A July Pictoral Journal

Anyone who has seen the new Toy Story 3 movie will recognize Madelyn's new friend: Lots o' Huggin' Bear. He's the "villain" in the story, but that doesn't seem to bother Maddie...perhaps she chooses to see the good in all living creatures :) Anyway, Lotso was her reward for staying in her big girl bed (or at least in her room quietly) for ten nights in a row. Fortunately, our girl responds very well to incentive charts, so we've been keeping track with stickers and every ten no-put-back nights (until the problem has gone away) she gets a trip to the toy store. Who knows who will join us next time...

We are total blueberry snobs, and we ONLY pick the freshest, most organic blueberries at Olmsted Acres up in Vancouver :) Baba and Mimi have 7 gorgeous blueberry bushes, and Maddie loves to pick 'em and eat 'em. Baba was endlessly patient, as always!


Kari indulging Maddie in a game with her new Toy Story ball (sensing a theme?). We always have such fun with Kurt's family!

The wonderfully shady tree in our backyard. It's still not quite done (which is why we haven't done a full spread of photos yet), but nevertheless we still spend quite a bit of time back there and are so grateful to have the space.

It won't be long and I won't be able to bend over like that anymore!

Us!! (I told Maddie to give the camera a "toothy grin." She complied.

Silly faces :)

Love love love that we actually have grass to roll around on in our very own backyard! It's the simple things, really. We don't have a patio yet, but that hasn't stopped us from eating dinner outside almost every night. Then we roll around on the grass. Well, Kurt and Maddie roll. I get one roll and can't go any farther, so I just take photos :)

Rose Garden 2010

Each summer, we visit the Portland Rose Garden in Washington Park and eat a little picnic and take a little stroll through the overwhelming gorgeousness. It's been fun documenting Madelyn's growth next to rows and rows of roses:

Picnics have been a bit different for us this year because Maddie is old enough now to want to run around a bit on her own and interact with other children. There were three older girls (two in elementary and one in middle, I think) and one toddler boy playing together close to where we spread our blanket, and she asked right away if she could go over and play with the kids. We said yes, and she shot off immediately. We saw her run right up to them and heard her say "Hi! My name is Maddie! What is your name?" I prayed a Mother's prayer -- "Please play with her...please play with her..." and was genuinely touched to see these older girls kneel down on the grass to talk to her and tolerate her as she tried to copy their cartwheels and dance moves. About every six or seven minutes, she would return to us -- just elated -- as if to reassure herself that we were still there but also to relish in the fact that these girls were playing with her. She'd eat a few bites and would then be off to play some more. This went on for about a half hour until the older girls walked back to their family to eat their picnic. She returned to us, and when we were finished, Kurt walked over to the girls and their parents to tell them how much he appreciated them playing with Madelyn. The oldest girl smiled and said "No problem! She's just like me -- crazy!" Ha!!

S is for Swoosh!

Well we're just swimming in good news around here, folks. We were delighted to tell you about our second little blessing last week, and this week, we're super excited -- and oh-so-relieved! -- to tell you that Kurt was offered a job at Nike. We felt like we each lost about ten pounds when we heard the news. As far too many of you know, being unemployed really starts to wear on you after awhile, even if you adapt and life seems to just move along. We had lots of question marks hanging over our heads -- a few too many for an overly anxious Type A uber-planner like myself. I was grumpy a lot of the time and not always as trusting and optimistic as a girl who loves Jesus should be. Saying that it was all worth it now that's it's all over would be a bit too rosy and a lot too untruthful, so I'll simply say that it was what it was and we'll accept this new job with grateful hearts and generous spirits.

Kurt will have to tell you more about what he will be doing, but what he won't say (so I will tell you) is that his new boss was very complimentary of him when he called to offer him the job. Kurt has lots of good experience in this field but not necessarily exactly the level of experience this team was looking for...and they wanted him anyway...in the middle of a nasty recession. I am so proud of him and so excited to see how he flourishes in this new position and what opportunities come his way. And we are both very excited to be a part of the Nike community. They have quite a reputation around here for taking care of their employees (and their employees' families), and the possibilities for growth and movement and challenge and adventure are exciting. His first day will be July 26, so we'll keep you posted on how things go. I will be going back down to part-time hours that same week, so it will be a big transition for all of us for sure.

