Sawyer and Aspen's Nest

The finishing touches have finally been made, and after over a year of working on it, the nest for my little birds is complete.

Here's a little tour:

thoughts on the process:

Just because I have a boy and a girl, didn't mean I wanted to get stuck decorating their room with yellow and green (aren't most of the "unisex" things you find those colors? ugh!) SO. I opted for a pale yellow, gold, gray, and then splash of ballet pink and robin's egg blue. This room is our happy place - it gets the best light in the house, and I love how calming it is to hang out with my two little kidlets in their little nest (we gave them the Master bedroom since we spend way more time playing in their room than in ours).

I sold a few items we didn't need/use anymore on Craigslist and used the money to splurge on a couple of things (dwell crib sheet for Aspen, knock-off Eames rocker, and the ultra cool Roadster car,new bookshelf, and a fresh coat of ceiling paint).

UPDATE SEPT 2011: by request, I am including the paint colors - the room itself is "Lily" by Sherwin Williams. The play kitchen is "Robin's Egg" by Benjamin Moore. ;)

A few special pieces in the room were made by family friends - the Modern English Alphabet print was designed and then color-customized to my color palette by our insanely talented friend, Jeanie Nelson, of The Papernut on Etsy. (You should really check out her shop! and her letter-pressed wedding announcements!)

The retro play kitchen...well...this one is a treasure. A serious treasure. It will be an heirloom, for sure, in our family. I did some work for some wonderful family friends - The Flanders Family (they really are just like family) and in return, they built this for us. I had been gathering and collecting the supplies for months (tracking down mini bar faucet on ebay, splurging my birthday gift cert. for the anthro knobs, picking out the perfect color, etc.) but about two days before Jacob and I were going to rent the equipment to try our hand at wood-working, we came up with the trade arrangement and it could've have been better timing! I was getting really nervous about the prospect of me and Jacob with nailguns in our hands. So, I did their family photos while in Oregon in July, and then Dan built it - he even designed the refrigerator from scratch and from a picture in my mind I had, and did it just perfect! Lori painted it. My mom delivered it a couple of weeks ago. Last weekend I spent an HOUR in the fabric store picking out the perfect fabric for the sink skirt and then I stayed up REALLY late one night last week sewing away at the sink skirt and little tea towel. I never had a play kitchen growing up, so I have to admit, this is just as much for me as it is for the kids. I am SO in love with it! It is just perfect! I can never thank the Flanders enough for this special treasure. I spent many many hours babysitting their children as they grew, so it is extra special that they made this for my own children. (thanks you two!)

I had thought about printing an image of each of my children, or one of them together, on a large, gallery-wrapped canvas, but then decided against it. You would think, for someone who takes lots of photos, I would have more on the wall. But I actually think it's a little strange to have big pictures of yourself hanging by your bed. I don't want to encourage narcissism or anything. I wanted to keep things simple. So I printed just their silhouettes and a little reminder of who's children I am really raising nearby (I am a Child of God). I did a 5x7 more recent one of each of them, just to have a print on the wall, with a little reminder for them (Love one Another.)

This is their room, and also the room we spend lots of time playing in. My goal was clean lines, contemporary, minimal, yet with personal touches. Not only did I do a lot of it myself, or have a few pieces from special family friends (my sister Jamie made the ceramic piggy bank and the crocheted teddy bear on the shelf) but there are a couple of pieces from my childhood there, too. Most of the little golden books are mine (well, my twin sisters, too, but she doesn't mind...) and the vintage golden book encyclopedias were my Grandmothers that she gave to me when I had Sawyer (funny enough, he has loved reading through those encyclopedias - as un-"PC" as they are, since he was a year old! He seriously has them memorized.)

