King of the Woodland Creatures
Originally uploaded by telfandrea.

Henry is the lord of all his animals (at least the stuffed ferret and duck – thank you Aunt Debbie!).

Our weekend was packed but good: Thursday night we had sushi and conversation with Chris and Mendy; Saturday we saw both Nana and Papa in Garden Grove/Long Beach; Sunday we celebrated the risen Lord and had brunch at our house with Andrew, Danielle, Danielle’s sister Jenna and Ella. Whew.

patio
Originally uploaded by telfandrea.

We completely finished the bathroom two weekends ago. Picture us laying on our backs trying to slather paint into all the little grooves of the bead board BEHIND our enormous bathtub. Good times.

Instead of spending last weekend soaking in the bathtub, we worked instead on our "new" patio furniture. We found an old peeling white iron patio set on Craigslist for $100. We spray-painted it brown, added cushions and an umbrella. We love it and the price was right.

And then we actually sat down: The Benedicts (Dan, Kristina and Caleb – picture to the left) spent Saturday night with us and then of course, Henry had his birthday blowout patioside on Sunday night.

Henry at 7 weeks
Originally uploaded by telfandrea.

So today is Henry’s first birthday.

Our pastor  off-handedly and a bit sarcastically remarked that "dogs are the new children" in his sermon last week, and so we promptly went out and spent $15 on a cake Henry could eat. We had Paggie and Paul (Paggie’s our cute renter) over for a celebratory dinner last night. Pictures to the left.

Book 7 has a cover – so much more red/gold/intense than the other covers.

Anyway.

Telfer has to work late tonight and so I am going to toodle on over to Pasadena to hear Anne Lamott at a Vroman’s  event (a great Pasadena independent bookstore). This is pretty much just for you J.R.!

 

last minute photo at starbucks
Originally uploaded by telfandrea.

I must say, I am looking forward to living in the Northwest again. My sisters and I converged  on our parent’s house in Richland for a long weekend, sans husbands, but neices were allowed. Eden and Cora are one year older since I saw them last (Elizabeth’s wedding) A lot happens in one year when you are almost four and almost two. The time felt very short but we had a good time. Highlights: seeing good friends from Bethel, blowing bubbles and hunting early easter eggs with Eden & Cora, getting pedicures with mom and my sisters, drinking coffee of course, eating amazing pulled pork tacos my mom made, lunching with Molly, going to a winery with my dad, celebrating Alyssa’s birthday with fancy cupcakes, and basically, just hanging out.

After a power Southwest flight (um, I get really tired of Southwest sometimes…have they heard of the direct flight concept?), I have been slightly depressed for the rest of the week…Sometimes it’s hard for me to balance hope for the future (one example: living closer to family) with the reality of the present (example: living  far from family) in a content-in-my-circumstances manner (all the while knowing that I am complaining for God’s gift of time and money to be able to see my family at all).

Completely unrelated: every time I go on a trip without Telfer,  I realize I am so not the photographer in our family. The pictures I do take are fine but I rarely remember to take them at all..