Doctor Who, The T.A.R.D.I.S Room and Sean's Birthday Surprise!

Sean's Birthday, June 25th, 2013

A little back-story...
Mid-January we were attempting to catch up on a little show you may have heard of, Downton Abbey, and decided to sign up for Netflix to watch season 2 {since we had finished season 1 and season 3 was being recorded onto our DVR} before we got too far behind on season 3. Unfortunately only season 1 was available. But, we kept our subscription {and actually went to just Netflix and Hulu when we moved} and got hooked on a new show... Doctor Who!! {BBC (British) Sci-Fi show featuring a time-and-space traveling time lord.... in a very small nutshell!}

Oh my heavens!

It took a few episodes, but soon we were all hooked - Ethan included!

Fast forward to the end of June and we had watched the first six seasons of the newer series (Doctors 9, 10 and 11) and had started the 7th. We had cheered when the Doctor defeated the Daleks, Cybermen and Weeping Angels, laughed at his funny sayings and quirks, loved his companions and cried when, well..., I can't give it away! Sean's birthday was approaching and one night I was online and randomly stumbled upon info that there is a T.A.R.D.I.S Room/Fish-n-Chip Shop in Portland. I was just about to show him when I decided to keep it a secret and surprise him for his birthday! Mind you, I am not big on surprises. I'm too much of a control freak to like when they are done to me {it'd better be really good!!} and too much of a chicken {worrying that the other person won't like it} to do it to other people. But, I decided to stick with it and Ethan and I surprised Sean!

It worked out quite nicely that Tuesday night is also their Doctor Who trivia night... Unfortunately the topic that evening was the 2nd half of the 7th season, which we hadn't watched yet! No matter, we still ordered and enjoyed our food and all the fun Doctor Who decor!!

Ethan thought this T.AR.D.I.S lamp was SO COOL!! It even made "the sound" when you opened the doors!

Inside the T.A.R.D.I.S lamp.

Ethan and his favorite Doctor - #10, David Tennant

Exterminate!!

Sean's fish-n-chips birthday dinner!!

Doctor Who pinball

All the bathroom doors were painted to look like a T.A.R.D.I.S!

After dinner, we came home for birthday cake with friends!! I baked Sean's traditional homemade chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting... so good!!

 Happy Birthday, Sean!!+

7 Year Itch

Seven years ago these two crazy love-birds got hitched!

July 9, 2005
I was barely 23 and Sean had just turned 25.
We got married in L.A.
Honeymooned in Mexico via a cruise.
And lived happily ever after! Or, rather, we are living happily ever after! No itch cream required!
We have our ups and down, for sure, but we are stronger, wiser and happier because of them.

Sean had to work on our anniversary, so we celebrated later in the week with a wonderful afternoon date... We went and did a session at the Portland temple...

Picture circa Fall 2009

And then we had a late lunch at one of our favorite restaurants (that we rarely go to), Stanford's. Sean was adventurous and ordered their burger special, the 'Surf-n-Turf' w/ kobe beef, dungeness crab and a bearnaise sauce. I tried a little bite and actually liked it - and I am not a seafood fan!

My lunch choice was not nearly as exciting, but it was still very good. I opted for the club sandwich and side salad.

Then, because they were trying to promote their new 'Surf-n-Turf' burger, it came with a free dessert... We went for the bread pudding with cherries and bourbon caramel sauce. Not the best we've ever had {That top honor still goes to the Doubletree Inn at Lloyd's center... who knew they had such a bomb bread pudding?!} but good enough that we started chowing down on it before I could snap a proper cell phone picture!

Our anniversary was simple and low-key and just what I wanted for a date with my hubby!
Seven years and going strong... I love you, Sean!!

Piano Recital 2012

The first week of July was the piano recital for all of Sean's piano students. If you'll recall from last year, Sean had 6 students for most of the year, but 5 by the recital. It was a quick recital. This year, he nearly tripled his numbers!! Fourteen students most of the year and thirteen by the recital. Add in Ethan for his first recital and it's back up to fourteen. And, don't forget, Sean also has one vocal student.

Anyway, last year we had the recital at someone's house. This year, with so many new students, there had to be a change in venue. Luckily, you can have musical performances at the church, so we were able to have it there. We had 40+ people, including students, parents, siblings and grandparents show up for a great performance! All the kids did 2 songs each and it was awesome to hear the improvement of the beginners from last year, the newbies from this year and then also the more advanced students that switched over to take lessons from Sean.

Ethan, the youngest and most beginner-est of the group, started it all off... He had a little trouble at first, but (with a little coaching from Daddy) played on...

 Followed by the rest of the beginners, intermediate and more advanced players...

