Tuesday, December 30, 2008

resolutions-edited! :)

Looks like it's that time again to begin making (then breaking) resolutions. I'm happy that 2008 will finally be over. You couldn't pay me to relive it...

Anyway, here's the list- it's bound to change somewhat but this is kind of what I'm leaning towards:

1. Stop buying things to make myself feel better.
2. Smile more.
3. Obviously, exercise more.
4. Establish a healthier diet. Which is pretty much on everyone's list
5. Get out of Borders (this is more like on my 5 year plan...)
6. Severely limit my white mocha intake.
7. Build our savings and STOP TOUCHING IT.
8. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Make it stick, for once.
9. Work on creativity...


So I think that's where I'm right now. I know a few of those will get instantly broke but that's ok. I can accept that :)

All I really want from 2009 is getting the old me back. I'll definitely try!

Sunday, December 28, 2008

50 things I love about Heidi

I have the bestest best friend in the world :) (go see my comments on my previous post and you'll agree...)

So here's 50 things I love about Heidi:

1. If I look like a nerd, she's straight up with me.
2. She makes me laugh until I cry. It's getting harder and harder for people to do that to me but she has never failed.
3. She has a sweet voice when she sings... so full of passion.
4. Her songwriting skills are phenomenal. She can link words together effortlessly.
5. She is beautiful.
6. She has goregous hair. Thick or thin, it's still beautiful and sleek.
7. She can make do with less and still create a tasty feast
8. She DOES make do with less.
9. Her artist's eye sees the world creatively in ways I could've never imagined.
10. She humors me when I get obsessed over things.
11. Not a huge fan of Foo Fighters but took me to their concert anyway and we both had a blast!
12. Her navagational skills are off the chart. She can find anyplace. Except Alderwood Mall ^.~
13. She thought Spain was next to Mexico!
14. She thought New Zealanders spoke Russian!
15. If she wants to learn something, she is smart enough to pick it up quickly and keep at it.
16. She works harder than anyone I know.
17. She smiles at strangers.
18. Loves getting dorky with me. (think Drew Barrymore in Never Been Kissed)
19. Never loses her cool.
20. She can read my mind!
21. Her ability to charm people amazes me.
22. We can sit in complete silence and never feel awkward.
23. She knows all of my secrets and has never spilled. Ever.
24. She tells the most amazing stories; good or bad experiences...she can always tell it like you were there.
25. She can make the most mundane of situations more exciting.
26. We can have a silent conversation across the room without words or lipreading. We just "know"
27. Her dad's humor comes through her-whether she knows it or not.
28. Her passion is real. Once, she was passionately against swearing. It lasted a long time. :)
29. She is open minded about anything I say.
30. She plays with her kids and cares SO much for their happiness.
31. She's a talented acting partner and stunt person in our 'cooking shows'
32. Dislikes the same kinds of people that I do. :)
33. Her ability to stay afloat through her own life's trials makes me proud.
34. She falls asleep halfway through just about every movie.
35. The number of times she's seen 8 Seconds, The Court Jester, Misery, & Clueless.
36. Her scheming
37. She lets me make mistakes.
38. She took me to Colorado with her last year.
39. Her stubborn scale is off the charts.
40. She is always on my side. Even if I'm wrong (which she'll point out) she still sticks by me.
41. If I tell her to beat up someone, she probably would. Or at least knows someone that would. :)
42. She was pregnant the same time I was, that was fun! Quadruple the food!
43. We always appreciate each other in little ways.
44. She'd watch Jamie anytime I ask her.
45. She never competes with me even though we like to do the same types of things. She doesn't try to one-up me.
46. She tells me every juicy detail. Even the ones I don't wanna know.
47. She'd give me her most prized possession if I asked her.
48. She's seen me cry
49. She sticks with me even when I'm not a very good friend
50. She has agreed to be my future wife if Mike passes hahaha This is a hilarious inside joke that has been going for years... I can't even explain. :)

I hope she knows how much I truly love her and her being patient and understanding. I would do anything for her. Yes, even if she lost all her hair, I'd shave mine and let her have it :)

