Day 90

Today was the preschool field trip to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. I took several pictures of Andy on the treasure hunt, but this one was one of my fun pictures for me, as I enjoy taking photos of God's creation. Not much is in bloom yet as it is only early spring, but the contrast of green is just lovely.

Day 89

I had a different idea for my picture for today, but as the boys are napping away, I'm watching tv and decided to have a snack. Trader Joe's was my grocery stop for the week's groceries and I picked up a box of Joe-Joe's and oh my....these are so stinking good. The other big name brand cookies DO NOT hold a candle to these cookies. These are the vanilla cookies and next time I will be purchasing the chocolate ones.

Day 88

I heard Aaron making funny noises and happen to see him with the drum on his head. I grabbed my camera and shot this picture, but it's also a good reason what happens when the said child in the picture gets a hold of mom's camera. My settings had been changed, so the picture is a bit dark.

Day 87

Today we spent most of our afternoon out running errands, so I thought the boys deserved a little time to run around and Crossroads Mall in Bellevue has the cheapest entertainment. For 25 cents, the boys got to ride a train and do a little running around the mall to expel some energy.

Day 86

One of the things Mike and I enjoy doing together is heading up to the mountains for a little skiing. The last time we went skiing was two years ago in Whistler during our weekend getaway. Tonight we headed up to Snoqualmie Pass for a bit of night skiing. It is the end of the season and it was nice to have a couple hours of daylight first. This picture was taken after our fourth run down the mountain, before it got dark. The nice part about skiing at the end of the season is the crowds weren't there so we were about to take about 10 to 12 runs down the mountain.

Day 85

This afternoon while Andy was in preschool and Aaron was napping away, I spent my free time painting the teal away to a shiny black on the dresser. I thought I would capture a picture of my progress and the before and after of what's to come.

Day 84

This morning as I was getting dressed, Aaron helped himself to my make-up applicators and pulled every single one out of the package. He did attempt to put them back into the little slots, but his fine motor skills aren't quite that fine yet. He is only 17 months old. I took this picture with my iPhone, so it is a bit fuzzy, but I thought it was interesting how the stripes on his sleeve are the focal point.

Day 83

There is one member of the family that has not had any blogging time and that would be our beagle, Charlie. Mike and I adopted Charlie from a shelter about 5 years ago and he is about 8 years old. He really is a sweet dog and the boys in some fascinating, little boy way do love their puppy. Normally, he is in the kitchen waiting for any scraps to come his way, mainly from the little pajama feet in the chair.

Day 82

I love re purposing furniture. For a while now, I have needed to find a new way to store toys. Recently, I started searching for new ideas on how to store the toys since they are mainly in my living room. I mentioned my search to my mother-in-law and she mentioned she had a dresser in her garage that may work. It took me a little bit of time to decide, but the price was right, FREE! I even managed to score black paint and poly out of their garage as well. I will need to find new drawer pulls as the ones attached were dated. I forgot to take a picture before I got started, but you can see that it has nine drawers and will be able to store most of the little toys that DRIVE ME CRAZY!!

Day 81

Every once in a while, my iPhone seems to have a mind of it's own and takes random pictures of itself. This picture is my list of favorite phone numbers of people I call frequently or not so frequently, but it's handy to see your name and think about you at least.

Day 80

Today was my fun afternoon away. I took a class at beadclub on how to make gerber daisies out of metal. This class is part of a series the owner of the store has developed and will eventually complete into a flower garden necklace. It was way too much fun for me and the end result today is a pair of earrings. I took this photo with my iPhone, so it's not the best for close ups, but you get the idea.

Day 79

As part of our daily routine, Andy must patch his right eye to encourage his left eye to become stronger. The boys' pediatric optimologist believes that Andy could outgrow his need for glasses as he gets older and this is just one step in the right direction. Andy is a total rock star about wearing his patch, the only issue is we don't have a specific home for it, so when it's time to put the patch on, we are usually looking for it. Cue light bulb idea....mom found a way to be able to find it when we need it and here it is, the kitchen wall by the calendar and the phone.

Day 78

Vacation is over and it's time to go home. We had a great time in the desert, but it's time to go home to the rain. We arrived at the airport a bit early since it would take Mike some time to drop off the rental car. While we were at the gate waiting for the plane to come in, a very kind lady who had been to a wedding gave Mike a container of bubbles to entertain the boys. Mom grabbed the camera and this is my favorite shot. You can see the bubbles and the sheer joy on my boys' faces.

Day 77

Today was a great second day of sun and fun. This evening the Mariners were playing the Kansas City Royals in Surprise, which is only about 15 minutes from Grandma Gwen's house. I thought I would post a picture of my handsome, happy baseball husband and me at the game. It was taken by my budding photographer, Andy. We had a great time and the M's won!

Day 76

Today we headed to Peoria to the spring training facility for the Seattle Mariners. Lucky for us, In-N-Out is just down the street and we stopped by for lunch. It was sooooo goood!!!

Day 75

Today we are leaving on a jet plane to Arizona for a little sun, family and spring baseball. One of my mandatory pre-trip activities is to get a pedicure. The blue is something new and fun and now I'm ready for my new white sandals and a few days in the sun.

