Forever Newleyweds

Some yummy recipes!

2011-12-29T21:22:00.000-08:00

LEMON MOUSSE One 4-serving size pkg instant sugar-free vanilla pudding mix 2 cups milk 1 tub Crystal Light Lemonade or Sunrise Orange - dry (the tubs that make ONE pitcher) One 12-ounce container Cool Whip OR 3 cups Splenda-sweetened whipped cream 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, optional In a large bowl beat the pudding mix with the milk until thickened and smooth. Beat in the dry drink mix. Fold in the Cool Whip or whipped cream and berries. Spoon into individual glasses and allow to set up for at least one hour. Makes 8 servings. Per Serving PLAIN: 93 Cal; 3 g Protein; 6 g Tot Fat; 8 g Carb; 0 g Fiber; 3 g Sugar; 131 mg Sodium Per Serving with 1 1/2 cups Blueberries folded in: 109 Cal; 3 g Protein; 6 g Tot Fat; 12 g Carb; 1 g Fiber; 6 g Sugar; 131 mg Sodium

LEMON-LIME CUSTARD CAKES
Cool and tangy...rich and creamy...soft and airy...perfect little desserts with a spongy cake on the top and a silky custard on the bottom. Super easy and light as a feather in the calorie department! 3 eggs, separated 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon Splenda 2 tablespoons flour 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 1 tablespoon lemon zest 1 tablespoon lime zest 1 cup milk 1/4 teaspoon salt Nature Sweet powdered and zest - optional Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray six 6-ounce ramekins or eight 4-ounce ramekins with vegetable cooking spray and set in a 9x13 baking pan. Set aside. In a large bowl whisk the egg yolks with 1/2 cup Splenda, flour, juices, and zests until well combined. Whisk in milk. In another bowl whip the egg whites, 1 tablespoon Splenda, and the salt with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Fold the eggs whites into the yolk mixture. Divide the batter among the ramekins. Pour 1 inch hottest tap water into the baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and puffed. Sprinkle with powdered Nature Sweet and zest if desired. Serve warm. Makes 6 servings. Per Serving: 75 Cal; 5 g Protein; 4 g Tot Fat; 5 g Carb; 0 g Fiber; 3 g Sugar; 163 mg Sodium

TORTILLA SOUPLinda Farnsworth 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 large onion, diced 4 cloves garlic, minced 1-2 jalepeno peppers, minced (seeded if desired) 1 medium zucchini, diced 2 carrots, diced 1/2 cup corn 1 tablespoon cumin 2 teaspoons chili powder 1 teaspoon dried cilantro 2 tablespoons lime juice 1 teaspoon Splenda One 28-ounce can petite-diced tomatoes 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth 1 1/2 cups shredded, cooked chicken Two 14-ounce cans black beans, drained, rinsed Kosher salt & black pepper to taste Sour cream 1 cup crushed blue tortilla chips, optional Fresh Cilantro In a stockpot heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and jalepenos and cook for 4-5 minutes or until onions are soft. Add zucchini, carrots, and corn and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in cumin, chili powder, dried cilantro, Splenda, lime juice, undrained tomatoes, and chicken broth. Cover, bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add in chicken and black beans and heat through. Serve topped with sour cream, crushed chips, and fresh cilantro. Makes 8 servings. Per Serving: 167 Cal; 15 g Protein; 4 g Tot Fat; 15 g Carb; 5 g Fiber; 4 g Sugar; 598 mg Sodium

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo‏

Brown 1 seasoned cut up chicken fryer (or breasts or thighs) in a little

oil in a soup pot. Drain the fat. Add two boxes of chicken broth or 
water and bullion cubes. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 
30 minutes. Saute 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped bell pepper, 2 celery 
stalks and 2 garlic cloves. Add to the soup. Add a chopped up sausage 
rope. Simmer another 30-45 minutes. Add 1/2 C green onions about 15 
minutes before serving. I stir in a can of cream of celery soup to 
thicken it at the end. The recipe says to serve over cooked rice. You 
can add rice to the soup, or pasta, or quinoa. I just make it up as I 
go along. :D

Autumn salad in gorgeous color…

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced in 1/2 inch cubes

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)

Kosher salt & freshly grated black pepper

2 tablespoons finely diced sweet onion

2 tablespoons chopped, toasted pecans

2 tablespoons dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

Dressing:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons sugar free or regular honey

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place diced sweet potatoes in a shallow baking dish. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon olive oil, sprinkle with rosemary, salt and pepper. Stir to coat. Roast for 25-30 minutes or just until fork tender. (Over cooking will cause them to be mushy when you stir them into the remaining ingredients.) Allow to cool slightly.

To make the dressing, in a small bowl whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, salt, black pepper, and chipotle pepper. Transfer potatoes to a medium bowl. Stir in onions, pecans, cranberries, and parsley. Drizzle with dressing and gently stir until coated. Serve either warm, room temp or cold. Makes 5 side-dish servings.

Per Serving: Calories 154; Protein 1 g; Fat 6 g; Carbs 13 g; Sugar 5 g; Sodium 52 mg

Pumpkin Spiced Latte‏

Ingredients

3 cups hot whole milk
4 teaspoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
6 ounces double-strength brewed coffee
3 tablespoons sweetened whipped cream
3 pinches pumpkin pie spice

Directions

Combine the hot milk, sugar, vanilla extract, and pumpkin pie spice in a blender; blend until frothy. Pour the mixture into 3 coffee mugs to about 2/3 full. Pour 2 ounces coffee into each mug. Garnish each mug with whipped topping and pumpkin pie spice.

Health(ier) strawberry ice cream:
1 lb. frozen strawberries 1 cup 2% plain greek yogurt 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla extract -in a food processor, pulse 1 cup of strawberries until finely chopped. transfer chopped berries to a large metal bowl. -in food processor, puree yogurt, sugar, vanilla and remaining berries until smooth. transfer to bowl with strawberries and stir until combined. cover and freeze until firm but not hard. -and get this, each serving has only 70 calories & less than 1/2 gram of saturated fat compared to about 282 calories & 12 grams of fat in traditional strawberry ice cream.

A Cheerful Little Banner

2011-08-29T15:25:00.000-07:00

Today during nap time I decided to dress up the window in my dining room so I made a little banner. Two weeks ago I ordered some swatches of fabric I was considering re-covering my kitchen chairs with. I was trying to think of something to do with the square fabric samples after I picked the swatch I liked.

The cheerful little banner.

I hung it above the Welcome sign I found for$2 at a sidewalk sale this summer. I think I am going to paint the welcome sign though. I don't know how I feel about the polka dots.

The full view. The Welcome sign is sitting on the glass knobs I put on the window. Usually I hang decorations from the knobs at Christmas and other holidays. Ignore the hanging picture frame I made and still haven't put pictures in yet :)

I am really pleased with how it turned out.

Hair Pretties

2011-04-12T01:19:00.000-07:00

My Mom taught me how to make these yesterday. They are SO fun! I am not very good at crocheting, but these are pretty easy. Next I am going to learn to make flowers!!

First you crochet all the way around a pony tail holder. The thick kind.

Then you go around that and crochet the ruffles.

I LOVE them! They are addicting to make and so cute!

I think the pink ones are my favorites.

I can't wait to have a little girl to make these kinds of things for, but for now I will make them for my nieces :)

A Special Album

2011-04-03T23:55:00.000-07:00

Last night I was really excited about seeing a friend for lunch the next day. She is a very special friend. She is the one who took care of and loved my son before he was mine. She ran the baby house in Africa that he lived at. I have not seen her since mid-April last year when I was in Uganda adopting my son. But she was in the area visiting a friend so we met for lunch today. It was soooo nice to see her!! I wanted to do something special for her, so I ended up staying up until 3am making her a little album with pictures of "J" to give to her at lunch. I just used some thin cardboard like off the back of a notepad and cut it in circles, covered them with scrapbook paper and then added pictures and embellies :)

The cover. I loved that I found a mat-board star for the tab to match the star paper.

Sorry about the ribbon over the picture. I was covering some personal info.

Page 1 and 2. I love the dandelion paper.

I love the book paper flowers I made.

Pages 3 and 4. I love the bright colors in this layout!

The buttons are really fun. Check out his cute babylegs :) They matched his orange striped dino shirt perfectly.

Pages 5 and 6. My little pumpkin!!

Pages 7 and 8. I just cut these pictures out of and extra adoption announcement. Recycling!

I love this page :)

And the back of the album. Daddy and baby at the park going down the slide for the first time ever. He loved it!

She really enjoyed the album and I sure enjoyed making it! I loved it so much I wanted to keep it myself!! lol

One Year Ago Today......

2011-03-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

A year ago today I was a ball of nervous energy. I was up at 6am (way early for me!!) and ready to go. My bags were all packed full of diapers and formula and tiny clothes for a tiny 5.5 month old boy halfway around the world that I had never met. My son. In the months of waiting occasionally news about him would filter through my email or over my facebook. January 28th: I opened my email account to see the most amazing email I had ever received. Inside were our first 4 pictures of him after months of waiting! I sat in front of the computer crying silent tears at the beauty of seeing my son's face for the first time. He was such a gorgeous and TINY baby. February 5th: Jeremiah laughed out loud for the first time! came through my facebook. March 5th: "Jeremiah ate his first baby food today. Lamb dinner and peaches. He loved it!" in an email. March 10th: 9 more pictures of our son came in an email from a young lady who had been in Uganda in February. They were beautiful and full size, so I could print them. The first ones were so pixelated I couldn't, so this was truly a gift! Within 3 hours I had them uploaded to costco.com, picked them up and had them framed all over the house! I only had 4.5 days left at home, but I wanted to see his face as much as I could! :)

By 11am exactly a year ago I was at the airport. Mike walked in the long security line with me. I was holding back my tears as we held hands in line and then I hugged and kissed him goodbye. He would join me in Uganda 3 weeks later. I cried like a baby after I had to go through the security checkpoint by myself. I knew I was going to miss Mike like crazy. I am sure the guy in line behind me thought I was just plain crazy! He kept giving me worried sideways looks because I was crying. Then after 24 exhausting hours of traveling I was there. The airplane touched down around 11pm Ugandan time in the darkest city I had ever seen. It seemed like there was hardly enough runway light for the plane to land. But it did. As soon as I stepped out of the airplane hot wet air enveloped me. I followed everyone on my plane to the visa line. I was the last person in line because I had to wait for my stroller to come up to the jetway from the plane's belly. It wouldn't have mattered though. I was in Africa and it was time to wait. My first experience with "African time." After two hours of waiting in line the man took my passport, gave it a cursory glance, asked me a couple of questions, and in less than a minute my visa was stamped! Finally I was able to get my luggage and find my ride. Brian and David had been waiting on me for a long time. Brian told me about the landscape and what we were passing on the way "home" but it was too dark to see much. People had candles and oil lamps outside because they had no electricity. Even though the traffic was very light considering the late hour they drove like crazy people! We traveled on dirt roads that were more rut than road and finally we were there. We talked for a while and then I found my room and unpacked. I stayed up late writing in my journal. I was too excited to sleep. I was meeting my son in the morning!! I slept with my light on all night because I was scared of the bugs and finally it was morning.

At 9am Rennie brought my son in. I handed Brenda my camera and walked over. It was like slow motion. I dissolved into tears as I stared at the beautiful baby. It took a long time before I could even pick him up and take him from Rennie. First I held his small hands and feet and stroked his soft cheeks. With tears on my cheeks I inspected every inch of him, this soft brown baby of mine. Finally I lifted him into my arms and held him against me for the first time. I snuggled him and told him that I had been waiting my whole life for him. I held him up and looked into his eyes. He just stared at me with wide eyes taking everything in. Rennie said he was looking at me as if he knew I was his Mama. As if he had been waiting for me. They brought him to me in time for a feeding so I sat down and rocked my baby, feeding him for the first time. He had such a sweet and happy spirit and watched me the whole time as he sucked away at his bottle. He seemed very content to belong to me. To be someone's baby. To be mine. And I was all too happy to be his!

