The DelGrossos

craft fail

2011-01-12T12:46:00.000-08:00

How to epically fail at making this super cute t-shirt pom pom
http://diaryofacraftaholic.blogspot.com/2011/01/t-shirt-pom-poms-tutorial.html

1. Decide to start while the baby is awake and wanting attention because you have to start right at that moment or you won't get around to it. and you figure it's good for her to see her mom doing something she likes other than playing with said baby.

2. start cutting the cardboard template with miserably dull scissors.

3. Assume that the chosen t-shirt will produce enough strips for the project

4. Estimate the width of t-shirt strips instead of measuring.

5. Keep going along with the tutorial even when you clearly do not have enough t-shirt strips probably because you estimated.

6. Entertain baby with left over t-shirt fabric when she starts to fuss.

7. Take away fabric when you realize that was stupid... replace with suitable toy.

8. Use the dullest scissors ever to cut through multiple layers of fabric.

9. Don't read the directions fully and screw up important part while holding baby in your lap.

10. Finish the stupid project because you've spent so much time on it already and refuse to be left with a useless pile of t-shirt strips.

11. Look at the finished project and decide that it's better suited for a dog toy than room decoration.

12. Laugh and decide not to do that again :)

2010-12-01T20:33:00.000-08:00

falling behind

2010-11-29T12:21:00.000-08:00

Oh, I am so behind on posting, y'all! Clara has changed so much in one month. I now have a 6 month old...that still sounds weird! She is such a joy and is getting more of a little personality every day. She turned 6 months on T-giving and we had such a great day with SO MUCH to be thankful for.
We were blessed to have 2 Thanksgiving meals this year as we have 2 families nearby. the 25th was spent at the DelG's playing games and eating meal #1 (unfortunately, I forgot the card for my camera, oops!) And then on Saturday we had meal #2 with my family after picking out our Christmas tree.

everyone sitting down to enjoy meal #2

the motley crew who volunteered at a friend's non-profit Christmas tree lot and then loaded up our own tree

Oh man, Clara is learning new things every day. I will try and sit down to write a 6 month update, but here is a little video in the mean time (hopefully it works... :/)

cutes

2010-11-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

the cool thing about having a baby is that there are so many photo ops :) i just can't get enough of this sweet thing. she is 5 months old now!!!! I just can't wrap my mind around that.

She is still such a calm, relaxed and observant little girl. Sleeping, eating, and learning so well. She rolled over about 3 weeks ago and finally a couple of days ago rolled over again... I think that might be partly my fault for not putting her down very often :)

She's becoming more and more interested in what's going on around her. I can no longer eat or drink with her in my arms because of her tiny hands swatting at whatever is within reach. She's able to sit for about 2-3 seconds before wobbling over. She loves to be held close but doesn't like to lay her head on your shoulder. She loves to be read to and talked to and looooves listening to her own voice.

Thanks for tuning in to see the updates :)

my chubby baby

2010-10-18T21:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday!

2010-10-05T08:32:00.000-07:00

4 months!

2010-10-01T19:32:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's true. Clara is already 4 months old! where does the time go? Here is a little picture journey of the past couple of weeks:

Yay! this was taken on her 4 month b-day :)

smiling more and more!

she's seen so many people! Here's Clara with her Grandma Kathi and Great Grandma Elsie

She even got to meet her Great Great Grandma Honey Bea! She's 98 years old and still going strong!

She hung out with her Great Mema

She tolerates tummy time but really prefers to be held

took her first nap on her stomach (and actually takes a lot of naps like this)

Finally got to meet her favorite Auntie Sheels! We love her

and sat in the bumbo for the first time... which she liked more than it appears :)

Clara at 4 months old you:
-are such a happy and chill baby!
-loooove to suck/mawl your fingers and fists
-are still eating about every 2.5-3 hours and weigh almost 14 lbs! We are loving breastfeeding. it is such a special time for the two of us... although you're starting to get distracted at times.
-are up and down with your naps :) sometimes you do great in your crib and other times will only sleep if mom or dad is cuddling you. Daddy noticed that you always like to hold on to our shirts when we're cuddling-- so sweet!
-sleep for about 7-8 hours at night, eat, and then sleep for another 3ish hours. this has actually been hit or miss the last week or so and i'm not sure why.
-are sooo strong! you love to stand on our laps and can hold your head up very well when on your tummy
-smile at us all the time. all we have to do is make a silly noise or smile at you and you respond with that sweet gummy smile and sometimes a little giggle.
-every time you sleep in your bed, you end up rotating sideways.
-the other night you woke up and started talking so sweetly in the dark. your dad and i just laid there and listened to your sweet voice.
-really like laying on your changing table and talking to daddy.
-love looking at trees. whenever we're outside, you are mesmerized by the leaves blowing in the wind.
-are still loooving your baths. it's such a relaxing time for you.
-are very close to rolling over and finding your toes. This will be so exciting!!

sorry for the long post! hopefully everybody feels caught up now!!

She laughs!

2010-09-13T20:33:00.000-07:00

and smiles!!! Clara has been doing an "almost giggle" for the past week or so but last night she finally laughed! It was seriously so sweet. I was holding her and my mom was leaning down just talking to her like she always does and Clara got so tickled! She kept smiling, talking and giggling. I LOVE IT!!! I can't wait until she laughs all the time.

oh, and she's started to suck on her fingers a lot!

my sweet, happy baby.

2010-09-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

"Time will pass. She will grow. Rather than trying to hold onto each day, each moment, I stood in the stream with my arms outstretched and focused on the delight of the feeling of the water as it flowed by my fingers. Far from trying to stop it, I instead celebrated the sensation of it passing."

i read these words on another blog today. it is what is in my heart.

Still love them Cowboys...just not #71

2010-09-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

and i still cannot really catch her smiles on camera...she's a sly one :)

we went out to eat with B's parents on Friday night. We had a great time and Clara was super alert the whole time watching the waiters go back and forth. AAAAAAADorable :)

hello again :)

2010-09-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

yes, we're all still here :) I really want to upload some new pics of Clara B but unfortunately our internet at the house her is uber-slow and not friendly to uploading massive amounts of pictures. sad day. (i was able to fit a few on here) however, i did want to update y'all on the latest and greatest news of the DelGrosso fam.

We did make it to Colorado (for those of you who don't fb and are hiding under a rock)! Colorado is beautiful and warm. The mountain range is huge and glorious. I really had forgotten how beautiful and majestic it is. (shhhhh...don't tell, but I'm really excited to see it dusted with snow!).

Our time until now has been filled with family, super-great friends, and reacquainting ourselves with ourselves. We are currently living in my parents basement which has been a huge blessing to not have to worry about rent, plus the bonus is Mimi and Poppi get to see Clara whenever they want AND we have free babysitting when we can steal away to Sbux for a minute. We've been blessed to see Gma and Gpa DelG a few times as well and are actually going to meet them tonight for a little impromptu dinner. We are so fortunate to have such loving and involved parents who want to be in Clara's life.
It's been so good to reconnect with Colorado friends and to have some kind of moral support through this huge transition. We are so thankful. You know who you are and we LOOOOOVE you :)
And as this is the first time in 3 whole years that B has not been buried in schoolwork, we are actually getting to know each other in a new way as well. Becoming parents, graduating grad school, and being jobless is completely different! :) We are having fun and enjoying where God has us right now--- while also praying that the "jobless" part changes soon.

Speaking of job, Brandon actually just got a job with the YMCA referee-ing (no idea how to spell that) part-time. This is a HUGE blessing! God is so faithful and continues to provide for us. He is still in the process of interviewing for a youth pastor position not far from here so if you think about it, pray for us! It would be an awesome opportunity to serve our community with each other. The thought of it is so exciting!

Oh, and Clara :) haha, like I forgot. She is incredible (not that I'm biased). She's 3 1/2 months old and is our joy. It's so hard to believe that I have an almost 4 month old! She is learning new things every day and melts our hearts in the process. She is talking, smiling, on the verge of laughing and rolling over, and grabbing things now. Brandon and I went on a date last night and I found it hard to think about much else but her and what she was doing for the whole 1.5 hours we were gone :)

(do you see that red hair?! ugh, love it)

Being a mom has taught me so much and I'm continually learning. It is a joyful and difficult process. Our relationship teaches me so much about my relationship with the Lord (thanks, mary) and I'm always discovering ways I need to be growing as a mom, wife, and child of God. Even small things such as nap time are a growing process! I'm always asking myself the question "is this the best for Clara?". Putting her needs always in front of mine is a privilege and struggle all at once. All of that to say, being a mom is even better than I ever imagined it would be.

Welp, I think that's about it. Just a few random thoughts to leave you with:

--Summer is still going strong here in Colorado and I'm really enjoying the sunshine :)
--I really miss crafting/sewing.

--I miss Portland terribly and all my peeps there!

--And I miss my other peeps in other parts of the u.s./world

--I really should be showering while Clara sleeps instead of blogging...oops!

time to go!

2010-07-21T21:46:00.000-07:00

packing, packing, packing today/yesterday/the day before....loading the truck tomorrow...as well as cleaning....and then headin on out!

we'll catch y'all up later :)

Colorado Here We Come!!!!

Birth Story

2010-07-12T17:19:00.001-07:00

Hey all! I just wanted to let you know that in case you're interested, Clara's birth story is posted on Alma's website! :) click on the link and then click on Clara's photo.
http://www.almamidwifery.com/stories/index.html

2010-07-11T10:58:00.000-07:00

my first birthday as a mama was wonderful. Brandon kept it low-key and relaxing which is my favorite.
we got up and got ready to go to a vaccine class...i know what you're thinking. this was actually not a part of the celebration but just happened to be going on yesterday :) it was actually very informational and not a bad way to start the day. i actually enjoyed learning what all the vaccines are for! hmmm. maybe i missed my calling as a nurse. haha
after that we headed on over to chipotle and sat in the sun. ahhhhh. that by itself would have equaled a great day. oh, how i love a great chicken fajita bowl. then we went to babies r us to find a sun hat for clara (by the way, it's really hard to find a sun hat in july i guess. go figure) which we used after that when we went to a street fair in Portland. all the cute little boutiques had sidewalk sales, restaurants had samples everywhere, and there was even a sidewalk chalk art contest. some of the pictures were aaaaamazing! the weather was a perfect 85 degrees with just enough shade by the buildings for miss clara.
after we were thoroughly worn out from walking we headed home. Brandon went and got some dinner from one of my favorite places here in Portland: screen door. it's an incredible restaurant here that serves local/organic southern home-cookin foods :) so with the evening ending in fried okra, pulled pork and a movie i was one happy little girl. my husband seriously knows how to spoil me!
i was actually upset that we forgot to take pictures the whole day :( so i made brandon step outside with me after we ate dinner in order to document the wonderful day. the color is really weird from being in the shade, but you get the point. isn't the peanut super cute in her polka dot hat?? :)
Thanks Brandon for making this day so special. love you! and thanks to everyone else who called/texted/facebooked me to let me know you were thinking of me. i love you all and wish i could have celebrated with every one of you!!!

too many goodbyes!

