Thanksgiving

We changed our plans kind of last minute (sorry Kellie), and decided to stay home and have some family time.  Micah has been so busy with work and traveling that we haven't had much time together as a family.  In fact he has been gone 3 of the last 4 weeks.  Life is incredibly busy!  

Any who, back to thanksgiving, we stayed in Eugene and I cooked  (AAAHHHH)  and I burned the bacon for the green beans, and that was it!!!  Don't worry I had more bacon and I had plenty of little fingers and a couple of big ones that were happy to take the crispy bacon off my hands!  Seriously, I didn't ruin one darn piece of our dinner!  

We enjoyed our time together so much, so very much!  We played games and worked with Mason on his speech.  We built forts, and wrestled... we enjoyed cars 2 for the millionth time... and for the most part we just enjoyed finally being together and having time to enjoy each other! 

I don't have one picture to share, I didn't once pick it up!  I was busy loving my family and building a few treasure memories.

I hope you all had a wonderful vacation, and that your treasure chest of memories grew too!

Can I decorate now?

Micah and Kristy have ganged up on me this year and I am itching to get out the decor boxes! 

 PLEASE!!

What can I promise/trade to get a pass?

38 sleeps till Christmas!

Oh Miles...

I finished my 3rd A and P test today, the term is flying by and I feel so good about the whole term!  Its nice to feel like I am juggling things well! 

My life is twice as busy now than a year ago, and I feel like because I have to manage my time better, I spend more quality time with the kids.  Micah's hours are through the roof right now, but even he usually makes it home by 6 for dinner and family time. 

The boys are growing by leaps and bounds and with each new stage I get to know my boys better.  They are forever changing and growing.  Miles is in the pre-twos stage and it is so fun.  I was horribly sick with Miles when Mason was going through this and I didn't have the patience and energy to enjoy it.

Can I just say how very much in love with Miles I am.  Tonight we had a growling war, he would get right in my face and cover my glasses with spit and growling for all his little heart.  

He loves to be tickled, and now he will tickle back. 

He is talking like crazy and we love to listen to Mase and he talk (I couldn't translate if I tried), we are sure they are planning a hostile take over.

 He was so mad going to bed, he fell asleep on the floor (he really showed me)

I just wanted to snuggle up with him on the floor... instead i moved him to our bed.

So presh!

Our New Place

Our new place, well its still kinda new to us.  This post is for my mom so she can get an idea of our living space!

The kids are loving the extra space and I have high hopes of one day getting Mason to sleep in his own bed!

The front of our place...its a little older but we love it!

Awe my poor uncarved pumpkins, I swear I left them uncarved because I wanted them to make it thru to fall decor (it couldn't possibly be that dealing with the kids around pumpkin guts was just too much for me )

I took this picture standing next to the pumpkins... that is one of my BFF's  home.  How very lucky am I to live this close, how lucky is she to have me so close? 

 Our lives are so busy, and we struggled to see each other when I lived a mile away.  Now we stop by in the evenings and our kids play in the driveways and street, when we first moved in (during the warm summer evenings)  we would break out the camp chairs and cheer for each child as they ran past!  

The next few years here while I work towards my RN and Kristy works towards her Masters, are going to be so much fun! 

I have visions of a shared driveway in our future... now to get Micah and Cam to agree!

Just a couple of patches...

We took the boys to pick out pumpkins the weekend before Halloween, it was such a blast and the boys were so adorable! 

I love that the Pumpkin Patch is becoming a family tradition and that the boys are finally really starting to participate. 

These moments make my heart smile, on days like this I feel so thankful to be their mother.

The Hay Maze was a huge hit!  The boys would probably still be their if we would let them!

The Hay Ride, was a hit!  Miles made friends with everyone around him, he is our little show off!

He has a Mouth for Pie!

Awe presh!

Our little family, I am out numbered... just a little bit!

Well hello November

Where has the time gone... I keep thinking I need to get crackin on my Halloween stuff, and then I remember we took it all down already.  Holy Hannah where in the world did October go, I swear it was just here.   

I still need to do a quick recap of the spooky holiday

I originally wanted to dress the boys like hobo's and have them walk around carrying signs " Occupy Trunk or Treat"  and " Fill my bucket or I'll Occupy your yard" ... seeing as how the Occupy movement is a hot topic and I have a short temper we recycled costumes and the boys cared not at all!

