Friday, December 26, 2008

Happy Holidays!

<---- Curran had a wonderful time going down this big 'ol slide! Below is a picture of myself with my sister on my 30th birthday. We went to a murder mystery dinner theatre in Denver and had a blast!
















To the right you can see Aric on a giant cow statue that we found in downtown Denver. This was taken while we were wandering around waiting for the dinner theatre to start.










Avery was very happy to leave Santa milk and cookies.

He also likes relaxing with Tia Erika (below).













----> Our 2008 Christmas tree. We went with peacock colors: dark blue, green and purple.
























Saturday, November 1, 2008

My little creeps...
















<<<--- Here is Avery in his Musketeer outfit. He decided to be D'Artagnon after seeing the Disney movie. I didn't make the hat, but I made the tabard and the cape. Neither is perfect to a sewer's eyes, but it turned out great as far as I'm concerned! I had to do my first applique around a fleur-de-lis shape, but I actually managed not to pull out all my hair. The black and maroon fabric are polyester pseudo-suede, so I had to sew carefully because any holes made stayed forever. The cape lining was lame (as in la-may, I don't have the accented E) so very slippery to work with, but it didn't kill me either. *grin*












The upper pumpkin is Avery's bug-eyed pumpkin and mine is the ghostie in front. We put them on the front steps to our house along with various skeletons and big spiders. You can also see the boys enjoying the spoils of about six houses that actually were home to answer their doors. Avery wanted to go home after visiting one friend and going around the block. Measly by my standards, but Avery had a great time - and was great at sharing with Curran too! Happy Halloween!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Pumpkin hunters...

So we drove about fifteen minutes to this pumpkin farm that I saw in the newspaper. I wasn't really prepared for the dry but extremely huge pumpkin patch that we drove up to. The kids both had lots of fun. Curran tried to run around but kept tripping on the dried vines. Both the kids were enchanted by the profusion of corn husks (fertilizer?) that they found on the ground. Avery is holding his pumpkin in the picture that he picked out on his very own.

P.S. I found bell peppers for less than $1 :)


Thursday, October 23, 2008

Climate adjustments...

No more house pictures yet, just some thoughts on our new place. I walked Avery to preschool this morning, and I knew it was going to be cold so I made him (under duress) put on his puffy winter coat. He hasn't worn it since last winter, and wasn't particularly thrilled with the sensation apparently. I was thanked as soon as we stepped outside and got a, "Brrr it's cold!" out of him. It was somewhere around 40 degrees and very windy. Halfway through the twenty minute walk to preschool he wanted gloves too.
And poor Curran ran errands with me while his big brother had class, and he really didn't care for the wind. By time I removed him from the van for a second stop he learned to (hood up) tuck in his arms and curl his head into my chest to avoid the cold wind.
Of course after living in the bay area so long, I just always keep my sandal/flip-flops by the door for running around town. I managed to put on boots this morning for the long walk, but later in the day I just slipped the sandals over my socks and ran out... Toes got a bit chilly they did...
No snow around here, just a low of 23ish tonight. But our house heaters work great! You'd never know it was frigid outside - until of course you have to throw that stinky diaper in the outside garbage can. Our central heat works great, and the big open living room has extra heating along the baseboard/trim. I can only hope that the air conditioner feels so good when the summer heat sets in.
And please don't think I'm complaining about the cold. I'll sooo take 40 over 85! Okay, now since you've managed to make it through this wordy post, what you really want:















And no, the beach picture is not from our new home. Avery was making sand smoothies (and no, not really drinking them) about a month ago. The picture of Curran was taken on the steps that were our only 'soft' seating in the house until our furniture arrived. We finally got all the bookshelves assembled (thank you Dad) today, thereby drastically reducing the number of boxes filling our living room.
I have discovered that Curran really likes to help out. Most recently he helps me unload our (HOORAY!) dishwasher. He'll hand me the little plates one at a time while I stack them. It's quite cute. It's not quite so cute when he tries to hand me the paring knives, so I've learned to just remove the silverware tray first and avoid that argument :)
Some things here are sooo cheap. We found amazing leather/tapestry/carved wood couches for $850! It was very very hard not to break down and buy some perfectly matching set for our living room because "we could never get those prices in Marin!". On the other hand some things are much more expensive and disappointing - like the produce section. The bell peppers - even the green bell peppers are $2 each!! On the other hand I can still get hummus and pita bread out here, so that makes Avery (an avid fan) very happy.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A new state-