2010-07-09T19:10:00.000-07:00

this part of moving is nooooooooooooooooooo fun.

you know, the part where you start to miss everyone that you're leaving. i really hate the saying goodbye to everyone. it's way more fun to look forward to what's coming and be excited than it is to look around at what you're leaving. after today i think i'm giving up goodbyes.

i got to hang out with little Mo and his mom at the park today to say ..... that word. remember this little guy?

well, he doesn't look like that anymore. here is little man at the park today.

the first picture was taken the first week that I worked with little Mo. He was about 8 weeks at that point. It's crazy to think that my own baby is now almost 8 weeks old. He is such a sweet boy--giving me hugs when he sees me and telling me that he likes me :) we're so thankful to have known this family and loved on them just a little.

ugh, see this part really sucks. but this also reminds me that i should post 'then' and 'now' pics of all the babies i've loved on since being here in Oregon. you'd be shocked at how fast they all grow.

well, for now i'm going to forget about all the goodbyes and focus on relaxing with my little fam for my b-day tomorrow. sunshine and cake in my future!

new nickname

2010-07-07T20:39:00.000-07:00

instead of calling her peanut now, I think we'll have to start calling her chunka munka :)

6 week and final appointment :(

2010-07-07T15:46:00.001-07:00

Well, Clara is now 6 weeks old...i just can't believe it! I know everyone always says that time goes by so fast, but it's soooo true :) In some ways it feels like just yesterday that I held her for the first time, but in other ways it feels like I hardly even remember being pregnant--like I need the pictures to really prove it.

So today we went to her 6 week appointment which was also her last appointment with the midwives. I felt like crying knowing that it would be the last time we would see them and visit the birthing center. Such an emotional place for me. It wouldn't be so bad if I knew I'd be back in a few months with another pregnancy, but since we're moving it's a little more final. It's like we built this unique relationship with these women as they took part in such a huge event in our lives, and then we had to say goodbye. Luckily we remembered the camera and took a few pictures with everyone. I will always look back on this place, women, and time with fond memories as I remember how special they made it as we brought our first baby into this world.

Stephanie, Tarra, me, and Kori

Happy 4th!

2010-07-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great day celebrating our nation's independence. We had a super weekend hanging out with friends and picnicking. But the most exciting thing that happened this weekend was Clara's dedication at church! We are so blessed to have this church home here and love that they dedicated Clara and sent us out before we left. Here are a few pictures of Sunday :)

and yes, that is a scowl on her face...maybe she was mad that she slept through the whole thing??

picture love

2010-06-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

things i'm loving today...

2010-06-26T15:42:00.001-07:00

this clean baby with her sweet mohawk

and this clean diaper laundry drying in the SUN!

And oh yeah, Clara is one month old! Found out yesterday that she is 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 20.5 in. long! Crazy! I can't believe she has gained 2 lbs. in a month and grown 1.5 inches. It's going so fast.

She continues to be the light of our lives and we're enjoying every moment. She is amazing and it's so fun to watch her do new things every day. A couple of weeks ago she really started making eye contact and now will just stare at our faces. A few days ago she really started responding to our voices and smiling when we talk to her. It melts my heart :) Ugh. love it. love her.

we're praying for you, aunt sarah!!

2010-06-23T14:08:00.000-07:00

I just wanted you to know that mom and I are praying for you...and that I finally fit into the dress you gave me :)
have fun in Sierra Leone and come back soon!
love, clara

3 Weeks!

2010-06-16T21:47:00.001-07:00

It still seems surreal to me that I have become a father. Everyday now I come home from work or school and there is sweet little person in Callie's arms. I keep thinking to myself, what were people thinking to allow us to take this little child home. She is so precious, so little, so dependent. Amazing stuff. I was telling Callie today that I think that becoming a parent and coming to the realization of parenthood is something that unfolds in stages (it seems). Right now, Clara is so dependent on Callie that as much as I get to hold her and change her diapers it still seems like she is not completely mine or here (if that makes sense). I am not sure I will completely come to the realization that she is my kid until the first time she says "da da" and melts my heart. But, then I guess that the parent realization continues when I get to feed her 'real food' for the first time. Then when I get to take her to school for the first time. Parenthood seems to unfold little by little. Maybe some of you who have been parents for a little while can chime in.

I am excited to say that I only have 2 classes left and I am done with graduate school. I picked up my Multnomah Diploma yesterday and put it in my special degree matted frame. It was a cool realization that one chapter is finally over. I know I will struggle to finish these last two classes because all I can seem to do is hold that little tiny munchin that is waiting for me when I get home. I am still jobless and have not received any phone calls for interviews for teaching jobs. But, we still have our reservation for the moving truck scheduled for July 23rd. We are excited to move back despite being jobless because of the desire to be close to family. I know God has something planned for us, I am just unsure what it is. God has provided for us up to this point so I am not doubting. It is just always hard to be in transition when you have no idea what the next step might look like. God subtly changed our plans for my schooling over the 3 years while we were in Portland (which led me to get two M.A.'s instead of a MDIV) and it looks like he might subtly be moving me to the public school arena instead of a private Christian school. I don't know. We'll see what he does....we are still 'finding our place' I guess.

Of course the moment you have all been waiting for....Clara is 3 weeks old. She is already growing so much and it is so fun to see her develop. She is having quite a bit more awake time which is fun and she is finally starting to develop her eyesight. Callie and I get to see her go cross-eyed every so often as she tries to focus in our faces when we are smiling at her. While seeing Clara is a huge benefit of this whole parenthood thing the thing I am most excited to watch is Callie becoming a mom. Callie has always been an amazing caring person and given of herself to kids, as you all know, but to see her do this for her own child is something special. I knew she was going to be an amazing mom because of her heart and because of how much she knows about kids. But, to actually see it in action is pretty amazing stuff. I love seeing her with little B. She challenges me spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically by her ability to give of herself and love on this baby girl. I am falling in love with her all over again just in a different way. Callie is one amazing wife, and now momma! What a catch I got when she sealed the deal nearly 4 years ago. I cannot wait to continue to watch her develop as a mom and challenge me as a dad throughout baby Clara's life.

I think this is part of understanding what it means to reflect Christ through our marriages in that we are constantly trying to out serve one another and give ourselves away to another person. This idea is heightened when both of us come together in order to give ourselves away for a little one. Plus, the closeness and intimacy that a couple can express while co-parenting a child causes them to be more gracious and truthful with each other, like Christ who was full of grace and truth. Just some thoughts....

OK, here are some 3 week photos!!

Clara helping Dad with his homework.

She also thought the book was boring and fell asleep.

My beautiful little girl!

Happy 3 weeks!

Hands together, pondering, pose.

Flexing her muscles pose

I know I am the cutest baby on the block pose. :)

for all the grandparents :)

2010-06-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

everyone else can roll their eyes as I post more pics of our beautiful girl so the grandparents can see her :)

a day in the life...

2010-06-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

baby girl loves her a soothing bath :)

her first manicure

sun bathing in her swing

lounge until it's time to eat :)

Our Sunshine

2010-05-30T10:46:00.000-07:00

(picture above compliments of Jessica Epp photography) :)

Meet Clara Bailey DelGrosso. 6 lbs. 6 oz, 19 inches long at birth. We may be having some awfully cloudy and dark days here in Portland, but she is all the sunshine we need and is truly lighting up our lives.
We have been so blessed. She has been completely healthy and happy. Now that she's here, I can't imagine my life without her. GOD IS SO GOOD!
Her birth was so amazing. Maybe someday I'll sit down and write out the birth from my perspective. Brandon is currently writing it out from his. It was the most amazing experience.
Right now we are trying to rest as much as possible and just enjoy her day by day. I probably won't be here for a while (except for the occasional brag pictures :) )
Here are some to get started. enjoy!

"The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing..."
Zephaniah 3:17

More Pictures

2010-05-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

i heart this picture. makes me happy.

everyone posing at Haystack Rock

even Clara got her pic taken in front of Haystack

the girls :) me and Amber

DelGrosso Brothers (and sister-in-law) Visit

2010-05-23T15:33:00.000-07:00

Last weekend (wow, was it ONLY a week ago that all this happened??) all 3 of Brandon's brothers and our sister-in-law flew out here to come celebrate with Brandon for his Multnomah graduation and for a little vacay. It was so fun to have them all here together and to spend some time catching up.
Yay for the SECOND graduation :)

no, they don't look alike, yes, we're sure they're all brothers :) from left to right: Aaron, B, Brian, and Andy

On Saturday we all decided to make a trip out to the coast and enjoy the sites. We drove out to Cannon Beach and then up the coast to Astoria before crossing into Washington and heading back to Portland along the Columbia River. It was a beautiful day and perfect for sightseeing.

.....and for some reason blogger won't let me add any more pics to this post....I'll try again later :)

the weeks are flying by!

2010-05-08T07:49:00.000-07:00

I feel like life is flying by at warp speed right now. I thought the last few weeks of pregnancy were supposed to go slow?! well, that just doesn't seem to be the case :)

I am definitely and thoroughly enjoying my relaxing days right now. This is the first time I haven't had a job in a loooooong time so it was super hard to adjust to (slowing is not my specialty), but now I'm really enjoying it. yesterday I just went and sat at the park, in the sun, and read a book. it was marvelous! and as of Friday, I was officially 37 weeks (technically full-term). It is so insane to think that our baby will be here in *about* 3 weeks. we are so excited to meet her and see what she looks like! Hopefully we'll get out today (IN THE SUN!!!) and take some better pics of my belly before it disappears.

and I really am enjoying my last weeks of carrying this baby inside of me. it's such a miracle and I feel so blessed. and I really enjoy watching/listening to Brandon read to my belly. I can't wait to see him with her :)

and Brandon graduates from Multnomah on Friday!! woot woot! his brothers and sister-in-law are flying in on Thursday to celebrate this one with us. it will be so much fun to have them all out here at one time--the first time for a couple of them. hopefully I'll be good and take lots of pictures.

Also, if you think about it, please pray for Brandon as he continues his search for a job for the fall. we know God has a plan and will continue to take care of us. Brandon has worked so hard to get to this point and we're just praying that an awesome teaching job will come up in the Denver area. Thanks!

Woodburn Tulip Festival

2010-05-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

I had heard this festival advertised several weeks ago and wanted to see what it was all about. We decided that it would be a great thing to take Kathi and George to while they were in town for graduation. George loves taking pictures of flowers so we thought they would really enjoy it.
There were ACRES and ACRES of tulips! it was much more massive than i had imagined and so so beautiful. i'm so glad we decided to go and see it.

my toenails matched these purple ones perfectly!!

oh friends, how i wish all of you could come here and enjoy our last few months in this gorgeous city/state!

Brandon DelGrosso MA

2010-05-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

Well, finally here are some pictures from last weekend when Brandon graduated from Western!

On the Friday night before graduation, they have a really nice banquet that all the graduates/spouses and visiting relatives may attend. It was a good kick-off to celebrating this huge milestone.
God is so good. He has always been faithful to us and it has been especially evident in the area of Brandon's schooling. God has really gifted Brandon in so many areas and it makes me so happy to see him finally stepping into some of the new roles that he will have!

