.:Meet the Ritchies:.

Saturday was such a beautiful afternoon that we decided to try out our new three wheeled stroller and go for a walk on the East Bank Esplanade.  If you have not done this loop, I highly recommend it.  And if you go on the weekend, then you can stop off at Saturday Market and get yourself something yummy to snack on.  You know, to fuel your walk.  We chose an elephant ear and a funnel cake to share.  Sugar overload!  But so worth it.  And by walking we felt that we worked off those unnecessary calories (yeah right!).  We started at the Hawthorne Bridge on the east side, and looped around crossing the river on the north end at the Steel Bridge and then coming back to the east side across the Hawthorne Bridge.  I had never crossed these bridges on foot before, it was a really nice view.  I think the entire loop was 3 miles.  Here are some photos we took along the way with Mark’s iphone4.  It’s got such a great camera!

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A goose and her goslings!

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How have you been enjoying our nice weather?

xoxo

3 months

Our little chubbikins turned 3 months old today!  It’s so much fun to watch him grow and learn every day.  I am so thankful that I have been able to be with him every moment so far.  I am not at all excited about returning to work in a month but knowing that our family will be helping with the childcare for the summer makes it a little easier.

He is full of smiles these days and has discovered that he controls his hands.  He practices this by putting them together in front of his face, intently watching himself do so to the point where his eyes almost go crossed.  Then he brings them to his mouth.  He loves to suck on his fingers. and even though that thumb is still too little to be singled out from the rest easily, he is very persistent so I am sure he’ll be a thumbsucker before too long.  He loves to talk and make noises.  He is very vocal with his Daddy when he is playing guitar and singing for him.  He is still a morning boy, very chatty and happy when he gets his diaper changed first thing.  He still loves his changing table, he is so content to just lay there and look at all the fun stuff hanging on the wall for him to enjoy.  If all else fails and he’s having a little mini meltdown, this usually does the trick.  Or nurse him, which I’m the only one that can do that so it appears that he’s a mama’s boy.  <3

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We love you Enzo!  Keep growing big and strong!

xoxo

I have been super productive this week, Mark asked me if I was nesting.  Pretty funny. But as a result of all my cleaning we have an organized laundry room and sewing room.  Really the sewing room is always the biggest mess to clean up and it’s somehow always my mess.  Claire has been crafty the past couple months though, so I can blame her for part of it.  Too bad I couldn’t get her to help me clean it, it’s hard enough just getting that kid to clean her bedroom.

Another thing we were productive with this week was the yard.  Since Mark broke his collarbone a couple of weeks ago he hasn’t been able to do many things around the house.  But he did fire up the lawn mower this week and the yard looks great!  And the great weather inspired me to do some weeding myself and survey the yard a bit for things we can do to pretty it up.  I took some shots on my phone camera so that I could have it to reference while at the nursery.  Enzo helped me…

He was thrilled, obviously!

Luckily, the students at Hudson’s Bay High School in Vancouver were having a plant sale to benefit their horticulture class.  So we scored some great vegies for the garden, plus a maple tree for $10 and some other small flowers.  Then we topped it off with a trip to Home Depot and got the things that we couldn’t get at the school sale, including plants for the hanging pots I bought last Spring and some beautiful flowering bushes for along the deck.  And of course, who can resist the flowers for the pots in the front like pansies and geraniums!  Claire went ahead and took some photos after our hard work this evening, so here are a few of the work in progress…

Before

After

Pretty!

Our scary garden as it lives right now!

New fuchsias in the hanging pots!

This is outside the back door, I plan to put a plant shelf here or something like that. But I've been saying that since we moved in almost three years ago.

As you can see, we have a lot of work yet to do.  But the nice weather has just begun and hopefully it will stick around for awhile.  I would also like to find a cute little table and two chairs for the front side of the house, it gets quite a bit of shade in the afternoon/evening and would be perfect for sipping lemonade and reading a book.  I might need to start hitting yard sales on the weekend and try to find a vintage set.  I’m definitely picturing wrought iron.

Thank you to my Mom for spending the afternoon driving us around and then helping us make our yard beautiful.  I am always seeking her green thumb wisdom.  And my darling husband who made a yummy BBQ dinner for all of us ladies.  Thank goodness he can still cook with only one functioning arm!  Now he just needs to figure out how to change a diaper!

I hope you have a great weekend!  Here’s to sunshine!

xoxo

Here are a few little crafts that I was working on this week…

happy hippo

I picked up a crochet pattern book from Michael’s for $5 that has a fun collection of stuffed animals. This was the first one I chose to make. He’s so cute! I need to go buy some “safety eyes”, these little tiny black beads that are used for all the animals faces, and he will be complete! He measures about 6 inches, perfect for little hands. Enzo met him and smiled, so I think that means he likes him (could have also been gas?).

Dollface

This was the same doll that I helped the girls make in this post. I have decided to make some using crochet as hair and shoes, however I had started and not finished so many projects over the last couple weeks (still working on a crocheted cowboy hat, super determined to make it work), that I went the easy route and just used felt for the hair so she could be finished. I am too much of an “instant gratification” personality for things to take too long from start to finish. I walk away from a lot of projects half finished because of this. I am working on not doing that. It’s not easy! If you like this doll, you can make her too by getting the pattern from here.

They are great friends!

Happy crafting!

xoxo

Wyatt!

Yesterday we took a road trip up the gorge to see my nephew play some T-ball.  My Mom was nice enough to drive (thanks Mom!).  We picked up Claire from school and hit the road.  My sister sat in the back with Enzo and I so she could stare at her sweet nephew the entire trip, and they did indeed do a lot of staring at each other.  It was pretty cute.  He was doing this hilarious thing where he’d open his eyes really wide every time we went under any sort of bridge, so underpasses and tunnels were a hoot.  Except of course when I tried to videotape it with my phone.  Then for some reason he didn’t do it, I think maybe because he was too focused on my phone in his face.

It was beautiful out but there was a chilly wind blowing, as always in that neck of the woods. But it was great to see everyone and it was fun to watch Wyatt play ball.  My brother is a coach (when his work schedule allows and he is not patrolling the streets of Morrow County, keeping them safe).  Like father, like son as I remember my own Dad as a little league coach when my brother played as a kid.  It’s fun to see history repeating itself.

Paul and Wyatt

The “game” only last an hour.  I use the quotation marks because it really was just fun for the kids, there were no rules just hit the ball and run to the bases, no outs or anything and everyone got to bat once.  When the last kid was up they would holler “Last batter!” and then everyone who was on the bases knew they could just run all the way to home because the inning was over.  It was pretty hilarious to see all the distractions happening on the field.  There were players discussing their equipment (taking their helmets off and on), testing their balance skills (twirling around in circles repeatedly) and perhaps showing some interest in the opposite sex (a girl named Alyssa who was on first base with Wyatt and proceeded to tug on his sweatshirt hood and then ordered him to stand a couple feet from the base, which he obediently did, this was when we realized this was a girl he might like).

Anyway, despite the chilly wind and the very short game, we were happy to make the trip and see him play.  It was also nice to see my Dad & Marta, and Paul & Mandy twice in two weeks!

Bundled up watching the game!

My littlest nephew, Hunter

Smile Paul!

Grandma Trudie and her grandkids (sans Veda)!

Who's on first?

Me and my Dad! <3

Wyatt excited about the after game snacks!

xoxo