1st anniversary

Well we made it. Tomorrow is our year anniversary. I can't believe this year has gone by so fast. Now that summer has come, I am remembering a few things that first touched my heart here. The farmer's markets, the parks, all the green. The ease of the "hot" weather here. If it is hot, you are still guaranteed to be able to open the windows and cool off the house by 7pm. Seattle, sometimes we fight and disagree and I know I have said and thought some mean things. But for now, this is where my family is and we have made a lovely little life here.

This weekend was our last weekend as a little family before the crazy of the summer kicks in. Next weekend we head to Portland for the 4th to see Randy's family (&hopefully a few old friends). My parents come the following weekend for a few weeks and then we will have a few weekends to ourselves before Jack and I head to ND for about 3 weeks. We spent the weekend looking for a new apartment and discovered the grass isn't always greener somewhere else. Did a little swimming in the complex pool. I got my first odd sunburn of the season and Randy discovered cell phones don't do well in the water, doh! Jack showed off everything he is learning at swimming lessons and we were quite impressed. Every time we have a weekend like this weekend I think to myself, 40,000 (student loans *ahh*) is a small price to pay for this kind of joy.


Jack playing a little game of frisbee in the park last weekend. Randy wouldn't let me spend $80 on RayBan Wayfarer Jr's for him - so the $2 gap kids ones will have to do.


I made some little peach mango turnovers to have for desert last night.


Jack went a little crazy for them :)

Fish Taco Face

This is what happens when you try to feed your 6 yr old fish tacos.



For the first 2 years of his life Jack only ate ham or turkey deli meat - anything else he just wouldn't eat. I tried in vain to get him to eat hamburger, chicken, turkey anything. Then one day it dawned on me, pink is his favorite color, salmon is pink, tell him it is pink meat. Needless to say I spent most of the night at dinner sitting there with my mouth open staring at him putting piece after piece of salmon in his mouth and loving it. "Mama, can I hab sob more pink meat peas?"

always and nevers: update

Sarah is making me do a list of always-es and nevers for me, she loved Jack's but wants mine, so because I always listen to my sister, here are mine:

Always:
1. MAC studio fix - I swear by it, it covers you skin great, has an amaizing range of shades to cover the range of skin tones out there. And hey - if it is good enough to cover a drag queen's 5 o'clock shadow, it's gotta be good enough to cover my little imperfections. Anytime I have ever swayed or strayed I have ended up regretting it.

2. Big bag - as a mom and a wife I am always carrying around other people's stuff. I need a bag that is cute and can also survive whatever they want me to carry in it. I am pretty picky about them too. I used to have a thing for designer bags - and believe me I still covet them - but for now I just need something that is gonna stand the test of time, make it through a few seasons and get me hordes of complements. These are the 2 I will be rocking through the summer along with the cute beach bag I got for the pool this summer:



and I have been searching for a good grey bag, i just think it will go with so much and work with browns and blacks.



3. Shoes - I wish I could narrow it down to one favorite - but all of my shoes are my favorites. I am sure parents of more then one child can relate - you can't possibly love one more then the other - well each pair is special to me and I picked them for very specific reasons. Yes, on more then one occasion I have been referred to as Imelda... Here are the ones I wear the most right now:



4. Navy & White stripes - I am sure my hubs is getting tired of seeing me in different variations of this. But I don't care, I love it, it makes me feel French, with my little striped shirt and ballet flats... or sandals... or red stacked heel pumps. It's just so versatile. Seriously if you haven't tried it, do it, you will love it.



5. Pedicures - OK ladies, if you bare your tootsies, AT ALL, ever, have them painted. It's my number 1 pet peeve. It grosses me out to see unpainted toes in public. And clear doesn't count, make it a color, have some fun. I just found the perfect shade of bright pink that I will be wearing through the summer - last year it was bright coral, this year bright pink.





Nevers
1. Skinny ankle length jeans or skinny jeans at all. Once again - I'm a little chubby and pear shaped. I really don't think these look good on anyone - even the super slim girls that wear them. They remind me of 5th grade and my acid washed girl jeans with the yoke waist and zippers with bows on the top. I was in Lane Bryant last week and seriously there they were on an end cap. Clothing designers of the world, us bigger girls just should not have certain choices. Some of us are going to buy them.



2. Sweatpants - in public. I will admit I went through a depressing period this fall when the rain came - but I have re-committed myself to not wearing sweats in public. This includes and is not limited to: fancy sweatpants (yes you with the words on your but) yoga pants as well as sweats you paid way too much for and now have to wear in public to get your monies worth. Remember a time when our mothers made us dress up to go somewhere so people would think the best of you and reminded you that first impressions count? I think we need to get back to that.



3. Long necklaces - not because I don't like them, I do love them and my sister is a jewelry designer, but I have a large chest - they just look funny on me and inevitably if I wear one, at some point it is gonna end up looped around one of the sisters and that is just not pretty.

4. White pants - OK I can see why people would want to wear them, they look so crisp and if you are rail thin, they probably will work, anyone over a certain size just looks bigger. But you have to find the perfect pair. And lets face it - about 90% of the people wearing white pants are not wearing the right pair and you can always see their unmentionables underneath. Dear white pant wearing ladies, we can see your thong and the print on your light colored underwear.



5. Maxi dresses - Again this is a mostly for me. I am 5'3"-ish. Most of the maxi dresses out there are longer then I am tall. I tried one on the other day and it was funny, I looked like a little kid in her mom's dress.



