Lilypie Fifth Birthday

Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers

Lilypie First Birthday tickers

Lilypie First Birthday tickers

Friday, February 13, 2009

Owen tried to surprise me today...








...but he's really bad about hiding things from me. Meaning...he can't. His face turns red and he can't quit smiling. It's nearly impossible for him to surprise me.

A few days ago we went into Portland to do some grocery shopping at New Seasons, and we stopped in at a bike shop we'd never seen before. We were browsing really, not looking to buy because well, bikes are expensive. Then I saw it. The bike of my dreams (well not *really*, but pretty darn close). It was a vintage Schwinn, (today Owen said it wasn't) cruiser style bike with three speeds, fenders, a back rack, and a light that came on when you pedaled. It needed a paint job, but it was the right size, and EXPENSIVE. We walked away and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

Today Owen came home and said, "Hey babe," (face turning red)"remember that bike you saw the other day? Well, it has internal gears, and it needed a paint job pretty bad. (Huge grin, face turning redder, nervous laughter)"

"Really?" I said. "How do you know that?"

(No eye contact, biggest grin ever) "I just know. Besides, there was this other one that didn't have a price tag. Remember that one? Well, it's out in the car!"

So.

I.

Have.

A.

Bike.

It's red and shiny! It's a Schwinn! It's a cruiser! (and it's a tiny bit too big for me) But, Owen paid like HALF of what the other bike cost, and it looks sooooo much better, and it's a 5 speed, and now we can ride bikes together!

I just need to add a light and an rack and a basket and a bell, attach a baby seat/trailer and we'll be good to go. :)


Happy Valentine's Day/Birthday to me! :)

"I love you like the Ocean through the eyes of the Moon"

This is the lovely Raina Rose. She prides herself on being a folk Goddess. :)

She makes my heart happy, and I love this song. I hope this video stirs emotion in you like it did me. Enjoy!



Check out her website, buy her CDs!

Monday, February 9, 2009

Spider Monkey

This Is Emery's Spider Monkey. It was a Christmas Present from Great Grandma Gowen.








Attached to his ear was a tag explaining that Spider Monkey's are endangered and this particular one is named Telinho (We call him Telly). Being the mom that I am I immediately wanted to learn more about Spider Monkeys, so I googled them. This is the first thing that came up. Emery loves it! He doesn't really dig cartoons or videos or TV even, but He loves this video. Enjoy!


Friday, February 6, 2009

Valentine's Day the G(diaper)reen way

So next weekend, Valentine's Day to be exact, Emery and I have a date.

We will two of the newest gDiaper unofficial spokespeople. The Everything Green Oregon Expo will be hosting a gDiaper booth. Emery and I will volunteering at this booth.

I'm now a gMum.

I figured that since we've used gDiapers from Day 1, (seriously, that was the first type of diaper that Emery wore, see the picture?) it's about time I started giving back a bit. Admittedly we aren't exclusive gDiaper users, but that's all the more reason to shout to the world the greatness of them!




Since we EC we use mostly an EC belt and a prefold. When we go out however, the majority of the time we are using a newborn prefold stuffed inside a gDiaper 'little g' pants. This works really well for us.

On our recent trip we used gDiapers the way they were intended to be used about 90% of the time (and a combo of cloth and a cornbased disposable the rest). I loved it! There was no guilt about throwing away the used ones. Thanks to the fact thatat they are a Cradle to Cradle certified company, I knew that they wouldn't be hanging around in a landfill for the next 500 years.


Enough about diapers, just come see us on Valentine's Day okay?! It's free!


It's the stuff like this that I'll miss when we move to Spring. I guess I'll just have to plug in there huh?

(This one is cloth filled......)

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

So, I've been terrible about updating lately.....

So this update will be a long one.....sorry.

Our trip was lovely, but not long enough.

It was also challenging. It was difficult to keep up with EC while on the go so much. We resorted to using eco friendly disposables for most of the trip. G-diapers were so useful! Then, while in Houston we found some diapers made out of corn! We still have some of those ledt over and are using them at night time. AP style parenting was the same, maybe even more convenient.

I bet you're just dying to know how the second leg of the journey went huh?
We flew into Tulsa and were met by Nana. Emery slept all the way to West Siloam/Watts/Flint Ridge. We stopped and he met aunt Amy while she was working. We arrived at Nana's just in time for the extended family to start arriving. There was a houseful! We had food and paseed babies around. Barrick (one of the nephews) showed up (from Texas) and had his own little belated Christmas. Finally everyone filtered out and we settled in for the night. The next morning we rushed around trying to get breakfast and have all the little ones ready for pictures. Mass confusion followed with musical carseats (not as fun as musical chairs), and shuffling around of who is riding with who. We all met up at Wal-Mart and orceeded to cram all 10 (yes ten!) of the grandkids into a portrait. (Poor camera man) The rest of the day was a bit more relaxing. Tasha and I tried for hours to get the photo printer to work, only to realize that ...hmmmm. the USB wasn't connected. Sheesh. What a genius am I?!

Sunday night Owen, Emery and I headed over to Fayetteville to spend some time with the Lingelbach's. Owen and I were there when Zoe was born, and then we moved away.....now she's a walking, talking, little sweetie!
It was great to get to spend some time with my best friend! We opted to stay the night which was awesome! :) The next day we went out to breakfast at the Rolling Pin cafe. I had hoped to get some chocolate gravy.....but I was out of luck. After breakfast we headed over to Ozark Natural Foods and made our rounds saying hello to old co-workers and showing off our handsome little dude.
Then, it started to rain, and then it started to freeze. We headed back to Dawn's in hopes of seeing a few more old friends. The weather had other plans so we went back over to my mom's house earlier than expected and started checking on our flight's back home.
The next day we left my mom's hours before we should have just in order to make it in time to catch our flight which was still scheduled to leave.
We arrived safely at the airport, and then the waiting began.
First the flight before ours was cancelled, then our flight was delayed, then, finally we were sitting on the TARMAC waiting for a break in the weather to get us airborn. We waited, and we waited, and we waited.
Then we were taxiig down the runway. Then we were airborn.
We arrived in Houston with 15 minutes before our connecting flight was leaving.
We ran. With Emery strapped to me in the Ergo. I ran.
We made it, and Emery stayed awake for the entire 5 hour flight!!!!! We touched down in Portland. Grabbed our bags, and were in our car headed home by 12:30 am our time.

It was so nice to be sleeping in our own bed.
It's so nice to be back in Gresham, but I still wish we had had more time.

Owen really liked the Culinary school.
We're beginning the transition process right now.
We're looking for an affordable storage unit. Most of our earthly possessions will be placed there. Everything else is coming with us to Spring, TX. Once Owen finishes school and we are confident enough to make the move across country again, we'll be coming back to the Great Northwest. Next time around we'll more than likely be closer to Portland, and closer to Birthingway. Maybe we'll even buy a house. Maybe. :)

I would post some pictures, but I can't seem to find the camera cord. Grrrr.

It's almost my birthday. Usually I have so many ideas of what I want, but his year, I'm void. I can't really think of anything I want, well within reason. I mean who wouldn't want a new Electra Amsterdam bicycle (that's way too expensive and just something else for us to move), or a cabinet table just perfect for sewing on. My needs are met as well, so what do I ask for?

More time with my family? Who can give that to me?