COMING ALONG

Secured the domain name www.mamarazziportraits.com, now just gotta design and build the actual website!

Ordered business cards with this logo:



Jotting down lists and lists of ideas for all kinds of settings and poses for maternity, family, etc.

Taking a little girl's pictures this evening... in a TUTU I bought! Can't wait!

Quickly

Jack, you seriously crack us up on a regular basis.

It wasn't long ago that when you were thirsty you would

simply whine for someone to get you some water.

I would recite Shel Silverstein to you,

of course subsituting Jack for Jane:

Nowadays, you are all big-boy-independent.

Grabbing whatever glass

{or stemware}

within reach from the counter and helping yourself.

We have become very cautious about opening the freezer.

You are growing up so quickly.
**********************************

On a completely unrelated topic, I have a new love:

{other than italian style polenta, which I made for the first time for dinner last night and then scarfed up the leftoevers for lunch today... yum!}

Thayers Rose Petal Witch Hazel!

I got a bottle from Whole Foods the other day. It is great! I haven't used an astringent since my age ended in "teen" -- rememeber Sea Breeze?!

But something about this product was apealing to me as we head into the sweaty Summer months of thick sunscreens. Highly recommend it!

Now I just need to go get some cotton balls, so I don't have to dust off t.p. remnants from my face after I use it anymore!

A.L.A.S.K.A. 2010

{Sleeping Lady in the background}



It felt good to be home! Back to my roots, clean air, and majestic views.

As for roots... I am at month four of not highlighting my hair anymore. Roots! And this is what I look like without a stitch of makeup on.


It was a short trip at only 5 days, but we made the most of it.

Nolan slept on the flights there and I twisted his hair into a unicorn style:


My little sister graduated highschool, and if my mom has any trepidation about being an empty nester, she is doing an excellent job of hiding it. Can't blame her -- 30+ years of Mothering is a long time!
{Nolan slept through most of the ceremony}

{Maroon and Gold... brings back memories!}

{Mom and the grad, sister Samantha}

{Soon to be empty nesters... don't they look sad?}

Lots of time to relax, with only one baby:

{Nolan and Grandpa Bruce}

We hiked at Windy Point with Nolan in this great carrier that I borrowed from a friend (over three miles overlooking THE most spectacular scenery of Cook Inlet):


Speaking of friends, we got to visit with plenty of friends:
{Including my good childhood friend, Amy}

{And an old pal, Jake the dog}

Nolan ate all kinds of new things:

{Including Raspberry Pie!}

We celebrated for no reason:


But Nolan sure is gonna miss his Grandma:

{Jamaica 2010}

Back from Bryan's Sales Recognition trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica.

We are already unpacked and more than settled back into normal life

after taking a {short} break.

But, I can still vividly remember that:

+

=

{A smiling relaxed couple}

It was so nice to spend some time with just my hubby. I quickly recalled how much fun we have and how easy it is, without the stress and chaos of real life.

...but oh how we missed our boys...

30th Birthday

So, my real birthday isn't until November 9th,

but the festivities are starting a little early around here.

Bryan gave me my birthday present yesterday

...drum roll please...

it is a new amazing telephoto lens for my camera!

What a lucky girl I am!

And tonight we are going to dinner at one of my favorite sea food restaurants downtown and then to a basketball game for the Denver Nuggets. Hopefully it doesn't snow too much to interfere with our plans! The schools are closed today for a snow day, but we should be able to get out in Bryan's enormous truck.

So, maybe turning 30 in 12 days won't be so bad afterall :)

Addition and Subtraction

Being that Bryan and I are both Engineers (at least by education), we have a strong preference for math and science and for our boys to learn with an emphasis on these subjects.

So far, I am loving public school. But just in case, we are supplementing some things at home.

This is Warren's "Wallet of 3, 6, 9."
There are little flashcards ("money"), that either add or subtract to...you guessed it 3, 6, or 9. He is in love with it and can already do most of the math involved, eagerly putting the money in the correct pouch. Thanks to my Aunt Shelli for giving us this great math workbook! It is a really good way to learn beginner math with flip books and wallets.

Jack has one too, and true to his personality, he takes all the flashcards and lines them up perfectly. He is SO cute!

Can you guess from this post what I got for my early birthday present? I am so excited about it...I'll share the answer tomorrow!!

A walking cliche

It's official. I am the walking cliche of motherhood that I used to scoff at, back before I wiped drool off of babes' chins with my finger and onto my jeans without flinching.

