Six

Its been six years since I brought home my first baby. My first baby, a boy we named Ethan. It was six years ago I was holding him in my arms in wonder at how perfect he was.

Eight months later we took our first Christmas picture and decided it was only fitting that he be the star of the show. He was, in fact, the center stage of our lives. He was more than willing to oblige, as soon as I took out the Christmas lights.

Fast forward a few years and Ethan is turning six. We spent the day at Disneyland with our cousin Ellie. The kids got to choose some toys (that NEVER happens at Disneyland…thanks Tia Ev!) and have some ice cream cones.

After Disneyland Ethan wanted to go to McDonald’s for dinner (he is not my child) and play in the play area. We met up with the rest of the family at home for some cupcakes and birthday partying.

Happy Birthday, Ethan!

Ethan stats:

weight – 62 lbs.

height – 49.5 inches

loves to – ride his Razor, run/be chased, play with his guns/swords, play with friends and cousins, watch movies, ride his bike, swim

favorite foods – apples (actually all fruit, he’ll eat without abandon), chips, hangurbers (I purposefully misspelled that), cheese pizza, nuts. He’s a pretty well rounded eater

dislikes - bedtime, green beans, and homework (oh boy, he doesn't know its only just begun)

Weekend at the Rasmussen’s

Ethan and Luke had Spring Break April 5-9th so we took off on the 7th and drove to Scottsdale, AZ to visit the AZ Rasmussens. I drove the kiddos by myself. It was a big moment for me. I was terrified but the kids were fantastic! We didn't have any problems...smooth sailing! Brian and Denice (and family) have always lived too far away (Texas) so we’ve never been able to visit them on their territory. I am a nosey woman, I’ll admit it. So I was excited to go see what its like to be in their household, what their house looks like (I love soaking up good decorating ideas), what they watch, eat, how discipline works, how 6 people live together under one roof etc. It was a great mini vacation and Brian, Denice, Mateo, Porter, Soffia and Stone were fantastic hosts…thank you! These pictures will give you the cliff’s note version of our trip.

Mateo had his Pinewood Derby race while we were there and that is right up the alley of these two little boys. Uncle Brian made cars for all the little kids the next day. He even let Luke design his own Star Wars derby car. Uncle Brian rocks!

 

Aunt Denice took us to an incredible Children’s Museum while we were there. My kids had SO. MUCH. FUN. I love that feeling. You know the one. The feeling where you know, without a doubt, that you did good that day for your kids. I was warm all over watching them enjoy their day. I miss this museum. If we had one nearby we would definitely have a year pass. This is the play dough table they had outside. Soffia took good care of Sadie.

 

On the way home from the museum we stopped for a sweet treat at the Phoenix Ranch Market. I was a little disappointed with my dry, fauxtess cupcake but the doughnuts did not disappoint the kids. Look at Stone’s face…priceless. Sadie was wondering where hers was?

 

Another park of the museum, cool bike riding.

 

Luke chomping down. He takes after his momma.

 

I forget what they call this activity at the museum but it was fun.

 

Stone and Luke let the creative juices flow. It really made me want to play with some fondant.

 

PVC pipe is a blank canvas. Ethan was a little creatively stumped…he wanted to move on.

 

B and D have a great pool and hot tub. Friday night B warmed up the hot tub and all the kiddos got in (minus Sadie). Ethan has been asking for one in our backyard ever since.

 

I have read about the great hikes on D’s blog ever since they moved to AZ and we got to experience one. It was beautiful and we all got a good workout in.

 

Two cuties. I could squeeze ‘em.

Spring Break Trip to AZ Rasmussens

Ethan and Luke had Spring Break April 5-9th so we took off on the 7th and drove to Scottsdale, AZ to visit the AZ Rasmussens. I drove the kiddos by myself. It was a big moment for me. I was terrified but the kids were fantastic! We didn't have any problems...smooth sailing!

We visited a Children's Museum.

Ate some delicious donuts and treats at the Rasmussens favorite Mexican store/restaurant. It was pretty cool!

Swam in their hot tub and pool!

Went for a fun hike!

And experienced all the joy of pinewood derby time!

 It was the best Spring break yet! Thank you Arizona Rasmussens!

Easter 2010

Easter came and went and here I am only blogging about it now. Whuuuut? Steve and I are still perfecting the art of family traditions. We decided to have the Easter Bunny come on Saturday so that we could focus on the real reason for Easter on Sunday. This was the first year for that and I have to say it worked really well. The kids can burn off all the glorious sugar and be a little more "focused" on Sunday. The Easter Bunny brings a family basket, not individual baskets, at our house. There are all kinds of goodies in there; candy (of course, and there is stuff that everyone likes to make sure everyone is happy), movie (this year it was "Horton Hears a Who"), books...whatever. We also have the tradition that the kids can eat anything they want on Saturday. This makes me happy because I'm not fighting off the candy binge - bring it on - and it gets rid of the candy quick! Thank you Easter Bunny! ;) On Sunday we got together with my family for our Easter Dinner and egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was Sadie's first hunt that she participated in so we had fun teaching her the ins and outs of the egg hunt. Each family brought eggs and the kids each ended up with 6 eggs, plenty if you ask me.

My mom holding Ezra (3 mos.), sitting next to Sadie (18 mos.).

Ellie (4), Zane (2), Ethan (5) and Luke (4) Sadie hunting eggs with Dad. What is all the commotion? Luke and Ethan are seasoned hunters.

Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone,

but in every leaf in spring-time. ~Martin Luther

Tomato Tornados coming through!

So… Luke tonight in his prayer before dinner said, “and please bless that there won’t be any tomato tornado’s”.  Guess he’s got a little too much ‘Cloudy with a chance of meatballs’ on his mind.

Master Bath Remodel: Step 1 - Change Plumbing

Ideally, I'd love to show you the before pictures of the closet that was our master bathroom, it was teensy tiny. Then the hallway right outside. But we lost those pictures in the great computer crash of 2008....(sigh). So you'll just have to take my word for it. Our old master bathroom had a single sink with one cabinet underneath it. To the right of the vanity was the toilet, which was infront of the door leading into the bedroom. And then two feet infront of the toilet was the shower. No tub, just a shower. It was a shower that would fit one person, at best. When we remodeled our kitchen we closed off the hallway between the master bedroom and kitchen, intending to expand the bathroom into this space. The work has begun. We are moving the toilet into its own little room. We'll be putting in a shower thats at least double the size of the original.

Steve and his dad tackled the plumbing of this job. We had gotten quotes from plumbers to do the job but they all wanted $3-$6,000. So Steve talked to a contractor friend of ours and decided he wanted to try to do it. They had to cut into pipes that are over 40 years old. It was pretty stinky...literally. Unfortunately, I can't really describe the work that has taken place. These are the progression of photos for now. The last one is the bathroom in its current state.

New pipes

This is where the new toilet will go.

You can see the sliding door that will close off the potty room. The shower will be at the opposite end with the vanity in between.

Thank you, Daddy Dan, for all your help!! We wouldn't be as far as we are without you.

kitchen backsplash

These are the befores. No backsplash...

Over the oven

Behind the sink

Midway through the project

Its done!

These are the little accent squares we chose.

One cabinet with lighting.

Behind the sink looks so nice now.

Steve chose the deco for wall between the micro and stove. It turned out really well.

One project done. Now I need to decide if I'm going to paint around the window and ceiling a color or just do the beige that matches the dining room? Opinions?

On Hold

The blog is in major neglect right now. I have one word to explain why: construction. My house is under construction right now therefore my life is out of whack. We (I don't know why I include myself, merely for the fact that I live in this house too but don't be fooled - I am not doing any of the work...right now) are trying to finish our master bathroom. Thats the biggest project. And I mean big. Big like cutting into the foundation of our house big. Big as in cutting up pipes that were laid over 40 years ago big. Steve, his dad and his brother Allen also changed out five of our doors, including our front door. We also hired a friend to install our backsplash. I have pictures but I'm not going to upload them yet. I'm supposed to be on my treadmill doing my 3 miler for the day so I've got to make this quick. When the kids and I get back from Arizona I will do a more thorough post. Until then, I'm putting you all on hold. Enjoy the elevator music! ;)

Oh thoughts...

1. Birthdays. I had a great birthday this year. We went to Plum's for breakfast. Deliciousness. Disneyland with the kids. Naps. Then Cirque du Soleil's Kooza with the O-side Rasmussens. Oh, and I can't forget Sprinkles and May Garden. I love eating as much as I love having a celebration to eat for. I wish every day was birthday day. It was perfect. Thanks hubs.

Love the bumper cars in Bug-land

Sadie looking out over the bridge at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail

Ethan's turn

My cake 2. Earthquakes. First Haiti. Then Chile. Now everyone's talking about California's "Big One." I hate to admit it but its occupying a lot of space in my head. I grew up in California. I've been through a few earthquakes in my day. Some have really shaken things up. But this one is supposed to be a doosey. And this time I have kids. I have three kids. I've found myself scoping out the ideal spot to run for cover. When I'm driving I've started noticing over passes and being a tad scared that I'll be on one or under one at the wrong moment. Why do I have so many things on my walls? Why is there so much glass in my house? How will I turn the water off if a pipe bursts? Will Steve be ok if it hits while he's at work? And then there's food storage...I don't even want to start on that topic. Its overwhelming. Sorry, not to be depressing. I shouldn't have read Cormac McCarthy's book The Road. It really got me scared. Not that we don't have anything. We have two storage barrels of water, we have a good radio, a honeybucket, a first aid kit, and some food. If our house is mostly in tact we should be ok for a while. We will continue to do what we can to prepare. On a funny note, Steve likes to joke that after the big one hits we'll probably have beach front property.

3. My father in law is coming to help Steve start fixing up our master bathroom at the end of this month. Thank you Daddy Dan!! Could it be that we'll actually have two functioning bathrooms? I know its going to be a long road until its done. I honestly can't wait. My poor hubs is going to have to live with the impatient person that is myself....and I can't really help. I'm crossing my fingers that its done before Christmas. I can't imagine what it will be like to have it finished. I can't imagine what it will be like to move into the master bedroom and have our own bathroom. I think of being on the opposite side of the house from the kids and I get nervous and giddy at the same time. I think of having a whole extra room and my heart begins to flutter. If any of you want to offer up your husbands in service we'd greatly appreciate it. I might even bake something for you. (wink)

4. A friend of mine recently posted this line on her Facebook and I just loved it. I want to share: "the foolish man seeks happiness in the distance. A wise man grows it under his feet." I definitely need to break the habit of thinking "I'll be happy when..." Its time to be happy now. One, of many, things I have to be happy about: