Copy Cat

I don't mean to be such a copy cat, but I saw this cute idea for a little girls dress made from a men's button down shirt on Michelle's blog. Today I went to Goodwill and found a cute button down shirt for $2.49. It was a woman's extra large, but I decided to give it a try during nap-time today. When Anna woke up I tried it on her and finished it up. I turned out a little big, but that's ok. She can wear it next summer as well. To try one yourself go here. And don't worry, I won't call you a copy cat. :)

Blueberry muffins

We picked blueberries last week so I was excited to make some blueberry muffins, but I didn't have an amazing recipe to try. I looked around on allrecipes and debated between the "to die for" or the "health nut" blueberry muffins. Each had 4 1/2 stars. Can you guess which one I decided on?

It was these and they are delicious!!

Silver Falls

This Saturday we spent a fun day at Silver Creek Falls. Craig and I had not been there to hike the falls since we were dating. Summer '97 if I recall. So that would be....hmmm....11 years ago. Pretty pathetic.

So, when our good friends called to see if we were free for the day, we were excited to go. Below is the cute T family. We have not gotten our families together since before Christmastime. Also, pretty pathetic, considering they live about 30 minutes away. It wasn't as if we hadn't tried. Kids and life just get in the way sometimes! They are so much fun, their kids have grown, and we've missed them!
We took these pictures right before embarking on the loop under the waterfall. It was cool to see it again and experience it with kids. I found my heart jumping up to my throat a couple times as they peered over the edge below. And I heard a yell that sounded and awful lot like my mom's voice coming out of my mouth, saying, "Stop......no, no, no, get down!"

I had almost forgotten about the cool "caves" and rocks to explore as you walk under the falls. They boys were really into that. Notice how all these things would have been perfect photo opportunities to document that we once again were back at silver falls after 11 years with three kids in tow. But when I pulled out my camera to take some pictures, I realized the battery had gone dead.

So, no more pictures. But trust me, it was beautiful and we had a wonderful time. Thanks for inviting us, guys!!

Little Fish

The boy have had a fun couple weeks doing swimming lessons. They both enjoy the water so much and these weeks in the pool are always a highlight of our summer. Here is Will doing a running jump....

Here is Wyatt's class. They are having a blast jumping up and down making big waves.
Wyatt is such a spaz in the water. He was constantly doing underwater swimming, bobs, rolls, and cannon-balls. He is still getting the hang of actual "swimming" but loved being on his back. He's all about havin' fun!
Will did a good job practicing his all the different strokes, and worked very hard. He's also a great floater. I was proud of his progress this year!
Too bad I didn't get a picture of Anna. But she kept herself occupied on the swing set and playhouse and would occasionally bring me cup fulls of rocks (soup) and "feed" me. Next year she will be old enough for lessons, and boy is she excited!

Pictures in the field

There is this beautiful field of wildflowers...sweet peas, queen anne's lace and a bunch of wheat, right behind our house. Last night---spur of the moment---I walked the kids over and took a whole bunch of pictures. I just snapped away. Then I deleted most of them. I was very happy with the one of Will. He always does such a fake "posed" smile for pictures, so I just love how that picture caught his real smile. And his missing front tooth! I didn't get a great one of Wyatt. His expression in that picture is a classic Wyatt look, though. So I'll take it. And Anna....I might as well forget it. She is at a hard age to photograph. So I settled for the one of her just looking down. I do love how the sun was shining on her and made her look "golden". The last one of the three is nothing special. But, to me it captures their personalities. Will: reflective, Wyatt: go-getter, and Anna: always tagging along.

Hoopla and milking cows

Today we had our first experience with Hoopla! Will got to play on a boys 8 & under team and had a lot of fun. They played right in front of the capital building. They didn't win....but it was good experience and practice for him and he is super excited about shooting hoops at home now. Notice the kid to the right. Will guarded him. Way to go, buddy!!

This evening we headed out to a church BBQ hosted by a local farming family. Below is Will milking a cow. From basketball to bovines...all in one day.
Anna takes her turn with daddy helping (Wyatt and I each got to try, too). We can now say each member of our family has successfully milked a cow. We'd do great on The Amazing Race Family, don't ya think??
Here are the boys with Rose, before she was milked. She is such a pretty mommy. Her baby "Guy" was three weeks old, and oh so cute!
Brings back good mem's of my 4H days. :)

Take a walk down memory lane....

