birthday & labor day fun

My dad turned 65 on September 1st and nothing makes my dad happier than having the whole family get together. So, on Sunday, Jeremy, Espen & I headed up to Yarnell to hang out with the fam, eat delicious food & celebrate my dad's birthday.

Happy birthday Papa!!! We had tons of fun!




It took only minutes for this kid to take his pants off once we got to my parents house...he is always just in his underpants-Espen surveying the land from the big boulder under the porch.


Awww. Bros, a coloring book and a huge niche in the wall to lounge in...what more do you need. Well, turns out you need some comet cleanser and a paint can. The crayons didn't necessarily stay on the page.

So sweet, our son had a good time chasing us around with a toy chainsaw pretending to cut our Achilles tendons.

Rack 'em up Espen, your going down!

'No Dad, you do it like this'-Flings ball across the table with his hands

This is my dad hooking up the trailer to the back of his command car...with a bolt, some duct tape and a piece of wire. Jenny & Joshua obviously have no fear, they actually rode in the trailer while the rest of us opted to stay...in the truck.

Hello Lover

Well Hi Babe.

Just doing a little modeling on the side of the truck, you know, the usual.

Mean Face stare off. These boys are masters of the mean face.

Everybody in? Time for a family portrait...

...and another one. These turned out great! Thanks Jeremy for running to and from the camera about 10 times so we could get a good one. 

Grandma, the baby wrangler.

I want to photo shop them onto a pirate ship, Jen looks like she's sailing the 7 seas.

Whipping Wind.

Espen, the flag boy.

Really Espen? Still no pants, huh. At least we got him in a shirt.

The boys in a Shrek trance.

bicycle

Oh my gosh. How I miss riding my bike. It's been a long summer and I am more than ready for the desert to cool off so I can hop back on my bike and ride around town.

This past Sunday, after we finished dinner, Jeremy & I rode some old bikes (my old bike...that I miss) around Yarnell with Jenny & Joshua.

The sunset was incredible so we stopped to snap a few pictures. This is what transpired...


me: Let's take tough bike guy pictures
jeremy: Ya! Go like this!
me: uh....


me: not gonna happen, I can barely touch the ground let alone toss the front of the bike up in the air
meanwhile, Jeremy's still workin' his cool 'trick'


So, I couldn't do the trick, but I could prop myself up on my tip toes and try to look cute.


How about a normal one... but what the heck happened to the sunset?!


There it is.


note: Seester, we need to get you a new camera. Although mine does a similar thing without a flash, what's with the pixely pics.

i miss you, norway.

I think about Norway often, I think about our trip there, about the people we met and what an amazing time we had. Throughout the day little things here and there will spark a memory, today it was a house.

I'm not sure what the heck happened today but as I was on my way to pick up Espen I realized that it was only 2:30, he doesn't get out till 3:15. If I went back home I would only be there for a few minutes before I'd have to head back out so instead I decided to cruise around the neighborhood near Espen's school and check out the houses. I passed by a house with a rickety old roof and from there my head went spinning. My thoughts instantly went from rickety roof, to grass covered roofs, to shiny black roofs, to Bygdøy and then at last back to our trip to Norway.

While we were there we took a fairy to Bygdøy to see a couple of museums and on our walk I noticed rows of white houses with lacquered black roof tops, I was in love and snapped a picture of one so I'd always remember them. Tonight, for some reason, I got it in my head that I would visit Google maps, travel back to 2007 and retrace our steps from the walk from the fairy to the museums to see if I could find the house...and voila!





View Larger Map

Now, the next time we visit Norge(an we WILL go back again) I'll know that we need to take the Bygdøy fairy from Aker bryyg to Dronningen and walk up Huk Aveny towards Langviksvien and the white house with the shiny black roof will be there to greet us.

4 years

Months ago, for reasons unknown to me, Espen requested a Christmas birthday party. I think it's because at some point I mentioned another pool party like last year and he must of thought no, let's do the complete opposite. As the months went on he'd still periodically mention the Christmas theme...that is how we came to have Christmas in August.

