Spring break!

A much needed vacation--to Astoria! Jared and I honeymooned here four years ago, and wanted to take Katie to the beach, so here we are.

Jared found a great deal at the Shilo Inn in Warrenton, and it's a great room in a great location. We can see Astoria from our room window, and Katie sure enjoys looking out the window.




We went to Ft. Stevens this afternoon to play at the beach.


Katie was not a fan of sandy toes...

In fact, when we tried to take this family picture, she picked the sand off her toes and stuck it in my mouth. Yum!


We played down by the wreck of the Peter Iredale. It's a cool old shipwreck.

31

What will this year bring, I wonder?

I hope for joy, and laughter, and love.

And no surprises!

Pay it forward...

The first three people to leave comments on this post will receive home-made goodies at some point during the year. The catch is, you have to promise to pay it forward and do the same on your blog. If you don't blog, maybe you could make a note on Facebook or just promise to spread the love to three deserving, or undeserving, people in your life.



I know I'm a procrasinator, and you probably know that too. But I promise that if you respond (or call me!) I will send you something nice (and probably woolly, c'mon, you know I'm not terribly creative!) in the mail sometime this year.

I don't even know if three people will read this! If not, maybe I'll surprise someone!

Remembering

Has it really been seven years?

Love you Mom.

Everyday Treasures

We can only be said to be alive when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. -Thornton Wilder

I saw this on another blog this morning, and it got me thinking about what I am treasuring right now. Obviously, I thought about Katie. But what about her right now do I especially treasure? What encapsulates this instant in her life?



Noise.

My girl has always been a noisy baby. Forget the baby monitor, we had to shut her door as an infant. And right now she is experimenting with all kinds of noises. She blows raspberries and clicks her tongue. She is always singing, or laughing at the dog. She's just figured out how to stomp her feet, and especially likes it on the tile with her jelly shoes. She'll take her popper push toy to the tile and bang it on the floor, just because it's noisy. She stands on the hearth, flings her arms out and yells. "Ta da!" she says. Here I am.

As I watched her bounce around the living room this afternoon, I tried to really listen to the joyful noises my daughter was making. I reminded myself that there will come a day, all too soon, when this house is quiet again. Until then, bring on the noise.

Spring is on its way!

I am so glad we live where we live. I am really looking forward to summer, sunshine, parks, walks... I'm glad we bought a house that's so close to everything. I like knowing I can walk to the bank, to a yarn store (!), to a grocery store. I love that walk to the library, and the park there. I anticipate spending lots of time there this summer.

We got a new camera recently, (thank you, SlickDeals!) and I don't totally know what all we have going on. I'm certainly no photographer!

I wanted to show off Katie's pigtails! Baby Girl has hair, all of a sudden, and the most adorable, fuzzy little curls in the back!

She's not quite sure what's going on up there...

But she was ok with them. I think she liked that it kept her hair out of her eyes! I'm still practicing, so the part is totally wonky and the tails are uneven. Now we just have to teach Daddy!

I think I might have to change my desktop photo at school to this one:

as a reminder to stay happy and silly. This has been such a good year, so far, and I need to remember to choose to be in a good mood. I cannot let those students who make bad decisions get me down. They are choosing their own paths, and the consequences will come into play soon. It's hard, knowing that there is frequently a simple solution to the problem.

Please ignore the heavily loaded bookcase. As Destructor has gotten taller, babyproofing has consisted of moving things off of shelves onto higher ground. Consequently, all the lower shelves are fair game:

Mama is considering signing her up for gymnastics. At least she falls well. Her new trick is to stand on the arm of the couch, and faceplant onto the cushions. Lovely.

Finally, because this NEVER happens... A rare photograph of the wild and wily Katemonster in hibernation:


She hasn't let me sneak up on her asleep since she was a few weeks old. Every time I'd lean over the crib her eyes would pop open and she'd get up. I swear the girl can smell me at 50 paces. Tonight, though, she was cranky (she's phasing out her afternoon nap) and so we popped her in bed for a half hour. When I went in to wake her, she was snoring, and let me take THREE flash pictures of her! Then I moved her arm (I sleep with my arm twisted like that sometimes too. It's weird.) and finally tickled her neck to wake her up.

She's sleeping on that great scrappy quilt Sari made for her.

My brilliant husband

Jared took the TEAS test Thursday. It's a general knowledge test that is part of the application process for nursing school. The national mean for the test is 74%. Jared, however...

91% Yeah. That's higher than 98% of the people who take the test. He rocks, and we are so proud of him!