Missing My Blog

Hey guys!

Wowzers. There is A LOT going on in the J family and I want to share it all. The problem is that with so much to tell, I often don't know where to begin.

And SO many pictures to get caught up on! A whole summer of them.

Maybe with fall and a more predictable schedule I'll be able to get into a better blog routine.

For now, I'm hoping this will give me a bit of accountability to get back here.

It also doesn't help that I have been up late at night doing who-knows-what. I prefer to blog in the morning but I've been too exhausted when I wake up.

There are some very exciting prospects up ahead. Can't wait to see what God has in store. My mom thinks I should write a book... and maybe I will.

Today Pretty Much Sucks

Some days are just like that.

We have two very sick kiddos here today and one on the mend. When I look at it from the outside - it is definitely not fun, but the reality is that we're managing just fine and doing what we need to do. I'm thankful for sunshine and rest and doctors and grammies and elderberry syrup and concerned friends who call and pray and suggest remedies and husbands who drive 2 hours home from work to meet you in the E.R. only to be sent home with a happy, healthy-seeming baby.

Xochi has a little bit of pneumonia and is feeling pretty crummy. Adia woke up with a fever of 103 and, after requesting to go back to bed, has been asleep for the last 3 hours. Poor things. We're doing ok though and I am glad to know health will come again soon - with the help of sleep, antibiotics and cuddles.

We had a great time on our vacation. I didn't take near enough pictures - which seems to happen a lot lately. Something about a baby, a diaper bag, a purse, jackets, keys, a camera etc. just don't seem to work very well together. But here are a few sweet ones.

Tillamook Cheese Factory

Hangin' at the vacation rental

Adia got her ears pierced!

Despite how she looks in these pictures, she is thrilled with them.
They were pierced 1 side at a time and -not joking you- Adia didn't even flinch.
She is one tough cookie.

I closed my eyes for the first one.



The beach in Oceanside.


Cannon Beach

Steele licking the snot from under his nose.

Then we tried to get a family picture, but Steele started coughing.

Which turned into him puking up phlegm. Lovely.

On that note, I'll stop.






Well, maybe I'll leave you with a little less gag-inducing photo.

Day by Day

Life continues over here. As I've written before, Facebook seems more accessible in this season of life - but sometimes I want to say a little bit more. And I miss my blog. I'm hoping to get back into more of a regular day-to-day blogging schedule. It's such a wonderful way to document our life. So here are some odds and ends of what we've been up to, in no particular order of importance or sequence.

• I resigned my position as a Jazzercise instructor. While I feel just a tad bit sad about it, I mostly feel fine about it. My free time can now be my free time and not my plan-my-set-and-practice-until-my-booty-falls-off time. In interesting Jazzercise news, Cheryl Burke of Dancing with the Stars has signed on for a promotional partnership with Jazzercise Inc. Pretty exciting - it's such a fun and effective way to exercise.
  

• I've been taking as much advantage of the harvest season as time and energy will allow. Of course, I wish I would have picked more blueberries, gotten to my corn before my chickens did and had a friend with an overflowing Italian plum tree but such is life. I DID:

Can Tomatoes

Can Applesauce

Make Jam

ok - that's an applesauce picture but I forgot to take jam pictures...

I also dried some apples but honestly, you get very little return for the amount of work you put in. And my kids didn't care for them... how is that even possible?

• Xochi Maia is the sweetest baby ever. It's very affirming to be her mother - she smiles at me every time I look at her. And she's HUGE! Growing nicely. I think she weighs about 17 lbs. As a point of reference, Adia weighs 23 lbs.....

• Justin and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary last week. We went on a wonderful date. Out to a movie (a rare and sacred occurrence lately) and then to dinner at a wonderful new restaurant. More than ever, we are loving being married and enjoying the sweet life God has blessed us with. We're in a good groove and we both agreed that the first few years of marriage kind of went by in a blur... we're happy to be able to more fully savor these times together.

Then...

and now.

Sorry - I got a little carried away with the wedding pictures...

• We went on a family vacation at the end of August. Justin's parents have a little cabin on Hood Canal. We all had fun relaxing, eating, clam digging, fishing off the dock and just being together. While there, we also celebrated Justin's 33rd birthday. His parents, grandparents and one of his sisters came to celebrate. It was great.

• Fall has arrived... for the most part. The weather has been particularly sunny - great for yard work, not so great for my body which is screaming at me to Please, please put the summer clothes away and dress me in some more comfortable sleeves, sweaters and long pants! Please! I am starting Jillian Michaels Master Your Metabolism eating program today though so I may be pulling the summer clothes back out when the snow starts falling. I'm very excited about it - more on that later. Speaking of her though, did you watch the Biggest Loser last week??? Oh. My. Word. BAWLING!
  

