Part 1: Portland

The week before school started, Mom, the kids and I headed to Portland.

We spent the first couple of days seeing friends and family.

It was so nice to see everyone!

The family we last saw in July, but we haven't seen some of the

friends since we moved away a year ago.

I aplogize for starting with this photo...but this was one reminder of

why we were glad to be out of the wet Pacific Northwest. Look at

the size of this slug compared to Mom's foot.

Disgusting!! :)

I remember going out to get the paper in the morning and having to

shake off the slugs that had gathered on the plastic bag.

Sure don't miss them!

Oh, but here's something we miss!

Mom and I headed out to Boring on Monday morning to set up

our tent and stopped at a berry stand.

These didn't last long!

Emma must have eated 1/2 of her weight in berries that day.

The kids, of course, love to spend time with their cousin.

Ryan and J get in some Wii time, and

Emma's never a foot away from J on our walks.

Monday afternoon, we spent some time with Jenny, Yesmin, Lucas, Diana

and Michael. We haven't seen them for a year, so it was so nice to spend

some time together. It didn't Emma any time at all to get right back into

her playful relationship with Lucas. Ryan, Yemin and Michael jumped

right back in, too.

I love that characteristic in children...the ability to form fast friendships and

renew old ones without any reservations.

Ryan, Michael and Yesmin

Me, Jenny and Diana
Miss these two!!

Mom and Emmalee

Such sweet friends!

I love that their arms are intertwined as they

eat their popcycles.

This is a scene that I remember from

when we lived in Portland.

These two spent so much time

in Jenny's backyard playing with rocks.

Emma, of course, is singing the entire time.

We spent Monday evening at Betty's house. Somehow,

I didn't get any photos of Betty or the boys.

However, I did get one of her spider that's taken up residence up

by the boys' fort and of the morning rain on

her beautiful roses.

Third Grade

(fresh out of the shower)

Dear Ryan:

You started third grade this week. THIRD GRADE! It's so hard for me to believe that you're old enough to be in the third grade. Today was your third day, and you're so excited for this year. Your regular teacher, I'm told, is especially good at teaching boys. You've already made new friends, reconnected with the old ones and established yourself as a soccer and football player at recess. You're also very excited for your GATE classes. Last year, you went once a week for about three hours. This year, you're going all day on Tuesdays. You came home on Tuesday so excited because you get to learn how to make rockets, study mythology, and do lots of science experiments.

~

I love that you love school.

I love that you've grown a bit this summer...physically and otherwise.

I love the choices that you've made recently. I'm sure that you'll be a shining light

to others at school.

I love you...my not-so-little boy.

May it be a wonderful year!

~

Love~Mom

Just a taste of the beach...

Photos to come once I dig out from the pile of laundry, get Ryan from school, get our house back in order!

The Crafty Crow Give-Away

http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/2009/08/giveaway-monday-75-gift-certificate-to-cwd-kids.html#comments

Magnetic personalities

we tried our hand at magnetic hair thingy-ma-jigs

Just peaking out

little toes
big pile of books
little voice telling the stories as she sees them

What's on your windowsill today?

handmade thank you's from dear friends
a rooster
delicious tomatoes from mom and dad, ripening in the sunshine
basil in a jar
flowers picked for me by my sweet little ones
a reminder of the importance of friends

Friends

i love how they played together

how the big one watched out for the little one

loved to listen to their conversations

loved how she called him grandpa hop

Life at 33

i love birthdays
i might not when the numbers are larger (who knows how large that will be)
but i love them
33 is great!
~~
i woke up to this smiling face
all of the others were still sleeping


mom and i spent the morning "running around," as bob puts it
then we went scrapbooking
it was a lovely surprise to have two gift cards handed to me when i signed in
thanks to max and amanda and to the sloans (whose third son was born this morning!)
a sweet friend joined us (forgot to take a photo!)
another dear friend stopped by with her beautiful daughters to
deliver a gift. see her back in the corner? she made that!

this photo was taken as we were checking out for the night...just
before the checker sang happy birthday to me over the speaker
believe me...i was red!

love it!

yum!

when mom came to the house at 10 am, she had this with her

when we got home at 9 pm. ... it became a little smaller!

(just a note...i'm not neglecting to take photos of ryan...he

was a sleep in the morning and at the races with dad in the evening)

our family minus one

on tuesday, we went to the caldwell night rodeo

you know, the one where the cowboys are the stars?

it was awesome...the amount of grit thosde cowboys and cowgirls has amazes me

i told ryan that there is no amount of money that would convince me to

get on a bull...nope, not even that much!

thanks to uncle max and aunt amanda for the "rotton candy"

amanda shared her duct tape knowledge

these are so much fun to make...well, except for one part...but besides that...

another dear friend (known her all my life) made this watch for me

isn't it awesome!

and she's gonna teach me how to make more bands...

sweet!

~~~

week two of year 33 will be spent in portland

mom and the kids and i are headed to portland to see some family, friends,

hopefully visit a nice warm beach (yep...wishful thinking) and

spend a few days receiving bread at boring

i'll try to pop in here and there

there's a give-away coming soon...who knows when...sometime in the next month or so

so keep your eyes peeled

i've been thoroughly enjoying my new sewing machine

(bob's birthday present to me)

but more on that later

Finished product

This is the finished product that I talked about here.

I didn't do too much to it, but I love the simplicity of it.

The photos are on the outside of the glass, so they will be easy to change.

It's hard to see in this photo, but the top middle pane

has a "welcome" rub-on.