Monday, May 31, 2010

My Son is Born

May 31st at 4:10 pm my son, Evan Robert Porter was born at 8 lb 2 oz, and 21 inches long. The adventures continue...

Friday, May 28, 2010

change in definition...

i usually call this a trail run. however, at 1 week overdue, i'm going to go ahead and call this morning's outing a hike...

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

ingredients

i have a syndrome. once i figure out that i can make something. i feel like i should make it instead of buying it.... hence the regular sewing nightmares around here!

the syndrome is spreading to our food.

the husband and i have been becoming increasing picky about our food. the more aware we are of what we are eating, the more satisfied we seem to be with our food. and the more unsatisfied we become with junk...

we definitely aren't gourmet eaters around here, often we like it simple, we just like it good.

there is just something incredibly satisfying about knowing what every ingredient is in your food and where it came from.

i'm fascinated by how often i find that i have every ingredient in my house to make foods i regularly buy.

like our sunday spread for example...four ingredients : flour, yeast, salt, water and the simple know how from artisan bread in five minutes a day makes it much less intimidating...
quiche: because we left the alpaca farm with 2 dozen, fresh that day eggs. can't wait until we have all the veggies in our garden to add to these babies. one is artichokes and swiss, and the other bacon, tomato & cheddar. the husband approved. (and we made 2 because i'm in the freeze one of everything i make stage...)
and because we were having friends over, and it came highly recommended, we made a little chocolate cobbler via pioneer woman.

have i been living under a rock? how is it that i have been making boxed things when i have every ingredient in my house for molten chocolate goodness?

loving it, and i'm okay if this syndrome spreads. i would love this to be a foundation in our little family. time cooking and eating good, healthy, foods together. if we are going to eat, we might as well savor it, and eat well.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

done and done #5

check it off the list!

we have ourselves a small garden plot.

however, once june hits- it gets overshadowed by a neighbors tree. so this year i used that little spot to plant our spring goods, and worked on talking bobby into helping me with a garden box to put on our patio, where the sun shines all day long.

i have to hand it to the husband. i come up with ideas all the day long, plan, create to-do lists, and usually at least parts of the project always somehow rope him in. (even if i didn't plan for him to do it, he has to admit, that when he sees me using his drill in a way that scares him, he takes the project away from me... how am i supposed to learn with such a great husband around?? and i used to consider myself quite the independent woman...) he's a trooper.

but there is nothing i hate more than standing around waiting for him to do something while i do nothing. especially when it was my project to begin with.

it took a lot of smooth talking to manage to get permission to get onto the roof at 9 months pregnant to transfer (read: throw) the dirt from the old garden box up there, to the newly crafted fancy patio box.

bobby carefully supervised my climb up and required me to shovel the dirt from a sturdy seated position. don't worry, i do not over estimate my graceful abilities to believe that i would be able to stand on a roof and shovel dirt without a guaranteed mishap...
side note: garden boxes on slanted roofs are not affective. watering = landslide of seeds and dirt to the southern corners of the box...

then, because we still needed more dirt, and who likes to pay for dirt??? we went to a co-workers alpaca farm, where we were kindly gifted some compost.

the husband shoveled... while i stood there and took pictures. boy does he love that!
detour:

baby alpaca born that very morning...

she was very soft and wobbly on his feet. it made my heart pitter-patter that i'm going to have a little human bebe in my arms one of these days soon...then it was back to our little patio plot.

friday we filled and gridded (this is my first attempt at the square foot gardening method. i already goofed, because our plot is 6' x 6' instead of 4'x4'- good luck to me harvesting from the center of that!!)

then i was gladly left up to my independent ways to pick out the plants
(special thanks to debby, who grew her own starts this year, and gifted me with her leftovers!! and to home depot, for doing the rest of the work...)

the rest of the day was spent getting my hands dirty and trying to bend over with this 9-month belly of mine. yep, i celebrated the official due date by planting the rest of my garden. here's hoping i can still move today!
check!

Friday, May 21, 2010

the doors...

did you know that the doors was one of my favorite bands in high school? yep. a boy i liked even got me a doors calendar for christmas one year. true story.

but this is really nothing at all to do with this post.

we have a new accessory in our house. they are sooo lovely.

bobby labored, (as usual!) and had the expert advice of his dad (thanks!!)

it is nice to be rid of the faux wood grained, slightly pink tinted dirty doors



we even replaced the front door. the old one had been awesomely installed up-side-down and had a busted door jam.

and again, bobby labored...
the only good thing about it, was we liked the color. so here i am painting the new door, trying to replicate it... can
anyone say scary???

all i can see is visions of a hot pink front door. why would anyone do that on purpose??

so... when i get around to finishing painting it, or when you come visit, you may just see the finished product of this one!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

done & done #4

once upon a time, when we painted the room yellow, we had a plan for how to make a chill office/baby room combo.

if bebe was a boy, we were going to put a sweet map on the wall.

simple. done.

then my sis told me that she was showering me with the theme frogs, snails, and puppy dog tails. my brain stopped at frogs, and my childhood love for frog & toad.

suddenly, i had a dilemna. do i put a map on the wall? or do i find a sweet frog & toad canvas to adorn the wall and change the whole plan??? - and try to subliminally infuse a love of frog and toad upon my children??

but i have to say, i found the limits of the internet. there were no frog and toad prints to be found. so, while it wasn't keeping with the simple plan, we got creative, and i can finally cross the frog and toad prints off the to do list.

please ignore the awesome glare, curtains haven't happened in this room yet...