Meeting my son for the first time. I was overwhelmed with love and emotion!

Finally in my arms instead of just my heart.

Mama and Baby

In Love!

And here is my little man this morning, exactly one year later.

New Duds

2011-03-15T13:31:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for a shirt with the continent of Africa on it for J for a long time. Every time I would find someone doing an adoption fundraiser with silk screened shirts with Africa on them they were sold out in toddler sizes. So I finally decided to make one. I went to JoAnns to pick up some cute fabric and some heat and bond and went to work. I had this sweatshirt that Jeremiah just grew into and since it is March my little Ugandan American boy is cold, so it was perfect:

I cut out the shape of Africa in the cute fabric I found and then ironed it on according the the directions on the heat and bond. Then I added a patch in the shape of a heart over Uganda. Finally I stitched around the whole thing.

I am in love with how it turned out!

I think he likes it!

I make this shirt look good!

I am really pleased with how this turned out and I love that he has an Africa shirt now!

Once I had the shirt making bug I couldn't stop! I decided to make a little leprechaun shirt for him for St. Patrick's day. I had read on another blog that you can cut a shape out of freezer paper and then iron the outline onto a onsie. Then you would have a stencil to use fabric paint and paint an image on the shirt. Sadly my freezer paper would not stick. I made sure it was shiny side down and everything. Maybe it was old, I don't know, but it didn't work for me. So, I held it down REALLY carefully and painted the shamrock on the shirt careful not to get any paint under the freezer paper.

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture before I got the onsie wet to put in the dye bath.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.....

TADA!!!

My little leprechaun :-)

I had also made a smaller shamrock stencil for his booty. That one didn't stick either.

Now all we need is some corned beef, cabbage, and a cold glass of green beer for Daddy :)

Inspecting his shirt. I think he likes it :)

The End! :)

P.S. I have had so much fun making these I have 3 more shirts for him in the works!

My First DIY Project: Framing a Photo Strip

2011-02-28T17:21:00.000-08:00

Let me introduce me to my first ever makeover project, long before I ever did makeovers or had a blog :) On our honeymoon hubby and I had the most adorable photo strip taken at a photo booth. I wanted to frame it and hang it in our home because I loved it, but apparently no one makes frames for photo strips. Fast forward to about 7 months after we got home from our honeymoon. We were shopping at Fred Meyer and walked past this ugly framed palm tree.

It didn't even click in my head that it was exactly what I was searching for until I had already walked several steps past it. Suddenly it clicked in my head and I immediately snatched the ugly framed tree and purchased it.

I spray painted the frame (this was back before I had my own spray paint and had to borrow some from my hubby's work van :) ) and then cut a sheet of black card stock to put inside. I put clear photo corners on our honeymoon photo strip, matted it on more black card stock and matted that on some white burlap scrapbook paper.

I really love the way it turned out and 6 years later I still love having it displayed in my home :)

Here it is today on the ledge on my stairwell with a wedding picture. So, do you have any special way of displaying a photo strips because I have two more really cute ones :)

5 Years Later.........

2011-02-28T16:59:00.000-08:00

I bought this custom mat and frame 5 years ago from a company that does specializes in custom special occasion mats. I bought it to put wedding pictures in. But I never did. Instead it sat empty. In my bedroom. For.5. years!

So, while I was cleaning and organizing in our master bedroom I came across this frame again and decided it was finally time to put it to use. I decided to do family pictures instead of wedding pictures and I LOVE how it turned out. I also surprisingly love the combination of b&w, sepia, and color photos!

And the hearts cut in the corners for wedding photos work really well with pictures of us and our sweet baby :) In the caption box I wrote: "And Baby Makes Three.

I put it on top of my china hutch with a carved elephant from African and two vases. I like walking by and seeing pictures of my sweet family :)

The full view

I Have Been Awarded the Stylish Blogger and the Versatile Blogger Award!

2011-02-20T20:23:00.000-08:00

I have been awarded the "Versatile Blogger" Award by Courtney at We Three Dyes!

The Rules:
1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass this award on to some other lovely bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award, and let the giver know you accept the award!
* If I awarded one of these blogger awards click on the badges above and you will get an html code so you can display it on your blog :)

Here are seven things about myself:

1. My wonderful hubby proposed 4 months after our first date and we were married 2 months later. Six months after our first date, coffee at Starbucks before my math class. In fact, we had such a great time at our mid-morning coffee date I completely lost track of time and missed my class altogether. Oops! :) This fall we will be celebrating our 8th anniversary! :)

2. I am a new Mommy and I am loving every minute of it!!

3. I love home decorating and making beautiful things for my home. Crafting and creating feeds my spirit.

4. I love Hawaii more than any place in the world and hope to move there someday.

5. I love grocery shopping armed with weekly sales and coupons. It is a game and I love it when I save more then I spend. My record so far is 76% savings: Total $47.16, hand cashier my coupons. New total $11.50! Between coupons and sales I got a free half gallon of OJ, 2 Dryers ice cream for $1.49 each and one for $2.49 a 9 pound ham free after coupons, almond milk for $1.99 each, and pre-cut fajita meat from the deli with bell peppers and onions ready to cook for tomorrow's dinner. All for $11.50!

6. I am totally addicted to scrapbooking. I don't have nearly as much time for it as I used to now that I have a baby, but I make it a point to have at least 2 long weekends away with girlfriends to hang out and scrapbook. Occasionally I even manage to eek out a page at home :)

7. I lived in Africa for 4 months last year.

I still haven't awarded the Stylish Blogger Award from from my sweet friend Chrystie, so I am going to give both of these awards out :)

Chrystie at Pocket Full of Posies. She makes beautiful "green" mini-albums and also does some really awesome home decor makeovers.

Shannon at Bless Our Nest. She has great home decor ideas and fun posts about her adorable baby boy.

Aaron at Mudpies and Marigolds. She has some adorable craft and home decor ideas. In fact my most favorite recent project, my musical wreath was inspired by a tree topper she made back in November.

Courtney at Sweeter Than Cupcakes. She makes the MOST AMAZING chileren's clothes. They are simply adorable! I wish I knew how to sew like that!!!

Happy Blogging!!

Finishing Touches on the Nursery

2011-02-20T15:03:00.000-08:00

I finally just finished the last two projects I had for the nursery. I wanted to make a memo board that I could display photos on in Jeremiah’s nursery that matched the turtle theme, so I cut out some turtles on my cricut and added them to a canvas that I pained with some blue and brown. Then I covered some cloths pins with the same of the paper I cut the turtles out of.

I glued the cloths pins to the canvas to make a cute little memo board.

A close up of the turtles on the memo board.

I also made this great turtle lamp. I got it at a thrift shop a few months ago because it was the perfect colors to compliment the nursery. I couldn’t find one anywhere that matched, so i decided to make one :)

Close up of the turtles and bubbles I made.

I also put a turtle on the ceramic base.

With the light on.

I think it matches the rest of the nursery really well! I love my son's nursery! It is one of my favorite rooms in the house. I still love to sit in the nursery and rock my son to sleep. It is just so fun and calm. My favorite place in the world is Hawaii and I just love the way the turtles and ocean theme remind me of it! To see the full view of my baby's adorable you can go here.
Linking up to:
It's a Crafty Life

My New Vanity Shelf! :)

2011-02-08T22:18:00.000-08:00

Introducing my new vanity shelf. I need some place to hold my make up and perfume bottles and jewelry and such since the dresser with the hutch that held such things before is now in the baby's room. We found this cabinet/shelf for $10 the week before I left for Africa and it SCreaMed potential at me. Please Paint me white and distress my edges I heard it say. Put your pretty perfume bottles and your Grandma's pitcher on my shelf. Well I listened and I am super excited! This is going to be beautiful!!! I am going to sand it down and Mike is going to spray it bleached almond (creamy white) for me with his new paint sprayer and cut a piece of mirror for the inside where the beadboard is. Then I am going to add crystal glass knobs to the doors and hang it in the master bedroom. Now I just need to find a cute tall chair to go with it!

Loving the beadboard!

And the row of hangers at the bottom!

And the cabinet to hide my makeup and things.

I was super excited about this project and posted about last March. Almost a year ago. But I got it the week before I went to Africa, and the whole week before I left it rained. And rained. And rained! So we couldn't paint it. Then I was gone for 4 months and when I got home I had a new baby, so it took me a while to get back to this one :) But it was worth the wait!! I have been wanting to post pictures for a while, but hubby's paint sprayer malfunctioned while he was doing the doors and he had to sand them down and re-do them. He hasn't gotten around to putting the last coat on, so I haven't posted pictures yet. But he is super busy with a work project right now, so if I keep waiting on the doors it might be a while :)

Drumroll please................................

TADA!!

With the mirror Mike added and the shelf space for my make-up it is the perfect place to get ready in the morning.

But it was so crowded with all of my cosmetics.

The messy look was driving me crazy without the doors back on yet!

So I tidied up. I shopped my house and grabbed the orange glassbaby candle holder for my make-up brushes and my Great Grandma's antique bowl and hair receiver for some organization. I stacked my foundations and put my most often used eyeshadows in the bowl and then stacked it on the rest of the eyeshadows. It is functional, organized, and PRETTY now!!

Before After

I just LOVE it! and aren't the pegs great for holding my African hand bag, my favorite bulky necklaces, my Hawaiian shell leis, and my hair ties? And on the very top I have dried flowers from bouquets my hubby has given me over the years :)

I will be linking up to:

my backyard eden

Allie Makes

Musical Wreath

2011-02-02T16:34:00.000-08:00

At the end of November when we put our Christmas tree up I decided I was over my tree topper so I was going to make a new one. I don’t know what I was thinking size wise, but when I started making it it was clear that it was going to be WAY too big! Sooo, I set it aside and had plans to turn it into a wreath later. I sized down my model and ended up with this topper:

I love the way it turned out and just the look of it. I am all about vintage and it looked vintage to me with the antique sheet music.

After all of the work of inking the edges of the music and turning the sheets into cones and then hot gluing them all together I was kind of over it. I also finished around 2am so that might have killed some of my enthusiasm right there. Anyway, I decided to wait a few days to do the wreath. With the busyness of the Christmas season I never did get around to finishing it. It has been taking the majority of my scrapbook work surface since then, so today I decided it was time to finish the thing! It was only about a quarter of the way done and since it is such a HUGE wreath it actually took several hours to finish with inking the edges and everything from start to finish. It was sooooo worth it though! And, bonus, now I have my scrap area back!

Coming together. I had to make LOT of cones!!!

Once I had enough cones made to complete the wreath I hot glued some cardboard strips into ring and then glued the cones the that. The whole process was very labor intensive and I have no desire to make another one in the near future! But it turned out beautiful and is one of my favorite things in my house right now!!

You really can’t tell how big it is from this shot but it is almost 2 1/2 feet across.

It is beautiful and makes a big statement. I think it would look good at Christmas with it’s matching baby on top of the tree, but without Christmas decorations in the house it doesn’t scream holiday, it just looks simple, stunning, and compliments the rest of my decor.

If I had the inclination to make another (which I don’t!!!) I think It would look really pretty with the edges dipped in pink or red glitter for valentines day :) Even without the glitter I have non-permanent plans to dress this little puppy up for Valentines though!

