Daddo Day (posting a month or so late)

You know a guy loves you when he pretends to be interested in Etsy just for you.  Seriously it took a good three hours for me to realize he was likely just humoring me - he was that convincing. 

Anyhow, again and again I go back to this post in 2011 and if for some reason I don't remember how great Nick is as a husband or a father this helps.  Our past year or so has been tough...I mean tough.  I think I may look back on it (oddly paralleling Tova's first year) as the top three most challenging of my life.  I'm almost positive Nick would agree.  Nick sticks with my crazy with the patients of...a saint...yes, that's the closest description. 

So other than the hugs and kisses he is attached with on a daily basis, Deven and I decided to show our undying love and gratitude for his presence in our lives by getting the man a new grill.  I had one all picked out ahead of time when Dev spilled the beans letting Nick know that we were planning to go get the grill the following week.  "Surprise daddo," is how I followed Deven's revelation! :) 

Nick and Dev did the final research and picked it up a couple weekends before father's day. We are pretty close to vegetarian eating these days (out of laziness) but I think we grilled meat 5 out of 7 days that week and the other two days we grilled veggies.  So delicious.

Thanks Daddo...Nick.  We love you.

The 7 Year Itch

Nick and I decided we needed a day together to celebrate our seven years of marriage and almost 13 years together.  I'm pretty excited he isn't sick of me yet.  We dropped the kiddos off at school and headed to Mt. Pilchuck for romantic 5.5 mile hike.  No itching here; except for the mosquito bites on the hike we took.  My first major athletic excursion since Tova went pretty well...I was thoroughly exhausted by the end but after I got back into the truck, turned on the air conditioning and drank some liquid I was good as new (two days later when my muscles returned to normal)!

 This is Nick and Sam in the first half mile before I became to weak and disoriented to walk and take pictures at the same time! :)

 Our much needed fuel to get us up the mountain, mixed nuts with M&M's, so delicious.

 We of course took Sam with us, he had such a good time.  Poor guy just doesn't get out any more.  I am hoping this will change very soon!!

 Our view from the look out tower of Mt. Pilchuck.  We couldn't go up together because there was too many people to leave Sammers down below alone.  Some day we will get back just the two of us but it's hard to justify ditching our first child.

I signed the book for us.  I really wonder where these books go.  I think it would be awesome if people scanned them and posted on an official mt web site or something.  Someone should get on this.

This is us on our way down.  I chose a black and white edit so you can't see my red face and dripping sweat!!  Seven years, here's to seven more babe!!

Date Day

This is my last week of working part-time so Nick and I decided to take one of my off days and have a date day.  Our school Country Dawn was able to let us start Tova a week early so we could make this happen.  Nick and I haven't spent grown up time and/or time with just the two of us in longer than I can remember.

Our date day was bitter sweet in that it was also Tova's first day at school.  I talked myself into being OK by noting that if all hell broke lose I would be able to race right back to her as opposed to a day when I would not be able to because I was at work.  She gave her new teachers a huge smile and was not crying when we left so we drove South with optimism.

Of course we chose to head down town and make our favorite rounds.  Pastries and coffee at Le Panier, walking the Pike Market for spices, browsing Pacific Place, a quick stop at Frans, cocktails at Cutters, a visit to the map store, and lunch at Cafe Campagne.  We even tried to visit SAM but of course they are closed on Tuesdays!  No matter though, we had a blast and were so full of yummy food and treats that dinner was completely unnecessary. 

When we picked up the kiddos Deven was in a good mood and Tova was so calm and happy.  It was a perfect end to one of most relaxed days we have had in too long.

Thursday is my last day of leave with Tova, cross your fingers that it will a good one!

A couple pics from our day.

walking the pike market first thing in the morning

a cyprus marg from Cutters (peach with black rock salt)

Happy birthday Nick!

Deven and I prepared earlier on in the week for nicks birthday celebration.  We got balloons, streamers, these strange party blow roll up things and of course cake!!  We headed up to Cle Elem this weekend to the Wright family cabin to celebrate with the Wright's and the Harrington's.  I was/am a bit worried about being so far from Seattle at 37 weeks pregnant, but so far so good. 
This is a picture of my main course!  I heard about this chocolate cake with cayenne pepper and cinnamon a couple of weeks ago on a radio show and thought it would be perfect to try for Nick's party.  I went the semi easy road and got a box for the main cake and looked up how much spice to add.  For those interested it was two teaspoons of cinnamon and 3/4 teaspoon of cayenne.  Spread a generous about of chocolate frosting on that puppy and you have a pregnant ladies last wish...I mean the perfect cake to present your wonderful and deserving husband!!
Delish'!!

