Happy Easter!

What a fun-filled Easter weekend! We started it out with an Easter Egg Hunt at Domino Farms. It was a blast! Juliet met the Easter Bunny, played with the farm animals, went on a hay ride, and participated in an Easter Egg Hunt. It was our first experience with a big Easter Egg Hunt, and it was very enjoyable. Unfortunately, I forgot Juliet's Easter basket. Luckily, we were given egg cartons to turn in later for a prize, so we made do with the egg carton and diaper bag. I also had to coax Juliet into picking up eggs by asking her to "help me clean up".

Later that day, we went to a wonderful pot luck. Juliet didn't even need coaxing for the Easter Egg Hunt this time, and had no problem picking up eggs. Unfortunately, we forgot her basket AGAIN!

Today was very low key. Juliet hunted the eggs she dyed herself, and Regan even joined in on the fun. Regan ran around licking all the eggs. I guess that's what I get for using actual hard boiled eggs.

Juliet loved dying eggs (Note: No mess dye kit my arse)

Finally-a "no-cry" Easter Bunny pic!

Hay ride

Minor pit stop while we waited for a cow to move

Juliet loved the goats, alpaca, and "big pig"

"Mom, this isn't an Easter Egg basket"

Juliet was very patient at the starting line

Action shot-this is why plastic bags shouldn't be banned. Impromptu Easter Egg basket

Grrrr. Give me candy!

Regan enjoyed the eggs too

Precious

                                                          
Precious was an amazing, furry friend. Sadly, she ended her battle with cancer today. Her only symptom began a week ago when we found her sagging her rear end, and eventually dragging her legs. She was not in pain. We tried antibiotics for a possible infection found on an x-ray and blood work, and then tried Prednisone for swelling. Unfortunately, her quality of life did not improve and we had to face the inevitable. I'm really going to miss her and no other kitten will compare to how amazing and beautiful she was.

Her favorite food was tuna (cheap, white trash tuna, that is).
She loved laying in the sun.
She was the cleanest being and kept at it til the end.
She embarrassed easily, especially when you witnessed her falling off window ledges or into ponds.
She could punch better than Sugar Ray and took out a duck and a few birds with that mean right hook.
Her favorite spot to sleep was on Matt's clean clothes or school papers.
She had a love hate relationship with Regan, Juliet, and Matt.
She loved to play "chase".
She loved to dress up.
She loved to play "string" and hated fake mice.
She hid under our bed for a month when she was accidentally shaved at the groomers.
She hid under the bed for another month when we got Regan.
She would slowly walk into the middle of the road and sit there while cars would (thankfully) drive around her.
She was very territorial and chased cats out of our yard, then their yard, then their neighbor's yard.
She found the best hiding places in our house, including balancing on hangers in the closet.

I'm so thankful I was blessed with 16 wonderful years of Precious' presence. May she rest peacefully in kitty heaven.

 

I Heart Microfiber

Juliet's nickname should be "Dash". In the time it took for me to put on earrings, Juliet ran from my bedroom to the office, grabbed a Sharpie, and scribbled on the couch.


At first glance, I saw the first cushion. I gasped.

Then I looked up.

I must have sat, shocked, for a few minutes. This couldn't have happened. I was putting on earrings! She was just with me!  I'm hallucinating! Why me?! After quickly going through the five stages of grief, I consulted the internet. The consensus seemed to be rubbing alcohol.

After 5 hours of scrubbing, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and sore fingers, the couch looks pretty good. I figured our butts can take care of the rest.

Update: It looks even better than this now. I don't even notice it anymore.


This was actually a proud parent moment for me. I didn't yell at Juliet. I didn't even punish her. In fact, I calmly showed her her coloring books and explained that we color on paper. If anyone should have been punished, it was me for leaving the office door open (ok, and not watching her). Believe me, the punishment fit the crime.

"Every child is an artist." ~ Pablo Picasso

Happy Halloween!

October in Michigan...it means apple cider and donuts, hay rides to the pumpkin patch, lots o leaves, and of course, trick or treating. Juliet was a cupcake this year for Halloween. I think I'm the only one who knew this because her costume looked more like a cupcake on the hanger than it did on my daughter. I don't think she minded, and I was just happy that she kept her hat on-it made the outfit, and it only took a little bribing with a binkie on my part. We showcased her cute as a cupcake costume at the library, then met Matt downtown for trick or treating on Main Street. Juliet was a little unsure of everything at first, but by the end she was happily picking out the worst candy known to man (think laffy taffy and hard candies) and placing it in her pumpkin bucket. Overall, it was a successful Halloween, and next year we might even venture out after nap and go door to door. I just hope it will be in a costume that people recognize. My favorite comment, "I thought she was a box of Mike and Ike's."-classic.

