot down that idea, but instead she loved it. at first she was a little hesitant ("i REALLY want to....but i also like getting presents".....i reassured her that she would still be getting presents from mommy and daddy.) so we celebrated with a ton of her friends at Chuck E. Cheese and everyone brought donations in her honor for the Kitsap Humane Society.

waiting at the desk for her donation receipt.

saying hi to some of the residents.

visiting a kitty in their new "cattery".

she raised $115.13 in the end. quite an accomplishment for a 7-year-old!

thanks for looking!

an apron for em.

2011-02-22T18:46:00.000-08:00

my friend beth's lil' gal emmalee just had a birthday, and as i was fishing for gift ideas she threw out the idea of an apron. so i found this adorable apron tutorial and decided it needed a matching oven mitt to go with it.

the adorable birthday girl modeling it for me.

i love how the apron has a velcro closure instead of ties so it's easy for a child to take on and off by themself. as it turns out, the mitt is sized for a smaller child, next time i will size it up a bit!

thanks for looking!

owl ipod cozy.

2011-02-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

so i have this friend....who loves all things "owl" (oh, HI wendy!) and she has mentioned before that i should make her an ipod case. so when i saw these offered up on etsy....i had to attempt one! i think it turned out pretty cute, for my first attempt! i'm not really all that keen on hand stitching....and if you look really closely you'll see lots of flaws, but it adds CHARACTER i tell myself. i hope wendy thinks so too :)

*mine*

ones for sale on etsy (for $22, i might add!)

thanks for looking!

happy hearts outfit.

2011-02-15T16:34:00.000-08:00

this was katie's V-day outfit. i found the fabric for the skirt at joann's and immediately fell in love with it--it's a pretty red/pink heart batik print. i used this tutorial for it and just eliminated the hem ruffle. the shirt was one she already had, i used samster mommy's tutorial for that and it literally took less than 5 minutes! i wish i had used a little more paint as the heart is a little faint at the top but oh well, live and learn.

thanks for looking!

DSi case

2011-02-12T13:57:00.000-08:00

katie got a DSi for her birthday last week (TOTALLY nathan's idea. i would've just gotten her a barbie or something and she would've been happy.) she LOVES it though, especially the zhu zhu pets game she got with it...she's working on taking care of the little electronic critters so she can earn *new* pets :) anyhoos, it needed a case. and if any of you have ever looked for a case in the stores, you know how dire the selection is. so i decided to make my own! i looked at lots of tutorials before settling on this one i found on craftster.

i like the extra long straps that she can carry cross-body (less chance of her setting it down and losing it.) i used a fine wale gray corduroy for the outside and a *cute* puppy print fat quarter for the inside (that i've had sitting around forever, just waiting for the perfect project!)

here it is with the DSi peeking out :)

i loved rauni's design and followed it with only a few modifications: instead of using interfacing on the outside i used fusible fleece, for more padding. also, i didn't have any fun foam and was trying to only use what i had on hand so i used a piece of quilt batting inside the DSi pocket. and instead of the two snaps for the closure, i used velcro. NOTE: next time if i ever make another one i'll sew the velcro on BEFORE i sew the whole thing together. i couldn't fit the case with the tiny opening left on it over my sewing machine so i had to sew the velcro on by hand. tedious.

katie LOVES the case i made her, and hasn't taken it off since i gave it to her :)

thanks for looking!

v-day towels

2011-01-13T21:50:00.000-08:00

i LOVE. target's dollar bin section in the front. that's where i found these cute little fingertip towels.....

cute, no? but, with a little ric-rac and some fabric yo-yos, we can turn moderately cute into

VOILA!

fabulously uber-cute! (i think so anyways!)

there is just something about ric-rac.....and it's inherent cute factor.....

another quickie project that i did were these t-shirt poms from craftaholics anonymous. i wasn't quite as happy with the results as i had hoped, it just kind of turned out "meh". not as uniform as hers turned out, but okay i guess.

thanks for looking!

for the animals.

2011-01-02T12:56:00.000-08:00

after watching a heart-tugging commercial this morning about animal cruelty, katie decided that she wanted to donate some of her money to our local shelter. i helped her print out the form, but she filled it out and addressed and mailed it all on her own.

truly a girl after her mama's heart ♥

thanks for looking!!

happy 1.1.11.

2011-01-01T23:31:00.000-08:00

some pics from last night....we headed over to heidi's house with a few other friends for a lil' low-key celebration close to home.

girls. (moi.heather.heidi.wendy.tiff.)

boys. (andrew.steve.nathan.jeff.)

this is a bunch of FUN couples, folks ;)

heather. hovering several hundred feet above the seattle skyline LOL

it's like i was RIGHT THERE!!

heidi's kitchen floor....she LOVES confetti!

i love her ♥

sober heather rockin' the pink snuggie.

and the best for last :) my fave pic of the night LOL

best wishes for a happy.fulfilling.joyful.splendiferous. 2011!! thanks for looking!

looking back. and ahead.

2010-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

(ignore the church ad at the bottom....i just borrowed their graphic cause i likey.)

so 2010 was a good year....no. not good, AWESOME. well, and sucky at times, but awesome overall. at the beginning, i celebrated 11 years of marriage to my better half (kudos to him for putting up with me for that long ;) then, this past summer i ran my first half-marathon with some really great friends and even managed to beat my goal time....and then 3 weeks later i turned around and did another one! and then ANOTHER one on my most epic of birthday celebrations 10.10.10. i started teaching a spinning class (which i never in a bajillion years envisioned happening!) but i am loving every minute of it. my oldest "baby" earned his *eagle* scout. i said goodbye to several good friends (boo! stupid military!) but HELLO again to another great one, who i am so blessed to have back in my life.

looking ahead, i wonder what 2011 holds in store for me. i would like to learn to slow down a little and take time to smell the flowers along the way (as a very wise woman recently advised me.) i would like to serve those in need more and have recently put the wheels in motion for that to happen. i would like to be more content and at peace even when my surroundings are sometimes chaotic. i am hopeful for the beginnings and possibilities of what this new year holds....and how could it not be great with a beginning like 1.1.11?!

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right."
--Oprah Winfrey

merry christmas.

2010-12-26T22:48:00.000-08:00

it was fun....and i was a *tad* disappointed this morning that it was over.....but *WHEW* did i let out a sigh of relief!

the quiet calm of the morning is shattered. (it was first shattered at 4:30 am, when katie woke up and discovered santa's cookies were gone, and found his note, and excitedly ran into everyone's rooms telling them about it. we convinced her it was still the middle of the night and she had to go back to bed....that lasted til all of 6:30 and i never really fully fell back asleep. ugh.)

sam's santa claus sing-a-ma-jig. it sings "jingle bells". and he sings along with it. *almost* makes up for the toys-r-us-black-friday-debacle-of-2010 that i had to go through to get it :)

a BARBIE make-up collection?! wow! (she must have been practicing her "serious model" face while she was opening it)

austin's iTouch. darn you blasted red-eye!!

this is what i get when i ask sam to "hold up your present so i can see it...." LOL

katie's LPS haul!! that's a whooole lotta pet-pets!

my grandma reading her new book. i thought it was amusing that she got a kid's almanac, but she finds that sort of stuff fascinating i guess :)

my mom and i

heidi, wendy and i. they came over with their families for dinner....it was a full house, but a FUN one!!

wendy and bear

steve and heidi-ho.

nathan and i <3

the boys playing with their electronicals....

even the PIE was happy :)

sam and mr. steve, puttin' back a couple of cold ones together ;)

i hope that your christmas was filled with much fun, laughter, joy and friendship! thanks for looking!

a clear creek christmas.

2010-12-19T00:23:00.000-08:00

yesterday we went to clear creek nursery, as we have for the last several years. they have a couple of santa's reindeer there that you can visit, and this year they had a camel as well. inside, they have a "winter wonderland" set up with a cabin and woodland animals, and every hour it "snows" for several minutes.

katie and sam, checkin' out the tree.

SNOW!

a couple of santa's reindeer.

nathan and katie checkin' out moses the camel. and moses checkin' them out right back.

"why, HULLO there, moses!"

merry (almost) christmas everyone! (and thanks to melanie for her photo-editing help!)

thanks for looking!

eagle court.

