Monday, June 24, 2013
Video Palooza!
Here are several videos of our cute kids. I suspect mostly the grandparents will be interested in these, but they will put a smile on your face whoever you are :) Enjoy!
Lily finally started walking just short of turning 17 months. Once she decided to do it she really took off without falling down much. This video captures a few of her first consecutive steps. She took steps prior to this, but every time I whipped out my camera she would stop walking, sit down, and smile for the camera. Also, as a side note, she does occasionally wear clothes, but many of our videos are taken in the evening after she has smeared dinner all over her shirt :)
Here is Lily conversing with me in the tub. These little conversations occur quite often. She has a lot to say and I feel cheated that I don't understand a word of it! At least not yet.
This was filmed while we were waiting for a bus on a rainy morning. Lily discovered that walking through puddles is actually really fun. Good thing we live where puddles abound!
While we were at the park Lily started climbing on these little steps, holding both hands high in the air, and squeeking. She did this spontaneously without any prompting. As far as I can tell this idea originated in her own little mind, but it bears a vague resemblance to a gymnast sticking her landing.
And who can resist the uninhibited dancing of children? Seriously, too cute.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Lily
Things She Loves:Her binkie
Dogs, cats, birds, basically every animal (especially the neighbor cat, Oprah)
Flowers
Books, especially those with puppies and kittens in them
Smoothies
Blueberries and bananas
Coloring
Being outside
Stickers
Dancing to music Going down the slide at the park
Eating the cream filling out of the Oreo
Tortilla chips
Things She Hates:
All vegetables
Brushing her teeth
Having her hair done
Funny/Cute Things She Does:
When she sees a dog, a cat, or a baby, she makes a panting sound and sticks out her tongue
She often walks in a certain circuit and then does it over and over and over again (walking in circles through our bedroom and bathroom or making a circle while we wait for the bus where she touches a sign, walks over a vent, around a lightpost, and then back again)
Growls like a monster
Flaps like a bird when she wants more food or when we offer he a food she is especially excited about
Hugs Tommy when he is crying
Nicknames:Beefy
Lily Girl
Sweet Girl
Foo Foo
Miss Lily
Boo Boo Baby
Lilybug
Monday, June 17, 2013
Tommy's Birthday and a Visit from the Chattertons
This year for Tommy's birthday we had some extra-special visitors: Grandma and Grandpa Chatterton! We had a great time showing them around our new home and experiencing all the best things in Beaverton and Portland.
We went to the Beaverton Farmer's Market where we bought tons of strawberries, got Tommy a fire hat and a balloon sword, and played at the playground.
Grandma and Grandpa gave Tommy this Superman cape and mask, which he loves! He is so into superheroes now. Grandma and Grandpa also gave Lily a consolation present; a baby that cries and coos when you push her belly. They are so sweet and thoughtful.
Tommy requested an M&M cake, so this is what I put together. It was very tasty, if I do say so myself. While we were at the store Tommy saw these pink marshmallows, put them into my shopping cart along with a bag of regular white marshmallows and said, "The pink ones are for my birthday and the white ones are for regular days." How can you say no to something like that? They went on the cake along with four candles.
One of the presents that we gave Tommy was this big styrofoam airplane. He decorated it with stickers and put it together himself. We spent several hours at the park throwing this thing in the air and watching it fly, much to Tommy's delight. Grandpa and Daddy were definitely the best throwers.
The evening of Tommy's birthday we went to our neighbor's house for dinner around their fire pit. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and ate the cake. Tommy got to play with his friend and run around all crazy. He loved it.
Here is Lily at the Boehm's. Isn't she cute?
We went to the park the day after Tommy's birthday and he went dressed like this. He felt like Cool Cute Numero Uno. I think he is carrying an umbrella and yes, that's a wrapping paper roll stuck in his belt. The other kids at the park thought he was pretty awesome.
Here is Lily and Grandma. They are so cute.
