busy mama, lazy blogger!

the life of a full time work outside the home mom of 2 kids, wife to 1 husband has kept me very busy...this blog (amongst many other things!) keeps getting neglected. i have great intentions, but they just don't always happen - sleep or just catching up on other blogs seems to always win out!

we just got back from a road trip to northern california - first to attend aaron's cousin in the mount shasta area, then on to sacramento to visit our great friends, mike and mel and two of their kids, macen and shea, finally landing in san francisco for a few fun days as a family! i'm not sure i'd recommend a road trip with a 2.5 year old and an 8 month old, but we did manage to have lots of fun between the long stretches of driving that maya especially grew to detest! oh and check it out!!! i submitted our adventure on one of my favorite sites, Ohdeedoh and they featured it today! that cement slide was super fun - grab a piece of cardboard that are scattered around the bottom, climb up the stairs and you whiz down! i highly recommend.

quick update on the kids:
maya is just about 9 months and really getting personality. she babbles about, has just started to scoot (army crawl) and is FINALLY starting to eat some solids (just today she took down a half of a banana mixed in with 1/4 avocado!). oh and she also is FINALLY taking a bottle from her teachers at school...yahoo! her hair is getting thicker and longer. she is loves to be held, especially by her mama and daddy and lights up with joy at the sight and sound of her brother! kellen is the only one who can make her laugh easily! it's super cute!

kellen...my big boy! he's 2 1/2 and it's just amazing to us how we can carry on full conversations with him now. his language is just exploding and he's becoming such an independent little guy. he keeps himself entertained, whether with his sesame street guys or playing in his kitchen...and the whole time he's singing songs (which i just love!). itsy bitsy spider is probably his favorite, but he's not afraid to bust out, bringing home a baby bumblebee, slippery fish, you are my sunshine or the abc's. some of his funny sayings - "sounds like a plan", "oh my goodness!", "not quite yet". i'm sure there are more, which is why i should be better at keeping this blog up!

bubble bath for two!

oh sh*&!!!

a recent (within the last couple of months!) conversation with my boy

kellen: oh sit (as he drops something on the floor)

me: what did you just say?

kellen: oh shit (a little more clearer, with a big grin on his face)

me: kellen, that's not a nice thing to say. why don't you say, oh, man!

kellen: oh shit, man! (with an even bigger grin on his face)

me, thinking to myself: oh shit!!!

fruit salad

last month kellen's classroom held a fruit salad party. each child brought in a different fruit and then for the afternoon activity and snack, they made and ate the salad. kellen's fruit was banana and he had a hard time giving up all of his banana's to the fruit salad. he scarfed down a whole banana before giving the rest of the bunch over to be cut up!

everyone took a turn dumping and mixing. kellen loved serving up bowls of fruit to all the parents. he served himself a giant bowl and then of course just picked out the mandarin oranges and pineapple.

as much as it's a near daily struggle for me to be away from my babes all day while i'm at work, i am sure thankful that they are able to go to the school right on campus. it's so nice to be able to easily drop in and say hello or participate in the variety of activities they have available. i keep telling myself this, because as much as i know that it's a great place, i still really struggled this last week now that maya has started going to "school'. she is in kellen's old infant class, little torch. it's right across the playyard from kellen's classroom, toggler...so on nice days when both classes are outside playing the kids can see each other.

things i'm diggin

here are a few more things i thought i'd share with you...who knows, maybe i'll make this a monthly project - seems like that's the only way i actually get on here and blog!!

1. amazon subscribe and save - this feature is AWESOME for so many reasons. first, find your favorite items...so far, i've subscribed to pampers, gogo squeezes (portable fruit sauce - kellen digs these!), rice cereal and a couple of other go to snacks for kellen. you choose how often you'd like to send it (every 1, 2, 3 or 6 months.), can cancel anytime (even after your first shipment), free shipping AND 15% off the regular price. there are thousands of products - food and snacks, health and wellness, household supplies, personal care and beauty products, baby & child are products. how great not to have to run out to babies r us, the grocery store or target...instead, just have it delivered, for free and typically cheaper!

2. in honor of tax day - turbotax.com i've been using turbo tax for the last 9 years and it basically allows me to wait until the very last minute before sitting down at the computer and banging out those taxes. never a fun job, but turbo tax makes it easy for me!

3. wholesomebabyfood.com and onehungrymama.com - as i inch days closer to having a six month, the thought of feeding her some goodness other than her mama's milk is creeping into my mind. as i did with kellen, i plan on making the majority of her food. it's so much easier than it sounds and i actually found it very rewarding to steam up those great organic veggies and fruits, puree and then freeze in ice cube trays for a freezer full of fresh and healthy food for my babe. the wholesomebabyfood site was a good to site when i was making food for kellen. onehungrymama is one that i've only recently discovered in my quest to look for healthy and good recipes that i can make for the whole family. you see, kellen is a bit of a veggie snubber, so i've been trying to figure out ways to incorporate veggies into his diet and this site has a number of great meals that do just that! i love how you can search by age - so once maya is eating a wide range of foods, i'm hoping to pretty quickly transition her to table food so that we can all eat the same meal as a family!

4. csa's - community supported agriculture. we just signed up for our fourth season of our csa and while we're still a few months away from receiving our first week of veggies - i thought it'd be a good time to share with two sites with you all so that you too can sign up and embark upon a relationship with a local farm to share in the harvest and enjoy fresh, local fruits and veggies (another reason why it was so easy to make my own baby food - i had fresh, organic veggies delivered to my work weekly!). i'm lucky in that i have an option of two farms that will deliver my weekly harvest to my work - so it makes it super easy! most farms deliver to several different local famer's markets - so you should be able to find one that delivers to your neighborhood farmer's market! this year we actually decided to try out a new farm, really for no other reason than to check out something new! i feel a little guilty - like we are cheating on the farm we've gotten our harvest box from for the last three years - but i know that they always sell out their harvest boxes, so i'm just opening up a spot for someone else who has been wanting one! in fact, most farms sell out rather quickly - so if you are interested in joining a csa, i recommend you get on it fast! here's are a couple of websites that list local csa farms - Portland Area CSA Coalition and Local Harvest. my next quest is to find a farm that raises grass-fed beef and buy a portion of a locally and ethically raised and butchered cow. has anyone done this or have recommendations?

first swing!

our weather has sure been crazy - sunny and warm one day or hour and cold, rainy or hailing the next! this weekend, i took advantage of a stretch of sunny weather and a visit from uncle bry to take the kiddos on a walk to the park. once we got there, i realized maya was old and strong enough to be able to be able to give the old baby swing a try! luckily uncle bry had his iphone with him, so we were able to catch some cute shots of the girl swinging - i think she enjoyed her time!


and of course, because she's the second child...she only gets a minute of the limelight to herself. kellen had fun pushing her and then big brother wanted to swing, too. so we put them together in one baby swing...could they be any cuter swinging together? i don't think she minded sharing the spotlight, either!


thanks for the fun and the cute pics, uncle bry!

and speaking of iphones...i am upgrade eligible as of may for a new phone through work and the iphone is now an option. should i make the jump from blackberry to iphone? i know, i know...i'm so behind the times not having an iphone and i should be a no brainer - but i tell you, i'm not so sure i'm a fan of the touch screen keyboard! and really, do i need the iphone to further feed my internet addiction?

my girl and me!

i love her!!!