We're alive!!!

I honestly haven't even thought about this blog for months it seems like. Between the holidays and crazy life I've been just barely been getting to the daily stuff- much less the peripherals. Now things have slowed down a bit (at home anyways, work continues to be all out insanity). Hopefully we'll get back to updating around here a bit.

Lily took an after school martial arts class. She broke a board with her karate chop and got a white belt! Very exciting. She also took level one (and passed) swimming. Boy did that keep us busy for a few weeks there.

Then there was Christmas tree cutting, The Lights of Christmas, and Christmas too. 

The holidays always go by too fast. I wish I'd had more time to relax and enjoy but our girls were happy and that's matters more in the end. These are the Christmases they are really going to remember. Part of me can't wait until they are old enough to tell the stories of their childhoods : )

Everything Pumpkin!

Last weekend we went with friends to the pumpkin patch. It was so packed! There was a lot of fun stuff for us to do- yummy food, corn maze, hay ride- all that fall fun that we love. We were missing Kendra this year but we found her a nice pumpkin anyway.

Tonight we made the pumpkin cookies Lily got from Papa and Gramma Di for her birthday. Everybody got to decorate their own huge cookie with frosting and halloween-y candies

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We have a really busy week coming up with stuff coming up at school and then Thursday I am leaving for the weekend to scrapbook my little heart out. I can honestly say I haven't even done one page since the last scrapbooking weekend...was that last October??? Can't remember even. But it will be a nice little break. Then Halloween next week...what? Time flies.

Fairy Garden

My birthday gift to Lily was all the parts to make her very own Fairy Garden. Martin built the wooden box out of re-purposed fence. We used live plants- moss and grass and the figurines. Now we just have to try and catch one!

Holy Moly! Two posts in a month.

Birthday tradition- happy birthday on the mirror!

I am on a roll!!! We celebrated Lily's 8th birthday last Saturday with a slumber party! It was mayhem, complete chaos and completely exhausting.

We had a total of 7 girls overnight.  We played and ate and watched a movie and were all together too silly. It got a little too screechy and overwhelming for Lily a couple times but her friends were very understanding and I could tell all of them really cared about Lily and how she was feeling.

I am so proud of her that she has made such great friends. She really has come a long way in the last couple of years.

Silly Girls

The big "8"- cake by Gramma Di

Silly String Tag in the dark!

I am glad she had a good day and I am also glad it is over : ) until next year!

Another month has passed

The girls started school last week and seem to be adjusting to the new school year quite well. It seemed like an easier transition for Lily since she knew she would have the same teacher again. Kendra, of course, was excited for something new. She was disappointed at first with the teacher she got but quickly changed her mind when she realized how many friends are still in her class.

Once school starts the rest of the year seems to go so quickly. The weekends fill up fast and all of a sudden it is Christmas, right?

I hope I get some time to slow down a bit between now and then but we already have a lot of fun stuff coming up. So who knows.

Here is a project we did last weekend and put up in the living room today. I did the background and the texturing then we all did the splatter painting. Believe it or not it was Martin's idea to do a family splatter paint project!

I've also been working hard using the food from our garden. I've got tons of frozen green beans and carrots. We made pickled onions, peppers, green beans, carrots and pickles! So far we've only eaten the pickles but they were very good. I made sun dried tomatoes and fresh spaghetti sauce that was super yummy and sweet. I've been eating all the squash since no one else really likes it. Last week we finally cut the 4 pumpkins we grew off of the vine. I think they should last until Halloween.

I've got lots of ideas for our garden next year- what to do differently, new stuff to grow. I've been trying to make a kind of garden calendar because with so many plants growing it is hard to know what to do for each of them when. I just realized I have no photographic evidence of any of the work we've done since way earlier in the summer...so I guess those pictures will have to wait.