It is pretty from every angle. I so love it!!
I will be linking up to:

New Earrings

2011-02-02T15:58:00.000-08:00

Back in October when we were in Kaua’i I found a really unique pair of earrings. I have been to Hawaii several times and I had never seen any like this. I loved the Olivine and after thinking about it for a day I decided to go back to the street fair to get them and the matching necklace the morning we flew to Oahu. I loved them!! Sadly, a few nights later on a long walk one of my Olivine earrings fell off of the hook. We had done a ton of walking after dinner. I knew they had to be at the restaurant we went to for dinner, or somewhere we walked afterward because I had put them in right before we went out to eat and Mike said they were on during dinner. So, we spent 2 hours re-tracing our steps that night but never found it. I could have cried! And I never found any on Oahu to replace them. I did find a pair of olivine earrings with smaller stones and bought them hoping I could combine them with the larger stones from the earring I had left and create a new pair. Today during nap time I decided it was time to try to make them.

Here is the earring I had left.

So I took apart all three earrings and threaded the stones onto two earring posts combining the larger stones with the smaller ones.

I had these posts in a box of beads my Mom gave me from her jewelry making days in high school. After I had the right amount of stones on I added the earring hooks so I could wear them :)

I think they turned out pretty good especially considering I have never made earrings in my life!

Ah, I love them! And I certainly hope my craftsmanship was better than the original artisan because I will be crushed if one of them falls off the hook again!

I had so much fun I decided to make another pair! In the box of beads my Mom gave me when I was a child I found the beads from a broken rosary. I called my Mom and asked whos it was, but she couldn’t recall. Anyway, the sparkly blue beads called to me and I needed to make a second pair. I only had one more pair of hooks left, so I tried out a few designs before I settled on one.

I love how they turned out. So pretty and sparkly!

I love them! Don’t mind me holding my hair back out of my face. Also, you might notice my wardrobe is different. After I hugged hubby when he got home from work I noticed I had something icky on my shirt. Apparently he had saved a little lunch on his jacket and decided to share….how sweet. lol

I went into this project trying to fix/re-create my Olivine earrings and ended up with two new pairs of beautiful earrings :)
I will be linking up to:

Oma's Brag Book

2010-12-18T01:22:00.000-08:00

I ordered a custom scrapbook from a friend to give to my Oma (Grandma) filled with pictures of my adorable baby boy :) To see the pictures of the book before I added the photos visit my friend's blog here.

I am sure Oma will be thrilled when when she opens her mailbox to find this little Christmas gift.

I loved the denim page that is page two. I sewed the pictures on each side of it :)

The other side of the denim page.

I love the clear overlay page! So fun :)

My little pumpkin.

And the back of the book with my friend Chrystie's signature and an old passport pic of my baby.

I love this book. It is so adorable and was so quick and easy to put together. It is nice to have a quick project every once in a while :)

Vintage Sheet Music Tree Topper

2010-12-06T01:52:00.000-08:00

Fresh trees are sooo expensive. We always buy a Noble Fir, but this year we decided to try a Frasier Fir because it cost considerably less but has a very similar look. I LOVE it! It is really pretty and the branches have almost a silvery look in some light. I was excited to make a new tree topper for it, so last night when we decorated I left the topper off.

Tonight this is what I made.

Last night we put up the tree. Hubby put the lights on for me. But I used my flash when I took the picture, so it is hard to tell :)
I decorated.

Our outdoor kitty was so happy that we have an inside tree :)

I saw a cool idea on mudpies blog to use book pages to make a tree topper. Last weekend while enjoying a weekend away with hubby for our anniversary I found a book of sheet music for a couple of dollars in an Antique Mall. I decided to use it to make my own :) I have never liked my tree topper, so I really hoped it turned out. I LOVE it!!!!!

I inked the edges with chalk ink to add to the vintage look. I am so happy with the way it turned out!!!!!!!

So pretty!!!!

The full view.

Our kitten seems to enjoy the tree as well.

I am SO in LOVE with it! I am in the process of making a matching wreath, but since it is 2am I think I will finish it up tomorrow :-)
Linking up to:

Christmas Gifts

2010-12-02T03:19:00.000-08:00

Last year was the first time that I can ever remember MAKING gifts as an adult. I was somewhat leery about it, but ended up LOVING IT!!!! And everyone who got one of my hand made gifts loved them too!! This year I am making more gifts than ever, scaling down and spending less. I am ready to simplify and celebrate Advent and the true meaning of Christmas!! I am ready to get more creative and make more gifts. I recently posted a good stocking stuffer idea about making lip balm. Another idea I heard this week was to buy a favorite children's book for your grandchild, neice, nephew, etc and record yourself reading the story so they can listen and follow along whenever they want!

Here is something I made for my son. He is only 14 months and still too young for it, but I couldn't resist making if for him! I will save it for his second birthday, but if you have toddler in your life who is the right age, this would make a great and inexpensive, adorable Christmas gift!

A hand made matching game! I love it, it is SO cute! Hubby drilled two holes in the back and I plan on hanging it on the wall in the nursery at some point when it is not 3:17am :)

I found this frame at Ben Franklin over the summer on a huge sale and painted it blue to match the nursery.

They also had these neat 12x12 metal sheets that fit perfectly inside the frame. My awesome hubby attached it with some industrial strength silicone something or another. He is a contractor :)

Now to the fun part!! I already had this really cute ABC paper with a different animal on every letter.

I bought the matching set of chipboard so I had a thick duplicate of all of the animals.

I Mod Podged them for added durability.

And stuck magnets on the back of all of the animals.

Now I have a super adorable magnetic matching game for my son to play and learn with when he gets a little older. I didn't adhere the ABC paper to the sheet metal because the magnets hold it there just fine, and that way I can make him more matching games in the future.

I love the fat little elephant and frog!

I cut ABC and 123 out of vinyl on my cricut and added them to the top and bottom of the frame.

I just finished this project tonight and I am sooooo proud of it. It turned out really cute!!!!

Edited to add, now that it is not 3:17am I managed to get it hung in my son's turtle nursery.

So happy I finally finished it and got it off of my scrapbooking desk!

A super cheep Christmas gift. I bought these metal re-usable drinking bottles at Wal-Mart for $1 each. Then I grabbed my cricut vinyl and got to work cutting out words!! On this one I wrote my little brother's name at an angle in a circle around the bottle and put a star at the end. The one for my teenage brother is already wrapped, so sadly I can not show you, but I wrote his name in a straight line with Class of 2011 under it. I used a silver water bottle and black vinyl. I LOVE how it turned out and I think he will like it. Great $1 gift!!!!

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Spray Paint Transformations!!

2010-11-11T00:44:00.000-08:00

Today's post is about what I accomplished during nap time today. No pictures of mopping the floor or scrubbing the toilet? Weird! Nope, today I needed to get some crafty energy flowing!!

Today I needed a change and I was getting really tired of my fall decor. So I dismantled the table top fall display and was left with the pumpkins. Not wanting to toss them yet with Thanksgiving around the corner, I considered spray painting them white like I have seen others do before adding the lettering, but decided to leave them orange (for now, lol. There is always tomorrow for spray painting!). I put them on the ledge of one of my favorite DIY projects from this spring.

Give Thanks up on my Dining Room chalkboard :)

My friend teased me about it today when she stopped by before we went out for coffee , but I really like and that is what counts, right?

Next it was time for a goodwill frame re-do. I bought it in the spring and mentioned that I had an unconventional idea for it here. Unfortunately having Mommy Brain and I have absolutly no idea what that fabulous idea was! But today it got a re-do as a frame again, just with a MUCH better picture! And a new coat of paint.

When my friend did Jeremaih's 10 month old photo shoot this summer she did some family pictures and some hand and feet pictures too. This is one of my favorites!! I just ripped out the old picture, spray painted the frame with the very last little bit of black spray paint I had and plopped this enlargement I had inside. LOVE! Quite a transformation huh? I would say I prefer the after to the before! So worth the $2.99 price tag I bought the frame for months ago!

I had some suction cups with hooks, so I decided to try putting it on the fall decorated window in my living room. So far so good, it has been up there all day, so I think it will hold. I love it!!

Since I was paring down my fall decorations and simplifying I decided it was time to put this fall candlestick away. I was bummed because I have very few chunky candle holders but brown isn't really my color for things other than fall decor. Then inspiration struck!

Why not change the color????

Heirloom white, how I adore thee!

It looks so vintage now and the white really brings out all of the pretty details. I like it so much better and it will be used much more than once a year in my fall decor! So worth the under $3 thrift shop I paid last fall!!!

I am so pleased with how it turned out! And look, there is even a tiny bit of fall left on the table. :) A vase of colorful leaves. And that is what I accomplished during nap time today!
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New Life for an Old Window

2010-11-08T12:32:00.000-08:00

Still finishing up those projects I started before I went to Uganda. It feels so good getting stuff done! Like spring cleaning, but it happens to be fall. Anywho, before I left for Africa to meet my precious son I painted this old window Mike had brought home from a job site knowing I would love to find a creative use for it. I decided I wanted to paint it black and put pictures of my precious baby in it behind the glass. Unfortunately I didn't have a ton of pictures of him at that point and all of the ones I had were in frames around the house. I decided to wait until I had more pictures to finish it. I blogged about this particular window less than two weeks before I left. You can read about it here.

I painted the window black (after a terribly ugly attempt at distressed green. It was horrid and I refuse to re-post it, so if you want to see it you will have to go to the link to the original post above!).

I love the way the black looked. That is the best part about a painted project. If you hate it you can always re-paint it!

I left the original hardware on top of the window and at the bottom I added some decorative hooks to hang mementos or holiday decorations from. When we move, if I decide to hang it in the entry or mudroom we could hang coats and umbrellas from it. The options are endless!

For this house I decided to hang it in the staircase that has been getting a makeover.

I am really loving it! It is my new favorite up-cycled project at the moment!

It holds adorable pictures of my little man from his 10 month photo shoot right after we finally got home from Africa.

Such a stinkin' cute little baby and I love the original way to display his precious photos!

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Crushing on Vinyl Wall Words!

2010-11-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

Right before I went to Uganda to adopt our son I got some adorable pictures of him via email and decided I needed to make a family wall to showcase them. I wanted all black frames with white mats. I had a couple on hand and went to a thrift shop to find some more.

Here are my finds. I spray painted the bigger frames black with some paint I had on hand and the smaller frame blue and distressed it so the brown would show through.

Here are the two larger ones after I painted them. They turned out great!

The place I chose to hang them was our naked staircase with the ugly circuit box in need of a creative disguise.

I hung the frames that I had in a grouping over the box. It was a start. It looked better than before, but it still needed more.

There was still too much of the circuit box showing so I needed another big frame or two and I needed to print out my baby's beautiful pictures to put in them. I went back to the same thrift store a few days later and found a frame that matched the large one I purchased days earlier. Score!!! It had not been there before, I looked!

I did a little re-arranging. I ended up taking down the smaller black frame and putting it on the staircase with several other family pictures. I replaced it with a rubbed oil frame I already had and the frame I painted blue. I love the picture at the top with all of the babies in bumbos all in a row! J and his little friends :) The two underneath are of our son J.

Finally the staircase was looking good instead of naked! I loved the new arrangement and walking past my son every time I went up and down the stairs made me smile!

There was a gap in the middle of the grouping of pictures and I had a plan for it! I wanted to cut the word "Love" in vinyl on my cricut a and put it there. My friend had done some really cute things with vinyl cut from her cricut and used as home decor. I wanted to give it a try , but I was sooooo intimidated!! So I put it off. I never got around to it before I went to Africa, but a few days ago as I walked past the arrangement at the top of the stairs I decided it was time!! I put the baby in his playpen and went into creative mode! I changed my mind and decided to do the word "Family." I pulled out the vinyl, picked a font, and fired up the cricut. It was SO easy! I should have done it ages ago! After I measured the space and decided on the size I cut the word out.

