Introduction to Manhood

Kyle recently gave Max a crash course into manhood... Three hours in the garage with Dad & Poppy workin' on the motorcycle. From what I hear (I was out with the girls at a tea party), the boy loved it. Of course he did, it's time with the boys gettin' dirty and being manly! :)

Friday Night (de)Lights

About a year ago, I got serious about a subject that was just bugging me. It was that dreaded hour of every mother's day, around 4pm, when we ask ourselves "WHAT AM I GOING TO MAKE FOR DINNER?!?!?"... So, a year ago I got serious about a monthly meal plan. It has been AWESOME and has totally energized our family's eating. I've noticed that food in our  home is generally healthier, yummier, and just more interesting. A side benefit I didn't expect was that I am actually starting to ENJOY COOKING (gasp).  One can only make Tuna Melt Casserole a certain number of times in a week before a revolt happens. And I am just super happy that this area of our life has been transformed from total 4pm chaos, to a calm planned approach resulting in variety & enjoyment by my entire family.

But you see, this is not the purpose of my post :) The PURPOSE is to highlight what happens on every Friday of the monthly plan. Friday is Kyle's day... He volunteered to have a "day" since he enjoys cooking, and we are ok with once a week take-out when he's not in the mood to cook. But when he IS in the mood, we are in for a real treat. He is such a good cook. I want to cry every time he cooks, it's that good. I may also be crying tears of joy that I am not cooking (didn't I just say I enjoy it now? hmmm...)  :) Anyway, and because of this, my children will literally eat ANYTHING the man cooks.

So this blogpost is dedicated to a recent delish meal of clams & mussels, garlic bread & tasty broccoli. The kids gobbled it up, we were fighting over the remains. LOVE MY HUSBAND THE CHEF!!!

Tromping around...

We had a middle-of-the-week spontaneous family outing to the great outdoors. Jackson Bottom Wetlands is only a few minutes from our house, so we loaded up the kids & rainboots and headed for the hills. Even little Max was able to walk majority of the time, until he got his britches in a bunch about something... So I did carry the little muddy creature for about 5 minutes, then he decided to be brave again. Little boys, I tell you... they are so tough, but still need their mommas. Kyle tells me this is basically the description of all men. Ha ha!

As Marin would say, "Look Mom, it's a sign of spring!"

St Patty's with the O'Corrigans

We enjoyed celebrating our Irish heritage with the Corrigans again this year, and my lovely parents were able to be a part of it too (however they forgot to wear green, what can I say? They're um... NOT Irish). Gotta love the country pride!

 

From Saint Patrick's Breastplate:

Christ be with me

Christ before me

Christ behind me

Christ in me

...Christ beneath me

Christ above me

Christ on my right

Christ on my left

Christ where I lie

Christ where I sit

Christ where I arise

Christ in the heart of every man

who thinks of me

Christ in the mouth of every man

who speaks of me

Christ in every eye

that sees me

Christ in every ear that hears me

Salvation is of the Lord.

The Three Amigos

Lately I've been finding my three little chickens all squished together on the couch. They do this umprompted and they insist on all touching & sitting as close as possible without actually sitting on TOP of each other. So cute. They are crazy in love!

And because I seem to only have pictures of Brother on my camera, here's some more cuteness. I need to work on equal opportunity picture taking.

More preschool field trips!

I went with Marin's preschool class to Papa's Pizza. It was a super fun outing, and we got to take a tour of the kitchen area, have a demonstration of how make their creations, and then enjoy some of the yummy stuff afterwards! AND frolic on all the very fun play structures complete with merry-go-round. But my very, VERY favorite part of these field trips is when my girl looks up at me with that million dollar smile, squeezes my hand and says "Mommy I love it when you're with me". Love.

Bonneville Dam

Kyle surprised me last Saturday with a proposal. He proposed that (a) I sleep in, (b) he load up all three kids and take them on an outing that would last until after lunch, (c) I enjoy myself doing whatever I wanted with the rest of my time after waking up. INSANITY!!! In a good way, of course :) I proposed he be named Man of the Year. At first I totally felt guilty, but don't worry. I'm not THAT dumb, of course I took him up on it! What an amazing man I am married to. It gets better each year of being married to this one. Here are some pictures of their adventure to Bonneville Dam to feed the fish :) The man even TOOK PICTURES. God bless him.

Maddie's preschool field trip

Maddie's preschool class went to Out of This World Pizza & Play for a field trip today. And I got to go (wahoo!). Normally this place intimidates her, because it's so big. I was half expecting her to be holding onto my leg the whole time, however once again this little squirt surprised me. She was running laps around the place, blonde hair flying. Only after we got home did Marin (yes, the now 5 year old) inform me that they don't allow running there. What would I do without my big girl to keep us all in line? :) Love my babies.

Happy 5th Birthday Marin!

My first born is 5 today! Being her momma has made me SO happy. I am living my dream-come-true, married to the man of my dreams and home raising these precious and delightful children. It is amazing what each new stage in a child's life brings, in both challenges and immense joys. I am so proud of this baby girl, she is just amazing. I treasure all her sweetness in my heart. I love you Marin Elise!

For her celebration this year, we kept it simple celebrating with the extended family. This year's cake request was a UNICORN! This is our tradition every year, for each child's birthday, either Kyle or I design and make a cake for their big day. It's not fancy, but it's FUN :) I hope they will have fond memories of all the different cakes we've each done! We had a fun family party on Saturday, with her one request: Pin the Tail on the Donkey :) Ahhh to be 5 again and be thrilled by the little things... Then today, on her actual birthday, we had chocolate Rice Krispies for breakfast (Corrigan family tradition is each birthday kid gets to choose a sugar cereal on their b-day, the ONLY day of the year!), presents, playing with presents, then out to the Spaghetti Factory for her birthday dinner (again her request). It's fun when she gets to decide what our festivities will be, and we can make it happen for her! Again I say OH TO BE 5 and some spaghetti and sugar cereal can make your day! :)

Happy birthday my sweet and precious daughter.

