Fill in the Blank Friday

Everyone loves a good blog hop, right? :) Well, this one is hosted by a gal that lives in the Pacific Northwest, just minutes from me!! I don't find too many NW bloggers out there it seems. It's nice to meet you Lauren!!

1) When I'm nervous....oh my, I immediately have to go to the bathroom. Gastrointestinal issues accompany nerves for sure, LOL! I think some of my most nervous times have been singing on a stage and I used to get SO nervous that while singing, my LIPS would actually quiver and shake. I am sure that was amusing to watch! I also get really nervous with any kind of confrontation.

2) My favorite item in my closet is....hmm....I would have to say my boots. I got them in brown and black at a Nordstrom half yearly sale and I love them. They have a little heel on then and are knee high. I don't wear them as much now that I have Emersyn but when I do, I feel like a grown up!

3) My favorite thing to do when I need to relax is.....I would have to say that cuddling in bed with my husband and watching a movie is my favorite thing to do when I need to relax. By myself, reading at Starbucks with a coffee in hand.

4) My favorite childhood memory is......playing with my little brother. When we were pretty little, we used to put on Christmas "programs", complete with musical selections, me playing my tiny Casio keyboard, us making a "program" out of paper for my parents to use as a reference during our production, serving them egg nog. Fun times.

5) Something you may not know about me is that....oh geez, I am so bad at these types of questions. Well, how about this....I consider vacuuming to be a hobby!

6) A true friend....makes sure that everytime you get together, it isn't all about THEM. They give and take equally and never judge. They are honest with you when you ask for accountability and keep their advice to themselves when all you want to do is vent!

7) Something I hope people think of when they think of me is....enthusiasm and eternal optimism. :)

Well, I better go finish packing! I have a ladies retreat this weekend and I am SO excited. Vanessa, you will be missed!! :(

Wordless Wednesday- PDA at the Oregon ZOO! Emersyn & Emery

(Emersyn's jeans were brand new with tags at garage sale for $6. SCORE. They are so stinkin' cute, Children's Place Brand)

Not Me Monday

Some random "Not Me" moments from the last week or so....

*Since having Emersyn, I find that my memory is even BETTER then it used to be! I'm not one of THOSE women who claim to have pregnancy brain, even long after their pregnancy has ended. So whenever I take a shower, it's NOT ME who will often realize that I have been in the shower for who knows how long and I have no idea what I have or have not already washed. Anyone else with me? Or rather, NOT with me? :)

*Speaking of pregnancy brain, it was also NOT ME that forgot the baking soda while baking banana nut muffins the other day! Which of these muffins does NOT have baking soda in it? Bet you will never guess!!

*While shopping or at resteraunts I have complete control over my toddler at all times. Soooo it was definitely NOT ME who let Emersyn watch Jason Mraz and Elmo on YouTube at Target and at a mexican resteraunt last night. Nope, not me. Emersyn never needs to be entertained by boring technology. She prefers to sit quietly and read a book, never making a peep while I shop or while Mommy and Daddy have some grown up time. I am SUCH a lucky mom, don't you think? (No really, I am a lucky mom and I know it!!)

*Brett and I totally did NOT splurge and have some ribs on Saturday night for our Valentine's celebration that were to die for. And while eating those ribs, Brett certainly did NOT lean over and whisper to me "let's not tell anyone that we went here for dinner". Ha ha, isn't that the definition of knowing how something is wrong? Being afraid to tell anyone about it!! I love him.

*On Saturday, it didn't take me THREE hours to clean my room. My room is always neat and tidy, truly a romantic boudoir. It never gets cluttered with laundry, both clean and dirty. And when we have guests, I never frantically clean up the downstairs and cram everything into our room and shut the door! And when I washed the sheets and made the bed, complete with decorative pillows, I wasn't SO impressed with how pretty it looked that I took a picture on my phone...