I pulled off all of the excess vinyl around the letters and was left with Family. I had read that instead of using transfer tape to pick up the word that you could use painters tape. Since that is what I had on hand I gave it a try. Stick it to your jeans a few times if you decide to use it for transferring vinyl so it isn't too sticky.

I put on two layers so the letters were completely covered and then burnished the letters with a popcicle stick to make sure they stuck to the tape when peeled off. It worked perfectly!!

I posistioned the word where I wanted it on the wall and then burnished over the letters again so that this time they stuck to the wall. I slowly pulled back the tape, burnishing behind it as I went, and I couldn't be happier with the results!!

FAMILY!

Yep, this is some of our family. A picture of my brothers, one of hubby and I and several of our baby :)

I love how it turned out. It makes me smile every time I see it!

It feels so good to finally get a project done that you have been putting off for ages! I had been so intimidated by cutting vinyl on the cricut that I put it off for months. The funny thing is, it was so easy that I cut out several more things out of the vinyl that night and made two Christmas gifts with it (I will post about that later)!!! I think I will be using more vinyl on my wall very soon! I am loving this!

If you would like to try out adding a vinyl word to your own wall or home decor here is your chance! I decided to do a giveaway, so I cut the word "Love" from my black vinyl the same font and size as the word "family" pictured above. To have a chance at winning this word to try in your own home all you have to do is become a follower of my blog. So easy! In one week, on Thursday November 11th, I will randomly pick a follower to win the prize. I will post the winner's name here on my blog along with my email address so the lucky winner can send me their address and I can ship them their prize! Good luck!!

I am linking up with Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Chic Cottage. Go check out her bedroom re-do. So pretty! As well as Fireflies and Jellybeans Show Off Your Stuff:

Cloth Wipes

2010-10-28T00:29:00.000-07:00

When I decided to cloth diaper I figured it would be easier to just use cloth wipes as well, but I didn't receive any from my registry at my baby shower. Even though I had the nursery print flannel to make my own with, with all of the projects I was working on and preparing to fly to Uganda to meet my son it was low on my priority list. I figured I would get to it at some point before I left. After all, it would be a pretty quick project and my favorite projects are quick ones!

I was wrong! After we got home from Africa I dove into cloth diapering, but I felt silly and counterproductive using cloth diapers and disposable wipes. So finally one day I used a nap time to create the cloth wipes I had meant to create months ago before we brought baby home.

Before we left for Africa, I found this pile of things to transform at a thrift shop and decided to use the brand new yardage of nursery print flannel for my wipes. You can read about the transformation of this pile here.

I was pretty excited about transforming the picture frames for a family wall I was doing and spray painting the basket for the baby's room. But the thought of sewing a bunch of cloth wipes for cleaning a baby's hiney just didn't seem nearly as fun as the rest of the projects on my list! Which is probably why it never got done. But now that I needed them it was suddenly a priority :o) Funny how that works....

I was glad when I finally devoted that afternoon nap making the wipes though. I had some green terry fabric that I used to back about half of them and when I ran out I just sewed 2 layers of flannel together, print side out.

The terry cloth side is good for scrubbing, but I have discovered that I usually prefer just the double layer flannel. I have a small spray bottle I keep with the wipes that I fill with warm water, a squirt of baby wash and 3 drops of tea tree oil. The tea tree oil is naturally anti-bacterial keeps the water fresh and smelling good and I refill the bottle every 3ish days when it runs out. It is so much easier to just spray a wipe and finish up the job than use regular wipes and have to dispose of the wipes in a separate place from the rest of the diapers in the diaper pail.

Chalk Paint Labels

2010-10-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

About a year ago I switched my laundry detergent to Charlie's Soap in preparation for washing cloth diapers. The organic soap works great and is recommended for diapers. I did not miss the the huge blue plastic detergent bottle I had before, but had a dilemma because Charlie's Soap came in a cloth bag that wasn't practical for setting on top of the washer. One day inspiration hit and I went to the Goodwill in search of some glass canisters. I got one for detergent and one for baking soda (which I also use on my cloth diapers to eliminate odors :) ) The glass jars looked a lot better than a big blue plastic bottle but my husband kept getting the contents confused and said I need to label them or something. OKAY!!!

I had some chalkboard paint that I had picked up for another project and decided to use it for my labels.

I used masking tape to tape off some rectangle labels.

I LOVE how it turned out. The black on white looks so good. I decided to do the original project that I had purchased the chalkboard paint for while I was at it. I had a tray from my Mom's house that she was going to give to the goodwill. I decided to take it and turn it into a chalkboard menu :) When hubby saw it he said "I love it. My Tuesday is already looking good. Pot roast!" lol Men!

The finished jars.

I found this Paris soap dish at the Goodwill and I thought the black and white looked good with my new jars. And it held my Fels Naptha stain soap.

Detergent and Baking Soda. Clearly labeled. Now hubby can help with the laundry :)

I love the way it looks. So clean and put together! Such a fun, quick and easy project too. I should have done it ages ago!
Linking up with:

And:

Day 10 - Hiking Diamond Head and Home

2010-10-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

On our last day in Hawaii we got up early to hike Diamond Head. We have hiked it once before and it is a good workout with an amazing view at the top. Here is a view of the mountain from our sailing trip the day before...........

This is the zig zagging trail that leads to the dark tunnels and steep staircases to the top.

Coming up the stairs. I was glad Mike was carrying the baby. Next time he is walking!!

We stopped for a second on the way up to snap some pictures.

Finally at the top :)

Enjoying the view.

Waikiki in the background.

Little dude at the top.

The way back down.

Those stairs are wicked steep!!!

My way of cooling down afterward. Grabbing a lemon lime shave ice in the parking lot! Yum!

And then it was time to go home. Jeremiah loved looking out the airplane window! We had a wonderful and amazing trip. Oh how I love Hawaii!! Can't wait to visit again!

Day 9 - Sailing!

2010-10-25T15:59:00.000-07:00

Waiting by the sail boat for our early morning sail.....

Mike and J ready to go!

Goodbye Waikiki beach!

J thought it was a great adventure!

Mike took the first turn snorkeling while I watched the baby and then I went.

Daddy snorkeling.

Jeremiah grabbing a water weenie and thinking about going in!

Mike is back, my turn!!

Jeremiah wants a turn too.

Right after everyone got back in the boat a pod of dolphins came!

So beautiful!!! Last year in Maui I got pictures of them jumping and spinning and a baby the size of a football!

Time to sail!

The Pink Lady. The second hotel built on Waikiki beach.

Diamond head! We hiked to the top of it the next morning!

Me and my man!

Our little family.

My baby and I.

Back to shore. I love this picture so much it is my screen saver right now!

Cute boy. He loved sailing!

He was so excited!

He wanted to crawl right off of the edge!

Annoyed when Dad wouldn't let him :)

This seems to be a theme! Vacations must tire out babies! This was him when we went to check out the "From Here to Eternity" beach.

If you have seen "From Here to Eternity" this beach probably looks familiar.

The beach of the famous kiss scene.

????? I couldn't help myself, I had to take this picture. The crazy thing is someone designed this dress, and crazier still someone bought and wore it in public!! It looks like she just wandered out of Dr. Seuses Whooville!

After swimming at the "From Here to Eternity" beach we went to our little favorite ice cream place. Daves. I love how Jeremiah is staring longingly at Mike's spoon!

The look on his face when he realizes he will not be getting any of the afore mentioned ice cream. Dang dairy allergy!

Real tears while Dad eats it right in front of him.

Then Daddy caves.

This is the BEST ice cream place on Oahu! We discovered it on our first trip to Hawaii 5 years ago and visit every time we go back!

After some refreshing ice cream we went to my favorite sandy beach for an afternoon of surf and swimming! I though the color of this jellyfish thing was really pretty.

Some sort of an anchor thing washes up at Mike's feet.

It must be inspected by Mike and his mini-me.

I love this guy!

A close up of the ball thing.

J playing at the beach. Hid favorite!!

Such a beautiful beach!

Mike burried J's legs :)

Time to go for a swim before it gets dark!

I love the ocean!

J, exhausted and ready to be dried off after a hard day of play!

Goodbye beach! Until next time!

The amazing sunset on the way back to our condo.

This is what J did as soon as we got back, so unfortunately the fancy dinner we had planned for our last night in Hawaii got canceled and the pretty dress I bought to for Hawaii never got worn. Instead Mike ran out for fast food. When he got back he said he liked waking with Jeremiah and I in Waikiki better than by himself because 2 different guys asked him if he wanted to buy drugs and a pimp asked him if he needed any company for the night. I guess the family guy image helps stave that off. The funny thing is before J, whenever we were in Hawaii guys would ask me if I wanted to buy any weed and ignored Mike. It made me wonder if I looked like the kind of person who enjoyed weed......

Anyway, we stayed in with our fast food and a movie and enjoyed our last night in paradise. Having a baby definitely changes things!!

Day 8 - Lost Beach Camp

2010-10-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

The next morning in Oahu we decided to rent another kayak, so we went to a concierge desk. She called several companies, but none of them would rent to us because there aren't rivers so they take the kayaks on the open ocean. It sounded really fun because they kayak out to this little island to explore scenic beaches and picnic. Finally one place said that they would let us rent the next day, but it was like 3 times the price of the kayaking place we rented from in Kaua'i, so we passed and booked a sailing trip for the morning instead which was cheaper than renting a kayak. Partly because we have sailed with then 5 times and they know us and give us a good deal :) After that we hit up Starbucks before going to the LOST beach camp to see if there was anything left...........

It was sooooo cool last year when they were still filming!!!

Handsome in his spf hat!

This kid could be a baby model!!!

The LOST beach. Not much of a swimming beach, but it is so ruggedly breathtaking!

The fence was about the only thing still there, outlining private property so LOST fans don't wander onto the property to check it out. There was less left than I thought. The partly built church was gone and the only thing still slightly there was the gravesite with a few barely noticeable mounds of dirt. Even the partly dug grave from the last season had been filled in.

Oh how I love to sail! The water sure looks rough though!

My guys.

Being silly.

Flying!!

The waves were getting really big by the time we left to head to Turtle Beach.

Sea turtles just amaze me!

Us with a turtle in the background. The piece of paper you can see on the sand tells about him. They have volunteers who come to the beach to protect the turtles and keep people away. They can tell the turtles apart and have fact sheets on each one. It is really cool!

J and two turtles

Sandy!

Jeremiah chillin' in his stroller at Dukes that night when we went out for Kimo's Hula Pie. My favorite island treat!! It is and ice cream pie and soooo good.

The most random thing I have ever seen in Waikiki. We went on a long walk on the way home and in Waikiki there are lots of street prefomers in the evening. The oddest one was some guy with a guinnea pig on a surf board for people to take pictures of and pet for donations. Their guinnea pig brought in the bacon, lol. Sadly on this long walk one of my olivine earrings that I had just bought in Kaua'i the day before fell off of the hook. It was the only thing I had purchased and I had never seen earrings like that before. And we had done a ton of walking. I knew they and to be at the restaurant or somewhere we walked afterward because I had put them in right before we went out to eat. We spent 2 hours re-tracing our steps that night and never found it. I could have cried! And I never found any on Oahu to replace them.

Day 6 & 7 - Kayaking to Secret Falls

2010-10-25T13:41:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah in the kayak. We wanted to kayak the river up to Secret Falls. But we had a baby. But we wanted to kayak. So we decided to not let having a baby get in the way or our fun! We had to rent a kayak and go it alone because none of the guided groups allowed babies, but it worked out for the better because we got to explore much more on our own. It was quite the kayaking trip upstream while Mike did most of the paddling and I paddled sometimes and entertained the baby sometimes. Jeremiah did a GREAT job and we would totally do it again!! Once we finally got to the place where land your kayak we tumbled out and began the hike to the falls. It was actually the perfect day to be in a river and then be sprayed by a waterfall because it rained. All day. We were drenched!! Jeremiah was a really good sport about being wet........

