Life at 33: Part 2

i am so blessed to have such good friends and family.
and not because they gave me birthday gifts.
but because they give of themselves...often.
whether it's a phone call, a card in the mail, an e-mail or a popup chat on Facebook,
i know that i can always count on them.
~
i posted here about how i spent my birthday and about a few
of the gifts i had received.
here's part two
i was so happy to receive a bookstore gift card from my mother-in-law.
i love books. but i rarely buy them for myself.
especially the ones i really want...the ones that cost $25.
bob watched the kids while i sat oh-so-happily for an hour with a lap full of
books and a tall, non-fat, no-whip, two-pump mocha next to me.
it was oh-so-hard to decide, but i finally decided on this one.
it's cram-packed full of great ideas.
i can't wait to create something from it...in the next few days, we might
just see what one of bob's worn-out dress shirts can become.

while in Portland, i met with my dear friend Jenny.
yeah...that one. the one that creates masterpieces!
she and her family traveled to Malaysia this summer and
she came back with this fabulous piece of fabric for me.
the trim that shows on the right...i gotta figure out how to incorporate
that into whatever i make.
i thought that this fabric was an awesome birthday gift, but then...

... i received this in the mail.
four fards of fabric to play with!
can't wait!

also, while in Portland, i got to see another dear friend, Diana, little miss
smartie pants herself.
she got me a set of mini-albums (photo is near the bottom of the post...oops!)
that i can't wait to fill with photos of my sweet little ones.
she also gave me this box...isn't it cute?
but wait...

...look what happens when you take off the top!
there are three separate sections to attach wallet photos, journaling, etc!
i've never seen anything like this and I CAN'T WAIT TO COPY IT! :)

i was so happy to spend some time (not enough!) with my dear friend, Betty.
she gave me these beautiful hair pins and a coin purse.
i have to hide them from Emma as she loves to play with them!

i had one more package in my big pile of mail when we returned from Portland.
this one was from Jamie ... the mother of sweet little Clara.
i went from having no watches to two awesome handmade watches!!
i love that they are totally different from each other.

yep...here's the albums
and the box? it works great to store my two new watches!

Oh, happy 33!

Cassie...30 is great, but it just gets even better! :)

Part 3: Boring I

This is the view of Mt. Hood from my window as I was driving down the

road towards Boring. When we went out on Monday to set up the tent,

the mountain was barely visible. On Wednesday afternoon,

it was breathtaking.

Can you imagine the view from that mountain top?

Emma's friend Elise.

Elise is 6 and Emma is4 1/2, but Elise is small for her age

and Emma is tall. I was suprised to see that they

are almost the same height.

Ryan's buddies:

Kaden, Zack and Jake (with the praying mantis)

Goofy boys

Best buddies!
They sure do miss each other.

Part 2: Seaside

We spent Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday night and Wednesday morning at Seaside.

Since Dad and Bob aren't fans of the beach, Mom and I have taken the kids for the

past several years. We missed our trip last year due to the fact that we were moving at

the time. So it had been two years since we've been to the beach.

It was a wonderful 24 hours!

Look at that smile!

Off they go.

Mom and Ryan

Oh, that water's cold!

No matter how cold it is, rarely have ten minutes passed before

Ryan is soaked.

My favorite photo of Emma at the beach.

Look at all of that sun!

Me and the kids.

The aquarium in Seaside is quite amazing.

It's nowhere near the size of the one in Newport, but it's been there

for years. Some of the sealife they have in there is incredible.

This one kinda freaks me out.

Ryan loved the touch tanks.

Emma touched the surface of the water. :)

Feeding the seals.

Emma's favorite beach food...clam chowder at Norma's.

Ryan's favorite food anywhere...corn dogs.

...as we walked back down to the beach in the evening.

My favorite photo of Ryan at the beach.

The sunset wasn't that great, but we sat out

and enjoyed it for a while.

Wednesday morning was gorgeous!

Both kids found whole sand dollars just before we left.

Mom and Emmalee

On the way back to Portland, we stopped at Camp 18 for lunch.

Walking down by the river, we noticed this elephant (can you see him

hiding in there?). I've never noticed him before...strange place to see this.

Next stop...Boring, Oregon.

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.