Wednesday, July 10, 2013

4th of July

Change YouTube settings to 1080 HD!
This 4th we took the ferry to Anderson Island and had a ton of fun. The video of the lake and dinner/fireworks didn't turn out very well so this is just the ferry ride.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Easter 2013

Easter this year started with a Saturday egg hunt at our neighborhood park. I thought for sure Charlotte would go for the candy and colorful eggs in the grass, but she just stood there and starred at everyone wondering what was going on! Nolan on the other hand was a pro Easter egg hunter and got WAY too much candy...but he had a great time!


We dyed our eggs this year with onion skins...free and all natural! Nolan got to hold the scissors and cut the string to tie around each egg which of course was a very important job. We only had a couple of melt downs during the process...score :)

Easter morning was super fun! I attempted to give the kids "healthier" Easter treats so I filled their eggs with Annie's bunny shaped graham crackers, and naturally dyed jelly beans. I also made a Berry Dutch Baby for breakfast with my new cast iron skillet. 

We spent most of the day at Grandma & Grandpa Hudson's which was tons of fun! We had a "mini" egg hunt, delicious food, and then ended the day with a walk down at the Chamber's Bay Golf Course. Our friends Caleb and Kendra were able to join the festivities and Nolan had a great time playing with their boys!





Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Seaside

We took a trip to Seaside, OR back in February and had so much fun! By we I mean me, my 2 kids, my sister Mel, her 2 kids, my sister Natalie, and my Mom...poor Nolan was the only boy! We spent lots of time at the pool (or hot tub I should say), walking the town, and eating yummy food! I think we only ended up spending about 20min. at the actual beach (the weather was ok for February but still pretty cold/windy).

We also visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory, and although the ice cream tasted wonderful, I was a little disappointed with the exhibit! I swear they use to actually show the cows being milked...or was that a dream?



















Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Happy Birthday Charlotte

I realize I already posted party pics on my other blog, but I want to make sure to document on our family blog as well...Plus I have too many cute photos of Charlotte that still need to be shared!


Birth "day" details:

In the morning...Charlotte had her usual bottle of milk followed by her favorite banana/oatmeal breakfast and was perfectly content. Then good old Aunt Nat spoiled her with a generous serving of Nutella toast & that made her VERY happy!

I spent the morning making the birthday cake(s). I woke up at 6:00am (on a Saturday by the way), to begin the baking. Nat really wanted to go shopping at Southcenter that day so I figured if I woke up early I could finish the cakes and we could be out of the house at 10am (yeah right).

I only had two 8" round cake pans but I needed three 8" rounds plus two 4" rounds which meant I had to make 2 separate batches (which meant lots of time in the kitchen). I didn't have any particular frosting design in mind, I just knew I wanted both cakes to be all white and very simple...which they were but it took me 3 tries to get the "simple" look I was going for. I also ran short on frosting and had to make an additional batch. So basically what I'm getting at is that instead of taking 2-3hrs to bake and decorate the cakes it took me almost 6hrs!

Anyways...the ladies spent the afternoon at the mall and the men went to see "Wreck it Ralph" at the $3 theater in town. Then both parties hurried home because we had to finish last minuet party decorations, take some good looking photos, get Charlotte dressed in her b-day outfit, take some more good photos of her, clean up the house, and finish making dinner.

A company called Shindigz supplied most of the party decor, which was awesome, but a little stressful because I HAD to get good photos and the lighting was definitely not in our favor.

Besides the busy schedule (and a sick Nolan), we had a great day with Charlotte! She is getting such a cute personality and LOVES when Nolan plays with her (which sadly doesn't happen too often). Her favorite thing to do is wrestle and jump around on the bed with him, she seriously gets SO happy and if I try to take her off the bed she puts up a major fight! She also happened to start walking 2 weeks before she turned 1...which was great timing because now that the weather is nicer I can take the kids to the park and I don't have to worry about her crawling through the dirt!

Sorry to all of our party go-ers we just realized that we didn't get any photos of you (just videos, which are more fun anyways :) but thanks for coming we love you all!


































Friday, February 15, 2013

Valentine's Day

We had a lovely Valentine's day this year at our new house! The morning started off with heart shaped pancakes for Nolan and Charlotte + a little Valentine from g-ma and g-pa to keep them entertained!

Nolan had a friend over that morning (which he loved of course!) & later we made PINK ice cream (just frozen banana and strawberries) for lunch...Nolan L.O.V.E.S to help in the kitchen lately! Every time I'm making something, even if it's just his morning oatmeal, he races his chair across the kitchen floor so he can stand right next to me and be the 'helper' it's so much fun...and SO messy!

That afternoon we brought out the double jogger (it's been in hibernation lately because I have been without running shoes for a whole month!) and took a quick trip to the park...and I truly mean QUICK because Nolan wet his pants about 2min. after we got there!

Abe surprised us by coming home a little early from work and not long after, the Valentine Boy brought a few gifts and Balloons to the doorstep! Nolan got a View Finder and Charlotte got a new shirt. Then Abe made an exquisite Alfredo + grilled chicken dinner complete with steamed veggies on the side...it was seriously yummy!

We ended the day with a healthier take on our usual cream cheese strawberry dessert (I made whole wheat mini tarts with whipped cream cheese filling and homemade honey raspberry jam!) I was a little skeptical about the "healthier" dessert option but everyone loved it!...score :)








(Charlotte got a sugar cookie instead of the tart...because I realized she couldn't have honey, whoops :)