Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Annual Vacation in Washington State | 2018









Welcome, friends! I can't believe it's been a year since my last blog post. My life has been a wee bit hectic this past year and the ol' blog took a permanent back seat. Hopefully I can make time for most posts in the coming months. 

The kids and I traveled to Washington for a quick visit earlier this month and I am thrilled with the photos I took, both at parent's house and at Mt. Rainier National Park. We stayed at a beautiful resort near the Crystal Mountain Lodge for two nights. The boys loved hiking, the fantastic onsite pool, and of course the beautiful views of Mr. Rainier. 


We also spent a lot of time with Abby and Carter. Evan and Jack are so good with their cousin and Carter adores them, too. I love this photo of the three cousins together. So sweet. 



Evan and I brought a huge box of toys with us for Carter and he LOVED his new Switch and Go Dinosaurs. I think they were Jack's from when Jack was 4 or 5. Carter is a huge dinosaur fan and these dinosaurs are perfect for him. Before we flew home to Washington, Carter had convinced his mom to buy him another dinosaur to add to his collection. He is so hard to say no to! 




We had a wonderful time and the boys are already talking about our next trip to Washington. 

I still have a ton of photos of edit from our trip, then I need to send them off to the printer so I can scrapbook them! I'm thinking about making a mini album, but I'm also considering making individual pages plus a digital photo book for the boys (and one for Carter) so they can look at the photos whenever they want to. 

Thanks for stopping by! I promise to be back soon... much sooner than a year. :) Have a great week! 








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Monday, December 16, 2013

Holiday Photos | Family Photo Shoot

Last month Mark and I took the kids to a professional photographer for a family photo session... our first one in over two years! We had a "mini session" with the photographer, and I am very happy with the photos. A few of them I will enlarge and frame, but most of them I compiled into a 7x7 inch Blurb Book that is scheduled to arrive Wednesday. I haven't used Blurb before, but after reading Cathy Z.'s review, I had to try them out. I created some simple templates in Photoshop, then added the finished pages to the photo book. The whole process took about 3 hours. Not too bad from start to finish for a complete photo book.

These are my favorites from the shoot. Our photographer was Kati Rosado Photography. 
 






I just love this... Jack with his tongue stuck out, and Evan covering his face. Too funny. 


After our photo session we took the kids to a wonderful dinner at The Mansion in downtown Melbourne. It was a lovely afternoon and I am so excited to get some of these photos printed! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week! 
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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Lego Land, Florida

A few weeks ago we took a mini-vacation to Orlando and Lego Land with Mark's parents. The kids love amusement parks, and I had heard really good things about Florida's newest theme park. We had a wonderful time, and despite the heat, enjoyed our day at the park. Jack especially enjoyed going on rides. He just hit 36 inches (with shoes on), so he could go on a quite a few rides this trip... even some by himself! He looked so little compared to the bigger kids on the rides, but he loved it. 


Jack wanted a blue Angry Bird painted on his face.

And Evan wanted a red bird... he really liked it, so I'm not sure why he is so serious!









I am still taking care of a very sick 6-year-old, so I better run. Poor kid cannot get over a nasty cold/flu. We are off to the doctor tomorrow to make sure he doesn't have something more serious (Mark mentioned bronchitis...).

Have a great week!
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Friday, May 18, 2012

Simon Says Stamp May KOTM

Happy Friday! I hope everyone has had a great week. Jack is still recovering from being sick (and he now has a cold), but we have had a really nice week. Evan's Kindergarten Graduation was this morning, and Mark and I were both able to attend. He has grown so much this year & it was great to see his classmates one last time. I can't believe he only has a week left of school! Where did the time go? We are all going to miss his teacher, Mrs. Lintner, very much. She has been a wonderful instructor and friend to Ev. Some people have a natural gift in teaching, and she is one of those people.  

A couple of months ago I signed up for Simon Says Stamp KOTM program after seeing some amazing cards by Jennifer McGuire. I had the pleasure of taking a class from her when we lived in Cincinnati, and she is a fantastic cardmaker. I love her style and the techniques she comes up with are truly amazing. I love getting my KOTM box every month... each one is unique and most of the stamps are exclusive to SSS. The May kit was a bit of a stretch for me... don't usually use red, pink, and blue/green together, but I ended loving every card I made. Papertrey Ink's Melon Berry and Pure Poppy ink are a perfect match for the pink and red in the kit. Most of the products I used are from the kit, except for a couple of PTI stamp sets. 


