JD's Birthday

yeah i know i am behind in sharing photos... but what else is new.

this year for JD's birthday we celebrated home with a baked from scratch chocolate cake and lasagna.  last year we started a family tradition that the b-day recipient gets to pick dinner and cake.

this is me concentrating very hard to get the cake just right.  baking and all the precise measuring isn't my strong suit.  JD just watched, laughed, and took pictures of me stressing about the cake.

thankfully they came out wonderfully... and we didn't have a fiasco like last year.  the chocolate cake recipe came from martha, as did the icing you can get it here.

this is my cute man with his new biking back pack on.  the fur babies and i got that for him as part of his present (you can't open a trip... and he needed something to open)

the finished cake.  the icing wasn't my favorite but at least i tried.  i think the cake came close to martha's.

and here is my happy birthday man.  last one in his twenties.  ahh what a young pup. 

Pillows for the nursery

a while back, while over on Bainbridge Island, we visited one of my most favorite fabric stores and picked up a Japanese car print that we thought would be fun for a little boy's room.  

since then i have been itching to make pillows but have been a bit leery about installing a zipper.  let's face it pillows in a kids room need to have a zipper because sooner than later, they are going to need washed.

thankfully my daily blog reading came to the rescue with sew katie did's post on installing an invisible zipper.  thank the sweet lord.  so i took her tutorial step by step and waaaa laaa two awesome pillows to go on one very sweet eames rocker.

1.  i cut the front and back panels and the muslin for reinforcement.  one thing i didn't think about when selecting the fabrics for the pillow is that i used wool for the back of the pillow which had much more stretch.  the muslin helped to keep the wool in shape and from stretching too much.

2.  then i sewed my front and front reinforcing together.

3.  then it was time to position the zipper... gulp.

4.  with one side of the zipper sewed it was on to aligning the other side and sewing it.

5.  align the sandwich of pillow, pin and sew.

6.  the big reveal - i am so excited about how they came out.  i was amazed i could sew a zipper.  you see, i am self taught in the sewing department and reading instructions isn't my strong suit.  thus zippers have been a struggle in my previous projects.  but these pillows, they turned out amazing.  thanks Katie! 

a gift from my parents

i have a hard time accepting a substitute when i get something in my head.

let me explain... i get ideas so specific when looking for something, that i have a hard time picturing anything else in their place.  this happened to me when picturing the nursery.  i immediately conjured images of me with the bean sitting in an eames rocking chair.  i knew the color, where i would place it in the nursery, and it just "fit" my vision for the room.

but then their was the problem of the price tag.. gulp.  even though the price was high, sometimes you just want something.  i couldn't get it out of my head.  i found a pretty good deal on the chair and was debating splurging on it when talking it through with my mom.  we decided that sometimes you have to just go for what you want and that anything else would have been just a substitute.  then she said she and my dad would buy the chair for us, because sometimes you should get what you want, not just what you need.

our chair hasn't come in yet but i am so excited i can hardly stand it.  AND i made new pillows just for this chair in our little nursery.  thanks mom and dad.  JD, the little bean, and i are really going to enjoy our new chair.

Community Supported Agriculture - CSA

since getting pregnant we (the collective we meaning JD and I) have been taking a hard look at what we have been eating.  

no, i'm not just talking about cutting back on processed foods and take out, but really looking at how we are getting our food and where it's coming from.  what we found, is that it is hard to just live simply and enjoy food with no added hormones, modified genetics, or pesticides. 

in every case we would have to pay more, to eat food, that simply came from nature without all the added crap.  one way we have always supported our food needs is with our back yard garden, but we wanted another way to supply our food needs. 

so a few weeks ago we joined a local CSA (community supported agriculture) farm. this way we are getting organic produce that is local.  the best part, it is delivered to our house every other week before we even get up.

this is a picture of our first box.  the farm we selected, Full Circle Farm, is local to the Seattle area.  the other cool thing they do is work with other organic farms on the west coast so we can get a larger variety of fruits and veggies during the winter and spring when not much is in season here (note the tomatoes in the picture).

so far everything has been delicious.

i thought i would also share some other links with you on urban agriculture.

The dirty dozen and the clean fifteen - if you can't buy all organic this list helps you to know which fruits and veggies you should buy organic and which don't matter as much.  They even have a cool print out you can throw in your bag and an app you can download to your phone.

Seattle's Urban Agriculture zoning changes - if you live here in the City there are a few changes to the zoning code that makes urban agriculture easier.  if they pass (and i hope they do) each of us could now have up to 8 chickens in our back yards!

Vertical Farming - have you thought about vertical farming in urban areas as a way to combat hunger and malnutrition?  if not it's worth your time.

Bee's are needed - if you haven't heard about colony collapse around the world and the devastated bee population you must have been living under a rock.  we can all do our part to give bees ample choices for food and shelter.  this is just one site that offers bee condos (as i like to think of them).

just a few things to think about on this thursday.
what are you doing to eat local and organic?  anything you would like to share?

about 11 weeks to go

it is amazing how quickly the weeks keep slipping away.

one weekend after another.  one task after another.  one inch in belly diameter after another.

i can't believe my 3rd trimester is here... the 1st trimester crawled by.  i think it's because i couldn't eat anything other than cereal and peaches out of a can without fear of getting sick.  the work days were the worst, clawing my way through the hours just to get to five o'clock so i could go home, eat, shower, and sleep.  only to get up and do it all again the next day.

