Summering

       Whew, time to catch up. I've thought about posting many times but something kept getting in my way. Playing with Nolan, reading books, crafting for Nolan's birthday, enjoying the Summer.  It's all been pretty lovely but something had to give, and that something was the blog. I thought it was about time I drop in and do some catching up. So let the randomness roll...

I told you about that little addiction I have called Pinterest. 
Well, Pinterest remains to be amazing, 
but I decided I needed to stop pinning and start doing. 
So every week I'm aiming to create, 
cook or make something that I'm inspired by on Pinterest. 
I've whipped up blueberry crumble bars
homemade macaroni and cheese,
mint brownies, 
and a fruit pizza for my birthday.

Not to mention, I've found lots of inspiration for craft projects.

It started with some homemade invitations for Nolan's Birthday dinner. 

Exhibit A.

I'll have lots more images to share next week,

of all of the craftiness that's been going on at

Casa Milam.

A few weeks ago, we met some friends at the beach for a BBQ.

It was love at first graham cracker.

That's Nolan and his friend Romi. 

Getting a lift from their papas.

I thought it was a good time to snap a Summer 2011 Family photo.

It's so good to enjoy time at the beach in the Summer with friends.

We officially have a madman on the loose in our house.

My name is Nolan, 

I like dog food, 

power outlets, 

power cords,

and graham crackers.

And he can be a bit of a drama queen king.

We bought a bike trailer for Nolan. 

Come to find out, 

it was more a gift for Jon than Nolan.

I should have anticipated that.

The verdict is still out on what Buzz thinks of it. 

Jon tells me that Nolan likes going fast.

Lovely.

We even had a couple of guests from across the country.

It was a brief visit but it was good to catch up.

Three generations of Milams

(two looking at the camera at one time was

about the best that we could do). 

And OF COURSE,  there was the Fourth of July. 

My official new 3rd favorite holiday of the year, 

(very closely behind Thanksgiving and Christmas). 

I LOVE the Fourth of July. 

There is an amazing energy around this time of year. 

Everyone on the streets and in our neighborhood

was sooooo friendly. 

I wish we celebrated it all Summer long. 

When we do at long last have our own home, 

I've decided it will look patriotic in the Summer months.

By the time Friday afternoon rolled around, 

I was really craving a Margarita and I wanted 

to kick off the holiday weekend right. 

So I grabbed a couple of friends, 

and Buzz, 

and we headed down the street to Jakes for a drink.

Please note: Yes, my son's hair is standing up on his head 

by about 3 inches. 

He's getting a big haircut at the end of this month!

On Saturday morning, Nolan and I popped in on Jon at the

Meeks Bay Pancake Breakfast.

And that's it....

for my Fourth of July pictures.

How very sad. 

I just couldn't...get...myself...to...use...the camera.

Sometimes lugging the camera around

and getting myself motivated to find the right

setting for the right picture is just too exhausting.

But let me tell you, we were really enjoying ourselves.

We went to the beach,

where Nolan made it clear that he thinks that Lake Tahoe

is far too cold. 

I turned 30

and we watched fireworks!

To our amazement Nolan actually loved them. 

He sat on his dad's lap pointing and sucking his thumb

the whole time.

 Next week is Nolan's 1st Birthday and the entire

Hay clan is in Tahoe for our annual vacation

(and I have the week off of work!). 

I promise to take photos and share them!

Hope that you're having a great Summer!

1st Birthday Thoughts

       Last week I was sitting at my desk at work (concentrating very hard on the tasks ahead of me...in case anyone from work is reading this). I looked up at my calendar and realized it was June 1st. (although looking outside you might think it was mid-January. Seriously. It's an issue.). Then my breathing got a little bit faster, and suddenly a little bit of anxiety built up in my chest (at this point my officemate was starting to stare). It was then that I realized that in LESS THAN A MONTH my little boy will be one.  As in, has lived 12 FULL MONTHS ON THIS EARTH. Something has to be wrong here. This can't be right.
       But it is right. Nolan has almost reached the ripe age of eleven months, and one year will be upon us before I know it. As much as I can choose to deny it, I'll just choose the best cliche to fit my thoughts... time flies. 
       The first eleven months have been crazy, but each month Nolan has gotten cooler and cooler. No seriously. He's very cool at this point. He is so interactive. So loving.  So innocent. The next twelve months can only bring more cool things. So I'm coping, and I'm trying to convince Jon to let me have more babies. But convincing is going to take a while, so in the meantime I'm planning Nolan's 1st Birthday Party. 

       As luck would have it, on Nolan's actual 1st birthday my family will be in Tahoe for their annual summer vacay, so we're putting together a little birthday dinner for the big guy. And here's what I'm thinking (clockwise from the top!)...

1) I'm going to whip up a tablecloth with some fun fabric. I'm thinking a green print, but we'll see what jumps out at me.

2) A key lime layer cake. I found a recipe so I'm going to try my hand at it. Nolan actually has a strong gag reflex and I'm not sure he'll care for choking down any cake, but we'll give it a go. Oh, and I'll be making some bunting for up top. 

