I Went to Mexico and it Rained

I went to Mexico last week. On business! Seriously, how crazy is it that this is my life!? I went to the Indie Business Conference to do the keynote. Donna Maria (below) gave me a full 3.5 hour time slot and wowsywow, 3.5 hours is a long time to talk and a ton of material to prepare!

 

Conference organizer Donna Maria and I have been friends for over a decade and it was great to see her. It was even more fun to see her brainchild, a group Mastermind set in an amazing location with supportive, judgement-free business owners.

 

 The classroom was cozy and intimate. There were classes on video for business, getting press for business and building community. I talk about how to organize your life for unparalleled productivity and fulfillment by designing life goals based on values.

I was so looking forward to spending time on the beach and having solitude to dream, plan and work on the next phase in our lives. Alas, it mostly rained the entire time I was there. Also, for the record: I work hard for those abs, thank you very much.

This was a 60 minute break over lunch and there was sun. I dashed into the ocean, took a quick photo and then floated in the ocean. It was blissful to be weightless and just floating and buoyant. At that moment, I felt so lucky and so grateful that Chris was holding down the home fort at home.

Donna Maria had a White Party one night; she had the entire group bring white clothing to wear for one epic night at the beach. It was way more fun than I would have guessed.

The White Party produced one epic photo too! Mexico was a lovely time of rejuvenation and business productivity. I'm so glad that Chris kept everything going at home so I could focus on my talk and being present for the conference.

Lions, Plungers & Foam Pits

Jamisen and Lily LOVE the Christmas presents from Grandma and Grandpa Renoud. Their new fluffy robes and slippers are perfect for right after bath and shower time.

Jamisen is becoming quite a little toddler/man. It is so fun to see his emotional regulation come in and his reasoning properties start to develop. There's (thankfully) no picture for this next anecdote but it is hilarious. Around five or six months ago, somehow Jamisen's managed to plug the toilet up through normal bodily functioned activities. This morning, he went to the bathroom and called to Chris, "Daddy, get the plunger before I flush because I pooped a lot." Chris and I both struggled not to laugh - and then marveled that he remembered his toilet clogging incident from a few months back.

We took an all day trip to Granville Island (Vancouver, BC) with the kiddos. It was good to load everyone up in the car and have a big day trip. The kids LOVED Granville Island. The adults mostly tolerated it. It was good to see them having fun though. There were a ton of crowds so definitely need to remember to slip the Tile-key-finders into their pockets next time we go. Both times, we got stopped on the way into Canada and the way out of Canada to go into the customs station; one time for Chris and one time for Lily. The kids were patient and good, despite extra long waits going into Canada.

 

Lily is sporting a new haircut courtesy of Jamisen. Obviously, he no longer has access to children's scissors. She must have stayed still for quite some time for the haircut to happen though. Little duplicitous teammates ...

The kids had a photo shoot the next day after the haircutting incident *whoops! The story will be in next months' Chuckanut Reader magazine and it's all about the Bernstein Bears collection that my parents saved from my childhood and passed down to them. They love their Bernstein Bears books!

The photographer had children herself so was super creative and patient with both kiddos during the shoot.

Lily is really getting into Hide and Go Seek lately. We have found her in cupboards! She's still pretty tiny. She's also in an ice pack phase and sometimes even goes to sleep with them. If she ever gets an owie, she is all about getting an ice pack from the freezer and taking a long time to choose between them all. It's a challenge to keep ice packs frozen and rotating in and out right now! =)

Happy New Years!

Ah New Year's... in year's past, it's been celebrated in a variety of ways but they usually all involved staying up too late, surrounded with people that we didn't know well and a groggy morning. Not this year!

We had an absolutely spectacular New Year's thanks to the generosity of friends. One of Chris's friends invited us (and 22 other friends) to her home on Whidby Island, right on the water. We all had beds to sleep in and sand to run on for miles.

The kids really loved the outdoors. The weather totally cooperated. The house was 50 feet from a totally flat and walkable beach. Jamisen and Lily played in the sand a lot. They also searched for 'buried treasure' a bunch and that was pretty hilarious.

We really liked being together on such a big day - and it was nice to wake up well rested and with family and friends all around us. With the kids, there was no staying up late! We were both in bed, lights out by 11 p.m. and the kids were asleep by 9 p.m.

One thing we did discover is that Lily does indeed, like dolls. She doesn't own any (yet) and has always seemed delighted to play with trains, tools and kitchens. And, quite frankly, we were in no hurry to immediately pigeonhole her into a traditionally female 'role' with dolls and playing house. Some of the other kids brought their American Girl dolls and Lily (and Jamisen) spent at least two hours playing with the dolls. Duly noted. Lily, you will be getting the Target version of American Girl Dolls for your birthday.

