Up for Grabs!

I hope you all don't think i'm taking advantage of the whole blogger thing, but i've decided to clean out all the baby clothes i've been holding on to and thought i would offer them up to you all first!

First up: the only boy clothes i have left.

left to right- 2T carters jeans

polo 2T jeans, toughskins jeans

cream colored vest w/zipper pockets, fleece lined

none have holes, all have been worn and well loved!

They say it's your birthday

Your 4!

You bring sunshine into our lives, we love you so very much!!!! Happy, Happy Birthday!

A little bit about our girl:

favorite colors are : pink and purple
favorite song is : life is a highway from the movie cars
favorite foods: salad and candy
favorite animals: lions, deer, horses
favorite movies: lion king and bambi
favorite books: all berenstain bear books!

She and I went to krispy kream for breakfast and the nice lady gave her a box all her own!
And a nice man gave her one of the hats. What a great way to start the day!
Gymboree gave her a big birthday sticker and wished her a good one!
So far- a lovely day!
We are off to see a movie!

Noticing

Did you ever wonder when your husband really started to know you?
The other day this was made so very clear to me.
It went a little something like this...

We get in the truck- just the two of us, he says "oh here, I found this for you the other day" my face in puzzlement. When did he notice that I like 'wishing rocks' you know the ones, the rocks with all those continuous lines all around them...
That was not the end of his observations- next came a comment I never would have thought he knew about me.
" I just came back from Fred Meyer and all of their Sketchers are on sale- 25% off, thought you might want to know" as I stopped in my tracks, amazed that he would not only notice this sale, but remember to tell me when he got home, I once again wondered- when had he started to notice that fact about me?
I guess these things happen when you have been with a person for almost a decade.
When we fist met I wore Sketcher boots to work in the salon all day. So maybe he noticed then, maybe it was when Famous Footwear had their buy one get one half off and I came home with two new pairs of Sketchers.
Maybe in all the beach combing on the coast we have done together has made him take notice that I am always looking for that perfect 'wishing rock' to wish all my life dreams on, to rub in my hands and think of all the dreams I made on wishing rocks when I was a kid.
Maybe,...
Maybe he is just listening to me, really listening.

I Got Tagged!

4 jobs i've had:
1. Secretary at a Chiropractic clinic
2. Teachers assistant at a School for deaf children
3. Outside sales associate for Beauty Supplies & hair dresser
4. Nanny for the last 7 years

4 movies i could watch over & over:
1. Pride and Prejudice {A&E version} thanks Kelly
2. Nothing to lose- I saw this on a double date with my mom in '97-it has me busting up!
3. How to lose a guy in 10 days- wish i looked like Kate Hudson
4. Failure to launch- there is a Matthew McConaughey theme here- soooo cute!

4 places i have lived:
1. Culver City Ca.
2. Los Angeles Ca.
3. Edmonds Wa.
4. Shoreline Wa.

favorite TV shows:
1. A&E's First 48- This is part of my "TV night" when I watch this and HGTVs house hunters
2. Oprah- LOVE her! I don't miss a show, sometimes i'm days late, but i still watch it
3. Lock up & Lock Down cool prison shows we watch together, makes me want to be a Warden
4. John & Kate plus 8- one set of twins-one set of sextuplets, they are such a cool couple!

favorite foods:
1. Diet coke- I'm with Marie on this one, it's a food group...
2. Gratzii resturants Risotto-Yummo!!!
3. Ben & Jerry's light fish food-it's my favorite
4. Topallinos pepperoni pizza -out in Bellevue

websites i frequent:
1. http://www.kiva.org/ if you want to make a difference in the world-amazing idea!
2. http://www.heifer.org/ if the animal route is more your nature
3. http://www.erainimages.com/ really cool images
4. http://www.ballardcamera.com/ to order all my digital prints

4 places i'd rather be:
1. The Bahamas - love everything about it!
2. Disneyland - we used to live semi close, so I've been 20 something times
3. Hawaii- ahhh ...love the sun!
4. Montana- camping with my family, with no one else for miles...peace with nature-just grand!

3 people to tag next:
1. Rebbecca
2. Emily
3. Monica- you gotta start back at it Mon-love ya!

Salsa

MMM, the word brings to mind yummy food, sweating brow and a really good recipe!

My girlfriend Yvette taught me how to make this many years ago;

The great part is that she is right next door, so when it isn't 'just right' I call her over for some good ol' fashion mexican cooking lessons! {next on the menu- how to make homemade refried beans..}

Anyway, as I was having an after school snack of baked tortilla chips and homemade salsa with the kids, I thought of how grateful I am to have Yvette's recipe to share with my family, and then I thought- maybe one of my friends would want to make salsa some time.

Once you've made your own, you'll never go back to store bought! I guarantee it doesn't taste as good as your own!

As a side note: pick jalapenos that look like they have little brown cracks on them, they are the spicy ones!

Also I use the Tupperware salsa maker, but if you don't have one you could just chop everything really fine, or use a chopper.

Salsa

1/4 an onion

1 jalapeno

1 bunch cilantro

1/2 lime

about 1 tbs salt

Roma tomatoes

chop first three first, then add the rest and spin with the salsa maker or chop all together.

Enjoy!

Let me know if you try it and what you think!

Disneyland 2007

As we entered the park we snapped our first Disney photo, we were so excited to all go together for the first time! John and I took Chastin when he was four, and Al and Jordan had been before, so this made it Shilos first time and our whole families first time together. I had wanted to go all of us for a while, but I wanted to wait till Shilo could go on rides. She was tall enough for the Matterhorn- and she LOVED it!!! We went on it again and again! It was so much fun!
Proof that mom was there too... I'm always behind the camera;) Glad they were all smiling for this picture! That's no easy task when you have four kids!
Shilo wore this fanny pack the whole trip! John and I got this for her in Vegas, little did we know that she was going to love it this much! She kept her money that great grandma sent her in there, and wanted to pay for everything for all of us. She is so sweet! We just love her, she lights up every moment of our lives!
All tuckered out! We arrived first thing in the morning and rode all the rides we could fit in, and saw all the shows we could, met all the characters we could, then left around midnight. All four were really worn out. We were glad to have a hotel close by to retreat to. till the next day!{actually, we went on Wednesday then again on Friday}

• Shilo was in love with everything Disney-rides-and princesses!
• Chastin loves fast rides! He enjoyed the whole two days! Overall California Scream'n was his all time favorite!
• Alex is happy to ride anything that you get wet on or you go really fast!
• Jordan is happy to go on anything with anyone!
• John is happy that Disneyland serves coffee so he could stay awake and happy while at the "happiest place on earth".
• And I was happy to watch Chastin and Shilo have a blast! I get joy from seeing my kids have fun, and I love taking pictures of them, so all was well for me!

School days

MY SECOND GRADER

how did he grow up so fast?!

i always do this thing with my kids head, where i push on them and tell them

"your not allowed to grow anymore"

it doesn't seem to be working though...

he is such a sweet boy.

i am truly blessed,

i couldn't have asked for a better son.