("It's Your Day" sentiment by Papertrey Ink.)

(My favorite card... I love the banner and Doodlebug buttons. "Happy Birthday" by Papertrey Ink.)



(Flowers by PTI)

I am going to enjoy our last "school weekend" before Evan's last week of Kindergarten... then summer vacation! Lazy days, trips to the pool, summer camp, swim lessons, art projects... I can't wait. 
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Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!


Happy Easter! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I'm exhausted so today's blog post is in bullet form:

* This picture was not taken today... my Easter pictures are still on my camera and I am too tired to export them onto my external hard drive. Maybe tomorrow! But it's a cute picture, isn't it? Evan's new basketball hoop is getting a lot of use & Mark even taught Evan how to play HORSE.

* Jack refers to my office as mommy's "worker room". Apparently Rocket took his hippo into my office and Jack was very upset. He called to me from his crib "Mommy! Hippo is in your worker room!".

* Easter morning was crazy. Completely crazy. Evan woke up super early to play the Easter Bunny in our living room, then he and Mark scattered the rest of the eggs outside. We got Jack up and the two boys ran around collecting eggs. We haven't told Ev or Jack about the Easter Bunny being real (or Santa Clause for that matter), so Evan took over that role. He *really* got into it! And Jack was a maniac, running around stuffing eggs into his basket as fast as he could.

* By 10:30am the boys were so hopped up on sugar they were running around the living room shouting "I LOVE YOU GRANDMA AND GRANDPA" while Mark and I each talked to our parents. They. Were. CRAZY! Too much sugar and too much energy = wild and crazy boys.

* By 1:00pm Jack was having a full on meltdown and Evan was pouting. Their sugar high turned into a sugar crash, and they were both cranky.

* I know I've said it before, but I am so grateful for the friends we have made here. We had company over last night and again tonight, and it reminded me of our revolving door of friends & neighbors in Pullman. So much laughter. And cupcakes. :-)

* Jack had his first swim lesson of the new session on Tuesday. This month he is swimming in the pre-school class and not in the mommy and me class. I want him to get used to taking directions from another adult, and interact with other kids his age. He loves swim & is really enjoying his twice-per-week class. His instructor made the comment "wow, he sure talks a lot!". Yes, yes he does.

* Evan has been working on mastering the first grade reading list recently. When I tested him on those words in December, he knew all but 24 of the words (the list has about 160 words on it). When I re-tested him last week he knew all but 3 words. When I told him that I am so proud of his improvement he shrugged his shoulders and said "Now I get to learn the 2nd grade word list!". The kid is a sponge! He loves to learn and is doing exceptionally well in school.

That's it for me tonight. Have a great week!
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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Catching Up

I can't believe we are already a week into March. February was full of family visits, a trip to Orlando (and the Nickelodeon Hotel), Mark was away on business for a week, a trip to the beach, two trips to the zoo, homework, the start of spring baseball and soccer, doctor's appointments, physical therapy, and so much more. I love being busy. But I also love our down time, and last month was a crazy mix of both.

Mark was in California on Valentine's Day, but he did send me this beautiful bouquet of flowers. Thanks babe. :-)


I have been playing catch-up as I sift through hundreds of photos from the last few weeks. I am almost caught up with Project Life and printing photos. Almost.

My Uncle visited us in February for almost a week. Evan really wanted to take him to the zoo so they could Kayak together, and the boys also played in the water for a bit, too. Jack was not happy to leave the water, but he reluctantly agreed as long as we could go see the new dinosaur exhibit.

And today is my Uncle's Birthday. Happy Birthday Uncle Tom! We love you. :-)



Have a wonderful week!
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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Baseball & Soccer, A Wonderful Day | Digital Layouts

Miss Karla has a new collaboration kit coming out tomorrow! She created the papers and elements, while Tiffany Tillman created the templates.

Evan started his baseball and soccer seasons last week & Mark took a few great pictures of him playing both sports. I used those photos for this layout:

[Supplies- Brad: Be You. Staples: Digi Essentials. Alphabet: Calipso . "This Week" sticker: This Week. White tag: This Week. "Noted" tag: This Week. Template: Tiffany Tillman's "This Week" Templates. "Awesome Dude" brush: Boy Stamp Sheet]

The second layout I created uses several new products by Karla and another new template:


[Supplies- Gray brad: Friends. Tag: Felis. Staples: Digi Essentials. Template: Tiffany Tillman's "This Week" . "To Remember" sticker: This Week. "I love you so very much" brush: Felis. "j", "m", and "e" tabs: Tab Alphas. "Capture the everyday" brush: Everyday Sentiment Borders. Gray cardstock: This Week. "relax" card: Jumbo Sentiment Cards]

Karla's and Tiffany's new kit will be available tomorrow through Design House Digital.
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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We had a wonderful low-key day, which was exactly what I wanted this year. On Christmas Eve Evan asked me how early he was allowed to get up Christmas morning, and I told him 7am. He was in our room at 7:14am then next morning, ready to open presents! Santa was really good to the kids this year and brought them each a tablet (one LeapPad & one Innotab), plus an adorable wheelbarrow for Jack & a gears set for Evan.



Mark and I purchased a dress-up box for Jack this year. The only disappointment is when he has to take his costume off for nap time. Jack-Jack has mastered the Pouty Face. :-)

Evan received quite a few board games this year, including Zingo, Twister, a Hopscotch mat, I Spy Quest, I Spy Flipster, and Operation.



We have played many, many rounds of Twister so far. Evan is pretty flexible and does a great job following directions, but half the fun for him is getting twisted up on the mat and purposely falling over.

And I had to post this picture of Rocket. I was working in my office when Mark took this picture, and it cracks me up. I'm not even sure how Rocket got in this position, let alone stayed there.


My three boys. This is my favorite picture of the week... all (mostly) smiling, happy, and thrilled to be spending some time together.

Jack and I spent most of the day in and out of doctor's offices, so I'm exhausted. Have a wonderful weekend!
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Monday, November 28, 2011

Back to the Brevard Zoo

Happy Monday!

I can't believe how fast Thanksgiving flew by. Our friend, Dion, was here for a visit, and the five days he spent with us are a blur. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, the boys went to the beach on Friday (and the big boys went to a bar that evening), the five of us visited the zoo on Saturday, we watched the Apple Cup, and we ended his visit by dropping him off at the airport before some shopping at Ikea. I must say I am completely exhausted & my house is a mess, but it was a wonderful few days.

Our trip to the Brevard Zoo was definitely a highlight for me. I love our local zoo, so much so that I bought us a season pass in September. We were really lucky this visit because the giraffes were hungry and stationed along the giraffe feeding area, eating and socializing with everyone. They are absolutely beautiful animals and I could have watched them all day.

I have spent the last couple of hours going through the hundreds of photos we took (Mark was just as shutter happy as I was!), and I've posted some of my favorites.

The zoo had a face painting station set up, and Jack wanted to be a lion. Evan, of course, wanted nothing to do with having his face painted and hid behind Mark.


My first sun star. The composition isn't the best, but I am so pleased with myself that I was able to get a pretty good sun star. Terri gave me some great tips when she visited in August & I finally put them to use!

Brothers.

Evan has wanted to kayak along the "African River" for almost a year. He was old enough to go on Saturday, he was all smiles and wouldn't stop talking when it was all over. He loved kayaking and has already asked us when we are going to do it again.

Evan took this picture of Dion while we were watching the giraffes.

Giraffe! I actually squealed when we walked up the ramp to the giraffe observatory. They are so big and beautiful... and friendly!

Look at that tongue!


Stationed throughout the zoo are zoo employees and various snakes. This one was curled up into a knot and perfectly happy. Mark took this great picture.

My three little sea turtles.

Feeding the birds is always a hit, and this time Jack wanted to participate. He was a little unsure of the very friendly birds, but he was fine once Mark held his hand.

I love the face Jack is making! He was not happy while we were waiting for the boys to kayak under the bridge we were standing on.

Our brave kayakers finally arrived! Evan was waving like crazy & apparently yelling "There is Mommy! And Jack! Hi!!" while the guide was trying to point out different animals along the waterfront.

Dion was nice enough to take a photo of the four of us at the end of the day. We are not very good about getting family photos, but this one I love.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Hopefully I will be fully recovered by tomorrow... I have 4 appointments lined up this week, plus Mark's formal awards banquet on Saturday. The holiday season is upon us and I am not ready!

Erin.
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