6 Years Ago Today...

Well, yes, it was Tony's and my 3rd anniversary, but it was also the day that our first son, Zackary Fiore Bastinelli, was born. He arrived at 10:46am on July 1, 2003 after a fairly quick labor that included a failed epidural. He weighed in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces and was 19 1/4 inches long. Zack had a true knot in his umbilical cord, which can be quite dangerous and even deadly for a baby. But after being given a once-over by the nursery team, he was declared in perfect health and we were able to oogle over our new baby boy!
Zack had lots of soft, black hair and dark, dark eyes right from the start. He was just darling. Zack was a good baby from the beginning, though not the best sleeper. But he figured it out after awhile. His big sister, Sadie, just loved him and always wanted to help mom and to hold her little brother. Zack has aways been mellow. When he was able to sit up, he would be content just sitting on the floor, playing with his baby toys for long periods of time. He took his time learning to crawl and then walk, but always kept that sweet, mellow disposition.

The day Sadie fell in love

A few days old

Two months

6 months

9 months

1 Year

2 Years

3 Years

4 Years

5 Years

Today, Zack is a Big 6 year old! I can't even believe it. Zack has loved going to preschool the last two years and now he will be starting Kindergarten in the Fall! Zack is a bright boy. He learned his letters and sounds at 18 months while Sadie was learning them. He taught himself how to read when he was 4 and learned how to play chess when he was 5. He LOVES to learn and we are so excited to see where his mind goes once he gets into school with all the subjects he will be learning!

Zack loves models, Legos, K'Nex, anything you can build. He is a typical boy and likes to play with sticks and swords and all other types of weapons. He sometimes gets frustrated with his little brother when Drew gets too rambunctious for Zack's liking, but Zack really is a wonderful big brother. He is patient and kind and has the biggest heart I have ever seen in a little boy. He is sensitive and gentle and just melts my heart by the things he says sometimes.
We are so incredibly blessed to have Zack as our second child, first son. We pray for Zack and the life that is before him and we look forward to so many more birthdays to come for our sweet boy. Happy Birthday, Zackary! We love you!

9 Years ago Today....

Tony and I were married at the church I grew up in, in Des Moines, Washington. It was a simple, small wedding, and it was just beautiful. Our reception was held at Tony's aunt's house in Puyallup and we had delicious food and fantastic guests.

Marriage is hard work and we have definitely had our ups and downs. But all in all it has been a wonderful 9 years and I look forward to many, many more years with my amazing husband, Tony. I love you!

The End of a School Year

Sadie has had Mrs. Buck as her teacher for two years now, 1st and 2nd grade. Sadie absolutely LOVES Mrs. Buck and she was so sad to say goodbye, knowing she wouldn't be her teacher anymore. It is pretty neat when someone (especially a teacher) is able to have such a positive impact on your child. She has helped Sadie grow in so many ways over the last two years and she is also the reason that Sadie wants to be a teacher!

So many thanks to Mrs. Buck and ALL of you teachers out there. Man, I could never do it, but I am thankful that you all can!

Sadie and Mrs. Buck with the poem Sadie wrote as a gift for her.

No more second grader!

Back and Forth

Tony's dad, Paul, and step-mom, Jacque, live in Springfield, OR. It's about 2 hours away, which makes it tough for them to just pop on up for the kids' sports and activities. As Sadie and Zack's softball and t-ball seasons wore down, they really felt like they needed to come up for some games. But of course, there were no games on consecutive days. So they came up on a Saturday for Sadie's softball tournament games and then came back again on Tuesday for Zack's second to last game. Wow, that was a lot of driving, but man, it meant so much to Sadie and Zack that Papa Paul and Grandma Jacque came. Thank you for coming!

Tip Junkie

I have recently found another fun website. It is called Tip Junkie and it is full of fun daily tips and ideas on how to be creative. I have seen awesome birthday party ideas, organization ideas and more. This week is Tip Junkie's second birthday, so they are doing a big ole giveaway. Here is their button, go check it out!