I'd like to take a moment to thank my beautiful friends and loving family, we had so much fun on Espen's birthday, it just would not have been the same without you.

From having the pool completely to ourselves, to jeremy making a mad dash in the morning to grab the balloons that I forgot, to the wacky Christmas cake and gifts wrapped in Santa's and snowballs-Espen's 4th birthday party was a huge success.

So many photos were taken and I'm sorry, I'm going to share about 40 of them...for now, I'll start with the day through my eyes/camera.




{so cute}

{mama!! in the pool!!}

{nerds talking about true blood}

{espen hiding from the camera}

{up in the air}

{papa, an orca & a smoke, 'nuf said}

{caribbean cooler?}

{INWL-Improvised noodle water launcher}

{i couldn't resist, this is my dad XO}

{blurry balloon/birthday boy}

{heck yes, christmas cake}

{i cut those trees down myself}

{what happen's when your cake gets a huge crack? you fill it with icing}

{uh, woops}

{time foe bed birthday boy}

7 years ago...

7 years ago, after a week of 'IM'ing each other, Jeremy and I coordinated our first date. He met me at my house around 8, I had blond hair (some fake) in a pony tail, he had on a tight 'White Drugs' (record label) shirt. I was nervous, he was cool. We decided that the British Open Pub would be the perfect place, not to fancy, pretty casual. He'll tell you I talked real fast, I'd say that he confused the crap out of me when he said, 'Hey, my friend Vince is in a HOT BODY contest tonight at Coyote Bay Night Club, you want to go check it out'. We did. After our brief stint at CBNC we made our way back to the pub and stayed there all night. Back at my house we talked till 2am, went out for Filbertos, and then back to my house where we ate and talked till the sun came up. We said our goodbyes and the rest is history.
We tell each other almost everyday how lucky we feel and every year now, the day before our son's birthday we like to celebrate the day that we had our first date.



{my lover, driving to the BOP}


{british open pub}


{take 1}


{take 2}


{take 3}

espen's first day of school

While I write this Espen is hopefully having a good time at school. It's the first time he's ever been without a friend/family member yet around other kiddos.

This morning was a breeze. We've did some dry runs throughout the last week so we kind of new what to expect this morning in terms of timing. I made Espen's lunch last night, a PB&J by request along with Triscuts, grapes, string cheese and a juice box. I also laid out his outfit last night so we wouldn't be scrambling for missing shoes/socks/underwear. (somehow we lose those A LOT!)

My alarm went off at 6:30 and when it did Espen popped up for a minute and asked 'Am I going to school RIGHT NOW?'...No buddy, go back to sleep. I couldn't tell if he was excited, scared or dreaming.

We bolted out the door and headed to the school to find the streets jam packed with cars, kids and parents. Espen asked if he could wear his back pack, I put it on him and right away he asked me to take it off, that sucker was heavy.

When we got to the classroom there were already tons of kids and parents in there, some were crying, parents had their cameras out as did we. Espen found his desk and immediately began to eyeball some little boys crowded around tubs of Legos.  We told him to go play with them but of course he said no. Jeremy knelt down next to the boys and asked if Espen could play. They said yes and ever so cautiously Espen approached the bins, without making a full commitment he squatted down and began to build a spaceship/car/machine. After about 5 minutes he finally took a huge leap and sat down. Jeremy and I were watching from across the room and smiled when he sat down, kind of like we were reassured that he would be okay here without us.

The bell rang and the teacher rounded the kids up to the front of the room, they sang a song, held hands, formed a circle and sat down...all except Espen. He stood there for a moment and when I went over to tell him it was okay to join his teacher notice and stepped right in, telling him that she wanted him to sit with her and just like that he did. So while he sat beside his teacher, leaning in her lap I gave him a kiss, grabbed some tissues and walked out the door. In less than an hour I get to pick him up...and do it all over again tomorrow till he learns how to drive. UGH!