Full Term and Ready to Meet Her!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Fairytale Playdate

Last Tuesday Athena had some of her friends over from the Kent Mom's Group for a Fairytale Themed Playdate!  The girls decorated crowns with markers, glitter and stickers, chose their favorite dresses from Athena's stash and played dress up with a bunch of play jewelry and temporary tattoos.  We also tried listening to the Tangled soundtrack, but it got a little too loud with little girl chatter to make sense.

Just recently I was asked to be one of the organizer's for the group.  Each organizer is responsible for hosting at least two playdates a month and be involved with all of the parties and group activities that are put on each quarter.  The fairytale playdate was my first hosting gig and it turned out well.  Six moms/kids came and two were on the waiting list!  I would like to do a halloween craft playdate in October but I'm not sure how much energy I will have just a few weeks from my due date!

The King and I

Michael worked from home on Friday so we took the opportunity to have a coffee together while Athena was at preschool.  This never happens!!!!  I had a pumpkin muffin with a soy chai latte and Michael had a blueberry muffin and a hot chocolate.  Fall has certainly snuck up on us here, but it's a welcome change.  I just hope there are a few more sunny days to soak up before the constant rain/clouds start.

Ah-Ah Leigh's Visit

Athena was ecstatic to go to the airport and pick up Ah-Ah Leigh last Friday night!  Ah-Ah of course, means Aunt in Athena speak.  I'm not sure why she decided to shorten it up, but it was absolutely adorable all weekend.

We had an awesome time hanging out with Leigh.  Friday night we just hung out at home, ate a beef roast and talked a lot.  Saturday spent a little more than 4 hours in downtown Seattle.  Michael and I hadn't gone down there all summer so it was a great change of pace for us.  We took the light rail to Pike's Market and got a sweet treat at Piroshky Piroshky, bought some peaches, strawberries, fresh pasta, shirts and hats, ate lunch at our favorite Sunview Cafe, checked out the Seattle Art Museum and then headed back to the train.  Michael and Leigh went to the Kubota Japanese Gardens while Athena and I took a nap.  Saturday night we had a date night while Leigh babysat Athena.  Score!!!

On Sunday we had a slow morning until Leigh and I spent three hours shopping and ate lunch at the mall.  I haven't been able to shop by myself in a very long time and it was nice to go with Leigh and look for goodies for the girls.  My favorite was the Disney store.  I walked by it plenty of times, but never wanted to take Athena in for fear of a huge meltdown.  But, that place rules.  I have many ideas for future princess gifts.  It was Tangled heaven.

Sunday night was topped off with grilled steak, fried potatoes and several hands of cards!

Bountiful Baskets

For the past year (off and on) we've been getting fresh produce from a coop type group called Bountiful Baskets.  They buy wholesale direct from farmers and then deliver them to various drop off points in the area.  We go online to reserve our basket and pick them up nearby at 7am on Saturdays.  It used to be 9am - boo for the change!  The regular baskets cost $15 and there are add ons each week.  For example, this week we could have gotten 38 lbs of bartlett pears for an extra $25 or 5 loaves of organic whole wheat bread for an extra $15.

Today, in our regular basket, we got:

1 head of lettuce
6 bananas
1 box of strawberries
4 ears of corn
5 stalks of broccoli
4 nectarines
2 leeks
4 oranges
14 yellow potatoes
9 plums

DIY Dresser Makeover

Look at this!!!!  It's my very first furniture makeover.  I worked on this sucker all weekend and it turned out really well - in my opinion.  It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it!

We've had the dresser for a few years since Michael's parents gave it to us.  I knew that it would eventually be Athena's dresser so I've been looking at some inspiration on how to update it and make it look cute in a little girl's room.

I decided to paint the outside of the dresser and the handles gloss white.  I also decided to leave the original stain work on the outside of the drawers but paint the insides white to brighten it up.  The patterned paper I found at The Paper Source.  It's bright and girly but not childish.  I used mod podge both underneath to adhere it to the drawers and on top to give it a sheen.

Voila!