A little sewing

I have missed all my sewing projects and have been kind of lost without projects to obsess over. Olive and Hans have missed the buttons. I used to love to go through my mothers buttons and apparently this has been passed on to my kids. So today we took out a couple of jars. I wanted to make this hat for Christmas but during packing one piece went missing so I never was able to start it. During the last week I found all the pieces and today I made this hat. I started it for Olive but Hans really liked it. I think it looks good on both of them. I think I'll try one in corduroy. Now I guess I should start on Easter projects.

A Sheppard kind of weekend

This weekend my sister Alexandra and my brother in- law David came for a visit from Portland. I think it was the first time since Alex and Davids wedding that we were all together. It was also the first time I have had both my sisters over at MY house. It was kind of a different feel to be here together without one of our parents but Pete said that there was a definite Sheppard feel to the evening and that it felt like being at my moms. That made me happy. I had a really good time together and it was so nice to be with my family. I hope that Luisa and Alex felt the same. After all my planning to be closer to my sisters it has finally come to fruition. Now the only thing left is for my mom to get here. We miss you mom.

Coming up Daffodils

It has been so fun to see what is coming up in the garden now that spring is getting near. Our neighbor said that we have a lot of great roses and some really nice shrubs that will bloom. As we were talking along the side of my house Hans brought me these. My first two flowers! Daffodils are my favorite and I also noticed we have quite a few Crocus coming up.

On another subject I want to talk about one of the best commercials I have ever seen. I LOVE commercials. Pete is always amazed at how easily I am amused by them. This is one of my favorites. Pete just bought me the CD with this song on it and I am so excited for it to get here. You may have heard that there is a sitcom in the works for the cavemen and I am glad that we now have cable. Anyway this commercial amused even Pete. The best part is when they are at church. If there are people that actually use these at church even I might start going.

Steppin' into the garden

Sunday was a pretty nice day out so we started working in the garden. The kids are so excited about it. Last year Siobhan and Oscar weren't with us until we had already planted and they are happy to be in at the ground level. They worked really hard and have spent all their extra time outside. Hans has collected a massive amount of worms ,which they are looking at in this photo. Olive has eaten a large amount of the worms and I am considering sending in her application for Fear Factor except I don't think they make skimpy outfits for kids her age.

Pete has ordered seeds and we are excited to get planting and to see what grows for us this year in our new climate. I am hoping we can grow some these "mom and dad" carrots. I don't know what's better. That we noticed this or that we actually took the time to photograph them. Either way I sure do love this blog.

I love you Craigslist

Since I met Pete we have sat down at the table to eat our dinner every night. Since we have moved we have been without a table and it has felt really unsettled and I have missed sitting down as a family every night. Kim had kindly given us our last table but we had kind of outgrown it so we decided to look for a new one. I was a little worried about finding something we would like and could afford. So, I turned to my old friend Craigslist (not to be confused with Craiglist which deals solely in more adult matters). A week later we have a large table, an extra leaf and 8 chairs!! $150.00!! The best part is that they were drop seats so I was able to indulge in my longing to recover some chairs (Pete was a huge help thanks to his past in furniture repair). I am really happy with it. I also finished our curtains for our bedroom (don't mind the messy bed)......

One last thing to add to this weeks accomplishments. Luisa bought Olive this darling outfit. You can't tell in the picture but there is an apron front with pockets that ties around the back. Olive has refused to put it on until yesterday. So here is a picture for you Luisa. See how happy she is, she's thinking of Auntie.

Pete and his shadow.

It's been kind of a rough few days for me so I want to post something that has brought me endless enjoyment. A few months back I was working on a new sewing project and I wanted to get the kids profiles. I had them sit on the floor in front of the wall when the sun was shining. I thought Oscars was a little off but thought "Well, he has a Roche nose."

Then I had Hans sit for me. Could he really be that slack jawed?
After alerting Pete to these odd silhouttes he took mine. I know my nose could not be that pointy! Could it? Pete said that because the sun was coming from the side and behind us it was just distorting our profiles. I still was not sold on the theory so I had to take Petes.