A Weekend to Remember

The secret is out! (more on that later)...

Madeline and I went on a special mommy-daughter weekend to Tucson, Arizon to visit our very precious friends, The Bury's. Words can't properly describe this amazing weekend. I will not be able to adequately explain fully what fabulous memories we created, and what deepening friendship we experienced. My heart is full and overflowing! It was such a special time with my sweet girl Maddie, and what a blessing to spend time with my dear friend Sommer, her two sweet babyloves Silas & Jewel, and their amazing family & in-laws.

We spent a four day weekend there, and had SO much fun with Maddie's first plane ride (caught on video no less, woops forgot to turn off the camera during takeoff!). We soaked in the hot tub, hiked the Sabino Canyon, road tripped to Phoenix (more on that later), played Hex Bugs on the kitchen table, jumped on the trampoline, got ice cream after dark, drank lots and lots of coffee, gazed at the beautiful Arizona blue sky & mountains, counted all the cactus plants, counted all the twinkling stars (there are 37 zillion by the way) and worked out all the worlds problems in between. It was truly one of best weekends EVER.

The absolute highlight of our trip is what made this trip a secret :) Our very special friend, Erin, who recently moved to Ohio (boo hoo), is a huge Oregon Duck fan (go Huskies!). They are season ticket holders, so I knew there was some possibility they might travel to Phoenix for the national championship game IF Oregon made it that far (which they did). Even then, they had trouble finding tickets and didn't even finalize their plans until the last minute! Just on this off chance, we planned our trip to be the same weekend of the game. All before any of it was a for sure thing.

Well the Arizona stars aligned, and we were able to keep my trip to Arizona a SECRET from Erin so Sommer and I could road trip (without the kids, thanks Grammy!) and SURPRISE her. She knew Sommer was coming, but she didn't realize the elaborate plan to make it an Oregon bestie reunion. We got 4 hours with our lovely Erin (& Ty) talking in high pitched voices and such, which led to this moment being labeled LOVEFEST 2011. Awesome.

Then Erin topped that by road tripping herself back down to Tucson the next day to get a couple more hours with us, and the kids. Oh my word, too much fun to handle!! I love my friends.

And my husband, my dear sweet husband who made the entire weekend possible, took vacation days from work, cared for Max & Marin for 4 days, and even had the house picked up & flowers waiting when we got home from the airport. It's pretty special to get a surprise like that from the one you love. I love my husband.

So there you have it... It was a special, special time with some of my favorite people on earth. I am blessed.

Christmas 2010

Happy Birthday Jesus! Christmas was awesome this year. It was really the first year that the kids took the charge on all the excitement, whereas in previous years it was still Kyle and I coaxing them towards the traditions of this wonderful holiday. This year, however, something clicked with the girls and they were over-the-top excited for EVERYTHING! And so involved and insistent that every last daily ritual be completed approaching Christmas (we had about three different daily activities/crafts). So amazing to be a mom during these special moments! :)

And in case you're wondering, YES, the Oregon Corrigans believe in Santa. Did you know that St. Nicholas is a close pal of Jesus, and absolutely LOVES being his #1 helper on Jesus special birthday? Word.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. John 1:14

Zoooooooooooo lights!

Our first trip to see ZOO LIGHTS ~ It even snowed on us, but thankfully we were bundled up!

Preschool Christmas Parties!

Oh how I love Christmas... and our preschool... and parties... So having TWO Christmas preschool parties in one week just about puts me over the edge... in a good way :) Madeline especially embraced the "Santa with the short beard" with a long, long, long, long, LONG hug! I think the other kids were starting to get impatient with how long she was taking to hug the jolly dude. She informs me every day that the real Santa has a short beard (none of these long shiny, polyestery beards will fool this child). She is perceptive and EXCITED, as is Marin about "Jesus' birthday helper" this year!

Growing up...

Facial hair already, where has the time gone...

Saint Nicholas Day...

... is a day to remember the real St. Nick, a man who wanted to be like Jesus by bringing joy those less fortunate. It is a Corrigan tradition to celebrate this day, and we enjoyed a special visit from Nana & Poppy, topped off by the presentation of Christmas jammies from us to the kids. I think my girls will be wearing these every day until Christmas!

Oh Christmas Tree

We visited a new tree farm this year, Sleighbells in Sherwood. So fun!

A Christmas Preview......

The Corrigan kids are going glam for Christmas this year. Only because of Max ~ a little boy in a 3 piece suit makes me giddy :)  These pictures were taken BEFORE the studio appointment, which was filled with shenanigans (of course!)... So... a little preview :) Those of you celebrating the holidays with us this year will most likely be seeing a lot of these outfits...

Let it snow...

... even one inch of snow brings delight to my children! Bring on the full snow attire, sleds & snow insect (this is all we could create with so little). It was fun while it lasted!

It's not as bad as it looks...

... but it is definitely worth a picture! Kyle had a mole removed from his head, and they bandaged him good to keep the pressure on it to stop the bleeding. Let's just say he got a LOT of sympathy from the three mommies (i mean ladies) in his life ~ there is something about a man in a head bandage that just screams "take care of me!"... We love our daddy!