Monday, January 30, 2012

Perfect Sunday

* Woke up early to find John still watching the Australian Open men's final (heartbreaker Nadal!)
* Took August for a run in the stroller and a big brilliant full rainbow kept us company for the last 15 mins.
* August took a morning nap, which gave John and I more time to snooze, read, and drink tea as the rain poured down outside. Cozy.
* After a grilled cheese, we went to the dog park. Is there anything more fun than playing outside in rain puddles with a 2 year old boy?
* Read new dino books from the library
* Fell asleep on the couch together, 2nd nap of the day for both of us. Is there anything more snuggly than cuddling up with a 2 year old boy for a nap?
* John and August had a boys night and made dinner and root beer floats, while I went to a friend's house for dinner.
* Our wonderful neighbor was at our house when I got home, with multiple bottles of wine! We stayed up until midnight.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Memorable trip to the grocery store

August belted out songs from Dinosaur Train the whole time we shopped...then puked apple cider and oranges (the store's free samples - I guess we went overboard) all over our groceries.

Then he kept singing as the nice New Seasons guy helped us clean up, while telling everyone who walked by, "I puked!"

I know people were giving us the evil eye but I couldn't stop laughing.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Still a dinosaur

Head butting sleeping bags (better than me or the dogs)

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Snow!

Blast from the past

Thanks Elizabeth! Can't believe you still have this.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Puddle stompin'

Is there anything better?

Friday, January 13, 2012

Where am I?

We've been going nonstop for the past several days. Fun overnight trip to Seattle for work (300+ people at our REI event!), August sleeping over at grandma and grandpa's (popcorn and The Lion King. Ask him to sing Hakuna Matata), rental cars (and taking car seats out, in, out, in), board meetings and budgets (late nights for John), dentist appointments (numb lip)...

It's all I can do to remember keys, wallet, phone. So I couldn't understand why the gas station attendant was shouting at me this morning when I started filling up the rental car. Something about "...against the law!"

Oh, right. Because I'm not in Seattle.

I'm back in Portland, where they do it for you.

Got it. Thanks. At least it's Friday.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Treasures

I love how A. decides the simplest things have such value. All night he has been carrying around and playing with this empty root beer can, carrot, and old shopping bag. I thought I'd capture the little still life he momentarily left on the step.

Why do we buy him toys when this is what he wants to play with?

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Sweet dreams baby

Went to a friend's baby shower today and we all brought squares that will be sewn into a quilt. Such a great idea. Here is my square. Lots of fun family river trips ahead!

Friday, January 6, 2012

Dog park







The little boy loves the dog park. He thinks it's hilarious to run away while I'm trying to corral the dogs. He pretends he's Dingo Dog from Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, and I'm Officer Flossy chasing him, trying to give him a ticket for being a terrible driver.

Sometimes we see another dog at the park, another white and brown German wirehair pointer who looks exactly like Queets.

His name is Touchdown - isn't that a great dog name?

Portlandia moms

Ok Portlandia, you did a sketch with a river. Nice. Next time have Kath and Dave wear an AR or PRC hat! Now how about tackling motherhood/parenting. There's a lot to work with - really, it could be funny.

Consider this list that was lovingly and a little self-consciously compiled ... Toddlers with hair so long you can't tell if they are boys are girls, kids doing yoga and planting kale, Burley bike trailers and xtracycles and bakfiets for commuting/grocery shopping/camping/farmer's market outings, brew pubs with play areas, Dansko clogs and Smartwool socks, a whole lot of breastfeeding, natural home water births, kids wearing rain boots everywhere even when it isn't raining, stressing about pesticides/parabens/BPA/VOC's/sodium lauryl sulfate, cleaning with baking soda and vinegar, infants going camping/x-country skiing/on river trips, composting as a passion, kids wearing threadless-style shirts, chickens and bees and canning and urban homesteading, attachment parenting/natural parenting, co-sleeping, cloth diapers, homeopathy, moby's and ergos, no processed foods! (well, except Pirate Booty, and Annie's organic cheddar bunnies), knitting and other hipster-mom craftiness, potty-learning not potty-training, Mo Phillips, the Alphebeticians, and Olive Rootbeer, OMSI ...

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Dino love

Dear little girl in the toy store video who knows a lot about dinosaurs,

I can't believe they said that was a triceratops! How dumb. It is so obviously not a triceratops! But I don't have to tell you that. I think you are really smart, and cute. I know you are older than me, but I'm pretty smart for my age. I have a lot of cool dinos, and dino books, if you want to come over to my house to play. See? This is my coffee table.



And this is my T Rex on morning patrol.



My uncle thinks you are my future wife.

Love,

Auggie K.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Put a fish on it

Birds? Ok, maybe. But the people I know in Portland put fish on things. Maybe because we fish, or we like rivers, or we can't help it because salmon still swim through our city, up the Willamette, up Johnson Creek and that is very cool. Trout are cool too, wild trout. But wild salmon are cooler (don't even mention farmed salmon). And wild steelhead are the coolest. According to my husband, the former fishing guide.

A's first word was fish (with seriously no coaching/prompting from us. He just pointed to this driftwood art and said "shish.")



We have fish on a lot of things.











But oh, I guess we do have birds, too.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Cozy and grateful

Reading Birds of Paradise by Portland author Diana Abu-Jaber. Drinking a big mug of sweet milky chai. My little boy napping on the couch next to me. Good way to wrap up vacation. About to put veggies in the oven and make some lemon chicken for dinner.

Today, we also...went to the dog park (where I practice my new year's resolution to be more patient. With A. With the dogs. Nobody comes when I call them...I yell and then worry everyone thinks I am a mean mom)



And papa put the bell on the new bike from Nana.

Last day of vacation

I was thinking our dining room table needed a little centerpiece. So on our run this morning A and I collected some pretty lichen- covered sticks. And now even though the Christmas tree is gone, we can still enjoy one of A's favorite ornaments...and a little reminder that spring is in the way.

Back to work tomorrow.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

New Year's Eve

We had a lovely last day of 2011. It started with sleeping in (7:30 is LATE for me). Then:

* Solo run (no stroller, no dogs...bliss!)
* A took a late morning nap. I flipped on the monitor for J, who was doing stuff around the house. And I accomplished so much - went to the fabric store to get stuff to make a square for a friend's baby shower quilt, plus a frame, pillow inserts, and other odds and ends I've needed for a while
* A still napping when I got home - so I took the dogs for a quick walk
* A still napping, so I trimmed the big row of ivy on our side yard. Felt so good to be productive.
* A woke up. Snack, reading, playing
* J watched A so I could go to the grocery store alone, which is one of life's little luxuries (funny the things that become luxuries when you become a mom). It was fun being at New Seasons, festive with everyone buying fancy cheese and champagne and treats for the night.
* Home, J started making dinner and A and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. I realized he hadn't been outside all day, so I wanted to get him out. He carried his little bowl of cheese cubes and we held hands and talked about Christmas lights and other things we saw. He is the sweetest boy in the world.

Then we got home and hung out in the kitchen while papa finished making "dish-liss" (delicious) linguine and clams.