So there you go Sarah, there are my always-es and nevers - for me.

always & never

My sister tagged me.

The rules: make a list of five "always-es" and five "nevers." These must be fashion-related, I have to tag three people, and I can post any pictures I would like to post.

Since I am a mom and I blog about Jack and I, I figured I would put a spin on it and make it boy related. I find it difficult and depressing to shop for Jack because the choices are so limited. Sometimes I find myself longingly staring at the girls section just lusting after all the square footage devoted to their clothes. Granted a lot of it is crap and if I had a little girl she wouldn't be allowed to wear most of it.

Always
1. plaid - Jack wears a lot of plaid, most recently we have been stocking up on cool madras plaid knee length shorts for summer.



2. converse - Jack just got his first pair of high top chucks, he has been rocking the low tops for years. Right now he has a pair of graphic ones that are really neat.



3. jeans - always bootcut or skinny straight legged.



4. hair - we don't gel it or part it or comb it to a particular side, we wash it, muss it up and he is on the way. when i see kids with perfectly combed/gelled hair i secretly want to muss it up.

5. teeth - we brush them at least 2 times a day here.


Nevers
1. Character clothing - Since Jack was a baby I can count on one hand the amount of items that have cartoon characters on them, go ahead ask me if he ever wore them. He has one vintage super friends tee that he can wear on the weekends and jammies, I don't mind the character stuff on jammies. I distinctly remember a shopping experience where he asked for something festooned in sponge bob or the like. It went something like this:
Jack - Mom doesn't this t-shirt look cool? Can we get it?
Me - No.
Jack - But Mom Tommy and Kenny have it
Me - No Jack, you know I don't buy that stuff.
Jack - Mom, why don't you buy it?
Me - Jack, because I love you.
Also I just feel that it is generally not very well made and way over priced - if I am going to advertise something, I better be getting paid to do it.



2. heelys (those shoes with the wheels in the heel), character shoes & hiking/teva sandals. I read once where those heely shoes were causing a spike in emergency room visits and kids were developing Achilles heel problems. Also no velcro, he is 6 and has been able to tie shoes since he was 4.



3. no pleats, no carpenter pants, nothing baggy, nothing tapered. Jack is awesome, he wears mostly bootcut jeans and has one pair of skinny grey colored jeans that are pretty cool.

4. no sports jerseys or athletic stuff, which means no sweatsuits as casual wear - unless he is sick and is lounging around.

5. no message shirts, your kid shouldn't be walking around with some smart mouthed phrase on their shirt. enough said.

That's it, my always-es and nevers for Jack. I am going to tag my dear friend erika who does some really cool paintings and my friend kim who has the coolest little backyard garden in all of the world and that's it because I don't have any other friends who blog.

Mothers Day

Mothers Day morning I woke up to my guys bringing me breakfast in bed. I guess Jack had got up pretty early so he and Randy could finish their little project they had been working on. Somehow they managed to make the "Biggest Card Ever" with leftover butcher paper for the move. It was really cute, they both wrote some really nice things to me and the front of the card was decorated with flowers and bunnies and pudgy little bumble bees. I teared up a bit, the card was all I needed to know special our little family is.
For breakfast they brought me a cappuccino, my favorite tulips, a chocolate croissant and according to Randy the most expensive orange juice he has ever purchased.

mother's day letter

As I was cleaning out Jack's folder for school this morning, I found a letter that I am sure was supposed to wait for Sunday... here is an excerpt from my favorite part:

"Thank you for makeing me a suday with stroberry souse it was very good. Thank you for the choclot strobery too!"

I am sure more is to come, but this morning as we were quickly trying to get out the door. It stopped me in my tracks and made me remember what an awesome little guy I have and motherhood is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Spring Break Part 1

Jack's spring break from school is upon us and it couldn't be nicer weather. We spent the weekend out enjoying ourselves in the sun and visiting some of our favorite parks. Jack is a lucky duck and gets 2 whole weeks off this year. See... I messed up the dates of his actual break from school and made travel plans for the week he was supposed to start back. Whoops! Good thing his teacher happened to ask what we were up to for break, otherwise Randy and Jack would have had an interesting start to the morning today. Can you picture the teasing I would have taken if they would have actually went to the bus stop this morning? Ha!

Saturday we spent the morning doing a few things around the house and then headed over to the Grass Lawn Park in Redmond. Man it was crazy. Jack brought along his bike. We caught a little bit of a soccer match, did some biking and he practiced playing well with others.


Jack rock climbing

Sunday we had a later lunch and headed over to Peter Kirk Park in Kirkland. Jack and I spent many days at the park this summer as our temporary housing was right across the street. With the sun and all the families out playing it was almost like we were transported back in time. I sure do love that area - I think we would actually consider buying over there, maybe when the time comes. We also had time to grab coffee at our fave little place, St. James Coffee, still as good as ever.


Randy and I at Peter Kirk Park


Jack and I after a little biking


Jack & Randy


Jack - doing his thing

Today Jack and I officially kicked off our spring break together. This morning we had a few errands to run for our trip on Wednesday, after that we headed back over to the Grass Lawn and wondered around and played for awhile before heading back to our place. I decided to pack a picnic lunch of peanut butter sandwiches and mangoes and we headed out to the park behind the house for lunch and we did some puzzles in the sunshine (I even think I got a sunburn). All this sun has made me anxious for summer and I just can't wait for it now.