Well...maybe I did! :)

*On Saturday, I received a teeny tiny Pamper's Swaddler diaper in the mail for some odd reason. When I saw that teeny tiny diaper, I did NOT feel my uterus start to ache for another baby!!!!! I am SO not ready for another baby at this point in life. But maybe sooner versus later..... Caitlin, don't judge me! Help me be strong!! :) And that sweet little diaper is NOT still sitting on my center console in my van where I do NOT look at it all the time and remember how fun those sweet little newborns are.....okay, enough of THAT!! Brett, don't worry...I don't really want another baby quite yet. Any by quite yet I am not sure what I mean.....!! :)

Happy Not Me Monday!!

Valentine's Playdate

We had SUCH a fun time at Emersyn's first annual Valentine's Play Date! I got the idea for this back in December and thought it would be SUCH a cute excuse to get a bunch of kids together!

From left to right starting at the left:

Back: Jonette holding Estella, Maddie, Kara holding Camden, Evan, Jaiden kinda holding Ashlin, Rowan and his mama Brianne.

Couch: Addalyn, Emersyn, Ava, Hudson, Isaac F., Isaac M. & Ellie

SUCH a fun group!!!

Hudson is only about 10 weeks younger then Emersyn. I love this picture. He's like: "what are you lookin' at???".

This is Hudson's older sister Addalyn. So sweet.

Miss Jonette (on the right) brought over this slide for the kiddos and it was a HIT!! This is sweet Isaac, 15 months old who is about to become a big brother NEXT month!!

Cute Ava.

Another group shot!

Evan, Jaiden & Hudson. Again, Hudson's like "Put the camera down lady!!" Ha ha!

One of my best friends and neighbor's Sherrie (with the dark hair) who just LOVES getting her picture taken! Hee hee, just kidding. She has three kiddo's and Emersyn LOVES them, especially Maddie who is 4 and comes over often to "babysit" Emersyn while I clean or get stuff done around the house. Too fun. Kara is on the left hand side (with blonde hair). We know each other through a friend and she just had her first baby last year, Camden. I love that name! He is such a sweet and mellow baby!

The kids table before everyone got there! We have this table in our room for Emersyn. It is such a great size for her. I imagine her doing crafts on this table someday or eating on it with friends. We got it at IKEA for her first birthday!

The spread. Nothing too fancy.

Super Isaac. He is only about a month younger then Emersyn. He has the most beautiful blue eyes you have ever seen!

Emersyn LOVED the slide!!

Ellie also loved the slide! Ellie's mom Sarah and I have been friends since Jr. High! We lost touch for about 10 years (wow!) but reconnected on Facebook when we both realized that we were pregnant and due not too far apart.

This is Rowan. His mom Brianne and I met at birth class! He is about 5 weeks younger then Emersyn and he too is going to become a big brother this summer! Emersyn goes to his house for playdates sometimes and his mommy is SO sweet and sends me updates and pictures of what they are up to. I LOVE leaving her with Brianne, I know she is in such good hands!!

Time to start planning for next year!! :) There will be more babies to invite, I am sure. Maybe the Lord will eventually provide a bigger home for me to host them in, *hint hint* Lord? :)

Valentine's Day 2010

Valentine's Day was on a Sunday this year, which means that Brett would have had to work but he got the day off! Whoo hoo! I am not sure if he ended up being thrilled to have the day off though, he worked really hard the entire day to help me get ready for my playdate the next morning. :)


We went to church in the morning where Emersyn got to wear her new tutu, made by her Nana. Brett didn't think that church was a good place to wear a tutu but I firmly disagreed and won that argument. :) We did bring a jean skirt for her to wear while she was in the nursery so that it didn't get in the way of her playing or get ripped by other kids. She looked SO darn cute!!!


That afternoon we went to lunch at my new favorite place, The Pita Pit!!! Then we ran to Costco and then home so Emersyn could take a nap and we could do some cleaning. Brett finished cleaning our carpets and then did a number of other household tasks while I cleaned the kitchen and baked some muffins for the Valentine's playdate.


