Snow Day!!!!

We woke up to SNOW today! It was fluffy and gorgeous and we got over 3 inches! We made our first family snowman and had lots of fun romping around in the snow. Yay!

Precious Portraits

Here's Cal at his record-breaking second time at the portrait studio!

Calvin's First Snapshot

Yes, obviously we need more pictures of ourselves on here and not just the kid, but face it, we aren't as cute. Case in point, the above picture. I actually think it's pretty scary, but had to document the first shot Calvin snapped on the camera. Maybe he has an eye for photographing wild animals. HA! Anyways, if you look really close, you can see my missing front tooth. Betcha some of you didn't know I had THAT! Now you know a factoid about me.

Proof that we need a new camera

My friend April and her son Mason were over playing today, and as our kids were being so cute, I decided to take some pictures! Well every time I click on this darn shutter, it takes until "one-mississippi" to take the picture. Something is seriously wrong with this camera. Needless to say, getting a picture with eye contact was quite the exercise in patience. Luckily Mason exhibited model behavior in patiently posing for the below photograph. I'm not quite sure what is going on in the above one though, probably something only kids would understand.

Exhibit "A" of said camera: (hear my snarling growl)

IT'S....Potty Time!

Lest you be deceived...my kid is by no means potty trained. He still wears diapers 24/7. BUT- we started introducing the idea of sitting on the potty about 7 months ago. His first birthday present was a potty (are we sick as parents or what? Ok, not we, ME.). Anyways, 'potty time' has turned into 'reading books time' which makes everyone happy. Calvin even has a special 'book' drawer in the bathroom, which he is constantly rummaging through. No, we are not expecting any miracles, but hopefully when the day comes to transition to underwear, it won't be such a giant battle. Good luck to those who are in the midst of this trial though!

Calvin and the Girls

We watched our friends' kids on Saturday while they got to go on a date, for those of us who have forgotten what that is, I included a definition. Anways, all of the kids had lots of fun playing around. They all especially enjoyed racing around on the wood floor and eating lots of apples!

They were all drumming away on our bouncy-ball. Boom-boom-boom-BOOM!
Maybe this picture with Cal in it is a sign of what is to come in their family....heh-heh!
These two were racing buddies!

Visiting Cousins!

I got to see my Cousin Sarah and her kids before they moved out to Kansas. They are so fun and we wish them luck. Especially with baby #4 on the way! Besides, it was a good reason to enjoy some Sweet Life, and we all know we could use more of that!

Book "Meme"

My friend, Margaret tagged me with a book meme (pronounced "mēm") . I (meaning "Margaret") have seen the word "meme" so many times and had no idea what it was. So, I looked it up in the wiktionary. Apparently, it means the following:

"Any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. "

So, now that I figured out what it means...The rules are as follows:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next five sentences.
5. Tag five people.

This is mine, aka Anna's:

The first book I picked up was the Bible. The verses in Exodus 28:26-30 were really great, but really long. SO I posted the reference for any of you who want to look it up, and I picked a new book- The Happy Prince, which was on my bookshelf next to my desk.

And after the third year was over, the Soul came down to the shore of the sea, and called to the young Fisherman, and he rose out of the deep and said, "Why dost thou call to me?"

And the Soul answered, "Come nearer, that I may speak with thee, for I have seen marvellous things."

So he came nearer, and couched in the shallow water, and leaned his head upon his hand and listened.

And the Soul said to him, "In a city that I know of there is an innthat standeth by a river. I sat there with sailors who drank of two different -coloured wines, and ate bread made of barley, and little salt fish served in bay leaves with vinegar.

Ok and that is FIVE sentences. A little random reading, but maybe interesting nonetheless.

I tag:

• Kristine
• April
• Andria
• Tania
• Annie

If you see this and are on my list, you have to do it! Tag you're it.

This is what happens...

As I was busy posting this morning (and thus ignoring my kid), this is where I found him after I heard some mysterious scuffling. Apparently I'll have to keep this new obsession in check. Blogging is addicting- beware!

I Love...Taco Time!!!

This is a tribute to Calvin's cousin Abbie who started exclaiming "I love Taco Time" at a very young age. Sean's parents own 3 stores so needless to say...we love Taco Time. Yummy!

New Orleans Baby!

In November Calvin, Aunt Lindsay and I flew to New Orleans to visit family. We had a blast and wanted to share some of the adventures. I took over 100 pictures in 5 days so this is obviously a very small sampling. By the end of the week they were even teasing me for taking pictures of the garbage cans. I'm indulging by posting a lot of pictures here.
Doesn't Cal look handsome in his giant puffy coat?
The famous alligator trash can
We had a mighty scary alligator on our hands...Rrrrrr!
This is your typical Lousianana swamp- we even saw real baby alligators! (not just the above one)
This is on the ferry crossing the M-iss-iss-ippi River, for those of you who saw 'Deja Vu', it is the same ferry
Calvin and I in the swampland
This was one of the worst Katrina houses we saw- 2 years later and it is still dilapidated. This spider is as big as a leaf! They call them banana spiders. They were cool in nature but I wouldn't want one near my house.

Check out my Slide Show!

Old House/New House

So many of you know that we moved into a house this past summer. (Yay!) And although we're still renting, we got to paint and personalize the place! Here are some before and after pics of our hard work. Later I'll put up a pic of the outside of the house for you all to see. The house fits us well and we are very comfortable here. No more cramped apartment!

Guest Room

Red & White before... (after we tore off the wallpaper)
Soothing Green & Tan (or "Ryefields" if you will) after

Master Bedroom

Minty Green before...
"Beacon Fog" Blue after... (with my homemade quilt)

Cal's RoomLemon yellow before... Khaki green after.

Ta-Da! The transformation is complete! See all of the details on our slideshow posted above. And for all of you out there who have done any sort of updating to your home- I feel for you! Even just a simple paint job and pulling up carpet is a lot of work. Here's to many late nights and hard working weekends, all in the name of improving our humble abodes. Happy painting!

Calvin's 1st Birthday

This is old news- but Calvin turned ONE way back in the summer and I just wanted to share our memories of the event. It was pretty tame, as one-year-old parties are, and more for us parents than the kid, but we all had a good time anyway.

This is King Tut himself on his throne.












Calvin & Daddy







His first birthday kiss!







His #1 friend Mason















Calvin getting ready for a modeling career

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALVIN!

Signing Friends

Calvin and I have a lot of fun at our weekly Sign Class. It has now been a full year since we started. We miss our regulars who have moved away, but have found new regulars who continue to make it meaningful. Here are some pics of our fun times. We meet at 10:30 am on Thursdays at our house- come join us!

Ashley, Deakin & Addie

Kristine, Jake & Julie

April & Mason

We Are Us

Here we are! We're in blogger-world! I am Anna, my husband is Sean and our son is Calvin. We've lived in Oregon for 7 years and are proud to call it home. I grew up in Boise, so yes, I have lots of Idaho pride, and no, I didn't live near any potato farms. Sean was born near Portland and grew up here and in Utah (he went to Davis & Bingham High if any of you Utahans are wondering). Calvin is our 17-month old busy boy. He plays hard and then sleeps hard. This is our family. We're happy to join the ranks of being a bloggers and hope to see you all soon in blogger world!

I love to laugh, I am goal oriented, I love friends, I love photography, I love my family, I hope to have 3 more kids and a dog someday. I always turn the light off when leaving a room (thanks dad), and always have at least 2 Costco sized packages of toilet paper in the house. I love food, especially smoothies right now(thanks pregnancy) but most of all I love life...especially in Oregon!