Happy Birthday Chewie!

Chewie just turned 1 (January 7th)!

Had to include the cute outtake. 

I can't believe he's already 1.  Of course I had to take pictures for it.  Carus helped me positioning him and getting him to hold still.  

She's a good helper and he's a good boy. 

We had to lock Leia and Yoda in the other room. They wanted to do tricks for treats too. Haha

The hat was put on his head like 50 times for each shot I got.  Except this last one where he only shook his head instead of pulling it off so one more cute pic.

Happy 18th (!!) Birthday, Adam!

Adam is 18!

I can't believe it has been 18 years, and at the same time I can. It's gone by so slowly but too quickly. You are officially an adult, but it doesn't feel like you are quite yet. At least to me.  

I'm not sure what will make you an adult.  Will it be you graduating this year? Or getting your license?  Maybe the trip to DC on your own. Or seeing you vote in your first election. 

I am so proud of who you are. Every day and every year I become more and more proud of you. You are kind and considerate, responsible and empathetic, smart and witty, funny and sweet.  Your sense of humor and love for puns and dad jokes are the best.   

You're the best son, brother, friend, and person that I could have hoped for.

Thanks for making us (your parents) look good. 

September ended, I can wake up now.

I love September.  In theory.  The beginning of fall - which I do love - and all that goes with it.

In reality though, we are not the greatest of friends.  I always feel overwhelmed and flustered and stressed and depressed and ANXIOUS about all of the things. Always.  It probably has a lot to do with the autumnal equinox and the rapidly changing amount of light that brings out those feelings with me as it does with many others.

But it's October now, and I'm feeling better.

I know I have a hard time with September so I planned ahead and took a day off for me.  A day where I could do what I wanted or needed to do while the kids were in school and have not have to worry about work.  I took it on a Friday - and after I ran some errands in the morning I convinced a friend to bring her newborn over so I could take a couple pictures of him.



Walter was more interested in eating than sleeping for photos so I didn't get too many, and it hasn't worked out to get anymore newborn photos.



Adam had some friends over to play games to celebrate his birthday and he agreed to let Carus throw him a Minecraft themed party.  We had red vines as "TNT", carrots and watermelon as themselves, chips and dip, cucumbers and dip, pizza (of course) and a Creeper decorated cake.  Carus planned, and helped make and put together everything for the party - even drawing the signs.

While spending some gift cards we've had laying around far too long I found this crate - which is a new prop for putting babies - or pug dogs (or cats, etc) in for photos.  Yoda was very cooperative and would jump in and sit down for me.


Providence (the hospital/health care group I work for) has forums for it's employees to keep us informed of progress and plans, etc.  At the end of each forum they do a drawing to give away a little prize.  I won this time - a gift basket with coffee and chocolate.  The chocolate was good - I haven't tried the coffee yet.


We were able to line up schedules one last time for me to run over to do this shot of my friends kids with baby Walter.  She saw this idea on Pinterest and loved it and so did I.  I'm glad we got it, I love it. (Of course Walter wanted to sleep that day!)


Dogs begging for treats from Robert - who got into the closet for paper towels or something.  They did get a treat too.


A good portion of September was stormy and wet.  We had 8-10 inches of rain in September.  Lots of gray skies and wet.



But fall does have lovely sunsets.

Happy Birthday Adam!

I cannot believe it's been 15 years.  Adam is growing up to be such a funny, caring, smart, and thoughtful young man.  He makes us so proud every day.  I like talking books with him, he has some great reading suggestions.  I'm excited for his first year of high school - and nervous too. I only have him for 4 more years and then he'll be off on his own...in college most likely.  He figures he'll go to college even though he doesn't yet know what for.  

Why does time have to fly by so quickly?

(This is #245 of 365. I will catch up with 240-244 later this week, in addition to this week's.)

Do you know what a Trombone player is called?

Do you know what a trombone player is called?

Well do you?

We do.

They're called Tromboners.

Heh heh Trom-boners.

Yeah, we enjoy being immature at times.

235/365


We got Adam a new (to him) trombone for his birthday this year.  (Thank you Ebay)  It was at the top of his wish list.  It came early, and he saw the box delivered, so he got it early.  He is very excited about being able to play on his very own instrument throughout high school.

Happy Birthday...

...Harry Potter!

Harry Potter turned 33 years old today.  It's also J.K. Rowling's birthday.

Carus baked cupcakes to celebrate.

212/365

(Happy B-Day Harry Potter!)

Blue velvet (because we didn't have red coloring) with purple cream cheese frosting (we really love that frosting recipe - easy and delicious) and blue lettering.

They are pretty darn good too!

Last days of 7days

Dude, the LeakyCon conference was amazing AH.MAZ.ING. and crazy and busy and exhausting and exhilarating and the absolute greatest. I'm going to work on getting caught up with posts this week and show as many photos as possible. I'm so glad I have this second half of vacation to recover from my first half.

Day 5

me - I made snitch ornaments and boxed a few up for my friends that were coming up for LeakyCon.


Carus - her nails all done up for LeakyCon.


Day 6

me - Got home after a very long first day at LeakyCon and Robert gave me my birthday present cause he sucks at waiting for the actual day. I'm okay with this, mostly. (I get presents early so yay, but don't get presents on my birthday so boo.)


Carus -  Carus meeting Professor Snape (Vladimir Snape) for the first time of the weekend.  (Not Alan Rickman, who plays Snape in the movies, but a rather convincing doppelganger and good Snape impersonator.)


Day 7

me - Oops, I blinked.


