Celebrating Summer

It sure was hard to go to work yesterday.
After the long weekend, we are so ready for summer.  Plus we have very special guests in town for the next few weeks.

Since Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to summer, we did a few summer like things.
We went to the farmers market.

 Levi only asked a dozen times if we could get strawberries.

And of course we had the whole family over for a BBQ on Monday afternoon.

 It was great to actually have the whole family here together.

I've got to make this a quick update since we have two boys to get into bed tonight.  I'll plan on posting later this week.  Levi is enjoying all his time with his cousins.  (Especially one 6 year old boy cousin who he thinks is just the coolest kid he's ever seen.)
This is the kid he's talking about:

Levi informed me tonight that Sawyer is his "best friend."

Umbrella Planter

The weather has been amazing the last few weeks and we've been working outside a lot.

I've been meaning to share this little project, but this week was totally crazy!  Our evenings were so busy.

Gabe got the inspiration for our umbrella here.

Step one:

Put river rock into the bottom of a large planter/pot.  Put 2 feet of ABS pipe into the river rock. 

Step two:

Put one 50 lb bag of mixed concrete into the planter.

Step three:
Put wooden dowels into the concrete and leave them in until the concrete is dry.

Step four:
Put potting soil in and plant!

And here's a picture of what our deck looks like now with our new table and umbrella!
Now all we need is a new deck!
That's our big outside project scheduled for some time in July/August.

Happy "Muvers" Day

That's what it sounds like when Levi wishes me a Happy Mother's Day.  It's pretty dang cute!

We've had an awesome weekend.
80 degree weather sure helps us enjoy the few days we have off to their fullest.
Today, I wanted to celebrate Mother's day by spending time with my favorite guys.
Gabe made us amazing cinnamon rolls for a late breakfast this morning. 

And then we spent the day just playing outside and enjoying the sun.
Since this is Sunday, and we do love good food at our house, Gabe grilled dinner.

Levi told me several times that he's getting me a green Ferrari for Mother's Day.  But it has yet to appear in the driveway, so I may have to wait for it to arrive next year.
Pretty sure that's the gift he wants to give me because it's his favorite race car (other than Lightening) and green is my favorite color.  I was given some much needed the spa time by the boys.  I sure do need a hair cut/color and a massage.  Hopefully I can get in next weekend!
I'm going to try coloring my hair for the first time.  I've been talking about it for months as more and more gray hairs are sprouting.  But when Levi told me this week at dinner that my hair is "dark brown with some gray in the back" the final decision was made.

We are very thankful for all the "Muvers" in our lives.

Happy Mother's Day!

Solo Sunday

Actually, Levi and I have been solo all weekend.
Gabe's been racing down gravel roads co-driving for his friend Doug.

The rally started out at PIR on Friday evening.  I decided to take my last personal day (if I don't use them I loose them) and we went out to watch for a little while.
Here's Gabe and Levi with the race car.  Levi says the car is "good".  He would LOVE the car to be red!  (I love the decal of Mt. Hood on the hood!)

Levi got to try out the co-driver's seat.

He liked it.  But was very concerned about how dirty the car is.  Apparently, in his mind, all race cars are really clean.

So Levi and I have had a fun weekend here at home.
We took a trip to the park and library.
We had a little movie night.  We watched this together because Levi's pretty into bugs right now.  I didn't remember the mean grasshoppers.  It was a little scarier than I thought it would be!

We did the grocery shopping together.  (Which Gabe and Levi usually do so he was a big help!)
We planted our garden.

Yes...those are Lightening McQueen garden gloves and spade.  I couldn't resist them!  Probably one of the reasons it's a good idea that Gabe do most of the shopping in our house.
We had a picnic lunch outside.

 And after lunch we blew bubbles while enjoying the sunshine. 

 

The weekend had it's ups and downs (like an over tired toddler refusing to nap yesterday.)

But I got in a work out every day during nap time.  And since Gabe was gone, I spent my time reading this.  Great story!  I highly recommend it.

What I didn't get done was laundry and dishes.  They sure have piled up.

I dropped Levi off at Grandma and Grandpa G's house after nap time so I could do some clothes shopping and have a night off myself.

Since I have the evening to myself, I must choose between "the chores" or "the crafts".  But I might just choose a glass (or two) of wine and a half hour in the hot tub.

