My brother Caleb and his girlfriend Jamie welcomed their new little boy Christian Alexander early this morning! I am making due for now with photos and video via cells phones and the internet (that's why this picture is so dark- sorry!), but am super anxious to get over to the westside and see him and hold him in person. Isn't he so sweet and handsome? Congratulations Caleb + Jamie! And welcome baby Christian! I love you!
P.S. My Ten on Ten will be up tomorrow...
My cute, sweet sister-in-law Kelsey is on Wheel of Fortune tonight! I haven't watched the show in years, but you better believe I am watching it tonight with the whole family! I can't tell you whether she wins or not, you just have to watch it for yourself...
{photo via a picture is worth a thousand words}
Me: A super yummy super easy dinner recipe from my mother-in-law (will post with the bread recipe tomorrow!), a fun play day with cousins and auntie Amy- having them here all day definitely made the day go by so much faster, the kids are in bed sound asleep, reading about this sweet friend's happy news, and for two very special veterans in my life- my father-in-law Doug + my cousin Kyle.
Erik: "The kids being in bed when I get home. Is that too mean?" (I don't think so!)
Audrey: "Playing with Parker! I love to play with him and just be with him!" I think my girl has a little cousin crush!
Elliot: Playing with cousins, having Grandpa home all day, footie jammies with cars + trucks on them, and ripping mama and daddy's books off of the big bookshelf.
What are you grateful for today?
P.S. Please forgive me for being such an awful blog commenter lately! The rest of this week is going to be pretty crazy as I get ready for my big trip, but hopefully I will be able to get back into the swing of things next week.
I know this seems like a totally random photo, but I guess that is what I love about it. It was taken on the same day as this one. I love that it makes me think about that lovely little afternoon- driving around in our car after church, trying to get the kids to take naps before we headed to the park to take pictures and play in the leaves. We stopped for coffee and lunch, driving through drive-thru's to keep the kids asleep. Once we got to the park, it was much harder to get the beautiful shots we were hoping for than we expected- it was cold and the kids just wanted to run around, not sit still for the camera. But we got some of my favorite shots of the year, even though it felt chaotic and impossible at the time. I love all the different colors in this picture and how you can see Elliot trying to run away. I love the little glimpse of my beautiful wedding + engagement rings, my stripey socks and my teacher shoes (practical Birkenstock gardening clogs left over from being a preschool teacher). I love how Audrey won't let go of her big leaf. Yes, it is a random photo, but it reminds me of how very blessed I am to be living this sweet little life.
Today we are grateful for...
Andi: For my sweet step-Grandma Pat, church this morning (the whole service was all about prayer and it was just so encouraging and challenging and beautiful...), yummy homemade chicken pot-pie + chocolate-chip cookies (it was totally a comfort food type of day), and most of all for my darling husband who is seriously the best husband ever. I am embarassed to admit this, but he seriously gets up with the kids almost every morning and lets me sleep in "just five more minutes" (that more often than not turns into 10-60 more minutes...). He is so great and I love him so much!
Erik: I completely forgot to ask him what he is grateful for before he headed to bed...but I think one thing he might say he is grateful for is that we actually made it on time for church this morning! We are nearly always late- please tell me we are not the only family that struggles with this...
Audrey: "Going to Parker's house and candy camping" (Okay, so cutest thing ever: she keeps calling "trick or treating"- "candy camping" and I have no idea why! But it makes me smile every time she does it).
Elliot: Playing chase and "boo" with Daddy, reading books before bed, brushing his teeth (when he does it himself- he pretty much hates it when I do it), and drinking milk with a straw.
What are you grateful for today?
My step-dad Rick's beautiful mama, Pat, passed away this morning after a really long battle with cancer. I was only able to see Grandma Pat at family get-togethers over the eight years that my mom and Rick have been together (we never lived in the same town), so I feel like I never got to know her as well as I wanted to. But she was always so welcoming to me and my family. She adored Audrey and Elliot, bringing them sweet little gifts from the travels + adventures her and her husband Merle (they would have been married 48 years in December) were always on and always loved doting on them when we were at my mom's. And she loved my mom and Rick so much. She will definitely be missed.
Please keep my mom and Rick and the rest of their family in your prayers.
P.S. If you want to read my mama's sweet post about Pat, it is here
{I stole the photo of Pat from my mom's blog}
I spent the first part of my eight days on the westside in Olympia, visiting my sister and her sweet little baby. I had high hopes of helping her with her three kids, making meals for her, and cleaning her house...what was I thinking? It was pretty much impossible to be any help to her while taking care of Audrey and Elliot- I think we actually made things more chaotic for her than easier! Well, I guess I was able to make her one dinner and clean her kitchen. And I did teach her how to swaddle Indiana; I am quite experienced in that being that it was Audrey and Elliot's favorite way to sleep as babies. Oh, and of course, even when it is crazy with all five (!) of our kids running around, I always love hanging out with my sister and miss her like crazy when we're not together.
My sister and I and all of the little munchkins also met my dad for coffee one afternoon. We basically took over Starbucks, with drinks being spilled, kids pushing each other around in highchairs, and of course me snapping pictures as fast as I could. Crazy but really lovely to be all together. It was actually my dad's first time seeing all of the grandkids in one place, so that made it especially sweet for us.
