The Washington

All packed up and ready to go...

 At my moms house in Tsawwassen

  

1st time visiting Andrea & Ians house. Haven't seen them in over a year.

My 1st niece - Keara, love this girl!

Our 1st time meeting little Jane.  These two are gonna be besties some day, I can tell.

 

Oh Stella, you melt my heart! Such a sweet soul.

A little ballerina

Probably the funniest kids book I've read yet...

Bellingham, WA

Kirkland, WA
This is across the street from us and where I will be spending a lot of time

One of the coolest playgrounds I've ever seen.  It was freezing and Rhone still had a blast. 

 

All Moved in... well sort of.  Still unpacking the last of the boxes, but it's coming along pretty well.  Our new house has hard wood floors which I love (easy to clean) and it is spacious with an open floor plan.  We are in the top floor of a house, with the owners below.  I have to admit, it is a little weird not having a single family home, but it is worth it.  With the decision of KC going to work, and for myself to stay home with the kids, it is a sacrifice I am more than willing to make.  

This next year will be a big change for us. Switching roles in life is going to be an adjustment for both of us. But one I'm very excited about.  I have a whole plan in my head, and just need to think about how I'm going to implement it.  

Ideally I would love to set up a little beginner pre-school for Rhone here, with lots of outdoor exploration.  I am looking into mommy groups/play groups so he we can make new friends.  Washington from what I've researched online, is such a great place with lots of activities for children.  They have a huge parks and recreation which has many different choices of classes toddlers can take.  My only problem I can't seem to figure out, is... how do I do parent/child classes with my toddler while having a 7 month old in tow??  I would love to hear from any momma's out there who have suggestions?

But for now... were taking one day at a time, finishing our house, getting the kids acclimated and making this feel like home for them.  It's funny cause for the first week here, Rhone kept saying it was Grandma's house.  I think he's figured it out now, but it definitely took awhile.  Lachlyn is doing great except for those darn teeth that are cutting through her gums.  I always feel so bad for teething babies.  She has it pretty bad... any day now, I expect a couple to pop through.  She's still breastfeeding and eating a lot more solids, which is great and hopefully we can get her to gain a little more weight.   

Here are just a few pictures, to be honest I wish I had taken more, but with moving and two little ones, it just hasn't happened yet.  More coming soon...

Rhones Freckles (yes a whole post on freckles)

This little handsome fellow melts my heart.  It's hard to put into words the joy I receive just being around this kid.  His facial expressions, his mannerisms, his silly phrases, his love for being the center of attention, I love it all.  I prompted this picture, because I wanted to showcase his unique little freckles.  They make me smile.  I mean of all places to get a freckle, he gets one dead center of his chin.  And to be even more unique... he gets a big one on the center of his left palm.  I have asked many people if they have or know anyone who has a freckle on their palm and nobody has.  Except little Rhone. 

an overdue Update

It's been awhile since my last post.  This last week has been a exhausting but also very exciting for us.  We moved from Tucson, AZ to Kirkland, WA.  It has been a whirl wind of events.  It is my mission to never move again during the holidays.  We started doing serious packing on Christmas day and haven't stopped until... well we are still un-packing and probably will be for a week or so.  I have to say though, in just 3 days from unloading the truck, we have done soo much.  A big thank you to every one who has helped us pack and un-pack! We are so greatful for you all and how you have helped make this move as easy as possible!

Because I have been super busy these last couple of weeks, I wasn't able to post pictures of our Christmas... so here are just a few.

This year we decided not to get too much for the kids because of the move, but it turned out to be such a blessing.  We instead put a lot of thought into hand made gifts that would be keep sakes.  I bought each a Christmas ornament found here. Lachlyn got a personalized doll from here. And Rhone's treasure box was bought from JoAnns and stained and personalized my hubby.  Rhone has been really into Jake and the Neverland Pirates tv show, so we bought a kit to put in his treasure box.  He loved it!  There were more gifts: many warm clothes, rain gear, and some toys.  It was such a fun Christmas this year with Rhone being old enough to have anticipation for Christmas day and we are just so thankful for all our blessing that have came our way this year. 

Lachlyn's 1st Christmas

So excited to put her in this little jumper I posted about here.

Goodbye Tucson

 

 

 

 Five years ago if you would have asked me about Tucson, I would tell you that it was a dirty college town with nothing but dirt and cactus.  Well I couldn't have been more wrong.  Tucson is an amazing city.  It's funny how things work out.  I remember back when we were living in Chicago, and I found a awesome job that wanted me and wanted to pay for us to move there.  KC got into U of A, and it all worked out perfectly.  Except... that it was Tucson.  I kept telling myself it would just be for a couple years and that God was in control.  Well, he was, and we stayed for 5 years.  It only took about 6 months and Tucson grew on me.  The culture, the sunsets, the mountains, the people, the restaurants, the shopping, the amazingly gorgeous white pueblo houses that I so wanted to live in.  I grew to like Tucson way more than Phoenix (sorry, but its so true).  It is Arizona in its more natural state.  It showcases the desert beauty, instead of masking it with grass and palm trees.  Drivers here are still pretty horrible, but all in all I can honestly say now that I LOVE Tucson.  

