Ittybitty Blog

Mom Cooking

ittybittyblog — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:00:10 +0000

Grace wrote the following story for a school report about “What if, then?” They were supposed to write down a situation and then give four choices of how to respond, three that were ridiculous and one that was logical.

One day you are playing upstairs and the smoke alarms go off because your mom is cooking.

You Should

1. Go run around like crazy.
2. Stay calm and go downstairs.
3. Scream, yell, cry, and shout.
4. Sit down and don’t talk.

What Six Looks Like

ittybittyblog — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:00:17 +0000

Owen turned six in March. I like to show how our little man has grown…

What Six Looks Like

And of course years past…

What Five Looked Like…

What Four Looked Like

What Three Looked Like

What Two Looked Like

What One Looked Like

And Day One

Fishing at Green Peter

ittybittyblog — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:00:48 +0000

Danny took the kids and the dog fishing at Green Peter recently and got some good pictures…

Fun climbing on the rocks

Learning to use a pocket knife

Daisy just wants her to throw the stick!

Big fish!

Daddy got one too:)

A boy and his dog

My favorite shots…

Grace- 3rd Grade

ittybittyblog — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:00:58 +0000

“Life flies by in seconds
You’re not a baby Gracie,
you’re my friend
You’ll be a lady soon but until then
You gotta do what I say”

{Ben Folds, from Gracie}

Grace is in the 3rd Grade this year and I realized I never posted her school picture…

I have noticed such a difference in Grace this school year. She is growing into such a young lady. She is more confident in herself.

Last year she was so shy. We had to bribe her to get her to talk to her teacher or ask questions in class. She didn’t stand up for herself if her friends or other kids weren’t treating hers right.

This year she has blossomed. She has realized that she deserves to be treated well. If someone isn’t doing that then she lets them know it’s not ok and well, they might not deserve to be her friend if they can’t toe the line! She thinks giving presentations in front of the class is fun.

She is such a sweet girl and as always it is a pleasure watching her grow and change as she gets older.

Kids at the Nursery

ittybittyblog — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:00:27 +0000

The kiddos at a local nursery…which had an old caboose…

Happy 9th Birthday!

ittybittyblog — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 23:35:38 +0000

Grace turned 9 on Monday. We had a party with family and a few friends and it was “the best day ever!“

She is growing into a young lady and we are so proud of her sweet, kind heart.

Our lives are blessed because God chose us to be her parents.

Books I’ve been reading with a lot of toast…

ittybittyblog — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 17:00:49 +0000

Since January I have been rotating back and forth between two authors that I have really enjoyed. In my ongoing search to find WWII era books I found The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. I had heard of the author before and so I went to the library to get it. On the shelf close by was What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty, I grabbed both books even though they were both rather lengthy. I am not a fast reader so I wasn’t sure if I could read both of them before they were due.

I was absolutely spellbound by The Distant Hours. I could not put it down. The book had nothing to do with WWII, but it was set during that time in England. It is a recently published book, but still fits my “criteria” of WWII, England, not really graphic…the words that I had seen used to describe the book was “gothic fictions”. This would normally turn me away as I usually read before bed and have a hard time getting images out of my head. I loved it and it wasn’t freaky. The book also goes back and forth between a present day storyline and then back into the past which I love.

When I was done I picked up What Alice Forgot and could not put it down either. Nothing to do with WWII…but a very interesting story about a woman who loses her memory and thinks that she is living 10 years earlier. She doesn’t understand why her current life is falling apart and isn’t happy with the person that she has become. The similarity of the two books? Not many! Both authors are Australian and apparently their comfort food is toast. Everyone’s answer to stress or being sick is to eat toast.

I found this to be true as I have sailed through all the rest of Liane Moriarty’s books…Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary, and The Hypnotist’s Love Story. Lots of toast. My favorite was definitely What Alice Forgot, the others were enjoyable, but just not quite as good in my opinion. Three Wishes and The Last Anniversary were lighter than The Hypnotist’s Love Story which dealt with stalking and was a bit more intense.

