unbelievable wildfire timelapse

This video is 16 minutes long, but it is amazing.

The forces of nature at work…

home is…earth, wind, and fire.

UPDATED: fires in colorado

Source: google.com via stephany @ on Pinterest

Gosh, they scare me.

My parents, aunt and uncle, and many friends live in the foothills west of Denver.

I also have cousins and an aunt and uncle who live up in the Vail Valley.

Source: google.com via stephany @ on Pinterest

As of right now, they are safe.

That could change in an instant.

Did you see that 32,000 people have been evacuated near Colorado Springs?!

The fire doubled in size OVERNIGHT!

Huge fires are burning west of Fort Collins, Boulder, and Colorado Springs.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of houses could be destroyed this summer.

If I could send the rain and cool temperatures that we have been “enjoying” here in the Pacific Northwest to Colorado I would in an instant.

Please pray for Colorado.

Please pray for rain.

Please pray for my family, friends, and their neighbors.

How can we help?

Please visit this website.

I will post more information about how we can help from out of state as I find it.

home is…praying for my native state.

baby girl said…

“Music makes me happy!”

Just watch the video…

home is…a dance party.

no balloons

For the first time in the five summers of living in this house we did not make it to the Tigard Festival of Balloons.

I love to get up early beginning on Friday morning and walk down to the park to watch the balloons launch.

Unfortunately, it was rainy.

Friday.

Saturday.

And, Sunday.

When my 5:20am alarm went off each morning, I listened for the rain, heard it on the roof, and went back to sleep.

Here are a few photos from years past…

And, you can see my posts from last year here and here.

It all worked out ok as baby girl woke up on Friday morning with a fever, so we spent the day lounging and fighting her fever.

By Saturday she was getting some energy back, so we headed out to goodwill while the boys washed Ben and took Odyssey for a swim.

We found a couple of treasures…

so, I have new projects to work on.

By Sunday afternoon, the sun began to come out…

These horses were out on my drive home from Trader Joe’s.

And, I was able to get out and enjoy my happy place a little bit.

We weren’t able to cross balloon festival off our summer list, but we’ll be working on some other items this week.

Stay tuned for a peek into our home later this week…

Oh, also…

Source: kellehampton.com via stephany @ on Pinterest

Kelle liked my yellow dress!

home is…no hot air, but lots of rain.

full

Lately, I start my mornings outside in what I call the best seat in the house.

Odyssey likes to share my coffee.

Yesterday, I found this knocked over.

Kind of a bummer.

growing up

I signed the little guy up for camp this week.

Every morning.

As of yesterday morning, he had only gone to one day.

Monday.

He was brave.

After a little bit of a struggle {read: he was hugging me and my legs and not letting go} he walked into the big gym and played along side with kids twice his age.

When I picked him up, he looked so little.

His Batman backpack dwarfing his body.

He wasn’t happy.

He wanted to be with his mommy.

He hurt his toe.

It was cool outside, and they were in the pool for a long time.

I kept him home the next two mornings.

Yesterday, Ryan was home.

He wanted the little guy to go.

I totally understand the lesson he wanted to teach…you sign up for something {and Poppa works hard to make the money that pays for things} and you follow through.

The little guy went to camp.

He walked into that big gym.

He was brave.

He looked so little.

He IS so little.

I wanted him to be home with me.

I cried the whole way home.

When I got home, I cried as Ryan hugged me.

I have to admit, I signed him up for camp for selfish reasons.

I thought I would need the time away from him.

But all I want is to be with him.

And, baby girl.

They are growing up.

Right. Before. My. Eyes.

selfish reasons

I couldn’t wait to pick him up.

Baby girl and I mailed a colton+cadence order and made a quick stop at Goodwill.

Then we went to pick up the little guy.

I told him how brave he was.

I told him how proud I was of him.

I have to admit, I was telling him those things for selfish reasons.

To make myself feel better.

He had fun at camp.

When we got home, I pickled some cucumbers while the kids had a little lunch and quiet time.

Then we went on an adventure.

Local farm stores…

and, Sonic for ice cream…

before dinner!

We played outside in the backyard until Poppa came home.

Baby girl was exhausted after her bath and was asleep the second her head hit the pillow.

The little guy was having trouble going to sleep, so he got to come downstairs and play outside with the neighbors while Ryan and I worked in the garden.

Sometimes big boys get to stay up past bedtime.

I have to admit, I let him stay up way past bedtime for selfish reasons.

To spend time with him that I had missed in the morning.

To redeem myself.

And, to make myself feel better.

Filled.

home is…learning from our mistakes.

summer solstice

I was going to write a big post about our yard and how it has changed and grown since my last post, but I am tired and I didn’t take photos with my good camera today.

This morning was beautiful and I enjoyed our backyard…sipping coffee while the kids watched a show inside (it was a bit cold out).

After that, I organized, crafted, and cleaned inside while the kids ate breakfast and played.

Once it warmed up, we moved outside where we organized, played, cleaned (think car wash) outside, and made rainbows.

Summer definitely made an appearance here in the Pacific Northwest today…

I hope you all had a great day, too!

*all photos taken on my iPhone with Instagram…you can follow me @homeisablog

home is…summer.

{colton+cadence} the whole world is a garden

home is…made with love.

{colton+cadence} weight of the world

I’ve added a few finds into the shop in the last week…

I came across some vintage postal and kitchen scales and bought a bunch of them.

Both scales above are from the early 1950′s…postage was three cents per ounce!

I love the color in this one…I kept one like it for myself.

Go check it out!

home is…fun finds.

here it is…

summer list

Last year I was inspired by Meg to come up with a Summer List of our own, and I loved it!

I absolutely love how Meg’s looked on her giant chalkboard with the photo collages in what is now her craft house!

{I also adore her old school chairs and would love some of my own.}

Source: megduerksen.typepad.com via stephany @ on Pinterest

Anyway, it gave us (me) a reason to plan some fun activities each week, but also left room for spontaneity and lazy days.

Although the little guy has been out of school for a couple of weeks, this week is the “official” start of summer break for all of the “big kids” as the last day of school was yesterday.

I have a giant chalkboard like Meg’s, but the kids use it and I am afraid that they would erase our list and I would constantly be re-writing it this summer.

I decided to use our giant bulletin board instead.

You may remember that it has been used to display our christmas cards in the past…

in our playroom…

and, in our family room.

Now, the bulletin board is located on the huge wall next to our open staircase in our entryway.

It has been displaying the kids artwork from the school year.

Since we won’t have school work, and we have two other bulletins on the wall to display artwork, I decided this would be a good place to put our summer list.

So, here is our Summer List 2012…

We walk by it every day and we can make sure that we are checking things off as summer moves along!

I printed out our list in a fun font, cut out the items, and glued them to scrapbook paper that was cut into different sizes.

My hope is that each time we do something on the “list” we can write the date on the card and I can write down a little bit about our adventure.

I will also print some photos of our adventures to put up on the board.

See my handsome cousin and his fiancé up there? We’re going to their wedding in August!

I will put additional invitations and postcards (my mother in law sends the kids postcards frequently) up here as well!

And, the big thing on our list…

no more diapers!

So, what do you plan to do this summer?

photos from {m}iphone

Here are some recent photos from Instagram…you can follow me as @homeisablog!

Well, we’ve got to to cross something off our summer list…

home is…hot fun in the summertime.