fun times with friends

**Warning! Long post ahead!**

Last Sunday morning we headed down to Coos Bay to visit friends. It was our first time heading that direction since before Austin was born. They make the drive up here often and the last trip when they came in January for Playhouse Disney Live! here in Portland, we promised that we would come down to visit them next. We followed through on our promise and despite it being a short trip (left home Sunday morning and arrived home Monday night), it was well worth the 3 1/2 hour drive! We had so much fun and love to be with the Moore family any chance we can get!

The drive down was rather painless. We left at 8:30 in the morning right after breakfast. I had packed some fun things to do in the car...sticker books, cars, play phone, coloring book, etc. We tried to hold off as much as we could before we put in a DVD. I think we lasted a little over an hour before they were ready for a movie. The rest of the time went by rather quickly and with plenty of snacks to hand out and me being engrossed in The Shack, we made it to Coos Bay a little after noon.

The rest of the afternoon was spent eating lunch, playing in the backyard (the weather was beautiful!) and while the kiddos (that's for you, Jason) napped, the adults got to do some catching up. In the evening, another couple came over for dinner and we had the most amazing meal!! The homemade salsa that Jason made was to die for and I made him promise that he must bring that the next time they visit! So much for "watching what I eat". That didn't go over too well on the trip.

When it was time for bed, we decided the girls could sleep in sleeping bags on the floor in Chloe's room. It started out so fun and cute and so of course I took pictures of Mikayla's first sleepover, but the fun quickly wore off for us parents with all the giggling, running down the hall, "pretending" they were asleep, etc. that the girls continued with for over an hour! Finally, at 10:00, we had to give up our competitive game of Sequence to go tend to the girls. Mikayla ended up going back into our bedroom where Austin had been asleep for quite some time, and it took us another 45 minutes of her being "wired" before she finally dozed off (I had to lay down next to her on the floor for her to fall asleep...but she was out in 5 minutes or less once I finally got smart).


The next day started early. Austin decided that since he went to bed at the normal time, he had had enough sleep. We tried to keep him quiet and brought him into bed with us, but that didn't last long before I tried to sneak out of the room without him waking Mikayla. I had just made it to the door when all of the sudden he yells out "Issy!" (sissy) And, lo and behold, Mikayla pops up her head. Fun times when traveling, right?

We decided to head to the park by the lake in the morning and it was a beautiful day for a walk...

Austin (20 months) & Allyson (22 months)

Chloe (3 years) & Mikayla (3 years)

Enjoying a little snack after playing hard!

Kara & Jason

Austin sacked out on the way home, and we were able to transfer him to his bed where he slept for an hour and a half. I guess that's what happens when you wake up so stinkin' early!! The adults played another game of Sequence and enjoyed some lunch while the girls all played outside.

Right before taking off to leave for home, we went to the beach which was just a short 15 minutes away. The older girls had a wonderful time! They loved running to the water and filling up their buckets...doing it over and over.


Austin, on the other hand, not a fan of the beach. Just look at the disgusted expression on his face. And he has shoes on so it's not like the sand is even touching his feet! He literally would not even move.


All he wanted to do was be held. Does he not just look miserable? You would think we were somewhere awful. It's the beach for crying out loud!


And Allyson was the same way. She would not let her feet touch the sand. Too funny those sweet little kids!

On the way home we decided to stop for a treat at Dairy Queen where the kids shared a chocolate sundae. Now this may have been a mistake...a sugar rush on a road trip! Not smart.

Look at that icecream dripping down his front!
We had to pull over before we even left town to clean up the mess.

The ride home was definitely not painless...more like painful! Even a movie wasn't working! Mikayla had only slept for 15 minutes on our short ride to the beach. She didn't sleep a wink on our drive home, so I'm pretty sure she was exhausted especially after a late night. At one point, we had to pull over on the side of the road because Mikayla had to go to the bathroom so bad and there wasn't an exit for miles. So, I whipped out the old Pull Up and gave her permission to pee as she pleased. Sheesh! What a great mom! I guess you do what you gotta do!