Now to rebuild the wardrobe... Removing all of the stripes and trefoils from our closets and drawers has left quite a dent, so it'll be fun to slowly let the swooshes take over!

Q: It's About Time We...

A: Updated this blog
B. Got some sunshine and warm(er) weather
C. Filled this house to capacity and added another baby
D. All of the above

Yes, my friends..."D" is the correct answer. We are, indeed, finally updating this blog and we are thrilled to finally have some summery weather that looks like it might actually stick around for awhile. But the big news, for those who might not yet know, is that we will be adding to our family by way of one tiny baby in January 2011. But Kurt is laid off! you might say. Your house is the size of most Americans' garages! It seems like lately you can barely manage the one child you've got! Yes. Yes, all these things are true, and we are thrilled nonetheless.

Given the impending arrival of said tiny baby, we've been doing a lot of prep work around here. Madelyn does not yet know that Mommy has a baby in her tummy, and we will hold off on telling her as long as possible (primarily because as soon as she finds out she'll want the baby to arrive immediately and we all know that pregnancy is anything but "immediate"). Nevertheless, we've been reading a lot of books about babies and becoming a Big Sister, and we talk frequently about what it might be like to have a baby live at our house. Perhaps every mom thinks this (or hopes it, at least), but I think Madelyn is going to be a fantastic Big Sister. She LOVES our friends' babies and has even lobbied to just have one of them come live at our house. She gets on the floor and coos and smiles at babies as soon as she sees one (even ones we don't know at the park), and her rough-and-tumble body can instantly become so sweetly gentle when she touches a baby. During our nightly prayer, if I happen to forget, she will say "Jesus, be with the baby that will one day come live at our house so I can be a Big Sister." Heart. Melting.

Adding a new baby to our lives does present some logistical challenges, however. We do, indeed, live in a very tiny house. We love it and are so grateful for it, but boy it's tiny. We're not exactly sure how we're going to fit both kiddos in Madelyn's room together, but for certain, they both can't sleep in the crib together. So. Last night, we ventured to Ikea (friend of all those with small rooms and small wallets) and picked out a Big Girl Bed. Kurt put it together this morning, and she loves it, to say the least. She played in there the rest of the morning and had no trouble at all falling asleep for nap today (she's cozied up in there fast asleep as I write). It's a bunk-bed, as you can see, which we figure will carry us several years into the future with two kiddos, but for now, it's just an open canopy for some of her friends to hang out. Super cute!

The Appalachian Trail with Uncle Kris

Hi all. Just a quick little note to highlight a fun adventure that my little brother Kris is on as I write. He and his buddy Joel embarked on the Appalachian Trail on Tuesday night. I don't know all of the statistics, but all you really need to know is that they will be hiking all day long every day for the next four and a half months. My goodness. We are all very proud of them for even giving it a go, 'cause it's certainly more than any of the rest of us are doing! Kurt has set up a nifty little way of tracking him from the GPS emails we get from him every couple of days. For those of you who might be interested, the map is over to the right. We're all so excited for him, but we're a little nervous too, so seeing those little dots pop up on the map will all help us sleep easier at night :) I'm sure he'll have some fabulous stories when he gets back! Maybe we'll have to see if he could do a guest spot on the blog...