We hiked around the park a little bit. I love this baby-wearing dad! Parks in Portland are fun because you can play in the grass, play at the playground, or take a walk in the forest. It's all right there. On this adventure we found a lake and hiked all the way around it. Awesome.
The Chattertons came with us to the Children's Museum, which the kids love. We ate pizza outside afterward.
We love you guys! Thanks for coming to celebrate Tommy's birthday with us!
We went to the Beaverton Farmer's Market where we bought tons of strawberries, got Tommy a fire hat and a balloon sword, and played at the playground.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Seattle - May 2013
Over Memorial Day we drove up to Seattle to visit my brother, Carson, and his fiancée, Desiree. We rented a car and thought it would be a pretty simple hop up there. We have done 18 + hours in the car with both kids before so we figured a 3 hour drive would be a piece of cake. What we didn't count on was that our children would turn into bloodthirsty monsters. We almost left one of them on the side of the road somewhere between Vancouver and Olympia. We eventually made it to Seattle and actually had a wonderful weekend, despite the difficult start.
Carson and Desiree live in an apartment on a chic little drag in West Seattle. We had the pleasure of eating food from a French bakery, a pizzeria, and an incredible ice cream shop, all within walking distance of their home. Desiree fed us incredibly well while we there. She cooked steak/vegetables and amazing pancakes for us. We were so spoiled!
On Saturday we took a water taxi over to Seattle. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip and the event that Tommy will talk about first. The kids loved being on a boat. We walked around Seattle and saw some of the main attractions. Pike's Place was cool, but the thing I enjoyed most was the variety of street performers we saw there. I don't often donate to street musicians, but there were a couple that impressed me so much that I sent Tommy with a bit of money to give them. We walked the steep streets of Seattle, visited Carson's work for a little rest, and went to the top of the Columbia Center to see some breathtaking views of the city.
One of my favorite events of the day was getting caught in the middle of a film shoot. As we walked down a street in downtown Seattle we kept seeing people on each street corner with walkie talkies. We speculated about who they were and what they were doing and decided they were either security detail or undercover super spies. Before we knew it, a police car stopped traffic and a truck loaded with heavy duty cameras pulled out. Two cars and a van pulled out into position. They had the camera right up to the driver's side window of the black sport's car. Desiree tried to peek inside to see who was in there. I guess we'll never know :) One of the directors on the camera truck yelled, "Action!" and all four vehicles raced down the road. A few minutes later they came back to do the shoot again. It was a little thrill to get to see something like that even though we have no idea what movie it was for.
On Saturday night we stayed with our friends, the Pimentels. They have kids roughly the same ages as our kids. We haven't seen them for over a year (they used to live in the Phoenix area, but moved to Seattle) so it was so fun to catch up with them and see how cute our oldest boys were together. For the record, they also fed us amazing food. I think I gained 10 pounds over the weekend.
We were supposed to go to church with the Pimentels, and we did, but we only lasted about 30 minutes there. Our kids were completely out of control. We opted to leave so that others could feel the Spirit :) It's amazing how crazy our kids can get when they don't get the sleep they need. We went back to Carson's and Desiree's, ate, slept, and were merry. Later that evening we went to this amazing park on the beach called Lincoln Park. We probably could have spent an entire day there. We walked around, threw sticks and rocks into the water, swung on the swings, hiked through the forest, saw lots of doggies, and watched the ferry go back and forth between West Seattle and Vashon Island. We had such a great time! Thanks for hosting us! We'll be back to visit whether you like it or not :)
Carson and Desiree live in an apartment on a chic little drag in West Seattle. We had the pleasure of eating food from a French bakery, a pizzeria, and an incredible ice cream shop, all within walking distance of their home. Desiree fed us incredibly well while we there. She cooked steak/vegetables and amazing pancakes for us. We were so spoiled!