We decided to celebrate our Valentine's Day another day because the Young Adults ministry that we are apart of was having a dessert and game night at this charming cafe in NE Portland. It was fun and Emersyn got to play with her best buds, Stella and Audrey. Here are some pictures of our fun evening!

Emersyn liked Stella's ponytail!

I fell in love with these shoes the instant I saw them. I got them at Nordstrom Rack and they were $20 which is a little steep for kids shoes for me (unless they are like NIKE or something) but I had a $10 giftcard so it's like they were only $10! :) They are a 5.5, I can't believe it! They definitely are a little on the big side but that is good because she can grow into them. I thought they really completed her Valentine's Day look!

Pizza!

I feel like I have been an absent blogger lately! A lot to get caught up on, including Emersyn's darling Valentine's Party yesterday and our Valentine's celebration on Sunday. I will get to that later this week.

For now though, I posted a yummy and healthy pizza recipe on my other blog! Check it out if you like!

Happy Tuesday!!

Bonus Time/Traumatizing Tale

**Thank you to all my sweet friends that commented on my non-crafty post below! It was reassuring to know that I am not the only one that struggles in this area!!! We should form an "I want to be crafty but don't know how" support group!!**

Good morning!! I am up bright and early today, or early for me at least. I got up at 7:45 simply because I wanted to!!! Strange!! I seriously think that part of the appeal was that I have a busy day ahead of me and that my downstairs is nice and clean. It is so nice to come down the stairs to a clean house, don't you think? We really need to clean up more often before we go to bed. We are having my brother and his fiance over for dinner tonight so I needed to have the place clean. I enjoy late night cleaning (unfortunately). We love the NBC line up on Thursday nights (Community, Parks & Rec, Office, & 30 Rock) so after we watched each show, I would set a timer and we would do a 10 minute power cleaning session. It worked! Plus, cleaning burns calories so that is just another incentive to do it!

Anyways, I am up and at 'em and it feels like this is bonus time, time I would have normally been asleep but instead I have eaten breakfast, weighed in for our weekly stat tracking (down 2 1/2 pounds, yay!), and am drinking coffee, blogging my little heart out.

Want to hear about maybe the second most traumatizing moment for me as a mother that occurred yesterday evening? (I would say the first traumatizing thing was coming home to my daughters bloody mouth when she hit it on her crib while my brother was babysitting this summer)

Last night Brett and I realllllly wanted to go on a gym date. My work subsidizes my gym membership so it is really easy to NOT utilize it because it isn't something I technically pay for. However, in a quest to lose weight and get healthy, a gym can be a good place to do that! I called Bally's and asked about their "Kids Club". They described it, assured me that all their workers were great and went through a criminal background, said that they don't change diapers, etc. AND it is only $3/2 hrs!

So last night we took Emersyn to the gym with us. I was NOT impressed with the Kids Club at ALL. There were hardly any toys and it was so bleak. However, Emersyn spotted a baby doll immediately so she was a happy camper. I was annoyed that their check in process wasn't more thorough. They were "out" of the wristbands that they normally use to match you with your child and I was extremely irate about that. I asked the worker how she knows that I am the only one allowed to take Emersyn home and she said I would have to trust her. Ugh. Anyways, we decided to leave her and just check in on her often.

We went and worked out for almost an hour, checking on Emersyn 3 or 4 times and she was fine for all of them. I still just didn't have a good feeling about this daycare place and was pretty sure I wouldn't be taking her back.

When we went to go pick her up, she was sitting on the workers lap with another little girl and Emersyn had this scared look on her face, one I have never seen before. She saw Brett and I walk in and ran to us, sobbing hysterically. I asked the worker what happened and she said that Emersyn had "just started crying" because another little girl was crying too. When I picked Emersyn up she was hysterical. We calmed her down a little bit and left the room and walked outside. Emersyn stopped crying but she was doing those hiccup type gasps that you do when you have been crying for a REALLY long time and I have NEVER seen her cry like that or be that worked up. Usually when something upsets her, she gets over it quickly and doesn't have those lingering cries. Brett went to go get the car and Emersyn was just whimpering and still crying at times and I told her that I promised to NEVER take her there again. That made her cry. I asked if she wanted some ice cream when we got home (naughty I know, I was desperate to make her happy!!!!) and she whimpered. I could feel my heart breaking inside my chest.

