heron turns five

i would say it's hard to believe heron is already five, but in many ways it's harder to believe that she wasn't five long before now.  she's a precocious little thing.  a firecracker of a girl, bright and fiery.  long & lean like the graceful bird she's named after.  

this year we again took her birthday portrait at the bird sanctuary.  and the bug jar never left her side.  she was flitting about the whole time, barefoot, scampering over rocks & streams, looking for critters & fairy houses, a little wood sprite.  a tomboy in a dress & a braided crown, much like her mother at that age.  

heron, full of life & wonder, compassion & grace.  she's a healer, an artist, a befriender, an expert tree-climber.  she is self-motivated, self-sacrificing, brave, & the most confident little thing we've ever met.  her favorite days are when she makes a new friend.  she loves jesus, & makes up prayer-songs for him every day.  she has the holy spirit, & is so teachable, so quick to change her attitude & actions when she is making poor choices.    

heron begins most days with markers & a pad of paper, filling up the pages with stories.  or on the front porch, checking up on her bug friends.  or playing pink amazon river dolphin sisters with her little brother sheppy.  

heron, you amaze us every day, & we're so blessed to be your mama & papa!  happy birthday, little blue!   

here's how we celebrated you today :  slumber party with mama, decorations in the living room, dance party, donuts, roller skating, hot dogs for lunch, ice cream and book store date with aunt teal, playdate with jocelyn & joaquin, family bowling & pizza!

mom's visit

we were having such lovely weather here in portland, & every time i would sit on our front porch sipping sweet tea in the sunny afternoon, i'd think, "i wish mom were here.  she'd love this!"  so we found some cheap tickets & flew her out here the following week from north carolina.  but this is portland in the springtime, & it rained the whole time she was here.  but we still had a great time!

: nana & perry shared some sweet moments :

: the ramsdales surprised her by driving down from seattle the night she arrived :

(here she is with all her grandkids, minus per who was napping)

: no ramsdale gathering is complete without the making of paper airplanes :

: or the smoking of pipes :

: bird cousins, wren & heron :

: we took mom to our new favorite park--crystal springs rhododendron garden :

the week flew by, but we are looking forward to seeing her again in july!  thanks for coming out on short notice, nana!

bug school

following much touring, traveling, & messy home renovation, we are glad to be home & back in the swing of things!  after a brief start of school, then an upheaval of routine for about two months, the kids & i were excited about doing homeschool preschool together again.  this provides me with a focus to our day, & also gives me, heron, & sheppy quality time together (we do the bulk of it during per's morning nap).

we started a new lesson in BFIAR last week, which we are still working on.  but it has been hard to ignore what the kids are really into these days.  for heron, it's bugs, and for shepherd, it's orchestral storytelling in "peter & the wolf" and the soundtrack to "fantastic mr. fox".  heron is up at dawn looking for creatures in our front yard, & shepherd wants to listen to his favorite soundtracks ten times a day (while asking, "is this the part where the duck is in the wolf's stomach?" and exclaiming, "this is the rat fight!").  so, we are doing our best as a family to dive into learning more about insects & musical storytelling to affirm their current interests.

so, monday & tuesday, much like february's bird school, we set up a spontaneous bug school & got to work reading, observing, & enjoying our learning together outside.  we found centipedes, millipedes, roly polies, banana slugs, garden spiders, bees, and caterpillars--all in our little front yard!

: heron was so excited to show her collection to aunt teal & hannah :

: heron loves her bugs so much, they never leave her side :

: we now have a permanent bug investigation station on our porch :

kitchen update

for all of you who've asked about the progress of our kitchen... here it is! it still needs a tile backsplash, overhead and over-sink lighting, and a new coat of (whiter white) paint.  though the previous owners had generally chosen tasteful wall colors & updates for the home, the original kitchen colors & style were dark & heavy.  it had gray cabinets--upper & lower, rust-colored walls, scuffed dirty linoleum floors, a random black wall, and weird beige tile countertops + backsplash.  it was not really our style.  we hadn't planned to renovate (or, rather "deconstruct and countrify") our kitchen so soon, but the weather was preventing cameron (& his team, peter & tony) from pouring the foundation for the studio, so we thought we could give them a week of work inside.  as far as kitchen renovations go, our design was pretty low-impact & affordable.

cameron & co. carried out our dream rustic kitchen design by tearing out the linoleum & refinishing the hardwood floors beneath with a transparent white stain, removing the old lower cabinet doors, replacing them with barn wood doors they'd made, pouring concrete countertops, tearing out the upper cabinets & replacing them with open shelving of reclaimed wood.  we also installed a farm sink & new faucet fixture.  thankfully, the kitchen came equipped with new stainless steel appliances in good shape, so all we needed to replace was the range hood.  a friend is going to help us with a simple hanging lamp over the sink, plus overhead lighting & hanging lights over the open counter (second picture).  i am still deciding on tile for the backsplash, which will go all along the countertop, & up higher behind the sink & stove--either rustic white zelliges or traditional white subway tiles.  
 

in other news, josh has a mustache!

 

perry bear sanchez

i don't know why, but this guy's most frequent nickname is "perry bear sanchez," often shortened to "sanchez," but mostly, simply, "sanchy."

fairies?