Photo the result of me screwing around after drinking most of my birthday drink, a blue Hawaiian. (No, I was not drunk, or even tipsy. I was feeling good and happy and goofy.)


Carus - Seen at LeakyCon.  Those people are AWESOME! There were a few of these post-its of "Peeves wuz here" posted throughout the convention center where the conference was held.  Some of the other signs posted around (some for Sherlock and some for Doctor Who) were just as awesome. You'll see those later.*


*If you can't wait for me to get LeakyCon posts up, check out the set on Flickr. 

THE SUN!

The SUN came out this weekend. It was GLORIOUS!

Carus had her birthday sleepover party Saturday night.  We didn't do anything super special, just a sleepover with a couple friends.  There was lasagna and root beer floats and they watched a movie.  There is giggling and some squeaking, but at lights out, it stops.

365:366
Movie time with some puggy cuddles.



366:366 (Not the last of the year, explanation here.)

We drove one of Carus's friends home today and while driving into Aloha we got to see Mount Hood. I took a pic with my cell phone and went back to soaking up the sun and enjoying the blue skies.  Later, I went with Geneva out to the barn. (My hip is still sore (STILL! Grrr!) but I think it's time to stop babying it and start working it more.  And eventually I will get back on that horse. Hahaha. So anyways, I went out to the barn because it's easier to do something you don't want to do when doing something you enjoy.)  On the way out to the barn, we got a really good view of Mount Hood.

Happy birthday Carus!

Carus picked the restaurant for her birthday dinner - Mazatlan, a local Mexican restaurant.  And I had them sing happy birthday to her.  If you can't view the video below, click here.



A slideshow of snapshots from Carus opening birthday gifts today.  We got her a gift card for her Kindle Fire (which she got for Christmas) so she could get some apps, books, and/or TV shows/movies on it...she's bought a few apps already.  If you play Draw Something and want to play against her, let me know.

Her sleepover party this weekend with her friends will be added to this set on Flickr later. (If you can't see the slideshow below, click here.)



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And less importantly, my 366 and day 6 of 7 days.

362:366 - Hot salsa from dinner tonight.

Happy birthday Robert!

Happy birthday to Robert!

Even though we didn't do anything special, I really hope you had a great day!

I wanted to take a picture with Robert, but he is being a party pooper and doesn't want to take any pictures so I took a picture of Yoda.

Wowed by fall

First off (unrelated to my 366 photo for the day) I'd like to say Happy Birthday to my oldest baby brother, Bud.  I miss you!


304:366

While working I try to get up every few reports and walk around a bit.  Sitting at my computer 8 hours a day can be hard.  I don't get much walking done, but the "lap" around the house, occasionally switching laundry over, does help a little bit.  I was walking by the front window this morning shortly after sunrise and was wowed by all the fall color being lit up by the sun peaking through the clouds.  It poured all weekend, and it was forecasted to continue into most of this week so I wasn't expecting to see the sun until late Thursday or Friday if I was lucky.  It was a very nice surprise.  I grabbed my phone and used Instagram to upload a quick shot to the internets.

When it started to look like I wasn't going to get a picture of anything else today, and the sun was still out (why does it not rain on a Monday when I'm stuck inside working?) I grabbed my camera; but none of those images were as good as the phone one from this morning.  The light was just too perfect.

Damn, Oregon. You're doing fall right!

247, 248, and 249 of 366

247:366
09/02/2012 - Sunday

Adam's birthday of course! We had a little family party with dinner (steak as requested by the birthday boy) and chocolate cream pie (he didn't want a cake). I made two pies - one with a mint Oreo cookie crust and one with a regular Oreo cookie crust. Both were good.



My finger was up because I was getting him to hold on blowing out the candles a second for Daddy to get in position with the camera (which I had forgot to check the settings on and THANKFULLY the pic came out). I didn't hold him long enough for Grandpa Alan to get into position though - sorry!



Gramma Jerye came up for his birthday, the first birthday of his she has been to since he was born. Don't wait 14 years to be at another of his birthdays Gramma! And unfortunately she had to head towards home right after dinner. Visits with Gramma's and Granny's are never long enough... 

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 248:366
Monday

Quilting Day! A friend and I are still working out the Mystery Quilts we started back in January. The ones that were supposed to be done by now. (Yay for a fellow procrastinator!) We've been trying to make a point of getting together once or twice a month (or as often as we can) and working on those quilts.



One of these is not like the others...



Oops, made a mistake. Oh well, it was only this one block and it was an easy fix.


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249:366
Tuesday

Football season has started! Adam has been in practices for 2 weeks and is enjoying it. He did not want to pose for this photo, he was tired and sweaty and wanting a shower - but he does as I say.

Ignore the messy pantry please. 

Happy Birthday Adam!

Happy 14th birthday Beebo!

June 27th

Carus 7 Days, day 5
Carus would like to bring your attention to her floppy bow.


180:366
My last day this decade.  My last day in my 20s.  Tomorrow is my 30th birthday.  I keep waiting to feel upset about it, or sad, or something.  It just feels weird to say I'm going to be 30...



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June 27
When was the last time you got into a heated argument? What's your conflict style? Avoid, attack, win at all costs, there are no winners?
Kassie

Lately I haven't been really arguing a lot. I have gotten into arguments, but either I "won" because, lets face it, I'm always right or because I just walked away (or cut off contact). I don't have the energy for the "drama" anymore, there was just too much in my past.

139:366

Got my birthday present early, more than a month early!  Robert has a hard time keeping surprises from me. He has been squirreling away and saving for months.

I may not mind turning 30 after all.