If he was wrong we have some serious problems. How did the wicked witch swap her profile for Petes? And why is she so happy! Look at those glasses! They are HUGE. Kind of like the wicked witch with a twist of Elton John. Anyway, this picture never fails to amuse me, hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Yes Siobhan

I have always been so grateful that Siobhan and Oscar have such a close bond. They fight just like all siblings but they are very loyal to each other and very loving. No matter who they are with or where they have lived they have always had each other which has been an endless source of comfort for me. Siobhan is able to talk Oscar into doing just about anything she wants and scenes like these are not unfamiliar. I was a little worried about them being in two different schools this year for the first time. But I also thought maybe Oscar will learn to say no to her when she asks him to do silly things.

Apparently not.

Photo Finish

We had a Williams kind of weekend this week. Luisa and the kids had yet to come over and see the new house so I picked them up on Friday night. They seemed to have fun. We had pizza for dinner and man does it take a lot of food to feed ten kids and three adults. Saturday we had some calamari and I was amazed that every single kid LOVED it. Uncle Pete was the only one who doesn't have the taste for it. Must be a Sheppard thing. So before I took them home I wanted to get a picture of all the kids together. This one I liked. This is what I had to take to get to that......

And this................
A little of this.......................
and lots of this..............................
Previously not pictured, baby Malachi. According to Olive, he is not a toy,
he is a baby and he belongs to her.

Random post

My poor little Olive is swollen head to toe so I will make this a quick post tonight so I can tend to her. I thought I'd post a picture from Hans' 4th birthday. I particulary love this photo because of Oscars face in it. I would love to hear any caption suggestions.

Maybe he was wishing for an awesome mohawk like Malachi's.

Or perhaps he was remembering a past birthday of his own.

Country Cousin meets City Cousin

Well, I am now posting from our new town of Auburn. Our house is awesome and Washington rules. There are so many things I want to talk about but I think I need to start with the Lindgren/Roche kids entry into the Williams territory. After talking with Dad about some exchanges between the kids he clued me in that what we are witnessing is the re-enactment of the classic country cousin meets city cousin story. Here is an example of a real conversation I recently overheard between Oscar and Silas.
Silas: (looking at something in Oscars room)"Man, that's filthy!"
Oscar: " No, my mom just washed that."
These two are super close ( in city talk 'tight") but I love how much they confuse each other. I am so happy that these kids will grow up together. It takes all my willpower to not drive over and see them EVERYDAY!

Olive and Saul have a somewhat different relationship where Olive talks his ear off and Saul will occasionally utter something back. Olive is preparing Saul to someday have a Mrs. Kravitz type wife and is constantly nagging him and bossing him. She really enjoys to repeat any directions I give to him slowly and at a close distance. Really though Saul is my buddy and I would love to someday steal him and bring home to live with me. For now I have to settle for sleepovers.
The one universal rule that transcends background is that all the Sheppard girls kids would rather be naked. Or at least shirtless. Well, I think I will try and pace myself. Maybe I'll save the girls for tommorrow. I am glad to be back on my blog. I have missed it and I have missed you.

Team Lindgren Rulz!

I remember when my nephew Elijah was little my brother in law started getting him ready for his basketball career so that he could take care of his parents in their old age. I always thought that was funny and remember thinking I would always be happy no matter what my kids decided to do for a career. Well that has all changed. This is Hans' future. Also, they took the listing down since it seems that all is good for our purchase and the property is no longer available. We are due to move February 09 which is the Valentine thong day of my knitting calendar which seems very auspicious. So look for many pictures coming in a couple of weeks (but not of the valentine thong). Miss you all!!

Hello!

HI everybody! We are still doing well. We have found a house and are really excited to move in. You can still see the listing here. It is a perfect match for us and it is in the historic downtown area of Auburn. The kids are excited and are doing well. Courtney was here yesterday and The Williams stayed over last night so it has been a pretty fun weekend. I am excited to be able to post pictures soon!

Finally. Here.