Great dinner guests

My Grandma and Grandpa Girard came over for supper tonight.

They don't live far but we don't get over to visit them as much as we should.  So I was happy when they excepted our invite to Sunday Supper.
We had some time to visit before supper was ready.  Levi made sure to show off plenty by spinning around in circles and introducing great Grandparents to all his cars and trains.

Gabe roasted another amazing piece of pork for dinner.

He rubbed it with rosemary, thyme and oregano.  And made a sauce to go with it inspired by this.  The meal was completed by some mashed potatoes, turnips and chives.  (I threw in some cream cheese and cream too.)  And my favorite, roasted asparagus.  I also cut up some strawberries and whipped up some cream for dessert.  My son has a new found love of whipped cream.  After he finished his strawberries he insisted he was still hungry but declined Gabe's offers for more pork, asparagus and fruit.  So he had some oranges...with whipped cream!  His dad's idea.  Not mine!

Guest Bathroom Revealed

 This is what we started with:

We took this picture of the downstairs guest bathroom when we looked at the house almost three years ago.
Notice the cheap red vinyl tile? The outdated standard builder vanity?  The fake marble blue counter tops and the striped wallpaper?  It was a beauty.
The only thing we ended up keeping was the toilet and shower.  Neither of us could justify buying a new toilet (even though it is off white) when it works perfectly fine.  Eventually we'll hire someone to come and redo all of our showers but that will require some more saving first.
So we tore everything else out.  It was a lot of work! (Remember this post about all the work we did in a short amount of time?)

 And it was just play for one of us!

As always, the hard work and time was worth it.
Drum roll please...

Here's the finished bathroom:

All ready for my sister and her family to visit at the end of the month.  That is if I can convince my mom to let them stay over at our house instead of her house!

Sunny Sunday Supper

I had this great plan to create an Earth day post along with our Sunday supper this week.

But this weekend has been pretty much non-stop activity and I'm exhausted.  The weather has been amazing and the last thing I wanted to do was put together a thoughtful post about the Earth.  I figure enjoying the sunshine was probably the best thing we could do to celebrate the Earth any way.

(But if you want a glimpse at what I was planning, do a little research in how bad eating meat (and dairy) is for the environment.  Here are some articles to get you started.)

We think buying our pork (and lamb) from Gabe's Aunt Jaki helps our footprint since her animals are treated like pets and their place is 2 hours away.  But we've decided to try and limit our meat consumption.  Clearly we'll have to work on dairy next!

That was the amount of cheese that went into tonights supper.
I decided when trying to feed 2 & 1/2 year old boys it's not really the time to try an ambitious truly meat and dairy free meal.  So we made this for Sunday supper today.  It is hands down the most perfect macaroni and cheese recipe.  Just not the most eco-friendly!
As you can see, the Weisserts joined us for dinner on this beautiful evening.  We even got to eat dinner outside!

Here's my attempt to get a shot of the little boys sporting their Lightening t-shirts.  But there were so many other things they would have rather been doing than posing for photos!

We'll keep working on the whole meat and dairy free eating.
And the bathroom photos will finally be coming later this week!  Gabe has to paint the new baseboard some evening this week if he's feeling up to it.  He starts a new job tomorrow so we'll see how it goes.

A new baby & a new bike

Ok, so the baby is not exactly new since she's now 7 weeks old.  But she's pretty darn close.  And she's definitely new to Levi so introductions were in order.

"Levi, meet Brooke."

"Brooke, meet Levi."

Levi sure snuggled her up good.  She got lots of gentle kisses on her head and some not so gentle tickles on her knees.  She's a wonderful little thing and all of us enjoyed holding her this morning.  Sorta makes me miss having a little one around.  But then I remember I get to sleep without interruptions at night...

Levi also got a new bike this week.
Last weekend we went to three different bike stores in town looking for a red kick bike.  With no luck. We found lots of kick bikes but none that were red and this kid knows what he wants.  He wouldn't settle for the really nice yellow and black one they had at Bike and Hike.  It just wouldn't do.  So the UPS man delivered a wonderful red bike for Levi this week!  And a new helmet with red flames ("Just like Lightening").
And we had a beautiful afternoon today to take it out for a spin.