Posting: Evidently on the Back-Burner

Wow, one post in the whole month of April, and it's already May 10 and this will be the first post this month. Wild. Things are still topsy-turvy over here, obviously. Kurt has been laid off for over three months, and I've been working full-time for just over two months. I think our naive selves really thought he would've had a job by now, so it feels pretty discouraging that we're still solidly in the middle of a lay off with no sign that it's going to turn around anytime soon. I'm not going to lie: I'm not a fan of this arrangement one bit. I am an idealist to the core and see the world always for what I think it should be. I have a very difficult time adjusting or accepting when anything (small or big) falls outside of "should," so these last few months of having to stretch and shift and bend and give up have been enormously challenging for me. Sometimes, I just don't get it. I know that's the lesson and I know I have to be obedient to it, but I don't have to like it. Still, I've seen God show up in some pretty cool ways in my life, and I am choosing to believe, despite my fears to the contrary, that somehow the end result of all of this will be healthier and more blessing-filled for our little family than all of my "shoulds" and ideals could've imagined. And certainly, there are millions of people in this world far worse off than the three of us even on our worst day, so you know...perspective is a humbling and completely necessary thing. Nevertheless, the waiting -- and anxiety -- continue...

Life has continued to go on, though, and children add such levity, thank God. Madelyn keeps us laughing, and we are continually amazed at her growth and development. (She also is directly responsible for the rise of both of our blood pressures, but I'll save those laments for another post. She is just two and a half, after all. She could hardly hold her head up high among her peers if she didn't give her parents some tale-worthy grief...) Here are a few of our favorite Maddiecakes moments in the last several weeks:

1. Even though she is unbelievably strong-willed and stubborn, she is such a sweet, tender-hearted little girl. Her feelings are easily hurt, and she is already able to read emotions on other people's faces and ask with genuine concern if "you is ok?" We have these little "sweet nothings" that we have said to her for months, and we are starting to hear them come back at us, which is just so cute. She'll say, "You know what I like? It's you!" and give us a totally unsolicited hug and/or kiss. Heart. Melting. (She does this with our parents, too, which is also so fabulous. This girl just LOVES her extended family. She talks about each of them -- even the Seattlites! -- every day and literally jumps up and down and squeals when she sees them. SO grateful that we live near family...)

2. With the coming of spring (hallelujah!) and some warmer weather, we are outside nearly every day -- rain or shine -- and it's been fun to see how much Maddie loves nature. She loves digging in the dirt and gets really excited when she finds a worm. She'll happily entertain herself for as long as we happen to be working outside, and I love the earthy, slightly sweaty way she smells when she comes back inside. We are in the middle of a major overhaul of our backyard (thanks to my brawny husband with unexpected time on his hands), so we'll keep you posted with photos when it's all said and done. If all goes as planned, we will have a little Olmsted Oasis in our backyard this summer to escape the heat, the city, and the busyness of life.

3. Madelyn is really into playing "baby" lately. Sometimes she's the baby and I have to mother her, and then sometimes I am the baby and she gets to mother me. I'm a fan because when she's the baby, she'll actually curl up in my lap and sit there for an extended period of time and my arms just love to hold that girl. The following picture is us pretending that she's a baby snuggling in the Moby. I thought for sure she'd want out right away, but she was quite content to stay in there and cuddle for awhile, just like she used to.

Well, that's all for now. I hope to post again before the end of May, but if not, see you in June. Thanks for understanding :)

Hike!

We took advantage of a quiet, slightly balmy spring morning this past Sunday to go for a hike. There's a trail in Forest Park off of Germantown road that we've been wanting to try, so we did. And it was great. Each time I enter a forest, it genuinely surprises me just how crisp and fresh the air is. And green! My goodness, spring in a forest is practically electric. Just gorgeous. We are so grateful to live in a part of the country where we can be fifteen minutes outside of a city and feel like we're in the middle of nowhere.

So Madelyn loved the trees and the flowers and the birds and all, but the mud was the true star. She kept looking at us like "Are you sure this is ok?" Stomp away, baby, stomp away. All rules are off in a forest :)

Such pretty little wildflowers.


Stunning little fiddle-head fern.


Love the scale of this photo.

Next to the mud, the slugs were Maddie's favorite part of hiking. The last half of the hike turned into a bonafide slug hunt. She would've touched them if I had let her, but sadly for Madelyn, that is one rule that still stands in the forest...


Our big girl hiker...

...who's still little enough to get tuckered out after 2.5 miles.