Here's Brandon chatting with 2 of his good friends, John and Steve, before graduation on Saturday.

receiving his diploma from Marc--his professor for all of his church history course work. OH! and I don't want to forget to mention that Brandon won the church history award for his graduating class!! see, he really is a rock star.

praying over the graduates

so happy he's done!

This is Ken and Joy. They have each mentored us individually since about 6 months after being here. They have also kind of adopted us into their family for holidays and such since we don't have any family around here. It has been so nice to get to know all of their family and to share Thanksgivings and Easters with them.

And it was so special to have Kathi and George here with us to celebrate as well!

2010-04-28T18:06:00.000-07:00

upcoming posts:

1.Western Graduation Weekend

2.Awesome Reminder from God that He is taking care of us!

Baby Shower and Life

2010-04-19T18:49:00.001-07:00

Ok, so as a rule of thumb, you should always charge your camera batteries BEFORE big events that you want to remember :) That way you can actually get lots of pictures of the gorgeous party and special people who are celebrating your unborn child...note to self.
Brandon was actually able to snap a few pictures before the camera died, but I'm kinda sad we didn't get any of us together or of me with the awesome gals who organized the party. Oh well, that's just how life goes sometimes. Here are a few pics of the super cute party to celebrate lil Miss Clara.

this kind of shows an overview of people enjoying themselves at the party :) Jessica did a great job of setting everything up!

ok, not the most flattering pic of me, but I wanted to note that I DID wear a dress and my belly is GROWING!!! :) in this pic I'm talking to my boss and Ella the little girl I nanny for

aw, isn't this cake super cute?! Jessica did a spring/bird theme for the shower. I loved the little nest on the cake. very feminine and cute!

Thank you Jessica for all the hard work you put into the shower! It was beautiful!
We were just sooooo blessed by all the people that came to say hi and bring gifts for Clara. We got to see a bunch of people from all different parts of our life here in Oregon--from families that I have nannied for, to Brandon's cooperating teacher, church friends from 2 different life groups, and school friends. It was awesome. I just felt super loved and cared for. It was great to talk and catch up. People kept asking me how much longer I had. I would say 6 weeks...and the more I said that, the closer it sounded :) It still blows my mind to think that we could be looking at our baby girl in less than two months. Wow. I can't wait. I can't even put into words how excited we are, even if that feeling is mixed in with a tiny bit of nervousness :)

I also made a big change this last week in my prenatal care. I switched from seeing a midwife in the hospital to deciding that I wanted to give birth in a birthing center with a different team of midwives. It was a big decision and I couldn't be more excited about it! I won't bore y'all with all the details, but I'll just say that I feel such a peace about this decision to give birth naturally and can't wait to start my prenatal appointments with my new midwife!

Oh, and I only have 4 more days of work left! Holy Cow! That is also something I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around--going from working 50 hours to working 0 hours will be a crazy change, but it will be good. It will be good to rest, get my house under control, feel organized, and enjoy waiting for Clara.

AND probably the biggest news around here this week is BRANDON IS GRADUATING FROM WESTERN SEMINARY on Saturday!!!!!! I am seriously in awe of my husband. He is a rock star and has worked so hard to finish his first grad degree. I can't wait for his parents to get here on Thursday and to celebrate him this weekend. He deserves every bit of it. I love you, honey!
(I'll make sure the camera is charged so we'll have LOTS of pictures of the graduation weekend :))

Oh How He Loves Us!

2010-04-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

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I have had this song stuck in my head for about a month now. It has spoken to my heart on countless occasions during this month. It has been so good to just dwell on the simple but incredible truth of how deeply God loves me and to try and grasp that reality. Daily He shows up, in both little and small ways, declaring His love.

One HUGE example of this happened on Monday. I had a conversation with my boss about my ending date for work. Now, I have been very ready to be done working. Not that work has been horrible in any way or form, but I could just sense that it was time. natural transition as I prepare to start my own family. SO, we have this conversation where she lets me know that the new nanny taking over my position needs to start a little earlier so instead of me having 6 weeks left of work, I now have 3 ( one of which will be spent training the new gal). I was just shocked and a little overwhelemed. Questions started running through my mind such as: what will we do with 3 weeks less pay? what will I do with all my time waiting? etc. But I assure her that we will be fine (they offered to pay me through the end of April) and that that should work out fine. Evidently I didn't hide the shock on my face very well, because she called later in the day to let me know she wanted to talk about it that evening. I thought this would be a good chance for me to tell her that I wasn't upset or mad just a little surprised about the change in events.
To make a long story very very short, we talked and I am still leaving work the 3rd week of April but they are paying me through the middle of May! I was in complete shock. I felt/feel so loved and blessed by both my employers and by God. God knew our financial needs and provided in the most unexpected (and quick)way. He knew my physical/emotional needs and has provided above and beyond what I expected. He could have chosen another way to provide for us but for some reason decided to do it this way. Even if we had to go without the pay, He would have sustained us. It wouldn't mean that He loves us any less. His love is perfect and unchanging.
I am so grateful for how He loves me. I am not an eloquent writer by any stretch of the imagination so thank you for bearing with me, but I just felt compelled to write this. I hope that wherever you are, whatever you are doing today that you will know and feel the intense love of God today.
If His grace is an ocean, we are all sinking.

cute tiny diapers :)

2010-04-02T10:54:00.001-07:00

just got these in the mail and had to post a pic :) aren't they so tiny and adorable?! ok, maybe that's just the hormones talking...

Brandon's new kicks and my growing belly

2010-03-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

yup, that's right. Brandon had some Christmas money left and we decided to randomly go to REI for him to try on some chaco flip flops. I bought some last spring and pretty much never take them off. After realizing that we had our dividend from last year plus the %20 off for being members we figured it would be a great deal for him to buy some actual chaco sandals. yup, he loves em :) and i love the green.

here's the crinkle-taggie toy that i made from the tutorial that i posted about earlier. i love it and hope Clara does too.

yay, the front of Clara's quilt is finally done! this Wednesday I'll be working on the border around it. it's slowly coming together :)

wowza! hard to believe that she'll be here in 9 short weeks! did i mention that i only have 7 weeks of work left?! i'm pretty excited about that.

oh, and this is a pic that brandon took of me last week while i was folding some baby clothes that i just washed. he thought it was pretty funny that i can fold clothes on my belly :)

nothing much to say

2010-03-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

hello friends. so much to talk about yet nothing to say. that's how i feel lately. soooo, maybe i'll put my thoughts in point format in order to blog about something today :)

*last week's vacation was lovely. i found myself with a crisis on sunday night though when my mind told me that i had to get up for work in the morning but the rest of me said that i was already done working forever :)

*the list of things i accomplished on my list last week:
1-lots of sewing! once i take pics, i'll post them
2-lots of cooking! i actually made meals every night, double the portion that i normally would, and froze the other half for later.
3. lots of cleaning! i had it in my little head that this would be the last good chunk of time i would have to clean and organize before miss Clara came along. this thinking made me super productive. i love the feeling of a freshly spring cleaned house :)
4. good time to myself. :)

*i am now on day 3 of this work week with 2 sick little girlies. one has the croup and possibly an ear infection (going to the dr. this afernoon) and the other has pneumonia and an ear infection! needless to say, i am soooooo grateful for the sunshine that we have. it gives me a little respite to all the days inside.

*and lastly, i believe i am going to order my cloth diapers this week sometime. it makes me oh so happy and excited for Clara to be here. and i can't wait to dress that little tush in some cute cloth :)

so productive!

2010-03-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

I've been so productive this week that I've had off that I haven't had the time to blog! :) Hopefully I'll slow down today, get some sewing done and have some pics of my new creations.

baby things :)

2010-03-11T20:08:00.000-08:00

Yay! I'm so excited to finally show you some progress for Clara's quilt. My mentor here in Portland is an incredible quilter and for her gift to Clara, she let me pick out the fabrics I liked and is teaching me the ins and outs and is going to do the actual quilting part of it. so far I have 8 of the 10 rows sewn and now just need to sew the rows together. Here is a sampling of the 5 different fabrics.

and here is the new diaper bag! haha. it's kind of ridiculous how excited i am about this. it was my mom's gift to us for the baby shower and just came in the mail. i got to pick it out so it wasn't a surprise or anything but i really like it. of course it's turquoise...my fav color :)

I need some fresh ideas

2010-03-11T12:07:00.000-08:00

So now that my baby quilt is coming to an end (as in, all the rows are *almost* done and just need to be sewn together. maybe i'm being optimistic thinking that this part will be easy/quick...) anyways, I've been researching new tutorials online to find some inspiration for new baby crafts! I figure that this will be my form of "nesting" since we won't have a nursery to decorate for quite some time.
here are a couple of cute ideas I've found so far:
isn't the most adorable mobile you've ever seen?! I have quite a bit of scrap fabric laying around and think this might be fun. (found here: http://www.spoolsewing.com/blog/2008/05/16/bird-mobile)

here is another easy project to use some scrap fabric on! a "crinkle square" for baby DelG to play with. (found here: http://www.joyshope.com/2009/05/baby-crinkle-square-tutorial.html)

ok, so if you have any ideas for EASY crafts for Clara, let me know! oh, and I'm hoping that tonight I'll post pics of my new diaper bag and maybe some progress on the quilt :)

Brandon's 28th Birthday!

2010-03-09T18:36:00.000-08:00

We celebrated B's birthday this past Saturday and I successfully pulled off a surprise! That doesn't happen all the time. :)
It was the most GORGEOUS day! We woke up, walked on over to the donut shop and leisurely ate our donuts in our pajamas. After getting ready we went on a little walk and then tried out a little Italian sandwich shop. Then we made our way downtown to walk around Powell's and browse the many sections of books(something we never get to do). Brandon thought all of this was the surprise and had no idea where we were about to head to.
When we got home I told him he needed to pack a bag for the night. He was pretty excited, I think :) This is where the pictures start.

us on the way to our destination

We had so many beautiful glimpses of Mt. Hood and all it's glory--hard to imagine that it's about half the altitude of Pikes Peak!

So, we drove across the WA border and went to the small little town of Camas. After checking into our hotel we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and browse the shops downtown. Here's Brandon and downtown Camas :)

For dinner we walked to a cute little pizza bistro called Twilight Pizza (no connection to the books unfortunately:))

Me in front of the cute little Camas Hotel

and of course after dinner, Clara really wanted some ice cream so we walked on over to the local Dairy Queen. Brandon lucked out and got the gal to upgrade his blizzard for his birthday :)

I love this boy :)

...

2010-03-08T11:28:00.000-08:00

We celebrated B's 28th birthday on Saturday. It was wonderful to relax and make him feel special. Pictures to come!

Baby Shower Pics

2010-03-07T14:50:00.000-08:00

me and the lovely hostesses :)

my favorite yummy cake

so many presents! we were so blessed!

the adorable hat that Jo made :)

Thanks, Sarah for sending these pics!

