thanksgiving in seattle

(the ramsdale + garrels families celebrate together at mike & marti's in seattle)

the ramsdales in portland

this past weekend my brother jeff, sister-in-law cris, & their kids lucas & wren came to visit us from seattle! it was great to have focused time with them, and heron LOVED hanging out with her cousins!

: here my brother is actually teaching the kids about dirigibles :

lucas and wren already seemed quite familiar with the topic of dirigibles. heron & i were both hearing the term for the first time. i really love how endearingly nerdy (ahem, "wonderfully knowledgeable"?) my brother is. or... are heron & i the only ones on the planet who are unacquainted with the various types of airships?

: playtime at peninsula park :

: ice cream at cool moon :

one night josh & i watched the kiddos while jeff & cris went on a date. this is what babysitting with josh + mitchy looks like...

(the kids made this video for my mom, their "nana". we had a fun, raucous dance party to the beastie boys before snuggling up to watch a movie together)

the growing family

seems i've been furnishing this blog fairly sparsely lately. yet all the while, our family continues to grow.

for example, my belly...

our baby is now 27 weeks along. three more months to go! i haven't had any maternity care for the past three months, and i'm very excited to finally meet with some potential (home birth) midwives this week. since we'll be covered by oregon health plan, i've needed to wait until i was officially in my 3rd trimester in order to be able to choose my own provider, rather than have one assigned to me. we are hoping one of these two women i'm meeting with will be a good fit for me + josh--a gentle & nurturing soul, strong & competent hands to help guide our baby into this world.

heron is growing up so fast these days, and though people keep saying, "oh my! you're going to have TWO BABIES on your hands!" heron is feeling more little girl than baby these days. her vocabulary is growing by the day, and with it, our understanding of her. she seems less frustrated when she feels like she's getting her thoughts through to us, & we are feeling more understood, as well!

this week she has been learning to help me & josh prepare meals. we made potato + kale soup one afternoon (she expertly stripped the kale leaves from the stems, & munched on them a little, too), apple crisp one morning, and pizza with dad for our neighborhood meal the other night. she loves standing on her step stool, being a part of the family action. she has also allowed us to implement a once or twice daily "quiet reading time" where i say, "heron! it's book time!" to which she excitedly gathers books, climbs up on the couch, & starts flipping through the pages, chattering softly to herself. i put a blanket over her legs, put on the lullatone album (see/listen below), and take a 15-minute break from mommy-ing! awesome!

: kitchen helper :

heron has just taken an interest in coloring with crayons this week, and she is finally allowing me to put barrettes in her hair. she is indicating strong preferences in clothing, and a particular fondness for shoes (she actually gets this from josh, not me!). this past week she picked out a pink shirt, yellow tights, and her green + pink tutu, & promptly started flitting around the house, flapping her wings. i took this as a cue to sign her up for toddler ballet classes, & we have our first mommy + me ballet class at our neighborhood community center tomorrow! (i can't wait to be a pregnant ballerina...)

: barrette + crayons :

josh was in utah this weekend, playing a show with trace bundy (and hanging out with the dear friends, trace + becca). we're so glad he's home! josh & i have had a sweet week together, and though we've taken lots of time to be together throughout the days, we've also made lots of time to serve each other. this, in part, means allowing each other time to do things that give us LIFE. for me, this has meant quiet time + journaling in the mornings (today i also got to sleep in, & was served breakfast in bed!). for josh (who more regularly has contemplative time in the mornings) this has meant time in the evenings to watch documentaries + go out to things like the listener show.

: becca found this dress for heron at a craft fair in utah :

thanks, becca!

slowly we are reaching into rhythms here in portland, & find our lives here quite rich & full. we are growing in our love for God, each other, and our neighbors, & look forward to our family growing in numbers soon, too!

of billupses and bees

as if my birthday weekend could get any better, drew & sara came to visit (from seattle) on saturday, spending the night with us until sunday. drew & sara are dear friends of ours from indiana days (college, actually), and it's been so fun going through this pregnancy at the same time as sara, who is due in one month.

we went out for lunch on n. mississippi, spending the afternoon visiting favorite shops. sara shares my love for the art of nikki mcclure, and we were able to catch one of the final days of her gallery show, currently displayed at land. it is difficult to get a sense of the intricacy of her work when it is not only enlarged to fill the space of a poster or calendar, but also 2-D. her work consists of tiny cuts with an x-acto knife on black paper, and seeing her work in person is breathtaking. here's a video i just found online of her + her work + her family.

(this photo from the gallery is not the best, but you can see how the birds are connected, everything cut out of one piece of paper)

: strolling through flutter, a favorite place on n. miss. :

sara & i slipped away to cacao for some drinking chocolate (a new favorite indulgence!), then we began preparations for halloween evening. it was heron's first time dressing up + going out on this holiday, so it was a big night!

heron cried when we first put her in her bee costume, but by the end of the night she didn't want to take it off.

: here she is, a little bee-wildered by her first trick-or-treat door knock :

: running around the fountain at night :

: stalling for more time in the bee suit before bedtime :

the day after halloween, she woke up crying, "bee! bee! put on! put on!" pointing at those magical stripes strewn across her floor. thus, we had a little bumblebee buzzing around for two days after the big event. thanks, aunt alli, for the costume!

my portland birthday

the celebrating began on thursday, the day before my birthday, when josh's sister alli (in town for work from seattle) stopped by for a brie + apple sandwich lunch, bearing red velvet cupcakes from cupcake jones in downtown portland.

the next day was, truly, my best birthday ever. joshy really treated me like a queen, & it was a blessed day. i got to sleep upstairs in the little guest nook so that i could really sleep in. josh woke up at 7 with heron, then served me breakfast in bed at 8:30.

after breakfast + some luxurious time alone, i walked downstairs to this peaceful scene:

: heron & i read books & wrestled while josh prepared the presents :

: just like last year's christmas, heron loved the wrapping paper :

(josh totally surprised me & bought a mac laptop, the very day after heron had eaten a vital part of the ENTER key of my old, decaying PC... it's really cool that my birthday gift was a valid business expense, and will be used not in only in our business, but in my future art + development classes, as well)

we played with my new "toy", ahem, "tool", then picked up our friend brian from downtown. brian's an old friend from muncie, now living in vermont. his wife happened to be in town for conferences this week, and he was free during the days. we hung out here, then ventured into the city to see gala's art at half/dozen gallery.

then, off to the rose gardens!

we dropped brian off, then headed back to our neighborhood for some lomo saltado at del inti, our first experience of peruvian + northwest fusion food.

finally, heron was put to bed, and josh & i watched "this american life" episodes on the new laptop. what fun! and what a perfect day... turns out being thirty three really isn't so bad after all.