2010-12-18T21:21:00.000-08:00

this past thursday was austin's eagle court of honor. i was a ball of nerves for a full week ahead of time.....hoping everything would go as planned; wondering if i was making enough/too much food; fretting over how he would do on his speech. luckily though, all that worry was for naught. it went beautifully. it was lovely and relaxed and funny at times. we were surrounded by family and friends and i could not have been any more PROUD of that child. he has come a long way from that little 8-year-old bear scout.

waiting for the ceremony to begin.

order of the arrow "four winds" ceremony.

spencer, changing out the old neckerchief for the eagle neckerchief.

scoutmaster tom bougan says a few words about austin.

austin's old cub scout leader, mr. steve rinehart, shares some memories from austin's younger scouting days.

austin being presented with an award from a representative of our sponsor, VFW post 4992.

moving his name from Life scout to Eagle on the advancement board.

austin's speech. i wish i had videotaped this. he was so well-spoken, and relaxed, and FUNNY. my fave part? when he thanked me, for without whom his uniform would not have looked nearly as neat and pressed. LOL

cake! i bought a couple 1/2 sheets from costco and had a friend make the eagle medallion for me out of fondant.....i love how it turned out!

austin with buddies spencer and steven.

to austin i want to say, you are now part of an elite group defined by dedication and hard work. it is an accomplishment to be proud of, and one that you will carry with you the rest of your life. congratulations to our EAGLE scout! we love you!

thanks for looking!

*just wanted to say, all but the last 2 photos were compliments of our troop photographer, mr. harry warner!

annual lighted boat parade.

2010-12-11T23:31:00.000-08:00

last night we went over to my friend robyn's mom's house to watch the lighted boat parade. the bremerton yacht club puts it on every year, and the participants deck out their boats with lights and then sail along the shoreline, playing christmas tunes.....and santa even gives a shout out to your kidlets by name if you send them in. the kids loved it (they were especially excited when they heard their names called out :) along with the parade, robyn and her awesome mom made an assortment of yummy food, and also had a craft on hand for the kids to do.

out on the balcony, watching the boats

katie and ike, working on their houses (disclaimer: that is NOT how i did my daughter's hair....)

sam tearing into his "house" kit

i can't believe she did that to my *beautiful* cake LOL

sam *really* loves ike.....and ike is so awesome with him.

thanks for looking! and a great big HUGE thanks to robyn and her wonderful mom cheri for having us!

busy busy.

2010-12-06T01:09:00.000-08:00

so after katie and i had our "girls' night" on friday, we came home and went straight to bed, cause we got to get up at the crack o' dawn to go SKIING the next morning! unfortunately, it was one of our COLDEST ski days ever.....it was in the teens and the wind was blowing, and then it decided to snow. brrrrrr. my fingers were frozen and katie was NON-STOP complaining about the cold......BUT it was still a beautiful place to spend the day even if it was less than ideal. we resorted to bribing her with skittles which worked relatively well LOL

taking a break to warm up in the lodge

then when we got home that night one of my very most favorite families in the whole world was waiting there for me :) my friend heidi and her fam moved back to WA.....YAY!

(cue the song "reunited")

and to top off a fabulously full and busy weekend, we had my work christmas party this evening, which the kids always look forward to.

my girl and santa.

sam and santa ♥

thanks for looking!!

the nutcracker.

2010-12-03T22:50:00.000-08:00

katie and i went to see the Nutcracker tonight, performed by Peninsula Dance Theatre. it was a nice evening, though the ballet was a little slow in parts and katie asked a couple times if it was almost over and when were we going home? for the most part though i think she enjoyed it. i'm pretty sure her favorite parts were the dinner before and the chocolate silk pie we had during intermission LOL

katie with a BIG nutcracker, and she is holding a *little* nutcracker that she got as a souvenir.

waiting for the show to start.

the sugar plum fairy. tried to get katie to go stand by her. yeahhh, right.

a fun "girls date"......i would LOVE to take her to seattle next year though to see the Pacific Northwest Ballet perform it.

thanks for looking!

wintering.

2010-11-27T23:34:00.000-08:00

i know that it's not *technically* winter yet.....but tell that to the weather we've been having the last couple weeks! record lows for this time of year, earliest snow in the last 20-some-odd years......it just FEELS like winter. we're not complaining though......we *heart* snowwwww!

now if only we could just convince it to stick around for longer......

thanks for looking!

meet frank.

2010-11-19T00:27:00.000-08:00

i have pegged this little guy as "frank"......because, well, i just think he looks like a frank. i got the free pattern for him over at craft schmaft (who also has THE MOST adorable owl softies!) i hope the little buckaroo he is intended for likes taggies!

thanks for looking!

Sam's Seussical Birthday Celebration.

2010-11-06T20:54:00.000-07:00

today we celebrated sam's birthday with a Suess-themed party. i loved this theme from the second i saw it on the {so wonderful, so marvelous} blog that i follow.

the decorations:

banner: i downloaded the "grinched" font and the hats were just some clip art that i found.

water bottle labels (these were one of my faves :)

tissue paper flowers (they reminded me of the truffula trees in the lorax)

cake toppers (ignore the scary looking cupcakes. i swear i don't know what happened. the cupcakes WEREN'T hot or even remotely warm when i frosted them and the frosting was SO runny, it just melted down the sides of the cupcakes almost instantaneously. i've already fired off an e-mail to pillsbury.)

the guests:

sam, of course!

L to R: lillyanne, violet, logan, kaylee, sam, alex, katie, alyvia, CJ, hannah

jackson, looking very studly in his lil' striped polo shirt :)

quincy ♥

mollie and miles

gabby

grammy

the activities:

we played "pin the hat on the cat" (and for the record, i had NOTHING to do with judging whose hat was closest, we recruited nathan's buddy dan to be the judge. thought i'd throw that in there since my kid won LOL)

"guess the correct # of candies in the jar" game.

storytime. we read "the cat in the hat", of course!

daddy helping sam open presents.

cupcake time! excuse my gaping mouth, we were mid-song. and i love my kid's expression here, doesn't he look SO excited?! :D

we had a wonderful time with all of our friends, and i was very pleased with how everything turned out! well, with the exception of the cupcakes. thanks to all who helped us celebrate ♥

and thanks for looking!

halloween recap.

2010-11-03T22:40:00.000-07:00

i started halloween morning out by doing a 12K trail race up in port gamble with several friends. which would have been quite enjoyable, had it not DUMPED rain on us the night before, rendering most of the course slippery and muddy. nevertheless, sunday morning turned out to be *beautiful*, and it was worth braving the mucky trails just for some of the costumes. my personal favorite: the hooters guy. oohhhhh yeah.

pre-race. michael, ruby, dee, audi, me, rocky.

the sun getting ready to poke out at us.

audi and i, post-race. it looks like i have no halloween spirit, but that's just because you can't see the really cute orange and black striped tights i was wearing.

my vote for best costume LOL

and some pics from halloween evening, spent with the fabulously fun Hughes fam. jeff kept nathan company in front of the fire pit in our driveway where they handed out candy, while heather and i walked the littles around the neighborhood.

jeff, nathan, and all the littles. i am still not quite sure what jeff was supposed to be....

daddy and lil' red.

the girls ♥ violet the princess; katie as little red riding hood, and lilyanne as a fairy princess.

katie, pushing sam around on the floor at the Reider's. they thought this was great fun :)

thanks for looking!

3 years ago today.....

2010-10-30T22:32:00.001-07:00

samuel made his debut into the world. thank god it was today and not a day later or his name would have been kent LOL (ask me about that story sometime.) today was a pretty lazy day, we pretty much just hung out around the house and watched scary halloween movies all day, and then grammy bought us pizza for dinner. we did head out long enough to go to the "no-scare" haunted house on base (which was pretty scary still, both littles had to be carried throughout the entire thing and sam let out quite a few cries. happy birthday to you sam, now let me scar you for life.) then back home for presents and brownies.

watching a scary movie on grammy's lap.

waiting in line at the haunted house.

grammy brought a halloween trunk with goodies in it for all the littles.

katie is apparantly VERY excited for her B&N gift card.

opening his new "camping" set.

just what he's been wanting....his very own scooter! (can i get a little help with this thing?! it's kinda heavy!)

trying out his new tent.

it even came with a headlamp!

happy numero tres, buddy.

he HAD to go try out the scooter in the garage.

thanks for looking!

costume reveal!

