Reflections on 2009

1. What was the single best thing that happened this past year? We all made it another year together healthy & happy!
2. What was the single most challenging thing that happened? Parker being diagnosed with ADHD.
3. What was an unexpected joy this past year? The joy of gardening.
4. What was an unexpected obstacle? Our fence nearly blowing over in a windstorm.
5. Pick three words to describe 2009. warm, beautiful and blessed.
6. Pick three words your spouse would use to describe your 2009 (don’t ask them; guess based on how you think your spouse sees you). FUN WITH MONEY.
7. Pick three words your spouse would use to describe their 2009 (again, without asking). I GOT LICENSED!
8. What were the best books you read this year? The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society
9. With whom were your most valuable relationships? My family- husband, children, parents, siblings…and my close friends.
10. What was your biggest personal change from January to December of this past year?
Feeling a lot more comfortable with my surroundings (friends, school, neighborhood, ward, etc.)
11. In what way(s) did you grow emotionally? Learned more about how I let external factors influence my behavior.
12. In what way(s) did you grow spiritually? Not a big year for growing spiritually. Kind of sad. Trying for more of that in the coming year.
13. In what way(s) did you grow physically? I think I put on ten pounds! Ha! I did start a gym in October. That’s a good start.
14. In what way(s) did you grow in your relationships with others? I learned (and continue to learn) how to be a cheerleader for my three men. I need to be there to support and instigate growth in them.
15. What was the most enjoyable area of managing your home? oh, decorating, for sure.
16. What was your most challenging area of home management? LAUNDRY & DISHES. Also keeping my office organized…eek.
17. What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year? too many hours on the computer…
18. What was the best way you used your time this past year? any and all time spent playing with my kids and husband.
19. What was the biggest thing you learned this past year? that I’ve still got a lot to learn…and that temperance is the key to success.
20. Create a phrase or statement that describes 2009 for you.
Mae West: 'Too much of a good thing can be wonderful! '…but you’ll pay for it eventually!

The Polar Express

A couple of weeks ago we surprised the boys by taking them for a ride to the North Pole. It was so fun to pick up Parker from school and head straight onto the highway toward Hood River, Oregon, with them guessing all the way as to what we were doing! We gave them hints every half hour and then finally let them in on it when we got there by playing the theme song to the Polar Express movie. They were SO excited.

The train ride itself was a huge hit for the boys. We invited Grandma & Grandpa Stewart to come - Grandpa is a train nut! My darling friend Amy made them engineer hats for the trip and they looked so cute & cozy in their pjs and robes! We boarded and Tyler vigilantly watched outside the window for the train to start its journey northward! We were served hot chocolate and cookies and heard the story of the Polar Express as we traveled. The conductor punched our tickets all crazy just like the conductor on the movie! Once we got to the North Pole, Santa joined us on board, visited with each child, and gave them their own silver bell! How exciting!

On our way home we sang Christmas carols with the elves and we are proud to admit to being the loudest row in a competition singing of "The Twelve Days of Christmas." We ended the night at Pietro's Pizza (nostalgia) in Hood River and spent the night at Grandma's! What a magical night!

One Magic Christmas

We enjoyed a wonderfully fun & relaxing Christmas at home this year.

A little different than last year's adventure.

8 Years...

...2 kids, 4 states, and ** pounds later, we are still in love!

The best years of my life, babe!

Thanks for askin'...

Christmas Time Is Here...

...happiness and cheer! So much so that I have sorely neglected my little place in cyberspace! This month has been full of fun - I hosted my ornament exchange party, have been crafting away getting my house all holidayed for hosting Christmas this year, we just got back from the North Pole (rode the Polar Express!), put on a live nativity for primary, and we all have been baking & playing up a storm!

We hope you all have been enjoying the season as much as we have. We miss you all and wish you were closer! Here is our annual Christmas blurb:

Love to YOU from
Peter, Michelle, Parker (6) & Tyler (3)
Our Year 2009

C – Camping! We took our first official family camping trips together this year, one in beautiful Mt. Rainier National Park.
H - Harvesting. Michelle really got into it this year after our first garden turned mammoth on us. We’ve got a great recipe for freezer pickles!
R – Return to Lawrence! Peter officially graduated with his PhD in May & we had a great time at his graduation. His practice is thriving.
I – Infinite amount of time (& a little money) invested in our beautiful new home!
S – School! Parker is an official all-day 1st grader now and loves it. He is an excellent reader & a great friend.
T – Toilet training! T-Bone finally got on board with the potty thing. It only took a racetrack as an incentive…
M – Meeting up with the Stewart fam in Utah. We had a fantastic reunion at the Ranch with all of our fun Stewart siblings & cousins.
A – A LOT of fun times with both sets of grandparents (& Mollie & fam) who live so close now – yes, we think 3-4 hours away is close.
S – the Savior & His Atonement. How grateful we are for Him at this time & to watch our kids grow in the gospel. Merry Christmas!