Day 74

For some this could be a completely random picture, but it represents a big day in our church history. Mike and I are members of Crossroads Bible Church and one of the missions is to plant ten churches by 2020. Today we commissioned those who are going to plant The Downtown Church. It was almost like saying good-bye as some of our dear friends are going to The Downtown Church, but it's not like they are really going anywhere. The new church is in downtown Bellevue where it has been growing and changing and yet there is no place to worship.
Overall, it was a great time to worship our Lord God and begin to see the next great adventure.

Day 73

This afternoon, Dad decided to help Andy put all the letters on the fridge and figure out what may or may not be missing. I thought this was a fun photo op with the black background and how the letters pop.

Day 72

Today was the last day of this soccer session and it has been such a gorgeous day, I put in my contacts and wore my sunglasses. Aaron enjoys pulling items out of my bag to entertain himself and pulled out my glasses. I grabbed the camera to see if I could get any funny shots and this one won the honor of the blog.

Day 71

A while back, I took a fusing class in which we had made a necklace with the pieces we had fused together. I had made smaller fused segments to someday make into earrings. Since I have been on a jewelry designing kick lately, I pulled out two of my fused pieces and turned them into earrings using some black CZ drops. I enjoy working with metal and have been tossing the idea around of getting the equipment to do more metal work. We'll see what happens.

Day 70

I love this necklace. I purchased the pendant almost two years ago at the Puget Sound Bead Festival, and have been slowly purchasing beads to complete a necklace. This piece consists of small carnelian beads, vintage orange discs and silver spacers. It will be fun to wear it this summer.

Day 69

This morning, the snow was still hanging around because the last two days the temperature has been in the 30s. I looked out the back door and noticed how the snow was still sparkling with the sun peaking through the slats of the deck. Even though the snow has been around a lot more than usual this winter, I do love how peaceful and quiet the world seems as it snows.

Day 68

Today I did a little furniture shopping. The best part, it's all free. Well, it's kinda on loan from my mother-in-law who usually has a piece or two extra hanging around the house. The first piece is actually a writing table that isn't necessarily our style, but I like it and it's the right height.



The second table is a side table my MIL purchased at IKEA and then painted black. I wasn't hip on the matchy, matchy, but it's really the right size. I can still get into my drawers without having to move it out of the way and it's the right length too.

Now I have a little more time to search out two more perfect tables while scavenging the consignment stores in the area.

Day 67

Once again, it's time to change the clocks and move ahead into spring. Too bad the weather around here hasn't agreed yet. There is still snow on the ground and it doesn't seem as if it will be melting any time soon. I used the retro setting on my camera tonight as I was looking for a different look.

Day 66

After my ever so much fun and non stressful week, my husband was very sweet to his wife and gave me today off to do as Micha wished. YA!!!! So I headed to Woodinville to my favorite bead store to work on a necklace that my son took apart. I needed more silver spacers and the store has a table where you can sit and relax and work on projects or read beading books and magazines. I also needed a clasp and love the organic S-clasp. I am very happy to have the turquoise and red jade necklace complete. Now to find a fabulous outfit to wear with it!

Day 65

While at soccer this afternoon, I had brought along some cars for Aaron to play with while Andy participates in soccer. Unfortunately, this orange farmer's market truck has seen a few too many markets and bumpy farm roads. The front axle is done for and I believe so is the car. Oh well, I think we have another one elsewhere at home.

Day 64

Our sweet beagle, Charlie has his own pad in our bedroom and likes to rearrange the placement of his bed on a nightly basis. Tonight, I found Charlie behind the door, snuggled in Mike's closet. It is definitely the most creative place he has attempted to sleep.

Day 63

What do a coffee stained towel, a bowl of rice and my iPhone case have in common? The aftermath of a 17 month old when mom left her coffee and iPhone on the table unattended.

This morning I had a dentist appointment and needed to drop the boys off at a friends house. I had just finished getting Aaron dressed and stopped in my room real quick to pick up my jewelry. As I was walking back to the kitchen, I heard a noise that didn't sit well with me. Yes, my friends, my one year old was dunking my nice, expensive toy into my coffee as if it were a doughnut. I rinsed off the phone, took off the case and proceeded to attempt to drain the coffee out of the phone as I am on the home phone freaking out to Mike about what happened. After I got home this afternoon, I put the phone in a bowl of rice to hopefully draw out the moisture and pray that it's not dead.

And to top off this day, I had sealants put on two of my bottom molars and my mouth is driving me nuts. This was not a happy mom day.

Day 62

This afternoon after preschool, I took the boys to the park down the street from the preschool as the sun was out and it was a relatively nice day for March. We all could use a little Vitamin D in our lives and I grabbed my camera to take some shots of the boys. The toddler play structure has a couple of small holes near the platform for the slide. I stuck my little camera in the hole just as AJ was crawling over to the slide. He was so excited to see mom poking her head in to see him.

Day 61

We were getting ready to head out the door today and Andy was waiting for me to tie his shoes for him. Well, little brother decided to come down the stairs and lay on his brother. Aaron is actually laughing and Andy thought it was great fun too. Luckily, my iPhone was quite handy, although the picture is a bit blurry.

Day 60

A new day, a new month, a new bed, woohoo! Mike spent all day yesterday painting and getting the bed installed. Today, I get to admire his hard work. This bed is higher than our previous one and I almost need a step stool to get into it.