This is fun! My friend Angela just posted on her blog and since I have nothing else inspiring to blog about at the moment, here it goes....

The Directions:

1. Leave a comment on my blog. In the comment, recall one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! Please be nice to me! :-)

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

Playin' in the creek

Sunday after church we had a picnic lunch along the creek and cooled off in the water.

The kids had a blast filling their buckets with little sails and catching two craw-dads. Can you tell I told them to yell "CRAW-DADS" as I was snapping this picture??
Anna sunbathed on the rocks.....man, doesn't she look grown up in this picture?
And we even spotted a doe and her fawn getting a drink and cooling off in the shade.
It was one of those "perfect" days.

Part Two: Ice Cream

Growing up my family made homemade ice cream with an electric ice cream maker. I remember watching it turn round and round, adding the rock salt and ice and hearing it work harder and move slower and slower as it was almost done. Craig's family has a homemade ice cream maker, too. A REAL homemade ice cream maker. The hand-crank kind. We all took turns churning the ice cream on July 4th, up at Craig sisters house after a yummy BBQ. Here is Papa sitting on it with Wyatt while Chase turns.

No pictures to prove it, but I did give it a go for about 12 rotations, before tagging one of the bigger and stronger men for his 15 minute turn.

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The finished product ended up more like a milkshake, but with all those topping....who cares! Here's Anna with her gummy bears, hot fudge, whip cream, and sprinkles.
Will's creation....do I see butterfinger, caramel, hot fudge, gummy bears, heath, and oreo cookie crumbs???
And Wyatt, my purist with cherries, sprinkles and just a touch of hot fudge.
An electric ice cream maker may be less work....but no where near the FUN!!

4th of July: Part 1

I wouldn't say 4th of July is my MOST favorite holiday. In fact it always serves as a reminder that one month of summer is already over. But these patriotic cuties make me smile. And I am certainly proud to be an American. So I enjoyed the day to the fullest.

We headed over to the Monmouth-Independence parade were joined by my sister and her four kids, and well and my mom and aunt. We have had this tradition for 5-6 years now and it is always a fun time for the kids to see their cousins.
And, an added bonus is collecting lots and lots of candy!
After the parade we headed up north for a BBQ with Craig's side of the family. Stay tuned for more.....

Update

I have not posted for all of two weeks and let me just say, it was hard! I had to force myself to stop formatting blog posts in my head! But the break was good and I definitely feel refreshed and am really enjoying summertime. I wanted to give a little update and share some pictures of our first camping trip of the summer from a couple weeks ago. We camped out at a favorite campground of ours along the Oregon Coast. It was great fun clam digging (or trying to, we didn't get any) riding bikes as a family (Wyatt is finally getting good at the two-wheeler) and just being lazy (I read a 500 page book and enjoyed a few too many s'mores!). We also celebrated Craig's bday! He is now as old as me for another 6 months. Here are some highlights:

Anna running to daddy over and over on the beach

The Fam
Little Monkeys
"MMmmmm, s'mores are SOOOoooo good dad, you really should try one!"

We have also been picking strawberries and raspberries from our patch and I have made a total of 7 batches of jam. Yeah!!

Craig painted some furniture for the playroom and made me some super cool frames for some posters I had. It has proven difficult re-doing a room an a $0 budget, but my goal is to have the kids each do some artwork on these canvases I bought back before Christmas, and maybe frame a few more pictures for the walls in there. Then it will be complete. Pictures to come.

One of my goals for Anna this summer (besides finishing this potty training thing!!) was to get her to give up her pacifier. I envisioned this being a week or two long ordeal with me not getting any sleep and her in hysterics that she wanted her "sassy". A friend of mine gave me the idea to snip off the ends of her paci's and tell her they were broken. I decided to go for it. I came home that night, told Craig my plan, and snipped all of her pacifies the next morning. She had a little trouble that day, but by the next day when I offered her paci to her, she didn't even want it. She'd wrinkle up her face and say, "it's broken, I dun like it." So now she is completely paci-free and I am very happy. Now....if potty training could only be so easy.

We had a fabulous 4th but I will save that for the next post. :)