I have never seen her that upset or distraught and it makes me mad at Bally's Kid Klub. I know that they may have had good intentions with keeping her even when she is upset but I always tell people, if she is ever just that upset, PLEASE come and get me. Emersyn is extremely well rounded and social and isn't the type to cry because she misses us, I just feel in my heart that she was scared. Maybe the other little girl that the worker was holding was crying really hard and that scared her or maybe someone yelled at Emersyn or something. I just know in my heart that something scared my little bug.

We got home and I gave her a bath to get rid of all the germs and then we had lots of snuggles and giggles and she went to bed fine.

Poor girl. :( Poor Mama!

So that is my traumatizing tale. I have friends who take their kids to Bally's and have had great experiences. I, however, will not be taking Emersyn back. If Brett and I want to have a gym date, we will have to plan it around finding a sitter or do it on a day when Emersyn is with her Nana and she can stay for dinner and we can go work out.

Okay, enough of that. Happy Friday!!!

Longing to be crafty

(Note: I long to be crafty like Martha but avoid the whole going to jail thing)

I always envisioned being crafty when I grew up. I remember taking a stab at making cards and scrapbooking in my early 20's and then giving up due to lack of space, patience and finances. I thought that someday, when I had a house, THEN I would have room to be crafty.

I have owned a home now for 4 + years.

Still not crafty.

I don't bake. Not that great of a cook.

Not fishing for compliments here, just keepin' it real. :)

I long to be more domestic. Geez, I even have a label for my blogs called "Becoming Domestic". Right now I just don't feel like I have the TIME. Anyone with me?

I have plenty of crafty friends. Julia. Brianne. I'm talking about you. While I admire your crafty-ness, there is a hint of jealousy mixed in with that admiration. Okay, maybe not so much a hint but something larger, like a "tad bit"?? Anywhoo....

Last night I went to Joann's with my friend Julia. Emersyn is having a Valentine's Play Date on Monday for some friends and I am hoping to get crafty for the party. I walked into Joann's and nearly had a panic attack. Sweet, sweet Julia gave me SO many ideas but I could feel my eyes glazing over as I struggled to take it all in and thought to myself, "Hmmm....those pre-made Disney Princess Valentines at Target are sounding pretty appealing right now".

I have a busy life. I work 4 days a week. I am involved in several ministries at church. I am a Realtor. I am married. I have a toddler. I am trying to get healthy which is a time commitment for food prep (which I am STILL working on) and also time to work out.

At the end of the day, I just don't have time or patience to get out the craft supplies and get to it.

*sigh*

Maybe someday?

I am getting antsy to be a stay at home mom. I feel that this is partially because Brett has had some exciting opportunities at work which lead me to believe that a promotion is coming sooner versus later. But I know that even when I DO get the privilege of staying home (while still doing Real Estate on the "side"), I still won't have all the time in the world.

It makes me want to find things that I AM good at. I need to not put so much pressure on myself I think. When I planned Emersyn's Valentine Playdate, I envisioned my home being a sea of pink and red, decorated up the whazoo with hand crafted goods. Emersyn would pass out her handmade Valentine's and all the moms at the party would think, "how DOES she do it??".

Such will not be the case. :)

I am hoping to find some cute decorations before Monday. (Hello procrastination, you are my friend). But I need to realize that her party ISN'T about decorations. It is about her and 18 of her closest friends (Lord help me, my house is SO not big!!!) having fun together and making Valentine memories. I plan on doing this every year, it is fun to have a playdate with a theme I think. I need to realize that the moms there won't judge me for not being crafty but will instead appreciate an opportunity to all get together.

