Josiah my love

I was never the babysitter in the family.

That was my sister's job.

Growing up there were plenty of jokes about how I would hold babies at arms length instead of cuddling them to my body.  I think I was scared more than anything.

It takes vulnerability to coo to an infant. 

And that's not always my 'thing'....ha ha.

But I have to say that having a brand new little nephew is quite heavenly.

I mean, you'd think that I'd be a bit immune to that baby smell, what with having our own brood of three, and our youngest about to turn 5!

But I can't think of anything better than our new little addition, Josiah Mason.

So needless to say, I jumped at the request to take his announcement pictures.

He was just 7 days old at the time.

And just a lil ball of squishy yum!

He has steely, grey eyes and magnificent curly hair.

And well, he's just so ....'pliable' for lack of a better word!

So my sister filled his tummy and lulled him to sleep.....and we had our way with him.

His daddy is a 49er fan....as is Papi....and of course our family...so we made sure to document his allegiances from the get-go.

See what I mean?

And well, some poses worked out better than others!

The cake platter was a no-go.

But he did let us strip him down for the nude shots.

I tried to remember everything I'd ever read about taking pictures of infants.

Keeping them warm and comfy is numero uno!

And he did great as long as I only snapped a few shots, and then I covered him back up for a minute.

But if it got too breezy.....well, he was NOT a happy camper:

All in all, it wasn't hard to capture the magic.  He sleeps like a rock.  

I even re-positioned his hands a few times.  

Cutie-patootie!

Towards the end my kids couldn't help themselves...they needed to jump in on the fun.

Josiah was oblivious!

What is it about baby feet that makes them so delectable?

Here I played ring toss with my prego ring.

I just wanted a size reference for those toes.

We all know they will NOT stay this small and clean! 

Ah yes, this has to be close to what it feels like to be a grandparent.  It almost hurts how much I love this little guy.  I can spoil him and take him places, and then send him home.

Awesome.

I'm just thrilled that my kids will grow up with a lil cousin.

They have cousins on Jarrod's side.  But since Trish is my only sister.....well, it was all up to her ;)

I wish I could show you some more great shots, but I have to wait until the announcements come out.  

I don't want to steal any thunder. 

We all love to get a little snailmail right? It reminds us that we're human not just machines ;)

So I leave you with one parting shot.

I'm sure I'm biased, but MAN I am talking perfection with those feet!

And I'll end with this quote:
Yesterday is but today's memory, and tomorrow is today's dream.
Khalil Gibran

Oregon coast roadtrip- Part Two

Like I said....it's never a dull moment when we're roadtripping.....

but man this trip lent itself to some gorgeous eye candy.

Witness winter dusk on the beach.... 

All that cloud cover provided ample opportunity for the aspiring photographer in me.  I had a field day with the lighting!  Sigh, so much to learn....and even MORE to one day photograph! But I digress....

The kids......Oh the kids were full of it to say the least.

After our early morning lighthouse tour, we had a mission to accomplish.

Jarrod needed me to drive to a town 30 minutes away and find their UPS store.  Though it sounded easy enough....it took us 3 hours to find the place, coordinate with Jarrod on where he wanted it shipped, and stop for various bathroom/food breaks.   Randomly enough....the UPS store was in the same parking lot of a HUGE Goodwill store.  My curiosity paid off and we were rewarded with New With Tags jeans for each of the kids, and a Brand New Oster Blender, all  for $20.   Not a bad detour if you ask me! 

Then it was time to pick up Jarrod from work.

Before we headed to dinner....we thought we would stop by a park to let them 'get out their wiggles.'

I had passed a fantastic city park during the day.....and Jarrod assured me he had seen one near the beach.

His idea of a 'park' turned out to be a couple benches on the beach.

Hilarious miscommunication there babe.

But we utilized that bench for all it was worth:

Though the weather had been gorgeous around....65 degrees all day long....the sun was now setting and it was brisk out there!

The kids were dying to get in the water, so we held them off with a little rock tossing ;)

Then, having dogged inmates AND hypothermia for one day, 

 it was finally time for dinner.

