Busy Little Bee

Ethan is busy, of course, into everything, always moving, chatting.. but i was actually referring to me... I have been nesting. I think. Im usually pretty driven to clean and organize, always trying to think of new and creative ways to bake and organize and cook and clean, and fit as much as i can into my day, but , I dont know, Its hard to say, since i just moved AND im pregnant... I just have a driving need to organize, unpack, settle, clean. clean . CLEAN..the highlight of my weekend (other than an upcoming birthday party) is that were having our carpets professionally cleaned. I mean, talk about EXCITEMENT!!!

i have this incredibly urgent need to fill the freezer with already prepared meals and other food. I have been seriously packing away like a squirrel before winter, and its getting a little crazy.. Part of it is because we have gone back to cutting dairy and gluten from our diet, so having meals that are quick and easy isnt always.. well easy. And at the end of the day the last thing i want to do is try and figure out what to fix for dinner. I just hate it i tell you. Do you ever feel like your cooking the same thing every 2 days? grr!

So yesterday, i baked cookies. REALLY good ones. They tasted EXACTLY like the original recipe, but totally gluten and dairy free. fantastic.. and i froze.. well, only a small ziploc, but it was something! They didnt all last long enough to freeze im afraid... Today i made dough, and its a dough i can use for cinnamon rolls, crecent rolls, ect, and it freezes SUPER GOOD... so i mixed up all the dough and let it rise, but had to go to work before i could finish it.. so its waiting for me in my fridge.. Oh and I made a huge pot of Beans, Bacon and Potato soup, froze a large jar and have 3 servings in the fridge for tomorrow. I ran a load of laundry, I gave Ethan a bath..I unloaded and loaded the dishwasher.. Id say a job well done! oh and I worked 8 hours today.... i feel tired just thinking about it. Have a great rest of your week everyone!!

Yum Cookies!!! :)

Reading my books..

Over the river and through the woods....

Well, we didnt go to Grandma's house.. But we traveled down past corvallis to visit some good friends of ours. :) They just had a baby not too long ago, this is their second little girl, and he name is Delaney. :)

Ethan is buds with the oldest, Paisley, here's some pics of them goofing off, eating apples together and just being silly.

One more picture of Delaney.

We had a great time. It was also pretty cool, because they didnt have cell service or internet, so it was peaceful.. It was great to see you Jacobsen Family!!! :)

Beaverton Air Show

Last weekend, we were in beaverton, and decided to stop by the airshow.. we parked in a parking lot not to far from the airport, so we didnt have to pay anything. Ethan LOVED it.

Below, you can BARELY see the 6 plane formation. So cool though!

Yep, we were all there!! I am not ALWAYS hiding behind the camera..

The zoo

We went to the zoo! We went with some family that were visiting from out of state and with Cassie and Jason and Nikko. I was so proud of Ethan, this was the first outing we had where he didnt really use his stroller, (except to sit to rest for a few) and he was SO GOOD. He listened really well, and didnt wander to far, and i was a proud and stress-free mama. woot!

Sitting on a mouse..

I swear ive taken this same exact picture of this lion.. he must never move..


Turtles..

Drivin the tractor with Cuzzin.

Can you tell it wasnt Ethan's idea to sit on this hippo?

Relaxin..

Impromtu photo shoot with my little monkey. :)

I call This one "BLUE STEELE"

This one gave me a giggle.. he was having a blast playing (ripping) with my hair. :)

It looks like a hairy man in a bad costume, but its actually a giant ape.. it was so close to us!

progress

So.. were getting settled. Its pretty awesome having our own house. I want to do a lot of before an after photos because we have a lot of plans in mind.. we've already started a small remodel project, pics of that to come. I will start small. Here's a few pics of Seth's handy work in the living room installing a tv to the wall.

Before..

After! It looks like its floating :) no kids pulling down a tv on my babies!

This, now this is an interesting pic. I decided since i havent gotten any belly photos up yet, that maybe a different visual aid would do. My pregnancy calendar tells me that my baby is about the size of a mango. So. There you have it. Ethan is holding his "baby brother or sister"... and a cliff bar of course. Always eating- that kid.

And here's my little shopper in training at whole foods. I hate whole foods because its expensive but i love whole foods because of their gluten free selection, and because they have a fruit bin that kids can pick a free piece of fruit. cool right?
Here's our little man, helping daddy install the new doornobs. "Help daddy" he kept saying. he really did. He held a peice while seth used the screwdriver, and handed him things. Such a big helper!!!

Brand New-ish House. (and the fridge that almost killed me)

So. Ethan has already proven his skills in packing.. this photo of him in Seth's tie shows his UN-packing skills. Such a super duper helper!!! :)

So, before we get to the photo of the house (since its not very exciting) I want to take a moment to remember the saga of the broken-ish brand new-ish refrigerator.

Here's how it began.

Seth had been researching a new fridge for about a month, because we knew we would need to get one. We set aside money, shopped and prepared for this very moment. And we went with the fancier bigger one, because, well, I like to buy a ton of produce at a time, and i freeze a lot of meals, so, there you have it. Seth found a liquidator in Gresham that sold beautiful NEW refrigerators that had been sent back to the manufacturer due to scratches on the exterior. This isnt the first time we've bought a fridge like this, and i felt pretty alright with it. Considering, they send it back to the manufacterer specifically to ensure that there was no damage done to the function of the unit, just scratches. So there it was, Seth borrowed his dad's deisel truck and trailer and went and got it, borrowed some man power to get it unloaded. He had to take all the handles off the fridge, and the door off our house to get it INSIDE and there it fit, snug as a bug in a rug (really, what does that mean anyway??) And he plugged it in and i preceded to go to the old place to pack up my food and bring it over. I was exhausted at this point, as i had been packing/unpacking for well over 10 hours two days straight, and i just wear out quicker these days.. ANYWAY..