 |
| The thrill of riding on the high seas! |
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| Since when am I the shortest one in the group? |
One of my favorite events of the day was getting caught in the middle of a film shoot. As we walked down a street in downtown Seattle we kept seeing people on each street corner with walkie talkies. We speculated about who they were and what they were doing and decided they were either security detail or undercover super spies. Before we knew it, a police car stopped traffic and a truck loaded with heavy duty cameras pulled out. Two cars and a van pulled out into position. They had the camera right up to the driver's side window of the black sport's car. Desiree tried to peek inside to see who was in there. I guess we'll never know :) One of the directors on the camera truck yelled, "Action!" and all four vehicles raced down the road. A few minutes later they came back to do the shoot again. It was a little thrill to get to see something like that even though we have no idea what movie it was for.
 |
| View of the Space Needle from the Columbia Center Observation Deck. |
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| Here is Lily with the filming crew in the background. The black car, the white car, and the white van were all part of the film shoot. |
We were supposed to go to church with the Pimentels, and we did, but we only lasted about 30 minutes there. Our kids were completely out of control. We opted to leave so that others could feel the Spirit :) It's amazing how crazy our kids can get when they don't get the sleep they need. We went back to Carson's and Desiree's, ate, slept, and were merry. Later that evening we went to this amazing park on the beach called Lincoln Park. We probably could have spent an entire day there. We walked around, threw sticks and rocks into the water, swung on the swings, hiked through the forest, saw lots of doggies, and watched the ferry go back and forth between West Seattle and Vashon Island. We had such a great time! Thanks for hosting us! We'll be back to visit whether you like it or not :)
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Tommy
Things He Loves:
Everything with wheels (cars, trains, airplanes, trucks, etc.)
Riding his bike
Doing "crafty" things like painting
Making interesting things out of paper by cutting, stapling, taping, drawing, etc.
Milk
Helping Mommy with housework, especially mopping the floor or cleaning the bathroom
Space, robots, Legos, and science experiments
Playing baseball
Music, especially Indie Rock (he actually knows a fair number of words to most of his favorite songs)
Going to the Children's Museum
Essential Oils
Sending/receiving letters in the mail
Taking pictures with our camera
Yoga
Yardwork
Things He Hates:
Being alone
Band-aids
Funny/Cute Things He Does:
Sings to the Rescue Rangers theme song, "But these two Dumb Shoes are picking up the snacks" (the real words are, "But these Gumshoes are picking up the slack")
Says, "Ding dong!" every time he finds something in a finding book like the Big Book of Things to Spot
Calls Lily "Beefy" half the time
Helps Lily walk by holding her hand
Uses big words, usually correctly in the right context (examples: "Apparently this house was recently built." or "Can you understandably tell me what that means?")
Nicknames:
Mr. Tom
Master Tom
Buddy
Brosephus
Brosephus Maximus
Mr. Boy
Tommy Toodles
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Carfree in Portland
One of the highlights of our adventurous move to Portland has been that we left our car behind. Literally. We sold our car to a guy in Phoenix for $1,000 and wished him well in that ticking time bomb while we set out to navigate the public transit system of Portland. At first it was a matter of not being able to afford another car since we still had to pay the mortgage on our home in Phoenix. However, now that our house has sold, living without a car is a matter of choice (and we love it, by the way).
We get a lot of questions about how we make it work to live in the suburbs with two kids without a car. I thought I would elaborate a little here and document some of our adventures.
First of all, Ben takes the bus/train combo into work every day. On nice days he rides his bike to the train and commutes that way. It takes him about 45 minutes each way. That may sound like a lot, but given the traffic during rush hour it's only about 5 minutes longer to take public transit than to drive. Plus he doesn't have to pay for gas or worry about finding a parking spot downtown, so it really works out well.
The kids and I are out and about every day. It's a very rare day that we elect to just stay home. It takes about 10 minutes for us to walk to the bus stop. A quick 10 minute bus ride lands us in downtown Beaverton where we go to the gym and the library. If we want to go to the zoo, the children's museum, or downtown, we hop on the train. We also spend a lot of time at parks either within walking distance of our house or along the bus route. I have a bike with a trailer that the kids ride in that we use often. We go to parks, to the forest, and to the homes of friends. We have kind friends who pick us up sometimes and take us places we otherwise wouldn't be able to go. It's very, very rare that we really want to go somewhere or attend an event, but can't do it because we don't have a car.
