One year ago today...

...Merrick (with the help of friends and family) moved into our new house! While he was moving, Tori and I drove to Yakima to go to Hannah's baby shower.

I can't believe how quickly this past year went, how much has happened, and how life doesn't seem to be slowing down.

Here are a few pictures from last week. On Thursday Sydney came over for a few hours, so Shannon and Sophia came to play. The girls are starting to interact and seem (for the most part) to enjoy each other's company. Sydney gets a little annoyed with Gracie trying to climb her, but she usually patiently waits for an adult to come pluck Gracie off of her legs.

These two were showing off their strong legs. If you look close, you can tell they are holding hands.
A good book always draws a crowd...
After her friends left, I found Grace under the table, sucking on the chair. Why wouldn't she be doing that?

Ruining...

A few years ago our niece (who is now 7) was playing in her sister's room. Things were a little quiet, so my sister-in-law (who was in another room of the house) said, "Maleah, what are you doing?" Very innocently, but matter-of-factly, Maleah replied "ruining!" To this day I have no idea what she was really doing in her sister's room, but the term stuck. Now, for some unknown reason we have dubbed the things Gracie does as "ruining." Not because she is demolishing or destroying, but because her way of playing is just King-Kongish. She plows through stacks of toys, climbs on things she shouldn't climb on, picks up two toys and bangs them together repeatedly, etc...

Here are a few pictures of ruining from last week. They were all taken on one day, she doesn't wear the same outfit every day.

Discovering outside, and "ruining" the clean glass with her slimy fingers and runny nose.

Beached whale "ruining" the stack by pushing off the plate that was on top of the box. She was then high-centered and needed help getting out of this position.

Trying to get into the car seat from the wrong side. You can't tell from this picture, but her feet are dangling in the air and she was again stuck. Getting stuck is another one of her specialties.

Finally making it into the car seat and then "ruining" by rocking and banging the seat into the wall over and over and over.

This is why I spent part of my day last week making sure every single outlet in the house was covered...

Evidence of the true "ruining" that happens from time to time. I think I need to move this little house plant to a safer location.

A new way to play...

Gracie has crawled under the excer-saucer before (see this post for a reminder), but she has never done this! I often watch her throughout the day wondering what she is trying to accomplish. This time I really couldn't come up with an answer.

He is risen...

He is risen indeed!

Happy (late) Easter to everyone.

We hope you all had a great Easter. We spent the weekend in Eugene with Merrick's parents. We haven't been there much since Gracie was born, so it was nice to get away and have time with them. Our Saturday was pretty low-key. We watched a lot of basketball, I helped Margaret do some last minute things for the church Easter breakfast, and Merrick and I were able to get in a long run while Gracie "napped" in the afternoon.

Sunday was a different Easter than usual for us. Margaret was in charge of the all church Easter breakfast, so there was a lot of hustle and bustle getting ready for that in the morning. It also made for an extra early Sunday morning because the breakfast was at nine (an hour and a half earlier than church normally starts) meaning that we were up early getting everyone ready and out the door on time. The breakfast was delightful, and she did a wonderful job with all the details. The food was delicious, and it is always fun to see their friends at church. And, of course, Gracie was a hit in her beautiful Easter dress. Speaking of... We had a few options of dresses for her to choose from this year, but we went with a hand-me-down. Grace wore the adorable white dress that Ella (our niece) wore at our wedding. Ella was just about 5 months old when we got married, but was much bigger than our little peanut, so the dress was perfect. Actually, it was a little big in the chest, and not quite long enough, but no one besides me would notice those things. Margaret made all of the flower-girl dresses for our wedding, so it was extra special for that reason too!

