ketchup time... or time to catch up...

Ive fallen behind in blog world..Not the first time. But im taking a lesson from my sis Cassie, and pushing on, because this is a journal with memories i dont want to forget. Since its been since april and i cant think back that far, lets start with July shall we?

Ethan is growing faster than i can keep up with. Here he is wearing Daddy's shoes. He thinks he's getting ready for church..

Here is Ethan's "Im being Naughty" face... real nice.

MMM.. crayons

This was the 4th of July. We took Ethan to the beach. This was only his second time and he loved it. He of course was upset when it was time to leave. It was the first decent weather of the summer so we took advantage of it! :)

Trying to capture Ethan's baby cuteness of his hands and feet, because we all know grown man feet just dont look that cute... im just sayin..

stay tuned. more to follow. i got a lot of "ketchup" to do...

A Week in Photos- Week 3

I cant believe how fast this month is going.. its obvious i am behind because i fail to post this promply after the week end.. but thats ok! Moving on. Were on week number 3! :)

Jan. 21- I call this one "Ethan Learning to Feed Himself." Pepsi approves.

Jan. 21- We spent our 4-day weekend cleaning and organizing, and we FINALLY tackled the office. Ethan assisted in shredding some old documents.

Jan. 19-Seth helped Ethan build a lego tower using every piece of lego that he owns. He thought that was prettttty awesome..... Ethan did too.

Jan. 18- Here is our happy healthy little man playin picaboo. :) what a priceless moment.

Jan. 17- I call this one "stir-fry-face"... always trying to come up with meals that we can eat as a family with my new food restrictions. Stir-fry is always popular at the Holmes household.

Jan. 16- Well, as always, Ethan is the BEST helper when it comes to household chores.. im sure youll be seeing more of this in our future. He even says "help please help please".. just to let me know he's helping.

Jan. 15 - We bought a new couch! Its chocolaty and awesome! We got a great deal on it, and paid cash, and now we are saving to get a recliner to go with it! Yay for lots of open space in the living room!

A Week in Photos Week 2

Jan. 14- Today Chief Ralph Painter was remembered in a memorial in portland. He died in the line of duty as a police officer.There was a huge processional to escort his body to the service with more than 500 police vehicles from all over Oregon, and even the rest of country..We didnt know Chief Painter personally, but we were so touched and moved to see the respect, love, and support that was shown by so many, not only in our town, but our whole county, and state as a whole. The service was aired on tv live. He wont be forgotten. May God bless his family and loved ones during this time.

Jan. 13- This little boy lives and breaths his cars and trucks.. he loves to line them up, drive them on the couch. the kitchen table. my leg. my face...



Jan. 12- Ethan discovered the bottom of his toy bin.. over and over again. It was hilarious.


Jan. 11 - This was the day that we sold our couch in a matter of hours. Seth posted an ad for it on craigslist, and a few hours later it was gone.. Ethan was assiting in the cleaning..


Jan. 10 - I like to call this my Epic Granola Fail.. Ethan loved it however. *phew*

Jan. 9 - Our friends Brittany, Paul, and their baby Ivan moved to Arizona this week.. We met with them for dinner to say adios! :) We miss you guys already!

Jan. 8- My sweet little boy, right in the camera's face.

A YEAR IN PHOTOS- Week 1

Well here we are! 2011 and I decided to take time every day and take a picture! I plan to upload once a week, but we all know life gets crazy, so bear with me! You will have to read from the bottom- up to get the photo journal in chronalogical order. Enjoy!





Jan 7. - Boy does this little guy love to keep his brain busy. He is always wanting to do SOMETHING.. puzzles are popular. We were excited to get several for Christmas and I rotate them out to keep him occupied.



Jan. 6 Ethan is really becoming interested in Lego or "eggo" as he calls them. He is so good at stacking all the same shaped pieces. He is learning that he has to pick up what he is playing with in order to pull out the box of lego. He is doing really good!