Instead of hitting up the drive-thru, we decided to let the kids get out to play while Ryan and I ate and then they could have their dinner in the car. We knew this would put us home a little closer to bed time, but EVERYONE was getting antsy and we needed out of the car desperately. This was such a smart move for us! The kids had a great time running around in the McDonald's play structure for 20 minutes or so. And then they were happy to eat their hamburger and fries while we finished up the last hour of the drive. We pulled into the driveaway a little after 8:00 PM and didn't waste any time in getting the kids to bed. I think they both were asleep by 8:30. ...exhausted from the two days of playing hard!

It was a great trip! We had such a fun time (as always) with the Moores and can't wait until our next adventure!

random ramblings

Hello! Remember me? Yea. I'm the one that you used to see around your place from time to time. Sorry it's been awhile, but I hope to catch up with you all soon. In the meantime, I have a couple of loose ends I'd like to tie up concerning this here little blog of mine.

FIRST - Giveaway!

Don't forget to enter into "My Favorite Things" giveaway ending next Wednesday. I'll be sending one lucky person a goody box full of my favorite things in honor of my 1 year blogging anniversary.


SECOND - Awards!

How lucky I am to be given some great awards from such wonderful woman who read my blog. For that, I am so thankful!

A BIG thank you to Tracey at Girls to Grow, Kelli at Outside my Kitchen Window and Lisa at Moore Minutes for this One Lovely Blog Award. How sweet of you to think of me!


Another BIG thank you to Kelli at Random Thoughts of a Supermom for the superstar award. Trust me, I'm far from Superstar, but it sounds kind of fun anyway! *wink*



THIRD - Featured!

I was happy to hear that Mikayla's lollipop birthday party was featured yesterday at Creative Parties & Showers. I love this site for so many inspiring party ideas, so it's an honor to have one of my parties showcased. Go check it out HERE.

Updated to add: My mom just told me that my lollipop party was also featured today on One Pretty Thing because of my feature on Creative Parties & Showers. How fun!

FOURTH - Craft Challenge!

Don't forget this month's craft challenge coming up next Thursday, June 4th. Seriously! How quickly does a whole month go by? We'll be linking up all of our MONOGRAM projects. Come back to see some ideas I have found from searching the "net" that will hopefully inspire you! I'll try to post those over the weekend. I can't wait to see what you all come up with. If you want to help spread the word, grab the craft challenge button on the left hand side bar. You can also click that same button for more information and to view past challenges.


FIFTH - My first Stampin' Up! Workshop!

I had my first workshop last night at my mother-in-law's house. I think it went really well, other than I think I might have talked too much! Stampin' Up! has so much to offer that I just wanted to share it all!! I demonstrated two projects, then the ladies all got to do a "make & take". It was the same one that I did at my open house, which worked out well since none of the ladies attended my open house.

Demo Projects
(candy treat holder & card)

Make & Take Project

Set of notecards I gave the
"hostess" as a thank you!

SIXTH - Fun time, sun time!

There's just something about having gorgeous weather that makes everything on the "to do" list get put on hold. That's exactly what this week has been like here in Oregon. We have been so blessed with sun, sun, and more sun! It's a little unusual here in the Northwest to have such great weather (and no rain!) that lasts so long, so I'll definitely take it! We haven't really done much other than enjoy playing outside in front of our house. We're simple folk here at the Boos household. Like I think I shared before...we're kind of homebodies. And for the most part, I'm OK with that.

We did go to the park last week, so enjoy the few pics!


And, in closing...

Is this not the sweetest thing! They're only drinking water out of a cup, but they did this for a good 15 minutes...talk about cheap entertainment! They would drink it and then Mikayla would run and go fill it up for more. Gotta love when these two little ones are getting along!

one year

One year ago I introduced my blue eyed blessings to the blog world...not knowing what this blog might become! Man, it's morphed into a whole lot of things, but I'm quite content with what it has become so far.

It's a simple blog that shares my family life, my creative life, and my organized life...and in the midst of all of that some occasional ramblings of whatever.

To celebrate a year, I am having a giveaway (just as I promised a few weeks ago). My original intention was to make this a week long extravaganza, but this little "blogiversary" snuck up on me and in true Heidi fashion, I'm going to keep it on the simple side...but it will be worth it!