And what MUST you eat when you're staying beachside?

Seafood of course!

After lobster and some delish wine, it was time for the promised hotel swim at the indoor pool.

The kids exhausted themselves while we sat poolside playing Angry Birds.   

IT was the perfect ending to a busy day!

The next morning we were up in time to catch the complimentary breakfast and then back on the road.

Eating, driving, driving, eating....are you seeing a pattern here?

Our goal was to head down the coast to a place called the Trees of Mystery.  

On our way we randomly saw signs that pointed to another lighthouse.  

What a gem of a stop it turned out to be!

The lighthouse was located on a peninsula.

During high tide the lighthouse location is more of an island....making all the rocky beach in between RIPE for tide pools!

You can see the waves creeping in on the left.  At high tide this ramp UP to the lighthouse would be partially covered.  

The tide pools were such a gift, as we had studied these little habitats earlier in the year.

These pools were chock full of crabs, both hermit and full sized crabs, starfish, and tiny fish.

It's so amazing for the kids to recount to their daddy what they had learned about each of these creatures.

Not to mention the hands on factor.  Though, I love that our four year old was the bravest one.

Completely unafraid to hold the live creature.

Well, she might have been a LITTLE grossed out...but in the end she was bolder than EITHER of her brothers....and especially her mother!

We had a funny Circle of life moment as we walked away from this starfish.

We watched a seagull swoop down and grab something for a snack.

And I practically had to hold back the boys from chasing down the bird.

In the end, we spotted our little starfish friend and relocated it to deeper waters.  He survived becoming lunch for one more day.  Sorry Mr. Seagull, not on our watch!

Back to the Lighthouse.....smiles seemed hard to come by....

Oh wait....here are a couple: 

It was strange walking around the grounds because this lighthouse is actually still occupied.

Though the inside is closed for tours until May, we could peek in and see all their belongings.

It seemed the family was just out running errands.  It felt a bit obtrusive.  Needless to say, we didn't stay for long.  Though it was a beautiful stop!

We still had plenty of road to cover.

My amazing husband had the 9 hour drive to complete with us PLUS another 4 hours to finish before his head hit the pillow that night.

Unfortunately, we decided to cut across Oregon on the windiest road I've EVER been on which added atleast 3 more hours onto our drive. 

Jarrod laughs that we are the WORST road trip companions as we force him to stop for potty breaks and we ALL tend to get motion sickness. 

Well I say it's HIS fault for dragging us along!

But in the end, as long as we keep popping lemondrops and Dramamine.....

the memories are worth the effort. 

I just think it's amazing that he wants to be with us SO much that he'd trade a peaceful, non-stop business trip, for a much interrupted escapade with us.

I can't say enough about what a terrific daddy he is.

Until next time Oregon Coast.

I'm sure we'll pass this way again.  Just not across the 35 next time!  Ick, I thought my stomach was doing back handsprings! 

the End

So this is love....

Hopefully I'm not the only one who plays tracks of old Disney songs in her head.

Because otherwise you're going to have to use your imagination here.

But if you're in the know, and you can replace the image of the waltzing, blonde Cinderella......

With the Jew and his Mexi-momma.....

then you can sing along
**I decided to help you out...just push play before you scroll down:

So this is love, Mmmmmm

So this is love
So this is what makes life divine 

I'm all aglow, Mmmmmm

And now I know
The key to all heaven is mine 

My heart has wings, Mmmmmm

And I can fly
I'll touch ev'ry star in the sky 

So this is the miracle that I've been dreaming of
Mmmmmm 
Mmmmmm
So this is love 

Ah....nothing like a good old fashioned sing-a-long on Valentines.

If only I had the proper tech skills to bust out the bouncing ball.

Maybe next year.

For now I leave you with a kiss....

PS- I know, my lips scare me here too.....

but he didn't run- so I guess we're ok.

Wildflower

I interrupt our Oregon posts for a little Art Appreciation.