Some of my most favorite people

2010-03-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

I'm back! Colorado was so awesome. The baby shower was awesome and I'm so thankful for such great friends who love me and the new littlest DelG. (pics of that to come...someone else was taking them. hint hint Sarah :))
It was really weird thinking that we will be living there in about 5 months though...crazy thought. It's like my trip to Colorado marked the beginning of the end here in Portland: 2 months till B graduates from Western, 2.5 months until B graduates from Multnomah and I'm done working, 3 months till Clara is due to make her appearance, and about 5 months till we are supposed to be moving...hopefully with a job. I feel like I'm working on a countdown. If you have ever made a big move somewhere, I think you probably know what I'm talking about. It's like you feel like you have to wrap things up where you are and you are constantly fighting being impatient. I don't anticipate change very well. We LOVE being here in Portland. We love the city, our friends, our life that we've made here. This city will always represent such a special time in our life and I treasure this time so much.
I think being in Colorado was good for me. It allowed me to imagine our life there again. I love being in Portland, but I think I'll love being in Colorado again too. It's so different, but we will be different. And I think one main reason that I will love it is because of the awesome people that are there...some of my most favorite people!

Ok, so these are the wonderful ladies who were the brains/beauty behind the shower. Oh how I love these girls. Emily lives in Colorado now and I'm SO excited to live near this girl again. Joanna lives in PA right now BUT I'm pretty sure God is going to answer my prayers and lead her and her hubby to Denver this summer as well :) And my dear sweet friend Sarah who also lives in Denver but for some crazy reason thinks she's going to move this summer?! haha. not if I have something to say about it. I love these girls and am so grateful for them.

Oh MaryHary! haha ok, that's not her real name, but my loving name for her. This gal and I have quite the history beginning in 7th grade. I love her so much and can't wait to live near her and her new baby girl :) MaryBella and Clara are going to be the best of friends.

Oh, and my mom :) Loved spending time with her this weekend and catching up in person. can't wait to have her near again and to see her with her first grandbaby. I don't know what I'd do without her.

Of course there are many other people that I'm so excited to have near. Too many to count. Hopefully they'll make the weather seem a little warmer in the winters! haha.

(pics of the baby shower coming soon, hopefully!)

a GREAT pregnancy!

2010-02-24T10:53:00.000-08:00

That's what my midwife told me this morning when Livi and I went for my 27 week appointment. I really have been so blessed to have a very enjoyable pregnancy so far. AND now (as of next Friday) that I'm in my 3rd trimester, I get to go hear that every 2 weeks instead of once a month. It's the little things that excite me, really.
I really do love going to these appointments. Not really to hear my midwife say that (although it's nice to hear) or to get weighed or pee in that cup. I love these appointments because it's the only time I get to hear sweet little Clara's heartbeat. (Her name is Clara Bailey DelGrosso, by the way!) And once a month is an awful long time to go between hearing that sweet sound. It was especially hard when I wasn't feeling her move all the time. At least now I can feel her dancing inside and sometimes even feel the shape of her body in my belly. That's comforting but there is just something about listening to the doppler that makes me tear up every time I'm there. I can't wait to have her here.

rain smells so good

2010-02-23T11:28:00.000-08:00

For pretty much the entire past week and a half, we have had unbelievable weather here in Portland. It's been beautiful, sunny, blue skies and just about 60 degrees every day...actually reminds me a lot of Colorado. Needless to say, I have just been soaking it all in. Every chance that Livi and I have, we are outside at the park, taking a walk, etc. It's been wonderful to just get out and get some excersize and fresh air. And now the cherry blossoms are starting to bloom...might be my favorite tree.

That said, I kind of forgot how good the rain smells. Today it's cloudy and a little rainy and after not having the rain for a while I was really able to smell how good it was. It's refreshing and clean. I think it makes me a little nostalgic. This week, especially, I've been thinking about how excited we are for this new time in our life: getting to finally meet our new baby girl, Brandon being done with school, Brandon starting a new job, moving back to Colorado. So many changes within a few months! But at the same time I think of how it makes me just a little sad that we will be completely abandoning the life that we have now had for the last 4ish years: just the two of us to worry about living in our tiny 1 bdrm apartment, walking to coffee whenever we feel like it, eating at our favorite Thai place, sharing life with the dear friends that we've made in "our" town. We have had so many good times and made so many memories here in Portland. I will definitely miss it. I'm sure once the time is here for us to go through all of these changes I will be completely ready to jump in to this next stage and embrace all the new blessings that God has for us. Until then I need to be patient: enjoy all the jumping around and squirms I feel daily in my belly, enjoy the quiet evenings with Brandon doing homework and me having time to do what I please, enjoy my last few months nannying, enjoy the rain and cherry blossoms.
Anyways, I will be going to Colorado this weekend for a baby shower :) I'm so excited to see my family and friends. Hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures. Brandon will be super busy here presenting a paper for one of his classes. And then the next weekend is Brandon's 28th birthday!!! Can't wait to celebrate him and the amazing man that he is. Seriously, he's the man.
:)

Anybody still there?

2010-02-22T18:53:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if anyone even comes here anymore. I know it's been a long time. I don't really have any reason for not writing other than I wasn't feeling inspired and didn't feel like we had a lot to post about. But I think I'd like to start again. I kind of miss updating the posts and writing random things. So hopefully, I haven't lost everyone's interest! Hopefully there are still some people out there who want to look at random pictures :)
I guess I'll update you on the last *cough* 4 or 5 months! ahh! can't believe it's really been that long. Well, I'm still pregnant :) haha. I'm at 26 weeks now (almost to the 3rd trimester!). It's really hard to believe that in only a few short months we will have a beautiful new addition to our family. We are so excited! We're in the middle of our Bradley Birthing classes and are having fun thinking about her finally being here. (this is from about 24 weeks(?) needless to say, i'm a little big bigger now!)
Brandon is in his last semester on school!!!!! YIPPEE!!!! He is so amazing at everything he does and really puts everything he has into it. His lead-teacher has been very supportive of him and has really encouraged him that he is awesome in the classroom. He is going to be a great teacher and we're excited for him to finally graduate!
so yea, I think that's it, in a nutshell. Hopefully y'all all haven't given up on me yet :) I'll be back soon.

going to let the cat out of the bag....

2009-10-25T12:17:00.000-07:00

Yup, it's true. I'm pregnant! Baby DelGrosso is due May 28th. I'll blame my lack of posting on this HUGE secret that I've been trying to keep :) All of these great pictures were taken by our sweet friend, Jessica, who did an amazing job.
Enjoy!

yay for the weekend!

2009-09-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

I was so ready for Friday to come this week! (ok, who am i kidding? i'm always excited for Fridays :) )
We have had some unbelieveable weather here lately! Fall is here! The air has been crisp but we've still had the sun every day along with 80 degree temps. i love it!
On Saturday we were able to go to lunch with some great friends of ours-the Epps. We took them to the Grilled Cheese Grill!

they have some really great specialty grilled cheese sandwiches and an awesome atmosphere. We really love hanging out with those guys and especially getting to love on little Titus.

(I took this from their blog) I always kick myself for not taking more pics.
after lunch, we went home to get ready for a wedding that we attending later in the evening. A girl that B goes to school with got married. again, i wish i had my camera. the wedding was outside and so pretty! picture them getting married with a backdrop of evergreens, the sun shining through, and her colors were maize, orange, pink, and chocolate brown. it was gorgeous.
And now we're doing laundry, writing lesson plans (B-not me), and watching some Sunday football. Life is good :)

Another Project

2009-09-19T09:14:00.000-07:00

While I was visiting my friend, Joanna, in Pennsylvania a couple of weeks ago, she told me how she couldn't find any placemats to fit her table (a small, square, pub-style). Well, she was brave enough to let me practice my sewing skills on her! We went shopping for a little fabric while I was there and she later sent it to me along with some dimensions.
again, sorry for the crappy pictures! the placemats have a different fabric on each side. i loooooove the orange side :)

what it would look like on her table

and i had a little bit of leftover fabric so i made a little pouch. not sure what she's going to use this for...but who can't use another pouch?! :) jk i don't know what i'm saying.

thanks again, Jo, for letting me practice on you!!!! i love you. you're the coolest.

nap time

2009-09-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

yup, it's nap time. the sun is shining and i am cherishing the last few minutes of silence. thought i'd share a fun little survey :)

Here’s how it works: USE ONLY ONE WORD!
It’s not as easy as you might think. Copy and change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It’s really hard to use only one-word answers.

1. Where is your cell phone? side
2. Your hair? layers!
3. Your mother? faithful
4. Your favorite food? Mexican
5. Your dream last night? sad
6. Your favorite drink? coffee
7. Your dream/goal? heaven
8. What room are you in? kitchen
9. Your hobby? crafting
10. Your fear? spiders
11. Where do you want to be in 6 years? mom
12. Where were you last night? church
13. Something that you aren’t? adventureous
14. Muffins? blueberry
15. Wish list item? secret
16. Where did you grow up? Texas
17. Last thing you did? ate
18. What are you wearing? sweats
19. Your TV? heavy
20. Your pets? none :(
21. Friends? everywhere
22. Your life? blessed
23. Your mood? peaceful
24. Missing someone? hubby
25. Vehicle? broken
26. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
27. Your favorite store? Target
28. Your favorite color? blue
29. When was the last time you laughed? today
30. Last time you cried? August
31. Your best friend? hubby
32. One place that I go to over and over? Starbucks
33. One person who emails me regularly? Jack
34. Favorite place to eat? couch

Happy Monday everyone :)

Baby Quilt

2009-09-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

My dear friend, MaryBeth, is pregnant and due on Oct. 28th. I'm so so so happy for her and can't wait to meet her sweet baby girl!!! Well, since I've been wanting to practice my sewing skills, I embarked on making a baby quilt. It's a "rag quilt" and luckily, great for beginner sewers, such as myself. Here are a few pics. and please don't judge the quilt by my poor photography...it actually is really cute in person :)
a close up

the front

the back

little things

2009-09-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

On Saturday B and I made homemade pizza and it was soooo good! and it was just so pretty that i had to take a picture of it :)

I also have been having so much fun sewing! I am really enjoying finding patterns, being creative, and seeing something useful come out of it! Joanna gave me a couple of little projects to work on, but I'll let her see those before I post pictures of them. So yesterday, I decided that since it felt like fall outside that I needed to make myself a new "fall-ish" tote :) my camera ran out of battery so this is the only picture I have so far. Enjoy!

Happy September!

2009-09-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

(photo by www.portlandground.com)
Does this mean that fall is coming soon?? I dont' know if I'm ready for that yet. It feels like summer has only just begun and I'm definitely not ready for the sun to go away! Summer is definitely my favorite season...mostly because of being out in the sunshine, getting a tan, iced coffee, and the sunshine :)

However, Portland in the fall is such a beautiful time of year! I officially had my first pumpkin spice latte. it was delicious! makes me look forward to the start of Christmas music, apple/pumpkin picking, the holiday seasons, and taking a nap on sunday afternoons while B watches football. So, I guess there are great things to every season (in life as well).

Happy September Everyone!

August so far...

