a moment in the sun.

We are in the long process of installing our own hardwood floors.
Well, let me say Eric and a friend of his from work are in the long process. But they are both engineers, so best leave it to the pros, right?...
Anyway, I've dreamed of new hardwoods for years now. Years. And they are finally here in boxes all over the house. Strand bamboo. A lovely shade that's not too dark and not too light. Just perfect.
We've been in this house ten years now. The white carpet hasn't been "white" for years...after eight years of Maggie, and almost two years of Sammy, and the pets the previous owners had, and two messy adults and one messy child... No, the carpets are a lovely shade of dirty now.
And let me tell you - it's glorious to see it go. I can almost hear the choirs singing...
Sammy is pretty happy about this new flooring as well.
She gave it a good "test drive" yesterday when the sun was streaming in the front door windows, and that new hardwood flooring got nice and toasty...
I think she's just as pleased with it as the rest of us.
And I think you'll be seeing plenty more photos of Sammy and Max in the sun. :)

colorado: these two.

I took a month off from this space.
I turned the big FOUR-ZERO back at the end of June...
We went to visit relatives in Colorado in early July...
And I just took some time to take care of me...
But I'm back.
More Colorado photos to come.

But these two - guaranteed to make me laugh.

the (mini) mariners.

I took my big girl camera to the t-ball game Friday night. It was a warm day, but a little hazy so I knew the light would be good - and not too harsh. And I was kinda thinking it might be the last nice weather chance at photos (as I sit here typing and watching it rain...)
There was way too much going on in terms of people, colors and other distractions to leave these in color. The beauty of black and white is it's ability to alleviate some of the visual chaos in photos where it's near impossible to clone out every extra person, cars, and all those other distractions.

gameboy boy.

Max has had this old Gameboy for awhile now. The other day while playing Tetris he asked, "Is this a toy from the olden days?" I chuckled and said, "Yes. It is from the olden days." Then he says, "It was made in 1989." (I guess there was a manufacture date on it?...) And I chuckled again and said, "Yep. Waayyy back when I was a junior in high school and daddy graduated from high school."

Couple this with the fact that I'll be forty in less than two months, and I feel old, friends.

And while he has told me he doesn't like me to post photos on the blog of him sucking his thumb, well, I'm going to anyway. 'Cause I'm mom and I can do that. ;)

Happy weekending, friends!
a

these two.

Monday April 1st I had my appointment with my ENT to get the splints taken out of my nose since having nose surgery the week before. (I know you just read "splints taken out of nose" and cringed and wondered if you wanted to keep reading...) I took a taxi (expensive ride into downtown Portland!) there and my brother kindly agreed to meet me there and give me a ride home (He knows first-hand the nastiness of this surgery). Last time I had this surgery 22 years ago, I hyperventilated and almost passed out in the office when they took the miles of packing out. (Ewww, right?...) So I planned accordingly this time around. Wasn't going to chance driving myself.

Anyway, Uncle Wes was kind enough to drive me home and then stay and play with Max for a couple of hours until T-ball practice.

These two.

Together... A crazy, hilarious pair.

Two peas in a pod.

They had me laughing so hard - which was quite painful for the schnoz which was still terribly swollen and sporting stitches. (Who knew the nose moves so much when you laugh?!)

It was some long over-due and much needed laughter in my life.
Love these two.

sammy and her sticks.

She loves her sticks.

I take her out to go potty and she prances around, finds a stick and happily carries it up to the deck thinking she gets to bring it inside.

But woe is Sammy - I tell her to drop the stick.

Momma isn't cleaning up chewed-up sticks around the house.
Poor girl.

It's hard being Sammy Sue.

Don't feel too sorry for her.
She gets plenty of time on the couch when dad is out of town.

gma's birthday, a belly button & some cake.

Friends, I'm so behind on my editing and blogging.

I have SO many photos I've taken in the past month that are sitting - waiting to be edited, waiting to be blogged. I don't even know where to begin. 

So, I'll begin here: Gma's third 70th birthday (hee hee...) back on March 12th. She came to visit us the week of her birthday. Max read some Dr. Suess to her in the morning.

And man oh man! - You can't do a birthday without some chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, right?... It was good.

More photos to come. I promise.

I'm slowly getting around to editing.

Don't give up on my just yet!

a.

lazy daisy.

So the other day Max suddenly decided that maybe we should have named Sammy, Daisy. And I actually had a "that's kind of a great name for her" moment. Solely because then I could call her Lazy Daisy.

She's a lounge dog. Or maybe it's the laid-back, California girl in her. But this dog, at not yet two years old, has the fine art of lounging around the house (on the couch when dad is out of town...much to his dismay) down pat. She's a professional, friends. I may learn much from her about getting my lazy on in the coming years.

I present to you - Lazy Daisy Sammy Sue.

happy sammyversary!

A year ago this Sunday, we brought our sweet little Sammy home! She's been such a fun addition to our family. Gentle, silly, a lover of the belly rubs, an odd under-the-bed sleeper, a little bit cat-like in her pouncing abilities, an occasional  howler, a snuggler who just loves her dad to pieces - if only you could see her go crazy when dad gets home! We are way past the accidents in the house phase (thank goodness!), and pretty much past the chewing on anything and everything phase, and let's not forget the bickering with big brother phase - glad that one seems to be over. The siblings get along just wonderfully now. Max always gives his little sister a big hug before she leaves his room after story time.

Who would have known she'd fill that lonely hole that was left in our hearts when Maggie left us, so perfectly and with so much love.

Love you, Sammy Sue!

the friends that are family.

This family is like family to us. Eric and Rob grew-up together on Mercer Island. They've known each other since the time they were Max's age. Eric has always considered Rob a brother, and in a way, they really are brothers when you see them together. And all these years later we ended up moving to the same little SW Washington city that they were living in, Camas. The girls have called Eric, Uncle Meis, for years...and then we got married and I became Auntie Meis (doesn't have quite the same, cute ring to it...) Those girls love Max like the brother they don't have, and Max loves Miss A and Miss H like sisters he doesn't have.

It's a rare and beautiful thing. They're a gift, really. Those friends who would do anything for you, and you for them - no questions asked.

It was an easy shoot - our friends that are family.

Thank you, Afflecks.

xo