When we got to the falls we ate a picnic lunch and then I decided to go for a swim. Until I got in the water. It felt like glacial runoff!!!! I asked Mike to take a picture so I could get out!

Glaring at this guy honing in on my picture when I wanted to get out of the freezing water.

Me and Secret Falls. Which, by the way, they should think of re-naming. The secret seems to be out judging by the other people there.

Us at the falls taken by the guy who honed in on the earlier picture. He and his wife were actually really funny and we ended up hiking back with them.

Time to test out the rope swing. We had tried on the way to the falls, but the guy right before me swung in with his glasses on and they had searched for them for 10 minutes by the time we decided to just hike up to the falls and do the swing on the way back.

AAaaaauuuuuaa. That was supposed to be the Tarzan sound :)

Falling in the freezing water. I should have done it on the way in because at this point I had already been in the water and decided I didn't want to freeze again thank you!

Our little pooklet grabbing a paddle and ready to go!

Dang my kid is cute!!

Looking all adorable in his Nemo rash guard.

Not super excited about being strapped back into the life vest.

Is that a smile or a grimace?

Oh good, it is a smile!

On the way back we took a fork in the river and paddled to a fern grotto that I had been dying to see. It was beautiful

A kitty who lived at the fern grotto and begged for treats from tourists.

Stanley at the fern grotto.

After a long day of being cooped up in a kayak Jeremiah was happy when we finally got home that night. Mike and I had so much fun I wouldn't be surprised of we do lots more kayaking in the future!

This gooey little guy was on our doorstep when I went out to unload the car.

The next morning was our last morning on Kaua'i before flying to Oahu. We packed up and then headed to a nearby beach to eat an early lunch of pizza.

On the way to the airport we had to stop at my new favorite shave ice stand that sadly, I only discovered on the way home from kayaking the night before. It was so good we had to go back. The night before I got a coffee, mudslide and vanilla shave ice with Kona coffee ice cream in the middle and a drizzle of this creamy stuff over the top that she said was sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk. Sounds nasty, but it was soooooo good!!! This morning I was looking forward to trying a fruity concoction, but Mike made me order the same one. He loved it! It was really good!!!! I should have gotten him his own, but they were so big we couldn't finish it between the two of us either time.

If you are ever in Kauai, stop her for shave ice!!

Jeremiah's reaction to a lemon at the airport bar while we waited for our flight. The funny thing is he kept shoving it back in his mouth, inciting the very same reaction each time. We may be evil for providing the lemon wedge, but heck, it was sooo funny!!!!

Arriving in Oahu, this is the beauty we were greeted with as we drove to our condo. I wish we could have pulled over so I didn't have to take the picture through the window. We had a wonderful afternoon walking along Waikiki beach.

Kaua'i - Day 5 - Kipu Falls

2010-10-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

Kipu falls was a place I really wanted to see, but our guidebook didn't give directions because the locals she talked to asked her not to so they could keep it more private and not over run with tourists............

We drove around for a while on this really scenic and beautiful road, got lost, came to the dead end and turned around. On the way back we saw several cars parked on the side of the road and decided to get out and check to see if this was the trail head. It was!! We were on this VERY narrow trail with grass and prickly bushes right up against us on either side pulling at our hair and clothes when we hear what sounds like a stampede coming toward us. We scoot as far into the bushes and these 3 locals come barreling down the trail full speed ahead. We talked to them later at the falls and apparently they snuck away from work for a long lunch to jump off the cliff into the falls and swim, so that is why they were in a hurry :)

It was a really short treck to Kipu falls. And that thing about the locals not wanting tourists to find out? Too late! There were so many people there!!!

It was so beautiful! We were wishing we didn't have the baby with us so we could jump in. But taking turns didn't sound like as much fun as both jumping in and having a romantic swim and swinging on the rope swing. Next time!!

Say Cheesball!!

The 3 of us.

This seems like a theme! Vacation is sooo tiring :o)

After the falls we went in search of a great beach for swimming! I loved this tiny crab! he was about the size of my thumbnail.

At the beach in my wrap dress.

Me and my snugglebunny. Dang, a rouge wave got my silk dress. Oh well, it was made for Hawaii and they said it could get wet.

Okay, we are getting wet. Time to strip down to bathing suits!

Bye Mike, I am going for a swim.

The water was amazing! Mike took the baby for a walk down the beach and I enjoyed a wonderful exhilarating swim! All except for the creepy guy who kept staring at me. I was glad when Mike walked back in my direction!!

Stanley our world traveling bear. We found him last year in Ireland and since then he has also been to Oregon, Washington (of course, since that is where we live!) California, Maui, Oahu, Kaua'i, and Uganda. He appears in at least one picture every trip!

Yuck! Don't stick that in your mouth!!

Hmm, tastes gritty!

Dad, will you get this off of my hand?

Beach Bum!!!

My guy :)

Dirty booty!

Me and my handsome man!

Can't beat the backdrop!!

Us. I heart him!

After playing at the beach we went to the Kaua'i coffee company plantation. I was pretty bored, but I got an AMAZING blended coffee and sat feeding J french fries while Mike wandered around sampling tiny cups of all of the different roasts and watching an informative video. Did I mention how good the blended coffee was?? It had caramel. It was sooooo good!!!! When Mike was done he went in the gift shop and bought a bag of his favorite roast and also got me a super cute super comfy Kaua'i Coffee Company hoodie that I LOVE!! It has the little thumb holes in the cuffs that I love too!!

After the Kauai coffee company we found a convenience store and got drinks and a bag of Sun chips and found a Beach we could drive right up on and watch the sun set. What a great day!!

Our adorable baby sacked out at the end of a wonderful day in Paradise. Mommy and Daddy locked the doors an took the baby monitor with them down the few steps to the beach to watch the waves eating a yummy fresh fish dinner while keeping an ear out for the baby :)

Kaua'i - Day 4 - Lydgate Beach

2010-10-19T14:05:00.000-07:00

I have my rashgaurd and my spf hat on and my bottle. I am ready for the day!!!

We hung around the condo for a while relaxing this morning, so we got a later start to the day. We loaded Jeremiah in the car and drove a short way to downtown Kapa'a to browse the unique shops. It was fun and we stopped at Bubba's burgers for lunch. Jeremiah was totally sacked out in his stroller the whole time...........

After lunch we went to Lydgate beach. On the beach there are two walled in pools, one shallow for babies and the other deeper for anyone, and then the regular beach. We went in the deeper on with J because we had his floaty cabana. I swam around with Jeremiah for a long time while Mike snorkeled and then went in to the sand to layout while Mike swam with the baby.

Playing in the water.

Me and My Dad.

Aww, what a sweet smile!!

After the beach we drove to some waterfalls. It was literally 5 minutes away from the beach, but Jeremiah was totally sacked out after a hard afternoon of swimming!

Wailua Falls

Opaeka'a Falls

Opaeka'a again. The water falls were Gorgeous. After all of that swimming and driving around looking for waterfalls we were hungry, so we stopped for a snack at Taco Bell. On the way back to the condo we decided to go back to Lydgate Beach since Jeremiah had had so much fun earlier. This time we went to the baby pool and J was in the buff since his swim suit was wet from earlier.

He loved the water!!

And the sand!!

Slippery little fishy!

After Mike picked Jeremiah up in a standing position, he pulled and pulled until they walked in some deeper water. He was having so much fun!!

He was loving it!

Lydgate Park and the two walled in pools.

It was such a beautiful evening!!!

I think Mike was having as much fun as Jeremiah!

LOVE the look on Jeremiah's face. He was just so excited!!

Deep water for babies!

Time to get dried off and go home :)

It was a fabulous day watching Jeremiah face light up with fun and excitement both times we were at the beach! And then we got to go home and eat some yummy fish Mike made for dinner :)

Kauai - Day 3 - The North Shore

2010-10-18T16:30:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah had been waking up at 5am every morning because it was 8am at home. Mike took baby duty the morning before, so this morning I got up with the annoying little early riser and we went out to watch the sun rise at the beach.

Me and the little guy watching the sunrise.

It was gorgeous!

I was wishing there was a real beach so I could go for a swim!

A beautiful start to a beautiful day!!

After we watched the sunrise I went inside and made breakfast and then we all went for a swim. After about 45 minutes I decided to get out and lay in the sun, but Jeremiah did NOT want to get out yet, so Mike stayed in and played with him. He loved his floaty cabana and sitting on the pool steps!

He loved this thing!

When Mike finally got him out he looked like a prune!!

After swimming we drove to the north shore. There is a wet cave and a dry cave on that road and we found the dry cave first. It was pretty cool but kind of creepy at the same time. I was scared a spider was going to fall off of the ceiling and land on me or something.

The view of the cave from the road. It was pretty cool.

Across the street from the cave was a beautiful beach with a large grassy park in front. Jeremiah practiced his walking skills.

And his flying skills!

Then we walked to the water.

Jeremiah was pulling really hard. He wanted to go in. He loves the ocean! In Hawaii. Not in Oregon. That was his first ocean experience. Way too cold!

Getting our feet wet.

The waves were HUGE!! Some of the beaches were closed because it was too dangerous.

It was a gorgeous stretch of sand!

It was mesmerizing.

At this point you see me beginning to run away from the huge wave in the distance. But not fast enough. My shorts got soaked and so did Jeremiah's outfit. He is in a diaper in the next several pictures because he got soaked.

After we got soaked we decided to keep driving and found the wet cave. It had a pool of water in it.

Daddy and Jeremiah checking out the wet cave.

I love that face!!!

That face is so perfect with the words on that hat!!

Next we went for shave ice. No dairy, so Jeremiah got to have some. He LOVED it! I love how he just sits there with his mouth open like some kind of a baby bird!

This makes me want a shave ice soooo bad right now. Actually, it really makes me want to be in Hawaii!!

After our refreshing shave ice we went to a beautiful beach some locals told us about. These are our feet :o)

The sun was getting low in the sky.

It was a beautiful day!!

On the way back to our condo we drove out to see this lighthouse

We got out to take a couple of pictures.....

and this is what we found when we got back.

We have lots of pictures like this from Hawaii because we didn't go home in the middle of the day, so he grabbed naps in the car in between activities when he could. Being carried around Hawaii is a hard job but someone has to do it! :) After this it was delivery pizza and an old movie!

Kauai - Day 2 - Waimea Canyon

2010-10-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

On our first full day in Kauai we decided to go see the Waimea Canyon, the Grand Canyon of Hawaii. You drive drive all the way around the island toward Waimea almost until the road ends in that direction, then go up a mountain.
There is a river that snakes through at the bottom. This is the view from one of the pull-outs on the way up.

I love all of the colors and layers! Beautiful.
Us at the top.
Jeremiah at the top.
Incredible view from the top. God sure is creative!!!
How freaking cute is he?!?! I want him to stay small forever!!! I could just kiss him to pieces :o)

Getting derbles from Daddy. He was cracking up! He loves when Dad derbles his tummy! (same as what some people call a raspberry)

Wild chickens in the parking lot. I have no idea why but there are wild chickens all over Kauai. You are not supposed to feed them, but we did a little.

After Waimea Canyon we kept driving up, up, up to the Kalalau Lookout with a gorgeous ocean view. Elevation 4000 feet.
So Gorgeous!!!!!
Love the shadow Mike's hat is casting on my face....
Even the parking lot was pretty :)
So cute, even though he is a little unhappy about being in the tree. :)
On the way home we stopped at Spouting Horn Blowhole. It was really pretty and it makes this really cool kind of groaning sound when all of the air sucks in right before it spouts. Jeremiah was fascinated by it and we stayed and watched for a long time.

