New Furniture in the House

Well, it is official. The westward migration has begun. My folks are leaving Denver after 20 years and moving to Portland. They have had a condo in Lake Oswego (just south of PDX)for almost 6 years now. Once Big Joe is finished with this school year, they will finally be there full time.

Their friends made a trip in a U-Haul with furniture for their sons so we had a few items sent to us. We went "shopping" when we were there in September.

We were finally over the Red Door table so we jumped at the chance to get the Harvest table. When we got in the space, it was a tad larger than we remembered. And a touch too big for our dining room. But after a few days with it, WE LOVE IT. The clear chairs look really great with it too. I was having buyer's remorse and wishing we hadn't been cheap and just bought the chairs I really want. Those aluminum lovelies they sell for a small fortune at Design Within Reach.

The table looks great.



Here is a Harper photo. Although that might be obvious from the perspective.



My mom has really great vision for repurposing things. I like to think I got some of that from her. She found a cool old screen door somewhere and just had to have it. So she made Big Joe build a cabinet around it.

Now it is our media cabinet. We need to get some containers to put the DVDs and CDs in because that mess at the bottom won't do. I smell a trip to Ikea in our future.



We also got an old yellow and white strip love seat that was my Grandma Holliman's. I have wanted it for a long time. It needs a cleaning. Could even be recovered in the future. We really don't have the proper place for it right now. So it is living in the guest room/play room for now. This also will require some more bins for toys and stuffed animals. These things seem to multiply in the night.



A few more things are living in the garage until we can make space for them. It feels like Christmas having these new pieces. Thanks mom and pop. Looking forward to having you on the west coast. Can't wait.

Hole, Cold, Same Difference

Nana: I love you, I love you, I love you so, if I had a donut, I'd give you the hole.

Harper: I love you, I love you, I love you so, if I had a donut, I'd give you a cold

In the wild

I don't always get around to seeing my finished projects at work. Today I had to deliver and hang some graphics at a model home in Sammamish. This is a six foot sign I did for our month long birthday celebration. Turned out alright.



And hey, if you want to buy a new house, have they got some deals for you.

A Moleskine Apology

I love these little guys. I have had about 6 now. I keep the old ones in my file cabinet drawer. And yes, occasionally I refer back to one for a recipe or note I wrote down, clairvoyantly knowing I would need that bit at a later date.

And to reveal my geekiness even further, I have a set of icons I use to note books I want to read, CDs to check out, phone numbers, quotes, things to investigate further. Go ahead, make fun.

This is my current book



I even set up a template to use for recipes I found on the web. I could cut and paste the text into the template, print it out and then glue stick it into the book.

Well, someone must have been spying on me because the brilliant folks at Moleskine have invented a wizard that will do it all for you. Images, copy, whatever you want. Input the info into the wizard, choose the size of your book and it spits out a pdf you can print and paste inside you book.

Check it out here.



Also very cool, and probably my next purchase once this book is full, are Field Notes. These little books have an old school look and a cultish following. There is blog and a flickr group.



For awhile, my iPhone tried to take the place of this little black book. With its fancy To Do List makers and calendars and bells and whistles. But after a few weeks, I missed my book. I missed taking pen to paper. To pasting cool photos of things I want to remember inside its pages. To smearing the ink on the side of my left hand as I feverishly wrote down the something I heard on the radio.

To my moleskine, I am sorry for the brief fling with another. But I am back. I hope you can forgive me.

Random Photos of the Little Hollimans

WPH sitting on the couch with his legs delicately crossed at the ankle.



Harper taking her first ride past the end of the block on her skuut. She made it all the way to the PCC. It was so exhausting she had to ride home on the back of the Xtracycle.



We had to fly back through Denver on our trip to Colorado in October. Harper was getting off and spending the week with Nana and Poppy. Linda met us at the gate as we exited the plane. Windham LEAPT out of the stroller the moment he saw her. We thought it was out of love for his granny, but no, he wanted her bangles.



Harper put this outfit together herself. Watch out Anna Wintour.



Ice cream.


A boy and his unicorn. One of the many great toys Lolo had for the kids in Durango.



Windham pulling the ducks on a walk. Looking very preppy. That's my boy.



This is currently my very most favoritist photo of Harper. The old photo effect combined with her Wild Thing pose just melts my heart.

Wild Things Dancing and Hugging

Surprise, surprise. Here we are listening to the Wild Things. Again. For the 5th time today. But when they get that dancin' fever, it is too precious.

