Portlandia

It's really hard to admit that this show is SO Portland. I'm somewhat embarrassed to say this really is the city I love dearly. But it's also freakin' hilarious! So far, this is my favorite sketch.

When I heard this story about the show on Morning Edition, I sat in my car in the parking lot at school laughing out loud.

I do suspect that the only people actually watching this show are Portlanders or Portland expats. Hopefully everyone can enjoy a laugh at Portland's expense. And it's ok. We're laughing too!

Swinger

Photo by Heidi

We've got quite the swinger on our hands it seems.  When we go to the playground near our house all Levi wants to do is swing.  He will play on the slide and climb around on the play structure for a while, but swinging is where it's at.  He will even throw a bit of a fit when we get him out of the swing sometimes.

Playdate

Since Monday was a holiday and I had the day off, Weston and Danelle came over to play.
I made muffins and coffee.
The boys played, and us girls got a chance to catch up.

For the most part the boys did really well playing together. Pretty minimal complaints about having to share toys. The only time it got a little heated was when Weston got in the Lego storage bin and I pushed him around on the carpet while he was sitting in it. Levi thought Weston's turn needed to be over RIGHT NOW and just got into the bin while Weston was between rides. Both of them squished into one small plastic bin resulted in tears from both boys. Not sure if the tears were a result of injury or frustration. Pretty sure it was because both wanted rides at the same time. So, here's the photo of Levi trying to squeeze himself in, and force Weston out of the bin. The tears were starting to flow as I took this picture so it's clearly not that great. Wish I would have had time to get the shot from the other angle.

Hope this isn't a sign...

about the state my marriage is in. Or it would signal a state of complete neglect. Which I have to believe isn't entirely the case since we managed to have some "date nights" over the holidays.

We got this planter for our anniversary 2 years ago and I haven't managed to keep a plant that's occupied it alive. First it was this I killed off. And now this lovely (well...it was lovely once) succulent. The trouble with me and house plants is, I forget to water them. Guess a cactus is going in this planter next. Now what statement does that make about my marriage?

Fun to play with...

but not to eat. Or at least so says the label on the Play-Doh.

See what I made!

Levi certainly thinks that Play-Doh is fun stuff to play with.  Especially squashing all the balls that Heidi or I make for him.  He also seems to think that it might be fun to eat, but we've made sure he doesn't actually get too much in his mouth.

Interesting...

Gabe saw this article and we thought it was interesting given the theme we've picked to define our year.
Click here if you want to check it out.

Play can happen with ANYTHING

I know I'm about 12 hours late with this post...way to start my new goal. We had a last minute invitation to a friend's house for dinner. Got home after Levi's bed time and Gabe and I sat down to watch this. Thoughts of this new challenge didn't even cross my mind. That is, not until I was laying in bed unable to sleep. Should have just gotten up and done it then. Anyway...here's my first photo for my photo of the week project.In this house, almost anything can be played with. One of Levi's favorite "toys" are the pots and pans in the cupboard next to the oven. He stands in the small ones, claps the lids on the floor to make loud noises, and on Friday night as we got dinner together...he decided to lug this big one around with him. I suspect it's just his way of showing off how strong he is.

Photo of the Week

Well, I'm ready to announce the challenge I'm giving myself this year. This year my goal is to take a photo a week.
We started this blog four years ago with the challenge to take a photo every day for a year. Our hope was not only to document the big and small events of our lives, but also to force ourselves to be creative while improving our photography skills. With the additional member of our family, that challenge is no longer something we have time for. But I think we can do a photo every week.
In thinking about taking a photo every week, I didn't want it to be just any photo. I still want it to encourage us to be creative and improve our photography. So I'm thinking that maybe we'll take a picture every week around a theme. I'd like it to be a theme of what we want to focus our year around. Something we really want to focus our time and energy on in this new year, 2011. So the theme of 2011 is...PLAY.
We already play a lot around here but I'm hoping that taking a picture every week, with the thought of play in mind, will encourage me to let some things go and play even more. I often get caught up in the work I bring home, the dishes I need to do, and Angry Birds on my phone. I want to be more intentional about playing with my boys. And in the process, enjoying more of the small moments of the year.
My goal is to post each Saturday, a picture from the week. Who knows what my interpretation of play might be at that moment. I'm hoping Gabe might join me in this...but I haven't really asked him yet. The true goal is for this to help focus me on something I really want to do more of this year. We'll see what happens.

Week of stay-cation in photos...

Gabe and I both head back to work tomorrow, very reluctantly I might add.

Here's what we've been up to over our second week, enjoying our time at home.

Sunday: Tom made us a great brunch of Plumlee sausage gravy with biscuits.

Monday: Levi clearly wants to go home with his grandpa and grandma. He just needs to figure out how to get Tinka out of her crate.

Tuesday: Dinner and play time with the Wilkinsons. So glad we got to see them while they were here visiting from DC. Levi had fun "playing" with Zachary.

Wednesday: Play time at the pool and dinner after wards at one of Gabe's favorite places.

Thursday: Gabe got some work done on his car. With Joe's help he got the engine out of his car, now Joe will put it into their Vanagon.

Friday: Sausage making (see previous post)

Friday and into Saturday: Celebrating the New Year! Levi stayed overnight at G & G Girard's house while we went to Alexis and Eric's to play games and celebrate the end of 2010 and the start of 2011.
I have a new blog project idea. I might be ready to share it later today or tomorrow. Gabe leaves Tuesday to head to Florida for work (again). So, I might even wait to share it then. To be honest, I'm having trouble letting anything tear me away from the book I'm reading right now.

Sausage Making 101

Gabe and I have been thinking about grinding our own meat for a while. No better way to know exactly what's in the ground beef you're eating! When Gabe's aunt offered us a chance to buy some of the pigs she hand raises, we decided buying half a pig would be awesome! Most of the pig was processed by the butcher, cut and ready to eat. Instead of having the butcher turn the scraps into sausage, we decided this would be a perfect chance to try grinding our own meat. Gabe's dad and Joanne got me this for Christmas, and yesterday we ground half of the scraps into 1lb packages of ground pork and the other half into breakfast sausage using this recipe.

While Gabe trimmed and cut the meat. I mixed all the spices and herbs together.

Then we mixed everything together.

And sent it through the grinder.It was really easy! This is going to open up a whole new world to the best burgers and sausages imaginable. I think sausage will be on the breakfast menu in our house tomorrow! Next year, when we buy another half a pig from Aunt Jaki, we may take on making our own bacon too.