rainey Saturday with nothing (blessedly) to do...

...except laundry (which Jason did), dinner (again, Jason: a muy tasty soup), and movies (yep, Jason picked them) on the couch. I was tired from last night's late night with lovely friends, so I took a two hour (wow!) nap about the same time as the babe. That gave Jason time to edit his cooking contest entry video (see below) for my blog, and work on his soup. I didn't do much of anything yesterday... but I did make us popcorn with the yummy secret seasoning we like so much. Heh. It's a "secret" because I got it as a give-away at a convention; the container displays on the logo of the engineering company who was handing them out. No idea who really makes it, which is too bad because it's really good seasoning. Jason calls it "crack" seasoning... it keeps us coming back. Heh!

Photo is from our walk to the grocery for morning lattes and RedBox movie rentals for our (blessedly) lazy weekend. Two people stopped me to tell me how cute Kaemon Ze looked in his funny blue bear hat (thank you Mama Karen! Super fun hand-me-down). I tried to capture that cuteness, but he gave me this funny look instead. ;) Today Kaemon Ze's new thing is making raspberry sounds with his lips. We hate to encourage this behavior (Jason and I both cringe imagining him doing this with a mouth full of milk or soon, baby food), but it's super cute.

Mark you calendars gardening friends:
The Clackamas County Master Gardener Spring Garden Fair is coming up! Have you ever been to this? I've not heard of it before. Last year, nearly 17,000 (!!!) people attended. There were 176 vendors (apparently there's a wide variety of vendors), and get this: there's a "potting station" were fair-goers can bring their own pots to plant their new purchases - the soil is provided free of charge! There are Master Gardeners there to help with any questions.
Details: May 2-3 at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds in Canby.

I'll leave you with a few quotes from the Joy Circle's "Traveling Quote Book" - whomever has it brings it to the next gathering to capture funny things said. In no particular order, and with no particular sense of contextual understanding, here's a few quotes from last night's Taco Bar at La Casa Feliz:

Gigi: I just gotta say... "I'm so excited - he took the poo!"
Heather: He has the same smile you do.
Shannan: Well, I just felt a rumbling against my arm.
Vic: Oh - well, that was a look of satisfaction.
Kim: Now I can't stop noticing my wrinkling carpet.
The General: My carpet is tight!
Kim: Yea, I bet your carpet is tight!
Vic: Kim it's not your clothes that make you look like a mutant; it's the second head on your back.
Cam: they don't taste like I thought they would.
Jason: he's not a perv, he's just a lucky bastard.
Lori: I have no pride.
Shannan: Is it in your shoe?
Daz: I've pirated many a race in my day! Arghhh
Daz: giii giii gaa gaa guu guu gee gee
Laura: come nest in me!
Vic: you have to kiss the dog. He's a tongue kisser.
Daz: he's been lickin' his flap jack with that tongue
Shannan: I hate it when I get key lime pie on my boob.
Brian: it wasn't your boob; it was Lori's boob.
Vic: if we're not supposed to eat pig, why did God make them out meat?
Christa: oh! His is pretty and soft!

And there you have it... my Joy Circle.

lovely sunny Friday

Jason had today off, thanks to all his comp time from his recent trip to DC. It was a sunny day with 60 degree temps! Whoo hoo. Here's a shot of Kaemon Ze waking up from his morning nap; and then a shot of the lil fam off to the grocery for a morning latte, and ingredients for this evening's Taco Bar. On the menu: cheese enchiladas with verde salsa; tacos with all the fixings, including black beans, wasabi-horseradish coleslaw, corn, and Spanish rice sides. We roped Kim into making the guacamole. All that with chips and my homemade salsa - yum-E!

Ms. Lori was in town for the weekend, and Cam & Laura are back from celebrating 20 years of marriage with a trip to the Grand Canyon (and a hot air balloon ride in Sedona!) and the Joy Circle was set to gather at our place to celebrate.












Shannan, Brian, and Vic modeled the fabulous coats Shannan modified for their upcoming trip to Burning Man. Pretty spiffy, eh?






I made yummy margaritas and we set up a tequila tasting station with a few select tequilas, including two we brought back from Mexico. :)


















Kim got some chiropractic treatment from Dr. Shannan. She followed that up with a double soak in the hot tub.

I pulled out that old school game, "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em" and left it on the table. It wasn't long before it saw some action. :) Twas a fun fun night! I love my Joy Circle!

he did it!

Jason did it! He submitted his audition video for Rachael Ray's "Hey Can You Cook?!" competition! I'm so excited for him! Please join me in cheering him on!

Here's a peak at his DVD intro:


Here's a link to the actual audition video.

Here's a look at last year's competition. It started on the streets of Disney World at 5am! Heh! This year's competition lists the need to have a "valid US Passport"... I wonder if Rachael will be taking the five contestants abroad!!

