The sun has come for a visit!

Ahhh the beautiful Pacific NW, the Evergreen State... well its also a state where we get lots and lots and lots and lots of rain! But, the sun does come for a visit a few months out of the year and when it does, it makes that very long winter well worth the wait! And a long winter it was. We had a very cold, snowy, rainy winter this year, it felt like it lasted forever. Just a few weeks ago we were still down in the low 40's during the day, and it was May so needless to say, the last few weekends of 70 degree weather has been absolutely amazing and very much appreciated! Us being true Southern Californians, when the sun is out, the bathing suits are on, the sunblock is lathered on and the mini pool and the beers (plus O'Douls) are flowing. Like the song says, "I wanna soak up the sun, I want my forty-five on so I can rock on!"



The sun also wakes up all of our gardens and it truly is a beautiful site to see your yard transform from brown and bare to truly lush and filled with the brightest pinks, purples, yellows, and greens I have ever seen. In April Shilo and I planted our veggie garden in preparation for the spring/summer season and we are starting to see all of our little veggies sprout through. This year we have sugar snap peas, lettuce, tomatoes, basil, chives, cucumber, rosemary and Shilo's favorite, Sunflowers. In addition to that we are able to benefit from what has already been here for years past: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, mint, pears, Plums and the best for last, cherries! We are looking forward to watching our garden continue to grow and as the weeks pass, the afternoons when we are growing hungry for a little sweet snack we can simply pick something fresh from our very own backyard!

Plum Tree



Sugar Snap Peas


Strawberries


Shilo's Sunflowers

Dori makes it all better

For most of you Dori is a name you hear almost as often as you hear Shilo when we talk about our family and that is because Dori is just that, family. We got Dori girl 6 months before Shilo was born and despite the "fear" many had, we never questioned it one bit. Dori may be a "Pitbull" to most but to us she has always been our Dori Girl, our pitiful pittbull. I knew from the start Dori would be an amazing dog. For one, I knew my big brother would have never given me a dog that would not have been a great dog for my family but there was something about Dori and her curious, cute little head tilt that just told me she would be the best dog for our family. Well that has turned out to be truer than true, 3 1/2 years later, she not only is the greatest dog you could ever have, but she is Shilo's best friend. Her side kick, her playmate, her comfort, her everything. There isn't a momentous (or even minimal) occasion that Dori girl has not been a part of spanning from bringing Shilo home when she was first born, her first birthday, first steps, to making the 24 hour drive to Seattle keeping Shilo company in the backseat and the newest attraction, watching Shilo brush her teeth nightly She is more than a dog, to us, she is another person in our home. Like most family members, we have many names for her too: Dori Girl, Stinky, Dori T, D, Doris and most recently added, Claude for her ever so graceful trips and falls up and down the stairs. But tonight was one of those moments when I realized just how amazing the relationship between Shilo and Dori really is. Ian had soccer tonight but unusual to most Monday nights, he came home before his game so we could all have dinner together, and he could give Shilo a bath. It was a nice surprise for Shilo (and I) and we enjoyed the hour or so we had with Ian before he left. When he left, Shilo raced downstairs to say goodbye and close the door and then we raced immediately upstairs to our bedroom, pulled up the blinds and watched and waved as "daddy" drove away. Suddenly, Shilo looked at me with tears in her eyes and says, "mama, I didn't give daddy a big smoocheroo!" She was instantly upset and just kept explaining that she wanted daddy to come home so she could give him a smoocheroo. I picked her up and sat her on my lap, I hugged her and explained to her that daddy would be home soon and that when he got home he would give her a big smoocheroo. She just kept crying, tears streaming down her face, so sad that she didn't give daddy a kiss. I made one last attempt and asked her, "what about if you give daddy two kisses tomorrow morning when you wake up?" To which the reply sobbing was still, "no mama, I want him to come home." Finally I realized my ideas were not making it better so I said, "Honey I know you are very sad. I am so sorry you are sad. But daddy loves you and he will give you big kisses when he gets home. But, I know that does not make it better now so what will make it better now?" Shilo looked at me with those big brown eyes and calmly said, "Dori will. Can you call her mama?" So of course I did and Dori, as usual came bouncing up the stairs, tail wagging happy to oblige. I explained to Dori that Shilo was sad over not being able to give daddy a kiss and that she needed some love. To this, Dori, on her own accord, nudged over to Shilo, gave her a huge kiss on her face to which Shilo smiled and then wrapped her arms around her furry friends neck with a huge smile. Dori sat accomodating Shilo's needs and it was back to business as usual. Dori girl makes it all better!