I got all the food loaded into the shiny new fridge and freezer and voila! I THEN preceded to go to the grocery store, as i had been avoiding it in antcipation of this big move, So i bought my $60 worth and got home with my treasures and i was done! Later that evening I was going to bed (i think it was 8:30) and Seth went to check and make sure the temp was coming down, and sadly it had not. I figured since i had just loaded it down with a bunch of grocery store food, it had warmed it up a bit.. I woke up at 10:30 and seth was sitting in the living room waiting for the temp to lower. He had gone to fred meyer and gotten dry ice to pack in there and it STILL wasnt working. The freezer was functioning fine, but the fridge.. not.

We went to bed at that point completely discouraged and defeated and woke in the morning to the same exact issue. I threw away all the perishibles, tried to giggle to keep from crying, and went to work. I called the appliance store and they said that "all i had to do was hit the reset buttons"... sure--- make it sound so easy. Who is gonna pay for my groceries?.... Seth went home right away and tried it and a few hours later nothing had changed. I was crying at that point, because they insisted that if i wanted it fixed we would have to drive it BACK to gresham to have it repaired.. you did read the part about what it took to get it IN the house right?.. you can understand my tears at this point.. i hope...so anyway, Seth hit the "MAGIC RESET" buttons again at his lunchtime in a last ditch attempt, and when i got home from work that night, miracle of miracles it was WORKING! And so, without further ado... the most amazing, stupid, beautiful, awful, wonderful fridge you ever saw.. (it is rather nice i must say, Seth did a great job) . Enjoy.

Oh and Here's the house. The photo truly does it very little justice.. We are very excited to paint soon. And I plan to do some fun before and after photos of the inside. :) Its a great little one level 70's three bed, two bath and we love it!


By the way. if you need the name of a place NOT to buy an appliance.. let me know.

And WHERE exactly did July go?

Well, since the weather didnt get nice until a week ago, i think its just crazy that July is over all ready. But we tried to capture some of the sunny weather.

Below are a few photos of Ethan demonstrating his packing skills...

If you didnt know we moved! We have officially purchased our first home! 98 moves ... i mean 8 moves later here we are! More on that later.

Ethan's List- 2 years old

I copied this idea from Mollie. (great one thanks Mollie! =) )

I want to make a list of the things that make Ethan's world go around. I know ill forget if i dont. Little 2 year old boys have a zest for life that is contagious. He wakes up excited almost every morning. And that is something i treasure and look forward to. He has his cranky mornings, but tends to be my Mr. Morning Sunshine...

His Passions:

*Thomas the train. I must say we indulge him in this, because it makes his face light up every time he sees it. He has plastic trains, numerous books, and begs us to let him watch it on TV. Tv is a rarity in our home, but some days for sanity's sake its a must.

*Hotwheels Cars- This boy wakes up asking for them. "may i please play cars mommy?" its the first thing out of his mouth. I could buy him a new one every day and he would be a happy camper. He is so smart, and remember's where some of them are from. He got one from a family member for his birthday and always calls it "grandma" ahha. He has another that got "stolen" from his cousin Jason, so he calls that one "jason".. he takes a special liking to the firetruck ones.

*Reading his books, or should i say "READ" his books. My mom enrolled him in the summer reading program through the library even though he's too young to read, and he gets a sticker for every 15 minutes that he is read to. His passion for books has really blossomed ever since, as my living room floor would tell you. its usually covered in his collection.

*EATING. Boy, can this kid eat. He out-eats me on occasion and takes a special liking to cereal. "Serul"... And he likes it all hours of the day. He knows specifically to ask for "bapfest" (breakfast) and "Durner" (Dinner) when he's hungry. By the way, he will eat pretty much anything dipped in ketchup. Not great for my stomach, but great for getting him to eat veggies. He also has a great liking for salsa, and you can find him at ixtapa eating it from the bowl with a spoon. :)

Ethan dislikes:

Bugs. he's not a fan. Doesnt mind dirt like most boys. but not a bug fan.

Being startled. I call him tender hearted. :) he usually screams or yells when he's startled. which doesnt take much it seems.

Running out of food. poor child you'd think he was starving when his meal is gone.

Brushing his teeth. its all-out war. every night... id rather change a poopy diaper than brush that kids teeth, the fight he puts up!

That is a very small summary of Ethan as a 2 year old. I love that little fella! :)

Part 2. Ketchup.

We just got back from Puyallup for my cousin's wedding. I love this pic of all the boys (sorry Nikko) skipping rocks.. so cute.

The Tacoma Narrow's and its big brother.
That there's me, and my auntie.. I guess this is my first Belly pic ive posted.. be that as it is... 15 weeks prego. :)

We went to the fair this year. Seth got to play in the lotto money machine. if he caught a certain amount of "dollars" he won a gift card. .. he did it and won a $10 starbucks gift card, we also got several powerball vouchers for free plays and won $25 bucks! yay for free money!

Rodeo. :)

yee-haw!

Ethan testing out the tractors.

BAAAAAAA

hello little chicken..

more tractor time.

helping mommy in the kitchen for the first time. We made biscuits.

he was so proud! it was so hard to keep him from playing with them. he thought it was playdough and wanted to keep playing!

testing out cars at toys r us.

Eating popcorn.. Ethan-style

My little thug "reading" my coupon book... gosh i love that kid.

We went strawberry picking with Cassie, Jason, and Nikko. look at my sweet little boy picking berries all by himself! i remember when he was just a little baby......

Im sorry, what was i saying about my sweet little-not-baby ?... :)

hope you enjoy! :)