2010-10-27T23:34:00.000-07:00

VOILA!

here we have the littles' costumes, which have cost me precious blood/sweat/tears the last week or two.

LIL' RED: skirt is made from house on hill road's tutorial with an added apron front. shirt is loosely based on the top of a dress she already has. cape is loosely based on a dress-up cape she has as well. faux corset i just winged it, 2 rectangles of polyester satin crap invented by the devil himself (can you tell i don't like sewing with it?!) with ribbon "lacing" up the front. oh, and the *perfect* basket for the part that i scored at value village for 99₵.

CUTE LITTLE WOLF (as opposed to "big bad", he's just too cute :): found the hat/mitten thingy at a store up in canada. winged the tail and some shoe covers outta gray fleece.

the wolf "gettin'" lil' red.

please-please-PLEASE just don't let it rain on halloween night now!

thanks for looking!

sea critters, and cruises, and the space needle (because i couldn't think of a "C" word to alliterate 'space needle')

2010-10-17T21:49:00.000-07:00

so today we were like any other seattle tourist, walking around the city and taking in all the tourist-y hot spots. my mom had some friends here this past week visiting who purchased seattle city passes and only used one coupon out of the entire book, so she passed them onto us. since they had to be used by friday, and this was going to be the only day we would make it over before then, we squeezed as much as we could into the day. we were up at the CRACK o' dawn (AHEM. nathan. don't ever say that i can't make it out of the house at a decent time again, mmmmmmkay?) our first stop was the Seattle Aquarium. i find it hard to understand that with all the cool, new stuff there is to see, my children would rather run amok and act like little hoodlums. ach. they were on my last nerve by the time the harbor cruise was boarding. thankfully, they mellowed out for the Argosy harbor cruise a bit and it was actually quite enjoyable. it was a BEAUTIFUL day, and even when we got out on the water a ways and the wind picked up a little, it was chilly but not miserably so, and we stayed up top the entire time. then we went on a little urban hike up to the Space Needle. we sat around up there for a bit, had a snack (and i enjoyed a white chocolate mocha, yum.) we left there just in time to hightail it back to the ferry terminal to catch our ferry home. thank goodness for the "free ride zone" bus that gave us a lift for a partial way or i don't think we would've made it. and a great big thanks to cindy and hank for the city passes!

the ferry ride over. i am basking in the october sun.

a sea of fish above us in the aquarium.

my favorite part. hearing about the harbor seals. this guy is getting his teeth brushed :D

these guys must've been tuckered out. i don't think i've ever seen river otters this chill.

what it must feel like for a goldfish.

us. on an otter.

our "cruise" ship, the "spirit of seattle"

gettin' ready to set sail.

seattle as we pulled away.

getting a lift from daddy up top the space needle.

view of lake union via the space needle

passed these guys on our way back to the ferry. i love it!

thanks for looking!

hunter farms.

2010-10-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

today we went to hunter farms with some friends. we'd never been down there before but had heard lots of great things about it so we decided to check it out. we were not disappointed. they have a really cool hay maze inside of a huge barn that the kids played in forever, with a slide at the end where you come out. there were animals to see, pet and feed (and sometimes throw hay at) and yummy food to eat and pumpkins to pick and tractors to ride.

nothing quite says "sexy" like a big daddy wearing a puppy backpack :D

the crew on the way out to the pumpkin patch!

a'pumpkin-hunting we will go

us.

pumkpin-tossing

sam liked this one.

sam and we-ann playing follow the leader

heather and i cheesin'

these aren't from today but i thought they fit in with this post pretty well.....

sam, showin' some pumpkin love.

thanks for looking!

milestones and marathons.

2010-10-11T23:05:00.000-07:00

this past weekend i celebrated my thirty-something-ish birthday with a trip up to Victoria for the Goodlife Fitness Victoria half-marathon. accompanying me were my better half and kidlets, my mom, and several friends who were also running the race. we ferried over on friday afternoon, and after checking into our hotel we ventured over to the conference center to pick up my race packet. a word of advice: when you arrive as SOON as they open on the first day, with almost 14,000 people registered.....be prepared to wait awhile. the line was crazy long and wrapped around the corner and down the block. it did move quite fast though to our surprise. after we obtained said race packet, we wandered around a few shops downtown before we met up with audi and dee for dinner at Milestones. it had a great atmosphere, fab views (it's located right on Victoria's inner harbour) and good food. AND i was surprised with a sparkler-topped ice cream after dinner and a rousing chorus of happy birthday. yes, i know it wasn't my ACTUAL birthday but my husband said that i deserved a whole weekend and thus declared it "birthday weekend" :) the only damper being when sam somehow managed to knock over my almost-full bellini, breaking the glass in the process and sending my deliciously slushy drink all over me. luckily the napkin in my lap caught most of it, and the waiter very graciously brought me a new one. whew. crisis averted.

on the ferry to victoria

crazy-ass long line to get race packet

parliament building during the day

parliament at night.

after dinner we parted ways and went back to our hotel so the kiddos could go swimming. our hotel was pretty nice, but the pool was definitely NOT designed with kids in mind. there was absolutely no shallow part, you walked down the stairs and were immediately in 5 ft. deep water. or there was the hot tub, which was so hot they could only tolerate it for a few minutes at a time. next time i will defintely stay somewhere with a more kid-friendly pool, as i'm fairly certain this is their absolute favorite part of any trip....swimming in the hotel pool. ha.

saturday morning we drove up to Butchart gardens. one of the big bonuses of bringing our own vehicle, as i've heard the tour buses charge an arm and a leg to take you up there. the gardens were *gorgeous*--unfortunately i don't have more pics due to what i will hereafter refer to as the great camera debacle of two-thousand and ten. in a ever-so-slight miscalculation as i handed my mother back her camera, i let go a millisecond before she grabbed it and in slow motion i saw it plummeting to the ground. i thought it might make it for a minute--nathan and i both tried resuscitating it, but to no avail. it was gone. so i sacrificed my camera to her for the rest of the day.

katie and sam, butchart gardens

probably my favorite part of the gardens, the "sunken garden"

we made it through most of the morning without rain, and then it started coming down a little heavier. the kids were rapidly starting to melt down as well so we all piled back into the truck for a little drive (see: NAPTIME for kiddos). we drove over to a little town on the eastern side of the peninsula called "sidney by the sea", it was adorable and had the kids not been sleeping and the sky not been raining we totally would've gotten out and checked out some of the neat little shops. maybe next time.

by the time we got back to victoria it was time to meet up with everyone for dinner. if you have ever tried to find somewhere to eat for a party of 10 people with an extra 14,000 people in town for a race AND on a national holiday (it was canada's thanksgiving weekend), let me tell you folks, it's not pretty. everywhere was either turning us away completely or telling us it would be hours before they could seat us. i will absolutely know to make reservations well in advance next year. my friend ruby finally suggested the restaurant inside the hotel they were staying at, so we went there. no wait? AWESOME. we pushed a bunch of tables together to accommodate all of us and finally ate around 7:30-ish. after dinner we went back to the hotel and went down to the pool for just a bit, then turned in early.

sunday morning was cold and overcast. i woke up and prayed the clouds would hold out and not dump rain on us, at least not til *after* the run. i had the familiar knots in my stomach that i get before EVERY race, no matter how many times i tell myself that i am just gonna do the best i can and that is all i can do....i still get nervous every.time. met up with audi, dee, and ruby and did our thing. the race went amazingly well, the skies held out and did not rain on us, and it was actually really great running weather. the course was really pretty, and i was pleasantly surprised by the lack of hills....it was a relatively flat course. in spite of my severe lack of preparation, i finished in 2:01:17. i have to credit it to heather's cycling class, as i believe it really helped with my endurance.

in the darkness of pre-race. note my awesome new jacket from the race, a b-day gift from ruby, dee, audi, rhonda and heather!

my most awesome bib ever :)

a sea of runners

audi and i post-race. we keep such great pace together!

team sparkle with our finisher's medals!