2009-08-08T17:50:00.001-07:00

I am actually writing because August has been an amazing month so far. There is nothing like actually having a month off of class and being able to recharge my batteries. It started off with our anniversary trip to Crater Lake which was a great time except for the last night (which ended up with rain and lightning). You can see Callie's Facebook for pictures on our trip. It took me nearly the entire trip to finally get into rest mode because I had a hard time not reading or writing lesson plans. Crater Lake was a beautiful site though! Some of the blues we saw in the lake were amazing and the pictures cannot do them justice.

Since we've been back I have been enjoying only working 20 hrs. a week and doing a little bit of reading on my own. I also have caught up on some movie watching to keep resting myself up. This is the calm before the storm. Despite the last 7 months of crazy busyness, the next upcoming season of busyness will be a lot longer and a lot busier. I start my student teaching on Sept. 2nd during which I will be taking one class at Western and one class at Multnomah (my teaching degree) and I will be working 20 hrs. a week. The Spring term I will quit Western (work) and take on full-time student teaching and I will only be taking classes at Western as well. The good news is that at the end I will actually graduate, rather than just push for a month off period. I will graduate from Western at the end of April and then from Multnomah 3 weeks later, but I will continue to student teach until mid-June.

I just met my first cooperating teacher and found out that I am going to be teaching 7th grade Social Studies for 3 periods and I will be teaching Medieval History. This is a sigh of relief because I am pretty sure I only plan to teach in a high school setting, so middle schoolers are not my comfort zone, but medieval history was my emphasis in college so I feel more confident with the content. My cooperating teacher should be great, he is a newer teacher (4 yrs exp) and has a lot of passion for kids and his subject.

We are also looking for a car because I need to drive to Vancouver every day to do my student teaching. The one car, and amazing Portland public transit, cannot get up to Vancouver unfortunately. We were given a car from some people but it ended up having such an engine issue that it was worth more to scrap it than to fix it. Hopefully we will find something soon. It seems hard to take on a car payment just before I begin not working but God has provided for us this far and enough so that we can take on a small payment. Plus, my good buddy has helped me figure out what we could afford with his banking expertise (thanks TJ)! Hopefully this car will not give us any issues and our Civic continues to run well.

Our trip to Crater Lake was the tail end of Callie's full week of vacation. The first part of her week was spent in Beaver Falls, PA (just outside Pittsburg) with Joanna and Taylor. Callie had an amazing time recuperating with old friends and being encouraged. Those two are amazing friends to Callie and it was a blessing to have her get out there and spend time with them. It was also a blessing for me so that I could devote time to finishing my homework. Although I would have rather spent time in Penn with Callie.

Callie is continuing to sew a lot with her new sewing machine (birthday present). She is loving her new hobby and I am loving it too because when we went to Goodwill today I could grab some great pants (J Crew) for cheap that fit me around the waist but were a little too long. She is going to try her hand and hemming for the first time this week.

Callie and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary with a night together cooking and hanging out. It was nice because we have not been able to spend that quality time together for the last 7 months. We cooked this amazing recipe that we found on FoodNetwork and Callie exclaimed "This might be the best dish I have ever tasted." We enjoyed cooking together and just sitting, eating, and talking together. What a great night! Callie is the most amazing woman and truly is a blessing to me and God's gift to me. I love getting to reflect back and think about the ways God has blessed us over this past year and how God has again blessed me with a godly woman who works so hard and walks with me through this busy time.

Below are some pictures in case you do not have Facebook. Enjoy!!! Hopefully we will be blogging a little bit more now that things have slowed down. :)

My dad also came out the weekend before I finished classes and taught me to fly fish. My buddy Ryan (in the picture) and his dad also came. We only caught a few minnows but it was a truly great time. It was great to see my dad as well!

Callie and her Jo!

I saw Callie kissing Spiderman...

This is some of the influence that Jo and Taylor have on Callie. :)

Us at Crater Lake.

Us at the campsite!

2009-07-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

can i just say that i work for some amazing people?! i was talking to the girls' mom about "crafting" a couple months ago and she offered me whatever fabric i wanted in their basement...i went down to explore during nap time one day and she has entire shelves with whole bolts of fabric on them! now, this may not mean much to you, but to the poor, beginner sewer this is amazing :) we don't have a ton of money to go stock me up on fabric...i know, you're shocked. so i went down today and picked a few scraps of materials that i liked and tried not to be greedy with the beautiful fabrics at my fingertips. it was so much fun!
the people i work for (well, pretty much EVERY family that i've worked for in the past) have been soooooooo generous. i just feel so blessed by these families. not only do i get to take a big part in raising their children, but i feel appreciated and respected and loved by the whole family in return. aka: being invited to birthday parties, staying connected, writing letters with the kids, and incredible surprise gifts of fabric :)
i am going to have so much fun playing with all this fabric and learning new patterns. soooo guess what y'all are all getting for christmas and your birthdays?!?!?!?! :)

my new hobby

2009-07-07T21:14:00.001-07:00

ok, making jam is not really my new hobby but i hadn't posted these pictures yet and wanted to before i forgot :)
the beautiful berries before we smashed them all

here we are stirring the berries

ok, ella didn't let me stir

and here is my real new hobby. i'm learning to sew! :) now this is not perfect so don't judge me yet (it's a pincushion just in case you couldn't figure it out). i haven't sewn anything since my sophomore year of highschool and i wouldn't even boast about that. but since brandon seems to always have something to do in the evenings, i wanted something productive to do. enter: sewing projects. i have a TON of stuff on my list of things i want to try. i'm super excited!! ohhhh the possibilities :)

2009-07-06T13:17:00.001-07:00

just a short post...we are still here. just busy :) here's a pic of us at Ella's birthday party last weekend.

Brandon has been studying like a mad-man. i just got a sewing machine! (early b-day present) and am having sooo much fun playing around with it. maybe i'll be brave and post a picture of stuff i've done soon...maybe.
hope y'all are doing good! we'd love to hear what's going on with all of y'all sometime!

summertime

2009-06-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

this has been the first week of summer for me and the girls. preschool officially got out last thursday and that means that i have both of the girls all day until next fall :) needless to say, we have been suuuuuuper busy. i find myself a lot more tired in the evenings but it's been super rewarding as well. it's pretty much nonstop from 8am till i get off at 6. here are a few pics of us at the park today.

as i look at these pictures i can feel that my heart is beginning to really bond with the girls. how can i not love looking at those smiles :)

More Dancing!!

2009-06-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

Last week there was a little parade in the neighborhood. the bands were just so good, the girls couldn't keep still! :)

dancing!

2009-06-09T15:18:00.000-07:00

this is a video I took of Olivia this morning. wish I had her moves :)

Long time, no post

2009-05-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

So I guess I'm down to only posting twice a month now :) It seems our life is just not exciting enough to post much more often than that. Seriously...sometimes I try and think of things to post but then I remember that you would probably get tired of hearing "..and today I went to work. Brandon went to class and to work. And now we're home eating dinner, talking, and maybe watching a movie..." See. I rest my case :)
Actually this last weekend I was able to take a lovely vacation down to Texas to see some of my dearest friends. One great thing about being a nanny is that when the family takes vaca, so do I! It was a great opportunity to relax in the heat, be refreshed with good friends, and eat LOTS of chick-fil-a. I left Brandon here all by himself, but instead of posting about his lonliness (like I did a few weeks ago) he rested and caught up on a lot of homework. :) Here are a few pics from my trip:

here I am on the 2nd night in Texas. Amy and I rented movies the first two nights and decided to splurge a little on the treats...I look so happy surrounded by junk food.

These 2 girls on either side of my are 2 of the most Godly and exceptional women you will ever meet. much of who I am, I owe to these ladies. (left-Amy right-MaryBeth)

On Friday, Amy and I ate at a cute little cafe in Dallas for lunch called Bread Winners.

Afterwards, we headed to this sweet cupcake shop for a sampling of their treats :) we also shopped a couple of super cute boutiques

Mary and I at the "BCS Cheerleader Reunion Party" :)

I used to cheer with most of the girls in this picture. We were all, at some point, cheerleaders at my old school in Texas. Our coach, Leigh (front row, middle) was sweet enough to host this gathering of girls. There is something so special about this group. After so many years (10, 11? wow) we were all still able to come together, talk about what God is doing in our lives and joke around like we were sisters. It was such a good time and was so fun to relive old stories again. One of the girls even brought an old scrapbook with some not-so-flattering pictures of old cheering days. I was super blessed by getting to be there and just basking in the comfort of "old" friends. Good times.

Of course, I was eager to come home to Brandon and get back to a routine. It's always nice to sleep in your own bed again. This week has been pretty usual for us. I enjoy our usual though. It may not be exciting enough to blog about, but I wouldn't have it any other way right now. Tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous (for about the 10th day in a row!!!) so we plan on hanging outside while Brandon gets his homework done, then dinner with friends and going to a production of "The Wizard of Oz". I'll post pictures if you're lucky :)

All Alone

2009-05-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

that's me this weekend... Brandon left yesterday afternoon for the land of the Rockies to be with his family while his brother graduates. It will be a great, although short, trip. He arrives back in Portland on Sunday night. I pray that his time is sweet and not too rushed.
that leaves me all alone this weekend. I already miss my husband (i know...i'm a sissy). But I am excited to be super productive this weekend. it's supposed to be in the 80's all weekend, so i have a little bit of spring cleaning fever. planning to air out/clean the apartment, grab some coffee, spend some time reading/sunning in the park, and watching a girly movie tonight. Oh, and last night i got to babysit for Titus so his mom and dad could spend a couple of hours alone. Titus, my friend Anna, and I ate dinner and watched a movie. so fun!
Brandon, you are very missed, but i think i'll actually be able to survive the 2 days :) love you.

Grand Lodge

2009-05-04T18:32:00.000-07:00

Last week Brandon and I decided (very last minute) to book a nights stay at McMenamins Grand Lodge for the weekend. It was lovely. We both needed to get away and take time to relax. We grabbed coffee at a local shop, sat in the soaking pool, and took time to read. We were able to connect and talk and just hang out. The McMenamins Hotels are so unique and fun to visit (not to mention cheap!). Here are a few pictures from our trip. enjoy!

the front of the hotel

can you believe that we got to stay in the Tolkien room?! :) Brandon was so excited!

us next to Mr. Tolkien

the entire hotel has random murals EVERYWHERE! on the pipes, walls, doors...

the "soaking pool"..aka big hot tub :)

Job Update

2009-04-28T22:59:00.000-07:00

Hey...I'll bet ya'll have been wondering what ever happened with the teaching job that I had ya'll praying for...

I went in for a 2nd interview with the chair of the Social Studies dept. and the Asst. Principal. It was a great opportunity to meet and interview with other people in the school system that have specific ideas. Unfortunately, neither of their ideas seemed to point to me....

They are doing some major restructuring in their Social Studies department in order to add two more AP classes and in order to do that well, they needed an experienced teacher.

The interview went well. I felt confident in who I was, what I was passionate about, and what I had to offer, but I am pretty sure they are going to go a different direction. I left the ball in their court to connect back with me (which was nearly 2 weeks ago now) because it seemed really sure that I was not what they were looking for. I might send them an email in another week to see what they were thinking. Who knows...they might still offer me the job, you never know.

