My cup runneth over.....

It's been another year. Another birthday, yet I still feel 28. For some reason, that's my go-to age and I'm not quite sure why. The hubby claims it's because that's the year we met. I just smile and nod when he says that.

But, this was pretty darn good. Lots of fun, lots of laughs....a few bumps and bruises along the way, but that is life.

(My traditional birthday margarita)

But it's mine. And it's a pretty sweet one. 

Snapshots of a family trip: a.k.a. City Girl goes to a Nebraska farm

We just got back from my husband's family reunion in Nebraska City, Nebraska. We spent the weekend at the Lied Lodge. I have to say, if you ever find yourself in Nebraska, this is worth checking out. It was founded by the Morton salt founder and it's the birthplace of Arbor Day! There is a huge farm (The Arbor Day Tree Farm), a forest with walking path, art displays and educational opportunities, plus a giant greenhouse where you can pick your free tree to take home and plant! I wish I had more pictures of those things (or any really), but I blame the heat and humidity. (Oh the heat & humidity!). They also had a little country store with fresh fruit and pies! (Oh the pies!). You could also snag free apples in the hotel lobby. Ruby and I loved that!

Part of the art displays in the forest.

Ruby says "I'm DONE with family pictures people!"

Look mom, mooooo cows!

After the reunion, we drove over to Guide Rock, Nebraska to visit the family farm. Matt's father and his three brothers grew up on the farm. His youngest brother still lives there, farming the 1800+ acres. He's got cattle, milo, hay, alfalfa and a few other things I'm sure.

His oldest daughter and her family also live on the farm. Ruby really enjoyed playing with her cousins, especially Lanee who's just 3 months older than her! Lanee showed her all around the farm and what it's like to be a toddler running free and wild on the farm!

That's the hubby and his uncle driving the swather. He's trimming the alfalfa. I drove it too. And Uncle Bruce said my lines were straighter! One point for the City Girl!

We also went on a cattle drive! Yes, I went on a cattle drive! It was so much fun! And really pretty! The farm was still pretty green despite that it was the end of July. There was even a little storm off in the back ground.

 We moved about 125 cattle from one pasture to another. I'm not sure of the acreage we covered, but it seemed liked a lot. Once the cows get moving, they get moving!

They hubby was bringing up the rear of the herd on an ATV, Ruby and I were in the truck with Uncle Bruce. But we got out to feed the cattle to help inspire them to follow us to greener pastures (ha!). Ruby had no problem being so close to these hundred pound animals, but Bruce's daschund Chubbie, he scared the heck out of her! She'd run around the house with Lanee saying, "Chubbie! Chuuuubbbbiiieeee!" and then when she found him, she'd stop point and start screaming. It was pretty funny.

Despite the heat, humidity and a few travel bumps on the way home (FYI, if you're ever in the Kearney "airport" the highlight is the fact that they have a Coke & a Pepsi machine which is useless to someone who doesn't drink soda by the way. We were there for nearly 4 hours.), it was a really fun trip!

this moment 7.26.13

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Over at SouleMama, she has a Friday ritual called this moment - a single photo, no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor & remember.
~
If you have a this moment, please leave the link in a comment, I'd love to see it!

The city goes on a cattle drive! In Nebraska! Yes....this actually happened, Tuesday to be exact. It was so much fun! Here I'm feeding the cows. Ruby also enjoyed seeing the cows up close. She kept saying "Moooo cows!" and throwing their treats at them.

I'll post more pics from the Nebraska trip shortly, along with many other catch up posts! 

Happy weekend!

A little R & R

I need it.

A lot of it.

I wish this was the reason I haven't been blogging:

But sadly, it's not. 

Just work/life getting in the way of blogging. And a few other things as well.

One thing is different this time around... I've picked up the knitting needles again for a fun, easy project.

Details (and hopefully more blogging) to come.

this moment 6.28

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Over at SouleMama, she has a Friday ritual called this moment - a single photo, no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor & remember.
~
If you have a this moment, please leave the link in a comment, I'd love to see it!

Garden 2013: June

We finally found the time to get our garden planted. This year we decided we were going to scale back from years past.*

We planted (and it's not all pictured here):

• three types of lettuce
• banana peppers
• pickling cucumbers
• zucchini
• butternut squash
• mini pumpkins
• beans
• sugar peas
• tomato
• blueberry bush
• dill
• rosemary

Those go with what was already in the ground including:

• artichokes (already had 5 this year!)
• several raspberry bushes (just picked the first ones off!)
• mini apple tree (this is the year it starts producing fruit!)
• kiwi
• yes, you read that right. I said kiwi. In Seattle. Apparently that happens and the hubby is determined to make it so.
• * yeah right

See the wee little apples! Please ignore the "natural landscaping" in the background.