This giveaway will include a goody box of some of

~ MY FAVORITE THINGS ~

Now, wouldn't it be nice if I told you what those are before you entered to win? Sorry it's a surprise!! If you've followed my blog for some time now, you *might* have a little bit of an idea of what I enjoy and what this goody box *might* hold, but for now it will stay a mystery until the winner receives it in the mail and reveals it on her blog! It's only then will I share the contents of the package.

Everyone is welcome to enter! The only "rule" is you must leave me a comment answering the following question: What is one thing you *think* I might put in the "my favorite things" box? All {clean} answers are accepted. Get creative! Make me smile!

This giveaway will end on Wednesday, June 3rd and I will announce the winner at our monthly craft challenge get together on Thursday, June 4th. Don't forget to be working on your monogram projects!!

I can't wait to hear from ALL of you...friends new and old, family, (Mom, even YOU can enter!), and those who come by to take a peek into the life of little old me every now and then. It's been a fun ride so far and I can't wait for what there might be ahead.

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**And just as a side note: Please forgive me (again) for the lack of commenting this week or just simply not being around. It seems that I'm playing catch up with so many things and it's taking me forever to get ahead of the game! I have my first "official" Stampin' Up! workshop tonight and I'm quite excited about it, but it has taken up my free time during naps and night time as I prepare. I'm hoping that once I get the hang of what I want to share in my workshops, the preparation for future ones won't be so much! Plus, you can't beat this weather we're having so the kids and I have spent quite a bit outdoors working on our tans...or something like that.

And, because I can't leave a blog post without a picture, here's a sweet shot from our 2-day vacation visiting friends over Memorial Day...hopefully more pics to come soon!

Our little beach "bums"!

Mikayla & Chloe - best buds

we interrupt this blog...

If you'd like to participate in a Craft it Forward head on over to...

Heather's blog at Party in Pink where she just posted about the goodies she got in the mail from me! She's a crafty one that girl, so you'll want to head on over to take a peek. She'll take comments on her Craft it Forward post until June 1st.

Melissa at Bloggin' It! also just posted about her Craft it Forward goodies she got in the mail. She's made some fun things in the past that she has shared on her blog, so be sure to go check her blog out!

And, Rhonda at Down Memory Lane said she will be posting hers soon! So, go check in with her, too!

You have so many chances to be a part of this fun little game!

cheap entertainment

On Friday afternoon, Ryan surprised us by coming home a little earlier than expected. And, since it was the beginning of a 3-day weekend, we thought we'd make the most of it and do something fun for the evening. Ryan really wanted to go to Fry's Electronics to check out their sale, so I willingly gave in as long as beforehand, we could go to the Wilsonville Family Fun Center with the kids.

Since Mikayla and Austin are both at the age that pretty much anything we do is fun and exciting to them, we decided to let them just run around a little in the tiny tot area of the fun center "pretending" they were actually playing the games. However, we aren't that cheap, so we did end up giving them each 3 tokens to "spend" as they (we) pleased ($2.00).

Afterwords we walked around outside watching the bumper boats, but with Mikayla's dislike of being wet with her clothes on, we opted for not riding on them. We were going to spend a quarter to spray the riders, but they were spraying our way, too, so we stayed far enough away.


We also opted not to ride the go carts since it was like $7 for one run (+$3 for passenger)! I think we'll save this for a more special ocassion. They were content just watching.


After all of the fun, we loaded up in the car and headed to McDonald's to let the kids play on their playground while Ryan made his Fry's trip. The kids shared some french fries and burger while I sipped away on a Diet Coke enjoying the sun. It took Mikayla about 20 minutes to gain enough guts to go down one of the slides. She was "stuck" in one of the sections and afraid of a slight drop in the structure or something like that. I was *this close* to humiliating myself by having to go up inside the play structure to coax her down, but thankfully there was a sweet little boy who showed her how to do it and down the slide she came. Of course, after she finally figured it out she didn't want to leave. Isn't that how it always works?! It was a fun {cheap} night.

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We just got back tonight from a quick 2-day trip to visit friends. It was a fun time with little sleep, so I'm off to bed a little early(ier). Pics to come soon!

happy birthday grammy!

Grammy, this one's for you!!

And, because it's too darn cute...here's another one!

cooking with kayla

Wow! It's been awhile since I've participated in Kid Friendly Friday at I Blame My Mother. Do I seriously not do enough with my kids these days!? Maybe it's because the weather has been so gorgeous that most of the time is spent playing outside enjoying the sun, so there is no real "organized" activity.