I was a bit bummed that I will not get that opportunity, however I am still looking forward to begin student teaching in the Fall. I do not see not getting the job as a major setback. Student teaching does give me the opportunity to spend time with an experienced teacher and watch them practice their 'craft' of teaching and the mentoring opportunity to be alongside a teacher.

Another benefit....it looks like I am back on track (without the job) to graduate with both of my MA degrees next Spring 2010 and it still looks like we are looking towards returning to Colorado that late Summer. We will still see what God has for us out here and what doors he opens and closes for a future job...

Thanks so much for your prayers and concern. I should have updated you sooner, but as you noticed from Callie's recent posts, I have been sooooo busy finishing up the semester. I have hardly had a chance to breathe, let alone post...

Good Job...

2009-04-27T10:45:00.000-07:00

...to Brandon for finishing his spring semester at Western!! It was a rough/busy/trying/hard semester but he has successfully completed his classes at Western for the spring and only has two more weeks until his Multnomah classes come to an end. I can't imagine balancing work/classes/family/friends like he has. He pretty much just rocks :) He has worked so hard and I am so proud of him for finishing well.
He offically has one week until his summer session starts with Western. We are going to enjoy this week :)
I love you, babe.

life happens

2009-04-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

whether we notice it or not (or like it or not), life is happening all the time. Little moments and big moments. happy and sad. new and repetitive. Life has definitely been happening up here in Portland. I'd like to say that i take all these moments and soak them up....that i'm taking time to stop and smell the roses, but it seems that sometimes all we have time for is a quick glance at the beuatiful bud as i drive by. But don't worry! i'm still loving where God has us right now, it just seems that it's all flying by so quickly!!! (all of that was a big excuse as to why i haven't blogged in for-e-ver! haha)
without further ado, here a few snapshots of what our life has looked like for the last couple of weeks.
First, Joanna came and visited me all the way from Pennsylvania!!! We had an awesome time of sitting and drinking coffee...yup, that's pretty much all we did :) jk, we just didn't take pictures of anything. this was just about the only picture I snapped of her (with the delicious twice baked potatoes that she made!) She is one of my dearest friends and i was so blessed by her being here.

and last weekend, i flew down to Colorado for a suprise birthday party for my mom! it went perfectly and she was truly shocked. not only did i get to be there for her birthday, but also for easter sunday. one bad thing: it snowed on easter :( so much for wearing my easter dress! this is what it looked like that morning (aunt cathy, mema, mom and me)

of course, got to hang out with my little brudder

and this weekend i was lucky enough to go to this Beth Moore conference here in Portland. It was life changing. She is such a gifted speaker/teacher and I learned soooooo much! God met me where I'm at and I feel refreshed. plus, i got to attend with my sweet friend, Jessica and Titus (who is now 5 weeks old). such a good time!

and as i sit here writing this, Brandon is finishing up some reading and urging me to hurry because he needs the computer to finish up a paper....it's never ending. fortunately his semester is coming to an end soon and he will have a small time of a "light class load" before the fall begins. pray for us :)

thanks for stopping by! hopefully i'll be keeping in touch a little better from now on.

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. golden Sun....

2009-04-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

I think it's official... spring has sprung! I know that the first day of spring was several weeks ago, but Portland just got the memo. We're making up for lost time though! Yesterday was 60 and beautiful. Today was 70 and amazing. And tomorrow is supposed to be 75 and terrific!!! Can you imagine? 3 whole days of blue skies and summertime! :) (a little disclaimer: it will not be like this until summer..but I take what I can get!)

And now for a little update on the DelGrosso home in point format:
-haven't started painting the living room--am terrible at making decisions
-Brandon is doing homework...nonstop
-Joanna (one of my best friends from highschool) is here visiting me!
-spent the afternoon with a dear friend at the waterfront, enjoying the SUN!! (which we both crave!)
-can't believe tomorrow is Monday already
-am now going to sit and read and enjoy the remaining moments of my weekend

Thanks for keeping in touch! Hope all of your weekends were equally amazing :)

Questions.....Questions

2009-04-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks for your prayers for the interview. As an interviewee, if it was a basic interview, I think it went really great. I went in there confident and really felt like I got to share my heart for teaching, for history and for Bible. I was able to share that even though I do not have 'formal' classroom experience I have taught in many other venues (ministry) that could be comparable. I feel we connected as far as our hearts to see young people's lives changed. It was definitely a great opportunity. BUT, (as you can read from the title) there were a lot of questions coming out of the interview.

1. I need a Oregon State certified teacher in History or an Oregon State certified Administrator to 'oversee' or be the 'cooperating' teacher at the school in order for my 1st year of teaching to count for my Oregan State licensure. If this person is not there, my teaching experience is basically null for my state license. Currently the principal is not sure if there is someone that will meet those requirements. (This is his first year as Principal)

2. They normally only hire 'certified' teachers for all their positions. I do not have State licensure (obviously) but I also do not quite qualify for Standard ACSI licensure. I do qualify for Temporary or Basic licensure for ACSI (which I was not sure about in the interview). He was not even sure they would consider me for the position without it. I told him about the Temporary Certificate after the interview and I think it might help.

3. In order to get my license in Oregon I have to do both Middle School and High School. Oregon's license is ML/HS. Thus, I have to teach at least 1 class at the ML level and at least 1 class at the HS level. These details are yet to be ironed out. They are necessary for my state licensure as well.

These were the 3 big questions that we both came out with after the interview. They obviously are very important questions. The good news is that he said he would let me know within the week whether or not they would consider me for the next steps (i.e. willing to go with a Temp. Cert teacher). So, by Wednesday I should know if this job is even a possibility.

I trust that God has a plan in all of this and if this job does not work...I will definitely count it as a great opportunity to interview with an Administrator in a school.

Thanks for your prayers...and continued prayers. I will keep you posted.

Interview...the Principal's office

2009-03-31T15:44:00.000-07:00

This is probably the first time I am excited to go the Principal's office....

Thursday at 10:30 is when I am set to meet him. I would appreciate your prayers!

Calling all prayers.... :)

2009-03-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

Ok...so this is Brandon. You know I rarely post...so if I do, that means I must have something to say.

Stage 1: Some of you may know, or may not know, that since arriving in Portland at Western Seminary that I have changed my degree from the Masters of Divinity to a MA in Biblical and Theological Studies. The MA BTS is 2/3 of the MDIV but I felt it was the 2/3 that I really was hoping to get out of my education. Part of the reason that I dropped down to the MA BTS is that I wanted to pick up a few education classes (curriculum dev., classroom mang., etc.). The school just down the road just started a MA in Teaching and I thought what a great opportunity to prepare myself for the classroom and to be a high school teacher.

Stage 2: Upon beginning courses in the MAT, I realized that Western has a 'staff' exchange scholarship that allowed me to take credits for basically nothing. So I decided I would take as many courses as I could but I did not plan on entering the full MAT program because student-teaching was not a reality for me. Callie and I are tight on budget anyway...so for me not to work would be nearly impossible. Since then though, God provided Callie with the new job that she started in January which was enough extra cash for us to think about me student-teaching. As we prayed about it and sought council it seemed that I should go ahead and fully apply for the MAT and complete the degree. I saw the benefits for having a teaching liscense, even though Christian Schools do not require them, and the actual teaching-type experience I would get by student teaching. I thought this would make me more marketable upon our return to Colorado.

Stage 3: Since I want to teach Bible or Spiritual Formation I knew I was going to have to do my student teaching in a different area. Thus, it made sense, because of my BA in History, that I do my state certificate in history. I still love history and am open to that possibility as well. I also was hoping to do my student teaching in a Christian school so that I could student teach part-time history (to meet the state requirements) and teach part-time Bible (for my growth and future desired job). Since then, I had a friend who told me about a position that opened at Portland Christian to teach full time (part-time Bible/part-time History)!!! God's providence?!? Callie and I were not sure what to think about it, but we realized this could be the Lord because not only could I now get paid for student-teaching but I also would get 'actual' teaching experience rather than student teaching experience. With encouragement from a few friends, I sent the principal an email mentioning my interest in the job and explaining my school situation....

He responded saying he was very interested in speaking with me about the position and would love to get together sometime this week to talk about it. Thus, I could be going to 'quasi-interview' and chat with him about the job either Wed. morning, Thursday, or Friday afternoon. We'll see what happens. Who knows, this may not be the Lord opening the door but I want to be faithful to what God has possibly put in front of me.

Please be praying!!! I want to represent myself well and be open to what all the job entails but I also want to be honest with myself in what I am capable of doing this next year while going to school. I also do not want to take a job just because it seems to 'fit' me. Thanks for your prayers!

change

2009-03-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

Lately (as in yesterday and today) I've had the urge to repaint my entire house. This all stems from us babysitting for Sammy on Saturday night and having access to HGTV after he was asleep :) Ugh! so many ideas and fun things to do to vamp up a room! So, I'm thinking I want to start with our living room. For those of y'all who don't remember...(please ignore my gross just-finished-painting look)

this is the color of our living room now. don't get me wrong--i really love this, but i think it's time for some change. I want something airy, neutral, and light to bring in some spring! I'm thinking just some paint change from the red/tan to a grey/blueish color. leaving the baseboards white, keeping our khaki colored couches and our espresso colored bookcases. ahhh! i can almost smell spring as i picture this :) maybe a few white accessories to add a sophistcated edge as well.... what do you think? should i plunge into this task?! (brandon has already made it clear that he does not like to paint and this is not something he is interested in partaking in) Anyone want to help?! :)

New Baby!

2009-03-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

NOT OURS!!! just wanted to make that clear :)

our friends that we threw the shower for a few weeks ago welcomed a new baby boy into the world yesterday! I decided to post a picture because, let's be real, EVERYONE loves pictures of new babies :)
Here's Jess and Titus Ryan Epp. such a strong name- i love it!

Wicked

2009-03-12T08:22:00.000-07:00

I can't say enough about this musical! It was spectacular! For those of y'all who don't know, "Wicked" is a musical about the witches of OZ (starting out when they are young and continuing through the Wizard of Oz story). If it comes to your city, I would highly recommend it!
Last night Brandon and I went with a few friends (two of the three had also joined us for the Phantom of the Opera last year). It was a great night and is always fun to get dressed up to go downtown.
This is a picture of the stage before it all started. Notice the metal dragon on top--it would light up and move during certain points of the story. I wish you could have seen the stage throughout the show! That's one of my favorite parts of going--to see how they change scenes with the story. So Creative!!

Here we are outside the theatre posing with the poster

Walking to our car after the show. You can't really tell but we were in front of a whole line of trees with white lights.

Mo

2009-03-03T14:17:00.000-08:00

Olivia and I have had a couple of playdates with Mo and his mom the last couple of weeks. It's been so fun to see him and I thought you might want an updated picture. He's doing so well now that he's done with his chemo treatments and is loving playing with other kids now :)

So here I am...

