our kitchen

this is what our sink area looked like

until a few days ago

this is what it looks like now

i kind of love it

and here's the other side of our kitchen

i had a crazy realization as i was re organizing our kitchen

i love mustard yellow in there

it's fabulous

look, here's proof

i guess i'll roll with it

for now we'll have a black white and mustard kitchen

i dig it

"baby" noah

our dear friend rebecca just moved

and left us her sassy jumper

we (noah and hazel...mostly noah) love it

it's so funny

especially when noah is only in a diaper

such a cute 3 year old baby

oh these kids

i really love having a one and a three year old

we're right in between the tantrum throwing twos

i love hazel's age

she is so close to walking

a really good climber

loves to give kisses

and she is getting really good at signing to communicate

plus she is always so happy (when she's not teething)

i knew i'd love hazel's age

because i loved it when noah was there too

but i didn't know how much i would enjoy noah being 3

he is hilarious

he loves giving kisses, too

he is learning so much every day at preschool and home

and says the funniest things like:

"mom, i be so proud of you"

"i be caillou, you be caillou's mom, and hazel be rosy"

"i want to be a bus driver for halloween....named tom"

(that's his bus driver)

just thought i should record loving the ages they're at

since i'm not always so lucky to have 2 kids

and neither is in their terrible twos

dear sisters,

thank you for coming

and spending the weekend with us

we loved it

our living room

i just reupholstered our ottoman today

so it will "go" in our living room

i'm pretty happy with how it turned it

that's our boy

noah loves preschool

right?

then why was he crying every day

that he didn't want to get on the bus?

well lucky us

he has loved preschool always

he just got a little afraid and sad about leaving his family

behind him while he rode away

on the big yellow bus

so we tried a new tactic

michael took him to the bus

without me or hazel

and casually said goodbye

and noah's doing great

hooray!

i'm tired

i've been busy busy

having a late night office marathon with friends

staying up way too late

trying to be a mom

doing lots of hair

keeping my house clean

myself presentable-ish

trying to be crafty

cooking meals

and waiting for my sisters to come visit

it'll be just the break i need

but i should probably catch up on my sleep first..

the palouse empire fair

saturday we went to the palouse empire fair

it's pretty small

but we spent a couple hours there

noah and michael had their first fishing trip there

look how hard they are concentrating

noah caught a fish all by himself

and look a his prize...

a toy gun..

his first..

something i've been avoiding..

how do they know to shoot them off the bat?!

we took some pictures of us in the tire of a huge tractor

and we ate some funnel cake and a bubblegum snowcone

it was pretty fun

ps. so weird how we haven't seen the gun since saturday when we left the fair...

michael?

hazel's first big girl ponytail

her hair doesn't all stay up but she's adorable nonetheless

noah's first day of preschool

the day we've all been waiting for finally arrived

noah started preschool today

and loved it

on the way there

(we drove him today but he'll ride the bus from now on)

he told me molly, his teacher, is his best friend

and on the way home he told me about all the food he ate

we were worried he'd be afraid to be left there without us

but instead he was totally stoked and can't wait to go back

go noah!!

once upon a time...

this boy took me on a date

ok, it was last night

isn't he cute?

luckily he thinks i'm cute, too

and extra lucky because his parents were in town and sent us on a date

they even gave us money for it

so we went to dinner at a restaurant in moscow called gambinos

while we waited for our food

we played some cards

michael's hiding because he's afraid i'd be mad because he kept winning

i wasn't that mad....

ok, i was

i like to pretend i'm not competetive but michael knows better

we played cards throughout dinner

it was super fun

and the food was delicious

and then afterward...

what were we supposed to do?

no kids?

we got some icecream

and had lots of fun

it was one of the most fun dates we've ever had

thank you grandma and grandpa olson for coming to visit

and sending us on a date

come back anytime : )

a nice visit from...

grandma and grandpa olson

and they brought great grandma, too!

we had so much fun visiting with them!!!

we went to the farmers market

we went to the park

and they watched the kids so we could go on a date...

thanks, guys!!!

and just like that, she's gone

it was so much fun

i can't wait for our next visit

my sister's here

first stop (in spokane):

i just love this girl