Getting ready to blow.........

Thar she blows!

Back at our condo for the evening. I am watching the sunset while Mike grilled coconut crusted Tilapia. OMG it was sooooo good!! We cooked fresh fish almost every night we were in Kauai. I loved it all except for the Marlin.

Goodbye lovely day!

going.......
going....

going.....

going.......

Gone! Goodbye sun! What a fabulous day!!

Kauai - Day 1

2010-10-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

I absolutely loved Kauai!! We left our house at 4:30 in the morning and we had to take 2 connecting flights. The lame part was that Alaska Air made us stop in Portland. Apparently the only direct flights to Honolulu are in the late afternoon and we wanted to fly in the morning. Then we had to get on an island hopper to Kauai. With all of that, because of the time change we still made it to Kauai before noon!
Our first order of business after checking in to our condo was checking out the beach! The complex was on a beautiful stretch of Pacific, but sadly there was not much beach.

That did not stop us from enjoying it though!

Jeremiah took to it like a fish to water :)

His naked buns were so cute in the water :). We had planned on just going to check it out, not go in, so we didn't put him in a swim diaper. But naked works :)
Time to get out of the water before we have any accidents.
On the way back inside to celebrate Jeremiah's birthday. He looks so cute in his little towel!
His loot.
His favorite was the " 'rocca" from Africa. He didn't even have to open it for it to be fun. In fact he never did. lol I unwrapped it at some point so he wouldn't eat the paper. :)
I love his goofball expression while Daddy helps him open this gift!
It just wouldn't be the same if I couldn't taste it first! I must taste Everything!!
Already shaking presents to try to figure out what is in them? I am sure he never guessed Weebles :0) A brown boy weeble and a blonde girl weeble :)
And the cake! We stopped at the grocery store on the way to our condo to pick up a cupcake for the birthday boy :) Unfortunately I videoed the entire "eating of the birthday cupcake" so I only have a before and after picture.
Ya, pretty much the worst birthday cake reaction ever. First he smashed his hands in the frosting and stuck them in his mouth for a taste. Pretty good. Another taste. Then he wiped his hands together to get the sticky stuff off. It didn't work. Then frantic wiping followed by screaming. He pretty much hated it! lol He was given a bath immediately after this picture :)
And that was pretty much day one. We went to bed at 8pm because with the way early morning, all of the traveling, and the time change making it 11pm at home, we were exhausted! On the plus side we were up early to start our first full day in Paradise the next morning!

11 Months Old

2010-09-03T16:53:00.000-07:00

I can not believe my baby boy turned 11 months old at the end of August! How the time has flown by! Though at the moment he is laying across my lap wearing the very same adorable little 3-6 month jeans he wore home from the airport exactly 2 months ago today. He might be a little guy now but watch out world, he is going to be a quarter back and guitar player when he gets bigger! Here are some of his 11 month old happenings.

Jeremiah's first peanut butter spoon. I know it is a high allergy food and he isn't 12 months yet. He was fine. Move on :)

Wrong end dude!

He LOVED it!!!

The next day he had peanut butter waffles for breakfast. He loved them and I loved that he was fully engrossed for 30 minutes!!

These are really good Mom!

This was about the time I threw him in the tub!!!

Always cuter, less sticky and smelling wonderful after a bath :)

My cute boy sporting a pretty unique outfit this morning....

Just a bright green cloth diaper, red Elmo socks, and a red, blue, and yellow binkey.

I think the binkey is what really pulls it together and makes it work, don't you?

What a cute little stud muffin!

Jeremiah walking today (with help) at 11 months. If you view the videos below you can see how much he has improved. He can balance with one hand and just stand there!

Jeremiah walking at 9.5 months the first week we were home from Uganda. He just pulled himself up on the toy and took off. He had never done anything like that before. Mike and I were so excited! We called Grandma and told her. She said "put that toy away!!!" She had only just met him and wanted him to stay a baby :)

Jeremiah walking at 9 months in Uganda. So tiny for his age!! Took the video for Dad to see but the internet there was too slow to upload it. Oh, and sorry about it being sideways. I don't know how to rotate videos.

Happy Birthday To ME!!!

2010-08-20T14:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a most wonderful birthday! It started off with rocking my favorite baby who was extra cuddly in the rocking chair for nearly 10 minutes. Yay for snuggly time with babies! Then I got on facebook to over 25 sweet happy birthday wishes from friends :)Then my husband came home an hour and a half EARLY!!! With potted sunflowers and a beautiful hand made turtle cutting board that he made me himself :) Swoon...
If you don't know of my love for turtles go check out my son Jeremiah's Turtle Nursrey!

I love it!

We hung out with J until the babysitter got here and then we were off to the Space Needle. I have never been up to the top and I really wanted to go! I was really excited to see it from the top!

The view from the top :)

The birthday girl and her man!

Beautiful view!

The setting sun. Too bad it was cloudy though.

The sound with orange cranes the two stadiums and the beautiful moon in the background.

The stadiums and Mt Renier fading into the sunset.

I see the moon and the moon sees me.

Seattle Skyline.

Sunset on Lake Union.

Checking out the sailboats.

My Birthday trip to the Space Needle was so fun! I have always wanted to go to the top. The sunset views were beautiful and I would love to go back up to the top again someday.

Dinner at The Melting Pot was amazing like it always is. We had the spinach artichoke cheese fondue for our appetizer and my favorites with it were the green apples and the rosemary focaccia bread. I had the lettuce wraps for my salad and I did not like them. The teriyaki sirloin and the prawns were my favorite part of dinner. Dessert.....oh how I wish I had not been so full. It was sooooooo good. They brought me 3 chocolate covered strawberries with a birthday candle burning in the middle. The white chocolate strawberry was AMAZING and the mild and dark chocolate covered strawberries were wonderful too! Of our white chocolate desert fondue I only ate a bite of the cheesecake, and 3 of the 4 cinnamon and cocoa dusted marshmallows dipped in the white chocolate. HEAVENLY!!!!!! We were so full we left most of the dessert plate on the table, but what I had was wonderful! It was a wonderful birthday date with my man!!

Bath Time!!!

2010-08-19T11:56:00.000-07:00

I just love bath time baby pictures! Jeremiah loves the bath so much. He can play in there happily for an hour while I blog, facebook, or talk on the phone right there next to him. Sometimes the cat comes in and gets in on the action. He just sits there and stares at J like "why are you letting her put you in the water like that???"

What J would look like with a comb over, lol. Look at that round tummy and adorable belly button!

New bath toys Mom got with a Babys R Us gift certificate from my Welcome Home Party. FUN!

Bath toys are the best!!!

Mom, can you be done taking my picture now?

Homemade Pedialyte

2010-08-13T12:38:00.000-07:00

My Mom found this recipe for me while I was in Uganda and my baby was so sick and getting really dehydrated. I was telling her how much I wished I could get my hands on some Pedialyte for him but there was none available in the part of Africa we were in. He absolutely loved the taste and it worked great especially since I didn't have any juice on hand and he was allergic to milk so his baby formula (no dairy free formula available in Uganda) usually made him throw up. Best of all most of these ingredients are usually stocked in your kitchen!

Grape Homemade Pedialyte Recipe:

1 liter water

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2-3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 packet grape kool-aid (or any flavor you child prefers. I try to use whatever I think will stain less since they are usually throwing up when I give Pedialyte. If you don't have kool-aid on hand you can use Crystal Light).

Cherry Homemade Pedialyte Recipe:

1 liter water

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 packet cherry jello (or any flavor you have on hand)

Making it with Jello makes it a little thicker, but some kids seem to like the flavor better.
You can also freeze the homemade Pedialyte into popsicles or ice cubes. Preventing dehydration is the main goal but we can still make it fun or easy!
Homemade Pedialyte is a more cost effective option as well. A liter of store bought Pedialyte runs right around $6 and often you need more than one especially if you have more than one sick kid. The homemade Pedialyte costs about .60 cents if you use free tap water. That is a 90% savings plus no more inconvenient trips to the store and with your sick child.
Once he has stopped vomiting and at least 4 hours has passed, you can start the B.R.A.T. diet. B.R.A.T. stands for bread, rice, applesauce and toast. You can also try noodles and potatoes. But, obviously, fluids are still the most important thing to prevent dehydration.
Hope your child likes this homemade version of Pedialyte as much as mine did and that it works well for you!

Baby's first haircut aka "goodbye wing"

2010-08-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I was going to have Jeremiah;s first haircut on his first birthday (or in that week). You know, the whole production. Camera wheeling Mom taking pictures of her baby up in the big chair getting his curly locks cut off to record in his baby book for posterity and all of that. Well today I could take it no longer.
I have tried every product I can think of but his "wing" (as we came to call it in Uganda) was driving me crazy. Mike has been telling me I should cut it, but I didn't want to cut off any of my baby's adorable curls. Today that changed though.

This is the "wing"

Ya, it is really long......

Wing from the underside.

Goodbye wing. RIP August 13, 2010. You might be missed, but probably not.

Rest assured that no other curls or locks on any other place on his head were harmed in the process of this wing removal.

No wing! Aww, his hair looks so cute!

What nice normal looking hair! lol :-)

Happy baby with no more "wing!"

Handmade pasta and pesto for dinner!

2010-08-12T01:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday at the market:: Pike Place

2010-08-12T01:37:00.000-07:00

We went to Pike Place Market on Saturday morning in search of Market Spice tea. A lovely cinnamon orange tea my Mom got me hooked on and I need some like NOW!!! It is amazing hot and cold and has such a great flavor there is no need to add any sugar or sweetener. I got an 8oz bag of loose Market Spice and also got small bags to try out loose Princess Grey, Pina Colada, and a lemon one I thought would be good for summer iced tea. We also had to make a stop at the donut stand. The only food vendor with a huge line!

Real men wear babies :) I love my ergo carrier.

My two handsome guys :-)

The mini donut stand

Our little family waiting in line for fresh hot mini donuts!

OMG, the cinnamon sugar ones were SO good!!

Beautiful Pike Place flowers. My favorite part besides the apricot logs :)

I love the dried flowers. I got a bouquet of Lavender. Smells like heaven!

Best farmers market in Washington!

Jeremiah's new highchair and a houseguest...

2010-08-11T23:56:00.000-07:00

One morning not to long after returning home I woke up to the dog going crazy in the laundry room. I almost rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but something told me I should go see what was the matter.

I came up the stairs to see Charlie barking at his dog bed. What the heck?? Are you scared of your bed dude? Why on earth did you wake me up???? Upon further investigation I discovered the reason for his distress. My cat (who shall remain nameless :cough: Tantar :cough: ) apparently brought in a defenseless little baby through the cat door.

Okay, is he not the cutest little thing you have ever seen?? And I would like to make a note that this is a miniature tennis ball. That is how small he was. We have a mini doxy and he can't get his mouth around a regular one.

I was so mad at my cat! The poor little guy was absolutely terrified! He was so cute and I wanted to keep him :) But I didn't. I did name him Justin though. We have an adult opossum that has frequents our grape vines every fall/winter for the past three years. I named him Steve, but am now thinking he might be more of a Stevena... Anywho, I called an animal rescue place and asked what to do with the little cutie. I asked if his Mom would be looking for him and they said no, but he should be treated for any wounds that might have been inflicted by my cat and he needed to get an antibiotic shot. So I put Justin in a laundry basket with some blankets and got the baby bathed and we were off to the animal hospital.

Poor little guy. I hope he was okay. He seemed in good hands at the animal hospital though.