So we finally made the move and after twelve days got our furniture delivered. Hooray! My husband is of course keeping busy with his new job as solo pastor, but not as horrendously busy as I might have feared. The kids and I are just pulling through the other side of a yucky cold, so stuff is finally getting organized on my end. My current urgent project is actually making Avery's halloween costume (more on that in another post). So now; the virtual tour of our new home :)
Hmm... Scratch that. A lot of my pics are a lot darker than I thought, so I'll have to take more with lighting! Here are a couple of the bright ones:


So above is the backyard and porch, and the living room when you look to the right as you enter from the kitchen. There's a TV on the floor by the gas fireplace.


Here's the boys having fun in a random cupboard on the left side of the living room. Maybe it used to be for firewood before the living room was added on? And here is a rare shot of Curran looking grouchy.

For those that know me, I have video skype now - so feel free to download it and 'call' me - even if you don't have the video part. I want to send out a huge thank you to every one who helped us in every way. This move was the most difficult thing I've done in a while and I thank everyone who helped hold me and my family up. I miss you all so very much..

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Dapper haircuts

So both of the boys recently took their first trips to the local old-fashioned barber shop, and the ensuing haircuts definitely match! They both did a brilliant job staying calm while the trimmer was whirring (even though it was Curran's first hair cut). He gave them both far side parts, and styled a nice whoosh in the front before we left. It was fun, though I don't do the 1950's look on them everyday. I had asked him to leave the top of Avery's hair long, and I guess compared to his own hair, he did...

Monday, June 23, 2008

Graduation a bit late...


Aric graduated from SFTS with a Master's in May, I'm just slow on the blogging uptake. Congratulations my love!

The last three years have been a lot of intense work on his part. He's written, read, discussed and learned the time away.

And now, as so much time has passed, he's already accepted a great new job! We are still waiting for the final steps later in September, but we're all really hopeful.

We're all so proud of him *smile*

*HAPPY BIRTHDAY CURRAN*


So my littlest one is 1 year old today! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. It felt like Avery took forever to reach one year, now it feels like Curran took 3 months to reach the same age! Yep, I'm a gettin' old *wink*

Curran loved the plethora of punching balloons and whipped cream present at his little party; however, he wasn't sure what to do with the candle besides try to touch it. He had very much fun spooning his cream-covered brownie in to his mouth, then rubbing his hands in it, then rubbing his face and head. To say the least we had a very nice bath after dinner!

His royal highness chose to get up on this chair himself, and stayed there while he opened his gifts. The hat didn't stay on too long however... The last picture is him raiding his Kix-filled bubble gum machine. But fear not, we actually managed to fill him up enough that he stopped snacking by the end of the night.

It's been a beautiful year. And no, I'm not crying... *sniff*

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

June already?


Things are going pretty well. Busy planning for the boys' birthdays. I've been having a ball gardening. The hollyhocks (in the middle of the box) are now twice the size. I've planted basil, a trailing plant, and am maintaining petunias for a neighbor who moved away. I know I have more to say, but I'm too hot & tired at the moment :P We hope to make it to Monterey area soon to visit our dear friends, but now Aric works Saturdays... ug. Blessings all!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Busy, busy, busy!

If you can't tell by the infrequency of posts, I've been keeping busy. Luckily part of that busy is staying more caught up with house work (yay!). With four in the house I've found that I better do at least one load a day or else the laundry monster visits! Curran has seven teeth now; and speaking of teeth I got my first root canal under some kind of valium May 1st, and it certainly helped reduce the stress. Since then Curran has also been weaned and sleeps through the night now! The biggest news is that Aric was approved as 'ready for ordination'. *WHEW* He will also technically graduate from SFTS next week, but still be allowed to take a class this fall, which means we get to stay while he looks for a job.

