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. :)

Going on a blogging break

Hello friends and blog readers!

This will be my last entry for a while. I hope to be back to blogging in a few weeks or so, but I can't say exactly when. Blogging is something I love and I've made so many connections with all of ya, I hate to leave, however I feel inspired to do so, for now. (I will still check my favorite blogs from time to time!)

The beginning of summer is somewhat like the start of a new year for me. I have so many goals on my to-do list, including:

Finish our playroom

Work on crafty projects

Make Jam

Lose 10 pounds

Do more spontaneous outings with my kids

Sew

Catch up scrapbooks

Just to name a few.

To put myself in a somewhat vulnerable spot here, I also have been really struggling with migraine headaches. It is nothing new to me. I have been getting then since I was about 14. Lately they have been very difficult and I don't know why, but I feel like the Lord is going to teach me something through all of this. I would so appreciate your prayers!! I need a little time to focus on myself, my family, my schedule, and most important, my Lord. Today I was pretty broken and found myself looking up verse after verse for encouragement. So I'll leave you with a few promises from God's word that spoke to me. And a picture that Will took :)

HAPPY SUMMER!!

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God." ~Isaiah 43:1b-3a

"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." ~Ezekiel 36: 25 & 26

Let is draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ~Hebrews 10:22

Tom-boy or girly girl?

There are many who look at Anna and peg her a tom-boy. And they would be partly right. She has two older brothers to keep up with, and all. She loves to join in on their wrestling matches. And she scurries up the rock wall at the park with the rest of them. She is not shy about picking up live spiders and worms and coming to show me. The other day she fell off Will's bike and was crying a little. I asked her if she was ok and she sucked it up and said "yaaaa". A few minutes later as she was happily back to playing I noticed blood and saw that she had cut her chin a little. So, yes, in some ways she is most definitely a tom-boy.

But on the other hand I have never seen a tom-boy get this excited about playing dress up in a fancy dress. Or wanting to wear dresses everyday. Or putting on lipstick and painting her nails. And then there's her babies. She's been into babies for a long time now and most recently her play has centered around me being the baby and her being the mommy. Several time a day she'll come to me and say,

"Mommy, let's play baby. You be baby. I be mommy. You say waaahh-waaahh."

I am happy to oblige and be the baby while she takes care of me. She brings me pacifiers and blankets and gives me lots of hugs, pats and kisses. She sings songs to me and says things like "it's ok, baby" and "close you eyes baby, go to sleep"

In fact almost any object can fulfill the role of mommy and baby in Anna's world. For example:

Knife (mommy) and spoon (baby)

Big bottle of nail polish (mommy) and small bottle of nail polish (baby)

Big carrot stick (mommy) and small carrot stick (baby)

And and exemplified in the pictures below, even cars can be used to play mommy and baby. In this instance the big orange car was the mommy and the smaller orange car that looked like the "mommy" car was the baby. So, at first glance you might look at this child and call her a tom-boy. But with the loving care she gives those cars, I'd have to disagree!

Settling into summer

Some OMSI pics.....

Well, it's been two weeks since Will and Craig got out of school and we are starting to settle into summer. The kids are staying up later, and sleeping in a little more, and I am loving these relaxed mornings without having to get the three out the door by 7:45. Craig is keeping busy with lots of odd jobs before he starts painting houses in July and the last three days he did some work for my Aunt Linda in Portland. Tuesday evening my aunt welcomed the kids and I and we all headed up to see Daddy and have a slumber party. Wednesday morning I took the kids to OMSI and we had such a fun day. I was a little nervous doing something so spontaneous by myself with the kiddos, but they did great. They would have been pleased with just driving around Portland looking at all of the tall buildings and the beautiful riverfront, so OMSI was a big treat. The dinosaur exhibit is really neat, but the majority of our time was spent in the science playground where the boys played in these chipmunk costumes for about an hour! Anna favorites were the sand pit the water toys. We could have easily spent all day there, but Anna was melting around 1:00 so we headed back home.

I am enjoying every minute of summertime. It's already going by way too fast!

Soaking them in

The evening we returned from our trip we played outside with the kiddos and just soaked them in. The kind of "soaking in" that comes after being away from them for 4 days. Will and Dad were shooting hoops, Wyatt and Anna were cheering them on, and I sat on the grass with my camera feeling so very blessed.

woo hoo, hoopster! It's been almost 10 years since college ball and he's still got it in him :)
Time out for loves from the cheerleader, Anna!
Craig was continuously making up bball game scenarios that sounded something like this:
2 down with 10 seconds to go!
Ahhhh...fouled him!
He's on the line!
Okay it's all tied up, now!
Button to Button, goes up for the lay-in!
Ahhh....overtime!

And on it would go until they "won". Then it started over again.

Will couldn't get enough. I loved watching those two having so much fun together.
Then there's Wyatt who was easily distracted by the trail and begged Papa to go with him on a walk for wildflowers.

And here's the beautiful bouquet he picked. (He really wanted me to take a picture.)
And my girl, looking so carefree running in the sunshine.
My love for Craig grew the moment he became a dad. I love him not only as a husband, but also as daddy to our kiddos. He is the perfect daddy for our family and I know the kiddos would have to agree!

Yes, I am truly blessed.

Happy Father's Day, sweetie!

I'm ba-ack!

We've been gone all week on a little anniversary trip. Ama and Papa kept the kiddos and Craig and I got away for three nights. The first two were spent at a Lodge on the McKenzie River. Below are a couple pictures of the walled in gardens there.

Because of the rain, we didn't get to do the hiking that we'd planned. But we did venture out to see a couple nearby waterfalls. The one below is Sahalie Falls.

We had a great time together, shopped in Sisters, took a couple dips in the hot springs at the Lodge, watched three movies and ate out. Our second night we watched the Laker/Celtic game (go Celtics!!!) with our "hippie" friend in a little sports bar in the middle of nowhere. It was pretty fun.
This waterfall is called Koosah Falls. Picture courtesy the self timer :)
The last day we drove into Bend, did some more shopping, went the the beautiful Drake park, and then checked into our B&B. By the time we got there I was really tired and really missing my kids. But this B&B was beautiful and totally elegant. The thickest towels I'd ever seen, a towel warmer, snacks and refreshments in our room, a big screen TV (Craig was so happy about that!), down comforter, a quiet patio with a pond and little waterfall, and the innkeeper even surprised us with chocolate covered strawberries in our room after we got back from dinner. It was definitely the icing on the cake and a great way to end our vacation. Here we are before heading out to dinner that evening.
We enjoyed the scenery on the way home (to GP) and were welcomed my Ama, Papa and the kiddos who, I think, had an equally amazing time. Ama was so gracious to willingly take care of them while in the midst of her kitchen remodel. Both Will and Wyatt had a special day where they got to choose their meals, they all went to the park and the pet store as well as many other fun activities. It's always a good time at A & P's.

We returned late Friday night and are glad to be home!