Spicy Sunday Supper

We're finally getting back into the Sunday supper swing of things.
So glad!
I've missed it.

This evening Mike and Sharon joined us for dinner.  Gabe spent some time cleaning up the barbecue yesterday afternoon and he fired it up for the first time this "year".  Some chicken thighs smothered in  Gabe's favorite buffalo sauce (he's found it bottled at New Seasons...no surprise) came off the grill perfectly.  I wanted to make a side dish that felt sorta like bar food but without the need to deep fry.  So, I made these to go along with the spicy chicken.  Highly recommend them!  What a yummy dinner.
Then to top it off...Mike and Sharon brought an interesting (and delicious) twist on floats for dessert.  Levi had the traditional root beer float.  But us adults had this as our floating liquid instead.  Good stuff and good friends.

Packy's Big 5-0

The Oregon zoo's oldest elephant turned 50 today!
(Packy was the first Asian elephant to be born in the western hemisphere in 44 years.  You can read more about his historic birth here.)

So we got our party ears on and enjoyed some music (and birthday cake) with the big birthday boy.

 

They had Packy in the inside viewing area this morning.  With the glass, it's not the best spot for photos and we weren't able to get a great photo of the birthday boy!  But we had fun celebrating this morning.

Happy Easter

A fun filled Easter celebration occurred this weekend.

Levi dyed his first eggs.

He was a little disappointed we couldn't dye the eggs red.  So, he wanted to dye them all pink since that's the closest color we could get to red. 

The Easter Bunny hid eggs at Levi's house and at Grandma and Grandpa G's.  He got really good at finding eggs today.  And he was pretty excited the ones at G&G G's house had treats or money inside them.

And we got to spend some time with family.

When I asked Levi at lunch what his favorite part of Easter is, he whispered to me..."Jelly Beans."
So, after nap time we're going to enjoy the sunshine and probably eat some jelly beans.

Imaginary Friend

I think I've mentioned Levi's imaginary friend before.
In the last month, Levi's been mentioning him more and more.  He never talks directly to his friend but tells us all kinds of things about him.  Levi's friend's name is Doosher.
Here's what we know about Doosher (all according to Levi of course):
1. Doosher likes Levi's toys.
2. He likes Lightening.
3. He drives his car to Levi's house.  So that means he's big.
4. He likes to play at the beach.
5. Sometimes he takes toys away from Levi.
6. He's strong.  "Mommy, Doosher can help you.  He's really strong."

Such a silly kid!

All work and no play

makes Gabe happy that he can go to work and "rest" tomorrow.

Gabe and I have spent the last 4 days working on our downstairs guest bathroom.  The bathroom we haven't really thought about in 2 years since we never use it.  But when we bought the house, it was the room that came in second for the race to a complete remodel.

Even with all the work we put in this week, the bathroom isn't done...yet.  But we have a deadline of Friday because Gabe's mom will be here to visit.  I do have to thank my parents.  Levi got to spend two days at Grandma and Grandpa G's house so we could get some uninterrupted work time.  It was definitely needed and appreciated!

Here's what we've been up to in the last 4 days:
-Lots of shopping (5 trips to Home Depot/Lowe's/A-Boy Hardware and 2 trips to Target)
-Cleaning off all the leftover wallpaper glue.  Yes, there was wallpaper in the bathroom.  I'll show you the before pictures when we're all done!
-Taking out the floor.  Gabe had to remove two layers of vinyl and the underlayment.  That's the part of the project that took the longest.

-Taking out the vanity/sink and toilet

-Painting two coats of paint on the ceiling

-Painting two coats of paint on the walls

-Laying new floors (underlayment and cement board)

-Laying tile

-Grouting tile

I was hopeful that we'd be almost done tonight.  But I don't think my time frame for home improvement projects is always realistic.  And sticking to my timeline wasn't helped by the 4 hour appointment Gabe had on Friday afternoon and the fact that we went to see this with our friends (Alexis and Eric) afterward.  Obviously, we didn't have the time or energy to do a Sunday supper tonight.  Plus the house was a complete disaster until about an hour ago.  Hopefully I'll be back in a few days to share the complete before and after of the project!

Breakin' into Spring

We've started spring off perfectly.

Five days in Newport, having a blast.

We even had some wonderful Oregon coast weather.  (That doesn't happen all the time.  Especially in the spring.)