A few days before the opossum incident I decided it was time to get Jeremiah a high chair. We didn't have one in Africa, so he is really good about sitting on the floor while I feed him, but he needed to have a high chair so he could have a tray to put finger foods on so he could practice his fine motor skills. The one I registered for had been out of stock for a few months, so I started looking on Craigslist for the same one. I wanted this particular one because it was wooden and I did not want a big cartoon themed plastic thing in my living room. It also had a plastic tray for easy clean up and sensitization. Perfect! So I was looking and I found a few listed, but they were all like "it is a very nice Eddie Bauer wooden high chair so we are charging $xyz." Most people were only charging like $20 less than the price of a brand new one! What the heck! This is second hand people, not Nordstrom. I spent a couple of hours looking because I really wanted that particular one, and BINGO, right before I was about to give up someone posted one for $25. Score! I had that sucker picked up in less than a half hour. I love the classic lines and the wood and Jeremiah loves to eat cheerios in it!

Test run of the high chair. And no, I do not have a cheerio on my bottom lip! :-)

I think he likes it :)

Jeremiah isn't the only one who likes it!

And after a hard afternoon of munching cheerios there isn't much else do do besides this.

And maybe a little of this! :-)

Jinja

2010-06-30T11:58:00.001-07:00

I have been posting updates, but it has been a long time since I did a picture update. We are only updated until April 2nd in pictures so if you continue be prepared for a huge photo dump!!

I left off with the day Mike came. I was SOOOO excited!! I COULD.NOT.WAIT. to see my man!! It was only 17 days, so just two and a half weeks, but it felt like an eternity! Now it has been more than 60 days since I saw him off at the airport! Anyway, I could not wait to see him an introduce him to our son! I think I embarrassed the Ugandans, who typically NEVER show public displays of affection in the way I flew to my husband and refused to let go, but I was later told my behavior was probably excused since I am an American. Whatever that means.
So here is Mike meeting his son for the first time. He was sleeping.

No words needed.

The next morning after meeting his son we went to Jinja on a weekend holiday at the Jinja Nile Resort on the Nile river. We knew the rest of Mike's trip would include courts and judges and meetings and stress, so we decided to take a little time for ourselves to bond our new family. Before we got there we went to Bugagali Falls at the Source of the Nile.

Mike and J at the source of the Nile.

Our first family (self) photo minus J's head. Sorry J, I did mention it was a self photo. Taken at the source of the Nile. That is pretty cool!

The mighty Nile. It is still hard to believe I was there! At the Nile River! How exotic of me!

Testing the waters. I wasn't going to go swimming, there are crocodiles in there! But I wasn't going to pass up the chance to touch the Nile River either!

The adorable monkeys at our resort. Room service for one please?

So curious!

Yes, they really came this close!

Cute baby!

Twins! Aww, he sucks his thumb just like a people baby!

Just hanging around!

The Nile from our resort.

By the end of his second day with Daddy I would say J was pretty comfortable with him!

Easter morning at the Jinja Nile Resort.

Ya, I love him!

Tuckered out after Easter breakfast in the hotel dining room.

Second family picture. This time we managed to get J, but he is sleeping :)

A cute monkey we saw on the walk back to our bungalow after breakfast.

After breakfast we lounged by the pool and I went swimming. Suddenly the sky opened up and rained on us like nothing I had ever experienced. We ducked under a thatched cabana until a lady from the hotel offered us an umbrella and we hightailed it back to our bungalow. We were soo drenched by the time we got there. We decided to put Jeremiah down for his nap and we all ended up catching up on our rest. After nap time we wandered around the grounds of the hotel and watched some Ugandan fishing boats out on the water. They have to have 3 men in the boat, one person to row the boat, one person to bail, and one person to fish!
There was supposed to be a huge Easter dinner in the main dining room, so we decided to go up and watch the sun set while we waited for dinner.

Sun setting over the Nile.

A view of the cabana area from the balcony by the upstairs dining room.

I love you Dad!!!!!

We took pictures while we waited for dinner and then we finally went in and asked how long until dinner would be ready. 10PM!!!! What? We decided to go eat in the bistro downstairs!

We ate out on the patio with a view of the pool and setting sun. It was very romantic until Jeremiah started screaming. I asked for some warm water so I could make the baby a bottle. Thirty minutes they bring me a kettle of water that was still boiling! I told them that was way too hot and could I please get some warm water. They motioned to J and asked if it was for him and I said yes, to which they replied that it was warm for him. I said "no, it will burn him!" They acted like I was very ignorant and went to fetch some warm water. Another 10 minutes passed and I decided that maybe if I brought my hungry screaming baby into the restaurant I might get better service. I was right! Funny how that works. After Jeremiah was fed and sleeping I enjoyed my English tea and margarita pizza. Partway through dinner the power went out (making us so glad we had decided Not to eat in the dining room upstairs since it was after 10pm by then. They brought us candles and it was very romantic!

I loved the Jinja Nile Resort cups and saucers and asked the waiter if I could buy two sets thinking they would make a great souvenir. After checking with his manager he said they were not for sale. Come to think of it they had no gift shop at all. Someone should teach them about capitalism!

Stanly, the bear we found in Ireland who has accompanied us on every trip since then appearing in random pictures :)

The power didn't come back on so we made our way into the dimly lit front desk and asked for candles which he gladly produced for me along with matches. We laughed all the way back to our room because Mike had woken up at 1am the night before with Jeremiah to make him his bottle. The power was out then too (we are in Africa) and in his sleepiness he somehow manage to pour Jeremiah's formula into my flashlight which was illuminating the situation. He killed my flashlight. A moment of silence for the poor orange flashlight I bought in Hawaii......RIP poor flashlight. Anyway, after killing our only light source he managed to make it to the front desk in the dark, which was quite a feet considering the pitch blackness of the night and the size of the resort. We were pretty far away! He asked for candles because our power was out and they explained to him that they don't give candles to guests and he should have brought a torch (flashlight).
The next morning we got up early because we had arranged for our driver to meet us at 8:30am so we could do some African shopping in Jinja before heading home. We went to the lobby and checked out and waited for him. And waited. And waited. And WAITED! I finally called him and he said he just left and would be there in about 2 hours. Did I mention we checked out, so we couldn't just go back to our room and change into our suits and go swimming and we really didn't want to drag all of our luggage over to the bistro even though English tea sounded delish! So Mike went and took Jeremiah to take some pictures and I arranged a special hire to take us into town while the front desk kept our luggage. When we go back to the resort after shopping our driver was there waiting for us. He was very annoyed the we made him wait, but somehow I didn't feel too bad!

J and Stanly on our last day a the Nile.

Stanly he Irish bear at the Nile River.

And that was our first holiday as a family. Jinja was wonderful and I loved every minute of it with the two men in my life!

In The Interest of Fairness....

2010-06-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

In the interest of fairness Shelly suggested I write a blog about what I will miss about Uganda. If I ever get chance to leave so I can miss it that is! :

*First and foremost I will miss the Bandelmans! Brian and Shelly and Gabe, Brie, Zoe and Noah have been amazing and I am so blessed by all they have done for me! We will be visiting them while they are in the U.S. this winter if they can stand us for an afternoon! :) The work they do here is awesome!
*Krest!!! I just finished one, and oh how I will miss it. I don't drink soda at home. I think it is gross. I also never really believed that using raw sugar instead of the high fructose corn syrup they use at home would make such a difference in taste, but it really does. I even enjoy a Coke here once in a while and I hate Coke at home. Krest bitter lemon is the very best soda though!! Being that it is bottled in glass instead of plastic might help too. When I walk down to the village for one, if I bring another bottle to trade, it is only 600 shilling for a cold Krest. About 30 cents US.
*I will miss the cooked cabbage. That stuff is amazing!!! I shouldn't miss it too much though because Juliet taught me how to make it. Thanks Juliet! Oh, speaking of her I will miss her and her sister Maureen! They both love Jeremiah so :0)
*Tea time at the Guest House with the beautiful sweeping views and Esther's wonderful cooking.
*The Ugandan children.
*Mendazi! Kind of like a Ugandan donut. You can buy it in the village for like 400 shilling each, so 20 cents.
*The wonderful pineapple and mangos here!!!
*Seguku village. Oddly enough the village has a sort of strange beauty and I enjoy my walks down to the village when I need airtime or a Krest.
*And last but not least, the beautiful children at Baby House.

Now Jeremiah and I just need to get home so we can start missing these things. :0) So get your hineys in gear U.S. embassy! As of today I have been in Uganda 98 days! That is a long time to be away from home!!!!!!

Seguku village.

Becoming Mom

2010-06-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

From the time we decided to adopt I was a little concerned about the bonding aspect of adoption. Our new child wouldn't know me. He would be bonded to his caregivers. How long will it take for him to bond with me? Will my baby scream and cry for his previous caregiver? Would it be a hard transition for him? I hoped not. I prayed that bonding would be quick and firm. I bought a baby carrier and decided that I was going to hold my baby and wear him as much as possible in order to facilitate bonding. Like I was going to want to put him down anyways!
From the minute he was placed in my arms at 5 1/2 months he seemed to feel secure and safe. Rennie said he just stared at me like he already knew I was his Mom. Like he had been waiting for me. He just stared and stared and smiled. I was so thankful. In the first week I had to go to town often for various paperwork appointments reguarding the legal guardianship. I was so thankful for the Bijorn. Jeremiah constantly missed naps at home, but slept like an angel right up against my heart snug and secure with me in his little Bijorn carrier.
After only two weeks of being in Africa with my son we went on a trip to Masaka with the family we were staying with. I was sick for the a couple of days while we were there and Brenda kindly watched Jeremiah one day so I could nap and watch movies in bed while I rested my queasy stomach. Around 5pm Jeremiah reached his crabby time of day and I could hear him screaming from my room. I went out to see if he was okay and he immediately calmed as soon as I came into his view. Shelly said, "wow, he sure knows who Mom is already!" By only two weeks he had irrevocably claimed me as his own. I was so thankful!
A week later we had to take Jeremiah to The Surgery to have his visa medical testing. Part of it was having a TB test. For the test they inject something under the skin that forms a blister. I held him securely on my lap facing away from me, toward the nurse, while they administered the shot and cried right along with him because he didn't understand why I let them hurt him. As soon as they were done I turned him to face me and laid him on my chest to calm my sweet little boy who screamed hysterically with fright not understanding why I let them poke him. When he began to calm, I laid him on the bed to re-dress him and his little face turned red as he started to scream again, and for the first time ever he lifted his skinny little malnourished arms up to me and held them out, begging me to hold him and not let him go yet. I have never felt quite so loved in my life as I did in that moment when my tiny 9 pound six month old threw his wobbly arms up to me for comfort! I will never forget that moment as long as I live!!
When Mike came I had already had Jeremiah for nearly a month and I prayed that he would bond quickly with Mike as well. That first night we stayed up late into the night talking and were still awake when Jeremiah woke up for his 1am feeding. Mike went and picked the sleepy boy up from his crib and fed him his bottle. Jeremiah was so tired he didn't realize who was holding him until Mike turned him to burp him and he started to cry in protest at this stranger. I moved to his side and told him that he was fine and he decided that since he could still see his Mommy that this man must be fine and allowed Mike to rock him back to sleep. After that he never looked back! Mike was there every morning and all day with his Mommy and he accepted him faster than I ever imagined! The next day he napped on Mike's chest after a full day of traveling to Jinja for a little vacation and was perfectly happy to have his Daddy pick him up in the middle of the night when he cried for his nightly feeding. Now Mike is back home and when he calls us I put the phone to Jeremiah's ear every time so he can "talk" to Daddy. He gets so excited when he hears Mike's voice and smiles brightly looking around the room to see where his Daddy is hiding! I can't wait to bring him home and reunite our precious boy with his Daddy who loves him so much!
What made decide to write this post was going to the embassy last Wednesday for our visa appointment (crossing our fingers and praying they will grant his visa soon and finally let us go home!!!!!). Of course they scheduled our appointment for 2pm. We left at noon to make sure that even if we encountered traffic we would be there in time. Jeremiah normally naps from noon to three. He slept for about twenty minutes in the car and woke the moment I loaded him into his stroller. He sat happily in his stroller during the walk to the embassy and once we were inside he alertly checked out the new surroundings and flirted with people sitting close by. Once it was time for our 2pm appointment I wondered how my tired little man would hold up considering his 20 minute nap. About a half an hour into the interview he began to fuss and cry out of sheer exhaustion. Shelly took him and a bottle out to the waiting area to try to calm him. After he devoured the bottle he refused to be consoled no matter what Shelly did. I excused myself from the meeting long enough to step into the waiting room and relieve Shelly from her annoying little charge. As soon as he was in my arms he looked up at me and calmed himself, then curled up and fell asleep against me. It didn't matter that Shelly was doing the exact same thing. He just wanted Mom. I felt bad that he threw such a fit and refused to let Shelly comfort him, but at the same time I thought, "He knows who I am. My prayers were answered and he chose to bond himself to me and make me his own!"
Last night as I typed and chatted with friends online at 1am my typing disturbed him since we are sharing a room here in Africa. His eyes were still closed, but he began to fuss and squirm in his bed. I reached down and pulled the precious bundle into my arms and he immediately felt safe with Mom snuggled down and fell back into a deep slumber without ever opening his eyes. I am so thankful for this gift. That bonding was quick, and that he is so young he never remembers a time when I wasn't his Mom. He may fuss from time to time, have grumpy afternoon once in a while and puke on me twelve THOUSAND times a day, but there was never a more perfect child to be mine in the whole word and I am so glad that God hand picked him to be ours!