Sunday, December 21, 2008

50/50

I saw this posted on another person's blog and I thought I'd do it too. Yay for being orginal! :) Here goes; in no particular order:

50 things I love:
1. family- obvious choice ^.~
2. evergreen trees
3. paper. all kinds, textures, patterns & sizes
4. shoes. i can find any reason to buy new shoes.
5. purses! (ditto)
6. blog reader. inspiration daily.
7. pajamas
8. the smell of airports. It's a memory trigger thing
9. grandma's house
10. foo fighters
11. photography
12. payday!
13. peanut butter and marshmellow sandwiches. in moderation.
14. white chocolate mochas
15. baking cookies and breads
16. discovering a new tv show and watching it through on dvd
17. relating to a novel.
18. getting my hair cut/colored
19. concerts
20. newly sharpened pencils
21. the smell of summer
22. waterfalls
23. jamie's quick wit
24. being busy without being interupted
25. not hearing a thing at nighttime
26. babies!
27. dr.pepper
28. rocking out in my car
29. making fun of my husband
30. retail therapy
31. When Jamie says "I love you" at random times
32. girl time with heidi
33. playing pranks
34. nutella
35. My so-called life
36. books. all kinds. i'm sort of addicted
37. the number 9
38. paying off a bill
39. excedrin
40. that people laugh when im intentionally funny
41. my mom doing a face plant into her cheesecake story
42. sinking my toes into warm, soft sand
43. a really hot bath
44. my personal space
45. grandma's mashed potatoes and gravy
46. round tables pizza
47. that my brothers and I don't fight anymore. they see the light: that I'm cool.
48. getting personal email/letters/notes
49. being invited
50. being able to go.

50 things I do not love:
1. being late
2. when objects slip out of my klutzy fingers
3. being nudged to wake up for work. repeatedly.
4. when people don't write back
5. being poked
6. being hugged by people I don't know.
7. feeling pressured to hug people
8. being told "no"
9. indirect answers to my direct questions
10. "do you work here?"
11. being called "ma'am"
12. alternately, "this was before your time, you wouldn't understand..."
13. strips of stickers on 3 sides of a new dvd.
14. shows that don't offer closed caption.
15. feuds between stupid things(i.e blu ray vs. HD, american eagle vs. hollister, xbox vs. ps3, nikon vs. canon, NIV bibles vs. KJV Bibles... that sort of stuff)
16. the f-bomb every other word in movies.
17. when you hit "unscribe" and get it anyway.
18. when my size is getting too small
19. towels left too long in the wash
20. "Can you order it? I need it by tomorrow"
21. individuals that leave their feces on bathroom walls. seriously.
22. emo hair-dos on boys.
23. emo hair-dos on girls.
24. being cold
25. using my credit card
26. being brushed off
27. coke and pepsi
28. diet books
29. mothers/dads who use decimals to give their child's age
30. people well versed in their vitals. especially when they remember them from 5 years ago.
31. discussions about weird medical problems (with the person I'm conversing with)
32. misspelled words
33. people that mumble
34. matching outfits for siblings that are at least 3+ years apart. It's not cute.
35. people that speak in tongues. sorry but it's always creeped me out.
36. CROCS
37. musturd
38. flat pillows
39. guys that warble their voices when trying to sing acapella.
40. tv shows about dancing (reality shows in general)
41. older gentlemen that think they've one up'd you. nice one, fellas
42. leaving voicemails
43. making overhead pages
44. "What, you don't know who so-and-so are? You should know your product better,"
45. messes
46. being ignored or feeling like i'm being ignored
47. flossing
48. bathroom cleaning duty
49. gaged ear lobes
50. typical tattoos on ankles and small of backs for women. be creative!

I hope this was amusing :) It's time for bed!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

iRamble

Photos and files are slowly being recovered. The spinning whatchamacallit is spinning again- only periodically. Big thanks to Don for taking the time to do this for me. You are the smartest man alive.

