Summer 2012

June 1 always feels like the beginning of summer to me.  Even though I know officially it doesn't start until the 20th and besides the fact that it is actually raining today, which doesn't feel very summery at all.  I still get into summer warm-up mode once June 1 rolls around.

Last summer I really liked my to-do list that I made for myself.  It was a great check-list that kept me honest.  This year I have made another list and I am looking forward to crossing items off one by one as the warm weeks go by!

So here goes my summer 2012 to-do list:

1. De-Clutter my House.  I feel like the chawtch-keys are swallowing me alive!  I want some more clean lines!

2. Get my bike fixed.  At the very beginning of fall last year, Nora and I took a bike ride and I popped both tires, officially ending my biking season with a bang! Now I want to get that fix and hit the road again.

3. I want to go some place new.  I know this is somewhat nebulous but I have some time off this summer and I don't want to be at home the entire time so I want to get creative, find a new, fun, inexpensive place to go and see.

4. Make curtains for the dinning room and/or play room.  Both areas need new curtains, Dodger chewed up the gross plastic vertical blinds, all the more enforcing the point that new curtains are needed.  Whether I can get to both rooms remains the question.

5.  Visit our friends the Slagles.  They recently moved to beautiful Redding, CA and have extended the invitation numerous times to come visit so I totally want to pick a weekend and point the car north!

6. And most importantly, eat as much ice cream as possible! A summer favorite!

Once in a Lifetime

Last weekend I made Overnight Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread.  The only reason I blog about this is not to boast but to remind myself in years to come about how there was one time when I did something nice for my family on a Saturday morning!

She doesn't usually eat shirtless but this was too sticky, messy and wonderful to eat with a shirt on!

8 is Great!

Last month Paul and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary!  Unlike last year we thankfully had no life threatening events or marriage busting circumstances.  We stayed in Morro Bay, visited Hearst Castle, were tourists in San Luis Obispo and ate lots of good food all along the way!

Uncharacteristically, I only took a few pictures of our weekend away.

Here they are!

 Hearst Castle

 Ocean views for miles

8 is oh so great!

A Little Whimsy

On a less spiritual note...I had to show our visit from the Easter Bunny!

He left huge foot prints all throughout our house!

Leading to Nora's Easter basket.

As you can see, she was very excited about what he left for her!

He Has Risen!

He Has Risen Indeed!

Happy Easter to you all!

What a wonderful day of celebrating what Jesus did for us so many years ago!

Our hope and prayer is that Nora will understand and appreciate this day not only for the people we celebrate with, parties we get to have and peeps we get to consume but also for the true significance of this day and what it means for our eternal life.

Praying before eating our Easter feast!


The hunt!

Oh how big they are getting, not that long ago they had to be propped on the grass next to us to get a good Easter photo, now we have to pick them out of trees!

To be honest, Nora had to be placed into this tree, she wasn't a willing participant but I bribed her with chocolate and she went with it.

I'm sure Jesus was proud!

Tuckered out after a long day of celebrating!

The Bunkie!

Ever since we saw an episode of Sarah's House where she convinced her husband to build her a bunkie on their vacation island, I have wanted a bunkie in our backyard. A bunkie is a little room for overnight guests that is simple, no plumbing, just a beautiful place to sleep. We had a shed in our backyard that I would go out to, examine and then come back inside and tell Paul that our shed could totally become our bunkie! He would look, we would talk, I would beg and then entered Father Paul. Father Paul (Paul's dad) has been living with us during the week while he is doing a house remodel nearby. I told him my vision for our shed, he shook is head, said it would always be a shed but that it could be done. Thus started our shed to bunkie remodel which started in October 2011 and now I am happy to say is 99% done!

Take a look at the progression...

The clean out

Interior

Insulation

Sheetrock

Tape & Texture

Painted blue

New flooring

In action!

We decided to make this space Paul's office, which in the long run really does make sense.

I still need to accessorize, hang pictures, get an office sign etc. but it is definitely functional in the meantime!

Exterior paint and our bunkie (office) is no longer a shed. The part that makes this job only 99% finished is that, down the road, we would like to get a new door, one that would help the exterior look more like a dwelling place.

Thank you Paul for making this space so beautiful! Even if it will always be a shed in your eyes you did an amazing job transforming it into something special in ours!

