As promised, I have pictures of the latest edition to the Whisler family, Ayden Thomas. Simeon and I went over to visit them today and check on the new mommy and daddy. While they are already fighting sleep deprivation, you could see the pride and love in their faces for their adorable little boy. And how could you blame them??

As usual, Simeon went straight for the baby and cuddled up with him on the couch. They both set in for a good rest. In fact, Ayden slept the entire time we were there, which Chloe and Patrick assure me he ONLY does when its daytime.

But rest assure, I got my turn to hold the little guy as well. You can almost see the little wheels turning in my brain. Yep. Baby fever has set in. I’m surrounded by adorable babies. And I want one of my own. But its all good, cause the big 25 is just around the corner. And you all know what that means!!


If you want more pictures, there are some in the Ayden Thomas gallery and there are also some from the other day when Heather and Lindsay came over for a Wednesday Night Visit. Enjoy.

Whew. Somehow I managed to survive the last week and tell about it. I have been so busy that I barely have time to do anything, much less blog. My apologies. Last week was the Tigard Festival of Balloons and I managed to drag my butt out of bed each day at 4:15am to work the crew.

To be honest, each day as my alarm went off, I swore I would never do this again. I mean what was I thinking? Giving up on precious sleep to go and work before actually going into the office. I had to be crazy. But by the time I pulled into the parking lot, my blood was flowing and I was ready to help.

Whether I was holding the control lines during the cold inflation, velcroing the crown, helping weight the basket, or “milking” the envelope when it was time to pack things up, I was happy to be there. The entire process amazes me and when I am there, I can’t think of a single place I would rather be.

Then when all the hard “work” (I feel guilty even calling it work because its so fun, but my muscles are definitely feeling it today!) is done, the fun and excitement begins. Once the pilot is given the ok, they are ready to take off.

Then the crew packs up the truck and finally has a moment to look around and bask in the beauty that has unfolded around them. Half the time we are so busy with the balloon we are launching that you don’t realize the sheer number of balloons there actually are until you look around and the sky is filled with bright balloons.

Now it’s chase time. I was so excited that this year we were blessed with good weather and light winds so I could chase a balloon. Since Saturday was Simeon’s birthday (Happy 28th Sweetie!!) Becky and I convinced our pilot to take him up for his first ever hot air balloon ride. He was so excited!! As Sim rose into the atmosphere we loaded up into the truck to chase him down. Armed with walkie-talkies and cell phones (some pilots have CBs) we tracked the balloons path. After a few sudden turns and managing to avoid dead end streets, we found an area (mostly) free of power lines with a large enough area to land. Thankfully our pilot Laurie tossed out the drop line and we gently lead them to a nice sticker bush free patch of ground.

Then we packed the balloon and basket back into the truck and celebrated Simeon’s first flight. Paul, Laurie’s husband did the customary ceremony starting with the history of ballooning and ending with the Balloonist Prayer and a toast. There is nothing like a couple glasses of champagne before 8:00am!

Then we returned to the festival, gathered our friends and headed to breakfast. After all, it was nearly 9am! Then everyone went their separate ways to enjoy the rest of the day. We returned to the festival around dusk to enjoy the Balloon Glow and the fireworks.

Its amazing to think that the propane that allows the balloon to glow is also the magic ingredient that allows it to take flight. I understand the physics behind it, but it never ceases to take my breath away when I see it.

Simeon was thrilled to not only have gotten to take his first flight on his birthday, but to have a celebration that ends in fireworks could not have been more perfect. We enjoyed the warm summer weather and the gorgeous sights around it. It was amazing.

Happy Birthday Pie. I hope you enjoyed all the trouble I went through to make this the most memorable birthday yet. And I couldn’t have done it without the help of our wonderful friend Becky. Thanks.

Oh and there are way, WAY more pictures in the Balloon Festival Glow and Balloon Festival/Father’s Day gallery. Enjoy.

On Sunday Heather threw a lovely baby shower for Chloe and Patrick. It was great to get to see their merged families together, as well as many old friends, to celebrate the little one Chloe and Patrick are expecting in July.