In other news, so far we still have power. A lot of snow but definitely power. I'm currently just hanging out, making paper ornaments, listening to my iTunes (Nirvana "Come as You Are") and chatting with Mike.

I've been contemptlating New Year's Resolutions while dreading my impending 29th birthday. I feel like 2009 is going to go much better than this year. This year has been one tiny (heart)break after another. Tiny breaks like that can cause a person to crumble. Luckily, I think I've caught myself before it's reached the point of no return.
It's my sincere hope to mend those broken pieces or replace them entirely. For those broken pieces out of my control, I can only hope to find where they're supposed to go and hope they fit again. Make sense?
I'm supposed to work early tomorrow so I'll leave you with another funny video :)

Friday, December 19, 2008

I really hate computers

Mike's brother is looking at my HD right now and they're saying it doesn't look good. =/ Apparently there's something inside that's supposed to spin and when it's locked, you can't access anything. We may have to fork out a lot of money to recover my photos.

Why me.

I hate computers.

S N O W

It's been snowing! And it's a pretty kind of snow too. I've taken my camera out a few times today to take sunshiney snow portraits of Jamie and simple pictures of christmas lights in the snow. Jamie also challenged me to a snowball fight. Big mistake on his part... he was plummelled to put it nicely. :) Don't judge me yet...I fight fair, I made snowballs for him to throw at me.
Also, my brother Dan invited me to snowboard with him on Monday. He's been trying to get me to go for years but due to working retail, my schedule never meshes with his. What's funny is, my boss asked me to take Monday/Thursday off at the last minute so I'm goin' on Monday! It'll be a blast, I'm sure. I've already purchased new a jacket and boardpants (cheap ones since it's not like I'll wear them all year long). I'll be renting everything else. Watch out!
I think it would be a cool thing forgo gifts next year and treat our family to fun activities at Crystal Mtn. They've got the CUTEST snowboard outfits for kids... I saw this lime green one that Jamie would look adorable in! For $250 bucks, he better look adorable ^.~ We'll see what the husband says.

Oh and enjoy a snowday clip from the Muppets. I just discovered this and it cracks.me.up.

Monday, December 15, 2008

project

So I thought it would be a nice project for my MOM and I to try and make Jamie some homemade jammies. I got the fabric and the pattern and we spent a few hours trying to figure out where to start (this was about a month ago, btw). My mom doesn't really sew clothing; she does cushions and curtins for her boat. Grandma used to sew clothing so we figured, if grandma can do it, so can we.
We laid out our pattern (a vintage one mind you... clever, thrifty genius that I am...) and proceeded to cut. I figured out halfway that I was supposed to cut notches too. Ooops. Shrug... Apparently, I can still make these without 'em so I kept cutting. Oh, they're for a 7 year old boy... Shrug, he'll grow into them. Cut cut cut... All cut out and neatly folded, we decided we would tackle sewing the pieces together next time.
Today I thought might be a good time to finally get those pieces finally joined and looking like real jammies since Jamie is growing like a weed. His current pj's are past the highwaters mark.
I called mom and asked her if she'd be up to it. She said she wasn't really in the mood to sew but I could come and use her machine and she'd show me how. That was the plan anyway.
Turns out, she shows me how to thread the machine & make a bobbin and sends me on my way, machine in the back of my car.
I just got done sewing the front pieces together just now. Smacks forehead. I sewed the part that was supposed to be for the buttons and button holes together. Gah.

Oh seam ripper... we're gonna be best pals, aren't we.

Photos on hold

Whelp...

I have lost approximately 20,000 photos =/ My external HD got knocked over and now I can't access my photos, my Lightroom or my Photoshop. Sad times, indeed. We've got a glimmer of hope that Mike's brother might save the day and recover it. Perhaps only the USB cord got damaged or something minor.

I'm crossing my fingers. Luckily, I've backed up my paid sessions onto CDs so I'm not too stressed over that. But family photos... it's all on that drive...

Can Super Don save the day?

*Stay tuned.*

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Oh no he didn't!