Avery drew me a picture and picked out a bunch of manga for me on Mother's Day. You can see what a good daddy he is to his baby doll. He feeds the baby (now named Avery, because baby 'Curran' grew up) and changes his diapers. Avery told me that if the baby spit up I had to wipe it off while he went to the gym with daddy. The seeds that came in Avery's easter basket are growing well.
The sweet peas are about 6" tall now (week-old picture here), we have about 5 cantaloupes, several carrot sprouts, but no poppies yet :(

You can see Curran likes Tia Erika. Looking at her awesome hair reminds me that Curran is finally pulling hair less. I can leave my hair down sometimes now, and he'll mostly leave it alone. He's also a major copycat. When I stack stuff, he tries to help. And he's always happy to un-stack or un-pack things! Avery on the other hand has been a doll these last few days (after three days of random terror from him), and has been helping me sort and fold laundry. He's very attentive to detail, which helps him match socks, but in general makes him get frustrated soo easily.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Well rendered

So here's the boys showing off their new hats. They've both been enjoying the outdoors a lot lately, so we've been using them. Curran pulls at his to remove it (like all babies), but leaves it alone once he's outside and distracted. Avery likes to swordfight or chase the other kids and Curran likes to go down the slide - face first if given the chance.






Here's me and the babe. You can see my newest hair color. The box said plum, but between my natural color and the reddish color in it from before it came out more like dark aubergine or wine. I think I'd have to bleach my hair to get a real good purple, but I really don't want to do that to my poor already-thin hair.







To the left you can see my art project for the day. I was pretty happy with how well it came out for a casual sketching party with Avery. The lower picture is the one from the book. I also did a pretty nice cartoon cat and mad scientist, but I won't bore everyone with every little doodle :)

Sunday, April 6, 2008

A Quick Update...

I'm a bit under the weather, but I've been lax at blogging so:
1. Curran's fifth tooth has broken the gum and is on the way out.
2. Avery is a "big boy now" according to him on many things. He wears underwear, no longer uses the extra small potty seat, doesn't need his stepstool to wash his hands, doesn't want to wear a bib, doesn't need a lid on his drinks anymore, can make his own mustard and cream cheese sandwiches (his idea, not mine), and doesn't want a nap. Mom agrees pretty much with all except that last thing. We tried to nap for one day, and had major meltdown by 7pm!
3. Aric's church hired an interim pastor, so his internship will end sometime in the first part of May.
4. Curran really likes to feed himself, and gets fussy if some part of his meal isn't hand-held. He can drink from his tippy cup all on his own too.
5. Avery like to wear ties. (Or 'scarves' as he often calls them.) He wore a bow tie for Easter.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Finally not sick!














Avery was quite sick for a while, as were we all with a nasty bone-aching flu. But luckily, he got better in time for Living History Day at Sutter's Fort in Sacramento. Rain was expected, but we got gorgeous spring instead! He was quite chatty (going back twice) with the guys at the covered wagon, and really loved the fire in the blacksmith's forge. We got to watch the smith make a mini horseshoe. Our wee mannie also got to dip candles which he thought was really neat. Avery is also writing: He wrote 'too' after I wrote 'too much' on the chalkboard, and he did it of his own volition! And it was legible!















Curran is cruising like a pro and going up steps (when he has good enough incentive like "oh look! someone left the baby gate open!). I tried to take a picture of the curls at the back of his head, which are usually much more properly curled than this photo shows. The other picture is him exploring during our picnic at the elementary school next door to us. Aric and Avery both nearly fell asleep in the warm lovely sun.

In other news, Aric is very busy applying for jobs/calls. Several have already contacted him back, wanting more info from him. He's also dead busy being unofficial minister of his intern church (since the actual minister left for another position). Holy week here as been crazy for him! And no, we don't know where we will end up. He is applying everywhere that sounds like it has a good position.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

New Growth


Above are two pictures by Avery. He says, "Avery is the best boy colorist of all." About two weeks ago he started drawing people-like things and using many many colors of crayons for detailed rainbow drawings.

And here's Curran who just figured out how to stand up on his knees by himself, and a very energetic video from the same day :) Avery says, "Let's get ready for the video!"


Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The New 'Do

Here you go: To the left BEFORE, to the right AFTER! When it's not in the sun it almost looks mahogany instead of so red. I got a bunch of fun layers put in the bottom few inches, so I'm enjoying the new curls :)

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Sing a song of sixpence...


Avery wanted to serenade everyone with Twinkle Twinkle, so there you go! The picture on the right is Avery in his chef hat (to go with the aforementioned stove). And below is Curran, yes, standing by himself with couch support. Yesterday I timed him at 3 minutes without falling, and that included him cruising five steps! What that boy will do to get to his brother's toys, I swear! I of course still have to help him into the standing position, but that doesn't bother him.

Oh, Curran also saw the doctor yesterday for a check up and three shots. He is 18 lbs. 4 ozs. and 26.5 inches long. I started him on carrots this week since he liked chewing on whole ones so much.