However, we did squeeze in a little "cooking up some fun" the other day in the kitchen. Mikayla is at that age of wanting to soak in everything she can! Her new favorite thing to do is help me cook! For our last MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting, we had a speaker come share with us about cooking with our kids and I really enjoyed listening to the tips and suggestions she had to pass along. I was also able to do a little online browsing as I prepared for some cooking links we could post on the MOPS blog, and that got me inspired as well. It was fun to see the different recipes out there or things you could do in the kitchen with your kids to teach them to help and enjoy the process of cooking! (Here is a simple article with tips on teaching kids the cooking basics...there are so many other resources out there, too!)

At the end of last week I thought it was the perfect day to make a sweet treat, so we opted for smoothies. Mikayla loves smoothies and it is the perfect little treat to share...it would be Austin's first try. After realizing we didn't have all the ingredients, we decided to take a quick walk to the grocery store to pick up some groceries. On the way there Mikayla and I had a little conversation about what was on our "list". We talked about what ingredients we needed to make our smoothie and what we had at home and what we needed to buy. I told her that she needed to help me remember. It was so cute for her to say the list back to me. (A random side note: Mikayla has been calling bananas "manna" for the longest time, so we tried pronouncing it for her so she could repeat it back to us. Buh-na-na. Simple, right? She repeats it back to us like this: Buh-duh-na-na. I'm so going to try to get this on video because it is just too cute!)

Time to get a cookin'!

Step 1: Cut up the bananas.

Step 2: Pour in the milk
Step 3: Measure out the yogurt
Step 4: Add in the berries.
Step 5: Turn on the blender.
Step 6: Give mom a cheesy grin.
Step 7: Cheers!

Mikayla decided to take hers "to go"!
And it looks like the smoothie was a hit...

...every last drop!

Another little cooking lesson that I didn't capture on camera was her helping me with dinner the other night. When it's appropriate and I have the time, I plan on giving Mikayla little jobs to do in the kitchen with me. (While Mikayla was helping me, I gave Austin a few {new to him} cooking tools to play with while we worked to distract him.) She put the salad in the bowls (I must admit it was a bagged salad! Gasp!). She was also in charge of buttering the bread and sprinkling the Parmesan cheese on top. Just giving your kids a little job in the kitchen will bring a smile to their face. It might be an extra mess, but I think it's worth it! Just don't choose an evening that's full of stress! One of the tips that I learned was to pick one night a week that was set aside for Mikayla to help me in the kitchen. That meal could be something that would be easy and fun to do together!


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

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And, in other blogging news...I'm going to be enjoying an all day scrapbooking getaway on Saturday and heading out of town on Sunday until Monday night to visit friends, so you won't be hearing a lot from me, but most of you probably also have plans with the long weekend coming up. Enjoy Memorial Day weekend and we'll "see" you when we "see" you!

answers revealed - part three (random)

You've asked, I've answered...

Part 1: Creativity
Part 2: Love, Marriage, & Family
Part 3: A little bit of random

**Warning: Lots of words with no pictures!**

Question #5 from Kelli at Random Thoughts of a Supermom - What did you teach? What made you want to become a teacher? And do you plan on going back to teaching once your kids are a little older?

I taught for 6 years prior to staying home with my little ones. My first year was in a small Christian school in eastern Washington teaching 4th graders. Then I moved back "home" and taught 5th grade at a larger Christian school in Portland for the next 4 years...an amazing experience. My last year of teaching was in a public school just down the road from where I currently live. I taught 3rd grade for less than a year because I ended up getting pregnant that same year (oops! bad timing!), so I taught until Spring Break.

I've always wanted to be a teacher, so it's been ingrained into me. My mom is also a teacher, so I grew up with it all around me. I'm quite content being a stay at home momma and at this time I'm not sure if I'll go back to teaching when the kids get older or if I will instead pursue other areas of my passions and gifts. I do miss it, however...especially when I see everyone buying school supplies at the beginning of the year. But that really only lasts a day or so and then I remember how much work it was!

Question # 7 comes from Xazmin at This is the Year - Who did you vote for for president?