Oh yes he did.
Jamie cut Mia's whiskers.


lol The left side of her whiskers are short and even while the right side remains untouched.

Just thought it was worth sharing with the world!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Ever since Thanksgiving, I've been slowly gaining composure. Those of you that were with me Thanksgiving day, I competely apologize. I melted and I couldn't do a thing to stop it. But I'm not going to go into that. Instead, I've been feeling rather energized and optimistic lately. I plan to focus more on that.

I've been seeing a family councelor lately. She hasn't even met Jamie yet but the whole point of me going is because of him. I needed help. Mike was with me at the first session but she said he wasn't required to come again. That's okay with me. It's nice to talk woman to woman about my kid. I would say that we discuss Jamie about 90% of the session. My last session with her went really well. She felt like I was responding to Jamie better and she told me I have more intuition than I give myself credit for. She leaned back in her chair with a large grin on her face and asked me if I still wanted to continue with the sessions. I felt like I wasn't quite ready to stop going. I've only gone 4 times! At this point, I think I started to ramble about what was really bothering me. Which lead me in me discussing what I felt are possible roots of the problem with Jamie; me. She perked up and asked me to be specific. I could only shrug and grasp at clues within my own mind and told her that sometimes I feel like I walk about with a measuring stick; holding it up to other moms/women and see if I measure up, If I'm good enough. At this point, she was nodding her head vigoriously, she understood where I was getting at.
I imagine a lot of other people do that. It's what makes us excel in certain areas of our lives. We need to see where the best is and strive to reach it. I think in my own situation, it's cause me to inadvertantly go backwards. It's like shrinking away from an enormous person, sort of. My lack of standing up to it caused me to be angry with myself and I believe it caused a lot of my problems between Jamie and I. I haven't been able to connect with him. Lately, I've been able control myself by not letting things get to me right off the bat. I've been able to step outside myself and assess, process. I don't make good decisions on the fly, especially when emotions are involved. Generally, I feel strong emotions when Jamie does something he's not supposed to do or he intentionally pushes my buttons. I get ugly fast. But I've able to take a second and not react right away and let my emotion subside. Then I can properly deal with him. It's not a perfect system but I'm learning. I feel like I must conquer this above all else.
Anyway, I thought it was interesting that she kept telling me how smart I was. Don't worry, I don't think I'm dumb but I've only known this woman through 4 visits and she's showing me a reflection of myself already. I know I'm smart but I don't always feel like I share it in the same capacity as others. I'll be the first to admit, my brain is too slow! I simply cannot just fire out answers right away. I need time to think, compose and reflect. I need to be able to go back and reread/reassess. I feel like this is why I'll never hold any occupation that requires quick thinking in emergency situations :) It's ok, I don't deal with blood well anyway.
So I guess my point is this... I feel good and I wanted to share it. :)

Friday, November 21, 2008

2009 Calendar

Here's the final product!

2009 Calendar by Christine Solomon

The calendar retails for $20.99 and filled with my favorite images. Thanks for viewing :)

Thursday, November 13, 2008

It's not personal, it's business

I'm trying to stay focused on continuing my photography business. After all, I'm still paying for that Wordpress blog... Anyhooo...

My brain is a little scattered tonight but I wanted to throw out an idea that I'd like your guys' help with; 2009 Calendars

Yeah, it's that time. Again. I feel like I just reigned in 2008! My point is, I want to create a calendar to sell. To give. To own... I want your help in choosing images. So go for it! Browse through my 900 plus images on flickr and pick 12 of your faves and add it to my comments. You can copy/paste the url to link directly to the image or you can simply tell me the name of it (if it has one). I'd like to stay away from actual people but if you feel strongly about a particular image and it has a person despicted in it, go ahead-- add it.

Once I choose from your favorite images, I'll see about getting some printed! How's that??

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Iron deficiency?