Baby Sister & Deven's New Rooms

Although baby sister's room really just needed to be painted and redecorated we (and by we I mean Nick) had to construct Deven's big boy room.  New wainscoting, paint, closet organizer and not to mention the significant good will trip taken to give a better home to all Nick and my left over college 'stuff.'  His room basically looks exactly the same, which was a lot harder to do than it sounds!!  Thanks to Nick though everything is all done and I have been able to organize all our wonderful gifts and my many, what feels like, last minute purchases. 

The weekend

Deven decided that a nap was not in the cards today so we took a drive to the Mukilteo beach. We saw the ferry, a coast guard boat and a light house. We played with rocks, shells with creatures, sand and ultimately muddy grass which thankfully was solved with a quick-change on the truck bed. I'm sure glad we remembered the diaper bag!!

Hockey Time

My boss has front row tickets to the Everett Silver Tips and is frequently out of town for his son's hockey games...so we get the  opportunity to go see a game every once in a while.  It was a great game, goal in the last minute to tie it up, over time then a goal in the last two minutes to win!  Fun times!!!

Swimming and snow

Our first swim lesson of the year was today.  Deven had a good time as usual but the snow made for a strange effect.  It's always odd to go swimming when all you see is snow out the windows.  No matter though, after swimming the boys got bundled up for round two in the snow.  It's still dumping up here.  Good thing we all have tomorrow off for MLK Day!!

My guys

We are all playing fort in Deven's room!

Sky Diving

OK, so I just realized I never wrote a blog about Nick's sky diving adventure. This adventure was delayed about a year due to our wonderful NW weather and the gang's busy lives. They made it though on June 5th. Deven and I didn't end up making it because it was right during nap time. There was a chance that their jump would have been later in the afternoon but with the good weather they were up almost immediately. Thank goodness one of the wives was able to get these pics of Nick's big adventure!!!

How I survive

I'm sitting here on the couch unable to move after throwing my back out yesterday around 12:30pm. At first it wasn't that bad...so of course I mopped the floor while Deven was napping and then I lugged him down the stairs when he woke up and looked at me with those big blue eye saying, "hold you momma?" Which means he wants me to hold him. Bad idea.

After that the back got progressively worse regardless of me icing and taking Advil. If you know me well, you know I don't take any sort of medicine in most cases so this was a pretty big deal. When I woke up this morning I had progressed or rather regressed and was unable to walk or even to crawl with any sort of grace. We had big plans for the weekend too, being father's day and all. This is the weekend we always go to the brew fest in Kenmore...well the weather sort of took care of that one but I certainly sealed the deal.

So after a couple pain induced naps, reading the beginning of a couple of books that have been sitting in my Que for months, I am officially board out of my mind. So I decided to vent to you or rather no one in particular.

One of the books I was reading today is called Positive Discipline by Jane Nelsen. So far so good! What caught my attention, given my current...situation...was her book's dedication. It was 'To Barry' her husband. The dedication was almost a page long and it was a description of how her husband helped her out. I was wondering how she was going to tie it into the book because there was no talk of reading, editing or advice about the book just how he helped her take care of one of there children. I say 'just' because it was odd to have a dedication page not talk about the actual writing of the book. But then the last few sentences brought it together. She stated people always ask her how she does it all, and then she said, "now you know." I thought that was phrased so well and is exactly how I feel at all times.

So maybe I should retell my 'story' and tell you how it really went down because I'm sure you are wonder what in the heck was Deven doing as I spiraled down into my paralyzed state here on the coach?

I went to work yesterday morning while nick took the second day off of Deven being sick. He had taken the first too but we both thought it would be a quick virus and he would be back to school. Nope. So we planned poorly and I HAD to be at a meeting at 8:30am. Nick, though likely irritated, didn't say a word. He has always been supportive of my dramatic need to be stand-out where ever I am working. My work would have understood my absence but it was very good for me that I was there and nick understands that.

After the meeting I came home to relieve nick. Deven and I played for a bit but to get him ready for nap and remind him that he was still not feeling well with a 102f temperature we took a shower and got all calmed down. I went to pick him up to get him on the changing table. I obviously went down at the wrong angle and slip... You know the rest of the middle of the story. After the lugging Deven down the stairs and several more uncomfortable hours I had to call nick home. He came back immediately and without question.
He has taken care of everything since. He made pancakes for breakfast, took Deven to the museum, made me continue taking Advil and switching out the ice packs. He even took care of trips to the rest room (yes for both Deven and myself) cuz that's just the kinda man he is.