Group shot! The littlest girl in the front (with the binkie) is not one of Sean's students... just to clarify!!

Afterwards there was refreshments, mingling and much praise given to these fine, young musicians!

Sean's Birthday BBQ

Sean's birthday was a two-parter this year... We celebrated a day early with some of Sean's family (his Dad, Lynnie, Cassie, Grandma, Aunt Shari and Uncle Monty) and some of my family (my Mom, Dad and Lizzy) by having a BBQ at my parents' house. It was so fun to have everyone all together and great for Ethan to spend time with his Nana, Papa and Auntie Cassie since he doesn't get to see them too often. There was lots of catching up and laughing and enjoying the sunshine. Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Chuck came by towards the end and brought some marionberry pies to go along with the from-scratch chocolate cake with chocolate frosting that Sean had requested...

After cake and presents, we had to say goodbye to everyone because, unfortunately, Sean had to be back at work the next day. It was a very quick visit, but still great to see some of our family!

Monday, Sean's actual birthday, he had to work most of the day, but Ethan and I surprised him with a visit at work and freshly baked cookies for him and the other staff and students. I also made Sean this birthday banner...

Look closely... Under each letter there is also the braille dot translation, though the dots are not raised like true braille. Just a little shout-out to Sean's line of work!

A couple months overdue (on the blog) but Happy Birthday to the love of my life!! 

Father's Day 2012

So the day after Sean's concert (see previous post) was Father's day and even with early morning church, we got things started right with a little breakfast in bed... French toast and meat!! :)

Sean opened one of his gifts so he could wear it to church... Nope, not a new tie... A new belt!! A much-needed, new belt! Then it was off to church where they totally forgot to do something for the Dads!! What the heck?!

Back at home we kept it low-key... Sean opened his other gift - another belt, this one a brown one, more for everyday - and a selection of his favorite candies. Dinnertime was a first in the Southworth house:

Ribs, real mashed potatoes and corn on the cob! Ok, the ribs were a first. Mashed potatoes and corn on the cob are not that rare! We cheated and bought the pre-seasoned, pre-sauced, pre-cooked ribs, but they were still tasty - even if it's not a personal fave of mine.

Ethan is very lucky to have Sean for his Daddy. He is tough, but fair and loving. He works hard for our family, which sometimes means we don't get to see him much. It also means that when we do and when we go out and do stuff as a family, Ethan makes sure he stays right with his Daddy as much as he can!

I'm so grateful for Sean and the love that he has for me and Ethan. He works hard, laughs harder and complains seldom.

P.S. A shout-out to my Dad, Father-in-Law and Grandpa....Thank you for the wonderful example you are of fatherhood and thank you for being an awesome Grandpa, Papa and Great-Grandpa!! We love you!!

Portland Ensign Choir & Orchestra Summer Concert

Sean's summer concert for the Portland Ensign Choir and Orchestra was in June, right after school got out. The concert featured Jenny Oaks Baker on violin and was all Disney and movie music. Of course, curse of the camera, I remembered to have a fully charged battery and then left the SD card in the computer! So I only had the minimal internal camera battery to catch a few shots and a short video. This was from the Mary Poppins medley they performed. Other highlights included an acapella Mission Impossible theme, an Aladdin tango and a lively "Happy Working Song" from Enchanted. 

April Recap

Hard to believe there could possibly be anything else to write about for April after so much was already covered. I mean, April was a pretty busy month for us...

- California
- Disneyland
- Easter
- Ethan's 5th Birthday
- Ethan's birthday party
- Fire truck park
- Ethan's swim lessons

But, I think I can still find a couple new things to write about...

* Spring has sprung! Well, by now we are nearing summer, but in April all the flowers and trees were blooming...

Our bluebells.

The neighbor's apple tree.

The neighbor's dogwood tree. I really caught this one just barely before all the blooms were gone. For three Springs now I've been meaning to get some good pictures of that tree and I always miss it!

* Playdates. Since I am not working right now, I try and help out our friends if they need a kid or two watched for a couple hours during the day every once in a while. One day in April we had 2 kids in the morning and 3 kids in the afternoon with about a 1/2 hour overlap between the p.m. kids being dropped off and the a.m. kids being picked up! Ethan plays well with all of them, so it usually works out pretty well.This little cutie is Emily (almost 2) and it was one the first times she was at our house, so she was very quiet but super sweet. I couldn't resist this picture because of her cute little ponytail sticking up from the helmet!!
{Notice the jungle we call a yard behind her?! Yeah, we were pretty happy when our landlord's guys finally came to mow it in April! Not for our lack of trying to do it on our own (long story)- we just don't have our own mower.}

* YM/YW ward talent show. Since Sean is in the YM presidency, he got to participate and then it just happened that the Activity Day girls that I work with went to the show so I was able to video this little gem showing off the YM leaders that are oozing with talent!

