two days later...

...another picture of the "day." so a day to me means every two days, what's the difference?


greta does not really love having her picture taken. she was SO filthy one day i mentioned to mike that we needed to take a picture of her to document her dirty shirt. when mike pulled out the camera, greta was on the floor like this, blocking her face and wanted nothing to do with it...which made us want to take the picture even more. we tried. really hard. it didn't happen.

this is the closest we got to a picture (we probably took 15)...and you can't even tell how dirty her shirt was. it was filthy!!! good thing for stain remover and bleach (have i never mentioned how anal i am about getting out stains on kid's clothes? oh, that is another blog story for another day. i'll post some before & after pictures of how i work my magic...i also have the messiest eaters ever so the problem starts there).

a picture a day...

...i'm realizing i'm not so good at keeping up with a blog, so i'm going to try to post a picture a day to just give a glimpse of life. i have a feeling i won't make it every day, but at least it's easier than trying to "catch up". so...today's picture is of the shirt i made for maja. i have been in some children's boutiques this year and every time i see a cute shirt i can't help but think, "i could make that," so i did! greta has one too (her shirt is the reverse fabrics of majas)...maybe someday i will take orders, but for now this is it!

now picture a cute little 3 1/2 year old wearing it! can't wait to give it to maja in person when we're at her house in a few weeks!

recipe

i have said i would post this recipe forever, so here it is...now that i'm back to the land of blogging. although i do think i jinxed myself when i wrote that i am the only one who hasn't been sick b/c of course the next day- i'm sick!

Pulled Pork Tacos (adapted from Real Simple)- they are delicious and super easy!

3ish (plus or minus) boneless pork shoulder
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp pepper
1 c apricot preserves
1/2 c bbq sauce
1 red onion (decent size) chopped

1- rub the pork with the mix of cumin, salt & pepper
2- put the rubbed pork in a crock pot on low (or dutch oven at 250)
3- pour the apricot preserves, bbq sauce & onion over the pork and coat, turning the pork
4- let sit in crock pot for about 4 hours, pull pork and then let soak in juices for another hour or so (i left it for 3 hrs b/c that was how long it took us to eat!)
5- serve with tortillas, black beans, cheese, avocado, sour cream- whatever your poison. i added tortilla chips & mike's mom cole slaw (a bag of slaw with some miracle whip, sugar, dash of white vinegar, chopped apple, raisins & a little pineapple- it was a great touch to the meal!)

there you go- super simple & everyone has asked for the recipe...enjoy!

read at your own risk

there is the cutest children's store in portland. i adore it. it's called posh & it's just that- posh. the thing i love about the store is that they started selling products made by local moms. it's since expanded and they have a variety of high end things...many of which are now out of my-husband-is-a-grad-student budget (aka- i shouldn't spend loan money buying anything that can be called "cute"). they do have a great sale though. so i was online looking on their website, trying to figure out when they have their sale...only to stumble upon something called "girlfriends pick-me-up breast lift tape". they describe it like this: We all know sometimes it's about the perks in life. So, if gravity's got you down, don't fret. Say goodbye to breast lift surgery and hello to two inches of gravity defying pick-up. what they also have on their website is a picture of two boobs...one with the tape and one with out...but did you read that right- they have the BOOBS for the world to see!!! i was so shocked when i was on their website & then i started laughing b/c i couldn't believe that they actually had the picture, but then i thought- should a website with children's products also have nudity? it does demonstrate how the product works very well, but don't you think they could have done that with a t-shirt over the model? am i just that big of a prude that i care? I found myself thinking- what if a teenage boy was on the website or looking over his mom's shoulder while she was on the website-is that okay? i'm curious if anyone else cares about the nudity...if you want to see it, you can go to their website here & find it for yourself (since mike told me i'm not allowed to post anything that would link someone to nudity- and like i said earlier ***at your own risk***):

http://www.poshbabyllc.com/posh/

ps...i still think the store is adorable and would tell anyone in the portland area to check it out!

we're back...

if only i had kept a diary of all our illnesses from this winter. it would look a little something like this (you'll notice that i've been the "healthy" one, which means i've been the care taker, which is even more tiring than being sick!):

jan. 1- greta throws up
jan. 2- calla throws up
jan. 3- mike throws up
jan. 4- sarah throws her hands up in the air b/c she is covered in throw up!
jan. 5- calla spikes a fever and is covered in a rash
jan. 6- greta has an ear infection
jan. 7- mike has shingles
jan. 8- sarah faints of exhaustion from tending to the ill