An All-Around Lucky Day!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

What a fun day we had making an Irish feast, spending time with good friends and feeling all-around lucky all day!

Sporting our green!

We made homemade rolls, Irish stew and potato skins!

And I say "we" loosely!

Our good friends Liam, Aaron and Carrie came over.

Carrie brought all the kiddos presents, it was such a surprise, so lucky!

The table was set.

We all got Irish names.

We all ate until we couldn't eat anymore!

And a story before bed.

What a great day!

Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby!

Just call me Maverick!

Another First

I love that we are still going through "first" with Nora.

Last week we went to the dentist for the first time. I had NO idea how Nora would do. So this visit she was just going to watch me during my appointment. Then the hygienist asked if Nora would like to have her appointment today and since we were already there I took a gamble and said "Sure!". So after my cleaning Nora hopped up in the chair, got a little nervous with the hydraulic chair, but then opened up wide and let the doctor do a full cleaning on her. I could not have been more amazed!

She even was good through a few x-rays. Although the doctor said we will have to retake most of them because she moved too much in-between getting placed and us all scurrying out of the room. I'm not surprised!

A Day Fueled by LOVE

Valentine's Day has now come and gone but we made some great memories and we are already talking about what we are going to do next year!


I have learned that year three for Nora has been the year she has really "gotten" and retained things. Not that she knows all the history, but she has caught on to the excitement and joy that holidays and life has to offer! Valentine's Day not excluded, she had a ton of fun making and distributing her Valentine's cards to her friends, family, classmates and to her Daddy!

Lunch sandwiches were of course heart-shaped!

Baked goods is always a good way to say
"I Love You!"

Love you Daddy!
Daddy was still waking up in this pic!

The Valentine's coat made it's yearly appearance.


This was the first year that Nora really noticed the coat...no matter how emphatic I was that I was the Valentine's Day Fairy she insisted I was Santa!

First stop was to Liam and Aaron's house!

Although not pictured here, the rest of the day was full of merriment, including school fun, work fun and even a date night for mommy and daddy!

Hopefully between now and next Valentine's Day we can remember
that the world is a much happier place when it is run on love!

Finally Finished!

So my big project of summer 2011 was my t-shirt quilt. I finished my portion in August and gave it to the quilter, looking forward to seeing the finished product. I waited and waited and then the holidays came and things got busy and then I waited and waited. But last Friday I got the call that it was done and I could pick it up!

Here is what it looked like when I sent it off.


Here is the final product!


The point of this quilt is to preserve t-shirts that have sentimental value to Paul and me. So in this quilt are t-shirts from high school, college, travels etc. I love how it came out! This is definitely a "use it" quilt. It's not going on a wall, it should be in your lap, keeping you warm as often as possible! I have already curled up with it while reading a good book and it felt great!

Paul's high school basketball jersey.

T-shirts from our travels.

Here is the onesie I gave Paul when I told him he would be a daddy!

A fun project, a proud accomplishment and a great keepsake!

Project Time!

For those of you who don't know, Paul's dad has been living with us during the week while he is working on a house remodel down the street. With Paul Sr. around we have been getting a lot of house projects done! The project I am about to show you is actually done by my dad and I think has some good before and after shots. Paul Sr./Papa/Father Paul has been doing things like snake our bathtub drain, install a new faucet, work on our bunkie (blog to come), things that just don't photograph well. Anyway, the point of me saying all this is to let you know that we have been in project mode for about 4 1/2 months now. It has been fun to see things come together, complete some things around the house, and see things changed that we have wanted to see changed for quite some time! So thank you dads for all the help that you have been. We could not have done it without you!

So this project is shelving for the garage/laundry area. Something that is relatively easy with such great return!

Before...

1 stand alone shelf was just not cutting it.

Fresh coat of paint!

Every time Paul goes into the garage he just shakes his head and says "very primary". Whatever, I love it!

My dad, hard at work!

While my dad and I worked (dad worked, I tried to help as much as I could), Nora and my mom made cookies!

After!

Rows and rows of endless shelves!!!

I don't have enough stuff to fill them up, which is a good thing!

Organized!

Everything has a place, just the way I like it!

Now everytime I go into the garage it puts a smile on my face!

Next project, the wall...