But still, maybe NEXT Valentine's Day I will have achieved SOME level of craftyness.

We'll see.

Wordless Wednesday- Emersyn & Estella = Mischievous Monkeys

Queen for a Week!

Thanks so much to Elizabeth for crowning me "Queen for the Week"! What an honor, especially on the conclusion of my birthday week!!

I has SUCH a wonderful birthday getaway this past week. We went to Bonneville Hot Springs Resort for a night. We had bought gift cards to this resort at Costco in November for 20% off (score!) and decided to use this as my birthday celebration. It was our first night away from Emersyn and I was actually much more relaxed then I thought I would be. Emersyn stayed overnight with her Nana and Papa and they had a lot of fun with her.

The resort is only about an hour away which is nice. We dropped Ems off at noonish and then had a sushi lunch date. Sushi is one of my favorite foods, seriously. And by sushi, I mean California Rolls and seared salmon, not anything fancy like squid or spicy tuna rolls. :) After sushi we went to some outlet stores that were on the way to the resort and found all sorts of cute things for Emersyn; a sun dress and capri pants from Baby Gap, some amazingly cute $50 Ugg type boots that were 75% off, and some super cute and cheap jammies at the Carters outlet for next winter. We were laughing at even though Emersyn wasn't with us, most of our conversation and ALL of our shopping revolved around her.

We checked into the hotel a little after 4pm and headed straight to the room. The best part about this resort is that they have hot tub rooms, see picture below. The hot tub is filled with natural hot springs water and it is absolutely AMAZING. It is a little bit pricey but totally worth it to us.

(See the hot tub on the deck? I borrowed this picture from the resort website, I forgot my camera!)

We love hanging out in hot tubs. We went in ours several times, even brought water proof playing cards and played some card games. We relaxed and had great conversations about us both being in the last year of our 20's and some of our goals for ourselves and our family. I think one of the highlights of my night was sitting in the hotel lobby by the giant fireplace, me reading my book club book, Brett working on Emersyn's first year blog book, and both of us listening to live music. It was so relaxing and just perfect. I even got to read two of my Parent magazines, which I never seem to find time to do at home.

On Friday we took our time heading home and stopped at Multnomah Falls on the way home. I would have loved to hike but I was feeling a little under the weather (thank you Eve). We had such a relaxing time, I can't wait to do it again!

On another note, Emersyn has started talking up a storm!!! She is saying uncle, Elmo, purse, cook, and the vocab list is growing every day!! It is soooo cute.

Happy Sunday everyone!!

TGI Friday

Trusting- that God is always at work all around me and that every good and perfect thing comes from Him.

Grateful- for an amazing birthday getaway with my husband. It was so refreshing and a great way to start of my 29th year!

Inspired- to get back on track with healthy eating! We haven't been doing horrible but I am ready to add some new recipes to our weekly menu and make the most of our calories.

Favorite- thing right now- Emersyn's ever expanding vocabulary. She is saying more and more new words every day. She says, "Elno" for Elmo and has started calling her cousin by her name, "Annbell" (Annabel). She says car, cracker, yes, apple, light, baby....the list is growing. It is PRECIOUS.

Random- we bought Emersyn a potty today. :) Brett was asking her if she wanted to go on the potty like a big girl and she said yes so we decided to get one. $10 at Babies'R'Us. Score! :)

Interested- in learning more about apple cider vinegar and it's benefits that I keep hearing about.

Dreaming- of babies....STILL! Same as last week. :) I saw a 7 week old today at a cafe and my arms ached to hold her. Luckily several friends of mine are expecting babies, I will have to get my baby fix through them for now!! :)

Admiring- my amazing husband for being such a hard worker, loving daddy, and supportive spouse. Our getaway definitely was such a reminder of why I married him....we have SO much fun together!!!

Yay- for a fun weekend ahead! Tomorrow Emersyn and I are going to run some errands, and then we have a baby shower to go to! Sunday is the SuperBowl which is fun too.

Happy Friday everyone!!