 

* Geo-Trax. We love our Geo-Trax in this house, but since they take up quite a bit of room to make a full track, they usually make an appearance once a month or so and then stay up for a few days. This track was from April and Ethan and I thought we were pretty clever for being able to engineer a 2-story hill and some cool zig-zags/switch-backs underneath.

* First trip to Klineline of the season!! We had some AWESOME weather the 3rd weekend of April and ended up at our fave summer hang-out Saturday evening with several other friends and family. We had a picnic dinner, dipped our toes in the cold water, kids fished, kids played at the playground and adults played some frisbee in the squishy, soggy grass. Good times. :)

* Oh, and in case you're wondering... no date-night-movie-of-the-month. We were too busy with everything else all the other weekends. I did, however, finally rent and watch Thor in preparation for The Avengers coming out. We also re-watched Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and Captain America! We got movie night in May, though - any guesses what we saw?!

* Random picture of my boys... Of course, they're sleeping. Snuggling together one Sunday after church.

New Phones!!

I've never really been one to go after the "latest and greatest" - especially when it comes to technology. In my opinion, new technology is always WAY overpriced and within in a year or two the price drops dramatically. And basically, with my own stuff,  if it ain't broke... don't fix it! Hence the reason I am only on my THIRD cell phone ever. That's right. #3. I got my first phone before Sean and I got married and my second phone when Ethan was about 6 months old. Well.... Ethan just turned 5 which means my phone is (was!) 4 1/2 years old. That's a dinosaur by most people's tech standards. In fact, we just got unlimited texting within the past 7 months or so.

A few weeks ago Sean and I FINALLY got new phones!! "Fancy" by our standards, but not an iPhone or Android. At this point we can't really afford a data plan, but we definitely wanted to upgrade to a "texting" phone. We got the same phone - a Samsung with slide out keyboard and touchscreen. We love it! And it has internet and data capabilities should we decide to add a data plan in the future.

Rash Wednesday

Poor Sean.

Poor, poor Sean.

Last Tuesday he came home from work complaining of itching, thinking he'd gotten some bug bites and wondering if I had some too.

I did not.

By Tuesday night the itching was much worse and he discovered it was not bug bites, but a welt-like rash on his thighs, feet and hands. He called in sick for work the next morning - after waking me up at 5:45am to show me that the Benadryl he had taken hadn't worked! And that the rash had spread to his arms. He made an appointment with his doctor and went back to bed.

11:15am Doctor appointment and the diagnosis? Allergic reaction.

To what? We have NO IDEA!!

Doctor prescribed Prednisone in a pyramid pack - six pills for day 1, five for day 2, four for day 3, etc. Sean came home and took the first two after lunch. And then he slept. Honestly, I think the whole thing was good for him just to have a chance to catch up on sleep a little!

By bedtime, the itching and welts hadn't gone down, so he called in sick again for the next day. And then took an Aveeno bath. I had gone to the store to get some earlier in the day and was glad to see they still make it. It's a good thing to have on hand. I remember having to take these as a kid... when I had chicken pox, when I had bad mosquito bites after Girls Camp and the day I discovered I was allergic to horses and broke out in hives. {What's that? You didn't know I was allergic to horses?! Well, that's a post for another day!}

It was almost a full 24 hours before the Prednisone really kicked in, but once it did the rash and swelling disappeared pretty quickly. Sean was able to return to work on Friday. The only evidence we have of the whole ordeal is this cellphone picture Sean snapped of his arm. This is a mild version of what was on the rest of his body.
P.S. Sean was the clever one with the title for this post. And he really did stay home sick, with a rash, on Ash Wednesday!

Even Mozart Had to Start Somewhere

Sean has 12 piano students and 1 vocal student.

And a waiting list.

He's in high-demand for his mad-piano-teaching-skills.

In fact, he may get two more students this week... Younger siblings of another student. His schedule barely allows it, but we think we can squeeze them in.

His newest customer, though, is non-paying.

Unless you count hugs and smiles. :)

Because those are in abundance and worth their weight in gold.

Sean has been giving Ethan mini piano lessons here and there - nothing really consistent, no set day or time - and Ethan is soaking it up like a sponge! Over a month ago Sean worked with him on counting quarter, half and whole notes. And Ethan got it. I was amazed. This first video is just of counting notes, playing middle C on the piano.

Once Ethan mastered that, Sean moved on to notes. Ethan knows, I think, most of them around middle C on the piano but Sean focused on notes on the page. Honking Cars is one of Ethan's first songs and it's just C and G notes, but Ethan has it quite mastered already. I am one impressed Mama!!

