a restock GIVEAWAY

and the winner is...... tracy!!! big surprise :) 

oh yes, for real. i am having a giveaway. this is something i made that i'm not really using anymore, well actually i found a better frame that i'm using :) it's a thankfulness calendar. every evening at dinner we take a turn saying what we are thankful for and i write it down on a card and hang it up. it has been fun/challenging to come up with something new everyday. zula is so cute she almost always says, "i am thankful for mommy." which is really nice to hear, let's be honest :)

this includes
a frame with wires to hang your notes on
23 baby clothes pins
23 red and white paper squares to write on


also you can hang pictures on it when it's not thanksgiving.

to enter please leave a comment and say one thing you are thankful for. i will pick a winner with random.org on monday. and if i don't hold me to it!

walking

sometimes i wish i lived in a city. so i could walk everywhere, so people don't think i'm weird for walking everywhere. i realized the other day that the reasons i was wishing we lived in a city were things that i have here. they just look a little different, for example, i wish i had a grocery store i could walk to, but there is a cute little carniceria 2 blocks from us that is way better than safeway. we call it "the pink store," because.... well.... it's pink.


i think maybe the reason i like living downtown (in the ghetto), is there is so much life. there are tons of little "pink stores" and everyone is always out on their porch (cuz they only have window air conditioners and its still too hot inside), there are a MILLION ice cream trucks (even in the winter), tons and tons of kids, everyone has a garden and chickens and dogs and cats. we also watch out for each other. last summer when there were two shootings on our street afterwards everyone was outside making sure people were ok, shaking our heads together, hoping that things will get better.  i love my neighbors, i love my neighborhood. when we lived in seattle we only knew like 3 people in our whole building (and that's kinda stretching it). this place is just my jam, my flavor, my niche. 

how did i even get on this subject? i didnt really intend to gush all over you :)

here are some pictures of my neighborhood and downtown yakima.

trees on naches, where we go when we are on an "acorn hunt"

old fire station. i secretly wish we could live here. it's such a cool building.

the larson building is so beautiful. check out this site for some fun info on it.

a park we discovered recently.

playing in the grass median.

this is the original train depot of north yakima. sadly it's empty right now.

my favorite sign.,

the pink store.

complete with animal murals.

giant zula!!

 

thankfulness: fall

i'm really thankful to live somewhere that has all four seasons. i really like change, if you hadnt already guessed that by now. i think i would get bored if the weather was too similar all year. my bestie recently moved out of state (boooooooo) and has been mourning her new city's lack of fall.
our street is particularly beautiful this time of year. there are not many streets like s naches ave, but i may be a little biased ;)

we were playing outside enjoying the nice weather and i took a couple pictures. i am thankful for fall, thankful for my kids and family, thankful to be apart of yakima and thankful for change. 

ps yes, effi is waving in that last one. too cute.

living room, tiny tour

for effi's party we moved our furniture around a bit. we thought we'd keep it for awhile. i forgot how nice it is to change things up a bit (which i'm sure the husby appreciates). these old houses with millions of entrances (4 in the living room) and windows can be tricky to arrange.

what we've been up to

 here's a little peak at our life lately.

making messes

art projects

climbing

reading by the fire

baking

listening to christmas music

what have you been up to?

ps Feather Your Nest is THIS weekend! fri 6-9 and sat 9-5, 4710 richey road yakima wa. i made christams bunting!!

a squirrel and her acorn

we did have fun yesterday. what can i say, my kids are adorable :)

here they are in their costumes. i got effi all dressed up and my sister said, "she doesnt really look like a nut," a youth kid thought she was a turd, which would have been hilarious! just remember: she is an acorn, she's an acorn!

 

did you see the creepy zombie in the background of that last one? lol