Last But Not Least

How could I forget this one? My mom gives us Halloween dish towels every year, and I have so many now that I can't close my dish towel drawer! So I decided to turn this year's darling towels into aprons for the boys. We've had so much fun whipping up spooky concoctions together in these little numbers! Thanks, Mom!

Boo-tifying the Home

Okay, Megan, here you go! We have had so much fun this year decorating for Halloween! I definitely found a new energy for decorating indoors after a long, fun summer putting my energies into the garden and harvesting! However, like everyone else I was trying to be creative on a tight budget! Here is what we came up with:

Spooky spider lights from Grandma! And a very cool spiderweb panel draped over the mirror for them to rest their creepy legs. You can't really see the cool effect of the fabric from this picture - the flash would've killed the shot if I had taken it head on!

The mantle - a picture of last year's Halloween costumes, spooky lighted garland and candles, and a newly-made "Boo" sign out of vinyl lettering, backless frames and awesome Halloween scrapbook paper. Oh, and more of that fun spiderweb fabric draped over the mirror.

Love my new little beaded spider from Mom hanging out on my lamp.

I fell in love with the Halloween countdown calendar from Pottery Barn last year and wanted to re-create it for cheap. It definitely turned out to be a labor of love, but the kids love it and so do I!

Bo-Bo Bones guarding our home office! We made him a few years ago out of paper plates!

I absolutely adore this children's Halloween book we own called "Pumpkin Heads." The illustrations are just awesome, and I've always wanted to tear the book apart to frame them. Instead, I found these cute little black frames for my mirror, scanned in the illustrations, and shrunk them to size to print and frame.

I love this picture of Parker the Pirate - he was 18 months old then!

Just a shot of my "family tree" and console table with lighted fall garland.

I joke that I can't talk to my sister Mollie anymore because she gets me into money trouble with all of her great ideas. She told me about this pumpkin topiary idea and I ran with it. I love my new urns and am excited to put mini Christmas trees in for Christmas, and then later spring topiaries. My old autumn wreath was bedraggled and so I made a new one by wrapping a cheap autumn garland around the old one! The bat cave was created with stiffened black felt, but you could use black cardstock as well! Here is the template.

A cute find from Mom hangs on the other side of the front door.

I have these two windows on the sides of my front door that we haven't found coverings for yet. This spooky fabric from Joann's did the trick for Halloween!

I saw some darling Halloween pillows at a high end store that I fell in love with, but could never have afforded. Instead, I found some jewel iron-ons at Michael's and found some fabric at JoAnn's for 50% off. I recovered some old pillows for the spiderweb ones and used polyfil for the others. Super easy and way cheaper! Now I can't wait to do Christmas pillows!

Not the best picture here. Again, I used my friend the black felt. I just freehanded a spooky tree onto felt and cut it out. I had traced templates of an owl and a raven onto black cardstock, and then cut them out. Use double stick tape to adhere to the window, add a spooky orange glow and beware, trespassers!

Easy table runner - cut two pieces of black and orange felt the same length, then trace different sizes of circles onto the black felt and cut out. Use tacky glue to adhere together! p.s. I have always wanted a black cake plate, but haven't found one in my price range. I found the black bowl and plate for two bucks a piece on clearance - turned the bowl upside down and put the plate on top and voila! A cake plate!

This took about ten minutes - draw a bat in the corner of black cardstock - fold a bunch of times and cut out. Then tape the bats to the inside of the lampshade. Instant spookiness!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Indicative

"Mom, why is the house clean? Are we having friends over?"
- Parker

Trot, Trot

Oh, I feel I have so much to catch up on! What with school starting for both boys, new friends, new accomplishments...I promise myself catch up post soon.

But I couldn't let this Tyler quote go without putting it up here for posterity. He and I have been playing a lot of "Trot, trot to Boston (to get a pound of butter)" lately and he just loves it. It always involves a different speed of trotting, a different voice to sing the tune, and ends with a head over heels somersault. Usually it just takes "Again!" to keep it going, but after a longer pause between play today, he came up and said,

"Mommy, let's play 'Cha, Cha, the Bustard!'"

Ode to Summer

Dear Summer,

Are you really going to leave us? It seems you only just arrived. We will be sad to see you go, as always, but let us not dwell on your parting, and rather on the memories you left with us...

lazy mornings...camping with friends...evenings in the garden...backyard bbqs...cousins camp...swimming lessons...lemonade stands...badminton...neighborhood walks...a blessed amount of time spent with extended family...naps...swinging on the swings...preserving the harvest...leisurely bike rides...the Ranch...garage sales...backyard pool fun...read-a-thons...great summer music...bocce...homemade ice cream...and staying up way past our bedtimes.