Monday, May 17, 2010

Full

the time is up and there is not room for much else in here...
don't tell me i can still get bigger, i don't want to know anymore!
thanks meeshy for taking the photos yesterday!

growing bebe bobby has been quite the adventure, now we are excited for this little guy to decide to make his appearance!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

hours of entertainment

i realize that this game is likely for age 5+

and i also realize that i happily received it as a present for my 30th.

it has provided hours of entertainment in the past week for us and friends.

i especially like to shout zero really obnoxiously when someone gets a "pig out" and loses all their points.

we had to take a photo of this awesome pose (which i think doubles as a sweet dance move) to prove that the little piggy's weren't touching, and bobby wasn't out of the game...

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

birthday ghost

since the husband is way too cool and creative for streamers, he decked out the living room with ribbon. strands were stretched out from each of the ceiling fan blades all cool like.

and since i'm a fan of the birthdays, when he wanted to take down the decor, i insisted it stay up, at least through birthday week...

but did i mention our ceiling fans might be possessed??
yesterday morning there was a storm brewing outside, so when i heard a sudden very windy noise from the general direction of the living room/kitchen area, i assumed rain was about to come pummeling in the windows i had left open (i love cold spring air!!!)

nope.

our ceiling fan had turned itself on full blast, ripped the tape off the walls and was spinning all the birthday ribbons around as a colorful cyclone.

weird. and this is not the first time. all though usually there are not ribbons attached to the fan...

once the light attached to same said ceiling fan in our bedroom turned on in the middle of the night. very weird.

i would also like to note, that even going to pitch black, middle of the night, to light on- bobby did not wake when this event occurred. that is- until i woke him up, asking him why our appliances are creepy...

Sunday, May 9, 2010

i'm 30, yes i am.

i had dreams of the big 3-0 starting a while back. i started planting ideas in the husbands brain. then last independence day i sparked the grandest idea. how about fly above the city and mountains in a giant balloon. it was perfect, grand, and exciting enough to truly represent 30 years, and to kick off the next 30.

but then turns out i was going to be approximately 9 months pregnant on may 8th. i've only heard they don't recommend flying at that stage...

and thus, the balloon plot was foiled, at least temporarily. and i started trying to conjure up 30th worthy, pregnancy acceptable ideas..

but as it approached, i just couldn't muster up the ideas. there was nothing grand and exciting enough to warrant the energy to put it together. i mean, if it wasn't going to be good, and if i didn't really care, why bother tiring my already ever tiring self?

apparently, this is not okay. lazy is not a good way to celebrate ones-self. as my dear girls learned of my lazy 30th fate, they took the plans into their own hands.

reliving a kidnapping experience from a birthday a decade ago, they kidnapped me. straight up had bobby drop me off at a local gas station-kidnapped me.

we dined.
photo by meesh- just sad she wasn't in it!
did i mention that i totally have a hankering for this almost crushed ice stuff lately? i seriously fill my water cup and eat it with a spoon...


we went to a local craft fair.

it is only there you could find such a horrific birthday crown.

to give the local fair credit- there were many lovely and delightful things other than the gaudy crown....




we ate some yummy yogurt-
and discovered the handiness of the shelf.

and forgive me, but i never think i'm really that big until i see photos like this and think, oh goodness! i feel like that belly holds 5 bebes and apparently a yogurt...

editors note: these photos are too hilarious to me not to be included. however, that being said, and regardless of how kind your comments are, i just feel darn right unattractive in them and thus can make them as small as i want to!

and then i was delivered back to a parking lot to rendezvous with the husband, who had been up to some grand scheming of his own.

he filled the house with balloons, ribbons and flowers, got a smorgasbord of my favorite thai foods, and then set us up to eat in our very own backyard.
and he stayed outside with me for as long as i wanted. it was beautiful and grand. i couldn't stop telling him how much i loved it.

see our pinata? yep- its a hot air ballon. that adventure is still gonna happen someday!

and he sang me a happy birthday solo with a giant piece of carrot cake.

good times. good times. and now to start the next and most exciting decade so far...

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

cinco

++
=
happy cinco de mayo!

and of course we dug out the banner from last year. bobby was surprised i had saved it. how could i not?

p.s.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

april showers bring may bebes...

april showers indeed. incredible friends, family, food, laughter, and talk of bebes.

so much to know.

so many generous people in my life.

so many cute and tiny accessories for such a little guy.