after going back to the hotel to shower off the stank, the fam headed over to the Victoria Bug Zoo to check it out. minus my mom who opted out, what a partypooper :) a huge thanks to audi, who suggested it, as we all thoroughly enjoyed it. it was small, but had TONS of really cool bugs, which they tell you all about and then they take most of them out so you can hold them.

nathan holding.....something. i forget what kind of critter this was. a big one, for sure.

sam holding a leaf bug. bizarre how they looked exactly.like. a leaf.

katie and i checking out our fuzzy friend, the tarantula.

this is nathan's fave pic of the trip i think LOL.....i was holding the critter up to get a pic with him and he started trying to climb on my face and it tickled :D

in front of the bug zoo. nathan and sam are missing because halfway through the tour sam said he had to go potty, and nathan said "no way does he have to really go again, i just took him". about a minute later nathan said "i guess he really DID have to go", as sam stood there in a puddle of pee. so he had to run sam back to the hotel to get cleaned up while katie, aus and i finished the tour LOL

after the bug zoo, we went on a tour of Craigdarroch Castle. it was SO impressive....the huge stone architecture, the elaborate woodwork inside, the muraled ceilings.....wow.

the outside. sorry for the washed out, skewed pic.

standing in the entryway looking up. 4 stories of beautiful stairs, railings, banisters and ceilings.

my children on the tour. we received lots of stink-eye from the guides and i'm sure they were breathing a sigh of relief when we left LOL

my mother insisted on this pic. i actually really like it :)

the ceiling in the sitting room.

me.

after the castle we went to dinner at spinnakers on dee's recommendation. this was probably my fave meal of the entire trip, and the atmosphere was great. it's a pub-like setting right on the water and the food was fabulous. they brought me out pumpkin cheesecake with a candle for dessert and my fam (yet again!) sang happy birthday to me. for real this time. cause it really WAS my b-day. then we went back to the hotel and some present opening commenced.

after that my mom offered to watch the kids for a bit so nathan and i could go out for a drink alone. too bad i was soooo tired from the race/being up so early that i needed toothpicks to hold my eyes open by this point. we weren't gone long before we came back to the hotel to turn in for the night.

monday morning dawned clear and sunny. a perfect day for traveling home. the ferry home was gorgeous. what was NOT fabulous was when my daughter started complaining her ear hurt and crying so much that we had to stop at the first drug store when we got off the ferry for some motrin. our first stop upon arriving back in town was to harrison ER. an un-fabulous ending to an otherwise great trip, but at least the ear infection waited til we were almost home. all in all, it was a pretty great trip....and i'm already committed to next years FULL victoria marathon! yikes!

thanks for reading!

where i reach the point that i can stand it no longer and decide to reclaim my dining room.

2010-09-22T22:16:00.000-07:00

so my house has been feeling so cluttered to me lately and i've just felt like i don't have enough SPACE and i started to feel a little suffocated (could it be my OCD? or the fact that i have about 37 events coming up and i'm just starting to stress out about all of them?) anywhoos, i decided that i needed to reclaim my dining room as livable, usable space. so i had to rehome all of my fabric and generally clean the crap that had made it's home on the dining room table for the last year or so. i am feeling much better now, it makes the house feel bigger and *GASP* i can actually USE that space now, say, if i were to host coffee next week or something :) and what would a post like this be without before and afters?!

BEFORE:

ugh.

AFTER:

it's been awhile since the surface of this furniture has seen the light of day. yippeeee!

the fabrics new home in the closet. i hope it likes it here!

thanks for looking!

zebra bottoms.

2010-09-17T09:24:00.000-07:00

some boutique bottoms i made for katie to go with this black rumba top i found at the thrift store. i used the boutique bottoms pattern from you can make this. i wanted a bigger ruffle on the bottom of this one so i did a 6" ruffle instead of the 3" one the pattern calls for and i love it!

thanks for looking!

"first day" dress.

2010-09-10T14:55:00.000-07:00

i fell in love with this fabric at joann's, and decided it would be perfect for katie's "first day of school" dress. i used this pattern for it, which i've used before and LOVE.

thanks for looking!

the second annual nusz family camping extravaganza.

2010-09-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

so after my relatively positive experience last year, we decided to make family camping an annual event. this year, we decided to hit up sol duc hot springs. we ready?

kids and camping gear? check.

firewood, from the same seedy "adult novelty" shop as last year? check. (i think nathan must secretly like this place. i better check his pockets for a lighter that looks like a naked lady.)

beverages from our favorite little convenience store on the way? check. (thank goodness vampires are welcome, though i didn't run into edward there.)

beautiful views of lake crescent on the way up? check.

we arrived at the sol duc campground just after 11:00, which was fortunate for us because that just so happened to be check-out time. being labor day weekend and all, we arrived early to try and score one of these "first-come first-served" sites. we ended up getting one, but by a couple hours later our loop was totally full and the other loop was nearly full. after setting up camp and having some lunch, we headed over to the hot springs to check it out.

a pic of the main pool. it was quite the popular spot. you had to really hunt to score a seat in this one sometimes, hence the people hanging out in the middle just standing there.

this is where we spent most of our time though....the little hot spring "wading pool", cause sam was too young to go in the other ones.

katie made a little friend that she hung out with for a couple hours.

austin stayed in the big pool most of the time. it was just regular chlorinated water (and it was COLD!) yes i realize you can't see the pool in this pic, i just thought it was a cute one of my boy :)

ha! silly mommy, thinking she was going to get to sunbathe uninterrupted!

after the hot springs we went back to camp to cook dinner. nathan realized he forgot his ax so he couldn't chop up the firewood. his plan for tin-foil dinners needed revising, since he didn't think the coals would last long enough to cook the vegetables AND the meat. so we browned the hamburger in a skillet. what was that? we forgot cooking utensils too? ah, well, we'll make do with a plastic spoon. after we cleaned up from dinner we went to a ranger presentation on "olympic national park amphibians", which the kids found thoroughly boring. sam proceeded to demonstrate his boredom by falling asleep, while katie just whined about being bored and kept asking if it was almost over. afterwards we went back to camp to roast marshmallows over our campstove, since our fire was out of order til nathan could figure out how to chop up the wood into smaller pieces. then we turned in for the night.

saturday morning: here's a collage of my happy camper faces! well, except for austin. he didn't wanna get up yet. i can't say that i blamed him....i had woken up no less than 27 times during the night, turning over, trying to find a comfy position. i didn't like the camping pad nathan originally had me on; it was a really nice, expensive thermarest pad....that i hated. it is about 95% the width of your body in a sleeping bag.....so if you lay perfectly still, flat-on-your-back centered on it, you're fine. but don't even think about trying to roll over or turn on your side, cause then it feels like you're going to slip off the edge of it. so i traded pads with sam and slept on this ancient blue exercise-mat looking thing....that i could feel every little rock through. gah. i vowed to sleep better the next night, even if i had to go sleep in the back of the truck with the dog.

after breakfast we hiked up to soleduck falls. it was an easy hike, and the falls were absolutely beautiful.

the falls

falls in the foreground, us standing on the bridge spanning them.

after we got to the falls and had a snack, i saw there was a 3-mile trail that took you back to the hot springs, so nathan took the little ones back to the trailhead while austin and i hiked up to the springs. we passed lots of beautiful scenery, but every time i tried to stop and admire something or take a picture, austin would start complaining, "hurry up! let's go!" i did manage to get a couple nature shots though.

when we got back to the lodge, nathan and the littles were waiting for us. we went back to camp and had lunch, and then spent another afternoon relaxing and soaking in the hot springs. then we headed back for dinner and a roaring campfire. no, nathan never found his ax, he had stashed a duraflame log from home under the seat which was more than enough to get some of those big ol' logs started. we sat around roasting marshmallows and enjoying the fire (and i enjoyed some mini-bottles of wine thanks to the convenience store back at the lodge, thank-you-very-much!)

my view of the fire.

fam campfire pic.

i slept much better the 2nd night cause i stole nathan's pad, which i think had a foam center. whatever it was, it was a heckuva lot comfier than either one i'd tried the night before. we all got a good night's sleep and then woke up sunday morning, packed up, and headed out. it was a lot of fun, has cemented my belief that i really DO like camping (with facilities, mind you) and nathan was already discussing on the way home where to go next summer for our annual camping trip. so i'd say, all in all, it was a success.

and with that, my friends, i will leave you with one of my fave pics of our camping trip. when nature called out in the woods, nathan helping our littlest camper answer the call.

thanks for looking!

first day.