Miss Lily is turning 8 next Saturday. Hard to believe she was 2 when I started this blog. She's grown up so much. We've invited her friends over next weekend for her first birthday slumber party. I now realize why these parties are so popular with parents- so much less expensive than going somewhere or renting a place. We've got some pizza and cake. Kids bring sleeping bags and...we're good. It'll probably be a zoo at our house but they will have a blast. Totally worth it.

The Mariners Game

We got free tickets to the Mariners game last weekend for all four of us. It was Lily's first time at a baseball game and it was really fun to share that with her. I remember going with my Grandma for the first time at about the same age. I love watching baseball even though I don't take the time to watch very often. Growing up spending time with Grandma, the game was always on so it brings back a lot of good memories.

Last Sunday also just happened to be "Kids Run the Bases" day. Both girls ran all the way around the bases- along with about a thousand other kids- but what a chance!. So cool! I was totally living vicariously through them at that moment : ) Lily had no qualms at all running without me. We were very proud!

The next best part was that the entire afternoon cost just $6 plus gas. It would have cost nothing but Martin couldn't resist getting a hot dog. So many hours of wholesome family entertainment on the cheap is totally my kind of day.

These kids have no idea how lucky they are!

Sarah and Martin sittin' in a tree!

After 6 months of planning, we pulled off our backyard wedding and wedding reception. It was pretty neat to see things that up until that point were just visions in my head come together into something really beautiful. It was so much planning for just one day but I think it was worth it. If you had asked me last week I might have had another answer but oh well. Now that there are fewer looming deadlines for us hopefully I can start posting again more frequently.

Here are just a few pictures from our big day. We will have photos my brother took as the "official wedding photographer" soon. He's working on whitening teeth and smoothing wrinkles...I mean adjusting contrast and brightness : )

I don't think it was even a couple hours after we got married that Martin asked, "So, what's next for us?" Love that guy. I think it helps both of us to have something to work toward- as far as getting things done. It was so much fun seeing the transformation of our yard. All the hours of hard labor really paid off and I am super excited it is in "maintenance mode" now. Just weeding and mowing and harvesting our vegetables in the garden for the most part. But, what now?

This week I've been mulling this over as we've had time to come down off the "wedding high." I've really enjoyed getting involved with the kids at their school but feel like I could make a difference in some other areas. I put my name down on another list (of course) to help with the Shoreline Arts Festival in September. I am excited about that prospect and where it might lead. I can really see myself as an arts advocate of some kind for the city- all volunteer of course. Not quittin' my day job! I just know that the kids are both getting so big already and doing their own things. I swear we'll be empty-nesters before we can blink.

I guess that is all for now. I'm sure I'll be around.

The month of May

Another month has come and gone and as per usual, I can't believe how time flies. We've been busy every weekend checking things off of our to do lists- one by one, day by day. I finally feel like we're almost there with only a few minor hiccups along the way. Two weeks ago we had a windstorm that left us this:

We were so lucky it didn't hurt anything but grass, although it did take an entire weekend to get it cleaned up. Which of course led to this:

This completely unacceptable joke of a woodpile had to be fixed. Now it looks like this:

The mess is now more organized and more importantly out of sight. Thank goodness. And this last weekend we transformed the too cool matte gray walls into a much warmer "golden tan."

Before

Photobomb!

Goofing as usual : ) 

Kendra always the helper

After

Dining Room- pre-recluttering

Somewhere in there we celebrated Mother's Day, mailed out our wedding invitations and harvested our first vegetables from our garden.

I'm running on empty right now- but I have a goal in sight and I just gotta keep on going. Lily and I were at Barnes and Noble the other day picking out a friend's birthday gift. She found me the perfect book (with no help from me, by the way) called "Meditations for Moms Who Do Too Much." When your seven year old knows you've got more on your plate than you can possibly handle I guess it is time to take a step back, right? So, I am getting away for a couple days soon to relax and restore- then the final push for the wedding which is 1 month and 3 weeks away from happening. I can do this ya'll!