So to circle back and bring this rambling narrative to a close, if you are ever wonder how I 'do it all' now you know.

Pics are of MY boys. I call these, 'A view from the couch.'

Kirkland Waterfront

After the Bellevue run Nick and I decided that a trip to Kirkland was in order. We did the math and it turns out to the day we were all in Kirkland last year. We definitely tested Deven's ability to party the whole weekend and Nick and I now know that if we have to wake Deven up at 5am a nap HAS to happen by 11am but at least we all got to eat and we got to get some vitamin D before the total melt down. Ducks beware...

Bellevue 10K

Nick and I decided to step up our fun runs a notch and signed up for the Bellevue 10k this month. We woke poor Deven up at the crack of dawn and made it down to Bellevue by 7am - no easy feat especially since Nick and I were celebrating a friend's 30 birthday and Deven was partying with his buddies at school until 10pm the night before!! We met up with Grandma and Grandpa Bodle who gladly played with Deven in a vacant mall while Nick and I endeavored our first run without Deven. It was sort of strange but also fun to see what we could do minus Deven and the stroller's 30+ pounds. We both kicked butt - but I must brag just this once - I totally beat Nick!! Awesome!! Here are our final results.

angela - my Bellevue Breakfast Rotary 5K & 10K - 10K results

nick - my Bellevue Breakfast Rotary 5K & 10K - 10K results

There was a Marine troop there who did the 5k and so we ran into them when the two races combined at the end. I was so energizing to see them/hear them as we ran and it really got me through that last mile!!

Ski Day!

Nick convinced me that we needed to take a day to ourselves, ditch out on work and go skiing.  It was such a great idea.  We had good snow, no lines and no rain.  A great April tradition! !

Change of plans

We set out for one destination and ended up in another...it was pouring in Seattle but we got to do some window shopping, drink a excellent cappuccino and walk around with Deven while pushing the stroller. Note to self, Deven is not a fan of the stroller any more. He was also a little apprehensive about the Pike Place Pig. Here are my guys!

Nick's 30th Birthday

Like last year Nick spent his birthday on the mountain skiing all day and night. This year the only difference was that this was his 30th birthday and we decided to make anyone crazy enough to join us come celebrate. I was just talking to friends and it seems to be a theme two years running that I become deathly ill at Nick's birthday parties. Last year - without any alcoholic assistance - I got the stomach flu and well...you can imagine. This year thankfully it was just the normal flu; nothing Day Quill didn't sufficiently mask. Let me say attempting to ski for a 24 hour period is both the stupidest and most fun thing I have ever done. We had a pretty good turn out given the mid-busy season timing and the birthday evite titled "Ski Marathon." Nick thankfully decided to take this year's competition less seriously so there were many breaks. In fact we spent most of the day on the back side of the mountain. It turned out to just be me and the guys during the day - I got to drink out of a flask on the chair lift and they even pretended that I was keeping up with them! Seriously good times. Here are the men! (Nick, John, Ryan and Pete)
The weather was a little foggy in the morning but it basically burned off by mid-day; perfect weather for my first time up in three seasons. I don't have too many pictures but in summary there was skiing, hamburgers, chili, skiing, bar lounging, hot tottie & beer drinking and some more skiing. That was just during day light!!

After the sun went down more friends joined us and the night skiing ensued. Codie's famous cup cakes filled our belly's but it turns out when you are exhausted with another 12 hours of skiing left, drinking the case of beer you brought up in a back pack just doesn't sound appealing. No worries though we rallied. My last runs were around 11pm and before I collapsed on (and later) under a picnic table in the lodge for about five hours. Here are the boys an hour or so before I passed out. You should have seen them at breakfast.



I am told that Ryan and Nick came back for an hour or two sleep but I was certainly not conscious. I woke up around 5am when the boys came in and after breakfast we all went out for a run at sun rise. AMAZING!


Think about it, what other time can you ski at sunrise? This made the whole crazy 24 hours worth it!! Nick said he had a blast so I believe we can call this birthday a success. We were home by 11am but no worries, Deven was well taken care of. In a couple of years (maybe not for a Ski Marathon) Deven will be up there with us...here is proof!!

Hanging down town

Last Sunday we attempted to see the Picasso exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. Along the way we had fun but with the time change proved to much for all of us. We did get a small peek though. We (Nick and I) will need to go back before its gone! Here are some pics before the family melt down!

Guy's Day Out

While momma was away today there was swim class where Deven was reaching and pulling like an Olympian, there was foot ball watching (note beer and sippy cup), a three hour nap (why doesn't this happen when I'm around?) and finally a trip to the museum. A fun day with dadda for sure!!