I actually really love being forced to slow down. We are never stressed about driving or traffic or parking. Sure, we have to allot more time to get places on the bus than we would with a car, but it really forces us to do less, which is good. In my previous life I was so busy running from one place to another, making stops on the way home from other places. Now we are outside all the time. We walk at least half a mile everyday, usually much more than that. It's good for all of us to be outside walking. I notice that me and the kids chat a lot more when we are walking than when I am driving.
When we owned a car we spent an average of $250-$300 per month to maintain it. That included gas, repairs, maintenance, cleaning, and insurance. Now we spend less than $100 per month on transportation. (This doesn't include Ben's commute since he didn't commute when we lived in Phoenix.) Sometimes we need to rent a car. Over Memorial Day we did just that and drove up to Seattle to visit my brother. It cost us about $45 to rent a car for 3 days, so we are still saving big time. We figure that every month we can go without a car is a couple hundred more dollars saved so that when we do buy a car again, we can actually buy something that will be reliable without going into debt for it.
Now here is the golden question: What about grocery shopping? People always ask us that, and it's a good question since it is the one thing we have to do often that actually requires a car. We do a variety of things. Sometimes we do small shopping trips just to pick up eggs and milk, nothing more that we can carry or stash away in a stroller. We have discovered that Safeway home delivery is actually a pretty great option. And sometimes we borrow a car from a kind friend to make a big shopping run that we plan out meticulously so that we have everything we need for at least two weeks. We haven't run into a problem yet.
We love our new lifestyle. We walk and bike all over the place. Our favorite weekend activity is a family bike ride. A couple weeks ago we biked over to the Beaverton Farmer's Market (about 3 miles away) and felt 100% granola for doing so. It was so fun. I have discovered that I love biking as much as I love running. I also love that we don't have a car to worry about. We don't have to worry if it's leaking oil or if it's making a funny noise. We don't have to save $2,000 for the day that a big repair needs to be done (notice I said when, not if). We don't have to worry about whether it gets dented or scratched or whether Lily's milk is going to stain the seats. It's a load off and we love it.
We have no idea how long we will live without a car. Hopefully for a long time, but we are realistic about our circumstances. Our situation right now makes it easy to be without a car. We live within a 10-minute walk (5 minutes without kids) of a bus stop that gets us basically everywhere we need to go. The public transit system in this city is pretty amazing with buses, trains, and street cars going pretty much everywhere. However, if we move or if we add another child to our family things may change. We are just enjoying our situation right now and making the most of it. Portland is really a beautiful place and we are so happy that we get to live here.
We get a lot of questions about how we make it work to live in the suburbs with two kids without a car. I thought I would elaborate a little here and document some of our adventures.
First of all, Ben takes the bus/train combo into work every day. On nice days he rides his bike to the train and commutes that way. It takes him about 45 minutes each way. That may sound like a lot, but given the traffic during rush hour it's only about 5 minutes longer to take public transit than to drive. Plus he doesn't have to pay for gas or worry about finding a parking spot downtown, so it really works out well.
The kids and I are out and about every day. It's a very rare day that we elect to just stay home. It takes about 10 minutes for us to walk to the bus stop. A quick 10 minute bus ride lands us in downtown Beaverton where we go to the gym and the library. If we want to go to the zoo, the children's museum, or downtown, we hop on the train. We also spend a lot of time at parks either within walking distance of our house or along the bus route. I have a bike with a trailer that the kids ride in that we use often. We go to parks, to the forest, and to the homes of friends. We have kind friends who pick us up sometimes and take us places we otherwise wouldn't be able to go. It's very, very rare that we really want to go somewhere or attend an event, but can't do it because we don't have a car.