One of the reasons that this experience with Whidby Island New Year's was so incredible is because the hostess had assigned different couples to different meals. We were in charge of snacks so we showed up with a car chock full of delicious snackity-snack type things. Other families had meals (amazing chocolate chip banana pancakes for breakfast, grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch, dinner of fish and shrimp with salad sides) and really rocked it - serving 26 total people.

Family goals for this year include 1 on 1 time with each kid (for each parent) monthly, 2 weeks away with the kids and college savings goals. Chris and I both have personal goals and then goals for our respective businesses. Here's to a great 2016; we can't wait to see what blessings are in store.

Hammers, Paint & Coins in Pockets

Home Depot (and Lowes) have the most brilliant marketing strategies ever when it comes to 'cradle to grave' marketing. Yeah, that's a crude term but it basically refers to the fact that for a retailer (or any business), the earlier you can get a client and the longer you can keep them, the lower the cost of acquiring that customer is over time. And thus, the more money you make on them. Home Depot gets their value from us every time already we do one of their Children's Building Classes because Chris and I always end up buying stuff! =) Just wait until Jamisen gets into his piggy bank for them too!

 

Like this last Home Depot building time, the entire project from start to finish took less than 15 minutes for both kids (!) but we walked away with $46 of wood painting sets and new tool sets - including a REAL hammer - for both children. Chris tried to mention that the real tool set was not age appropriate for Lily but since girls definitely can do anything boys can do, that argument did not fly. My little girl got the same toolset as her older brother, potential for broken windows be damned!

We love crafting in our house. Well, three of us love it; one of us hides in a corner and cringes about the paint that drips everywhere or the horrific mess that happens whenever two toddlers craft. It is exciting to see the fine motor skills continue to develop in our little love bugs.

Jamisen made a brand new tool box (complete with nailing it together) with the help of his Daddy. He painted the tool box as well and now totes it around the house with pride.

I got the most hilarious text from Jason the Manny the other day. It went something like this: "Lily's teacher has requested you check her pockets daily. Today she had choking hazards in her pockets and kept trying to suck on them." When I replied back sarcastically, "Just ducky," he made a funny and said, "No duckies, just ten coins, two cush balls and a breakfast bar." I thought he was joking; and then I got home. He was not joking! He had lined up everything from her pockets on the counter. She really had ALL of those things in her pocket. She was ready to go shopping, play ball and eat a snack. Our little girl is a natural born prepper! =)

I love the dress that Grandpa Winston and Grandma Kelly got for Lily for Thanksgiving/Christmas. It is SO cute (pictured above). She can still wear last year's present dress as more of a long top. We so appreciate the thoughtfulness =) Lily is also sporting her brother's belt as her headband accessory because our girl's got stylllllle. 

 Our little darlings go to bed around 8 to 8:30 right now. Lily has fully dropped her naps (dropped them at least six months ago) but she's the one that is most riled up before bed. Teeth brushing with Jamisen has gotten routine and mostly easy. Lily is still not a fan of it despite multiple tooth brush and tooth paste options. Thank goodness we've been through this with Jamisen already and recognize that this tooth brushing struggle is a phase.

 

They are so peaceful when they sleep aren't they? During the day, they have SO much energy that it's astounding to see them still for longer than 22 seconds. We are so blessed to have two healthy, happy, energetic kiddos.

Seahawks Alllll the Way

Bramble Berry ships a lot of packages (a lot! Right now, we're around 600-700 a day in our slow season). Our shipper of choice is UPS. As a thank-you for shipping with them, they sent Chris and I to a Seahawks game (!). They put is in their box seats and totally treated us like royalty.

Funny story:while we were in the box, we ran into good friend Sarah R. who runs a business renting large scale industrial equipment (think forklifts, tractors, etc). She had box seats as well but better yet, had seatside tickets too! She led us onto the field for our on-field photo shoot. It was THRILLING to be by the action!

Chris and I rarely get date nights, let alone date days (!) so this was a real treat for us. We got to talk all the way down to Seattle and back. Chris was especially delighted by that opportunity.

Sarahhas older teenage daughters and they were with her for the game so we all got a photo together. Notice our authentic jerseys. Chris is wearing a legit practice jersey, worn by an actual Seahwaks player (for reals!). We had such a great day - the Seahawks won and we both loved our date day. Thank you UPS! =) We love the great service, the fair prices and yes, the extra perks like Seahawks games =)