2010-09-01T09:08:00.000-07:00

the most wonderful day of the year? quite possibly! LOL
(no, really. i love my kids dearly. i really do. but i am sooo ready for a little break.)

austin, sophomore year. 1st day at olympic high school.
(so technically this pic was taken yesterday.....but the one i snapped of him this morning was all dark and didn't turn out well.)

katie, first grade. in the lovely ms. hyde's combined 1-2 class.

thanks for looking!

summer 2010 pic recap.

2010-08-21T21:34:00.000-07:00

just some random summer pics.....

sam and lilyanne having a spot of afternoon tea

"do you think they'll believe that we're staff?"

austin and dimi.

sam and gabby.

this is the way we wash the dog, wash the dog, wash the dog.....

austin @ operation purple camp.

operation purple camp. austin, pulling dimi on the swing (as opposed to PUSHING her on the swing)

samuel the gladiator.

about to bring down his worthy opponent.

making a splash!

big boxes can be LOADS of fun....especially when you put a big dog in them!

my cute boy.

BFFs :)

katie &hearts

thanks for looking!

key peninsula.

2010-08-16T22:50:00.001-07:00

yesterday we went on a drive to the key peninsula. i don't know why we've never been there before when we've lived here for over 5 years and it's not even an hour away. i guess it is just a testament to the amount of gorgeous places that this part of the great northwest has to offer. we drove over the bridge and the first thing i noticed was the clear, blue-green water by the shore. odd for these parts, it looked almost tropical. we drove on the key peninsula highway through towns that were little more than a speck on the map (if that) that consisted of a general store, a laundromat and a few houses. we drove until we came to penrose point state park where we stopped for a snack, potty break, and to toss around the frisbee for awhile. it was a gorgeous park with a really long beach area, along with lots of grassy areas and trails. there is also a sizeable campground that we may have to go back to check out one of these days.

taking a break from frisbee for a minute

apparently, frisbees make her laugh.

austin. whom we had sent down to the beach to retrieve a runaway frisbee.

my studly husband ;) look at his form.

a pretty shot that i made nathan pull over to the side of the road for.

thanks for looking!

hanna knock-off jumper.

2010-08-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

i saw this jumper on the back of the latest hanna andersson catalog and fell in love. i love the ruffly layers and the tonal colors.

what i did NOT love is the price. granted, the $28 sale price is better than the $40 regular price, but still a little too spendy for my thrifty nature. so i picked up a few t-shirts at the thrift store, and for a whopping $3 made this:

my daughter could not keep her eyes open to save her life. i was too lazy to hem all the layers, and besides, it's knit, it doesn't fray, and it "adds character" that way, is what i tell myself. if i could go back, i'd place all the layers up another inch or so, as you can see the top of some layers peeking out from the bottom of the previous layer....but hey, live and learn. the next one i make will be better.

a detail of the yoke. i cut leftover strips of material and made bias tape to finish the arm holes.

overall, i am really happy with this, since i totally had to make up my own pattern as i went! thanks for looking!

an example of our twisted senses of humor; OR why my kids will need years of therapy later.

2010-08-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

so austin left last sunday for a week-long camp. i guess it took katie til tuesday to realize her brother was gone, as she had not been around on sunday when i took him to camp. she asked nathan where austin was, and he totally deadpanned: "he was being bad, so we sold him to a family in wyoming."

coincidentally, i happened to find a bed to put in his room this week as well. i thought we'd get the old one out (which he never actually slept in anymore) and the new one in, get his room all clean and organized for when he gets home. so while i was gone picking up the new one, nathan was at home disassembling the old one.

when i got home, nathan told me what he'd told katie. i laughed, not thinking she would actually *believe* him. most of the time, she'd call him out...."daddy, you're just kidding!" or "you're teasing me!" awhile later, i looked over at her and she had big huge teary eyes. i said "katie? what's the matter?" and she cries the most heartbreaking cry: "i-i-i w-want m-my b-buuuuuubbbbby b-back!" i could not help but burst out laughing. i said "katie! daddy was just kidding! we didn't *really* sell austin." and she replies "well then where is he and why did you take away his bed?" it was so sweet and funny and poignant and sad all at once.....and it reassured me that no matter how much they bicker, they really DO love one another.

"go green" upcycled dress.

2010-08-09T22:46:00.000-07:00

i love how this dress turned out! it started out as a junior's x-small hoodie, and the bottom part was a shirt of my husbands back when he was a junior leader at a scout camp in high school :) it was SO simple too! i just cut off the hoodie right above the pocket, measured how far down i wanted the skirt to go, and then cut that much off of the bottom of my hubbie's shirt! since i used the bottom of the shirt i didn't have to hem it, either. his shirt was much wider so i gathered it first and then pinned and sewed! took a total of *maybe* a half hour? a fitting second chance for this "green" shirt!

(uh, yeeaaah. my son started walking through the pic with his popsicle. i took some others but as chance would have it, the dress turned out the best in THIS one. *sigh* just wanted to show off the length here, it goes to right above the knee.)

thanks for looking!

t-shirt recon.

2010-08-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

yesterday i purged my kids' closets/dressers to determine what they still needed for school clothes. i had austin make me a pile of whatever didn't fit/he didn't wear/didn't like. there were 2 hanes t-shirts in the pile, a black one and a grey one. i decided to recon them into a skirt for katie. i wanted more of a tiered twirly skirt, but i was lazy and didn't want to do any more cutting/piecing than necessary so the result is more of a colorblock look. then i decided she needed a shirt to go with it, so i pulled out this white shirt that was stained on the front and covered some of the stainage with some flowers from the leftover shirt remnants. so for exactly zero dollars, i reconstructed/revamped 3 old shirts into a new outfit for katie. it makes me feel good to give new life to something that would have otherwise been headed for the trash or goodwill!

(close-up of flowers)

thanks for looking!

dino apron.

2010-08-08T00:10:00.000-07:00

my friend tiffany's little girl gabby turned 3 last week. she is such a funny little thing, with her own quirky little personality, which i totally love about her &hearts she's not your typical "girly" girl....but rather her favorite thing right now is DINOSAURS! i wanted to make her an apron for cooking or art projects or PLAY-DOH....and when i came across this fabric at the store i knew it was destined to be gabster's apron. it is bright and colorful, just like her. i used this pattern by kymy over at "everything your mama made and more".

(disclaimer: my model *may* have been eating a sucker when i was photographing it....we apologize for any sucker remnants/slobber that may have gotten on it :)

thanks for looking!

vera bradley-esque purse.

2010-08-06T07:11:00.000-07:00

i had a request for a purse, and i was given the "artistic freedom" to choose whatever fabrics i wanted. i found this fabric at joann's and immediately knew that was it. it is called "isabella serafina", i am not sure of the designer but i LOVE the print, it totally reminds me of one of my vera bradley bags. i used the phoebe pattern that i always use; i hope the recipient loves it!

thanks for looking!

strawberry fields skirt.

2010-08-01T00:24:00.000-07:00

so this post made me want to hurry up and make something for katie out of this strawberry fabric i had laying around, before summer is over and it's too cold for lil' seersucker skirts.

i used this tutorial *again*, i know, she has like 20 of these skirts LOL (okay, not really) but it really is a great tutorial and super-cute style with the side-tie and all. plus TONS of twirl-a-bility :)

thanks for looking!

summer at crystal.

2010-07-31T22:43:00.000-07:00

today we drove down to crystal mountain. it is our fave winter playground for skiing, and nathan has always wanted to go down there in the summer and check it out. we rode the chairlift to the top....it was a gorgeous, sunny day for it.

the chairlift ride up.

this made me want to break out in song a little.....oh wait! i DID break out in song, i felt all maria-like and belted out a few strains from "the hills are alive" LOL

up at the top we stopped for a potty-break and had a snack. this little beggar was quite brazen, and ran right over nathan's boot one time.

i wanted to do an animation of him eating the pringle LOL but was too lazy to figure out how to actually do it. and i only had the 2 pics and i didn't know if that was enough :)

there were some women along the way out for a ride with their horses. they told the kids they could pet them, but sam was too scared. those were the BIGGEST dogs he had ever seen :) i had no problem gettin' right up on in there though!

katie and "nugget"

me and "shotgun"

mt. rainier. even through the clouds, it looks majestic.

we hiked back down the mountain. probably not the BEST idea for my shin splints, but the views were unbeatable and we all enjoyed the wildlife along the way.

thanks for looking!

kitsap lake.