The boys did not want pictures taken, so I tried and then just gave up!  Miles trying to get behind the couch and hide from me... 

Mason removing his costume for the 3rd time... he just wanted to go as a little boy... um NO!!!

Miles figured out the Cake walk fairly quickly, Mason didn't bother he just stole cupcakes and ran!  I think he was the only person on a number, and he was just waiting for them to call him up...such a cutie!

After we realized what Mase was up to, Micah took him through the spook alley to distract him.

For the next week he would tell us all about it and then he showed us over and over again how the monsters growled... Micah and I have been laughing since the party.  His scary growls are hilarious, and the way he says scared is adorable (imagine over emphasis on each letter, long and drawn out).

The kids made off like bandits, and I let them pig out Friday night... then I traded them all of their candy for Cars 2 (not the best trade, but it worked!)

Well thank goodness Halloween is over!  Its my least favorite holiday... now on to the good ones!!

Our first overnight

Micah and I finally got away, it was our first over night trip since having the boys.

IT

WAS

AMAZING

We went to Meghan's Cabin with a bunch of friends and had a BLAST!  Every year Meghan (One of the awesome people Mic works with)  reserves a weekend at her Family's property in White Salmon, WA, for a bunch of party hearty accountants to cut loose. 

Our Glamping (Glam + Camping) was a blast, unfortunately I only took a couple of candid pics of everyone sitting around the fire, telling stories. 

It was wonderful to not have my mind on the boys 24/7.  It was wonderful to spend time with other adults, and not to be watching the clock to get back to a sitter.  Many thanks to my friend Jojo, for taking the kids and making them her own (Mason talked about Jackson, over and over). 

I wanted to at least document our first time away, the first of many to come! (hopefully)

 Poor Kenny got a splinter dragging some branches to the fire. 

Surgery was done on the deck.

 Amy, Nicole, and Ashley... These girls are a riot!

Washington side of the Columbia... the weather was perfect!

I can do it all by myself...

Miles is growing so fast, it makes me sad to see how independent he is.   Don't get me wrong I want him to do for himself, but the bigger he gets the faster the time goes (I know that doesn't sound right, but life seems to only speed up as they grow).

I struggle with the desire to add to our family, but I realize that I have limits as a mother.  I know that I can not  emotionally or physically have more babies (I hemorrhaged after Miles and dealt with a wicked case of post partum).  Seeing Miles get bigger is just a painful reminder that my baby days are over. (i think) 

Watching the boys grow and change is a privilege, seeing these beautiful beings I created and carried becoming their own little person, is the most humbling thing.  Mostly because they seem to mirror all my bad behaviors, and I can see the problems they are going to have the older they get. 

Looking into the future and thinking about the life they have ahead of them, always makes me want to cry...

My feet don't touch, but if you try and help me I might bite you!

Catherine, trying to keep him from eating it (at least we steered him towards the grass)

Another Duck win!

We went to another Duck game, can I just say how very much I love Autzen Stadium!!

The day before I met Darrion Weens (#74) at the ATT store, such a very nice guy!  For such a big man he was very soft spoken and just seemed like this giant teddy bear.  I promised him I would yell my heart out for him and he promised to wave to our section. 

I forgot to watch for the wave, but he didn't look very gentle and sweet on the field! 

I watched him jump/dive and take a guy out!

I felt sorry for the player he landed on!

This is Nikki G, she and Mic work together and she is a dear friend of mine... so glad we got to go together!

 I love watching the guys run onto the field! 

Micah didn't look for the camera, he was watching the game... I promise I watched to!  I just love when we get time together, and I feel the need to document it!

SNAKE!!!

I found the World's Longest Gummie Snake at the the market! 

I just knew that the coolest boys in the world would love it as a suprise! 

They totally did!

Look how great they are sharing!  YEA!!

