This little light of mine....

Mazzy, you light up our entire world. I love you more than words or photos could ever say. Happy 7th Birthday! Love, Mama

 
Mazzy Kristine: Birth to 7 Years from The Creegs on Vimeo.

Please ignore the weird framing for the pictures I had to nab from Kodak, the way the captions shoot in and out with lightening speed (awesome.) and the sketchy Picasa slideshow format....someday I will come back to this and fix it, Mazzy, I promise.

*Yellow by Coldplay

Baby Fever

I've been struck with a case of nostalgia that I fear will not leave me any time soon.

Mazzy's 0 to1 year slideshow from The Creegs on Vimeo.

Dad gives Max his first "home" haircut

Max's Haircut from The Creegs on Vimeo.

I love the way Josh captured Max's playful and "boyish" side. Often when we are out and about Max comes across as shy and quiet. This little video depicts him in his true form. Thanks, Joshie, again for creating a fun little video of our kids while they are growin' up.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Mom's Birthday Slideshow (2012) from The Creegs on Vimeo.

We love you.

Happy 4th Birthday, Maxton James!

Hey Mister,

Your mom takes way too many pictures and does not have the patience for scrapbooking or getting photos developed.  To document your life we will make due with slide shows done to music. Now, this is a slide show for you, for me, for Dad and for the other most important people in your life. There are a lot of photos. A LOT. I love to photograph your face, your toes, your hands, your  day to day goings on, and your precious smile.

At 4 years of age you are so many things: cuddly, silly, quirky (you are obsessed with my hair, obsessed, child.); in love with all things Star Wars, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Batman/Spiderman/Ironman, Toy Story, you love to talk about butts and poop, you enjoy puzzles and drawing, you at times can be a picky eater and still have the lean little boy body you've had for a couple years now, your reddish hair is becoming darker, your eyes are as brown as ever and melt my heart each and every day. Your giggle makes me smile and when you have to pee you hold out until you've bounced off every single wall in the house (annoying me just a tad (that's being nice), son).

You started preschool this fall and your teacher and parent helpers have nothing but sweet things to say about you. They notice your sweet shy smile, the way you listen and follow along in whatever the class is doing, and your eagerness to join in the songs and dances of the day. Your dad and I are so so so so very proud of you.

Your sister loves you very much. She's a firecracker, but has such a soft spot in her heart for her younger "brover".

You play  well with your friend, Nori, and your cousin Harlie. Cutest trio ever. Your cousin Micah and you are mischievous little rugrats and enjoy pestering your sisters. It's pretty hilarious to watch. Your older cousins, Cody and Austin, like to look after you. Your grandparents adore you.

As I'm writing this you are recovering from your first sports related head injury...needing two staples to the head.

Life at home with you and your sister has been wonderful and hard and a constant learning experience. These are days filled with laughter and tears, arguments and spilled milk, laundry and cuddles, dishes and dessert. Holding you as we waited in the ER last night made me realize (again) that I will have no other job ever in my life that is as important as being your mother.

I love you so completely. And I will forever. Happy Birthday, Max.

Love,
Mama

Maxton James 2-4 years from The Creegs on Vimeo.

Summer of 2012: Mazzy Moments

Moments from this summer (in no particular order)....


I started the bath for you, Mazzy, and later came down the hall to find this situation. The sign on the door reads: "The Princess is out. I will grace you with my presence later." You are 6 years old and have already learned the art of a girl taking time for herself. My job here is done. :)

'During a break in practice Mazzy comes over and takes a few swigs of water and sits up in my lap to give me a kiss and follows it up with, "Mom. Thanks for signing me up for soccer." ' - Mom 

You and Maxton and your shenanigans.

"Mazzy was given a Scrabble set - and this was her first creation. What a 'nice' big sister eh?" - Josh  (aka Dad)

Tahoe House

Mazzy, you lost your first tooth on July 10, 2012!

Last day of kindergarten with your best buds, Imari and Malaiyah.

First day of soccer practice!

Family vacation on the Oregon coast. Joy!

Mazzy, you learned how to ride your bike just in time for the 4th of July parade!

The fam making the most fun out of a solar eclipse.

I just really love this photo of you Mazzy with your dad (in Roseburg, OR) on the day before my 34th birthday.