2010-07-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

i &hearts this one of austin (stolen from wendy)

katie loved the rope swing....wish it had come out just a little clearer....ah well.

sam preferred the tire.

helping the littles with their life vests (stolen from wendy)

rollin' in our paddle-wagon

future swim teacher-in-training?

my friend wendy and her cutie kaylee

the kiddos out on the floating dock

sam....refusing to cooperate and just give me a cute smile.....

*WARNING*

do NOT attempt this at home.

he is a trained professional.

thanks for looking!

whaling days 2010.

2010-07-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

some pics from this weekend.....my mom came down to help with the kids because nathan was out of town. i ran in the "whale of a race" saturday morning and set a new personal record....4 miles in 31:17 (for those of you keeping track that is a 7.82 minute mile, UNHEARD of for me, i'm usually a 9.5 minute miler on a good day :)

then i met up with my mom, katie and sam to watch the parade. austin marched in it as he does every year with his scout troop.

i love the whaling days parade....they always have lots of fun entries, and they're one of the only parades around that actually throw out candy and goodies (hence, making it my kids favorite parade as well.)

i love this guy, i always want to hug him!

cool hearse for the "haunted fairgrounds" entry

purty!!

the roller derby chicks scare me just a little....

this cute little number kept winking at me ;) (the car, not the girl)

and sparky the fire dog was waving at me.....score! a cute firefighter flirting with me! LOL

how sam viewed much of the parade. whenever someone would honk their really loud horn, or rev their engines, he'd cover his ears.

this was supposed to be me and my mom, but sam weaseled in. note: random sticker on my arm placed there by one of my kids.

after the parade we went down to the street fair. we found a shady grassy spot to sit and take in the views and listen to the band that was playing.

our gorgeous view.

sam, enjoying the afternoon.

thanks for looking!

our chuck-e-cheese-o-rama.

2010-07-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

today i met up with a bunch of girlfriends and their kiddos to hang out at chuck e. cheese....a great way to kill an afternoon, i must say! we were proabably there a good 4+ hours.....

sam rollin' with his homie chuck e. (whom he kept calling "mickey mouse" LOL)

hamster much?

our lil' gamer girlz :)

aw, dimi offered to play air hockey with sam.....

but then he ditched her halfway through the game and his bro had to fill in for him.

sam goes for a ride in the jeep.....

while gabby chooses a more "eco-friendly" ride. (as the creepy clock stares on...)

our whole gang together! thanks ladies for the fun afternoon!

little girl's monogram purse.

2010-07-21T22:44:00.000-07:00

i had a request for a little girl's purse recently, here is what i came up with. i am pretty happy with the end result, i just winged it really. i used a couple different fat quarters i had laying around, and ironed on some fleece interfacing to give the purse body. put a felt applique monogram on the front and some ribbon embellishment around the top of the bag. it has a magnetic snap closure. i hope the recipient enjoys it as much as i did making it!

thanks for looking!

lavender fest.

2010-07-17T22:45:00.001-07:00

tomorrow nathan is leaving for another week to washington D.C. for some work stuff....so today he wanted a "family day". we decided to drive up to sequim for their annual lavender festival. my mom met us partway up there and then we all drove together. the morning started out foggy and cool, but by the time we got up to sequim the fog had burned off, the sun was out and it was warmin' up nicely. we started out at the street festival, where there were tons of booths of arts and crafts and lavender-related items for sale. my mom and i probably could've killed a lot more time on this part, but nathan and the kids were bored and whiny so we had to (try to) hurry along. then we sat on the lawn and had a bite for lunch....my mom and i shared a *yummy* crepe from J' Aime Les Crepes (artichokes, spinach, garlic, provolone cheese, pinenuts and lemon-herb sauce, YUM!) then we considered buying the bus passes to go to all the different lavender farms, but we were too cheap in the end to shell out the $10 a piece, and nathan said we would just drive to a couple of the farms ourselves. so we hop in the truck and get to one of the farms, and turns out you need the $10 festival button to get in. damn. foiled again. as we pile back into the truck and start driving, i find a lavender farm in the brochure that isn't one on the farm tour, so we headed out to graysmarsh farms. besides lavender, they had all kinds of u-pick berries. can you say "strawberry-stained-shirts-and-hands"?

the lavender ladies. please, please....do not let this be me in 30 years. LOL

graysmarsh farm. note: bubba-keg full of beer in nathan's hand.

the littlest berry-picker. we put 'em to work young.

the middle berry-picker.

the biggest berry-picker.

yeah yeah....spare me the jokes about being mexican and this being our natural habitat. ha.

grammy, showing him how to get the good berries.

YUM!

me and mom.

thanks for looking!

salsbury point county park.

2010-07-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

today we went up to salsbury point park. i'd never been there before, but i kept hearing great reviews of it so we tried it out. i was not disappointed....it was a beautiful setting, right on the hood canal, with a fantastic view of the bridge. it was immaculately clean (even the bathrooms!) and there were lots of grassy areas, picnic tables, and then the beach, of course.....my friend wendy met us up there with her 2 children and the kids all played and had a grand ol' time. and while we were sitting out on the beach, a submarine happened to be going out to sea and we got to see the bridge open up so it could pass through, which all the kids thoroughly enjoyed.

swinger sam :)

climber katie

awesome austin ;)

missy testing out the water

sam would've been happy throwing rocks into the water all.day.long. lucky for us there was a never-ending supply.

happy little sea star!

katie and logan working very hard on, well, something. i'm not quite sure what.

working on another creation. notice the small-model replica in the foreground LOL

kay and a little friend she made.

austin, standing in a ginormous hole he dug.

nathan dropping austin into the hole :)

tugboat that was alongside the submarine.

missy sat here veeery patiently while kaylee decorated her with seashells LOL

kaylee gettin' in some missy-lovin'

michele &hearts 's nathan

thanks for looking!

north beach.

2010-07-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

today we went up to port townsend to go to my mom's company picnic with her. it was at north beach, which we had never been to before. if you hike a ways on down supposedly you'll get to glass beach, but we were unable to make it all the way there before the tide started coming in and we had to head back to avoid getting stranded. i did, however, find *some* sea glass as we attempted walking there. here are some pics from the day...

grammy teaching sam the finer points of croquet.

my lil' tree-climber!

my big tree-climber! sam wanted uppy.

sam playing in the grass. this was probably when he was busy crapping his pants. ah, i LOVE potty-training!

me and my clan on the beach!

grammy and her babies &hearts

me and nathan

some sea glass we found.

thanks for looking!

scenic beach.

2010-07-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

just a short drive from bremerton is scenic beach state park. we drove out there yesterday in an attempt to beat the heat, on a day that it was actually warm enough to swim here and not freeze your patootie off. i like scenic beach because the water is super clear and pretty and there's not a lot of yucky slimy stuff in the water. the down side is that you really have to plan your time there, or you get stranded on a stretch of beach when the tide comes in and have to wade through the water all the way back to the stairs going down to the beach (as was our case yesterday :)

hi, my name is austin, and i need a haircut. and a pair of shorts that doesn't show my skivvies. (but otherwise i think it's a pretty cute pic of him :)

getting used to the chilly water.

not happy about daddy walking away from him.

playing with bubby.

looking for treasures down there.

constructing crab homes.

this is the farmer's tan and beard you get after 2 weeks of backpacking in the wilderness.

thanks for looking!

rock 'n' roll seattle half marathon.