Levi's favorite part was probably digging in the sand.  Here's the sandcastle "we" built.  I built it.  Levi helped me decorate it.  And being a typical boy, he had to smash it.

We got to fly Levi's new Lightening kite.  This picture was taken just moments before the string snapped and the kite went sailing down the beach.  Gabe chased it and chased it.  Levi cried because Lightening was gone.  And we were lucky a little kid way down the beach was able to grab it and return it to us.  But, it won't be flown again...

We also got a chance to check out Yaquina Head Lighthouse.
And we couldn't pass up the amazing tide pools at Cobble Beach.

We really wanted to see some grey whales and went on a 2 hour wildlife boat cruise.  Unfortunately the conditions were pretty rough out on the open ocean.  So, we set crab traps and caught some lovely guys.  Levi wouldn't touch the crabs but he sure loved watching them!

And we did see these Steller Sea Lions trying to get up on a buoy in the rough conditions.

A trip to Newport isn't complete without spending a rainy morning at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.  We had a great time watching the sea otters get their breakfast.  Levi loved the jelly fish and the touch pool.  When we were exploring tide pools earlier in the week, he would have nothing to do with touching the sea anemones.  Well, he got brave at the aquarium and we couldn't tear him away from them.

It was a great spring get away.  Newport is a good Oregon coastal town to explore.  I feel like there's more to do when the weather is rainy and windy.  As it so often is...

The rest of the week Gabe and I are hoping to attack our downstairs guest bathroom.
We'll see how that goes.  After getting home this afternoon, all we got done was a quick trip to Target and Home Depot.  What did we come home with?  Paint and a shower curtain.  That was it!  Neither of us is being very decisive about our choice in tile and the new vanity.  Hopefully we'll get some ugly red tile and an old vanity ripped out of there bright and early in the morning.

Tex-Mex & Vegetarian

We invited my dear friend from college, Mindy and her husband (and also one of Gabe's co-workers) Mark, over for dinner tonight.

When accepting our invitation, Mindy warned me that they've recently decided to eat vegetarian and she hoped that wouldn't be too much trouble.  I assured her it was not.  Gabe and I have often discussed the heath benefits, and ecological benefits, of vegetarian eating.  But then I realize there is no way I could give up both sushi and bacon for the REST OF MY LIFE!

In thinking about what veggie dishes to make, I immediately thought of soup.  (That might be because it's almost spring and we had snow falling this week.  It might also be because I went to see Wicked with my mom and Becky this afternoon and I knew Gabe needed something easy to put together for dinner tonight.)  Well, Gabe convinced me that we should do something "Mexicanish".  Probably because we didn't make any other Mexican inspired meals this week and he's going through withdrawals! So, we compromised with Tex-Mex.  

I made corn bread from scratch this morning.  Which, I've never actually made before.  The Jiffy mixes are just too cheap, easy and yummy to bother with making it myself!  But I wanted to try something new so I tried out this recipe.  These veggies (along with corn) go into the bread.  It was great!

Gabe made his favorite vegetarian chili.  It's been made at Monday Guys Night on many occasions but I've been resistant to trying it because it just seems weird.  Oranges in chili just doesn't seem quite right.  But it's really yummy.  Especially for those who love things "sweet" like me!

It's always sad to say good-bye to the weekend...
But I only have 4 more days until SPRING BREAK!
I think I can do it.

-h (Gabe edited and uploaded pictures for me while I folded laundry!)

Better late than never

This week really got away from me.  So much for that promise to get back on here this week and share some photos (and stories) about Levi.

Levi's got lots of phrases he loves to use all the time.  Two of my favorites are...
"Watch this trick."  (Then he proceeds to do some thing that really isn't that tricky.)
and
"I have an idea." (Which he uses EVERY TIME he wants to do something.)

We had a two hour delay for school on Tuesday because of snow.
By the time we got out to play in it about 9am, it was pretty much gone.

But lets be honest, this is Levi's favorite part of playing in the snow any way.

And according to Levi the "warm" coco I make is "super duper yummy".  And tastes just "like a chocolate chip".

So here we are enjoying our weekend again.
We've started the weekend off right by celebrating St. Patty's day.

Had to have green blueberry pancakes this morning...just for the occasion.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!