Poeple's Opinions and My Family

2010-06-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

When my husband and I decided to start on the journey of adoption we knew that people would see the obvious physical differences in our family and probably feel free to comment. That they might say stupid and maybe even hurtful things. We have had some interesting comments along the way from people wondering why we were adopting from Africa when there are children in America who need homes and similar such things. I expected questions maybe even rude and untactful ones. I never expected outright hate.
A little background first. My husband and Mother have been working tirelessly tying to get Jeremiah and I home from 3 and a half months and counting in of being stranded in Africa by the U.S. Embassy after being granted legal permanent guardianship of our son by the Ugandan court. They have even been on the news twice to share my/our/Jeremiah's story. Ya, they are pretty awesome!
The first news piece was on our local q13 fox news station in Seattle about a month ago: http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-051910-stuck-in-africa,0,1986737.story
It was a great story and got people's attention. I heard lots of good things about it from people on my facebook page (my only way of contacting the outside world :) ). The second one just aired yesterday on our local King 5 news at home and was picked up by Northwest Cable News:
Also a great story. I went online to the link to watch it. This is were I get back on track. You can leave comments on the story there. When I looked there was one lone comment: http://www.king5.com/video/featured-videos/Adoptive-mother-stranded-in-Uganda-96613754.html
"Good leave her there, we have enough problems on our hands as it is... Why do these crazy people want to bring more of it here..."
Umm.......WOW REALLY? Is that seriously what you think? Orphanages have enough problems on their hands too, so should they have left Jeremiah dying to avoid that? At first I was shocked and angry my feelings were really hurt! How rude! What a Jerk! Then after I had a few minutes to process it I realized what a pathetic person they must be and what a small life that ignorant person must lead! I thought of Matthew 12:34 where it says "For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." I was thinking that that about summed it up about that person. Then I read the verse again and realized that in this whole process that goodness has not always flowed from my mouth. In fact frustration, anger, and impatience have more than once. So a comment meant to hurt me actually made me fall on my knees and pray that the overflow of my heart is something that is a good example for my precious son!
The ignorant comment still smarts a little, but I know that they are ignorant and wrong and because of Jeremiah Mike and I have been blessed beyond comprehension and my heart overflows with thankfulness at this blessing! :)

Things I love about home.

2010-06-08T03:31:00.000-07:00

There are so many things that I love and miss and am thankful for about home that I can't wait to get back to. Since summer has come to my home without me I am a bit wistful today..... Some of the things I miss are:
*MY HUSBAND. OMG I miss that man so much!!!
*MY PEOPLE! My fiends and family. Hanging out with them.
*MY HOME. I love my lovely little home and I miss it so much. And I miss the projects I always have going and showing the before and after pictures here on my blog :) I miss waking up in the morning and going upstairs to my kitchen with the scent of Mikes morning coffee still lingering in the air while I make myself a morning smoothie. I miss planting flowers and veggies and mowing the lawn (but not picking up the doggie poo!) and spending summer mornings on the back deck enjoying my breakfast at the table while I read a good book. I miss simple summer evening meals of salad or soup or BBQ with Mike on the back deck with candles and lemonade and holding hands. I miss home!
*SCRAPBOOKING!!! Need I say more??
*MY CAR. Oh, the freedom to have my car and I can just jump in it and go wherever I want.
*MY ANIMALS. Oh how I miss my kitties Glovebox, Tantar and Oscar and my mini doxie Charlie.
*MY BEDROOM. My huge room with the pretty crown molding and my sleep number bed and my new dressing table and my clothes and things. I am so thankful for having a place to stay here in Africa, but I will be so glad to be home after 3 months (and counting) living out of a suitcase with the few outfits I brought, camping out in a room that is not mine.
*SUMMER FRUIT STANDS. Oh how I love visiting my handful of favorite fruit stands in the summer and buy farm fresh fruits and veggies for our meals.
*SUMMER EVENING WALKS WITH MY MAN. When Mike is home from work and the summer day is fading to evening and the air begins to cool. I love these walks to the park hand in hand and walking past our secret fig tree on the way home and picking a couple of fresh ones. One for snacking on now and one for breakfast! Now I get to push my beautiful red peg perego stroller that I bought last year while dreaming of a baby! And we will have to spend time at the park testing out the new playground with our wonderful new son!
*COOKING. Making my favorite recipes in my kitchen and testing new ones.
*RESTAURANTS. Bahama Breeze and Chipotle mostly.
*CLEAN DRINKING WATER. Straight from the tap if I want. I had no idea that I took clean water for granted. The water out of the tap here is not clean. It can often be an dingy color and is unsafe to drink. Many people here do not have running water at all and have to walk every day to fill their jerry cans with water. Often unsafe water because there is no well or clean water source nearby. Around the world children die every day due to lack of clean drinking water. We are so blessed in America and we don't even realize it. Warning..rabbit trail! This is why I love Advent Conspiracy and will be donating for clean wells this Christmas! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqqj1v-ZBU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkTyPzRzuwc & http://www.adventconspiracy.org/
*JEREMIAH'S TURTLE NURSERY. It is honestly one of my favorite rooms in the house. I had so much fun planning and creating it with Mike while we waited for our baby and it will be even better once I can bring the little occupant home!

I can not wait to come home and introduce my little man to his Grandparents and Uncles and cousins! And reunite him with his Daddy! I am excited to bring him home and settle into a crazy new chapter in our life! So glad our family has grown!

The baby dude. He can't stand on his own yet, but when I was lifting him out of his pack and play he grabbed the edge and would not let go, so I stood him up there. It only lasted for just a second before he tipped over, but he was so proud of himself! It was TOO CUTE!

Still Waiting...

2010-05-22T06:02:00.000-07:00

When I came to Africa to get legal guardianship of my son I never imagined that I would be stranded here in Uganda for nearly 3 months, away from my husband for two of them, though I am thankful he was here for one month. But here I am single parenting this precious boy until the US Embassy decides to give me an appointment for Jeremiah's visa so we can come home. I call every day twice a day and leave messages, but the woman in charge of Jeremiah's file refuses to speak to me or return my calls. I love being with my son, but this stressful situation is keeping me away from my husband and family as well as taking a financial toll because of my being stranded here. I hope to bring my son home very soon. Two days ago I had to bump our airline tickets out to June 8th which will make the time I have spent here 3 months. I sincerely hope the embassy will do their job before the 8th so we can go home. I have already bumped my tickets out 3 times and don't want to again.
In the mean time here are some pictures of us from the first two weeks here and what we have been up to in Africa :)

Saying goodbye to Mike at the airport in Seattle and heading to Africa to meet our son. I cried like a baby after I had to go through the security checkpoint by myself. I knew I was going to miss my husband like crazy. And the guy in line behind me thought I was just plain crazy I think. :) Mike joined me almost a month later and then had to go home without us.
Seeing Jeremiah for the first time.
He was so beautiful, Rennie who ran the baby house at the time brought him.
Finally in my arms instead of just my thoughts and prayers!
Proud Mommy and beautiful son!
Hi sweetheart. I have been waiting for you for all of my life!
First bottle with Mommy.

First night with Mommy. Five and a half months old, only 8 pounds and wearing a newborn onsie. He was SO small!!!

Into town to get started on the paperwork.
Kampala traffic.

After the rain.
Village life.

First bath with Mommy. I love baths!!!!

Wearing Uncle Stephen's Very Hungry Caterpillar Jammies :o)

I love this Bumbo seat!!

Hi Mom!

The back yard where I am staying.

Our hands

He just loves bath time.

And then it's time for bed in his flippin' adorable Dino jammies!!!

My little stud muffin being adorable at a coffee shop.

Jeremiah and I at the equator on the way to Masaka. I have always been a little bit jealous of everyone's equator pictures on facebook who have been to Uganda. It seemed SOOO exotic. Now I have been :o)

I really didn't like Masaka, probably because I was sick most of the time we were there, but I did get some cute pictures of Jeremiah in his overalls and American flag hat!

OHMYGOSHIAMSOHAPPY!!!!

A fresh fruit and veggie stand we stopped at on the way home from 5 days in Masaka.

Jeremiah in his adorable alien sweater from Ruth. It was actually a chilly day. Who knew??

And that was the first two weeks. Here is a sneak peek of my next post. Mike getting to Africa and meeting his son for the first time!

My beautiful son and some babyshower highlights

2010-03-10T12:54:00.000-08:00

Bethany, founder of the baby house where Jeremiah lives went on a mission trip to the Bethany Baby House was kind enough to send me these pictures of Jeremiah. They are beautiful and have made my week!!

Two adorable babies. Mine is the littler one, the other is Johnny.

Beautiful boy.

I have the bouncer that matches this swing waiting here at home for him!

LOL, what kind of a face is that?

Friends

A beautiful lady loving on my son :)

Aww, what a sweet tiny little boy.

I LOVE this picture! Babies and bumbos all in a row :0)
Matthew, Johnny, Jacob, and Jeremiah, the tiniest one. Ours! :-)

Jeremiah on the Bethany House quilt someone from Rennie's church made for him. She made one for each one of the babies. How sweet!

The three old pictures I had from a month and a half ago :-)
I talked to Rennie who runs the baby house today and she said that he is around 8 lbs. He hasn't gained any weight because he has been growing longer over the past few weeks. He is tiny, but wearing 3 months size because he is getting to long for some 0-3 month stuff. He also had his first baby food on Friday. Lamb dinner (ICK!!) and peaches. I just love getting these updates! It is second best to not actually being there with him and experiencing these firsts.

Baby Shower Highlights:

The spread. The punch cupcakes and fruit were amazingly good!

The cupcakes with blue frosting and handmade white chocolate monogram candy "J's."

The gift table.

The haul

Girl talk.

A few of the girls.

Mom, Chrystie and I.

Sarah and Sarah. Friends and expectant Moms. I'm just not quite showing. :)

My wonderful friend Stephanie, the hostess. Thanks Girl! It was Fabulous!