Jan. 5 Ah our little man is becoming quite obsessed with cars and trucks.. (buses,tractors,trains ect) He is even to the point of yelling "TRUCK!" When he hears a truck braking on the highway outside of our house. silly kid.

Jan. 4 -*sigh*... This day was the day that marked some pretty big changes in the Holmes family household.. I got some test results back and found that I am allergic to dairy, wheat, gluten, soy, corn, eggs, almonds, and peanuts... Ive kissed milk goodbye and am trying to absorb what some of these allergies mean for our kitchen... more of this to come no doubt.

Jan 3. We said goodbye to the Christmas tree.. Pepsi thought it would be fun to "play" with it.. she's always been great at fetch.

Jan. 2 Winter is here! This is my moms' frozen over bird feeder. We are hoping for some snow soon, so im sure this wont be the last of this that youll see this year!

Jan.1 -We started off the year with a new look for the boys. Ethan was way past due on a haircut... the picture depicts his severe displeasure for the electric clippers, however several animal crackers later, i assure you he was in good spirits. :)

The years' end..

Well, another year has come and gone. It has been a year of memories, milestones, and new adventures! We spent new years in Seattle WA. Celebrated Ethan's first birthday. Moved 2 times. (not bad considering our record) Seth and I both started new jobs. Turned a year older. Took ethan to the beach for the first time, camping for the first time. Ethan started walking, talking, running, jumping, eating adult foods, he got his first molars.. wow.

Seth has been working at a local company as office manager. He is doing so well and loves his work! We are so proud of him. He has been helping in the worship team ministry at our church playing the piano and helping in leading worship. He's planning a completion degree program through linfield college. He's and awesome daddy and husband and enjoys getting out and doing fun things for the weekends. (hiking, sightseeing, traveling ect ect.) We are always on the go with this guy! :)

I continue to work at a local family medicine clinic, and its a great job! I love love love being a mommy and watching our little fella grow and change. God has truly blessed us above and beyond what we could ever ask for and we are so grateful! I have been keeping busy with 2 moves, lots of packing and still not completely unpacked. I love cooking and baking, and my biggest newest hobby this year is couponing and fine-tuning frugal living lifestyle. I made some adjustments the way we do things to save money and its very rewarding and exciting for me to contribute to our family in this way! A dear friend gave me a sewing machine and i look forward to finding ways to use it this coming year!

Ethan. What a wonderful, busy, happy, healthy little fella! He is growing and changing daily and i fail to keep up with him. He learns new words every day. His passion is cars and trucks and he spends hours playing with his hot wheels. He is very independant and stubborn like any healthy normal toddler, and we are working on cutting back on outbursts and tantrums. Somedays, its just flat out hard not to laugh at his efforts... But we continue to work on it. :) He loves to eat cereal "teo" and bread "bed" and is just a joy and a blessing to have in our lives. He is outgoing and very friendly, greeting most strangers with a bright little "HI!" He scared me as soon as he started walking with very little fear for his surroundings and often would just take off without looking back. He has gotten better about it, and comes when called.. mostly. :)

Im planning to start a new photo journal on our facebook page, a photo for every day of 2011. Stay tuned for that! im excited about it!

Here's hoping and praying that this next year is filled with blessing and the joy in knowing that we serve an awesome and powerful God who loves us!

Happy New Year! :)

.

Its been tooo long.

Ethan got caught destroying(enjoying?) a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich.

When you notice that your last post speaks of summer being over, and you're staring Autumn strait in the face, its been too long since the last post...

So here it is. Fall. Halloween has come and gone, so now we can get to the BEST HOLIDAYS! (sorry Wren) :)

We love this season and all the fun things it has to offer! Starting with the fall leaves, starting to bundle up and wear hats and coats.. Ethan got his first pair of gloves, and it was so funny watching him try and get his fingers into all the holes...

I really hope it snows a lot this winter. Ive heard that it may, because it was so very mild last year. HERES HOPING!