Of Kate Morton’s books, I have also read The House at Riverton which I had heard was a good read for people who like Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs. And yes, it was a good read. As with The Distant Hours, and all of Kate Morton’s books, the story is told in present day and then traveling back in time. I am currently reading The Secret Keeper and can’t put it down. Next will be the The Forgotten Garden.

I would recommend both authors. What Alice Forgot is my favorite of Liane Moriarty’s books. I am only halfway through the third of four Kate Morton’s books…My favorites so far are The Distant Hours and The Secret Keeper.

Owen in a Dump Truck

ittybittyblog — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:00:50 +0000

Back in 2011 I posted some pictures of Owen in his dump truck…

January 2009

May 2011

September 2012 (I know…a little late…)

I sure love that little man!

Dr. Seuss Carnival Fun

ittybittyblog — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:00:55 +0000

My preschool had a Dr. Seuss carnival last week. My game was “pin the star on the Sneetch belly”. As a child, The Sneetches was the Dr. Seuss book that I had. I loved it so much and it was so fun to have the kids do crafts to decorate my area and to make a big giant Sneetch!

I was trying to mimic the feeling of the pages of the book with so many Sneetches…

And Grace still enjoys herself at the preschool carnival…

37 Blessings

ittybittyblog — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 18:39:20 +0000

Today I am 37. I started a new birthday tradition in 2009, and have done it each year since. And of course I couldn’t resist doing it again in 2013.

Some of the blessings are the same, as they always will be. But as with each year, things change and there are new blessings.

So here is this year’s list of 37 Blessings…

1. a gracious and faithful God
2. my husband who works hard every day to provide for us- we just celebrated 10 years of marriage!
3. Grace- for her sweet spirit, her imagination, her compassion
4. Owen- for his determination, his rough and tumble boyishness, his strength
5. my parents- always supportive in any way they can be
6. my sis- I only see you every six months, but it is always as if no time has passed.
7. my in-laws (the whole lot of them)
8. that my husband, my mom and my sister are my best friends
9. that I have a small core group of friends who I can always turn to
10. that Danny has a job that he enjoys and is challenging for him
11. that my children are healthy- Owen is the strongest he has ever been!
12. my job. I love my co-workers and my boss. I love that it is a safe and caring place and that Owen is just down the hall again this year as he got to do an extra year of pre-k before afternoon kindergarten
13. that I am able to be home with my kids after school, I can get them at the bus, when they are sick I can be home with them and I don’t feel too guilty about missing work.
14. that I still have one living Grandparent (Dad’s mom, just turned 93) and that Danny has two!
15. the Ducks are still rockin’ it. What a fun time to be a fan, of football, basketball, and track!
16. that we live in a safe community
17. the kid’s school- wonderful teachers and staff
18. James 1: 2-3 (NIV) Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
19. I became an aunt again:)
20. I am going to have a new sister-in-law!
21. a couple of super nice neighbors that I have enjoyed having nearby
22. health insurance – that we have it, and it is sufficient…
23. that food is plenty for us – Proverbs 30:8 “Give me neither poverty nor riches,” he asked, “but give me only my daily bread.”
24. our library!
25. that Grace loves to read. I love finding her new books that I think she will like and then hearing “I love this book! I knew I would love it when I read the first sentence!”
26. watching Owen learn how to read, seeing the look of pride on his face when he sounds out new words
27. “Every experience God gives us, every person he brings into our lives, is the perfect preparation for the future that only he can see.” Corrie ten Boom
28. the kiddos in my classes at school- so fun to watch them grow as the year progresses
29. Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.
30. Oregon rain
31. Mochas…and even just plain old coffee:)
32. that I have had quiet afternoons with both kids at school, my first consistent alone time since Grace was born…
33. that God has a plan, even when we don’t know what it is
34. that we are making plans to move back home
35. that I am sad to leave this home…what a blessing this place has been the last 3 years, the fact that I am sad just proves it!
36. that we are embarking on a new adventure and that the kids are excited and that we will be much closer to family
37. another year with my sweet family