"Here it goes again"

The kids and I woke up this morning to a chill in the house... summer in Oregon is over.  It went so quickly, and it was so late getting here, that I feel cheated! 
I don't long for the hot weather, being the well rounded person that I am, heat and I aren't dear friends.  I do hate to lose all the beautiful sun shine, and I will miss the dry green of summer.
Its Oregon, we tend to be green year round, but the winter green is squishy, mossy, and muddy.
Along with the season change comes the a new school year, today is my first day back on campus, I am so nervous and anxious to get through this term.  I was up all night with Micah, he was working and I was trying to distract myself with some On Demand (I heart SUITS).  I've never worried so much about a new term, but this term I will be repeating Anatomy and Physiology 231 (its the first in a series of 3) I passed it in  the spring, but the C I fought so hard to get did not feel like a job well done.
Lets be honest, I was a terrible student in High School, and an even worse college student before I got married.  When Mic and I married and he convinced me I could do school and that I was smart enough, I chose hair (I don't regret it at all) and I am pretty darn good at it.  (especially now that I get so much practice) 
Doing hair speaks to my soul, I love just about every aspect of my field, but I especially love being with people and having so many different kinds of people to interact with.  I am so excited to go to work everyday because my day will never be the same... I never know who I will meet or how they will change my perspective on life.
The one bad thing about hair is that financially if something happened to Mic I could not take care of my family on what I make doing hair.  I worry about providing for my children if the worst happens (I swear I'm not planning a hostile take over).  
So I took sometime and examined what I like most about doing hair, the people.  Then I looked at the fields that are going to be in the highest demand over the next decade (health care, duh)... its easy to see why nursing would be another career that I would be completely content doing. 
Unfortunately, getting into the program will take nothing less than an act of the gods. Its a goal, I constantly plug away at, and hopefully this term will go smoothly (like a hot knife through butter)
So I have anxiety over all the things that don't matter right this second and I cry (a lot) and then I buckle down and get it done (hopefully). 

Wish me luck!  (I feel like playing a little OK GO)

No camera's please

Someone is practicing for his future in the spotlight... 

No pictures please



So comes the fall...

I love the leaves, but they are here to soon.

He is so happy in that dirty pile of leaves...  I heart little boys

Are you Duck enough?

We made it to the Duck game, it was a blast!  This is the 2nd year in a row we have made it to the first home game of the season!  We sat in the end zone and had the duck to entertain us the entire time.  I get such a kick watching him and the cheerleaders!  We went w/ a dear friend from Moss Adams, and it was a blast just being there and enjoying the win!!

 This is my husband, due to conflicting schedules we have barely seen each other over the past 2 weeks... it was nice to have some time together!

 This is what happens when they review plays (I get a little bored)

Poor duck did alot of push ups!

We made the boys grilled cheese when we got home, I love that both their feet are up on the table (we don't believe in table manners, apparently?)

 I was making funny faces at Miles... but I am so red and it only getting worse!!

Mic turned on ESPN and Miles climbed into his lap to sit and watch

CoOkiES aRe...

NOT...

 a breakfast food!

This baby keeps me hoppin! 

Its a good thing he is so dang sassy, I can't resist his stubborn streak!  (I have always had a soft spot for bad boys)

Face stick and other stick uses

Mason got into my lipstick and well in his words ...  SOOOOO PWEETTTTYY, NNNNKKK  mama?

 Yup, so pretty!

Mason found a stick (pipe) in the misc. pile and he is demonstrating the many uses for it.   ie why I shouldn't throw it away.

like leading a song (or as weapon)

 Pretending to be a pirate

A stool... nope not a stool

He tried that once and apparently once is all it took.  (poor kid)

Movin on up!

The time has come my little friends

To talk of other things

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax ...

WE MOVED!! 

 No more tiny dead end kitchen

 No more built in closet space (I will miss this)

 No more horrible outdoor space with the neighbor dog's doo doo all over the place

No more chasing the boys up the stairs everymorning... and  no more dangerous parking lot! 

I won't lie, it broke my heart to say good bye to the only home the boys have ever known.  Apt 286 was the first home we have ever made for ourselves.  Alot of firsts happened there and saying farwell was aweful!  Micah and I suck at change, we struggle with the new (thats why its taken us so long to move)

The park

Micah and I have some seriously busy schedules (ok mine is just erratic, but still I feel busy)  We are 2 ships exchanging cargo and then moving on.  The kids being the resilant monkeys they are have handled the whole thing like troopers (they are so tickled with more one on one daddy time, they don't notice I'm gone!)  We have tried to meet on at fun places for the exchange... like the park!


I took the kids last week and finally remembered to take some pics

 Lots of yummy fries

equal a happy boy!

I think i missed one

Just give me a sec... I'll get it

Mason's a little greedy with those fries...  poor Miles had a little fall and his nose stopped caught the brunt, our first bloody nose (I am sure we have lots more coming our way)

Once lunch was over, I was to busy chasing after the boys to take pics... I am sure you have a mental picture of our crazy chaotic boys!