Well, we finally arrived. It was a three day trip involving snow chains for the moving truck and that should be plenty of information concerning the actual getting here. It is really nice to be here and everyone seems really happy. Hans loves how dusty(foggy) everything and Oscar and Siobhan are excited about their new schools. The only hard part is not having our computer at home yet so I can't add any pictures to my post. Hold on, Hans has to write something. gr fbg jh j j y fh h fh gtg it. Okay, so our first week has been spent getting adjusted. Pete has worked a lot and we all had food poisoning on New Year's Eve(curse you mini donuts at Pikes Market!!) I am looking forward to checking out some houses this week and hopefully moving again real soon. I'll try to get back to my usual blogging soon. Miss you all!

Latte Love (bad, I know)

I just cannot post without a picture and I'm too lazy to upload my new photos so here is one from a couple of weeks ago. I call it... An Ode to Uncle David. There is NOTHING Olive loves better than a baby latte. We will miss our neighbors(starbucks). Well, moving on, we now have an apartment. You may take the tour here. It will be nice to all be together but I hope we find a house that we love pretty quick. The apartment is close to Petes work, the library and the kids schools so that will be nice. Siobhan is happy/scared that she will actually be going to middle school instead of elementary. Oscar will be on his own for the first time. So three days to go. I am excited to see everybody.

FUN FUN FUN

This moving deal has taken a lot out of us. We had an offer on our house within 12 hours of listing it. After signing all the papers they accepted the counter offer and then pulled it. So we were back to showing it. It is hard with 4 kids to leave at a moments notice. Saturday, when it was about 20 degrees outside we went downtown and rode the train to see the lights at the Temple.
We also went to the very last breakfast with Santa at the Tiffin Room in Macy*s. The kids had a lot of fun. I think the adults faces tell their own story, don't you? Pete is now in Seattle working away and thank goodness we had another offer and they have accepted the counter offer. The first person had bid sight unseen. This lady has been over 3 times so I feel pretty good about it. Please keep good thoughts for us. Also, more importantly, baby Nathan is sick in the hospital with meningitis. Please say a prayer for him.

Baby not included.

Well, our house is now on the market. We have had a really good response so far. Quite a few people want to come see it. You can view the listing here. It is listed at 160,000. My favorite thing is how with the house as empty as it is there we still kind of dominate it. Oscars video game remote is in the picture of the living room. Siobhan and her friends stuff is all over the bedroom floor and Olive is actually IN the picture of our bedroom!! Sleeping on the bed!
So, hopefully this will go quickly and painlessly. I will miss this house but I look forward to what is awaiting us.

Me and my maxi.

I have been trying really hard to still have fun with the babies while we are packing all day. Luckily they are both great at playing together and by themselves. Today while I packed in the bedroom Olive found Siobhans box from her maturation class. She was so happy that there was lipstick in there (her favorite!!) But more importantly there was something that was pink, or pink yellow as she calls it. So this is Olives new most favorite toy, her maxi pad. She carried this with her all day yesterday. At the store she wanted it on the conveyor so that she could pay for it and despite my repeated requests, refused to put it in her pocket. This lasted all day until she accidentally opened the package. After crying for an hour or so she realized there was something inside and that it could stick anywhere. This was even more exciting. So if anyone is still wondering what to get Olive for Christmas, she prefers wings.

On our way

Well, we are packing it up and heading out west. On December 27th we will be on our way to Seattle. We are excited but very nervous and overwhelmed. We are scrambling to get our house ready and sold. SO, I will try to keep posting until we leave but it will probably be sporadic. This picture is for mom. Can you believe how empty this side of the basement is?

Daily Show Tom Waits Performance

For Dad..........

6 Degrees

This morning when Pete left for work he woke me up to say it had snowed so to give myself extra time. Yesterday it had snowed also but just kind of dusted everything. So, I fell back asleep and woke up at the usual time only to see it had REALLY snowed. When we left for school it was six degrees out and the plows hadn't been down our street yet. Siobhan and Oscar are thrilled and I am glad that our backyard looks so nice. I hope it will keep snowing until we sell our house.
I am glad these two can cuddle and enjoy their warm blanklets, as Olive calls them, while I shovel the driveway and scrape the windows.