Case in point. Last night I actually had the following thought:

Nolan is so beautiful. He is THE most beautiful and sweet baby in the entire world. I feel sorry for all the people that don't get to have Nolan as their baby.

Fortunately, I have Bryan to keep me grounded. When I shared the above sentiment with him, he just raised his eyebrows and laughed at me.

Whatever.

I know that I have the three most amazing kids to ever grace the planet.

All those other babies...yeah they're alright. Kinda cute.

But I wouldn't wipe their drool.

Any other walking cliches out there?

Vintage Posts -- Installment #8

Three words...deep.sea.fishing. In the Halibut Fishing capital of the world (Homer). It was June of 2005. I was pregnant with Jack, but that didn't stop me from barfing over the side of a boat...I mean fishing :)

{Our hotel. At the end of the spit in Homer}

{The marina. Too bad you can't "smell" a picture, but when I look at this I can remember the exact smell of the salty cold air with a hint of fileted fish}


{My favorite animal ever, the sea otter.}

{Open sea and Bryan's foot}

{We caught some of these fish, but not all}

We've got spirit, yes we do!

We've got spirit,

how 'bout you?!


Well thats about all the peppy chearleader I could muster up at the Broncos game on Sunday (they won!) And then on the way home on the bus, I was TIRED. But I could totally be a chearleader...if it entails napping.

Typing and Nursing

Yup, that's what I'm doing right now. At this very moment. Nolan insisted that I take a break from stripping all the beds in the house for wash, so here we are. Having an impromptu feeding/snuggle session, in the midst of my busy time of the day when Warren is at Kindergarten and I clean like a mad-woman. That's okay though -- it is a nice break and I will never turn down an opportunity to hold a baby.

So, since he's still nowhere near done, I'll do a weekly wrap up! This week was fairly busy after all. My mom went back to Anchorage on Sunday, it was sad. Tears were shed, mascara was running, and I can't wait to see her again. We had a great visit and the boys are still talking about her and making me laugh with their recollections of her visit.

The only thing that made the day of her departure better was watching Warren have a neighborhood friend over. They played so hard and had a blast for several hours.

On Monday I took the kids to an awesome park with a lake to feed the birds some bread we had let go bad. We were surrounded by ducks and geese and at one point Warren looked up at me for reassurance that we were safe in the midst of so many very aggressive, hungry fowl...only to find his look of concern equally met by his momma. Yeah, I need to work on my brave face for the kids. Obviously we survived though and in fact Warren made it across the monkey bars at the park for the first time! He has been asking to go back to that park all week so he can do it again. So cute!

Tuesday was a miraculous day! Just kidding, but the cleaning lady came so it felt miraculous. I was in such a good mood that I let the boys go nuts with the play do. Nearly every kitchen utensil was involved and in the end there was more play do on the floor under the table than on it. But the rest of the house was immaculate :)

Wednesday was a lazy day and I am hard pressed to even think of one remarkable thing about it. Except that Grandma Caryl and Auntie Debbie stayed the night since they had to pick up some cabinets early the next morning. Jack went home with Grandma Caryl on Thursday after preschool.

So, here it is Friday. Warren is at school and it is his picture day today. We got his hair cut last night, went to a local favorite restaurant for dinner...ya know since we only had two kids. Stopped by Costco to get Warren's class a snack among other things. Ended up buying Warren and Jack their Halloween costumes :)

Today I need to make my way to buy some more nursing bras (speaking of nursing). And I need to finalize our babysitter arrangements for Sunday's football game, since we have season tickets and will be attending the game at the stadium downtown! We are splitting the boys up, having a babysitter at our house for Jack and Nolan, and having Warren go to a friend's house. Hopefully that's how it will work out.

Jack is coming back home tomorrow since we have a block party to go to in the afternoon (with an air castle) and then a bowling party in the evening with one of Bryan's work colleagues. I imagine the boys will be good and worn out by Saturday night! It should be a really fun day for them.

Well, Nolan is done eating and now just using me as a pacifier. Ah, don't you just love the mundane details of my life?! I thought so...

Signing off for now!

We

We haven't had much sleep lately, on account of having a baby 7 weeks ago.

We are both terribly addicted to coffee.

We rarely get a picture together.

We love our boys so much it hurts.

We are both Chemical Engineers by degrees, but neither of us are working as Engineers right now.

We got new bikes this Summer.

We watch the news a lot.

We love air conditioning.

We laugh at the things our boys say constantly.

We are hard workers.

We are lucky to have each other.