Summer Fun G style!

I feel so blessed to live in the same city as G Diaper Headquarters.
Every few months they try to plan something for Gmums and Gdads to hook up and celebrate all that is G.
Great, Green, Generous, Giggle, Groovy, Gentle, Global

This was at Jameson Fountain in downtown Portland. It is a gorgeous place to play and very close to gHQ. Above is Michelle- Marketing Director for G.

Here is Jason- gdad and CEO of Gdiapers. Not sure what he is yelling about... I hope it wasn't about me taking his pic... ooops!

And my favorite! Grayson in his little G bum! I gotta write about fall now, writing about Summer when its pouring out is killing me! :)

Smith Berry Barn

This is a little late in coming but I just got the film back- I know film!!!
But alas, my favorite really expensive camera is film. Ugh.

Anyway, Every summer I pick berries at one of the local farms.
My favorite is Smith Berry Barn.

They have the best berries. This last summer my friend Libby and I took our boys
(hers: Jack and Henry are 3 and 2).
They had a better time picking to eat then picking to take home and eat.

Sorry, Rich and Joelle! (owners of SBB)

This summer I picked: Raspberries, Blackberries, Tayberries and Golden Raspberries.

I went home and made yummy Galettes and Scones. Here are the scones! Yum! I miss summer already.

TVG- Photo of the Day 2

Day two! Yeah for me! Woo Hoo! I never thought I could do two days in a row! Oh sorry~ I am back.

Today I decided to photograph the child side of my house. When we first bought our house I was going to try to have no toys in the family room. Ya, I know what was I thinking right? Anyway, this is my family room now.

And I would have it no other way.

TVG- Photo of the Day

Alright Village Green girls- here is my POD!

The rest of you. A group of my friends all challenged each other to photograph our house as if it were to be put in a magazine. Any magazine we choose.

I choose Home.
Home is where the heart is.

Above my kitchen sink. It makes me happy to look at these plants every day.

Nathan's Story

I was recently forwarded a link to someone's blog/ story. Nathan's Story. Nathan's parents, Jen and Rick were going along blissfully pregnant with their 4th child when one day just a short of delivery Jen realized she had not felt her dear son move. They went to the hospital only to discover that there little boy no longer had a heart beat. Jen went into labor later that day and delivered their son, still. Their story is very touching and recounted by dad, Rick. I urge all to read it and send them comforting words that you all so graciously shared with me.

Its intersting sometimes looking back on the last few months of our lives. Jonathan is so much on the forefront of my brain and yet it all seems like a dream. Then I read something like Nathan's story and it all comes crashing back in full force. I still have good days and bad days. I still have sad times where I realize that this IS my life and no amount of waking up or cold showers is going to make it go away.

My child died.

My child died!

I don't know how many times I will have to repeat that to myself before I really own the thoughts that stir around in my head. I just don't know.

Here are some more pics from Jonathan's delivery- I can't keep them to myself. :)

Hillsboro, Or- Home sweet Home!

It's funny how many times I have felt like tour guide in the last year. We have had a lot of out of town visitors that have never been here before. So today I set out again to show Belle our lovely little town- sadly in the rain. I drove all around Hillsboro, showing her our old house and neighborhood and telling her stories about the people who live behind the windows there. I love driving down our old street and waving to old friends. Then we went to The Venetian for lunch. I had the best Chicken Salad Sandwich and Belle had a lovely Greek Pizza. They were both delicious!

When Belle planned her visit last week she asked if there was any fall color on the trees, and while there is I was not sure it would last long. Luckily for us, Mother Nature was kind and held some of the leaves on the trees for us so Belle could see some fall color. I love this house right down the street from us. I have been meaning to take a pic of it so today I did just that. :)



Then we went home for Grayson's nap and we took the rest of the afternoon to relax and gather snacks and dinner parts at the grocery store. I made a yummy Italian chicken dinner with smashed potatoes and roasted vegis.

It is really fun to see G take to Belle so quickly. He just adores her! That makes two of us!

Belle's HERE!

I have been trying for 6 years to get my dearest and one of my longest time friends to come and visit me! Finally she is here.

We have been friends since kindergarten! For those who can't remember that is age 5... we are 29 now. That's forever! She has known me through most of my trials of life: from just a little sprout to bad pre-teen hair and zits and boys and now marriage and babies. She has seen it all and been a great friend through all of it. I honestly can't imagine my life without her and knowing no matter what she is there for me...assuming I can get her on the phone!

But anyway, I am ignoring my great friend so I better get back to her! I will try to keep up with our outings but I can't promise anything. :)

(Yesterday we went to our very dear friends house for dinner and we ended up staying until 11 so I had no time to blog- sorry...)