the second trimester was so much better and had all sorts of new firsts.  i gained some energy back which did wonders for my sense of accomplishments.  i out grew my "normal" clothes which was a challenge for me if you remember this post.  but during this second trimester the most amazing thing happened; i felt my little man move for the first time.  we were sitting on the couch watching tv, some particularly exciting Friday night when it happened.  i was sure i felt a little punt.  then two days later the same thing... then later that week again and again.  it was through each of those little movements that i fell deeper and deeper in love with this little being who i have yet to formally meet. 

it was also during this second trimester that we found out our sweet "bean" is a boy.  a boy... a boy.  oh boy. each week he grew and i grew and before i knew it.  wham.

the third trimester.  i don't know what to think about this third trimester.  like clockwork with week 28 i grew more tired again.  my belly expanded again and in a big way (i'm talking whoa).  bending over to pick up stuff, put on socks, and tie my shoes has gotten much harder.  sleeping, has become harder because of the increased size of my belly and the number of pillows in our bed. 
on the other hand i get to feel our little boy move about a whole lot more.  we are finally working on getting the nursery all set up and this whole thing is certainly becoming a reality.  i can't complain really, if not for the lower back pain, i've had it pretty good.  the rapid change is quite weird... but in 3 months i will get to meet my little man... and all of this will be so worth it.

the nursery...

The NURSERY

even though we don't yet have anything to go in the nursery, we have at least started planning it out.  i thought i would share with you some of the items we were thinking of including and get your thoughts...

also i have some projects i have been working on that i would like to share with you shortly that i have yet to post on.  they are awesome though, like genius awesome.  (well at least i think so)

i figure i will continue to add to this picture as i reveal the other projects.

so far this is what we've got going:

1.  wall paper - The Fir Tree - Ferm Living  (this is up on one wall only)
2.  crib - Gulliver - Ikea
3.  rug - Hogan, Teal - Crate & Barrel
4.  animal photos - Sharon Montrose's etsy shop
5.  ugly doll - Moxie - Ugly Dolls
6.  moose hook rack - Sprallig - Ikea

not a bad start... more to come.

camping the dungeness spit

a few weekends ago we went camping.  

(man how time flies these days)

we went with some friends out to the Dugeness Spit for a little camping fun.  we were prepared for the evening chill, (it being the first weekend in May and all) however what we hadn't counted on was the wind.... and boy oh boy, was it windy.

JD and i were in charge of Saturday night's dinner.  we wanted something simple yet yummy for our fire roasted feast.  so we went with kabobs!

the veggie ones ( green and orange peppers, yellow and red cherry tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms)

and the meat ones (chicken and steak)

the meat was marinated overnight and throughout the next day in the cooler.

while i was working on the kabobs JD was making home made fire starters.

to make the fire starters he had been collecting used egg cartons, dryer lint, and sawdust.  (yes somewhere in the house we had a can or a bag of saw dust just waiting for this occasion)  he filled the egg cups with lint and saw dust and then poured melted paraffin wax over the lint and wax.  once the wax set up he cut them into individual fire starters - brilliant.

the Dugeness Spit is about an hour and a half drive from Seattle, not including the 30 minute ferry ride.  we got there before lunch and set up camp.

our friends had arrived the night before and set up their tent mansion you can see on the left.  we have the little 2 man tent on the right.  we discovered during this trip that is would probably be our last in the two man tent.  JD and I, plus Rainier and Baker and a baby belly made for some cramped space.  next year with the little man and his gear we are just going to need more space.

after setting up camp we decided to go for a little walk, which somewhere along the way became a 3 mile hike.

thankfully the sun was warm and we had some fantastic views.

we even got to see some animal life that day including a coyote, heard of elk, a crazy large ant hill, a big brown salamander, and a bald eagle.

that evening we sat around the camp fire as close as possible to ward off the chill of the wind... and ate dinner and smores... yum.

sometime during the night the wind subsided and we all were happy to be a cramped little warm family in our tent.  i will seriously miss that little tent and all the fun outings JD and i have had in it over the years.  when we made the move out here that tent was our home for over a month... but now our little family has out grown it's convenient size and i guess it is time to move to a larger model.

the nursery floor

remember like a hundred years ago when i told you we finished the nursery floor?

well we really did.  we still have EVERYTHING else to do in the room but it now has a floor at least. 

yeah... some people have time to stage their "finished" photos before taking them.  not us.  ha.  these are action shots of the progress of the nursery, no trim, the wall paper isn't done, no kiddo decorations, no curtains...

the list goes on and on.  we at least have a look in mind, but more on that later.

still here ( i swear)

i'm just exhausted...
i've been burning the candle at both ends for the past couple of weeks and it has caught up with me.  i am now having trouble staying awake through work.  zzzzz...

last night was JD's b-day and guess what i didn't mess up the cake.  pictures sometime i swear.

this weekend we planted the lower garden and got another one of our gardens almost ready for planting.  one step at a time.... ahhh yes.

hope everyone out there had a wonderful mother's day.  i know i did!  even though our little boy isn't "here" yet JD thoughtfully had presents for me from our gang.... i'll share soon.

i promise! 
xoxo
wren.

a campin we did go

last weekend we went camping.. 

and since then i can't seem to get caught up with anything let alone you...
it makes me sad.  so i appologize for being a bad blogger.
thought i would share a baby bump photo from this past weekend.  when JD showed me this photo i was more surprised than anyone i think... wow look at that baby belly.

that is some crazy stuff...

as a side note the tent i am standing in front of is ours... yep it is too small.  but more on that later. 

xoxo
wren.