I actually really love being forced to slow down. We are never stressed about driving or traffic or parking. Sure, we have to allot more time to get places on the bus than we would with a car, but it really forces us to do less, which is good. In my previous life I was so busy running from one place to another, making stops on the way home from other places. Now we are outside all the time. We walk at least half a mile everyday, usually much more than that. It's good for all of us to be outside walking. I notice that me and the kids chat a lot more when we are walking than when I am driving.
When we owned a car we spent an average of $250-$300 per month to maintain it. That included gas, repairs, maintenance, cleaning, and insurance. Now we spend less than $100 per month on transportation. (This doesn't include Ben's commute since he didn't commute when we lived in Phoenix.) Sometimes we need to rent a car. Over Memorial Day we did just that and drove up to Seattle to visit my brother. It cost us about $45 to rent a car for 3 days, so we are still saving big time. We figure that every month we can go without a car is a couple hundred more dollars saved so that when we do buy a car again, we can actually buy something that will be reliable without going into debt for it.
Now here is the golden question: What about grocery shopping? People always ask us that, and it's a good question since it is the one thing we have to do often that actually requires a car. We do a variety of things. Sometimes we do small shopping trips just to pick up eggs and milk, nothing more that we can carry or stash away in a stroller. We have discovered that Safeway home delivery is actually a pretty great option. And sometimes we borrow a car from a kind friend to make a big shopping run that we plan out meticulously so that we have everything we need for at least two weeks. We haven't run into a problem yet.
We love our new lifestyle. We walk and bike all over the place. Our favorite weekend activity is a family bike ride. A couple weeks ago we biked over to the Beaverton Farmer's Market (about 3 miles away) and felt 100% granola for doing so. It was so fun. I have discovered that I love biking as much as I love running. I also love that we don't have a car to worry about. We don't have to worry if it's leaking oil or if it's making a funny noise. We don't have to save $2,000 for the day that a big repair needs to be done (notice I said when, not if). We don't have to worry about whether it gets dented or scratched or whether Lily's milk is going to stain the seats. It's a load off and we love it.
We have no idea how long we will live without a car. Hopefully for a long time, but we are realistic about our circumstances. Our situation right now makes it easy to be without a car. We live within a 10-minute walk (5 minutes without kids) of a bus stop that gets us basically everywhere we need to go. The public transit system in this city is pretty amazing with buses, trains, and street cars going pretty much everywhere. However, if we move or if we add another child to our family things may change. We are just enjoying our situation right now and making the most of it. Portland is really a beautiful place and we are so happy that we get to live here.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
The Big Leap
Recently I have been reading The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level
. It has completely changed my thoughts about how to attain happiness and satisfaction in my life. I just wanted to write down a few of my thoughts about what I have learned.
There are several ideas that I love in this book, but the one that has impacted me most is this idea of having an "Upper Limit". This basically means that in our lives, whether it be in our relationships, our work, or our creative endeavors, we are comfortable with a certain level of happiness. If things go exceptionally well or we have a major breakthrough in one area, we feel uncomfortable with our elevated level of happiness or affluence and we do something to sabotage ourselves to bring us back down. Good ways to sabotage ourselves are to worry about things we can't control, criticize or blame others in our minds, and obsess about ridiculous or offensive things we see or hear. Another way is to start an argument or push away someone we love.
Since becoming aware of The Upper Limit I can see how my life is basically controlled by this. When we have a really great family fun day I get on Google News at the end of the day to read upsetting stories that will dampen my spirits. When I exercise and feel really great physically I eat a bowl of Captain Crunch to be sure I don't feel too good for too long. When we are home enjoying a laid back and beautiful afternoon together I start to feel restless and anxious about cleaning my house (again). If I start feeling too happy or too content I find something to be anxious or depressed about. A lot of the tendencies I have ascribed to my "perfectionist" personality are really just Upper Limit problems that bubble up so that I always have something over which to worry and feel guilty.
