just a few pics of da boy

We haven't been up to much in the last week but I've been encouraged to keep this updated :) so I will.

I seem to forget my camera quite a bit when we're actually doing stuff but for some reason I can remember it at meal time. Go figure. Anyway, the picture above is over at our friends' house and below is home, notice the snow. Yeah that was just a few days ago. Today it's been raining so we're finally snow free but it was a tenacious bit of the white stuff for sure.

I just love that little grin!!

Rowan is into putting on shoes. Usually he's tromping around in one of whatever he could get and keep on his foot. Two shoes often takes a bit more patience and time than he can afford. There are always other toys to play with or books that mom has just put back on the shelf, it's a busy life being a one year old.

Yesterday we were getting ready to go out and he brought me one of his little NZ gumboots so I put it on him then he brought me one of his dad's boots. It was so cute I made him stand there for a picture. He was really good about it. Other than being a little squirrelly he is pretty much always good for pictures.

So there you go, our update: We've been eating and putting on shoes :)

Hooray for sunshine!!

Winter has been long and slow about packing its bags and heading OUT. Fortunately I have a little sunshine that has made the cold, grey, and crummy weather bearable.

The shot above is from about two weeks ago, that snow all melted away but we got a smattering of new stuff a few days ago so the back yard is mostly white again. The front yard however is almost all green :) yay sun.


While stuck inside Rowan likes to read books and play with his toys. He also enjoys watching his favorite TV show, the Backyardigans. It's a kids show about five colorful animal friends who play in their shared backyard. They sing and dance during every episode (and so does Rowan).


This slump he's doing here didn't last very long, he tried to sit in the chair by himself but couldn't get his little bum far enough back in the chair so he just slumped back and put his foot up. I think it's really funny since he doesn't sit for longer than a minute or two very often.




This is Rowan in my parent's music room. He found the box of toys under the buffet and proceeded to amaze me by stacking FIVE blocks! We don't even have wooden blocks at home. After this display I decided we're going to have to get some.




This funny face is from this morning. We went out to get some flowers for a friend in honor of her return from vacation and in celebration of a BEAUTIFUL sunny day :D

I asked him to say, "cheese" but I think that his smile was actually because of a combination of the sun in his face and a crow he just spied down the sidewalk. Just after I got this picture he set the flowers down and started chasing it laughing.

Rowan really likes birds.

Quilts and cuties and cheeks, oh my!

Last week after helping my mom make a quilt for my sister's birthday I decided I wanted one too. Logan told me I could buy myself something nice so I decided buying enough flannel for a close to queen size quilt would be nice :) It's not really big enough for my queen size bed but it does cover the top so it's a good size for movie watching and definitely big enough for two ;) I can't wait to cuddle up in it with my wonderful hubby! *sigh* :)

Anyway, here's sort of the journey from fabric squares to cuddling up.

I cut out all the squares and after laying out the pattern I stacked up each column and separated them with little numbered papers. I love that tea fabric. It's so great :)

Here's evidence I actually did do some of the sewing. I "quilted" each square with an 'X'. I asked my Mom to sew the columns together so they'd be straight and nice.

Here it is all finished :D the back is all the brown fabric.

This is the "test run" Genevieve was watching Pooh's Heffalump movie and I have to say the quilt worked juuuust fine :) I snuggled in there after we took this picture. I'm excited to take it down to Sisters and use it during the traditional watching of Pride and Prejudice :D

Tonight I gave Rowan a splashy bath which was made EXTRA special when we got an EXTRA special phone call ;) It was really fun but sort of hard to keep Rowan from standing up and trying to grab my cell phone ;) Rowan showed off his animal sounds and got a good laugh :)


Afterwards tempted by the promise of a "cookie" (animal cracker) I lured Rowan out of the tub and into a towel. Which is promptly abadoned and made a run for it :)

He ran around frightening my brother's Hayden and Cameron with his nakedness. Cameron actually jumped up on a chair, then a table to get away from him. It was so funny!




After some protest I did get him back on a towel, dried off completely and jammied.




After a bit of a bump on the head (made all better by a cuddle with mama of course) we collected blankie, donkey, and the pluggie and Rowan went to bed. he's a good boy :)

Happy birthday pinkie!!

Today is Courtney's birthday!! She has reddish pink in her hair, which looks awesome. She's 17 today. She's my sister. I love her. Even though she can be a bit of a drama queen. She is an amazing young lady. She loves God. She likes Taco Bell. And she's a SUPERB aunty. I think she's great!

Way to be 17 Courtney... way to be.

I did it

After a bit of thought, a few "second thoughts", and a smidgen of apprehension I decided that another ear piercing would be fun, cute, and not a big deal. I knew it'd be reversible if I didn't like the outcome but now that I have them I think they're here to stay.

I guess somewhere in my mind I thought it would look a least a bit tough.

This is from the mind of a girl whose ONLY body modification was her first set of earrings gotten in the first grade. Of course the second set doesn't make me look any rougher or tougher than the first. I chose little alexandrite crystals (June's birthstone in honor of Logan's birthday) and they look really sweet. From a distance you can't even tell they're there. I think though that after I can switch out earring I could probably "toughen" them up by switching to some metal skulls or something if I really wanted. Ha ha, I don't think I could look much like a hooligan if I tried. Least of all with my two little gemstone earrings in each ear.

In any case I like them... and I hope Logan does too. I don't think he read the email I sent him telling him I was thinking about doing it. I have a feeling he'll think they're cute.

