Sunday, March 31, 2013

Spring Break 2013

Well we survived a totally unplanned, unscheduled spring break this year. We got to enjoy the quiet neighborhood as so many folks seemend to be out of town this past week. We had fun exploring new neighborhoods on foot and we took advantage of free swimming lessons at the community center. We ended our week with a trip to the ocean and a visit from Aunt Amanda. We got lucky and had beautiful weather at the coast and amazingly warm temperatures when we got back to Portland. Windows open, park loitering, outside margarita  drinking kind of weather.

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I finally got my belated Birthday trip to the aquarium. I could watch the moon jellyfish swim for hours, amazing and unreal. Ben and I got the kids to cooperate long enough for us to visit the Rouge Brewery for dinner, one of our favorite Newport places. My all time favorite Newport haunt  is the historic bay front and the barking sea lions on the docks, my animal loving baby Nalah though they were pretty great too.
Solomon got to fly his new kite with great success after a frustrating attempt earlier in the week on the Columbia river. Kite flying was a little too easy and he lost interest leaving me to take over the job. I don't fly kites nearly enough.

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It is going to be hard to get back into the old routine if the weather stays this beautiful next week.


Sunday, March 17, 2013

Nalah's First Birthday Party....

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Last weekend we celebrated Nalah's Birthday with a few of our friends and her Uncle Cory. It was a beautiful sunny warm day and there were lots of bubbles and cupcakes and a good time was had by all,but most of all the Birthday Girl. She was playing like a big kid with all her older friends. She seems so much more grown up since then. She is taking her one year milestone very seriously.
She took her first steps a few days before her Birthday and has been putting lots of practice in since then. She still prefers to crawl since she can keep up with her brother better that way.

I made her a video much like the one I made for Solomon's first year. I don't feel as sad this time around. First Birthdays were really emotional for me with my other two babies, I always loved the baby stage so much. I am happy Nalah is getting bigger. She was never happy trapped in her little baby body, now that she is able to get around and play she is a much happier baby, and I am a happier mama too.

But looking back at how fast it went it's hard not to get a little teary.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

First trip around the sun....

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Our sweet, clever, beautiful girl is celebrating her first trip around the sun today!
Happy Happy First Birthday dear Nalah,
We love you so!

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

My Birthday Weekend...

I celebrated my Birthday with some friends this past Friday night. It was also national margarita day so we had to celebrate that too ;). I reunited with a friend I had not seen in almost 10 years. We ran into each other at a concert a few weeks ago and joked about celebrating our birthdays together watching  a funk band we used to go see often when we first moved into Portland many years ago. Well after looking into it (thank you Google)I found that they still played out and had a gig the Friday before my birthday at the same bar we used to see them at. Too perfect. So we met up there along with some other good friends and had a great time dancing to funk all night long. The band even sang Happy Birthday to us and played a Stevie Wonder song for me. There was also an Eddie Vedder doppelganger that had us all laughing like crazy.  It was a great time, It has been a very long time since I went out and celebrated my Birthday, they have been pretty uneventful in the past few years. Last year I was huge overdue pregnant on my birthday and all I though about was having a baby. SO happy to have her on the outside this year.
Originally I wanted to head out to the ocean on my Birthday but I heard though the grapevine the weather was going to be super wet and windy with snow in the mountains so we decided to put our coast trip on hold for a calmer day. Nice weather would be a lot more fun for the kids although I would be perfectly happy agate hunting in the pouring rain.
So instead we decided to stick around the city on Saturday. We watched Solomon enjoy his first baseball class in the morning.It was adorable. They learned how to run the bases and practiced catching and throwing, at the end of class they each took a turn at bat and Solomon hit the first pitch. Nothing cuter than little kids playing sports together.
Then we went out to a thrift store called Rerun that I had always wanted to stop at, but it never seemed like a good time. I felt like I was in a Portlandia episode as the check out guy had a handlebar moustache and was juggling. I found a pair of walking shoes for super cheap something I have needed for a long time, great birthday thrift score. Then we headed out to the Arboretum in Washington Park for a little hike, the sun came out and the lighting was beautiful and I got a chance to try out my new(to me) shoes. We had planned on going out to eat that evening, but we were all pretty pooped out by the time we got home and going out to eat on a Saturday at my kids bedtime sounded more stressful than fun so we got Chinese take out instead and Ben brought home a super huge brownie desert for us to share. So we had a quiet night a home, a perfect compliment to the night before :)

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Friday, February 15, 2013

Here comes spring!

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Signs of spring are everywhere, crocuses, sunny puddle walks, bike rides and fun times at the park.
Today is 61* and sunny, I'll take it!
We are supposed to get rain this weekend so I am soaking up as much sun as I can.
Here is to spring!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day

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Goobie Rue is celebrating her first Valentines today. The last of the first holidays for her as she will be one next month!
If it's your first or your 101st, Happy Valentine's Day!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

11 Months!

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Well, I am a day late posting this but Nalah is 11 months old!!
yay!
Where does the time go?
I finally got a baby who likes to swing!

She also has been saying several new words, like: thank you(ang oo), oh oh, bye bye, gentle(dentow),woof woof,brother(bwow),sister(tehtur).
She loves funk music and kitties... I think we just found her Birthday Party theme for next month :)
We love you so much Baby Goose!