• We're seriously considering putting our house on the market and have even called a realtor. We're hoping to move closer toward our goal of more land and less debt. Along those lines, and just because I always want to get organized in the fall, I'm going to clean out our hallway closets today. While I don't particularly enjoy cleaning, I do LOVE organizing. And it's a great day for it!

Loving this crazy life,
Cutzi

Leavenworth Wedding and Steele's Birthday

Justin's cousin Emily was married in Leavenworth over the past weekend. I really wanted to go - not only to witness the momentous occasion - but also because Emily's mom (Justin's aunt), Ilona, is one of the most talented women I know. I knew her wedding planning/decorating skills would impress again and sure enough, I was not disappointed. Among other things, Ilona has done illustrations for some of Stephen Cosgrove's books - you northwest natives will recall Stephen Cosgrove as the author of such book as Wheedle on the Needle and Serendipity.

Emily was married at Ohme Gardens in Wenatchee. I had never heard of the gardens before but man, are they beautiful! If you're traveling through I would definitely recommend stopping - especially if you enjoy gardening. The view alone was stunning. Of course, since I have three little kids now, I wasn't able to get many pictures. I also spent my time taking advantage of the delicious appetizers and open bar and laughing and visiting with Justin's sisters and cousins. It was some of the most fun I have ever had at a wedding.



The next day was Steele's 4th birthday and since Justin had to work that day and had met us in Leavenworth, I was on my own with the kids. Even though we had yet to travel the 3+ hour drive home over the pass, I wanted to be sure and do some fun stuff to celebrate. We went out to a yummy strawberry waffle breakfast with Justin's sister and her husband and their daughter Taylor.


After that the kids and I went downtown, looked around a toy store, jumped in some bouncy houses (Steele and Adia, not me and Xochi). As we were walking along I told Steele the story of his birth again- getting choked up all the while. We then headed over to the city pool. Again, I would also highly recommend a visit if you are passing through or staying in Leavenworth. The kids had a blast. Because of the way the pool is set up, I was able to put Xochi off to the side a bit and still watch Steele and Adia.

At that point, the kids were getting tired and hungry (and so was their mama) so I asked Steele what he wanted to eat for his birthday dinner. McDonald's of course! We rarely get it so it was a treat - I even splurged and got myself a fillet o' fish.

As we were pulling out of Leavenworth Steele said to me, "Thank you for my birthday Mama!" I guess the day was a hit!

No!! No!! Please Noooo!!!!

That's me kicking and screaming all the way home from Whistler.

I did not want to come home last night. Not one single bit. In fact, I stayed in my chair in the condo reading until the last possible moment, drinking my candy cane tea. I stayed there so long that we didn't pull out of the driveway until almost half an hour past check-out. Justin said he heard someone say, "Is 104 cleared out yet?" oops. But it was just so calm and cozy. So carefree and void of reality. And my reality, as much as I hate to admit it, is pretty stressful for me right now. I mean, what's a girl to do when she hasn't had her face waxed in weeks? Too much stress!!

Anyway, Whistler was glorious. No snow, but glorious nonetheless. We were bad at taking pictures - but to be honest, we didn't really have many picture worthy moments. We ate, we hung out, we window shopped, I knitted (knat?), I read, the kids played, we went swimming at a cool pool with a death trap whirlpool feature - luckily everyone came out alive, we ate simply, dressed simply - isn't that one of the best parts of vacation? I think it is. It was wonderful and much needed. (I see now that the death trap is called the "Vortex" - no wonder)

We also stopped at a couple stores on the way home. We got this doll bed at Ikea for Adia for Christmas. I think I might paint it and sew a little quilt for it beforehand. We also stopped, for the first time, at Real Canadian Superstore - where people were unfriendly but the prices are crazy good. Ok - maybe not crazy good, but pretty darn good. We got a much needed winter coat for Adia and a few Christmas items. I'll definitely be heading back to the Real Canadian Superstore sometime soon. Isn't that a funny name - I mean, as opposed to what? The fake Canadian Superstore? I think about things like that.

I was going to do a Friday Fill-In for you but this is getting long enough. It doesn't feel like Friday anyway.

Steele and I did a lot of this.

Adia was her usual silly self.

Justin was his normal crazy self - feeding birds off Adia's head.

Of course, no trip would be complete without a visit to the local fire department.

Local Scenery

Steele 2.9, Adia 1.5

We arrived home from vacation with the latest and greatest updated versions of our children. Wow! We should have updated a long time ago! Version 2.9 now goes to the bathroom on his own. Version 1.5 is walkin', walkin', walkin'.

Along with these two exciting milestones we also had a really nice vacation. I got sick about two days into it. Fortunately I didn't feel really miserable at first, I just didn't have much of a voice. And actually, as sicknesses go, it wasn't that bad. There was only one day that Adia and I stayed home while everyone else went to the beach. But between you and me... I kind of liked having a little peace and quiet for the day.