                                                                   Three Cedars Farm

                                                          Trick or Treating on Main Street

                                                  They only had chocolate covered candy...

                 I didn't even have to show her how to eat the candy. I did have to show her how to unwrap it.

                                                             HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

A Tale of Three Cities

I know, I know....It's November and I'm blogging about my summer. I just found my camera, that has been MIA since September. Plus, I'm a Procrastinator with a capital "P". Besides, Matt made fun of my so-called "blog", so I felt that it was high time I get around to updating it.Without further ado, here's the recap of our summer spent between Seattle, Portland, and Eugene.

Mother's Day: Matt was stuck somewhere between boring and boring (probably Nebraska), driving heavily medicated Regan and our Yaris to Oregon. I was stuffing my face with a scrumptious buffet at the Oregon Zoo with Juliet and Grandma and Grandpa Collier.

July: Our Anniversary of 5 whole years! Juliet and I stayed with Matt in Seattle and Uncle Colby and Aunt Meredith came up to visit. We did all the touristy stuff and had a blast.

                              Uncle Colby missed his kids so much that he just had to push Juliet in her stroller.

                                                                 Pike Street Market


 August: After much needed friend and family time, it was time to say good-bye (FYI-Matt drove home but this pic was too cute to leave out).

May, August, and sometime in between:

                                                          My nephew Carter's 1st Birthday!

                                            Juliet loved spending time at the Oregon Coast

                          We spent a lot of time on Sauvie Island with Aunt Sara and Aunt Melissa

 Juliet at Bounce, where the world's greatest home video was created. Thank you Bounce and iPhone!

                                                            Juliet loves water parks

                                                      My nephew, Caden's 4th Birthday!

                                        Mariner's Baseball with The Berg's and Juliet's 1st MLB game.

                                                   Juliet with Grandma Cheryl in Salem

Discovery Village in Salem with Grandma and Grandpa Work, Uncle Colby, Aunt Meredith, Caden, and Carter. She enjoyed hitting everyone with her cart. She's practicing for Black Friday.

Although this isn't everything we did all summer, these were the only times my camera came out. :)

Happy 1st Birthday, Juliet!

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Girl! I can't believe you are already a year old! It seems just like yesterday that my water broke at work and 10.5hrs later you popped out. Today was the first time you had your first sugar. You started out slow and a little uncertain but before we knew it you were shoving fistfuls of cake and frosting into your mouth. You also liked to share with Mama and Dada. We are so happy that Grandmas and Grandpas Collier and Gregory (and Work, in spirit) were here to share this special time with us. We love you so much and can't wait to see what this next year has in store for us.

Singing "Happy Birthday"

What a mess!

Sharing with Dada

Your very first cake

You loved the bows

Yummy!

You thought this was a real bottle

Mama had a messy face too

A bath was in order after this. As a side note, you liked to rub the cake on your legs

Dear Juliet

Dear Juliet,

I cannot believe that at the end of the month you will be A FULL YEAR OLD!! This year has been incredibly fulfilling in so many ways. You have taught me patience, kindness, carpe diem, love, and how to enjoy the little things in life. You have made me a stronger and better person just by becoming a mother and watching you grow into a little girl. It wasn't the easiest year, but I survived (better yet, so did you).

I would like to share what you've been up to lately.

You love to laugh. Sometimes you sound like a crazy person laughing at nothing. You love to cry when you don't get your way. You love to go to library time and clap to the songs. You love music. You love to bear crawl. You love your Dada. You LOVE cats. You love to laugh at Regan and take her for walks. You love to beat everything like a drum. You love bath time. You love people. You love to play with empty soda bottles and clean diapers. You love to be read to and look at books.

You love meal time

You love to taunt Regan with her toys

You love to rest your feet on things

Puzzles are your form of crack

Seriously

You love mirrors

No animal was hurt in the making of this photo

a BOOK about CATS-winning

Who knew a washing machine is a great babysitter?

Keep growing into a wonderful little person. I love you to the moon and back, Mama