The kids and I just spent eight days over on the westside of the state visiting friends and family. I was crazy and went without Erik; he had to work and I was really anxious to meet my newest little nephew. It was a really fun trip, but definitely very challenging to take care of Audrey and Elliot by myself for that long. I think I spent at least 15 hours of the trip just trying to get my kids to sleep- you know how hard it is for little ones to sleep away from home.
I have lots of highlights and photos to share over the next week or so. I got to catch up with so many friends and family during the trip that I have not seen for quite awhile. And I think an entire post will also be coming on me getting to meet this dear friend for the very first time. That was a highlight indeed!
But for now, I just want to share a few of my favorite pictures I took of little Indie with his mama (my sister) and his big sister Milla. It was my very first time shooting an infant and I really love how the pictures turned out.
My newest nephew came into the world this morning at 6:30 am after a crazy hard labor for my poor sister! Amanda and Phil have not officially decided on his name yet, but I hear that he is beautiful, sweet, and little- 7 pounds, 3 ounces and 19 inches long. Congratulations Amanda, Phil, Milla, and Hudson! I can't wait to meet him!
P.S. I will post his name as soon as I hear it!
Edited (7.18.08 @ 5:04pm): Still no name- they are waiting a couple of days to decide on their very favorite. But here are a few pictures I just got over email of the beautiful boy!
Edited (7.19.08 @ 9:54pm): My sister called me tonight and told me the sweet boy's name- Indiana Moon! So cute! I am seriously dying to meet him, but will have to wait another week or so...
One big side note to start things off:
This picture is from Halloween- my little elf and sweet princess on the left, Amy's Superman and bumblebee on the right. Audrey was a princess because princesses have become one of her biggest passions of late, and Elliot was an elf because, well, he kind of looks like one! Especially when his ears are sticking out of his hat and his mama dresses him in cute handknit overalls from a dear old friend. These pictures will most likely embarrass him when he is older, but I am sure I will still think they are adorable, even then.
Recently I came to the conclusion that I am going to have to accept the fact that I will never get a good photo of my kids when I really want one. Take Halloween for instance- this shot is pretty much one of the best of the night (from my camera, anyway), and it is not that great! I seriously tried all night to get a shot of Audrey alone in her princess costume and it was impossible! The girl was moving nonstop all night long. Yet whenever I pull out my camera to take random shots with no pressure to get "the perfect shot", I always come away with something I love.
Note to self: Take more every day pictures and do not be so stinkin' idealistic about the holiday ones.
Now on to what I really intended this post to be about...
what i love about eastern washington :: family and an attitude adjustment
Last week I had a few "woe is me" kind of days where I just missed Bellingham and my life there so much. Change is just hard (there is no way around that) and I have been through so much of it the past few months- having a baby, becoming a mama of two, moving across the state, going from city living to country living...I think if I just had one of those changes to deal with it would be difficult enough, but all of those things combined is just pretty rough sometimes.
Last Tuesday (the 6th) was a really hard day. I am not really sure why it was so bad- nothing stands out in my mind as being the reason the day was rough; it just was. Erik was gone all morning and when he came home in the afternoon to grumpy old me, we both thought that getting the family out of the house would be the solution to ending my blues. But it didn't make it better. Ice-cream and Target didn't work (I know, I can hardly believe it myself. Two of my favorite things and it didn't work). As we were driving home in the dark (Day-Light Savings Time, you are evil), NPR on the radio and two munchkins crying together in the backseat, I thought, "This really kind of sucks. This parenting thing is so incredibly hard. This living in eastern Washington thing is so hard." Erik took that moment to interrupt my thoughts with, "So you really want three kids someday." He always brings that argument (I want three, he wants two) up at the perfect moment. But at least it made me laugh.
And that night, after everyone was in bed and I had the peace and quiet of the house to myself, God reminded me that things were really not that bad. That really the reason my day was so hard had nothing to do with my circumstances and everything to do with my attitude. Yes, change is hard and adjusting to my new life, our new normal will take awhile. But I can choose to have a better attitude about it all. I can choose to make the best of what I have and be a happy, kind person to the people I care about instead of a big grump. And that is something I think God wanted me to learn that I could not have learned back in my content little comfort zone in Bellingham.
And God reminded me of how incredibly blessed we are to live by our family. It is so, so wonderful to be able to see them so often. They are incredible, amazing people that I would choose to have as friends if they were not family. We have so much fun together and I love the fact that Audrey and Elliot have all of them in their everyday lives. Of course, I miss my own immediate family like crazy- they are now all about six hours away- but I feel so grateful to at least be by some of my family rather than none at all.
This post is becoming quite novel-like, but I want to include a few more of the things I love about living by family:
Our Thursday night Survivor dates with Erik's parents. Dad makes yummy popcorn and we sit around and watch and talk about the show.
Audrey and Elliot getting to grow up with their cousins. I never lived nearby any of my own cousins, so I think it is so special that they will all know each other so well.
Getting to hang out with the girls- my sister-in-laws and my mother-in-law. Such beautiful ladies whose company I enjoy so very, very much.
Learning more about my husband's family and childhood. It seems like almost every day I learn something new about Erik or his family, and it just makes me love him and them all the more.
Being surrounded by people who I feel really "get" me. Because Erik and I have been together for a long time, I have also known his family for a long time- eleven years to be exact. It is so comforting to be around people who know me. Who I share tons of history with. Who understand me.