2010-06-28T19:54:00.000-07:00

so last saturday i (unofficially) ran my second 1/2 marathon. i say "unofficially" because i was not actually a registered runner....my friend heather's husband was supposed to run it with her but at the last minute was unable to, so she asked me if i'd like to run in his place. i found out thursday that he would not be going, 2 days before the race. having not trained in a month (since right before the NODM), i agreed to do it, figuring i'd just go and give it my best, not really expecting too much of myself time-wise. i ended up doing pretty well, coming in at 2:03:15. not a bad time, but it was still hard to not be disappointed that i didn't do as well as the NODM. ah well. i have lots of excuses why i didn't do as well....besides the not-training part, i got very little sleep the night before (6 girls + studio apartment on a busy street in the U district = NOT a quiet night). oh, and the CROWD. it was srsly INSANE. over 27,000 runners in the marathon and half-marathon.....WHY they did not have staggered start times i do not know. that would have made sense. other races i've been in, eventually the crowd thins out and a little space opens up. not in this one. it was runners to my front, back, right and left the whole way. the run itself was gorgeous though, very scenic, relatively flat, and perfect running weather. and i was running with my friend audi, who is a stitch. being able to talk and laugh makes the run go by SO much faster.

looking forward to the next half....hopefully the royal victoria on my b-day! i applied for my passport, and i'm researching hotels! and it's on 10-10-10....it's gonna be EPIC :D

thanks for looking!

daddy's day presents.

2010-06-19T22:54:00.001-07:00

so now that my hubby is tucked safely away in bed i can blog away about the gifts i made this year! usually i am totally lacking inspiration and end up getting some lame-o gift at the last minute, but i was feeling exceptionally crafty and inspired this year, so here is what we did:

this idea is alllll over blogger-land, i must've seen a hundred different versions of it, and i loved the idea! of course, i didn't have the time or energy to color-coordinate my kids, so i just snapped shots of them in whatever they happened to be in and made them all B&W so it didn't matter, and then color-splashed the "DAD" letters. yeah, they're not perfect, and you can totally tell up close....but i still like it and i don't think nathan will care :) and it was totally budget-friendly, i got the frame on sale at joann's for $9.99 (SCORE!) and all 3 pics were under $5. i took a pic of sam with the "A" in the store so i wouldn't have to buy it (cause i am just super-thrifty like that LOL) and the "D" was $3.99, so the entire gift came out to under twenty buckaroos. AND i plan on returning the "D" LOL

this is his other gift, a stepping stone that we made. katie helped me with a lot of the decorating, sam helped with a little (mostly the mixing of the cement) and i think it turned out cute. nathan loves being out in the yard so i figured this was a great gift that he can see whenever he is out there. it looks a little blotchy in the pic because i had just washed it and it was still a little damp.

thanks for looking!

summer fun.

2010-06-16T09:59:00.000-07:00

so even though we have had limited days that it actually *feels* like summer, we have taken full advantage of those days. last weekend we went to the kitsap forest theatre's production of "the sound of music". i am not really big into musicals, but have always LOVED TSOM.

"16 going on 17"

we met my friend robyn and her fam there, katie is sitting between everleigh and leona.

nathan and sam.

the entire cast. maria was WONDERFUL, and then i found out the littlest von trapp girl "gretl" is actually her daughter IRL.

sam and lilyanne, at a neighbor's b-day party.

sam and lilyanne playing on the neighbor's new helicoptor!

bubbles bubbles everywhere.....

katie and a friend from school, caeley, drawing with sidewalk chalk.

all the girls drawing &hearts

katie's drawing, "leprechaun under rainbow with pot o' gold"

caeley and sam, rolling in the grass.

silly kids, enjoying the sunshine!

thanks for looking!

concerts and graduations.

2010-06-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

a clip from austin's band concert tuesday night.*

sorry if you get motion-sick while watching, i was holding a squirmy 2-year-old :)

and one from katie's kindergarten graduation today.*

i told nathan it was too bad he wasn't going to be here for katie's kinder grad ceremony, to which he replied "that stuff is for moms. the only thing i'd feel bad about missing is a high school graduation". LOL it was cute nonetheless; the kids sang some songs and were then presented with diplomas and then a little reception with cookies and punch.

katie and mrs. V, her wonderful-sweet-awesome teacher!!

katie and her best little girlfriend from school, cailey

*i don't know why blogger won't let me embed the videos in my post....anyone know why? i need help!

thanks for looking!

NODM.

2010-06-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

this last sunday i participated in my first ever 1/2 marathon, the North Olympic Discovery Marathon. it started between sequim and port angeles, and finished up in downtown port angeles right on the water. it definitely ranks right up there as one of the most satisfying things i've ever done, and has given me confidence in myself and what my body can achieve when i put my mind to it. i trained for several months beforehand; i printed out this schedule as a guide and based my training loosely on it. i only trained 5 days a week instead of 6, usually taking off the weekend; i did an hour spinning class on mondays and thursdays, ran on tuesdays and wednesdays, and reserved fridays for our longer runs. we actually built all the way up to 13 miles several weeks before the race and then tapered back down. i was SO so nervous beforehand, mostly because i felt like i was starting to get sick and wasn't sure my body would cooperate with me; and because secretly i had a time goal in mind and didn't want to disappoint myself if i didn't meet it. as it turns out, i did :) i wanted to finish in under 2 hours and i came in at 1:57:43. when i actually got close enough to the finish line to see the clock, and realize that i was going to make it within my goal, i was incredibly happy and relieved. when i saw my friends on the sidelines with signs, cheering me on, i felt so incredibly blessed. lots of people have told me that once i run a half, i WILL want to run a full. i don't know about THAT, but i am already thinking about my next challenge.....the royal victoria 1/2 marathon.....which just so happens to fall on my birthday this year. which, in and of itself, is pretty cool, huh? 10-10-10. i'm thinking my fam should take me up there as a b-day prezzie :D

and now, some race pics....

my friends dee and ruby with me, right before the race.

if i recall correctly, this was right about the 1/2 way point....i guess i was too fast for them to get a picture of my front LOL

i was just passing my cheerleaders at the end here, i could see the finish line, i was HAPPY!!

post-race with my girlies!

my fellow runners and our kick-ass support team, audi and rhonda.

thanks for looking!

frgiv me.

2010-06-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

dear sam,
you were a little hellion yesterday. taking off your clothes and streaking down the block as i called after you to "get back here!" and you ignoring me was just the last straw. (okay, you DID have your pants back on by this time, though you were totally buck nekkid in the driveway a minute earlier) but what was i to do when you and sis disappeared into the other room for a few minutes and you reappeared with this sign taped to your chest?!

how am i supposed to stay mad at a face (and note!) like that?! it is an impossibility. so yes, sam, i "frgiv" you :)

a bag for sam and a top for katie.

2010-06-01T23:23:00.000-07:00

here's a couple new things i've been working on lately....first a "backsack" for sam. he saw this Cars fabric that i was pre-washing and confiscated it right out of the dryer. just the big ol' piece of fabric. he walked around the house carrying it like a blankie and saying "CARS!" so i knew i had to make him something out of it. i used this tutorial from Martha to make it, except for i didn't line it with nylon, just a coordinating cotton. and i didn't have any cord laying around, so i used some extra clothesline i had on hand. and i appliqued a felt "S" on it, i like how it turned out and he loves carrying around his own bag everywhere now.

for katie, i saw this apron top tutorial awhile back and meant to make it, but then she took it down for awhile to tweak it, and i just realized the other day she had it back up. i swung by pacific fabrics yesterday and picked up this *really* cute fabric just for this project. i like how it turned out, although it was a little tricky in parts, there were a few spots in the tutorial that weren't exceptionally clear to me, so if anyone out there plans on making it, message me and i can try to clarify the parts that i goofed on, to spare you some time and frustration :)

the yoke really does lay flat, she was scrunching up her shoulder.

(notice my flip-flops she's wearing :)

thanks for looking!

the springs.