He's a dancy boy

On Saturday Rowan enjoyed part of the Miss America pageant at grandpa and gramma's house. He watched one girl tap dance for her talent, after staring for a couple seconds he started stomping quickly and giggling. After that one another girl was dancing for her talent. I missed Rowan spinning along with her but I did manage to catch his last little dance on video as well as him joining in the applause. It seems that every time he hears applause on TV he'll clap along, even if he's in the middle of playing or in the other room. It's really cute :)

Gremmy was there too!

I noticed that I didn't get any pictures of Rowan's Gremmy into that last post. While part of that reason has to do with card reading and networked computers, and brothers who pirate the internet away from certain boxes to play certain GAMES... the larger reason is that on this last trip the Gremmy was quite elusive as far as the camera was concerned. I do have a photo of her from our game night... but I fear reprisal. You gotta be careful when your mother-in-law has a blog and a camera too ya know ;)

Choosing the safer than sorry route I'm just going to show you at least that she was with us. Here we are sending her off to visit her parents in Anacortes. (She's up at the ticket counter.) Rowan was the perfect gentleman and helped her with her bag.

Until that is he needed a little help himself.
Then his dad lent him a hand ;)

Speaking of that dad guy...

I think we can safely call Rowan "Chip"

we don't always get to see the cute side of that "ol' block" through all the tough and gruff but it's there :)

holidays and beyond

Whew! It's been a while eh? Well Logan did indeed make it to Portland to rescue us from the ice and snow. Here's me with my knight in... khaki fleece. Maybe not the most romantic rescue in history but VERY appreciated nonetheless :D

After a few days at home we came BACK down for Christmas with the whole Hilman clan. That is my Dad and Mom, my brother Rylan, my sister Joylynn with her husband Jess and three children Wyatt, Genevieve, and Danika, my sister Cherise with her husband Kiel (pronounced like Kyle), my sister Krystle (recently promoted to Seaman Apprentice in the Navy :D), my sister Courtney, and my brothers Hayden and Cameron.

Santa didn't disappoint ;)

Rowan had a great time opening presents, hanging out with the cuzzies, and sporting his new sailor cap from aunty Krystle (which I've heard it's known as a "dixie cup")

Logan and I had a good time too

After Christmas we went to Sisters for a few days. It's always a special treat to get that far south on holiday. We treasured every moment :D

"hanging" around with Goddy

Enjoying yummy spaghetti and amazing Christmas pears.

Testing grandma Becky's stain fighting skills with a grand spill of Goddy's glass of red wine all over a very light carpet! (incase you're curious her skills are TOP NOTCH :D) After admiring his handiwork from afar (with dad) he grabbed a rag and pitched in.

He's a good boy.

He sampled and enjoyed a bit of Godmom Lindsey's gluten-free macaroni before calling it a night in his greenbear christmas jammies.

He also sampled and enjoyed a good helping of snow with a walk around Goddy and Gremmy's house with mama. It's kinda tough to see because I took this picture the next morning after a little rain but my footprints are flanking his little shuffley prints :)
I had to walk right behind him holding he hands or he'd trip every other step.

After fun filled days in central Oregon we headed back up north with a New Years stop again in Portland before heading back home. Rowan couldn't manage a toot out of his horn but he did "kazoo" it pretty good ;)
We partied the evening away watching the ball drop in New York at 9PM west coast time and then calling it a night secure in the knowledge that 2009 had come to the U.S.



Now we find ourselves in Portland once again. After going home on a Thursday just to bring Logan to the airport on that Saturday morning to fly out to Georgia for a three week class. I was originally planning to go back home this week but army life has been taking quite a toll on my emotions lately and I just needed to be around family. So we're hanging out in Portland for another little while before we get to go home and get ready for Logan to come back, again.

This is Rowan "dance dance"ing.

Uncle Hayden taught him this phrase which most often means he wants someone to turn on a YouTube video with silly music. And if you don't turn it on he will find a computer and bang on keys and click the mouse until you stop him at which time he'll look up at you and say, "Dandans?" (meaning of course, "dance dance")

He's a busy boy

As grumpy as I am that I can't be with Logan I can't help but smile and be happy when I watch Rowan running around here. He sure keeps everyone on their toes :) he really doesn't stop for much more than to eat and that's just because he's strapped in the highchair.

He's a busy, busy, sweet, cute, sweetie little boy :)

So the weather may be kinda crappy but at least Rowan is cute :D

grumpy post

I am stuck in Portland. Logan is stuck in Olympia. Snow is fun but this situation is not, it's not terribly horribly the worst day I've ever had but I do miss Logan a LOT. I'll post a couple cute pictures of Rowan on here later (when he's up from his nap and I can use the computer with pictures on it) but for now it's just a bit of a humbug.



BOOOO snowy and icy weather keeping me from seeing my Logan!

Mommy and Rowan time

Logan's been gone training in Kentucky for a few weeks now and since our camera broke just before he left Rowan and I have taken advantage of Portland, and Gramma's camera, being so close to capture some memories for Logan to share when he gets home.

We came down last week for the zoolights. Rowan really liked the fish carousel (above) and the train (below).

This week we've come down just to hang out and for mom's birthday on Saturday :D
This morning we went to Freddy's.

When we got back to Grampa and Gramma's house and played in the snow before naptime.

After all that fun I got a WONDERFUL surprise!
All the way from Kentucky Logan managed to get me flowers for our anniversary!

With help from his mum (thanks mum!) Logan had the flowers ordered and delivered to my parents' house.

Mom always likes to take a few fancy still life photos when someone gets flowers :) The bottle of "strawberry" is one of the bottles of sparkling juice I got in honor of my anniversary. Which my parents, brothers, and Rowan helped me enjoy with dinner.

Now it's time for hot chocolate and fruity deliciousness for dessert! Yum!