In true baby shower form, there were silly games, great food, and entertaining interjections by the older generations. In between, “Well I say! We didn’t have any of these fancy things when we had kids!” and “Oh my! What will they think of next.” I actually learned a thing or two. Did you know that when using cloth diapers if you run the diaper pin through your hair it will glide through the diaper better? Yeah. I didn’t know that either!

It was great to get to see everyone, but I must admit it feels a little weird knowing you are one of the few married women in the room that is not pregnant or the mother of an adorable toddler.

All I can say is I tried to avoid drinking the water! After all, I do have my schedule to maintain. 😉

If you want to see the rest of the shower pictures, you can go to Chloe’s Baby Shower in the photo gallery.

I know it has been a couple weeks since Heather and Lindsay came to visit, but I totally forgot that all these pictures were on my camera. So better late than never, eh? Enjoy the perfection that is Lindsay:

Lindsay in a lovely “necklace” that Heather made for her.

Inspired by Peggy and all her home improvements, Simeon and I decided to paint the laundry room over the weekend. Well it’s more than just the laundry room, it’s also the half-bath off of the family room, as well as the dog’s room (after all it does have the doggy-door for them to easily get outside). But for the next time we have planned to contact house painters in florida to avail an impressive painting.

As you all know, I am a fanatic cleaner and cannot stand mess, dirt, untidiness, or anything of the sort. Well this room in the holy embodiment of dirty. I am constantly scrubbing, sterilizing, cleansing, and mopping. With the dogs and the insane amount of rain (and therefore mud) we have in Oregon, I am always cleaning this area. Luckily, we close the door during the daytime so the mess is totally contained to this room. Then when we come home we clean off the pups and allow them into the rest of the house. This way they can come in out of the rain or go outside and play. I just want them to be happy.

Since this room was totally white, I was the one who wasn’t happy. And neither were my arms from all the wall scrubbing. So I decided to paint the walls a dark grayish brown color that matched the puppy paw prints I had stenciled around the room. I thought it would be too dark to paint the entire room that color, so we decided to paint about three feet high.

Well here it is in all its glory. I think it turned out really great. It’s just enough color that any speck of dirt doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb, yet it still keeps the room from looking/feeling like a cave. Oh and the dogs really like it too. I mean they haven’t stopped wagging their tails since we painted it. And that must be because of the room, right? Right?

The next project will have to be to replace the while linoleum, but we will take it one thing at a time. All the before and after pictures are in the Paint Project photo gallery. Oh and I uploaded the pictures of the new bedding for the daybed as well.

Did you miss me? I know I haven’t been around here much and I have been on other people’s blogs even less. Urgh. This time of year is super hectic at work and when I get home after working out I can barely manage to feed myself, let alone think of anything witty to say. But I swear I have been thinking about you all every day! If only April 15th would just hurry up and get here already!!

Whew. So a lot has been going on since I last blogged. Oh God it’s been over a week already! Jeez, time does fly! The most memorable things over the last week have been the exorbitant amount of babies I have been around. (Keep in mind when I say babies, this is a broad term. It contains any lovely children from birth to oh, I don’t know, ten.) Wanna see?

What is the key to having a fabulous weekend at the beach while celebrating your brother-in-laws 21st birthday? It’s simple really:

Seattle was great. Vacations are fabulous. Friends make everything better. And I am relying on the old “a picture is worth a thousand words” expression to say the rest. Good-night all!

Today my little girl turns 4.
It’s hard to imagine that Simeon and I have had her for that long. It seems like just yesterday we picked her out of the litter of eleven. She was special from the very beginning. The way she waddled across the floor to lick Simeon’s foot. We knew she was the one for us.

How do you get rid of the worries of a long stressful week? Take a day trip to the beach! Especially since I couldn’t bare to waste this beautiful sunny weather we have been having in February. So Simeon and I packed up the truck and put the pups in the cab:

Molly gazing out the window on the drive to the beach.