We had an Easter basket for Gracie, but we decided to "open" it on Saturday night. Easter is such an important holiday to us that there is part of me that really doesn't like the whole basket tradition. It seems to take away from what we are celebrating. BUT, we didn't want to not do one at all, so opening it on Saturday might just be a fun tradition for our little family. Anyway, her basket was full of new goodies... alphabet blocks, Easter little people, 2 books, and a stuffed rabbit (that came with "Runaway Bunny"). She also got a little book and stuffed duck from grandma and grandpa. I don't think she realized that she had new stuff, and was just as pleased to play with the empty plastic eggs and chew on her bunny basket. Maybe next year she will be more into it.

The remainder of Sunday was also relaxing. I was even able to take a nice nap! We loaded up and headed home after Gracie had eaten a snack, hoping we would make good time and get home before she was hungry again. No such luck! She woke up in Salem and cried until we stopped in Lake Oswego at my parent's house. We fed her again there, and visited for a bit before heading home and crashing for the night!

Spring cleaning 7...

The "eating" area. We don't yet have a table for this room. When Dorsey lived with us, she had a table that we used in this area, but since she moved out we just haven't replaced it yet. We sometimes put Gracie's high chair on the floor in here to eat, so it does get messy..

What I did:

• Swept (I'll mop when I do the kitchen)
• Dusted window frames, baseboards
• Washed inside of windows
• Vacuumed out the vent
• Cleaned and raised light fixture

Spring cleaning 6...

The kitchen. I love my kitchen, and it is used a lot, therefore, it is almost always a mess. I despise doing dishes, so I have a tendency to let them accumulate. Pretty much the only thing I do like doing is cooking, but when it comes to cleaning, I don't want anything to do with the kitchen. (Good thing I married a man who doesn't mind doing dishes every once in a while... I mean, most of the time.) It is nice to have it clean today, but now I am not wanting to make dinner... knowing that cooking will make a mess that inevitably won't get cleaned up right away. Oh the vicious cycle.

What I did:

• Emptied all the cupboards, cleaned the shelves, threw away old food, and organized remaining items. (Did the same for the pantry)
• Vacuumed the top of the cupboards to get rid of cobwebs and dried leaves
• Cleaned microwave inside and out
  
• Wiped down all counter tops and cleaned the cabinet doors inside and out
• Emptied all drawers, cleaned out, and re-organized items in each
  
• Swept floors
• Cleaned outside of all appliances
• Scrubbed sink and cabinet under the sink
• Washed out garbage and recycling cans
  

Before

After

Pantry before

Pantry after

Cupboards before

After (I think we need to do some grocery shopping)

Before

After

I haven't quite finished this room, but wanted to post anyway. The oven was finishing a self-cleaning cycle, so the stove top was too hot to clean. The dishwasher was running, so I haven't cleaned the inside of it yet. I will also mop the floors when I have finished the rest. Hopefully later tonight (after a quick Costco run).

Spring cleaning 5...

The dinning room. I only have the "after picture" because I wasn't planning on cleaning this room today. I just kept going when I was finished with the living room. I had all the stuff out, so why quit - right?

What I did:

• Cleaned table (and put out my nice Easter tulips my mom-in-law gave me)
• Dusted light fixture and china hutch
  
• Washed inside of window and dusted the frame and sill
• Watered plants
• Cleaned marks off the walls
• Vacuumed
  

Spring cleaning 4...

The living room. This is where we spend the majority of our time when we are here. We loved that this house didn't have a separate living room/family room. It makes our downstairs seem very open.

What I did:

• Picked up toys and books
  
• Washed inside of windows and dusted the frames and sills
  
• Cleaned mirror
• Dusted furniture, baseboards, fire place & mantel, frames, etc...
• Cleaned the light fixture and ceiling fan
  
• Vacuumed (including along edges, under furniture and under the fire place)

Before

After

Before (sorry it is dark)

After

Spring cleaning 3...

The laundry room. One thing I love about my house is that the laundry room is upstairs. It makes washing, folding and putting clothes away ten times easier. I guess that just having a laundry room in my house (after 4 years of living in apartments) is great! I also love how much storage space is in our laundry room. We have the cabinets above the washer/dryer, and shelving on the other side of the room. It is a great place to store all of our "surplus" items (toilet paper, soap, diapers, etc...)