Tomorrow I am taking Jamie to get his blood drawn for tests to determine if he has a type of Iron deficiency. Apparently four years ago, doctors discovered a link to some cases of ADHD in which the kids were simply not processing iron thus, displaying ADHD and ODD symptoms. They treated the kids by replacing the iron in their bodies and they reported improvements and those behavior problems, well... normalized. I know this sounds like a very simple explaination to a very confusing, frustrating problem. I have a hard time swallowing it myself but a part of me needs to begin the process of elimination. Although, I terribly dread having to hold him down for the nurses to take blood... =( Always breaks my heart.

On a separate, happy note I had a family portrait session today at Point Defiance. The mother came into contact with me through Michelle's recommendation (thanks shel!) and they're such a sweet family! Their little boy is so adorable and happy! I had tons of fun taking pictures :) A mental note for next time; widen aperture. I wound up with dozens of blurry shots due to low ISO (which was intentional to preserve color and quality) and my aperture wasn't wide enough. It's all okay though. I got some really adorable shots of little C! The group portraits were the hardest with trying to get a 2 year old to look at the camera lol Needless to say, I didn't get any group shots with him and his parents looking at me at the same time. Which is fine, they turned out beautiful anyway. :) I put up a couple of sneak peeks on flickr.

Maybe tomorrow if it's nice, Jamie and I will trek a little further from home for pictures. Good night!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A place that could be called heaven: The Pumpkin Patch!

Last weekend Mike took Jamie to the pumpkin patch while I was at work and of course, it was Jamie's favorite thing in the whole world! Mike also took some pics... Enjoy!














Friday, October 17, 2008

Hey everyone! Well, I didn't win the photo contest but I wanted to thank everyone that voted for me! It was pretty exciting :)

Thanks!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Friday's window shopping wish list.

Here I go again, listing all those things I find that I want or am inspired by :)





All of which can be found at Etsy. :)


Thursday, October 9, 2008

Brown Butter Plum Cake

I've recently been reading baking blogs online and saw this recipe and had to try it! Check out my photo too :) I hear it's great with ice cream!


Friends have been asking me about more food photography so here ya go. I admit, I've put the camera down for awhile. There's so much going on and I've been in a serious rut. But at least I'm baking!


Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Thus far...

So it is official. The White River Special Education coordinator (Mary) evaluated Jamie in his preschool and both the preschool teachers and Mary agree that the preschool is not equipped to help Jamie. Fortunately, I don't feel quite as upset over this as I did the first and second time he either got kicked out or pulled out before it got that bad. I had a hunch this was coming and I actually feel prepared, somewhat. I feel that even though the preschool (with it's 35+ years of experience in early childhood education...) does not have expereince to help Jamie in particular, I think that Mary can; or at least get him the right kind of help.
So while I hear some people say that public schools are mediocre, I don't agree. I do think that it CAN get swept up in rules and daily routines and children can tend to blend in and some forgotten but if parents are proactive about keeping in touch with the teachers and using those free services, public schools can be a valuable source of information. Of course, it might be too early yet to tell. *knocks on wood*
Tomorrow I call Mary to discuss options for Jamie because there's no way he's going to miss out on education this year and the experience that it'll bring him. I have a very strong feeling that he'll qualify for free special education services and hopefully gain a realistic goal-oriented IEP, complete with behavior/social exercises.
Because lets be honest; I can't teach him on my own. It would be impossible. I just do not have the resources he needs. I defintely can't throw him in all alone, into just any classroom either. All I can do is just be his mom that is in his corner, encouraging him in the right direction. I feel really good about this, for once.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Facebook

Since deleting my Myspace account due to some crazy-monster virus, I started a Facebook account. It takes getting used to but so far, I like it. It seems very safe and secure and that's important! Especially when you've over 10k worth of pictures on your machine ^.~ The only thing I don't like but am getting used to, is the lack of customizing your page. But oh well, I suppose you can decorate with flair if you like :)

If you've got a Facebook account and I'm not already your friend, please add me! :)

On an unrelated note, the voting ends on Wednesday for Me Ra Koh, so head on over and pick your favorite!

Friday, October 3, 2008

Retail Therapy

Boy, I'm lame. I meant to do this awhile ago but got distracted. :) Anyway, I wanted to share my latest online window shopping therapy. When I need inspiration, I turn to etsy more often than not. Check these cool finds out...