We have been so blessed to find a bigger home. It is new and clean and has more room than we can fill! we are so excited about it! Im sitting next to the awesome gas fireplace as we speak.. :)

Ethan is growing and changing faster than we can believe. Every day he is learning new words and expressions, and his sense of humor keeps us laughing! He loves reading books and going on walks. He like to mimic our words like a little parrot. He also decided that tantrums were fun, and we are working through it one day at a time. Sometimes if we look at him wrong, he falls apart and its difficult to determine the cause of his frustrations. He is teething molars now, and so sometimes he will cry without any reason other than pain. But we are working through it, and trying to help him communicate what he wants or needs without whining/screaming/yelling.

We took Ethan to the pumkin patch for the first time last month, and he really enjoyed the hay ride.. the corn on the cob, and crawling over pumkins with his cousin Jason.. Were looking forward to Thanksgiving next, and fun wintery things to do, like going to see the zoo lights!

On another happy note, Josh was overseas for the Airforce reserves, and we are very happy and excited to have him home safely!

Hope everyone is having a totally blessed fall season!

"And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on the house. But it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. Matthew 7 :25 "

The summer's end... or did it ever begin?

Mommy and Ethan Seaside, OR July 2010

Pebble Beach California July 2010

It doesnt quite seem fair, for the summer to be nearly over. I am pretty sure i could only count the number of hot days on one hand...

I really shouldnt complain, some days it gets so hot, and many people dont have air conditioners. But i can tell you, camping in the rain with a 14 mth old is not ideal. And so, we will plan ahead next year! Yurts are definetly the way to go!

Well, despite the lack of sunshine, things have been very busy around the Holmes household. Seth and I went on our first vacation without Ethan. My parents and In-law's took turns watching Ethan for us, and we had such an amazing trip! We flew down to sacramento and drove to Monterey (I grew up in this area and had always wanted to take Seth there) continued on towards Valencia, and stayed there 2 nights. We spent a whole day at 6 flags magic mountain and had a BLAST! It was wonderful to be able to spend some one on one time with my hubby. We love our son dearly but have learned that time away can be necessary for sanity's sake. And you know by the 3rd day, i was wanting to be home! :) I kept catching myself looking in the back seat to check on that little munchkin that wasnt there!!!

Anyways, Seth and I have started listening to the Dave Ramsey series and are inspired and excited to become debt free...A venture that we "coulda, shoulda, woulda" started a long time ago, but better late then never... (wow could i put any more cliche' phrases in there??)

We are excited to be working together on this new project in our home, and in the process i have become quite the coupon-queen. Those that know me well, are already sick of hearing "what i got for free at rite-aid this week" or how many samples i got in the mail today... But its just so exciting to me, to be able to save money and get things for such low prices, when all our lives weve been paying retail. Never again my friends. :)

God has truly inspired me to become more frugal in my home (thanks dad for the genes to go along) and it makes me feel so accomplished as a wife, and a mom when i can bring home $100 worth of groceries for $40. It makes me feel blessed to be able to use the money that we work so hard for, and make it stretch. It has become a game almost. "Just how far can i make this $20 bill go?" I even started a blog, to consolidate all my findings and ideas. Click Here to visit my blog Coupons Into Cash!

Also in our venture to save money, I have been getting more into photography. Friends have been nice enough to refer me to THEIR friends, for wedding photography. I did one wedding in April, and I have 2 coming up at the end of this month. I took one couple up to the Portland Rose Gardens for some Engagement shots, and they turned out really great! For more on how that is going visit my Photography blog by clicking here. (Finally created one)

Some of my goals, are to someday have a home where I can have a GARDEN. At the moment we only have a porch and driveway. So we arent there yet. I want to someday have a pantry where i can purchase bulk baking goods and cook using bulk. Make my own "bisquick". Bake bread from scratch. Learn how to can. Freeze. Cook in bulk so that we can have healthy freezer dinners ready in minutes. I want to raise my own hens, and have my own eggs. These are the things i aspire to do...One goal, one day, at a time.

We hope that this summer finds you as busy and blessed as we are!

Seaside, Oregon July 2010