we went to tamar’s this morning to hang out. the kids played, and we just relaxed, and chatted. these pictures were taken on her back porch. i am in love with the peeling concrete, and the old door. the red geraniums just finish off the look perfectly. she’s not so in love with the rustic aspect. if i could trasplant her porch on to my house, i would do it in a heartbeat. in the meantime, i just might have to pay her to use her house as a backdrop for photo shoots……..

okay, so i think tamar had the most “amazing” birthday party ever!!!!

her husband, pete, organized an “amazing race” for all of tamar’s friends. it was seriously so fun, the clues sent us everywhere from target (how could we not?), to ikea, riding the Max train to the airport, taxi’s to best buy, and more. it was so organized, and went off without a hitch! my partner didn’t show, so i went along with the birthday girl, and her friend shannon. there were 5 other teams. i was officially the camera person. this was fun, because, i got to experience the whole excitement of it all, but i didn’t have to drive around portland. that is my least favorite thing to do. shannon drove, and seriously, she should be stunt driver. taking sharp corners, wheels squeaking, going around traffic, she was amazing. we all know my driving record…..it wouldn’t have been good.

at one part, they had to run up these stairs on this hill in portland, and they were asked “chug or chew” and they had to answer without knowing what was in store. luckily shannon said chug, because at the top of the hill, there was two teams ahead of them that were attempting to “chew a whole package of hot dogs!! tamar and shannon are both pregnant, and that wouldn’t have been good! shannon chugged two chocolate milks and a v8. she took it like a champ, and they made up some great time!

anyway, in the end the pregnant ladies won! a perfect ending for the birthday girl!

pete is such a great organizer. hopefully this will become a tradition, i would love to do this with eric. thanks guys for including me, it’s an experience i will remember forever!

these are a little taste of the shoot i did yesterday of carly and weston.

i am in love with ALL of them, so it was hard to choose these, there are more you can check out on my photography blog. that’s not even all of them! i’ve been taking carly’s pictures for awhile, and i can never get over how great they all turn out! mark and shannon have their work cut out for them trying to decide! and can you believe weston is only 4 months? what a cutie! there is nothing i love more than a squishy baby…

thanks guys, i had fun as always!

this picture was taken last week…..yes, that is a duck playing in the sprinkler in our front yard.

random.

he just showed up, and the neighbor kids chased him into our yard, and i guess he decided that he was just going to make himself at home. he stayed there ALL evening. at one point he was on our porch looking in at us through the glass door. we had visitors from all over the neighborhood wanting to see where all the quacking was coming from! our front lawn was covered with bits of bread the next morning. luckily he wasn’t too fond of it, or we might of ended up with a new pet. i wasn’t too thrilled about the idea, and then eric reminded me that joey and chandler had a duck.

now, with more randomness…..i’ve been tagged by jamie.

1. i was mini miss yuba-sutter 2nd runner-up 1992

2. i wish my favorite color was red, but it’s not, it’s sea blue.

3. i was in 3 major car accidents by the time i was 18. two of them i was the only car involved.

(don’t ask)

4. i’ve had EVERY hair color and style possible. (except for a mohawk and a mullet!)

5. i have to be immersed in atleast 3 projectss at ALL times, or i don’t feel like i’m accomplishing anything.

6. i labored more than 30 hours with both of my boys.

7. i went to massage school, and passed my boards, but i have yet to finish my licensing.

( i can’t massage much, due to tendonitis in my wrists.)

well, hopefully that was random enough….

heather and tamar, you are tagged!

i would like to know some random things about you guys!

here i am feeling like it’s 8 months ago all over again…..

yesterday, while awaiting the arrival of tamar and her little ones, my boys were out riding bikes. eli was literally three feet from me, and, not out of the ordinary, takes a tumble off of his “big boy bike”. now, some may think of me as the opposite of an over protective mom, but i’m not one to react too quickly, or go running at the first sight of a fall. my boys do it constantly, and VERY rarely cry. now this was different……eli was CRYING. not the “mom i need some attention” cry, but, the i’m REALLY hurt cry! i went to grab him, and he was all tangled up in his bike. as soon as i lifted his face, i could see that we were not in for the relaxed afternoon with the schrater’s that we had planned. he clearly needed stitches.

now, with that, if you click HERE, you will see my baby’s face about 7 months ago. i’m thinking he must have been going for matching scars!

okay, back to the story….so dylan was about ten feet away, on is bike, in the middle of the culdesac. i started panicking……i’m absoloutely HORRIBLE in these type of situations. eric is always telling me that i need to work on it, and learn to stay calm. MMMM YA.

so i’m carrying eli (whose almost as big as me), and dragging dylan by one arm, screaming(because nobody comes between dylan and his bike), and i go up to the neighbors house and ring the doorbell. and i ring it again, and again. see, i knew joann was at VBS with her boys, but carl works from home. i needed a calm face to help me assess the situation, and thank God carl finally answered the door! eli was dripping blood (which he later named “owie juice”) everywhere! carl took him and got him calmed down, took a look and told me to go home and get what i needed together. i ran out the door, came running back, (i had forgotten to grab dylan, and i had their phone in my hand)and went to get things together. i was still in my pajamas, hadn’t brushed my teeth, blood all over me, and yet none of this entered my mind until we were already halfway to town. we picked up eric( thank the Lord!) and headed to emergency. lunch time and nap time came and went, 4 hours later, we emerged with one very tired and hungry dylan, two tired, hungry, drained parents, and one tough, brave, strong, little man with six stitches in his beautiful little face. eric said he didn’t even really cry when they gave him the stitches. just when they gave him the numbing shots he looked at the doctor and said “why are you doing this to me?” my sweet eli, been through way too much in his little life, but i guess it’s all a part of who he is….

sweet

tough

sensitive

concerned

smart

tough.

so, anyway that was my day yesterday.

a little shout out to carl for being so calm, when i was losing my mind,

and to eric for just being the best dad to our boys, and for knowing how much we needed you yesterday!

eli was back on his bike last night before he went to bed. eric had to get after him for going too fast. they are out again as i write this…….i guess it’s best to get back “on the horse”

……but he’s my baby….

okay, so i know i haven’t blogged much lately……i’ve kind of been having a rough couple of weeks personally. but in the midst of it all, i found out that i won $100 shopping spree to quilthome.com. now some of you might be saying, so? well, this was the best news i could have recieved. i have been stalking a few sites for about a month waiting to get a look at amy butler’s new line of fabric, NIGELLA! i knew i had to have it, (something about it just makes me happy inside!) but there was just SO much to choose from. anyway, i immediately placed an order, and got it in like two days, and have been planning, working and sewing ever since! my mom bought me this pattern a couple of months ago for these gumdrop pillows….aren’t they delicous? so easy, and fast, yet they make quite a statement. i also painted armoire this week. i’ve had it forever, and it either needed a change, or it needed to go, so it’s still here, just with a little makeover.

anyway, these projects have kept me going the last few weeks, gave me something to do to keep my hands and mind busy, since i really didn’t feel like leaving the house and facing the world. God must have known i needed that. i am now inspired in other parts of the house, so maybe there will be more to see soon…………