I saw this purse and said, "Ooohhh..." I'm a purse freak. Sold by Charm Design
I always come back to this necklace when I'm browsing on etsy... made by Colleen Baran. She's got tons of beautiful pieces. I wouldn't mind something like this for Christmas :)


These go with my moods lately. Offered by the Lola Collection


These would be super cute for those cold days that I want to head out for photography. Posted by Aya Omura

Well, those are my picks for today! I'm going to go and teach myself how to do watercolor pencils now.

VOTE!!!

I've been featured on the famous Me Rah Koh blog! I entered a photo contest for the theme of pets and submitted Lindy's dog, Strider. He stayed with us for a few days while she took some time off work to visit with her family. Check out the website!


And by all means VOTE FOR ME!!! WHOOOOOO!!! I'm so excited! I love what Me Rah said about my photo!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

For those of you following Jamie's story lately, here's some info as of today;

A very cool lady gave me the number of a woman that works with student services with White River School District. She says I can at least request an evaluation and see what the public schools can offer in terms of free help. Since I felt like Jamie is on the verge of losing his place with his current preschool, I went ahead and gave Mary a call.
I explained his current history with the preschools this year and his experience with kindergarten and Mary said she would definitely look into talking with his teachers and finding out where the problem seems to be. I returned her phone call this morning and she relayed that she spoke with Jamie's kindergarten teacher and she pretty much said exactly what I described. Mary wanted to get the ball rolling immediately in Jamie's case and suggested we meet tomorrow morning to go over the evaluation process and make an appointment for her to visit Jamie in preschool and observe.
Last Monday I had scheduled a pediatric appointment to see what a medical doctor might suggest. She made note of Jamie's very active behavior and informed me that it was still too early to determine if Jamie has ADD or ADHD. She wanted to make a referral for a psychiatric appointment as well as a psychologist. Both are scheduled late this month and early November.

On a related note, he's really tried my patience today while we were out and about to Borders and Target. His constant need for my attention and his constant chattiness has really worn me out. I'm feeling extremely tense right now. =/ But we've got a birthday party to attend to tonight so hopefully he'll get his energy out before we head out again.

I really hope that this is a step forward in the right direction and we can hopefully get our family the help we need to be better parents and a better, more well-behaved kid. *crossing my fingers!!*

Monday, September 22, 2008

What's your outlet?

It is definitely my intention to seek an outlet for my stress. How do you go from one stressful day and wake up the next day with a smile?
I've got a few ideas of my own that I'd like to try.

~ Drawing or Drawing classes
~ Yoga
~ Running

But I'm curious, what does everyone else do when the going gets tough? What eases you back to a state of bliss?

Friday, September 12, 2008

One more year...

I've made my final decision and Mike stands by it... We're going to wait another year before trying kindergarten again. I went back to Jamie's school today to inform the office and decided to pull him out of class as well. It was a difficult choice and it was really hard to watch the relieved expression on his teacher's face as she gathered his backpack and waved goodbye. But it is what it is... he's just not ready.
At least this gives us some direction as to what we need to work on for the year to make sure he's successful next year.

Thanks for everyone's encouragement :)

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Update

I visited with Jamie's class today for a few hours and left at lunch time. He does have behavior issues but I think (and the teacher totally agrees) that they're immaturity based... he's the youngest in his class. I'm going to make an effort to visit his class every week until I see him improve.

So for now, he stays in full-day kindergarten. :) He did pretty well during my time spent there with occasional misbehaving. Mostly, he just doesnt want to sit there and he doesn't care for coloring. lol Looks like we'll have to do more coloring at home to get him used to it. If I remember correctly, I don't think you ever stop coloring in school... Even in 12th grade.
This week's been filled with its ups and downs on a dramatic scale. The down I'm sure, is very obvious... but on the flipside, work's going great! I had my first Paperchase offical visit from a couple of home office folks and they were very impressed with my entire shop, my backstock (or lack therof) and my sales. They took photographs of my displays and asked me questions about how I jumped in sales. While taking a look at my clean and nearly clear backstock, they were so impressed that they told me they wished they could see this in every backstock. They asked how I got everything out without it looking cluttered and crammed. My boss beamed at me the entire time! It felt pretty good to have something go right this week. I truly feel like I've finally found my niche as far as Borders goes. I know I get a lot of jokes about how cheap Paperchase is and how crappy the products are but... I still like working in it.