The weather wasn't great - but that wasn't unexpected. We tried to take advantage of the sunny moments when they arrived. We stayed at the Yachats Inn in their "luxury suites." I don't know how "luxurious" they are - but they have a great off-season deal that we've taken advantage of two years in a row. (although now that Lisa told me she stays at the Shamrock Lodgettes I'm dreaming of them - they're right next door to the Inn) It was most fun to be just a few doors down from my parents' unit. Abbey and Gabe do a great job at occupying Steele - he has way more fun when they're around. And Gabe keeps a watchful eye out for Steele (more on that in a moment).

My mom and I planned several meals that we all shared. One night everyone piled into our unit and watched Enchanted. I think even my grandma enjoyed it. We took a couple day trips - one to Newport where we visited the aquarium, Mo's, the waterfront and Rogue brewery. Here's a little tip about Mo's in Newport though. If you want some good seafood don't go to Mo's Annex. We chose the Annex over the original location as it's a little more kid friendly but they have a completely different menu. I mean, they don't even have a deep fryer!! Which means no fish and chips! What Mo's doesn't have fish and chips for cryin' out loud??? My favorite Mo's by far so far has been the Mo's in Cannon Beach. It is literally right on the beach and there's a park next door so you can go play on the beach after you eat. The service was far and above the service we received in Newport (I think the girls in Newport needed a little more sun or something) and the atmosphere was light-hearted.

We took another day trip down to Florence where we spent WAY too long at the Safeway picking out soda to go with our Subway sandwiches and the cutie-est little downs syndrome courtesy clerk said to me, "Hey! How are you?? Long time no see!!". I didn't have the heart to tell him, "no time no see" - he was just too cute and excited to see me. Then we headed down to historic Florence and shopped. I really prefer Florence as far as shopping goes. While they do have some of the usual touristy/beachy type stores - they also have some really nice other shops that are fun. One of our favorites is the Funky Monkey toy shop. The owner there actually gave us a bunch of free stuff to go along with the stuff we bought! I bought a Putumayo kids cds and he gave me two full length demo cd's he had. Abbey and Gabe bought some toys that he was afraid might malfunction so he gave them each a free toy as well. Pretty cool. I also bought myself some new black shoes (per Kate's advice) at On Your Feet and peeked in to the Mother May I childrens' shop which is always fun (sorry, no web sites for those). Justin bought some Mexican Coffee at the Siuslaw River Coffee Roasters store that he loved from last year. And of course we headed down to the sand dunes where we ate our sandwiches and salt n' vinegar chips and played for a while.

We also had our first 'freaked out parent' moment while we were away. I think we were doing pretty well with none in 3 whole years but this was enough to make up for a few. We were all in my parents' unit getting dinner ready and Justin went back to our place to get something. I remember Steele asking me where papa was and the next thing I knew, Justin was back and Gabe was asking where Steele was. We quickly scanned the rooms and Steele was no where to be found. So I grabbed somebody's shoes that were too big and falling off my feet (who knows why since my slip-on shoes were right next to them) and headed out the door, down the concrete stairs and ran to where I hoped Steele might be.... west toward the ocean and not east 10 or so yards away where Highway 101 lay. Fortunately it only took a moment before I saw and heard Steele standing near our van crying and screaming "Papa! Papa! Papa!" He was so frightened that he couldn't find his papa. Heart pounding, I scooped him up into my arms (with Justin close behind me) and took him back to my parents' where we disciplined him and explained why he must never go anywhere without his mama and papa. I think the whole bunch of us were crying afterwards as we realized all that God had protected little Steele from. Fortunately I'm not the type of person to dwell on "what-ifs" - my grandma does that enough for all of us. In fact, she reminded me of it again just this Wednesday. Aren't grandma's great for that sort of thing?

I realize this is getting long... (and I haven't even included pictures yet!) so I'll wrap it up by saying that my mom and I have already started planning for next year. Even though Yachats holds a special place in our hearts we're thinking someplace a little further north (a comfortable day's drive) might be nice. We'd really love to get one house for all of us to share. I can't wait.

Our van was fully loaded.


Steele with all his favorite things: a guitar, frogger,
the chief's car and... a newspaper?
This is also the bed in which my 80 something year old great aunt Ginny found my underwear after we left...
yah. um. moving on....


"Groompa" Charlie reading to the kids.


Adia Moon doing push-ups like Papa.


I love that Uncle Gabe and Steele have such a special relationship.


This rain cap was way more fashionable than the
plastic grocery bag my grandma used on her head last year.



I love this picture of Gabe for some reason.


Justin always takes such joy in our children.


Before bed on the way home we were cracking up at Adia peeking out and saying "hi!" to my grandma from the bedroom.


I think this girls' beautiful...