2010-05-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

nathan was pretty disappointed yesterday when katie woke up crying at 5 am from an ear infection....it pretty much put a damper on our hiking plans for the day. after a visit to the ER yesterday morning, a couple doses of antibiotics, some pain meds, and lots of rest, she was feeling quite spunky this morning and we decided to make a go of it. we drove up to the Olympic Hot Springs in the Elwha River Valley. Nathan and Austin had been there several times before, as their scout troop does about 2/3 of their camping in the Olympic National Park, but the rest of us had never been and i've always wanted to see them. it was a fairly easy hike (albeit soggy, it sprinkled the entire time). no worries, we all had rain jackets and hiking boots. oh. except for me, the idiot in tennis shoes, trying to keep my feet dry as we crossed several streams. yeeaaahh. i actually managed to keep them pretty dry most of the day.

crossing cougar creek

the littlest hiker

(he didn't make it the whole way)

one of the highlights of the day for me were the deer sightings....twice we spotted deer right off the trail. they were pretty brazen too, although i'm sure they are probably used to all the hikers.

three at once!

fam on bridge over boulder creek

moi on bridge

probably my fave POTD (pic o' the day :) they are standing in a stream under a HUGE old growth tree that had fallen.

a pretty lil' spot where we sat and took a snack break.

ironically, i didn't get *one* pic of the actual springs....although we did stop and stick our hands in them (and the kids played in them a little) it was a pretty busy day up there; all the pools were full (several with skinny-dippers that we tried to quickly herd the kids by LOL)

thanks for looking!

confirmation.

2010-05-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

today austin was confirmed in our church. a pretty big rite of passage, and the culmination of the last 3 years of dedication and hard work (not only on his part, but also by our wonderful youth pastor jonathan, the small group leaders, mentors, etc). all the confirmands had to write a faith statement as their last assignment, and austin wrote a sonnet, which pastor jonathan quoted part of in the service.

his entire confirmation class.

our wonderful (and goofy at times!) pastors, Pastor Bill and Pastor Jonathan

during the ceremony

note my kid: the only one without a suit or sportcoat. obviously, we didn't get the memo. ha.

his proud fam....minus Nathan who was at Wilderness First Aid for Boy Scouts. obviously, sam must've said something funny and katie was mid-sentence. ah, well.

with great-gram.

CONGRATS, austin!

more aprons!

2010-05-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

katie had a birthday party for a classmate this past weekend. i took this apron that i previously blogged about and appliqued an "a" on it to personalize it for the b-day girl, and then gave her a heart-shaped cupcake pan and cookie cutter to go with it. i put it all in a coordinating drawstring bag that i made to match the apron. i think it turned out cute and katie said she really liked it :)

i made another apron for *another* girl's b-day we have coming up using this tutorial from the talented Kymy and i think it is my *most* favorite apron ever. i LOVE how it turned out!

here it is on sam--i made the smaller apron which is supposed to be a size 2-4. next time i will make the ties longer so it can be tied in a bigger bow. Kymy actually called for longer ties but i just cut selvage to selvage figuring it would be long enough.

and here it is on katie.....

thanks for looking!

trivet and coasters, and an apron.

2010-05-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

this is what i made my mom for mother's day....such a super easy, quick project with cute results! my lovely friend ashley held a class at her house for making these out of tiles. i LOVE the stampin' up set that i used....wish i had taken pics of the other coasters now, but in addition to the dragonfly there was a bird's nest, a seashell, and a peacock feather. we stamped the tiles and then decorated them using a variety of methods....i used one of the stampin' up blender pens with chalk to color in the details, and then used a stamp pad and a sponge to shade the edge of the coasters. then spray 'em with some sealant, slap some felt on the bottom and voila! quick, easy and thrifty gift! now i want to make myself a set with a monogram.....

i also whipped up a little girl's apron the other night for a birthday party we've got coming up (we've actually got THREE little girl birthdays in the next few weeks, better get sewing!) this was my first time making my own bias. it wasn't too bad, especially since i didn't technically cut it on the bias, as i didn't have to round any corners. i like how it turned out....we are going to pair it with a little set of stainless steel pots and pans as a gift!

ETA: my friend ashley has pics of some of the sets we made including mine over at her blog; thanks for posting ashley!! :)

thanks for looking!

through the years.

2010-05-10T00:45:00.000-07:00

today, my eldest is fifteen years old. i can hardly believe it has been that long since i first gazed into his sweet newborn face as a new mommy. here is a look back at him....(and excuse the quality of the early pics....they were pictures of pictures.)

happy 15th birthday, austin. you enrich our lives, bless our family, and can make your mother laugh like no other &hearts

mother's day weekend.

2010-05-09T18:30:00.001-07:00

we had a uber-busy weekend....austin's birthday is tomorrow but we celebrated yesterday so my mom and gram could be there as well. they came down saturday and austin picked Famous Dave's for his birthday dinner.

emo-austin @ dinner (and don't worry, i'm taking him for a haircut tomorrow!)

all of us at FD's (minus nathan, he had duty)

we came home after dinner and had cake. it was a store-bought carrot cake because the cake i attempted to make him was a catastrophe. i baked it for the longest time the recipe called for and it still came out raw and gooey in the middle. blech.

today we woke up to a beautiful mother's day....it was warm and sunny and gorgeous. we all went to church and then attempted to go to lunch. first we tried the Yacht Club....where they said they couldn't seat us til at least 4 (it was 12:45 at the time). okay. onto the next option. we called the Boat Shed to see how long the wait would be there. they could not get us in PERIOD today without a reservation. ach. so then i called Anthony's, where they said if we hurried they could seat us out on the deck. hallelujah. we scurried over there and had a FABULOUS lunch with some of the most beautiful views around.

all the mommies at lunch :)

this may well be my fave POTD (pic o' the day :) this seagull was sitting on the roof where we were eating and as i went to take his pic, he flew off. i like how it turned out.

mama's day lunch @ anthony's.

after lunch we came home and relaxed/played outside and enjoyed the pretty weather.

me and my silly bunch.

me and my babies &hearts

thanks for looking!

guess who's coming to dinner?!

2010-05-02T23:17:00.000-07:00

can you guess?

it's someone SUPAH-cute.....

with a hearty appetite.....

and fuzzy antlers.....

it's our backyard deer! this guy showed up today and we all sat and stared at him; i LOVE his fuzzy antlers and wanted to run out and give him a great big deer-hug! but i don't think he would've liked that :( we get lots of girl deer but not a lot of boys....so i love catching a glimpse of them when they stop by!

perusing the all-you-can-eat salad buffet....

"i think i'll try a little of this...."

"hhmmm, it could use a little dressing."

excuse my blurry sub-par photography. i am a point and shoot kinda gal, with (very) limited photography skills. plus i was shooting through the window, but all my shots kept turning out super dark. *finally* figured out i could adjust the ISO and take a halfway decent photo (c'mon work with me here, at least you can tell it's a deer LOL)

thanks for looking at our backyard pet! :)

a mei tai for scarlett.

2010-05-01T22:14:00.000-07:00

my friend robyn asked me last sunday if i could possibly whip up a carrier for her wedding today. her son ike was going to wear her baby scarlett in the wedding but she realized that none of her carriers really "matched". i happily accepted. she gave me a carrier that fit ike well to use as a model, and this is what i came up with:

her older daughter leona in a back carry:

it is reversible, the other side of the body is a black on black damask (the same print as the green).

and a pic of ike wearing her today (i LOVE it!)

and just cause i like this pic, robyn and her gorgeous family!

thanks for looking!

a late earth-day project. or an early teacher-appreciation one.

2010-04-25T00:58:00.000-07:00

so this is actually something i made for katie's teacher next week for teacher appreciation week, but it ties in nicely with earth day this past week too! i wanted something cute, unique, that Mrs. V might actually use, but cheap. (cause i'm poor.) and this fit the bill. cause i made it completely FREE. well, i am going to get a $5 starbucks gift card to go with it, but still. that's gettin' off pretty good.

i got the inspiration for this coffee sleeve at RootsAndWingsCo but she didn't have an actual pattern (she just said to use a disposable one as your pattern, but since it was late at night and i didn't have a disposable one and seriously doubted starbucks was open at 11:30 at night and even if they were, it's not like i was going to run over there) so i found an actual pattern for one here, at the small object. all the fabric i used (except for the back) was from my scrap bin, great use of those little pieces! i sewed a strip of scraps together until it was big enough to fit the pattern. i didn't want them to be straight lines, i wanted all kinds of funky angles. then i ironed some fusible fleece to the back (for weight, and insulation) and quilted on both sides of the seams of all my pieces. i used some other fabric i already had for the back. the velcro makes it adjustable, i tried it on several different size cups i had on hand and it worked like a charm!

the "I take my coffee GREEN" coffee sleeve

thanks for looking!