I made: Sawyer's toddler bedding & bird pillow, the bird mobile and prints, painted the birdhouses, the fabric poms above Aspen's crib, her blankie, the silhouettes, and then I pulled a bunch of "wishes" that I have for my children together from other sources and designed the print that hangs adjacent to the rocking chair(last photo). I tried really hard not to over-do the birds. I wanted it to be part of the room, but birds are a bit trendy right now and I tried to use them more as a soft touch to the room rather than the primary "theme". If there is a "theme" I wanted it to be "come, relax, be yourself, and play here with us. Feel free to dream and let your imagination run for a while, or just sit and read with us. Or sleep for a bit and dream sweetly." I wanted them to feel surrounded by "things" that were carefully placed, carefully thought of, and made with love.

Which, it was.

I had fun doing all the little things that made this room complete, but what really makes it complete, are the two little people sharing it. Oh, how I love my Sawyer and my Aspen!

our little bike gang

see ya on the streets of North Seattle!

Outings // Museum of Flight

Yesterday, directly from swim lessons, we went straight to the beach. The Blue Angels are in town for their annual SeaFair hurrah, and we wanted to make sure and catch their practice show.

Some friends met up with us at Madrona beach - it was the most crowded I've seen that little stretch of beach, ever. There were a ga-zillion boats out to enjoy the show, as well. Grown-ups sat in lawn chairs to watch up on the grass, and kids and their parents played in the sand and water while the Blue Angels soared above and before us. It was aaaahhhhmazing! And at times, breath-taking, as they reach speeds close to Mach 2. They boooom and zooom and leave your eardrums ringing!

After lots of fun in the sun, we went home for some naptime and then we went and picked Jacob up from work and headed down to the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field.

(a passer-by offered to take a picture so I could join my family...and the kids faces are cracking me up...they are like - who's the strange dude saying "cheese"?)

Generally speaking, Sawyer is a HUGE fan of cars. After he saw the Blue Angels and it dawned on him that they are even faster than race cars...he is now a big fan of jets. Check him out below, can you tell he's trying to sound like a jet, himself?

And here's our little Aspen, inspired by the history at the Museum, to spread her wings, and fly :)

I think Jacob was pleasantly surprised at how awesome this museum is. (I think he was wishing we weren't chasing after two little busy-bodies so he could've read all of the signs, etc. It is really that cool!)

We crossed the sky bridge and went outside to see the Concorde and Air Force One. We made the kids wait in a long line to hop on board Air Force One and check it out. Sawyer wasn't super excited to wait in line. At least he got to see airplanes taking off and landing while we waited :)

Aspen wasn't thrilled about waiting, either. She kind of ran around and was entertainment for everyone else in line, which made her happy. She also loved to see (and hear) the planes taking off and landing.

I had promised Sawyer that we could stop by the gift shop on our way out, so he could see if they had any toy blue angels. We were having such a great time looking through one of the galleries, that all of a sudden a voice said "it is now 9pm and the museum will be closing"...so we booked it over to the gift shop - which wasn't letting anyone else in. After I asked, the woman at the door heard me trying to explain to Sawyer...that we couldn't go in...(she no doubt saw how upset he looked) and she said "hey, come here - I have 3 kids of my own and I understand the importance of keeping a promise". I could have hugged her to pieces (almost). She let us sneak by, and we quickly found a F/A-18 Hornet and of course we let Aspen pick out a plane, too - and bought them, and quickly made our way out the door. The kids held their planes in hand, making plane noises, all the way home. In fact, they both even slept with them last night.

Hooray for the Blue Angels. It was an awesome day.

And now, it's friday. Last day of swim lessons was this morning, and Daddy came to watch. This evening we are headed out to the Magnuson Park Amphitheatre to see Creme Tangerine, a great Beatles' cover band we try to see every summer. It's not as warm as yesterday, but we will bundle up a bit and enjoy a bit of dancing and our picnic as we listen to them play all of Abbey Road.

Happy Weekend, all!

Independence Day 2011

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday. I love it for many reasons - and like other holidays, it's true meaning must not be overlooked. But mainly, I love that it is in summertime, that it is perfectly fine to sport shorts, swim suits, and bare feet on the occasion. That barbeques and fireworks are a plenty, and family and friends gather round. I love how my parents open all the doors and we livev outside, I love Lori Flanders homemade ice-cream, and in years past, my grandmother's homemade pies. I love gathering in the backyard and squinting into the bright sunny day...and then cozying up to someone special when dusk hits and we find our special spot to watch the fireworks show. This year, my brother-in-law Taylor, who is currently serving our country, was with us - and everything just hit home a little bit more for me. Maybe it's part of getting older, or maybe it's part of being a parent...I'm not sure...but I can sure be sappy sometimes.