we made the maybe-not-so-wise choice to get kaiser for our insurance out here. good, cheap insurance...a LONG drive to get to a provider. a drive i'm all too familiar with this year. so this week when greta woke up with gunky, crusty eyes i decided that we were going to just use natural products. i went to the co-op, bought some similasan eye drops and called it good. the only problem is that it wasn't good. it took DAYS for her pink eyes to get better (days of being basically home, which is not that fun for a 3 year old), which then made me feel like a bad mom b/c i didn't just take her to the doctor in the first place. i didn't want to make the drive. i just didn't feel like driving an hour each way, paying a $30 co-pay, having the dr tell me that she has pink eye or conjunctivis, whatever you want to call it, and then paying another $10 for the prescription. i just didn't feel like it. i know that pink eye runs it's course in time and i have used similasan drops in the past for myself and they have worked just fine, but after 3 days of greta having gunky eyes and no fun (and knowing the eye drops from the dr would have worked in one day), i felt bad. should i feel bad? she's fine now, we went to the park, went for a walk with friends, had some of her friends over to play this afternoon, but i still feel bad. i'm just using the excuse that on wednesday morning (the day after greta woke up with gunky eyes) calla woke up and threw up on me. yes, on me. so in reality i would have been a bad mom if i had taken a throwing up baby on a long drive, made her wait in the dr. office and then made her take another long drive home. so really, if you look at it that way, i'm a good mom.

She did it!

It has happened folks...we got our first steps yesterday from Calla! She has taken a few in the past week, but they were more the falling-forward-and-happening-to-move-her-feet-at-the-same-time steps. Yesterday it was real steps, followed by looking up at us and proceeding to laugh because she knew she did something special. We are excited for walking but she is so feisty...I can only imagine the trouble she will get herself into! And so it begins...

busy, busy bees

i know it has been a month since my last post...how did that much time go by already!?!?! we have been quite the busy people these past several weeks. ever since calla's birthday it seems we just keep going (insert energizer bunny...going & going & going & going...), but i have to say that it's all been pretty stinking fun!

happy birthday calla! (at our party in oregon)

having a small cake celebration in california...with the cute shirt from carolyn...thanks carolyn!

march 13th brough a visit from annalea, which was fun all around. it was right in the midst of mike studying for finals and annalea was awesome at making that time enjoyable and helping me run the errands i had been putting off for far too long! and our girls love annalea...they are getting spoiled seeing her so often.

now if we'd only taken a picture outside of the car!

annalea headed home on the 17th and paul joined us on the 18th. greta was thrilled to see uncle paul and calla quickly caught on to what a fun uncle he is. before paul's arrival greta had a laundry list of things they needed to do, "garden, go to the libraray, go to the toy store, go to the park..." and i'm pretty sure paul did all of it with her (and with calla in tow).

greta showing paul how to drive!

paul showing greta how to be a duck? chicken? paul, what were you guys doing?

paul left on the 20th and we headed to california the following day. we drove down for mike's cousin peter's wedding and stayed for easter with the extended family. greta of course was thrilled to be with her cousin maja & it's wonderful seeing them pick right back up where they left off...just sad saying good bye thinking they won't see each other the next day in chicago. overall it was a great time, just too quick! we also snuck in a visit with inger, joel, tyler & elin...it had been 3 years since i'd seen inger...way too long!

beth & krysta teaching maja and greta how to get down
a decent family shot...it's so hard to get everyone looking and smiling!

calla learned how to stand (and i think this might be my favorite picture of her...she looks so sweet)

the girls opening their easter egg hunt finds...look at the cute baskets...good work grandma j!

we got a good goofy family shot!

"belly boppers"- this is a game mike & beth played growing up and it's hilarious...i think every kid should play this game


we finished off mike's spring break with some visits to portland and then mindi arrived on april 3rd and we also had a fabulous time! we went shopping, hit up vineyards, she entertained the girls and won their hearts (mom, i want mindi to get me out of the car)...another missed friend around here. the saddest part is that we didn't take one picture together or with the girls...next time mindi, next time!

ingrid arrives tomorrow with kaia and lola for a quick trip (which greta already has mapped out our plans, including the "outside park" - not sure what the "inside park" is - and the toy store...maybe that is what she considers the inside park since we go there to play (best toy store ever) and not buy), then a birthday party this weekend for one of greta's friends in town...it is a busy season around here.

sometimes i wonder if this is just what life is...busy? and other times i think it's just seasons because lord knows there were times this winter when it felt like we were hardly doing anything (and hardly knowing anyone...which i'm realizing just changes in time). but we are thankful & enjoy the busy times. mike has a much better schedule this term, which means more time as a family, which we have needed. today we went to the park after dinner...we're headed for 70s this weekend so you know we'll be out enjoying it!

here are some other shots of life around here...

greta and jakob carlson...we went to meet jake's new sister camilla

baby camilla (because everyone loves to see a picture of a new baby)

our little helper...someone has discovered the dishwasher

greta tending to the garden (her new favorite hobby)

all that activity makes for two tired girls!