Tucson has given me my family.  Literally.  This city is such a melting pot, it is really hard to find people who live here that were actually born here.  Well I can say now that my husband and two wonderful kids were born here in Tucson.  Because of this, this city will mean so much more to me than any other place we have lived or will ever live in.  We started our family here.  We have so many wonderful memories here.  Our friends here having kids at the same time, the Tucson zoo - so many weekends spent there, this house -- it gave us room to spread out, it gave us a perfect yard for kids, it gave me a 5 min commute to work, 5 min commute to the park, the JCC - such a blessing.  Not only did it provide a great environment for Rhone in daycare, but we spent most of our summer soaking up the water.  Rhone learned how to swim there! He met friends, he opened up to so many people there. These are just a few of the wonderful experiences we've had in the last 5 years.  

We have met so many wonderful friends, and we will miss them all so much.  Another huge accomplishment that was made here was KC graduated from U of A.  It was a long road, but I'm so proud of him and thankful that he got his degree in not only a hard subject that he loves, but that he can use it for his new job (which is pretty rare now a days). 

 And above all we will miss family.  We both were born and raised here in Arizona and KC's family are all about 2 hours away.  They have been SO much help to us and have loved on our kids which is such a gift.  Rhone knows each and everyone, and has such a great time when family gets together.  It will be heartbreaking when we can't see them as often as we do now.  I thank you all for loving us and loving our kids.  You will never know how much that means to me.  It's such an amazing thing to share the ones your most proud of with others.  And is fun to watch them get just as excited about their lives as we do.  

On the flip side... I am excited for our kids to finally be able to know their other grandparents (my parents) just as much and for them to meet and get to know their other aunts, uncles, and cousins.  To see Rhone play with my sisters kids who are all about the same age, has been a dream of mine for awhile now.    

Life is full of twist and turns.  Those twist and turns are what makes life exciting.  I have prayed almost everyday for about 6 months for KC and God has in his own perfect timing blessed us with this new adventure.  

We are moving at the end of the month to Kirkland, WA.  KC got a job at Orb Optronix as a Applications Engineer.  He is excited to finally be using his knowledge in Optics and getting back into the work force.  As for myself, I finally get to be a stay-at-home mom.  This alone is the most exciting and biggest answer to our prayers.  Many, many tears have been shed over having to work while my kids are so young.  And although we are taking a pay cut and moving to a new state, this is why.  I thank my wonderful husband who knew how badly I needed this and God for making this happen.  There are mixed feelings however, because I do so badly want to stay home at least for a year or so, but at the same time I love what I do.  When your really good at something and it's a heartfelt job it's hard to just walk away.  But if I've learned anything from my patients, it that you need to live life now, because you never know what your future holds.

Photo editing

 Picasa + Photobucket

 Picasa + Photobucket

Headband: Rayna Jaye Shop

 Picasa + Gimp 2.8

Picasa + Gimp 2.8
(no filter...good job hubby)

My camera I use is a Canon Rebel T2i.  One of my top wishes for Christmas is a new lens found here.  I have been wanting Photoshop for many years now, but haven't been able to afford it.  Because of this, I have been in the market for something simular but Free.  I haven't been able to find one program that does it all, so I use alot of different photo editing programs depending on what I need.  

For almost every photo I take, I use Picasa to crop images, straighten, and air brush if needed, and alter images in bulk.  After that, when I want to edit select photos I like using Gimp 2.8.  This program is very similar to Photoshop.  It has so many different options to help with editing your photos.  I generally change the curve first in order to achieve the look I'm looking for.  If I get really creative I can use this program to use select tools to change certain areas of the photo, dodge/burn tools, backgrounds, etc. The newest program I have been using a lot lately is photobucket.  This program has great fonts, decorative overlays, picture overlays, filters etc .

A vintage jumper

 I am so excited to show this little jumper.  This piece means so much to me.  I bought this from a second hand store about 4 years ago.  I did not have kids then, but I fell in love with it.  I kept it in a box hoping someday I would have a little girl to put in it.  So now, 4 years later, I not only have a little girl, but she happens to fit almost perfectly just in time for the holidays. 

an update with pictures

Saying goodbye to Gwenyth... well for now anyways.  With the upcoming move, we have been trying to figure out what we should take and with the unknown of where we will be living, KC decided to store his 1969 Mustang fastback at his dad's house.  We are so grateful to Ken and Falene for taking her and we know she will be safe and enjoy her new home behind the barn. hahaha

Yay for naked Lachlyn pictures. Her ginger hair and those eyes are so perfect for her name aren't they?  She's getting so big and I am trying to soak it all in.  It seems like yesterday she was super tiny, always swaddled, and that baby smell is the best for a new momma.  She is now 6 months old and each day she shows us more personality.  No teeth yet, but poor thing is a slobbering teething little girl. She is now sitting up like a pro, eating lots yummy homemade baby food and soon enough she's gonna be a crawler.  She has such a sweet soul and loves to laugh.  She loves Rhone so much and I can tell they're gonna be best friends. 

Potty Training!!

This has been an exciting week.  We wanted to wait to even bring up potty training until I knew he was ready.  It paid off, because he has done sooo well.  I couldn't be more proud.  We did the 'potty-training-in-3-days' approach.  KC and I were both off for 3 days and dedicated those days strictly toward potty training.  We didn't go anywhere, we stayed mostly in one room where for the first 2 days he just ran around completely naked.  The 3rd day we introduced him to big boy underwear.  I found this blog post and followed it exactly.  You can find it here. He has had a few accidents, but for the most part he has done great.  It was hard for everyone but so worth it.  I know that it is going to be several weeks until he can really get the hang of it, but its fun to see him grow and become more self sufficient. 
By the way, I almost died from laughing so hard. Rhone's comment on his own flatulence was, "My burp was on my butt."