My little garden helper makes sure everything gets watered. Note how she's wearing her hand knit pumpkin hat? Now that's the garden spirit!

Clarence, the Garden Gnome, keeps a watchful eye on our blueberry bush. He's no longer a gnome that roams much to Ruby's dismay. She's can't reach him now, but she runs over to him, points and yells, "Gawden Gnome!"

She's very thorough. Even the concrete path gets a good dosing. Better to splash in that way.

this moment 6.21

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Over at SouleMama, she has a Friday ritual called this moment - a single photo, no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor & remember.
~
If you have a this moment, please leave the link in a comment, I'd love to see it!

Crafty things I'm loving this week:

Charming felt flower sachets from Purl Bee - Who doesn't want to whip up some cute little gift for friends or simply to have on hand

Pink Grapefruit Mitts by knittedblissJC - Just the name alone makes me love them & the luscious color doesn't help either. Plus in Seattle you can pretty much wears these types of gloves year round. Win-win.

Felted Knitted Basket from Martha Stewart - Another way to reuse older knitted goods. Always good to give beloved knits a second life!

Mr. & Mrs. Gnome from Wee Wonderfuls by Hillary Lang - I love the book Wee Wonderfuls, full of such sweet charming dolls. This happy couple isn't in the book but part of the website. I must get these soon. Very soon.

So much wonderful craftiness out there... not enough time.

What are you crafting these days?

Where have you been all my life Jen Lancaster?

Seriously, she's like my inner monologue only she puts it out there. OK, sometimes, as many of you know, so do it, but still she's freakin' hilarious.

And she's just what I need right now.

A friend recommended her to me recently (thanks again other Megan!) and I've been staying up way to late every night giggling and laughing until I cry while reading her book Jenreration X.

I love nothing more than a good, funny, smartly written summer read. I'm sure I'll be reading all of her best sellers this summer.

What are some of your favorite summer reads & authors?

And speaking of summer reads. Did you see this awesome world-record setting book chain from the Seattle Public Library in honor of their summer reading program? It's a must see.

Daddy's Day!

Nothing like a little snuggle time & books with a daddy & his little girl.

(I know this is a day late but we spend Father's Day without cell & internet access. It was lovely. More to come on that later this week.)

this moment: 6.14.13

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Over at SouleMama, she has a Friday ritual called this moment - a single photo, no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor & remember.
~
If you have a this moment, please leave the link in a comment, I'd love to see it!

imom: When good intentions have expensive consequences

A few months ago I was talking with a friend about my struggles to get Ruby to wear her eye patches. She suggested a reward chart. I had seen these on the eye patch website we use (yes, we order special eye patches online. They are so much better than the store bought crap. Too rough on her sweet little baby skin!) 

So I went online and bought her the butterfly chart. After you patch, you put your eye patch on the wings making a fun, bright & colorful design.

It's quite the hit, as you can see. She loves to put her eye patches on it. She even asks for her eye patch now.

However, she asks for it, specifically so she can put it on her butterfly, not her eye.

It seems we've taken a few steps back with our patching. We were up to 4-5 hours a day. And now, we're lucky with one.

But at least they are cute and she does love picking them out.

However, she loves them so much that I've had to hide all of her eye patches, as she loves to ask for them, rip them out of their packaging and runs to her room to put them on her butterfly!

Cousins!

My sister and I had no cousins. 

None.
Nada.
Zip.

People always find this hard to believe, but it's true. My mom was an only child and my dad's sister didn't have any kids. The crazy thing is, the cousins my dad is closest too also didn't have any kids. So growing up it was just my sister and I and a lot of adults.

Good thing we got along.
Most of the time.

Some of the time.

Well...let's move on. We always talked/joked about having kids at the same time so they could be cousins. And well, as life would have it, we did. 

Ruby and Ridley are 10 months apart. They were actually supposed to share a birthday but Ridley was too excited and decided to join the party early (a little too early for all of our comforts but he's a fabulous healthy baby boy so all is well!)

This past weekend Lindsay and Ridley came up for their first visit to Seattle! And what fun was had!

An aquarium visit!

 Nothing beats a walk with snacks!

(I should show you the after pic. We walked to the store for some snacks for the grown ups and wine. The booze was in the wagon with the kiddos. We'll gladly share the trophy for Mother of the Year.)

 Boat ride & a trip up on the Great Wheel! Up high as Ruby kept saying!

 Playtime is the best time! Since Ridley rolled himself under Ruby's table, she thought she'd join him down there. I think the highlight for her was bath time with the baby. Every time we take a bath, she still asks where the baby is!

Can't wait for our next visit! We miss them so!

this moment 6.07.13

~
Over at SouleMama, she has a Friday ritual called this moment - a single photo, no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor & remember.
~
If you have a this moment, please leave the link in a comment, I'd love to see it!

imom: Spotlight of the week:Ruby

Ruby is the featured kiddo this week over at Eye Power Kids Wear!

