Nesting?!

I think I've been nesting this past week. With Emma I didn't really nest, until a week before she was born. It makes me a little nervous that this baby might be coming sooner than expected...

Anyway, the nesting: I've been staying up late, into the wee hours of the morning, organizing my thoughts. I've pretty much planned my own baby shower, made a 'honey-do' list that's a mile long, shopped on-line for a big girl bed for Emma, pre-planned how we are going to house an extra person in our 850 sq. ft. condo, yesterday I made 2 different bread recipes, and I made the cutest baby floor mat.


So without further ado, my Mr. Man's play mat:

I can't keep the cat off it. The soft fleece and the comfy minky fabric.

Source

Funny

So we went back to the zoo last week and I took a couple more pictures:

 We asked Emma to sit in the 'Eagle's nest' and smile. I am guessing the sun was too bright but if you look closely at her face she looks like she's growling like a bear.

 This cage is for some of the monkeys but it was being repaired. After I made the "look at the monkeys" pun, 2 other individuals pointed out the same joke to me and Shane like they just couldn't hold the joke back to themselves (which I myself am guilty of).

Human nature:

1.	the qualities common to humanity
2.	ordinary human behaviour, esp considered as less than perfect

I think this photo is funny because Emma liked this statue of an elephant better than the real thing! It's kind of like buying the perfect Christmas gift and the kid likes the box better than the gift...

States Away

Emma and I were blessed enough to make a spontaneous trip to Grandma and Grandpa's  house in Oregon. We were equally blessed to have Emma's cousin, Brittany, join us.

It was an excellent mix of activities and leisure. I was never bored but I never got overwhelmed with things to do either. It's always nice to come home for a visit.

My cat sitter kept mentioning the strange things the cat would do while we were away: moving blankets, pulling the toilet brush into the middle of the living room, and sleeping in the bathtub to name a few.

On with the Fun:

Tide pool treasures.

Brittany's hermit crab.

Probably the only picture I have of me on this entire vacation.

Saturday's Market: The Hippy Parade

Her first attempt at video games!

Playing 'Stomp Stomp' with Grandpa.

Tired at the end of our trip.

 Next time I'll have to make plans to meet up with a few old friends, this trip was so spontaneous the only people who knew I was there were my family and my cat sitter!

Child Labor

It's not what you think! Emma wanted to help wash the helicopter.

She started by watching.

Next there was cheering and clapping.

She than was able to help with the helicopter.

She was finally found scrubbing the floor of her own accord. 

Resolutions

So I don't like to make my New Year's resolutions at New Year. I don't really like to follow the crowd and do what is deemed 'popular'.  But I like goals.


I generally make a list of goals that I want to work on or accomplish over the year starting on my Birthday (birthdays kind of symbolize a time to better yourself in my opinion). My birthday is in September, which begs the question: "Why bring this up now?"

I keep my goals written on a small post it note that I use for a bookmark in the only book (besides scriptures) that I kept out of storage-Harry Potter. This way I can see what those goals are as often as I pick up my book (approximately once a day). I bring this up now because I've completed 6 out of 8! I believe this current success is due to the fact that I've found a way to physically see my written goals almost daily. I think about them. I make plans to complete them. I make mini goals to accomplish the actual resolution.

So if you're looking for a way to get something done, write it down and than make yourself aware of it often.

Now for those last 2 goals: Actually using my canner, and living off food storage for a select amount of time that is yet to be determined...

image from internet

Day at the Zoo!

We went to the zoo! It's a small zoo but enjoyable just the same. We were able to enjoy free pie (thanks to a certain elephant that had a birthday). Plus we watched the bird show; it was entertaining with an unexpected twist (one of the hawks ignored his routine and flew off)!

We really liked the tigers, they were napping RIGHT next to the windows! Plus Emma thought the elephants were pretty cool. There were several monkeys that always make people laugh. 

We look forward to going back (we bought membership passes). 

FREE crafts for the Birthday celebration

Garden Boxes

So Shane got the bright idea to make our own 'Earth Box'. If you're not sure what those are I suggest googling-very interesting garden concept.


Anyway now that we are living in a 3rd story condo we had to find a way to keep a garden; so making our own boxes was not only a great idea it was also less expensive to do it ourselves.

His make-shift garage.

Emma helping.

One of our two boxes is mostly dead, we think the heat from the AC unit may be the culprit. But our front balcony box is doing very well!