Please don't hold a grudge against us for still not having our camera fixed, and therefore for the inexcusable lack of pictures to capture the fun. Thanks for coming...and thanks for letting the sun continue to warm us with its rays a while longer.

See you next year,

Peter, Michelle, Parker & Tyler

Happy Birthday, America!

We had a fun Fourth over in Lake Oswego with John, Debra, Brian & Amanda. So much fun that I really didn't take any pictures! We were first happy to have B & A stop over at our house; then we all headed over together on Friday morning. Good times! We love Aunt Amanda! Oh, and of course, the ever-fun Uncle Brian.

The actual holiday was celebrated by the traditional ward breakfast, followed by a fun trip over to family friends, the Johnstons. I loved meeting Peter's high school buddy, Lis. She is a gem. Then we took it easy in the afternoon with games and naps, barbecued, and did our own little fireworks in front of the house. To top it off, we took a walk down to the lake and watched the town show. Beautiful, but even more intriguing was watching the million boats head back to shore after the show. The rest of our time there included lots of fun with Bohnanza, Badminton, Slip n' Slide, Bouncy Balls, a girls' trip to Lakeshore Learning (danger!), Go Karts, Miniature Golf, Settlers, and Pilfering (ask John). Thanks, Stewarts, for a FABULOUS FOURTH!!

Snips & Snails

The boys are way into collecting bugs this summer - especially spiders.

Here they are with their FIVE bug catchers and respective pet arachnids (I've relinquished my tupperware to their cause).

And here they are exploring the deep.

Camping at Ohanapecosh

We had great fun last weekend camping with our friends, the Amundsons. It was Parker & Tyler's first time camping, and they loved it! Favorite memories included picking dogwoods, finding banana slugs, a little mouse visitor eating our cherry pits, and the hikes! The campground & trails were BEAUTIFUL & we can't wait to go back!

This was serious vampire country.

Grove of the Patriarchs - the kids taking in the massivity of a 1,000 year old tree.

Happy Campers!

Mi Feliz Cumpleanos

A darling picnic basket - complete with a bandanna lining.

Did you think I was going to pass that up?

Thank you, Target! They have a million other cute bandanna-themed items that I am still drooling over.

A delicious peanut butter & chocolate concoction - made by my main squeeze.

And my dream bike! With a trailer to boot.

I'm thinking of adding white peonies to the front of the basket.

Thanks to my friends & family who helped me feel so celebrated & special! Love you!

The Kindergarten Graduate

Today was Parker's kindergarten end of the year picnic!! I am so happy that he has had such a fun, successful year with a fabulous teacher and friends he loves! Here he is with his buddies (from left to right) Caden, Tyler, and best buddy Connor!

Bandanna Fever!

So, if you run into me this summer, you will see me looking like this...

EVERYDAY.

I have a bandanna fettish. I love them. I have them in every color imaginable, they keep my head from getting sunburnt and they make me feel cute. I even got approval from a biker chick at Costco, who when she saw me, gave me the thumbs up and said "Sweeeet colors!"

Max-a-million

I am lucky enough to get to babysit this munchkin. He fits right in with the boys and we love having a baby around. Don't you just want to eat him for breakfast?

The Garden

We heart our vegetable garden. Before this year, I was a gardening virgin. And now I feel like a first-time parent, calling all of my gardening friends and researching on the internet over every little thing! It's so fun to visit it together every morning and evening and see the little changes that are inevitably taking place each day - sometimes each hour! We started in early May and here is how it has progressed...

These are shots of the initial setup - boxes, then newspaper cover, then dirt! The boys loved helping haul the soil in their little wheelbarrows!

I regret not having taken pictures of our initial plantings (my fingers were a little dirty!), but here is what it looked like about 3 weeks afterward.

And the following pictures were taken last week...

Our lovely lettuce!

The Pepper Patch - red, yellow & green

From left to right - watermelon, celery, blackberries, raspberries, my herbs and our mammoth zucchini & yellow squash (I promise they have doubled their size since last week!)

Our five different kinds of tomatoes - brandywine, roma, grape, yellow pear & early girl. I've got parsley in there somewhere...hiding...

Our wee, baby beets...we've got carrots near them, but I forgot to get a shot of those.

green onion & globe onion...

Our strawberry patch...looking a little sad this year, but hopefully we'll get more next year...

Bush beans, sugar snap peas, cantaloupe & cucumbers! We've also planted a sunflower/daisy garden along the fence, and can't wait to see them bloom.