And I'm so glad it's Sean that plays piano and not me, though I wouldn't mind learning how to read bass clef. Several of Sean's students come from homes where the mom knows how to play piano but hasn't had any luck trying to teach their kids because there's not enough separation between mom and teacher. Mom's the one home with them after school AND trying to be piano teacher and they just don't respond well. In our case (for now, at least), it works to have the piano teacher be a parent because Sean's not the one home all day.

Anyway... Just thought I'd share some videos of our little Mozart-in-training!

{Please note, I am kidding. I am not under the assumption, by any means, that our child is a piano prodigy - just happy he is learning!}

January Recap

Sometimes I forget how long I've been writing on this blog... That Ethan was just under a year old... And then I look back and realize that this is my FOURTH January Recap post.

FOURTH!

Crazy.

The very first monthly recap post I ever did was for January 2009! Ethan was 21 months old. We were still living in Oregon - our last January there.
January 2010 - Ethan was almost 3 years old. An animal chewed through the spark plug wires in the Explorer, causing a couple hundred dollars in damage. And... We moved. Hard to believe we're going on three years up here.
January 2011 - Ethan was almost 4 years old. We had just returned from our seven-state-mega-road-trip for Christmas break. Ethan and I made a visit down to Oregon and it was the last time we saw Grandpa Ken.
But, moving on to this year... January 2012.

* ROSE BOWL!!!:

[http://www.madeinoregon.com/Oregon-Ducks-Rose-Bowl-Champions-2012-T-Shirt-6188.html]

We were so excited and so happy to see the Oregon Ducks go to the Rose Bowl this year! My family drove up on the day of the Rose Bowl to watch the game with us and drop Christine off at the airport {so she could fly back to Provo}. Of course, we had awesome game-day food: spinach/chicken stromboli, pepperoni/olive stromboli, veggies w/ dip, chips, spicy/cheesy bean dip and leftover Christmas candy. GREAT game and a Rose Bowl WIN for the Ducks!! Woot woot!!

* Family Movie Night: Captain America

[http://www.recipeapart.com/captain-america-first-avenger/]

Both Sean AND Ethan had already seen this movie - Sean at a guys movie night and Ethan at the Colemans' house one night while we were playing games with other couples at another friend's house. So, really, we rented and watched this movie for my benefit. Most Friday nights we end up out doing something with other families or couples and it was nice to stay in, get some pizza and watch this together. Of course, Ethan had to play with his Captain American tank toy {thank you, Nana and Papa!} while we watched the movie. I loved it! Much better than I expected. In fact, Target had it on sale last week and I bought us a copy. Now, I just need to rent Thor and I'll be all set for when The Avengers comes out in May!

* Oregon Zoo: Ethan and I braved the cold weather and met up with some friends for the $4 Tuesday at the Zoo. It was pretty cold, but stayed sunny all day. Ethan and I, knock on wood, always manage to get sun when we go to the Zoo - even during the non-summer months! Ethan and his buddy, Sam, were so fun to watch together. Sam's little brother, Austin, stayed bundled up in the stroller.Thanks for coming with us, Walkers!

* Playdate w/ Sarah: Ethan and Sarah are such good friends and play well together. Sarah came over for a play-date and they painted birdhouses. See, at a previous play-date, Sarah had spied a birdhouse that Ethan painted for me some time last year and she wanted to paint one too. So the next time Ethan and I were at JoAnn's, we got two and kept them stashed until Sarah came to play again. $1 crafts that keep toddlers entertained for at least 1/2 hour are OK in my book! * Sean's OT and Extra Shifts: Sean has been working hard to provide for our family. He already works full-time, plus has 13 piano/voice lessons to give each week but, when the opportunity for over-time and some extra shifts came up, he took them! First up was a very rare chance for over-time with his current job - Seattle area was hit with a lot more snow than Vancouver, so it wasn't safe for kids to travel home Friday afternoon and they had to stay for the weekend. OT almost never happens and Sean worked a full Saturday shift at time-and-a-half. The next weekend, Sean signed up to work TWO graveyard shifts for a special college-prep thing the Commission for the Blind did over in Sandy, OR. We are very, very grateful for all of the hard work he does to provide for our family!!

* Stuff already covered: Pretty much the only exciting thing from the month that was already covered was our snow day. Oh, and our Brazilian cultural night!

* Random Ethan Sleeping Pictures: I can't help it, I have to take a picture when I find Ethan in a funny position. Well, I guess the first one isn't that funny, it was more that I found him crashed out on my side of the bed! The other two he had done a complete 180 turn.
Woo-hoo!! I am officially caught up on my monthly recaps!!