Where We Live 007

The Burnsteads parking lot, Bellevue WA, 7:28am

Here's Where the Wild Things Are

Last Friday I purchased the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack. Songs for the movie that we haven't seen yet. But I am fairly certain that when we finally do see it, we will like it.

The songs are written and sung, with the help of "the kids," by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And it is wonderful.

The children LOVE it too. And I mean in a "Can we listen to Wild Things" over and over and over and over kinda way. Harper especially.

It is interesting how she can connect the illustrations from the story book to the songs she is hearing. She asks "Is Max singing," Are the Wild Things singing." She wants to know all about the voices she hears and at the same time tells us bits about the book. She is quick to tell us that Max is naughty for chasing the dog with a fork.

What I love most is her need to sing AND dance to the songs. When the music begins to play, she immediately wants me to stop what I am doing and come dance with her. We dance fast to the fast songs and slow to the slow ones. We like to guess which the next song will be: fast or slow.

FAST:


SLOW:


I have always tried to introduce the kids to adult music from the beginning. We have listened to Jimmy Buffet, Johnny Cash, Neko Case, Shakira, whatever we are listening to. Thank god they have no idea who the Wiggles are. Let;s keep it that way, shall we.
This album is the perfect bridge between the two worlds.

Here is a bit of what you are missing.

Where We Live 006

I-405, Bellevue, WA, 7:31am

Test embed music player

It worked. Works. We are getting stuff done here people. Googlen' and learnin' and doin' by gawd.

You can go back to whatever you were doing now.

A Modest Proposal

It has been 2.5 years now that we have had children and none of our family members live in Seattle. Our friends are great and always very helpful when we need to drop a kid off to take the other one to the doctor or whatever. But it isn't the same thing as having family close by. To be honest, to take advantage of. Ok I said it. But dammit if we don't need a break every so often. And 3 hours of babysitting isn't the same.

So Nanna and Poppy, I have a proposition for you. How would you like one of these in our back yard?



This is a tiny house. 65-837 square feet is all. All the room you need at your advanced age. And you would be so close your grandchildren who love and adore you.

You are getting older and really don't need that much space. And if you are in the yard, you don't need extra space for grand kid art or toys. We can keep all of that for you. A few pairs of jeans and a sweater or two. You can wash your 7 pair of underpants in our washer whenever you need. Your eye sight is not so hot, so you don't need books around. We can get the kids to read to you. We can feed you too so no need for dishes or pots and pans.

Just think about it. Less is more. Right?

Soundtrack of our Lives

Press Play:


Currently I am besotted with the defunct Seattle band, Carissa's Wierd. They broke up in 2003 and went on to become Grand Archives, Band of Horses, S and a Holliman favorite, Sera Cahoone. Last night WPH and I spent a good deal of time while the sandman sprinkled stardust in his eyes, listening to videos of CW on YouTube.


As we watched, his little head bobbed up and down, side to side. Laramie kept waking him up with each flash of the camera. I asked him if he wanted to go to bed? "Uhn uhn," said while shaking his head but keeping his eyes trained on the screen. Eventually the hypnotic melodies lulled him to sleep…

It is those sweet moments with my children that make it all worthwhile. The smell of his sweaty curls mixed with diaper rash cream. His pudgy little hands, resting on my knee. His death grip on my pinky fingers. Gently moving to the sweet, sweet sound of the past.



Night night, little prince.

They were Ga-ay, Be-fore Ga-ay-ay Was Cool

1986 National Aerobic Championship!

dancing tots

Harper turned on some dance music, and Windham started dancing like a maniac. In this video, he's moved on to more jumping, but you get a little bit of booty shaking action.

This is a test post

I got an app for my iPhone that will allow me to create and post blog posts on the go. So all 3 of you reading this blog have something, I'm not totally sure what, to look forward to.
Ain't technology grand!

Test photo too. Doesn't WPH look mysterious and official in his cap and coat. He has some secrets to sell you...



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

2nd Annual Sausage Ride

This is the second year we have loaded up the bike with sausages, salads and children and ridden to some destination for some grillin' and good times. Joining us today were The Melickrells: Ann Melone, Boyd and baby Nonah, Dylan and Grace and Luke and Naima. Tisha joined us later.

We headed west up Orcas over to the Chief Sealth trail to Beacon Hill. At the north end is Dr. Jose Rizal Park, a cute little park with a killer view of downtown Seattle and the Sound. We grilled. We ate. We got the best of every entendre, innuendo and pun that could be made about sausages and nuts and balls. Cause that is the kinda people we are!

It was a glorious sunny day and we couldn't have asked for better weather.


Long live the Sausage Ride!