Mazzy Kristine you are such a radiant soul. You are creative and loving. Fiesty and fiery. Compassionate and affectionate. Quirky and lovely. You are now 6 years old and I could not be any more excited for this next year of your life. You are really embracing new things and are such a brave young girl. We love you. So very much.

Love,
Mama

Garden 2012: 1 Month In

I was able to snag a few butternut squash seedlings from my mom's house...hoping they do better than the seedling I bought from the nursery this year.

Butternut Squash Seedlings

I've had a number of Sungold tomato seedlings sprout from the seeds left by the tomatoes that fell into the dark depths of our garden's underbelly last summer. I plan on potting them when they mature a bit more.

Sungold Tomato Seedlings

It looks like "So far, so good."

12 Years

Josh and I celebrated twelve years of marriage this weekend.  Our original plan was to spend our anniversary wine tasting and enjoying a casual  lunch somewhere new to us. These plans changed when Josh received a phone call from a good friend of ours who had won free box suite tickets to THE BLACK KEYS - Thank you, Chris!!! Now the funny thing is that Josh and I wanted to go to this concert for our anniversary  but couldn't when the night of the concert was going to  land on a night Josh had to work. Fast forward to last Thursday and free box suite tickets, well, Josh felt compelled to ask to get off work early. So we went and celebrated our 12 years together at the concert and it was incredible. We also made the time a little more special by booking at night at the Sheraton Grand Downtown. A huge thank you to my sister who watched the kids YET AGAIN! We love you so, E.

Since Josh still had to work a bit that night I went ahead and checked into our hotel room without him. I had a few minutes before jumping into our cab to pick Josh up.... so I sat at our room's window seat and enjoyed a cold beer while looking at that night's Super Moon.

At 8:45pm I waved down a cab and picked Josh up from the Library Galleria, conveniently located just a couple blocks from the hotel.

The flash was assaulting-ly bright as you can tell from Josh's expression.

Our view from the suite was pretty good...

Ali, you and Stephen there somewhere?

The Creegs in the suite.

Disco Ball!  (Encore)

Me with the adorable VB. 

So after the concert we headed over to our friends' house for a bit before returning to the hotel to chat for a while about the evening before retiring to bed. It was the perfect date night. The next morning we headed to Capitol Garage for brunch.

Great food....extremely slow service. We had  a leisurely 2.25 hour brunch. ;)

We came home to our munchkin's around 12:30 on Sunday. It was good to see their smiling faces...they dressed up for our arrival...

Photos by Erin.

Their welcome home message to us. The cutest, right? (Auntie Erin is THE best.)

After a good nap we took the family over to Scott and Erin's house for a SBBQ (Sunday Blues BBQ) and some swimming. It was a great way to cap off the weekend!

Happy Anniversary, babe. I love you more than bread and butter. And that's a whole lot.

Also: Here's what Josh gave me for our anniversary...he's the best husband and father on the planet.



Creeger Family Tahoe Trip from The Creegs on Vimeo.

Pizza Night

Roasted butternut squash.

Sage from the garden.

I let the sage take a bath in the sizzling bacon grease.

Crispified goodness.

Drizzle of olive oil. (This is a premade pizza crust. The store was out of the naan I originally intended  to use.)

Topped the crust with chicken, roasted bns, goat cheese, and bacon pieces.  Finished with crispy sage leaves.

Ready to get cozy in the oven. 

Now onto a vegetarian option I found on Pioneer Woman's site.  Roasted eggplant and grape tomatoes.

Added a bit of minced garlic to the roasted vegetables.

Fresh mozzarella.

I love me some pizza. I love me pizza when it turns out good. Which these two did. 

Josh and I had a long talk last week about where we've been and where we want to be. We've decided to reign in our indulgent tendencies a bit.  We thought back to our early days as new parents...having that one night toward the end of the long week to look forward to....we called it Moe Night, complete with homemade pizza, wine (maybe a cocktail) and a friendly game of dominoes. That's when our pizza nights really took shape. We want that excitement back. Making our favorites a favorite again instead of making them a normal weekday dinner. And maybe choosing to play an actual BOARD GAME rather than WWFriends against one another on our stupid phones.

Pairing food and wine has and will always be a favorite pastime of ours but I can't wait to get back to a time when it was for a special occasion rather than our reward at the end of each and every day.  I think our waistlines will thank us, too.

Cheerio!