Here's what the prizes look like for last year's competition:

• An original recipe published in a future issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine
• A chance to spotlight their talents in their very own cooking segment on Rachael Ray, with Rachael as their assistant
• A 4-day course in French Regional Cuisine at the acclaimed Le Cordon Bleu® International Culinary Academy in Paris, France, and a stay at the Paris Marriott Rive Gauche Hotel
• A fabulous kitchen facelift by Rach's content buddy, Kristan Cunningham, that includes Viking® appliances

Of course Jason would love love love to have his kitchen appliances updated! I'm sure he wouldn't balk at a four-day cooking class IN PARIS, FRANCE, either! We're not sure what the prizes are this year. :)

Stay tuned... we'll let you know when we hear from Rachael Ray! :) :) :) :) :)

Go Jason Go!

the goddess in me

The office where I work is tiny - it's a satelite office for a much larger nationwide firm. Currently, there are three bodies who keep the lights on here; and two of us are part-time. I work for two great guys. My boss once said, "I know you don't miss me when I'm traveling, but I miss it when you're away." Heh. He knows I like my autonomy. Anyway, because the office is so small, I wear many different hats (I have a great skill set for such a position). I'm the Office Manager, but I also wear these hats: marketing; HTML programmer; tech support; admin assistant; etc. I don't wear the janitor or coffee girl hat, thankfully.

Since I've returned from maternity leave, I've been having fun creating my own "goddess" titles in the e-mails I send to (certain) folks in the company. I try to relate the title to the work I'm doing/done. What really amuses me is that no one - not one person, from Vice Presidents to Accounting, have said anything to me. I can only surmise that they have not noticed... so I continue to evolve my titles. Here's my list to date:

Recipient Goddess
FERC Search Goddess
Printer Consultation Goddess
Goddess of Questions
CD Makin' Goddess
Recap Goddess
Google Earth Goddess
Picture Fixer Goddess
Wikipedia Goddess
Consultation Goddess
Word Goddess
Office Clown
PDF Goddess
Invoice Goddess
Report Goddess
Formatting Goddess
Memo Goddess
PDF Mistress
eExpense Report Goddess
Office Mama
Office Brake Goddess
Office Map Goddess
Office Follow-up Goddess
Office Electrical Goddess
Office Supply Goddess
Office Goddess/Manager

morning latte

Chuck (my barista) made a special foam art in my latte this morning. He said something about there being a "K" and a "Z" in there. I think he just drizzled the foam to see what would come up. Heh. When I look at it, I see a "G" and a "J" - do you see them too?
He got after me for not bringing my iPhone into the shop yesterday. He likes me to show the "Tour of Hats" photo to the next victim errr... person in line. Today I took him a print out of the photo so he can show it to whomever he wants. :) He keeps telling me it should be a poster. One of these days I'll take it down and have it printed in a larger format.

And... he rolls over!

This is the fourth time Kaemon Ze has rolled from his tummy to his back, and twice today! It's the first time we've managed to catch it on video. :)

off to grandmother's house we go!

Today Daddy took Kaemon Ze to Gramma & Grampa's house. He looked so cute in his lil dude outfit that I had to snap these photos before they left. The second one is Kaemon Ze telling me, "peace, yo" before he left with Daddy. ;)







































See the lil pockets in his pants above? He has one on each side. Ever the opportunist to spread joy when I can, I put a love note in each pocket; one for Gramma and one for Grampa.

Later in the morning I got a text message from Gramma saying, "What a cute outfit on your little man! I want a picture of you two when you pick him up!" And when I picked him up after work, she was ready with the camera:







































Kaemon Ze loves being held up-side-down. He giggles and grins big time. When we got home, I checked his pockets and found new loves notes - to us, Mommy and Daddy!

My family is so much fun! :) :) :) :) Like that saying goes, "a family that plays together stays together." - Thank you for being so willing to play with me! :) :) :)

the four musketeers!

Today, the four boys from my HypoBirthing class came by so I could photograph them together. Aren't they cute?! From left to right: Osian, Kaemon Ze, Zamir, and Finn. KZ is the oldest, Osian is the biggest (18+ lbs!); Finn was born after Osian; Zimi is the youngest, weighing in at 13 lbs. :)

early morning lattes in Lake Oswego

Jason and I were up early today; I was awake at 4am (and not because of the baby!) and he woke up around 6:30am. I've been wanting to buy the beautiful primroses I saw at Safeway this week ($1 each!) to put in the hanging pots and in the flower boxes. This is what I wanted to do with my day today. Jason was happy to oblige me the trip across the river as he needed some things from the store for our monthly Waffle Breakfast we host for our community.

We swung by my favorite coffee shop: Chuck's Cookies and Coffee. Chuck was out, but his barista Keegan was brewing the Illy coffee this morning. This is the first time she got to meet Kaemon Ze. He was alseep when I introduced her, but he popped his eyes open while Jason and I were enjoying our lattes, scones, and purusing the day's Oregonian. I asked Keegan if she'd like to hold him (she said she loves loves babies) and she jumped at the chance.

An interesting side note: Keegan has qualified for the Boston Marathon! Running is pretty new for her - she took it up last year and completed the Portland Marathon, then went on to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I know what a tremendous acheivement that is. When I used to commute via bus to downtown Portland, there was a guy who was a runner. He'd often get on the bus in his running gear. One day I struck up a conversation with him about his running, and he mentioned that he had attempted several years to qualify for the Boston and had not yet been able to do so. Keegan, you rock!