Yes, Xazmin...I am squirming a bit. Just to preface: I am as far from being "political" as you can get. Not that I'm not patriotic, I'm just a little more naive than I probably should be. I voted for McCain. We'll leave it at that.

Question # 8 comes from Katie at A List Maker's Life - What kind of music do you listen to?

Most often you can find me listening to "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round", but if I had my choice, I would say I listen to country, but usually just CDs. My current faves are Carrie Underwood and Rascal Flatts. I also enjoy listening to Christian radio or worship music CDs. It all depends on the day!

Question #10 comes from Dawn at 7 All Together - What's your favorite food?

Hmmm.... I'm going to go with the generic answer: pizza or Mexican food. My guilty pleasures.

Question #13 comes from Kim at Caldwell Cuties - What was your first job and did you like it?

I started working my Junior year in higschool at Newberg Hardware. I stayed there all through college. It was the best job I could have ever asked for! The owners were personal friends of mine and so they were very flexible with my hours, understanding my basketball schedule in high school and my class schedule in college. I did it all it seemed...bookkeeping, accounts receivable, cashier, etc. I think I said this before, but I'm such a creature of habit!

Question #16 from Heidi at Sacred & Profane - Tell me about something that might be considered the craziest thing you've ever done.

OK, you are talking to the most un-daring person ever! I am so "inside the box" that I rarely step out (major rule-follower here), so really to say the craziest thing I've ever done would be completely laughable because it would really not be that crazy at all. Let me think on it a little more and maybe some of my college girlfriends could help me out with this one...or maybe not?

**There are a couple of unanswered questions, but I'm going to save those for a special post. One on organization from Kelli at Outside my Kitchen Window and one from Rhonda at Down Memory Lane wanting to spill my guts about my 50 pound weight loss. Both of these are long-winded answers, so let me pull my thoughts together and I'll try to post something soon!!

Thanks again, ladies, for all of the fun questions! Hope you enjoyed getting to know a little bit more about me.

tackling a hot spot!

Typically Tuesdays are my days to clean house, organize, do laundry, etc. I usually don't have much planned, so we pretty much spend Tuesdays at home...unless of course we're invited to go do something than forget housework!

So, how perfect is it that 5 Minutes for Mom hosts Tackle it Tuesday every week? I've been participating in Tackle it Tuesday pretty much from the beginning of starting my blog last May. I've said it before, but there is just something motivating about taking before and after shots of all of your hard work. Today isn't any different and I finally was able to tackle a little something I've been meaning to do for awhile.

Ever since we gave up our office when Austin was born, we downsized (in a major way) to one small computer armoire that currently resides in the living room. The intention was to have something we could close up when guests come over, but most often it just sits with the doors open. I was getting a little frustrated looking at the disorganization and stuff just shoved here and there. This is definitely a hot spot in our house where a lot of things start piling up. It was obvious that I needed to tweak a few things to make it look more presentable on a day to day basis. I was putting it off until today...I finally found the motivation! And I'm extremely happy with the changes I made! Nothing too drastic, but enough to make it work for us and still look clean and organized.

~ BEFORE ~
Ugh! what a mess...so many papers and junk!
Unfortunately, this is not at its worst!

~ AFTER ~
I moved things around a bit to make it look less cluttered.
Now I just have to keep away the piles of paper!

~ BEFORE ~
Just a hodge podge of stuff looking tacky.

~ AFTER ~
(aahhh! that's better)

We found these great storage boxes at IKEA.
I wanted something that would match and look nice.
I added labels to each of the boxes for that added touch.

~ BEFORE ~
On one of the shelves were these drawers.

I couldn't stand that people could see inside, so taking an idea I saw on Heather's blog at Party in Pink, I added some fun paper to the front of each of the drawers. However, instead of Mod Podge, I just used tape to attach it on the inside. I thought that maybe I would use these drawers for something else in the future, so I didn't want to do anything permanent.

~ AFTER ~

~ BEFORE ~
the full view
~ AFTER ~
the full view

Now the mission is to keep it looking sparkly and new...
or at least somewhat presentable.

And, in typical fashion, the kids left me another
little something else to tackle today...

I don't have an "after" to share of this,
but it is all cleaned up as I type.

Join in the fun and motivation to get some things tackled at 5 Minutes for Mom.