Birthday Recap

I can't believe how fast time is flying and how extremely busy I am! Finally getting around to my birthday post. My birthday was amazing!

Dinner at Olympic Provisions was amazing. We maxed them out with a party of 15 and they were wonderful. We have a four course meal with a meat mix and match appetizer plate, amazing beet and citrus salad, scallops, chicken, chorizo, pasta and to top it all off a champagne ice cream and chocolate cake for dessert. All of it was so amazing.

Nick's mom was kind enough to keep Gunnar for the night so we got to stay at the Avalon and it too was great. Due to availability we were upgraded to a room with a river view which was very nice.

You will think this very odd but these are the only two pictures I took of the night:

The beautiful flowers my brother and sister in law had delivered to the hotel:

And the view from our balcony:


I had my camera in my coat pocket but was so busy having such a great time that I never got it out. I think too many people spend too much time trying to document all the great things in their lives versus just enjoying it. I clearly just enjoyed it!

Birthday Sneak Peek

This week I have a noteworthy birthday coming up. I have gone back and forth between doing nothing (the responsible thing to do) and going all out. With Grandma here to watch the kiddo I decided to opt for the latter this year.

I have a room booked at the Avalon hotel on the waterfront and a delicious dinner lined up at Olympic Provisions NW. Olympic provisions is one of the meat purveyors from Nicky USA's Wild About Game that Nick and I went to at The Resort awhile back and loved. When I called to reserve for a large party they really went above and beyond! They were super friendly and will be sending me a menu crafted especially for us. Four courses and I am sure each will be to die for.

More to come!!

MORE

It is no secret that Gunnar is still not talking. Oh he "talks" but not in words that anyone but he understands. He has recently been expanding his vocabulary with some object words - ball, bird, Truck. But today was a huge breakthrough with him and the word "more". He has been batting it around lately but today it really seemed to click. We were in the car and he wanted more Triscuit. So he began to fuss per usual. I finally got to use the line - "stop whining and use your word". And he DID! By the time we made it home he was STUFFED from continually asking for more. Boy was I happy to oblige though. Finally, some real concrete communication. It was wonderful!!

Getting a head of the game

A couple of weeks ago Nick voluntarily pulled the van out of commission so he could begin to repair the head gaskets. Let me remind you how amazingly mechanical my husband is, that he is teaching himself hoe to do all this!

Of course everything is easier with your helper in tow:


Nick did make the rookie mistake of removing the sleeves from the cylinders when he was taking everything apart. Luckily he and I were able to wiggle and compress everything enough to get them back on.

Ta da!


Action shot:


Again, huge thanks to Grandma for watching Gunnar so papa can get this done!

Family Time

We have been super lucky to have Grandma Darnelle visiting us these past couple of weeks. It is so wonderful to have an extra set of hands to help wrangle our little bundle of boy!

Here are Grandma and Gunnar watching 'the Gunnar show" on the ipad. He never tires of watching his own slide show!
G holding Aunt Shanna hostage to read the poop book one more time:
Giving the good doctor a run for his block stacking money:
Last weekend Gunnar, Grandma, Papa and I all made the trek to messy art class. It was great! Here we are painting with ice cubes:
Today the museum was SUPER packed so G and I had a picnic in the car before hitting the road. He ate like a champ and was thrilled that I let him control the radio:

Messy Toddlers

Gunnar and I went to his first "messy toddlers" art class on Sunday at the Portland Children's Museum. G slept the entire time in the car on the way there so it took him a bit to get over the shock of it all. Here he is playing with the cars in paint. Notice the nap hangover:


Just like home, digging in the dirt was one of his favorite activities:


His other favorite was the big wooden box lined with paper, squirted with paint and full of balls. The box had rope attached on all sides so you could lift it, cause the balls to roll and make a design. Lifting heavy things is his specialty!

After class we decided to hit the bug dig pit in the museum. G had a great time loading and unloading the trucks. Learning that just because you like to dump your truck does not mean that other people want you to run over and dump their trucks too.


Grandma Darnelle arrives tomorrow and we can't wait!

Wacky Weather

We finally got a real snow here in Brightwood recently. It was not a ton of snow but it was super, super wet which of course led to tons of damage. We were without power a couple days and lost some rather large limbs from one of our firs.

Here was Nick beginning to clean up:


Very glad that storm has passed!