3) Flower paper lanterns. I'm dying to make some of these babies. Cute and very affordable to whip up.

4) More green print fabric...I liked it so I threw it in there.

5) Some paper garland. I've never made this style of garland before so I'm looking forward to crafting it up some evening after Nolan's in bed. Scrapbook paper + glue + ribbon = Paper garland.

6) Striped straws. I love them. Not sure how I'll use them, or if I'll get them, but I like the thought. 

7) Tissue paper number. I'm thinking of crafting a #1 to mark the occasion.

8) Bunting invitations. I need to start whipping these up asap!

       We're thinking of another bbq later in the month of July to celebrate with other friends and family! He's a popular little guy, what can I say. An early birthday gift for Nolan arrived on Friday and Jon is going to be putting it together very soon! I'll share more on that later this week.

A Wet Memorial Day Weekend

       Whew. We're back from a very wet and cold weekend. We're giving our washing machine a work out getting the smell of campfire smoke out of everything. When we walked in the door, I was in a hot shower in less then 10 minutes. Something about rain and a damp campground for 3 days, just makes you feel chilled to the bone. 
       A while back we booked ourselves a campsite at an old favorite of ours, Scots Flat. Last year I was about 32 weeks pregnant and lounged in my swimsuit on the rocky beach. This year, things worked out a bit differently.
       Last week, we were both checking the weather forecast each day. 60-67 degree temps throughout the weekend was not exactly what we had hoped for, but we knew it would be better than Tahoe, so things moved forward as planned. We grocery shopped on Wednesday, packed our bags on Thursday, and Friday after work we were ready to load it all up and get on the road. The forecast had started to show a 30% chance of percipitation on Friday but still sunny and in the 60's for the weekend. We weren't afraid of a 30% chance, so away we went.
       I thought that keeping a now crawling 10.5 month old content and entertained would be tough at the campsite, but Nolan was pretty amazing throughout the whole weekend. 

He spent a lot of time in his walker,

and lots of time bundled up.

On Saturday morning we took a walk.

It was brisk and there were some clouds,

but we were hopeful that it would start warming up soon.

The cooler weather meant that the normally busy lake,

was pretty quiet.

We were happy to be back on this trail

that circles the lake.

Fast forward a few hours. 

A couple of friends arrived with their baby girl

and shortly there after...

it started to sprinkle. 

And then rain. 

And then we got cold. 

The guys were able to rig up a tarp that we huddled under. 

I apologize for the lack of pics 

(they probably would have been the most entertaining), 

but the camera was not on my mind. 

So we decided that when the rain gets going,

we go to the nearby restaurant & bar.

We threw the kiddos in the cars,

and headed a few miles away to our dry haven.

The 5 Mile House was a blessing with a bar.

We talked to locals and

we even got to glimpse highschool seniors

having dinner on their prom night.

As we sat there I couldn't believe it. 

Out the window I wasn't seeing rain, I was seeing snow.

It's hard to tell in this shot,

but it was snow, 

and the flakes were getting bigger.

Nolan was gifted a balloon, 

which he was pretty enamored with.

After taking cover there for a couple of hours,

the weather let up so we headed back to base camp.

A break in the storm

gave us a chance to re-cover some things,

 do a tent leakage check

and sit by a warm campfire. 

The night was cold, but our tents did the job

and kept us dry.

In the morning I whispered to Jon, 

"If rain is forecasted for today I think that we should leave."

I was relieved to step outside and find this.

Blue sky was just what I needed.

This pretty much sums up the weekend:

Our beach umbrella stood in as a rain umbrella,

a tarp was strung from the trees, 

and we were bundled up the whole time

(I don't think Nolan or I went without our hats for all three days).

Sadly, our sunscreen and swimsuits

never made it out of our bags.

The rain saddened Blue, who had his heart

set on lots of swimming.

Our very smart friends headed back home to warm up, 

but before they left I had them snap a family photo of us.

And here's one of them, and their daughter,

an amazing trooper.

Soon, I realized how smart they were.

Technology failed us. The sunny forecast that we saw via Jon's 

iphone was a lie. A couple hours later it started to rain again.

And then hail.

So we did a little of this.

Okay, a lot of this.

In case you're wondering, my son is eating a pretzel. 

He loves pretzels. 

I'm slightly worried about his sodium intake.

It did let up, so we ventured out to get ourselves warmed up.

And because I like to drag my husband out on a lot of walks.

The rain caught us on our way back, 

and we took cover under some trees, 

but Buzz didn't even notice.

We had some fun around the campfire on Sunday night.

Our final night in the tent was COLD. 

It probably got down into the 20's, yikes!

For those of you who are a tad bit worried, 

we kept Nolan very bundled and I checked on him frequently.

You can see his little head in there, 

under the many layers of blankets.

We are very happy that we stuck it out for the wet weekend.

We actually didn't want to leave,

because we didn't want to face the new snow that had fallen

in Tahoe while we were gone.

But we're here, we're home,

and it's still snowing.