a year ago today

 Aden's arm was in a cast.

 Collin picked me all the dandelions in the neighborhood.

 Matt enjoyed his morning cup(s) of coffee.

 Technology brought 4 feisty boys together.

Little reminders that our lives are not our own were scattered through the house.

A lot has changed in a year, ...and not so much.

a day in the life

Sometime Washington just punches you in the face with its natural beauty.
(I was not driving ;)

Thrifting never gets old. Ha! get it?

Little boys colored skinny jeans.

Lots of "would you rather..." questions from the kids lately.

Soccer practice after a lacrosse game.

Science!

Gear. And the worst smell to date.

Stinkeye.

embrace the camera

 Recently I was reading this blog about moms getting in the picture. It is a little bit awkward and our boys find it a lot bit annoying. I am trudging on though because I was here, dammit! I wiped your bum, I made your meals, I suffered through endless arguments. And miracle of miracles, I actually want to remember it all someday ;)

(making Matt & Ellen embrace the camera, as well)

year 8

Flashback to our first high school formal dance. The Sweetheart's Ball at Meridian High School. February 1996, I believe. 

Sooo, there's that.

Onto the next year of our marriage adventure. Happy times as Parker joined a football team & our family rallied to cheer him on. Kaleb also played flag football so a lot of our time was suddenly spent at games and practices.

   It was fun to do together, the whole family. Having all boys just made sense, where it had been a struggle for me at times.

   It was around this time we started alternating years between family vacation & time for just Matt & I to get away. We visited the Oregon Coast as a family, then Matt & I went to Monterey, CA the next year. As much as we try to live up each ordinary day, these trips really did something special. Goal setting, memory making & watching the boys experience new things. Young & broke holds a special place in my heart but this season was made so much better by having some margin in the budget for family time.

year 7

   Year of the date night. Seriously, we are still married because of date night. When the year started we were just recovering from moving and having baby #4 and when it was over, we actually liked each other again. Our families were ridiculously good to us in this season.

   A lot of date nights, double dates, overnight dates. Sometimes 3 dates a weekend! And most of them were terrible because we were fighting. But with all those opportunities to work on our relationship something happened. It was actually harder to make it not work. Then you were stuck mad for the night or having a major awkward moment in a restaurant. I began to see our fates intermingled. His happiness as my happiness.

(yes, I know some people get this whole concept BEFORE they say they say "I do." But hey, Dr. Phil says "Life's a marathon, not a sprint.")

 

hunger games

Lately I have been going through photos on the computer. I am estimating half of the recent snaps are of food. So many! I guess it makes sense because it is a huge part of every day. The boys are all (every last one) eating like grown men. Usually Parker can out-eat Matt. (Oh golly, we will never have any money.) This means I am at the grocery store almost every day. So naturally I started taking pictures there too. Welcome to my world, blog friends.

 Trader Joes! Clever.

 When the boys are at school, Matt and I eat like grown ups.( And apparently don't bother to properly chop up the bacon.) The secret to brussel sprouts, IMHO, is a splash of apple cider vinegar and bacon. Always with the bacon.

 Have you seen all the commercials for the new Lay's potato chips flavors? We had our own little taste test. Between Chicken and Waffles, Siracha, and Cheesy Garlic Bread, we most enjoyed Chicken and Waffles.

 Kale. Matt's convinced we can work this super food into every meal. I swear we are all turning green but he LOVES it.

 Yep, there is kale in there, too. Here's a handy tip; if you get a big arse cup from Baja Fresh, save the straw for smoothies. I am expanding my hoarding tendencies to eating out now.

 My mom and Ken bought us a panini maker for Christmas. It is awesome, thanks for buying us the best gift we never knew we wanted! This one was a lasagna panini with tomatoes and ricotta cheese and Italian seasoning.

 If it is not kale around here, it is beets. I am not complaining, just in shock of how my husband has changed his diet over the years. Most of the boys will get on board with these veggies as well. (Maybe they are just shoveling it in too fast to notice what it is?)

I found a recipe for caramel corn that did not require corn syrup. Hooray! This recipe is a favorite now. I add in Chinese five spice at the end and it is divine.

Okay, back to the kitchen because someone is undoubtedly hungry.

Andrea and Miles

We had a visit from an Idaho friend and the sweetest lil chubbalicious baby boy. Andrea flew up for her spring break, even with an active eleven month old she wanted to enter the Archie fray. Or maybe because of?

 So fun to have a baby in the house. And exhausting! Miles quickly realized that four boys were basically at his beckon call. Which was a good thing because Andrea and I were busy cooking and baking and crafting. This cake we made for Collin's birthday, for example:

 It was only really good for pictures but there was no shortage of good thing to eat. And dishes to wash. A very happy mess. (there are only 5 candles on his 6 year old cake ;)

 The Beetza: golden beets, bacon, basil, goat cheese. There are no words to describe the deliciousness. We also made chocolate Guinness ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, an angel food cake, & cauliflower mac n'cheese.

Thanks for making the trip Andrea and Miles!

Blessed

The Archuletas enjoyed Easter with Seattle sun, cascarones, & a good ol' dose of perspective. Life is short, the days are long, and parenting is haaaarrrrrrd. But when you think of that cross and even better, the empty tomb, who really cares about any old thing. God is good. He is Risen!

(rest assured, I will be back to whining and complaining soon enough ;)

cabin fever

Last year:

We had snow in Seattle our first winter here. Not so, this year. Which is fine by me but some boys I know received sleds for Christmas & were itching to try them out. So when our friends Justin & Emily invited us to her family cabin, a plan was hatched.

 Just an hour or so out of Seattle & just enough snow to satisfy. We headed into the mountains a lil bit to find a sledding hill.

Why no pics of Justin & Emily? Well, let's see, they were too busy building epic sled jumps & making us steak dinner. They are seriously the best. Thank you both for embracing the chaos that is our family ;)

alice in wonderland tree

 This tree is busy transforming our front yard into a pink petal-ed paradise. I am in heaven. It reminds my of the "paining the roses red" scene from Alice in Wonderland. I think it is called a Camellia tree.

 We are seeing signs of spring pop up and trying to get the yard back into shape. When we moved in, the house had been empty awhile and the yard was serviced by a professional lawn care company. It was perfect! Matt and I are working on some realistic expectations for the yard in this season of life. The doing isn't as hard as the agreeing on a plan part. (Maybe this is true of all life?)