Okay...enough of my rambling and onto our own little firecrackers!

Q: How do you get 4 children age 3 and under to sit still for a photo together?

A: Bribe them with cookies!

There are some smiles!

It was super fun for the kids to play with their cousins!

And Aunt Jamie & her pups, of course! This little dog below is the mama of the dog on the previous post (Peanut). Her name is Josie. She is super chill and easy going and GREAT with kids.

Here is Jamie, Alyssa, & Josie.

As I was going through the images below of Sawyer with Josie, I got a little teary. (go ahead, laugh! I told you I'm a sap!)

Sawyer used to LOVE my parents dog, Tommie, but this time he was pretty, hmm, SCARED of her. I think because she's bigger and her tail gives a good wack, he was seriously scared of her and didn't even want to go outside when she was outside.

There have been a few instances in the past few months where Sawyer has shown quite a bit of fear/anxiety/apprehension whatever you want to call it, in certain situations. And sometimes I forget: he's just a little boy. He has a very wild imagination and at this age when your imagination is going wild sometimes fears tends to come out a bit more. I struggle with how much to gently encourage or even push him into situations where he shows this type of apprehension (ie do we force him to pet Tommie to overcome the fear, or just respect that for now he doesn't want to be around her?)

Anyway, along comes Josie.

And he LOVES her. LOVES. I mean, he is still talking about her (and Jamie even offered to let us take her home, but we just couldn't).

So...is it him/certain circumstances? Because we did nothing, and he came and sat and wanted to cuddle and hold this little pup. He even gave her a kiss. Kind of melted my heart and slapped me on the wrist. Sometimes we want something for out kids (ie for them not to be scared of something) so much that we forget to just let them be and respect that in their own time and way they will come to terms with their situations as long as we just patiently love them.

Just patiently love them.

That was my lesson learned over the weekend.

Okay, and now that I've gone off on a soap box for a bit...let's get back to the pictures.

Sweet Sawyer and his Josie. Love that boy!

Of course we can't forget the cute baby sisters!

Here is Alexandra (Xani)who is just about to turn one! I get to take their family pictures the day after she turns one - not to mention celebrate big time that day with her and her family! Exciting!

And Miss Aspen Jane.

Do you love her dress as much as I do?

(Stars and) STRIPES forever!

Sawyer and Alyssa hanging on the the porch swing with Jamie's boyfriend, Brandon. He's a good sport! Both were begging for a bite of his cupcake - and Sawyer certainly wasn't shy about it!

I hope you all had a fun-and-family-filled-fourth!

Let the good times roll! I'm SO glad it's summer!

Bend Pet Parade

Here is my youngest sister, Jamie, with her little dog, Peanut. They marched in the pet parade...

me, Grammie, and the kids watched - it was a hit for sure!

A quick stop by Goodies for ice-cream was also a hit.

The only miss was that I forgot our cell phone and missed out on seeing a long-time friend who was also in town (Tirza! Sooo sorry we missed you - we will have to try again very soon to catch up!)

(Daddy, Granpa, Uncle Taylor and their crew opted out of the parade for a 30 mile bike ride that morning ;)

People got all decked out and found things to ride in the parade, and then also showed off their pets. There were LOTS of dogs, but a few others, too. I was SUPER impressed at this guys custom long-board. I am a big fan of long boards, but have never seen one this LONG! He could've fit his whole family on that thing - I want one!

I was told to look for the flying dog at the end of the parade.

what? a flying dog?

Yup. Check him out! And don't worry about cruelty to animals, this little dude was happily wagging his tail having a blast flying high! Can you blame him? Looks like fun - and I love his little aviator glasses!

Yes, we finally made the Pet Parade in Bend - something I never did when I lived there, but very glad we took the kids, it was a hoot!