2009-03-01T10:37:00.000-08:00

I think I have a cold for like the 5th time this winter. I'm so not used to this. I NEVER GET SICK!!! It's actually very frustrating. I layed around all day yesterday because I felt exhuasted and today Brandon went to church by himself because I'm feeling worse. I don't think I can adequately express how much I hate being sick.
So, I thought I'd load some pictures since I'm already just sitting on the couch :)
These are our dear friends, Ryan and Jessica Epp. They moved to Portland from S. Carolina last September and have been coming to the small group for about 6 months. They are such great examples of trusting God in all situations and we have loved getting to know them. Our small group threw them a surprise baby shower last weekend.

Here they are about to open presents

the baby shower was a mixed group fondue party. here the girls are all surrounding the chocolate fondue..surprised?? :)

Brandon, John, and Josh all being their real selves :)

not only did we have amazing fondue, fellowship and gift opening, we also included a little improv dance party and guitar hero to end the night.
Now I'm going to continue to sit on the couch and watch "Singing in the Rain" (one of my favorite "sick" movies).

Wednesday

2009-02-25T08:44:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am loving Wednesday so far. I'm not really sure why. It has pretty much started out the same as every other day, but today is good.
This could be because we had our small group last night. I love our small group. I know I have said this before but I do. They are such a unique and special group of couples that God has brought together. Each person brings something so great to the group. I am so grateful that God answered my prayers for community and look forward to what He is going to teach us as a group this spring.
Oh, and I think I need to buy a calender. I keep thinking of random things that I need to keep track of and am afraid I am going to miss something major. Brandon and I were just printing out monthly calenders off the computer but I can't easily carry that around with me.
sorry for the pointless blog! :)

Sammy

2009-02-24T08:55:00.000-08:00

I kept Sammy on Sunday night (i've been babysitting every other weekend). He is growing so much! He's even standing by himself now :) Here is a picture of him eating his dinner...too cute--i couldn't resist.

Finally!

2009-02-22T20:03:00.000-08:00

hello patient blog followers. i'm finally back to show you all pictures of my fabulous valentines weekend. i was so blessed to have two of my dearest highschool friends come and visit me over that weekend. by no means is this all the pictures that we took last weekend, but it is a glimpse of all the fun had. i will try and keep my comments to a minimum so you can make it through all the pictures!
both girls got into town on Friday evening so that night was spent chilling at the apartment and catching up with each other.

I was so excited to show them everything that Portland/Oregon had to offer that we spent much of our weekend just like this! (Sarah had never been to Oregon before!)

this is our amazing breakfast that Brandon made for us on Saturday morning before the festivities began. notice the heart-shaped pancakes :) i have the greatest husband.

our first stop on Saturday morning: Cannon Beach. It's the most beautiful/famous beach on the coast.

classic

it was really cold, ok

shortly after this photo it started raining on us so we headed into town to find something to eat.

after that first 5 min. rain, we had the most beautiful day ever to explore the coast. here we are at Hug Point.

sarah has no body-heating-system :)

doing the happy dance!!!!!

our third stop/attempt to try and find a cool place to hike.

So sarah decides to jump that stone wall and find her own trail....luckily it did end up being some sort of overgrown trail. I tried to be supportive. Emily's face says it all! As you can see by my face in the following pics, i'm not really the "blaze your own trail" type of person :)

but look at the view that we found. soooo worth it!

that night when we got back from our adventures, we relaxed and ate fondue to our hearts content. what an awesome v-day!

the next day (sunday) we went to church, at lunch and then headed downtown on the Max (lightrail). here we are at our daily Starbucks stop :)

we walked all over and saw Powell's Books, REI, and the cutest little cupcake shop. here is what we got :)

Alright, so our third and last day was spent in the Columbia Gorge. It was insanely windy!!! literally, we were about to fall over taking this picture!

Multnomah Falls

Missing our Joanna!!!!!!!!! and laughing at ourselves because people are looking at us funny while we take this picture.

all of us at the falls. After this we drove back into Portland, relaxed as we got pedicures (Brandon's v-day present to all of us!) ate some lunch and said our goodbyes. it was an amazing weekend that i will remember forever. thank you, girls, for coming and visiting me! I love you!

2009-02-17T08:58:00.000-08:00

I have a TON of pictures from this past weekend. Be patient with me as I try and find the time to post them for you :)

pretty much perfectly relaxing day

2009-02-07T20:43:00.000-08:00

Woke up at 9...sun was shining!

quickly got dressed and met Steve and Lyndsey for our semi-regular Saturday morning coffee time (yes, this is the actual coffee shop and what my drink looked like this morning)

made some food purchases as the good ol'...

lunch date at our favorite pizza place and then on to see a movie at the theatre next door.

home...finished a movie we started last night...smallville episode with a friend including some yummy hummus and crackers.
Starbucks for dinner

and a night finished off with knitting/homework/more relaxing while watching more movies :) I am one spoiled girl.

breathe deeply

2009-02-03T15:11:00.001-08:00

I am catching a quick breath after putting one little girl down for a nap and getting another one up from her nap. I have had to remind myself several times today to "breathe deeply", to not throw sippy cups across the kitchen, and that singing songs endlessly is part of repetition and it helps little girl brains to develop. Today is one of those days when I've had to pray over and over again for patience, especially when a certain 15 month old doesn't have any. Today is one of the days I question Brandon's and my decision to have lots of kids :)

I'm sure all of you have those days at your jobs too. The days when you say, "how could it only be Tuesday?". If you have had one of those days, just know that I sympathize with you and wish we could go get a cup of coffee and talk about it. And in talking, I'm sure that we would both realize how trivial our "todays" are in light of what other people are experiencing today. We didn't go hungry today, we had plenty of clean water to drink, and we are not experiencing moral or physical injustice as so many are.

I guess sometimes all it takes is sitting down for a quick 30 minutes of blogging to get my head right again. To put things into perspective. And to thank God for what He has given me today. I think this blog was more for me than it was for you today :)

nothing new...

2009-01-25T21:09:00.000-08:00

just thought i would let you know. we do the same thing all the time (work, school/homework for Brandon) and when we do get a day free of those responsibilities (aka Saturday), we usually sit around in our pajamas and try our best to soak up the relaxation :)
so my lack of blogging is because it's wierd to take a picture of us on the couch in order to have something to post. actually, hey, i just got an idea...i'll post a picture of something I've been working on while brandon reads:

i've been re-teaching myself how to knit so this is a scarf i'm making. i know--it's not that exciting but it's all i've got for you tonight. it's better than no post, right? :)
so that's it. my job has been going great. Brandon's classes are in full swing. he is in his 3rd to last semester and is really ready to be done.
yesterday morning we watched "the three amigos". it was excellent.

new job!

2009-01-16T19:40:00.000-08:00

ok, i tried to post this yesterday but the blogger site hated me and i lost what i had. soooo here i go again. hopefully it works this time.

i have officially finished the first two weeks of my new job! it's been going really well. i took some pictures of the girls on friday and thought i would introduce them to you :)

this is Olivia. She's 14 months old and is super sweet. she "jibber jabbers" all the time and loves to put on all the coats that are on the coat hangers--at one time:)

this is Ella. she's 3 1/2 and is a very smart little girl. She will be my challenge but right now her favorite thing to do is color and be really really loud :)

New Blog

2009-01-06T22:09:00.000-08:00

Ok, people. I have made a new link on the right to a nanny blog. All I can say is that if you have had experience as a nanny/babysitter/mom or even if you appreciate good humor, you will love this blog:) it's one of my new favorites and am enjoying all the stories.

oh, my first 2 days of work have gone really good!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T19:33:00.000-08:00

Don't fret, people! Our month long hiatus is over and (semi)regular posts will resume! I know you're all jumping for joy now. try and contain yourselves long enough to read how the end of 2008 was and what we've been up to. :) joking of course.

well, lets see, the last time I posted it was snowing. Guess what, snowing again! We actually missed the big, city-halting snow while we were in Colorado enjoying the sunshine. I think Portland got 1-2 FEET of snow. That's pretty amazing for us here. All I can say is thanks goodness for a garage so Brandon doesn't have to scrape the car in the morning:)

We left for vacation on December 18th which was also my last day nannying for Sam :( It's always hard to stop working with a family and to not see the kids regularly, but fortunately for me Sam's family has already asked me to come back for a reoccuring date night:) Anyways, back to vacation. We spent the first 6 days (until Christmas day at 1pm) with my family in Monument and the next 6 days with Brandon's family in Denver. It was a great time of eating, relaxing, friends, games, eating, serving, and eating.
Here we are with my family on Christmas Eve serving dinner at the Rescue Mission.

Here are the boys competing in the annual gingerbread house competition.

We don't really have any good pictures from Brandon's parent's house. His dad is a super photographer so we are going to wait and steal some of his:)

We were able to see some of Brandon's old friends from the college days.One of the couples,Phil and Anna, brought their 3 day old baby...yay!

And we were able to carpool and spend a little extra time with our friends, Landon and Hannah. We love their company. It's so refreshing to be around people who know you and share your heart.

I also got to spend an entire day with my best friends from high school. We are all in different states now (WA, OR, CO, and PA) but are just as close now as we were then. They are amazing girls and it's so fun to see how we've all grown in the last 8 or so years.
SARAH--can i have pictures from Tuesday?? Please??:)

Well, that was our vaca in a nutshell. Now we are back home and about to jump into another semester. We spent this weekend de-Christmasing our house, de-cluttering our storage, re-caulking our bathtub, and doing some New Year cleaning. I start my new job tomorrow. Brandon starts classes tomorrow. More updates on how those are going later. And things are back in full-swing!
I hope everyone who is reading had a FANTASTIC holidays and experienced Christ to the fullest as you celebrated his birth.
HAPPY 2009 EVERYONE!!!

the last week

2008-12-14T15:28:00.000-08:00

things just keep getting busier as we are preparing for the holidays ie: finishing our shopping, doing laundry, cleaning the house and preparing to pack, brandon is studying for/taking a final, etc. And this morning we woke up to a dusting of snow here in Portland! the funniest thing is people are shutting things down! there is literally about 2 inches of snow at our house. :) It's definitely different than in Colorado!
Well, all of that to say, we are holed up in our cozy little apartment with the Christmas lights on and candles burning. All of you that know me, know that I am not a fan of snow. However, when snow only comes once every couple of years...it's kinda fun. ok. that's probably the only time you'll ever catch me saying that! So sitting here in my sweats is a good time to post a few pictures...

last Tuesday our life group participated in Advent Conspiracy with our church. For those of y'all who don't know what that is, i would urge you to visit www.adventconspiracy.org it's a movement that is all about refocusing our Christmas on Christ and less on materialism. Anyways, our church has "adopted" several families in a lower income elementary school in the neighborhood and are helping them with Christmas. Our group was able to shop for two of them. here are a few pictures of us getting into the spirit of the season at Target:)

And today we delivered Mo's Christmas present...just a good excuse to go see him:) he's doing well. all through with his chemo treatments (you can see the last dose caused him to lose his hair). We love going over there and just being with them. Kim and Christian (his mom and dad) are super sweet and we all pretty much just sit there and play with Mo. Here he is chewing on Brandon's shoelace:)

Mo was the second baby I watched after we moved here and I'm about to start with my 4th family in less than 2 years. It definitely wasn't my ideal working for this many families and having to look for a new job every 6 months, but as I look back I'm seeing how many people Brandon and I have been able to get to know through it. We still see Addie and her family every other month or so. I see Mo about every month. Sam's parents have already started asking for me to come back and see him after I leave. I feel so priveledged to hold this place in all those babies' lives. And after caring for their children for 40 hours/week, there is such a special relationship that I have with all those parents. I'm not sure that I can explain it but I feel so fortunate. I love all of those families and thank God for the opportunity to love on those kids.

wow, that was a super sappy ending to a not-so-deep post:) thanks for bearing with me.