Zober Images

Our friend Elle needed some help getting her lighting right on Friday so she had us come over for a test shoot.

Elle is a professional photographer and is amazing! She started her career as a photojournalist in London, moving on to Editor in chief of Scotland's only music magazine. Photographing Jessica Simpson, Avril Lavinge, Oasis, Green Day, Blink 182 and Foo Fighters along the way. She has photographed for and been recognized in Rolling Stone, NME, Q and MOJO.

Today she graces Portland as one of its premere photographers and does weddings, families and children with ease and talent.

ON/ OSS (OFF)

Grayson learned that he can now reach some of the light switches in our house. He figured out that if he stretches just so on the first step he can reach the one on the stairs. So often we hear a giggle and then his sweet baby voice will start saying
"on, oss. on, oss. on, oss"
Which is accomanpied by a burst of light, and then dark. Over and over and over again.

I love watching him learn new things. Look at the grin!

Kiddos at play

This is Allie.

This is Grayson.

And this is Allie and Grayson.
Aren't they cute? This is them playing in the waiting room at the hospital while I gave birth.

Sorry Charlie!

This is our pantry, that Grayson gets into constantly.
In his defense I do have his snacks at his level so he can get them when its time.
But its not always time.

So I "idea-lifted" this great idea from my friend Geneva. She is one of the most ingenuitive people I know! This is such a great idea! It works great, cost me NO money cause I had everything and is easy to use and take off when we are done using it.

Its simply 2 (3M) sticky wall hooks and a hair tie. If you are not familiar with 3M sticky wall hooks I highly recommend them! They have a double sided sicker on the back that comes off without leaving a mark on your wall, door or whatever you stick it to. I have used these for years since I discovered them and have never had them mar something.

Where to start!?

In the last few weeks I have been super busy trying to sew together more diapers so that we can get some money coming in this household. As many know and some do not, we have been having a hard time for some time. We started a new business 2 years ago and went in the hole from the start, as many biz's do. But every month we were reassured by the company we franchised through that things would get better, just do this or this. We did all those things and as the market turned for the worse we got less and less coming in. It was never able to recover. We closed our doors recently right before Jonathan was born.

This has been a crappy year.

So anyway, I digress. I have been sewing like a mad woman to be able to take my diapers to Milagros Boutique in Portland for consignment. I wanted a solid round 20 for them to have in stock. Today I finished the last bit of sewing at 230 and we took them to Milagros at 330. :)
Cross your fingers for me that they sell.

Other than that, we are both looking for jobs outside the home and hoping things pick up soon. It is very stressful as I am sure many people know and have been there. So your thoughts and prayers for our family at this time are greatly appreciated.

Hopefully this won't be us someday...
So my point of this whole story is to say that I have been ignoring my blog and I am sorry. I know there are quite a few of you who hop on over here daily to check on us and I am sorry to disappoint. :( I am going to try and be better about posting daily but realistically it will be more like a few times a week. :) But for this weekend I have a lot to catch up on and assuming I can steal the pc time (since I now have to share with Zack and my brother Jesse since I broke lappy- boo) I will try post as much as I can from the last few weeks.

Stay tuned! :)

Loveydoodle Diapers galore!

I have been told recently that I am lagging on posts here and that I need to get on the ball. Well, I have a good reason. Zack recently closed his insurance agency (damn economy!) and now is not working. And neither am I. This makes for a bad situation. Well for us a worse situation. We already have issues from trying to open a new biz, so now its just getting ugly. Oh well, that is life I guess. Money- easy come easy go.

But I digress. I have been busting my ars to get more diapers made so I can get them into a local store that is interested in consigning them. I told them I would bring them by on Saturday. So here I sit every evening and while Grayson naps sewing. And sewing and sewing some more. We have to get some money in, and I am hoping this will help in the mean time before one or both of us gets a job. Fingers crossed.

So tell your friends... BUY LOVEYDOODLE DIAPERS!
(click the above link to my etsy store!)

Here is the stack that still needs their velcro and tags put on... getting sleepy though...

Happy Halloween!

This year we went to our local strip mall with some neighborhood friends for trick or treating. It was a mad house but Grayson had a blast.

Grayson getting his very first Trick or Treated piece of candy at the AT&T store. :)
Grayson in his Pumpkin costume
Grayson and some of our friends kiddos


We also went to a photo studio for a quick "photo treating". It was fun and I can't wait to see what photos come out of it. We planned on going trick or treating in our neighborhood too but it was too late and G was too tired by the time we got home from the photo studio.

I can't believe how big my little boy is getting! Last year we dressed him up as a little monkey and put him on people doorsteps and hid from sight. He was barely crawling so he just sat there. Our friends and some strangers just loved it. This year he is running from store to store to get his loot! Sigh- how quickly it goes!