book club

last night i hosted book club. i only joined the club last month so i was pretty nervous to already be in charge!  i chose bel canto for my book (i dont usually read fiction but this came highly recommended... you know who you are...). i didnt end up loving the book which probably made me the worst book club hostess ever! :) 

since i didnt LOVE the book i decided to just go with "book club" as the literal theme for my night. i saw this idea for a mini book garland and was obsessed. 

we snacked on bruschetta, lime soda, and peach blueberry crisp.

i love this garland so much that i might have a hard time taking it down.... 

after a great book-club-turned-into-girls-night, my fellow ridge readers packaged up sugar cookies to take home. it was a very fun night. next time though, i will go with my instinct and pick one of my favorite books (even if it is about the study of different ways the body decomposes)!

craig's birthday weekend

this past weekend craig turned 32! we had a great couple of days celebrating with some of our favorite humans. on friday night, we had dinner at a mexican restaurant on the kirkland waterfront. my parents, megan and david joined us. it was very fun.

the girls.

after dinner, craig and i saw moonrise kingdom. puke. does two ten year olds hooking up do anything for you? no? then dont go see the movie.

the next night happened to be our monthly couples dinner night so we made it into craig's birthday celebration too. we were supposed to go to a chinese restaurant but it was closed so made an impromptu trip down to bajio and the fun center. 

me, amy and matt on the big swing.

it was girls against boys on the golf course. dont worry, we werent competitive at all. and there was no club throwing and name calling.....

and last night, we had my family and craigs family over for ice cream cake. my family is so classy. either that, or i desperately need to get more seating in my family room.

happy birthday to craig!

tagg's first year of preschool

tagg had his last day of school today. he has had a great year. made friends, learned a lot, and became such a big boy.

on the left: tagg's first day of school in september. on the right: tagg's forced smile today!

i loved picking tagg up from school and seeing the art he created that day. these are a few of my favorites from the year.

this guy is hilarious, smart, sweet, and cheeky. i really love my taggy.

our weekend

craig and i celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary at our favorite restaurant. its something about "seven" that sounds so intense. it has been a great seven years. i really love this guy.

after dinner, we met up with the rest of the group to see rock of ages. there were some pretty nasty parts but we enjoyed most of the movie. especially tom cruise's character. he is 100% nuts.

the next morning (fathers day), tagg and sully were so excited to give craig the cards they worked so hard on.

we also decided to make craig his very first breakfast in bed. i told craig i would make him whatever he wanted... except a breakfast meat. i dont do breakfast meats. he requested conference muffins and cheesy scrambled eggs. 

we spent the rest of the day at church (these were the treats my primary class made to give to their dads) followed by a family dinner at my parents' house.  a wonderful day.

after dinner, tagg randomly decided to do a comedy routine. he has never done anything like this before and made it all up as he went along. we were rolling around on the floor. 

tagg said to me "mom, can you give me a favor and make everyone come in here to watch me?". i really love this guy too!

last minute trip to portland

at the very last minute, we decided to join my parents (they were taking tagg down to portland) on a little road trip this past weekend. i have only driven through portland so i was excited to explore a little more. (and secretly try to find some portlandia spots)

by the time craig, sully, and i got there, tucker and tagg had already been swimming in the hotel pool.

then tagg was off to see a movie with ga.

while they were at the movies, the rest of us walked around a pretty outdoor mall. 

sully LOOOOOOOOVES being  the only child. 

the mall was pretty. but it was also closed. we had no idea it was closing so we wasted time walking around deciding what to eat. by the time we were done eating the freaking place was closed! except for my favorite (yeah right) store, urban outfitters. we did have fun trying on their junk though.

afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to put the boys to bed. a little unwinding time on the ipad helped with that situation.

after the boys were fast asleep, we headed back into town to get some voodoo doughnuts. quite the experience.

the next morning we explored portland. and this is how craig drove. with only the vision a red vine circumference provided.

i loved this little town. with its prefect white chapel on the hill.

we stopped off at the grilled cheese grill for lunch. you literally eat your delicious grilled cheese sandwiches INSIDE this double decker. my boys were in HEAVEN.

i got the jalapeno popper grilled cheese. it was very tasty. my boys insisted on eating on the second level of the bus.

me and sully waving from the top.

after lunch, we walked over the bridge to see the river. a homeless man stopped us and lectured craig on how expensive children are: "its fine now, but just wait until there's college, cars, and laptops every six months!"

and with that little nugget of advice, we headed home. portland is very pretty. a little more intense than seattle, but fun. and it was a prefect, spontaneous weekend.

tagg was one fancy munchkin

last night was tagg's wizard of oz production with his pre school. i was told to dress him in a white shirt and dark pants so his costume could go over it. ummm. guess they decided to forgo costumes this year. so tagg and his friends looked like waiter munchkins. dont worry, i still cried when the curtains went up.

on the way to the performance, i kindly instructed tagg to sing loud and push his way to the front so i could see him. he's not really the type to shove his way to the spotlight but he DID yell at some little girl, "hey! get out of my way! my mom is trying to take a picture of me!" such a gentleman.

between the sparkle in his eyes and those two big ears (my favorite part about him) i couldnt get enough of tagg on stage. i love my munchkin so very much.

a new twist on an old favorite

peach blueberry crisp. one of my all time favorite desserts. a) because it is SO fool proof and b) because becky brought me a batch right after sully was born and it always reminds me of that special time. a few days ago i only had two peaches and a handful of blueberries but that didnt stop me from making this treat. i just made a mini version!