THE FLOOD OF '09

By now, I am sure you all heard about the flood we had over here last month. Here are some of the things I learned:
1. Never choose to have your washer and dryer upstairs if at all possible.
2. When your child says, "Mom, come look, it's really bad!!!", go look NOW!!!
3. When water is covering the floor in front of your washing machine, turn it off right away.
4. When you hear water gushing downstairs and see it pouring from your chandelier into your playroom and down all the walls and into the garage, DON'T FREAK OUT! Calmly call your wonderful owners and they will be over with brownies in less than 15 minutes.
5. ServiceMaster DOES work at all hours of the night and WILL come over to your house and install crazy huge and extremely loud fans, dehumidifiers and filters at 11pm.
6. It is possible to fit every single item from your kitchen, dining room, living room and playroom into your garage. Good luck finding anything. Good luck getting through the door.
7. It WILL take about 3 weeks of continuous strange people in and out of your house. And no, they don't care if your 3 year old is taking a nap. Not at all.
8. It is easy to be kind and gracious and thankful that it wasn't as bad as it could have been for MOST of the three weeks. Until the guys are here texturizing and you have to walk carefully with a sleeping 3 year old in between the walls and suffocatingly thin plastic that is hanging from every inch of ceiling. In your 80 degree, 100% humid house. With the fumes of the texurizing stuff burning your nostrils. Then you may get kind of crabby.
9. When all is said and done and you have a new washer and dryer and a new non-brass chandelier and newly painted walls (including the ones that were smeared with food from when your 3 year old was a baby in a high chair), you will be reminded how thankful you are to have such wonderful owners (who had to pay and you didn't) and MOST OF ALL, that it could have been much, much worse.

The playroom, into which gallons of water gushed down the chandelier into the middle of the floor. Oh, and down the walls. Oh, and out of the light switch plates. The equipment was a special gift from Service Master. They stayed for 4 days and made the house HOT ad DRY.

The home of the washer and dryer. The carpet was ripped up and the padding ripped out. It is quite interesting walking on carpet with no pad with air being blown under it. I wouldn't recommend it.

More "friends"

The playroom post-demo. All the beams were still wet after 4 days of drying and dehumidifying.

The finished playroom with a new chandelier that we got to pick out!

The strange mirror on the wall of the playroom. The water went there, too.

MUCH better!

During the whole ordeal, my vinyl order from UpperCase Living arrived, so I was able to put it up in our newly painted and fixed up house!

Since I don't have curtains on our living room window, I thought the vinyl would at least spice it up a little bit. I think it looks awesome!

bliss bake shop

I went on a fun Girls' Night Out this past weekend, and we went to Saint Cupcake in NW Portland. My friend Kim has been trying to get us to go there forever! It was absolutely delish, and I don't even really like cake or cupcakes!

So totally randomly at work today, I learn about another cupcake shop! This one is in the Bethany area, which is near our church and much closer to us than NW Portland. I am so excited to have learned about this shop for many reasons: ~a new place to go for dessert~a place to order special fancy cupcakes for special occasions~a place to take visiting friends and family. I actually had the pleasure of tasting one of their Mocha Bliss cupcakes today - YUMMY!!

So here is the webpage for bliss bake shop. For privacy reasons, I can't specifically say how I learned about Bliss, but if you look at their webpage, you may find a clue!

So if you are craving cupcakes or even just cookies (I hear they are delicious, too), go on over to bliss bake shop and support a new and fun business!

Sadie Sings Sweetly with Schoolmates The Star-Spangled Banner

Sadie goes to Jackson Elementary School. They have choirs like most schools. (Thank goodness the horrible budget hasn't cut that yet! Cross your fingers...) Usually choir starts in 3rd grade. Not this year, not at Jackson. I guess the second graders at Jackson are such a feisty, relentless bunch, that they convinced choir/music teacher, Mrs. Kelly, to form a 2nd grade choir for the first time ever this year! Sadie has been a proud member since the Fall.

Sadie's choir was invited along with the rest of the choirs from Jackson to sing the National Anthem at one of the Portland Beavers (the Padres AAA team) baseball games over Memorial Day weekend. Being the baseball loving family that we are, we were thrilled about this! Immediately, over half of our immediate family signed on up to come to the game!
The day was perfect - sunny and warm, just right. Sadie was really excited but also pretty nervous. This game happened to be military hat giveaway day, so we all got pretty cool hats.

Jackson choir getting set up

"Oh say can you see..."

There's Sadie - front row far right

Zack and Pokey

Drew and Zack with Grandma Jacque

Sadie and Auntie Alyssa

Auntie Chrissie and Uncle Aaron!

The clan with Grandma Jacque and Papa Paul

Drew mooching off of Uncle Nik. Seriously, he (Drew) ate the ENTIRE time we were at the game. Where does he put it????

Mmm, food = good!

Drew mellowing out with scarf, bear, thumb and Grandma. Nothing better!

The choir sang great. One of the parents even commented on how much better they were this year than last and she thinks it is because of the addition of the enthusiastic second graders! The Beavers played really well (until the 9th inning, after we had left. Go figure.) and Sadie hung out with her friends right behind us the rest of the evening. What a fun night!

Thanks to all the family who came out!