Anyhow, Today I'm going to try and visit with Jamie's principal and see if we can make school a more positive experience for him and us. I've got a few ideas but they're going to cost energy and time on the part of anyone involved in Jamie's life. We'll see how it goes.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Being Proactive

I'm sorry for getting everyone worried by my post yesterday. It was a really overwhelming day. Today I feel a bit more positive and I'm crossing my fingers for good news from the school front.

Let's hope Curious George saved the day!

I'll update later when I can...

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Terrible, No good, Very bad day

I have a feeling it's going to be a very long school year... =(

That's all I have to say right now.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

First day of Kindergarten!!!

My little boy started kindergarten today! He was anxious to get going from the time he woke up and we ended up at the bus stop a tad bit too early. There's one other little boy at his stop, a 4th grader named Jason with bright red hair and a VERY Irish accent! He was very helpful and talkative. Once the bus arrived, Jamie promptly headed towards the stairs. I had to whip my camera out quickly to take a few shots! It was so cute :)


Once he was safely aboard, we met up with him at his school so we could be there for the first 10 minutes of his day (teacher recommended!) and observe the class. I could tell by this time that Jamie was beginning to get overwhelmed by all the activity. But the good news is... he made it through his first day! We're all so very proud of him :)




Here's some pictures of his first day of school. I didn't get as many as I would've liked since there was SO much going on.

Here's Jamie, gazing longingly at all the toys in the cupboards.

Just before school, being a goof ball



Isn't this just darling? That backpack looks so huge!
The bus driver patiently showing him where he can sit.

I have a feeling we're going to know a completely different kid by the time this school year ends... different in a good way, of course!! :)



Family Pictures

Okay, before I get to Jamie's first day of kindergarten, I wanted to share some family photos from when Mike's sister Jean and her daughter Elizabeth, came to visit. We were also very lucky to visit with Aunt Noreen and Uncle Pat too!
We had a blast visiting! Enjoy the photos :) (sorry it took so long...)

Here's Marilyn... she's trying to describe where something is using a sign language only
she can understand...

Noreen: Probably laughing at Marilyn-as usual :P
Whatever it was that she was talking about doesn't look right... even Pat's giving her a strange look.
Beer!

This little cutie has a really wild streak. I feared for my life.
Pat and Jamie discussing the finer things in life.
She REALLY loves her daddy.



Here's little Elizabeth...growing up.
The cousins playing with Uncle Pat's camera.
And all three cousins in a photo together. It was the best shot I could get.
Here's Jamie's interpretation of Pat. lol
Juan and Sam, all smiles :)

Monday, August 11, 2008

Featured in The Volcano!

Check it out! My most recent upload to flickr was also featured in The Volcano, a freebie magazine all about the Puget Sound Area :)

Friday, August 8, 2008

Lists

I remember my mom observing and commenting on my love for creating lists. Grocery lists, wish lists, to-do lists, homework lists, boy-lists (hush)... It's true. I have a penchant for lists. There's something soothing about ordering the chaos in your head. Anyway, the point of this post is that I want to conduct a vote! Once a week, a post will be dedicated to a RAD LIST. This RAD LIST will consist of finds I've come across online that I love or that I think my readers will love. I've seen quite a few bloggers do this and I appreciate what they post! The voting poll will be in my sidebar. Tell me what you want me to seek out and next week I'll compile my RAD LIST with your choices!

Don't be shy to comment either if there's something that isn't listed in the poll.

More Cannon Beach




Pictures finally here: Cannon Beach

I know, it's been a month! But the wait's over. Here are the pics!