Weekend in Sunriver, OR

2008-12-07T16:57:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a super fun couple of days in central Oregon with about half of our Young Married Small Group. We feel so blessed to call all of these people our friends and wish the others could have made it! Here are some pics:

walking in old downtown Bend, Or

John, Crystal, and Jamie about to eat at a yummy burger place

John and Crystal

Josh, Tiffany and my friend Raleigh the cockapoo:)

the crew (minus me)

walking in beautiful Drake Park

Jamie and Dave

playing games at the condo...of course!!

Crystal and Raleigh:)

Anna and Kevin

my favorite place..by the fire:)

ok this picture needs a bit of explaining. This weekend also happend to be both Jamie and Dave's birthdays. John had a "great" idea of putting on a skit for them as a present. here are John (as Dave)and Brandon(as Jamie) in the skit...that's all i'm going to say about that

"sliding down the stairs" races...oh the things you can come up with at midnight

the crew the morning we left (minus Crystal)

our lovely drive home...it was raining sheets on us!

Christmas Questions

2008-12-07T16:06:00.000-08:00

Alright, Hannah, I have always ignored these in the past, BUT it's about Christmas...how could I resist:)
Here we go!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Definitely Wrapping paper. Let's face it, gift bags are just not as much fun to open. Plus, I LOVE to wrap presents, pick out the ribbon, decorate the package...it's all part of getting ready for Christmas.

2. Real tree or Artificial?
Real tree is the only way to go. Growing up both Brandon and I always had real trees (although now that we are grown both of our families have switched to fake). Brandon's family would actually go cut one down, we didn't have that luxury in Texas so we would just buy one in a parking lot:) There's nothing better than a home filled with the smell of a fresh tree.

3. When do you put up the tree?
Well, if I could have it my way we'd have one up about mid-November. Unfortunately they don't start selling them, usually, till the day after Thanksgiving. so, as soon as possible!

4. When do you take the tree down?
Probably around mid-January...although last year we missed the "curb-side pick-up" that the recycling people do...that was a hassle!

5. Do you like eggnog?
Only about 3 sips of it...it's delicious but oh so rich!

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
One year all I asked for was a talking dog. My mom actually found a dog that had a cassette tape in it's back and would tell stories...a total dream come true:)

7. Hardest person to buy for? my brothers

8. Easiest person to buy for? Brandon

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes we do...an all white porcelen (no idea how to spell that) set...animals, angels and all.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
I love mail. We hang up all of the Christmas cards that we receive. I especially love seeing all the pictures!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
is there a bad gift?

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
"Elf" is an all time favorite, but I love "It's a Wonderful Life" just as much. Who am I kidding...I LOVE ALL CHRISTMAS MOVIES!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
nope. not that I can think of.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
probably all of the cookies/desserts I make with my mom. What other time of year can I get away with that?

16. Lights on the tree?
white...always white

17. Favorite Christmas song?
O Holy Night!

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
I really like not to travel, but since all of our loved ones are in Colorado, we will be traveling:)

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's?
well, I thought I could, but I just tried and forgot one...

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
a star. that's just the way it's always been. Brandon and I just bought our first one.
I do remember when I lived with Joanna and we had a starbucks cup on the top of our tree. is that sacreligious??:)

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Christmas day! although when we were little, we always seemed to convince my parents that it was ok to open one on Christmas eve.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
it goes by too fast. by the time you are really able to slow down and enjoy it, it seems to have flown by. I would like to propose that everyone just skip halloween and start celebrating in October:)

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
my mom used to buy me and my brothers an ornament every year that was significant to that year (ie: a tennis ornament when I was on the tennis team; a car ornament the year i started driving). it's great now that brandon and i have our own tree to see all of my ornaments from my past and start collecting them together.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
we do Thanksgiving dinner again....the dressing is my favorite!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
this year I want people to give to International Justice Mission. I love this organization. I won't cry if people also give my Starbucks cards, though:)

26. Who is most likely to respond to this?
???

27. Does Santa wrap your gift or leave them unwrapped?
Santa always wraps gifts...who likes a gift that's not wrapped? where's the suspense??

I tag...Joanna!

2008-11-30T19:02:00.000-08:00

not sure what happened to my last post....good luck following all of the picture comments! sorry

Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities!

2008-11-30T18:15:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving was WONDERFUL! we were super blessed by lots of friends-new and old- and a beautiful city to celebrate in. Brandon and i were house-sitting for some friends and they were kind enough to let us have our thanksgiving feast in their home. let's just say the best part about it was the dishwasher (not to mention the huge kitchen/table, satellite tv, etc)!!! haha

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i put emily to work...now that's a dedicated friend!

the boys figuring out where to put all the chairs

basting the turkey (after calling my mom for the 3rd time!)

again, emi was such a huge help. she did my most unfavorite job: peeling potatoes

the finished product

our friend, Todd, carving the turkey he and Jen brought.

Ryan and Alex being helpful

Brandon carving his first turkey

the spread...way too much food

can't keep emily from helping...

playing chickenfoot after we filled our bellies

i had everyone write what they were thankful for on our pumpkin

Jen, Todd, Brandon, Emi and I (and some random very happy man) downtown at the annual Christmas Tree lighting...INCREDIBLE

after the lighting. 75 feet hight, 50 years old. just beautiful

I love you, emily!

And today after church, Brandon, Alex and I went to buy a Christmas tree! The tree wouldn't fit in our car (what we did last year) and since we don't have a rack on top of my car, Brandon and Alex walked home with it. i LOVE living in the city!!! here they are flexing their muscles.

decorating

our annual "we're finished decorating the tree" picture:)

2008-11-17T21:21:00.001-08:00

here are my crafting attempts for this week. i felt that our walls needed some christmas cheer so this was my interpretation. i'm thinking of adding a third that says "live joyfully". whadya think?

finding myself out

2008-11-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

i am finding (through trail and error) that I am a schedule person. I used to think of myself as a "fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal" (what movie is that from?!?!:) however, i am realizing that i NEED a schedule. when things go differently than planned or i have to wing-it, i get completely annoyed. why? who knows?! most of the time it's not even that big of a deal, but for some reason i feel flustered. just thought i would share that little bit of me. it's not a pretty piece of me, but a reminder that I am just a piece of clay and always a work in progress.

update

2008-11-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

ok lets see if we can fill you in on what's been going on in our lives....
here is a HUGE praise: I (callie) have a new job for January!!! yay! for those of you who didn't know, my job with little Sam is ending at Christmas and I have been looking and interviewing for jobs for several weeks. God totally provided above and beyond with this job and we are soooo thankful for it!
we continue to be blessed by our awesome small group. God has answered our year-long prayers for friends and we truly feel connected to these couples. It's so refreshing to have so many couple friends who desire to have authentic community and to serve God along side each other. we are blessed!
yesterday I brought out the Christmas decorations:) i convinced Brandon that since we will be gone for 2 weeks at Christmas then it was only logical that we start decorating/celebrating early. yes? well, he has graciously embraced our 24/7 christmas music and the twinkle lights draped over our windows.

I got to visit with Mo and his mom, Kim, yesterday and was totally refreshed by it. he is doing really well with only 1 more chemo treatment left. Mo touches my heart with his big smile and earnest attempts at walking. I'm so glad I've been able to stay in his life since being his nanny.
Brandon has been up to his eyeballs in homework/papers/reading for the past 4 weeks. this has been the hardest semester by far at seminary and we are constantly reminding each other that there is an end in sight. i'm so proud of him for the effort he puts into his school work, but even more for the effort he puts into our marriage at the same time.
and lastly, this last week has officially begun "winter" here in Portland. The weathermen have it very easy for the next 9 months..."nothing but rain in sight..." I'll count on my twinkle lights and red starbucks cups to keep me in good spirits!

pumpkin patch with Sam

2008-10-31T10:38:00.000-07:00

here a few pictures from this week. Sam and I met a group of nannies at the pumpkin patch and then went home and played for a while.

isn't he adorable!

the group of "babies"

tired after a long morning...quick nap in the car

Our visit with Mo and Phil and Anna's visit

2008-10-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

playing with the ribbon (better than the actual present)

"you're 1! yay!"

playing settlers of catan

It was great to finally meet Anna and get to know her:) We had a great time talking, eating, and of course playing games. Thank for visiting, guys!!

we're still alive...

2008-10-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

just so everyone knows. I know we have not posted in a while, but it seems fall is a busy season for us. it's such a blessing although a bit tiring. here's the breakdown:
weekend in Seattle visiting Emily

church and lunch with alex
visit with Mo
(pictures hopefully coming soon!!)
class
small group
work
class
work
work
Brandon goes to Sacramento for work trip
Callie goes home to see family
we both come home last sunday
class
work
small group
class
work
work
**in the next few days we will be doing: class, getting a haircut, cpr/first aid class, more class, and visiting with our friends Phil and Anna! good times.
:) see, you didn't miss much. that's pretty much it. we are doing really well and obviously keeping pretty busy. This is a beautiful time to be in Portland. there is just something about being in a gorgeous city with a latte in your hands as the leaves change and fall. i'm very much enjoying October.

Seattle or Bust!

2008-10-03T07:57:00.001-07:00

Saturday Hike

2008-09-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a hike in the gorge with some friends from our small group. It was a perfect day for a hike and the trail was awesome! (emi--we must do this one when you get here next!) altogether we hiked about 5 miles and saw 5 waterfalls! here are some pics...

at the trail head

admiring the second waterfall

this waterfall was cool--the trail went behind it and if it was warm enough, we could swim in the little pool:)

breathtaking view from a lookout

boys being boys

us at the peak of the hike

2008-09-26T20:23:00.001-07:00

why is it so hard to find a pair of jeans that fit? does anybody else have this problem?

apple pie

2008-09-21T15:44:00.000-07:00

i finally had a free afternoon to attempt my first apple pie. when we went to the u-pick farm last weekend i specifically bought extra apples to bake my first pie from scratch. after we got home from church today, we ate lunch and while brandon hung out with Alex (our friend from colorado going to lewis and clark college) i found a recipe and got to work. i do believe it was successful (if i do say so myself)! here is a picture after the first round of helpings.

it was so much fun! i love to bake and really love it when i have people to bake for. i will hopefully get lots of practice on sundays while alex is here--i doubt he'll mind a few homemade desserts:)