evergreen state vacation :: 5

my sweet little sister treated us to a mani/pedi the morning before the wedding. it was a great time for the sisters to just hang out. let me tell you, i have never seen so many color choices in my life! and it was the first time i allowed someone to work on my feet (i have a thing with people touching my feet...). it was a MAJOR feat (ha, ha...no pun intended) on my part.











the afternoon was spent at riverfront park for a BYOL picnic with the bride and groom to be. we found a great shaded spot underneath some trees and enjoyed our lunch and chatting with everyone.



































































the evening was rehearsal dinner at mom and dad's house. clint's mom and family prepared a fabulous filipino meal, which was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. ty disappeared with cousin carl after making a brief appearance for food (those two were quite inseparable during the whole visit). emma did exceptionally well meeting all the aunts, uncles, cousins from my side of the family (we have a lot), while gibson was content to be passed around.















































the sidewalk chalk made an appearance during the night...






















the grandkids did their best chalk art of grandpa john.

evergreen state vacation :: 4

friday was the day of the bridal shower.

during the afternoon grandpa john put the boys to work cleaning the patio. it was a bit painful watching them coordinate the sweeping and picking up. 2 would be watching while 1 would be doing all the work and then they would switch (their version of teamwork?). but it was a nice cousin to cousin bonding moment.








while the boys and men enjoyed some laser tag action, the ladies gathered for some yummy asian food, delicious cake and some karaoke fun.



























everyone had a turn on the mike, even little emma. i got some great video footage of people singing, but i'll only post emma's (don't want to embarass the grown-ups).


upon returning from laser tag, some of the men couldn't resist the lure of the karaoke machine. it was so enticing, in fact, that my own father sang! (that's just amazing).


































more photos here.

wordless wednesday::daddy time

more wordless wednesday here and here.

evergreen state vacation :: 3

the primary reason for our spokane trip was to celebrate my sister's wedding. and it was the perfect opportunity to be reunited with family i haven't seen in a while (most probably since my own wedding). sometimes i wish we weren't all so spread apart so that it's not so difficult to get together. but then again, it's nice to be able to go places and know someone there.

we had 3 wedding run throughs. the first was mostly a tour of the grounds. emma kept her cousins busy running after her...there was so much to explore!
more photos posted here.

evergreen state vacation :: 2

we were picked up at the airport by ibu and grandpa john (my mommy and daddy).

we settled into our rooms once we got home. boy it's been a long time since i've been back.

emma LOVED having her very own room and pretty much claimed that it was hers all along (thanks auntie michelle for sharing).

while emma napped, aaron, gibson and i sneaked off for a bit to take care of a quick errand at the mall where i came across a bubble tea stand. oooohhhh happy day!




the rest of the day was spent relaxing and preparing for the busy weekend to come. emma even managed to get grandpa to come out and draw with her. i don't think we ever got to draw with chalk, but i guess grandkids are the exception.








more photos are posted here.

evergreen state vacation :: 1

in preparation for our airplane trip to washington state, emma and i put together this fun little lapbook. we also read books on airplanes and airports to get her prepped for the big travel day.




















































thanks connie for the lapbook link.

we really tried to pack light, but i think it's impossible when you're traveling with a baby (those diapers and extra clothes take a lot of space).

we began our journey 6:30 a.m. to catch our flight to spokane.

a little stop for breakfast at the airport before boarding and then we were off!











































both emma and gibson did excellent during both flights, and our trip there went off without a hitch. emma was quite fascinated with all the airplanes at the aiport, and being able to look out the airplane window at all the clouds. she really liked being able to open and close the window shades, buckle and unbuckle her seatbelt and turn the reading light on and off by herself. plenty of things for little fingers to touch and fiddle with. gibson enjoyed himeself too. if i had to guess, i think his most favorite part was eating and sleeping.

miss me?

hi there! did you miss me? we've been on holiday the past couple of weeks. i will post soon about our vacation, which was fantastic!

right now we are recovering from our vacation (maybe we need another vacation from our vacation?).

actually, we are mostly recovering from our horrendous flight experience home. boo. details to come.

the month of "b"

may (i know...it's WELL beyond the month of may, but better late than never) was brought to you by the letter "b."

more details on our letter months here and here.

here's what we did for the month...

introducing the letter h:













bumblebee:
found this bee craft here, though instead of printing the template i just used yellow and black construction paper to make the bee shape. then we "personalized" it with stick on eyes and pipe cleaner antennas.













butterfly:
we made a butterfly and used mirror painting to decorate. emma also felt the butterfly needed something a little more so she embellished it with little stars after the paint dried. this site gives you helpful directions in mirror painting. i had also planned to do this one since i had saved up lots of TP rolls but we didn't have time.














boat:
we made a paper boat out of large construction paper, and sang row, row, row your boat as she decorated the boat with paint.








b foods:
we made banana muffins (i had originally planned on banana bread, but emma wanted muffins)...






































...smelled, tasted and cooked with fresh basil...













...made bakso (and threw in some bok choy into our dish)...













...and of course enjoyed a family favorite: bacon.

b themed books we read:
bible, berenstains b book, puppy mudge and his blankie...i know there were 2 or 3 more "b" books we read but may was such a long time ago that i don't recall what they were.

b things we came across day to day:
bricks...

















bubbles...











a blue balloon...















and biking (sorry no photo, but i'm sure you can figure out what to do for that one).

and the grande finale for the month of b...
baby brother!












there were so many more "b" things on my list that we didn't get to do or go over, but there will be a next time. for now, our monthly letter activities will be postponed until september as we enjoy our summer and our new baby.

until next time!

pretty purple

one of my origami cards is listed on cleveland handmade's etsy treasury (hand picked featured items from our members): treasury west...purple haze :).

my cards are also being sold locally at lilly's handmade chocolates in tremont. we just stopped by this past saturday for a little chocolate fix, and they've got a couple of new creations. they're also currently displaying artwork from emily dove.

chocolate and art...puts a smile on my face.