The most pronounced example in my life was with a certain boyfriend I had (long before I met Ben). We were the best of friends and we loved each other a whole lot, but our relationship didn't work because he had a severe Upper Limit problem. We would go on a fun, romantic date, and within days he would withdraw his affection. I would be crushed for awhile, things would slowly get better, and then it would happen again. We would have a really great conversation or a really adventurous outing, fly high for a few days, and BAM! Upper Limit problem. He would withdraw again. I could never figure out why we couldn't just be happy and enjoy our relationship, why he was always so worried about something bad happening. Ultimately, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy and something bad did happen. I married someone else! Bad for him, amazingly amazing for me :)
As I have identified this kind of behavior in myself it has been amazing, and also a little scary, to let myself actually enjoy my life. I am so comfortable obsessing about our budget and worrying about money. I am so comfortable being critical of my husband or bemoaning the blessing it is to stay at home and raise my kiddos. I am so comfortable living my life in a kind of haze. It's so easy to worry about the future and to drown my brain in a mixture of current events, pop news, and divisive politics. Those things are easy, but you know what? I am better than that. I deserve to be happy. I deserve to let myself enjoy the awesome life that I have. I deserve to be grateful for my blessings without clouding them over with some fear of impending doom. My husband deserves a wife who is focused on him, and him alone, when we are together. My kids deserve a mom who is present in their lives. I deserve that, and so do you.
Note: I'm not getting paid or anything to do a review, I just love this book and want to share it with those I love most. Enjoy!
. It has completely changed my thoughts about how to attain happiness and satisfaction in my life. I just wanted to write down a few of my thoughts about what I have learned.There are several ideas that I love in this book, but the one that has impacted me most is this idea of having an "Upper Limit". This basically means that in our lives, whether it be in our relationships, our work, or our creative endeavors, we are comfortable with a certain level of happiness. If things go exceptionally well or we have a major breakthrough in one area, we feel uncomfortable with our elevated level of happiness or affluence and we do something to sabotage ourselves to bring us back down. Good ways to sabotage ourselves are to worry about things we can't control, criticize or blame others in our minds, and obsess about ridiculous or offensive things we see or hear. Another way is to start an argument or push away someone we love.
Since becoming aware of The Upper Limit I can see how my life is basically controlled by this. When we have a really great family fun day I get on Google News at the end of the day to read upsetting stories that will dampen my spirits. When I exercise and feel really great physically I eat a bowl of Captain Crunch to be sure I don't feel too good for too long. When we are home enjoying a laid back and beautiful afternoon together I start to feel restless and anxious about cleaning my house (again). If I start feeling too happy or too content I find something to be anxious or depressed about. A lot of the tendencies I have ascribed to my "perfectionist" personality are really just Upper Limit problems that bubble up so that I always have something over which to worry and feel guilty.
The most pronounced example in my life was with a certain boyfriend I had (long before I met Ben). We were the best of friends and we loved each other a whole lot, but our relationship didn't work because he had a severe Upper Limit problem. We would go on a fun, romantic date, and within days he would withdraw his affection. I would be crushed for awhile, things would slowly get better, and then it would happen again. We would have a really great conversation or a really adventurous outing, fly high for a few days, and BAM! Upper Limit problem. He would withdraw again. I could never figure out why we couldn't just be happy and enjoy our relationship, why he was always so worried about something bad happening. Ultimately, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy and something bad did happen. I married someone else! Bad for him, amazingly amazing for me :)
As I have identified this kind of behavior in myself it has been amazing, and also a little scary, to let myself actually enjoy my life. I am so comfortable obsessing about our budget and worrying about money. I am so comfortable being critical of my husband or bemoaning the blessing it is to stay at home and raise my kiddos. I am so comfortable living my life in a kind of haze. It's so easy to worry about the future and to drown my brain in a mixture of current events, pop news, and divisive politics. Those things are easy, but you know what? I am better than that. I deserve to be happy. I deserve to let myself enjoy the awesome life that I have. I deserve to be grateful for my blessings without clouding them over with some fear of impending doom. My husband deserves a wife who is focused on him, and him alone, when we are together. My kids deserve a mom who is present in their lives. I deserve that, and so do you.Note: I'm not getting paid or anything to do a review, I just love this book and want to share it with those I love most. Enjoy!
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