Chuck came in a lil while later and talked to Kaemon Ze. Very cute. Chuck is a hoot. Nice guy. I really like him. Well, him and the scones he makes every morning. :)

I'm hoping to get a few photos of the flowers in the pots and planters posted. Til then - happy Saturday!

heading to lunch

We had a beautiful day - sunshine and warm(er) temperatures! Jason had the day off due to all this overtime in traveling to DC, so he wanted to take us to lunch - somewhere we hadn't been before; someplace yummy. We ended up in Sellwood at a sweet little restaurant/tea house named "Jade Teahouse & Patisserie". The food was fantastic. Jason had a Vietnamese meatball sandwhich that was out of this world. The flavors were spot-on, so good. I had a wide weat noodle chicken/shrip dish in a curry-like sauce. Yum! "French fries made with truffle oil" was on the menu... well that sounded interesting so we ordered a side and let me tell you - those fries were good! Everything was presented on plates; real glasses and metal flatware. Nothing wasteful. We appreciated that.

Here's a photo of Kaemon Ze in his spiffy sunglasses before we left:













And here's the photo of him when we arrived:













Heh! He slept through nearly all of lunch. He is so good to us!

Later in the day, I took these close-ups. His blue eyes really pop. :)












I think one day he may be able to successfully fit his entire fist into his hand. At least that's what it seems like what he wants to do!

KZ visits Mommy's office

Jason and Kaemon Ze dropped me off at the office this morning while my car was having its brakes replaced. This was the first time Steve met Kaemon Ze. :)

John (my boss) came out of his office once his phone call was finished to see the baby. It's been a while since he's seen him. I think the last time was the first time, when KZ was 2 weeks old. He's grown a bit since then. KZ gave John a big smile and John told him that made his day. :)

Same, day: another e-mail from Gramma Karen

This series also came from Gramma Karen today:

Ask me why...













I'm dressed up in [Auntie] Katie's old shirt!













hehehe ... cuz I'm a lil devil!













I peed on Gramma .. and myself ... and lots of other stuff too!

more torture devices

We got an e-mail from Gramma Karen today: "more torture devices," along with these fun photos & text:













umm ... what am I supposed to do with this thing Grampa?













Dad? ... Mom?













This could be fun ...













If Gramma would just stop torturing me with these new contraptions!













ok ... I think I like it!

new hand moves

for daddy, who is away

Love you!

Kaemon Ze is four months of age today!

Kaemon Ze had some fun firsts leading up to his four month birthday:

1. Gramma Karen sent a text saying, "Omg! Omg! A turd! Real people poop! The kind that doesn't makde a mess! Whoohoo Whoohoo! :)"

For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of cleaning of baby poo lately, you may not understand this excitement... for those of you who have (or remember), a "real people poop" is something to get real excited about! Unfortunately, it was a once time occurance. We're back to real baby poop in all of its glory.

2. Kaemon Ze rolls from his tummy onto his back - right in front of Jason and I - and we both managed to miss it.

In fact, it happened so fast and was so fluid in the few seconds our attention was diverted away from Kaemon Ze, that when we looked at him, we weren't sure he had moved at all! I asked Jason, "didn't I just put him on his tummy?!" Jason was a stunned as I was. Whoo hoo! A milestone. And... like the "real people poop" - it hasn't happened again.

3. [this is a placemark... I'm not remembering the third thing at the moment... gotta love 'baby brain syndrom!]

4. Tonight, on Kaemon Ze's lil birthday, I was reading a book to him, a small book with thick cardboard pages. I turned the first page and read the sentence. When I stopped, I waited for KZ to finish looking at the picture before I turned the page. KZ reached over and turned the page. I was surprised, and smiled at the 'chance' that he intentionally turned the page. I read the next page and again paused when I finished. Again, KZ reached over and turned the page. I started to think, "Really?! You're turning the pages?" Then I read the next page, and again, he reached over and turned the page. This went on until the book was finished. I couldn't believe my four-month-old son just turned all six pages!! Let alone turned them exactly when I finished reading. I was blown away.

daddy and kaemon ze

a tour of hats

Sunny day in Portland! High temp was to be 58 degrees F!
Sun, sun, sun! Kaemon Ze and I took a walk up to the
grocery store. He got to wear his cool Tigger shades for
the first time - and - he kept them on all the way to the
store. Heh. Thank you, Lady K, for the fun Disneyland shades!

Once in the store, I introduced him to a young gal
who works there. She's very friendly and took a shining to
Jason and I last year. Since then, she got a boy friend and
whoops, got pregnant. They're expecting on July 5th.

Her due date is very close to my friend Angela's due date,
so it's fun for me to see how big the gal's belly is getting
and imagining that's how Angela is coming along. :)

After the lil meet-n-greet, KZ let me know he was getting hungry.
I fed him in the lil cafe area of the store and he fell asleep even
before he was half-way through his bottle. :)