What I did:

• Swept and mopped the floor
• Dusted baseboards, above cabinets an counter top
• Cleaned washer and dryer (tops & inside)
• Cleaned and organized cabinets
  
• Ironed shirts (that have been hanging there for weeks... okay, months)
• Took inventory of our "surplus" and made a list of what we are low on
  

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

The ants go marching...

We had a fun few hours with friends today. Tori was able to come over for a bit, so we met up with Shannon, Sophia, Marisa and Sydney for lunch at Chevy's. We had a funny Hispanic waiter who was pronouncing all of the Mexican dishes with a bad American accent... he said the silent "j" sound in fajitas and the and said the double "ll' sound in quesadilla and tortilla. We got a laugh out of it, and I think that is what he was aiming for (well, that and a bigger tip).

After lunch Tori, Shannon and Soph came over to play for a bit. The girls had a good time, and it was fun for Shannon and I to get to visit with Tori. She is going through the process of buying a house, and has changed jobs since the last time we saw her, so it was fun to catch up a bit.

At one point Shannon was laying on my floor taking a picture of the girls and was staring at the ground. She discovered the trail of ants. Merrick and I have killed three little sugar ants in the past two days. Bugs inside gross me out, even when they are tiny, so yesterday I cleaned the kitchen and swept and mopped thinking there might be something sticky on the ground that was attracting them. Well, I as gross as it is to have a friend discover bugs in your house, I was glad she was down there and figured out where they were coming from. After nap time, Gracie and I are going to walk to Freddy's to buy a few little traps. Hopefully those will work some magic and get rid of our not-so-wanted guests.

A pain in the ear...

Our poor baby has been sick since Saturday. She came down with another cold, and we weren't too worried, but it just kept getting worse. She didn't sleep well Sunday night, and by Monday her cough was really nasty. Monday and Tuesday night she didn't sleep at all... well, she would sleep if one of us was holding her, but the moment we put her down, she would wake up screaming. I held off on calling the doctor until Wednesday, thinking she had a cold and it would get better. Since we were all walking around like zombies, we decided to have her checked out. Sure enough, she is sick! She has infections in both ears - poor baby, no wonder she didn't want to lay down. Dr. Mosho put her on amoxicillin - boy does that stuff bring back memories for Merrick and I. I used to enjoy taking it (pink food coloring and bubble gum flavor, who wouldn't want that?) and Gracie seems to LOVE it too! At least we won't have to fight to get her to take her pink medicine.

Last night she slept a little better. We put her down in her swing which is somewhat upright and that seemed to do the trick. She slept in the swing for a few hours, and then ended up in our bed for the rest of the night. We don't sleep well when she is with us, but at least she got some rest. She was so exhausted yesterday that she was falling asleep in her highchair between bites of food (that's what the pictures are from). Hopefully she will bounce back quickly and life will return to as "normal" as it ever is around here.

Spring cleaning 2...

The master bedroom and closet. There wasn't too much to do in here, but again, it was nice to do the things that I wouldn't normally think about.

What I did (bedroom):

• Washed all the bedding
• Flipped the mattress
• Dusted the bed frame, the dresser, the side tables, base boards, door frames and window frame, light fixtures, and picture frames
  
• Put away books and magazines we were done with
• Cleaned the inside of the window (and the yucky sill)
  
• Vacuumed the floor - around the base boards and under the bed and dresser
  

Before

After

Before

After

What I did (closet):

• Laundry!
• Took empty hangers off the rack
  
• Folded and put away clean clothes
  
• Put away sweaters and warm winter pj's that aren't needed anymore
  
• Stored away maternity clothes (yep, nine months later)
• Vacuumed
  

Before

After

Now that that's done, we are headed to the pediatrician!