happy birthday, little girl!

happy one to my lovely little girl!

noah and i took isla on a birthday adventure to fairhaven, where we hit up the bookstore, the toy store and the pastry shop. then we had a leisurely playtime at boulevard park and a nice walk home. it was a beautiful day to turn one!

the birthday princess waits for the bus

on the bus

much fun at the park

noah tried out the pirate's life

new birthday ball

crab crawl along the boardwalk

an attempt at candle-blowing-out

noah took over candle-blowing; this is hilarious

she's a fan of the cream cheese frosting, not so much the cupcake

new birthday artwork
(see http://www.idapearle.com/)

oh happy one!

hello?

isla right now

* says "uh-oh," "ma-mum," and "up." "uh-oh" usually accompanies the throwing down of her pacifier or a snack she's done with.
* signs "milk" and "more," but only when she feels like it.
* scoots all over the place, on her bum with one leg in front. is beginning to pull herself up on furniture.
* follows me and/0r noah around the house. is literally underfoot most of the time. (i have to be careful not to step on her!)

* mastered the "snack trap" in a matter of seconds. munches thousands of veggie booty puffs via said snack trap.
* goes through about five outfits a day.
* is very interested in books. turns pages and says, "oh!" (the cutest thing ever.)
* loves the coffee grinder. bops and claps when we grind coffee.

* loves the beach, and water of all kinds. crawls right up to the sprayers at the spray park.
* loves beach sand, sandbox sand, and dirt of all kinds. also leaves, sticks, grass, rocks.
* loves the bath and focuses on trying to drink bath water.

* has seven teeth, one of which still looks a bit like a fang.
* eats everything she can get her tiny hands on. except shredded spoonfuls cereal. these she does not like.
* loves her new sippy cup, and drinks with gusto. then coughs.
* has probably eaten about a thousand blueberries this week alone.

* loves to unpack the diaper bag, the laundry basket, noah's shoe box, the book shelf, etc.
* does not want to sleep anymore. especially if noah is not in the room.
* loves balls. taps them together, rolls them to noah.
* loves her daddy and claps and waves when he comes home.

lately

spray parks:

berry picking:
munching:

and digging:

mid-july

means:

the freezer is full of strawberries.
raspberries are on the counter in bowls, ready to be processed.
blueberries are ripening.
we have peas on our vines, finally.
the cilantro has gone to seed.
the green tomatoes are heavy.
the lawn needs to be mowed.
we are jet-lagged.
our dear friend steve got married.
we had lots of fun in new england.
our suitcases are still packed.
clean laundry is piled up on the living room rug.
isla says "uh-oh."
she scoots everywhere.
she wrecks noah's train set-ups.
she sits up in bed.
she eats tons of food.
noah does not wear diapers anymore.
he spends hours every day reading quietly.
he loves the beach.
he can't wait for preschool this fall.
trees have been chopped down in the backyard.
plans have been approved for the garage.
this weekend we'll dig.
the sailboat has been sold.
now we kayak.
and walk in a stroller with lovely seat covers.
i dream of many creative projects...
and fall asleep at 8:30pm.
i am slowly uploading pictures to flickr.
and trying to blog less, write letters more.

happy summer to you all!

lummi island

we spent a perfect day last weekend biking around lummi island, a little island that's a 20 minute drive and 5 minute ferry ride from our house. isla loved the green seat and noah relaxed in the trailer. we spent a good chunk of time lounging and exploring the beach, noah had his first popsicle, and we scored tons of great kids' books at a yard sale. what could be better?

isla was pretty excited about being at the beach (read: eating sand).

noah's beach bum, still pretty tiny.

but even tinier last year!

this is how isla waves--like she's raising the roof. it's so funny!

noah made a "k" from sticks. it's sort of already falling apart here.

little girl on the ferry.

what cheeks!

projects

since the warmer weather has arrived, we've been busy again with lots of home improvement projects. here's a quick rundown of recent changes.

perhaps you remember that this is what our house looked like when we bought it a year ago:

now it looks like this:
the biggest difference is the finished porch. aaron and his dad worked on this project, which included a new deck, new front pieces with cedar shingles and new railings.

here's grandpa working on the bones.

and getting some help from noah.

we also landscaped the bed to the left of the porch, with lots of help from colin and nicole. it used to be a weed-bed set off by an old railroad tie. now it's a fancy planter with a fancy border.

so much dirt to shovel!

aaron handled the measuring.

nic and i picked out all these plants, which are all still alive! hooray! i don't necessarily love where i put things, but i think in the fall i'll move some things around.

i love the lupine, which is just beginning to bloom.

we also made a planting bed under the holly tree, which is full of squash and beans. and holly leaves.

and a little bed by the north fence for blueberries and strawberries.

and a long bed along the south side of the house, where i'm growing sunflowers, peas, beans...

tomatoes, basil and marigolds.

and one strawberry is nearing ripeness!

the past two weekends have been busy with raising a tall cedar fence on the south side of our yard. we shared the cost and labor with our neighbor, who was eager for the privacy as well. good fences make good neighbors! (although noah is saddened by the new barrier. he loves to hang over the porch wall and grill our neighbor about her every activity. aaron has joked about making him a peephole.)

the nearly-finished fence.

and lastly, but mostly, we are occupied with thoughts and plans for raising a garage/shop in the backyard. here is kevin biggs chopping down a cherry tree where the garage will go.

and here is the garage, before aaron and his dad helped dismantle it and trucked it to our backyard in pieces. we found out about this garage through the restore, a great used building materials store in bellingham. it cost much, much less than a new garage would, and we like the idea of resurrecting old materials. aaron is working on drafting plans and applying for permits with the city. we're thinking that we'll begin working on the foundation in the next month or so.

noah was very excited about the big flatbed/dump truck aaron rented to move the garage.

maneuvering under electric wires was tricky with the tall trusses on the back of the truck, but grandpa is a professional.

aaron and our friend jesse working on unloading all the pieces, which are now piled under tarps in our backyard (aka "no-man's-land"). i'll do another post soon with plan pictures. aaron is of course very excited to have another big project to work on, and especially one that will yield a place for him to work on many more projects!