We're all down sick over here....yet, the energy levels are UP....just not for mom ;)

I'm at that sneezy miserable stage of a cold. Stuffy I can handle, drippy...not so much.

But this is not a post about illness, but rather what we do to keep busy while we're ill.

It feels cruel to expect a sicky lil one to concentrate on a new concept or fine tune their motor skills, so instead we play.  Atleast that's what Talia was up for today.

She was dying to paint and had this canvas to finish up for her daddy.  

And boy does she ever concentrate when she is painting!

As an aside....I was REALLY grateful for that sealing binge I went on before we moved in.

I was thinking that tile was hardy enough to paint on without laying a tarp down......but then the entire paint 'tray' fell and I thought I would die when I saw the acrylic seeping into the grout lines.

Obviously I didn't die.

And thankfully the sealant worked great!

It scrubbed right up :)

Crisis averted...now back to painting. 

The main reason I wanted to share this art session was to highlight Talia's final piece.

Take a peek before I label it.  What do you see? 

She calls this one Wildflower.

At first glance it didn't look like much more than a finger painting, but I loved her definition:

"Mom, this is a wildflower. God calls them that because they are bad.  They do all kinds of crazy things so He made them all twisty and crazy.

They are wild, that's why they are called Wildflowers. 

I'd buy that.  

Stuffy noses and all....I'm so thankful for home days that bring out our creativity :)

Oregon coast roadtrip- unplanned danger and such- Part I

Lately Jarrod has been away on business a bit too much for our liking.

A week or two ago he was going to be gone for most of the week, so he convinced us to come with him on his first leg.  It took a bit of tackling, but I eventually packed up our family of five and we were on the road the next morning.

We had some amazing scenery to oogle on our way up...witness the cloud cover over Shasta:      

It was an easy 9 hour ride up the 5....and once we were settled in, we had a total of 48 hours before we had to be back in California....whirlwind huh?

But we made the most of it...and the weather was amazing.  

The Oregonians were baffled at the 68 degrees in February.  I'll take it I thought!

The kids and I got up for the complimentary breakfast Monday morning and we headed up the street to Face Rock, can you see it? 

I actually think she's a little creepy.

Like she's trying to get up after being underwater.  She definitely doesn't look happy.

Maybe it's the nose-picking....

Our latest unit study had us learning about Lighthouses.

PERFECT since there are quite a few still located on the Oregon coast. 

Unfortunately, the lighthouse tours don't start until late Spring....bummer, but it was fun to stomp around the grounds. 

We also found a great tidepool reveal.  Yes, I'm THAT mom that lets her kids go out on slippery wet cliffs.  Shhhhh, don't tell Marmar. ;)

A huge wave came up a few minutes later that left Talia and I squealing with fear!

Even better......as we were leaving to walk back to the van we had one MORE run in with danger.  Or not, but it felt dangerous.  You see as we were driving out onto the tip of this peninsula, we passed a large white van. You know, the commercial type that makes you think of worst case scenarios. 

Well this was a special kind of van and I was glad we were leaving them in our dust.  

Well, after our 20 minute tour of the lighthouse and surrounding area we were headed back to the van and I was confronted with a group of men in orange jumpsuits.  Oh yeah, that was no ordinary van.  It was filled with INMATES, atleast that's what was emblazoned across their chests.  Awesome.  

I tried to find a path around them, but they were parked RIGHT.NEXT.TO.OUR.VAN.

So I started praying and made eye contact with the man with the shotgun.  

Well that's what I was hoping was in his hands.  

I ushered the kids as far right as we could manage and tried to avoid the hellos of the inmates.  

Yeah, friendly or not, you're wearing a jumpsuit, yo!

Needless to say we made it back to our van and hightailed it outta there!

Thank God our adventures for the morning were coming to a close.

And my babies were safe and sound.  

I love how they were oblivious....witness two of their smiles:

Ian on the other hand is going through that GOOFY smile phase.....seriously I can't get a decent smile outta him to save my life!

Good thing he's cute and all, just wish my arms were long enough to tickle him AND push the shutter button at the same time!

More Oregonian fun to come....