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Girls Night Out

I had girls night out tonight... just me and lil Miss Shilo! It was great. Its not something that happens very often, we try and spend most of our weekends doing stuff as a family since our weeks are packed with work and school. But tonight was special, Ian went to his first Seattle Sounders game so that meant Shilo and I were on our own! I was very excited to have this time with Shilo, she is growing and changing so fast, not a toddler anymore but a little girl, you can talk to and share things with and learn from and teach things to. Our night was simple, but it was great!

She got home from swimming and changed into her "outfit" and we were off. The outfit consisted of pink stretch pants with grey peace signs all over them (courtesy of Uncle John and Auntie Randa), a purple shirt with my little pony on the front and in big letters PRINCESS, pink fuzzy crocs and hair all askew. With night night in tow we were on our way!

First stop, Oobas, our favorite little Mexican food restaurant down in Redmond. Shilo picked the perfect table for two near the window, so we could watch all the people walk bye (of course). We shared some chips and guacamole, a "spritz" drink (with is flavored sparkling water) and we each had the children's bean and cheese burrito. Dinner was very relaxing, filled with lots of conversation. I found myself just staring at my beautiful little girl absolutely amazed at how big she is and how incredibly smart she is. As she is watching cars drive by she is telling me who else has cars that are similar to the ones driving bye. She is counting them, telling me what colors they are and of course making up fun stories about where they are going. Then we saw a police car drive bye and that transitioned into, "mama when there is an emergency you call 9-1-1 and the policeman and ambulance will come and help you." Ahh, they learn so much and grow up so fast! I don't think I could stop smiling, listening to all that she was sharing with me. Eventually in between conversation, we managed to polish off our burritos and our spritz drinks and then we were off to our second location, Toys R Us!

This was a very special treat but one that was very much deserved. Shilo has been holding onto a gift card to Toys R Us since her birthday and we had been waiting for an opportunity to take her shopping. Today was the day and all day long, it was all she could talk about. On the way there I reminded her, only 1 toy and it had to only cost $15 because that is how much her gift card was for, "okay mama, 1 toy and I will be a gooood listener too!" We got there and it was straight to the baby aisle, the girl loves her babies. She walked up and down the aisles very careful not to pick too soon and when she saw something she liked she would ask, "mama, does this cost more than $15?" I would answer her yes or no and she would move on and then she found it, the perfect baby and it was well within budget! It was a bath baby with a yellow duckie towel, a squirt toy, diaper and baby lotion. The reason it was perfect, "mama, this baby has a duckie towel like the one papa sent me! We will be matching!" She proudly grabbed the box that was over half her size and probably weighed as much as she did with all the packaging and looked at me and said, "this is what I want to buy mama". I asked her if she needed help and she proudly said, "no mama, I will carry my baby." Very carefully and very slowly we made our way to the check out counter and she placed her baby up on the counter but not before taking a deep sigh and saying, "wow, my baby is heavy!" The nice young man rang us up and I handed Shilo her gift card so she could pay for her baby. He told her the total and she handed him her gift card proudly and said, "here you go, I was a good listener today, so I get to pay for this myself!" He smiled and told her what a big girl she was, he gave her her receipt, she politely said thank you and we were on our way.

Shilo held onto her baby all the way home with a huge smile on her face, aniticpating how fun her bath would be tonight because she was going to give her baby a bath too. And she did just that, baby's hair was washed and so was her body just as I did Shilo. Then I wrapped Shilo in her duckie towel and she then wrapped her baby in her duckie towel and we moved forward with the bedtime routine: lotion, brushing hair, brushing teeth, and two books. When we are done with books, I turn to Shilo every night and we say the same thing to eachother I ask, "how much do I love you?" and Shilo will turn to me put her arms around my neck, give me a kiss and reply, "so much!" And tonight when she was done giving me loves she turned to her baby and said, "how much do I love you baby?".... it was the perfect end to the perfect night out with my best girl!