The Saturday Market

City Life: the life I always wanted.

Saturday morning we hung out and took pics at our friends loft. He has some amazing views from his place! It was fun to daydream what life in a high rise would be like. Close to all the action, my favorite Italian food around the corner, fresh flower shops & boutiques, the farmers market, art museums within walking distance, amazing architecture, spectacular views...


Life would be perfect until I remembered the dog and what it would be like to haul 2 kids and the dog down from the 10th floor and search for a patch of untainted grass where Wrig would feel comfortable enough doing her "business", she's very picky. Not to mention the rain (like every day) and the smell of wet dog and muddy paws being tromped through the impeccable lobby on our way back up.

Then there would be the hate mail from the neighbors below or on either side threatening us to KEEP IT DOWN or else... (our kids are anything but quiet). Don't even get me started with grocery shopping or daily errand running. I'm exhausted! How do you city dwellers (w/kids and dog) do it!

Tuck lately cannot be seen without a ball under his arm. He even sleeps with a ball. That kid is ALL boy.

Finley on the other hand couldn't be more of a little girl. She is very excited about her upcoming PINK princess birthday party where she will be turning "2 1/2 years old". She has 3 little girlfriends and 5 little boy friends "my boys" (as she calls them) that she want's to invite to the "tea party". Hope the boys like pink... and tea!

I spent most of the time seeing the sights through the tiny viewfinder of my Nikon.
The image below was captured by this shot.

After we left Nate's loft we walked through the city to the Saturday Market where we grabbed some steak and cheese sandwiches and the mandatory elephant ear and watched the craziness.

Here is a tour through our city.

One armed guitar player

Chinatown or more like China gateway and one street lined with red lamps.
Not much to see there.

Straight out of her mouth...

"O, Z, Y & H. A Letters. Letters Dad. My glass slippers. Cookies. Cookies for Dad. My cape. Hands, fingers. Jesus. Baby and Mom. And Treats, treats are the best. Green treats are best. I love them, I love them Dad."

We asked Finley if she wanted to send her grandparents (in Germany) a letter and of course she said yes. Then we asked her what she wanted to say and she replied literally with a few letters and then started naming things she saw around the kitchen.

The other day I was sitting on the couch reading a magazine when she came over and looked down at my legs. Noticing they were unshaven she said with a very alarmed tone,

Oh mom what is that?... What is on you legs, mom!
It's just hair Fin.
Oh mom that's gross we gotta get that stuff off, we gotta get that off right now! MOM!!!

Later that same week I handed her an apple. She asked me if the Wicked Witch had given it to me (we have been reading Snow White lately). I told her no, it's safe to eat. She said Oh, OK mom.

Whale Watching

We spent Saturday out at the Coast in hopes of spotting some whales. No such luck, this was as good as it got.

After 20 minutes of searching we decided to head up the coast to Indian Beach and play in the sand and let Wrig run. We love this beach. The kids played for hours in the sand.

A shot of me, my sweater & a popped collar from the 80's

This is my favorite photo of the day (below).

We ate a bucket of steamers and to-die-for clam chowder before we left for home. We may not have seen a single whale but we loved our day at the coast.

The Contest TWO

The Contest

This has been a big part of our week. Thank goodness the Talent doesn't mind dressing up in capes and running around the house.

I hesitate putting this up because I surely do not need any more competition. But here is a rough draft of my first video tell me what you think! More are on their way.

Week of Ocean

This week the ocean took over. I absolutely love the ocean, so it happened to be a GREAT week!

Friday we spent the morning at the Zoo.
As always the kids loved the Sea Lion exhibit.

Story time at the Library on Tuesday was all about Pirates.

And so was the rest of our night.

We spent our weekend at Cannon Beach with friends.
It was completely beautiful weather.
We couldn't have picked a more beautiful day out at the coast.

Handsome kid!
Loved, Loved, Loved this frisbee.

Our Friends

Tide pools at haystack:
random Girl
Dead Crab
and giant star fish

The Kiss

Valentines

We ate here for Breakfast

...And then Chad surprised us with this idea...


Needless to say they LOVE it!

Here are their names (compliments of Miss Fin):
clockwise

Box 1- Stripe & Mr. Lizard (in the bottom left hand corner)
Box 2- OA or just The Letter A
Box3- (the blue one) Orange
Box 4- Polkadot Dempsey

It's now day 3 and all fish are alive and thriving

I loved spending the day with my Valentines. Although a romantic night on the town (without the kids) would have been a welcomed change. I am reminding myself right now to enjoy the moment. One day these two will grow up, and oh how I love my babies!

Happy {heart} Day

Cousins

Today Finley and I were looking at pictures of her cousin Dani's 3rd birthday. This was our conversation:

"Mom I want my cousin to come to my house. I want to hold her hand and play Simon Sings with her. She is so adorable."

Where does the time go.

Welcome to the excitement that was our week.Sunday
We spent the afternoon playing with string, ate way too many rice krispy treats (if that's even possible), and went to an awesome Superbowl party at our friends (no pics.) ...consumed platefuls of delicious foods.

Monday
Started our second week of potty training boot camp. She did great for about a month during the summer, then regressed completely and we've been back at it successfully for the past week.
She had a tea party while I fixed dinner. When her Dad got home he fixed her "broken leg." He has mad doctor skills.

Tuesday
We had 12 little 8 and 9 year olds (I'm the achievement day leader) over to our home for a Valentines day etiquette dinner. It was SOOOOO much fun! Finley joined us and thought it was "the best party of her life." We served a spinach and strawberry salad tossed with almonds, made heart shaped bread sticks and ate angle hair pasta. The girls loved the sparkling cider and their favorite part was the Chocolate fountain they had for dessert. The pictures above where shots of the aftermath. Twelve 8 year olds need I say more!

Wednesday
The kids and I hung out in our pajamas 'til noon. We ate chocolate chip pancakes topped with slices of banana and whipped cream. Fin is obsessed with games lately and while Tuck napped we played the game of her choice. The sad thing is she almost spells as well as I do. {OWEEY} was a word she came up with all on her own. She thought it spelled the number 5.

Thursday
I gave up at about 3:30pm. Tuck got his 1 year immunizations earlier in the morning and was about this happy the rest of the day. Fin begged and begged me all afternoon to draw with sharpies. Today I had to pick my battles and art was not one of them.

Friday
Finally finished with this all-consuming project. I have been up until 1:00 am the past couple of nights trying to put things together for my niece's 1st birthday. The invitations were a pain in the butt, they took hours to get right, but I love the treat bags (clear cellophane filled with Swedish fish and stapled together with those little red fish blue fish tags). I LOVE LOVE LOVE doing this kind of stuff. Anyone else need help planning a party? Give me a week to catch up on my laundry and wash my dishes and my ideas are all yours.

Saturday
Was absolutely geourgous!!! We spent the entire afternoon outdoors. I love where we live. A few minutes drive and we can find ourselves hiking through nature like this. Fin ran the whole way shouting, " I love my nature, I love my Christmas trees so much. "

So there it is. Add in a music class, a photo shoot at the park, some meltdowns at bedtime, a trip to the zoo, a couple of playdates, a teething baby, a night of dancing to Indian music, potty training accidents, three hours of church, walking the dog, phone calls to friends, meal planning, shopping, cooking, a dozen loads of laundry, paying bills, snuggling, consuming absurd amounts of little ceasers pizza, and the changing of more poopy daipers then I care to remember and that will sum it up.

Say what!?