Each week, Jessica, founder and fellow imom, features another wee one and their eye story to help educate people about eye issues, treatment and keeping the faith, hard work and love for our babies eye sight!

She's also starting her business designing fun shirts for kids who wear eye glasses and patches. Her kickstarter projected (blogged about here) has recently surpassed their goal!

Check out her site and some of the amazing stories!

this moment

~
Over at SouleMama, she has a Friday ritual called this moment - a single photo, no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor & remember.
~

This week I'm going rogue and sharing a series of three photos because they are so adorable. And frankly so funny. But since this post isn't supposed to have any text, I'll let you decide what happened to our friend Clarence the Garden Gnome.

If you have a this moment post, please share it in the comment section. I'd love to see it!

Cooking Inspiration: Where do you get yours?

I love to cook. I love to bake.

These are some of my favorite cookbooks to flip through when I need a little inspiration. I also find myself going to the Internet as well.

But some days, when I just need a quick and easy recipe that I know I have all of the ingredients for in my pantry, I rely on this old standby:

 

What is your cooking standby? What are some of your favorite recipes or go-to-cooking sites? I'm looking for some new cooking & baking inspiration and would love to hear what you can't live without in the kitchen!

imom: Worst. Eye Mom. Ever.*

*This post is not for the squeamish.

You know your child goes to too many eye appointments when she immediately runs to spot in the office where they keep the model eye ball. And then takes it all apart.

OK, now that the formalities are out of the way, I need to share our latest eye-adventure.

Last Tuesday, the hubby took Ruby to the contact specialist because it was time to get her contact swapped out and clean. Plus, her allergies were bugging her and her eye was red. By the time the hubby picked her up from daycare, she had managed to rub it out of her eye. Luckily, they found it so all was well.

So they go on their merry little way to see Miss Susan at the contact office. They clean the contact and look at her eye and realize it's pretty red and just needs a break. The doctor looked at it for a while and thought it was just irritated. They sent them home and told them to come back later in the week for the new contact.

Two days later, two days with no contact and no patching (and hardly any battles....sigh....) she and I venture up to see Miss Susan again. I'm hoping the new prescription contact has come in (she had her new prescription lens in less than 24 hours when she lost it. Another post for another day when I have a gin & tonic in hand). But as I'm getting her into the car seat, I notice something in her eye: a contact. Now I know this can't be because they took it out 2 days earlier and said no contacts for 2 days. But yet, here was a contact. In. Her. Eye.

Maybe I'm crazy? Maybe I'm seeing things because I always want a contact to be on her pupil. Maybe she found one in her crib and thought, "Huh, what's all the fuss about anyway? I'll just pop this bad boy in my eye and let's forget the doc office & hit the park!"

Ruby & Miss Susan, our contact lens savior playing on the floor. Susan is pointing out the lens in her play eye - the one she is missing. I told Ruby to pick up the lens and put it in her coat pocket. I know, another parenting win.

I arrive at the office and promptly tell them I'm crazy because there's a contact in her eye. They give me the same look I'm giving Ruby. We all look and sure enough, there is a contact right on her pupil. Apparently, at the Tuesday appointment I missed, one of the doctors thought he saw something in the far, far corner of her eye but couldn't really tell because it was so red and irritated.

We pop it out and give it a good cleaning. We pop in another contact** (an older one because of course the new one hasn't arrived when I'm off of work). Susan and I both hope the mystery contact is in fact the new prescription one we thought we lost a week ago and it had simply been floating around somewhere in the back of her eye. 

However a quick check under the microscope reveals that no, it is not the new one, but an older one. Meaning God knows how long that contact had been floating around in my baby's eye ball!!!!!!

If you've just had that squeamish feeling run up and down your spine, then yeah, you're right where I was too. I freaked out for a second and then said, you know, this isn't the worst thing in the world. It clearly didn't bug her as she gave no indication there was something wrong with her eye (and trust me, she usually does.)

I've known something like this can happen and frankly, will most likely happen again. And again.

So for now, I just do my best to make sure the contact is on her pupil and we start the patching process again. We're down to just an hour a day again. However today, she proudly wore her eye patch all day. On her shirt.

Ah Ruby....good thing you're so damn cute!

**I love how I say "pop the contact in" like it's a breeze when the truth is we can't do it ourselves. We have to go into the clinic about every other week to get it switched out and cleaned. It takes myself, an assistant and Susan to get the contact in her eye. She's a fighter. And a screamer. And a kicker. But with three of us (OK, somedays it takes 4 of us)....we can make it happen. Susan and I have also decided this counts as a workout because there's a lot of stress, increased heart rate, sweating, tears (mostly Ruby's. And if we're honest here, mine too). And then Ruby & I go to Starbucks for a treat which is thankfully next door.