Ethans Eating Habits

When I cook, Ethan likes to sift through the scraps and eat the vegetable leftovers...

I made a soup tonight and this is what he found left over.

Caught Red Handed

Flashback

Back in 2006, when Danissa was 5 years old, she had decided she wanted to put on her daddys pajama pants. This is what she looked like....LOL

What a Creative Friend!

One of my best friends made this for me and I am just thrilled with it so I had to share. Isn't it just awesome?!?! I know how many hours this must have cost her, so....Thanks so much Beth!

Cohen

Same injury, same circumstances (getting run over by a kiddo swinging outside, and face-planting in the gravel)....just 3 months apart....

Cohen in June.....

Cohen today....

Ethans' fly

I told Ethan he needed to take his laundry down to his bedroom. A little distracted, he walked toward me, and did as asked. Then came up almost in tears. With such a pitiful little look on his face, I asked what was wrong. He sadly opened his hand and held out a dead fly. "My fly died!" I explained that he probably clenched his fist while carrying down his laundry and accidentally killed his fly. At this realization, he got even more sad, which broke my heart. Poor little Ethan fly!

Oregon- Day 4

On the way home, we tried to see the remains of an old ship that had run aground, located at Fort Clatsop but ended up finding out it was a bit of a hike that we just didn't have time for. We stopped in Seaside and enjoyed some shops there, getting our picture taken in a photo booth that my sister, brother and I all had our picture done in when I was a little girl, and then headed over the big bridge from Oregon (Astoria) to Washington to wrap up our trip.

Oregon- Day 3

On the third day, we traveled as far south as Newport, taking our time to meander our way down. Once we got to Newport, we bought tickets that got us into The Undersea Gardens, Ripleys Believe It Or Not, and the Wax Museum. All were fun, but I think my favorite was the Undersea Gardens where a diver actually got into the water and did a little show.

This was just a common lookout spot, but we thought it would be a fun photo opportunity.

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse

These guys were just lounging around almost within reach of spectators in Newport.

Mike posing with Johnny Depp....they're homies.

And at the end of the day, we raced back just in time to see the sun hit the water

Oregon- Day 2

Everybody needs a beach picture...this one was taken before Mike got me the mini-tripod, so I used driftwood and my chap stick to position the camera.This is what we found at the end of our beach at low tide. Sea creatures were all over and we had a great time seeing what we could find! I think this might have been one of my favorite things about our weekend getaway.

Some of the friends we made on our trip...

The Tillamook Cheese Factory was our first stop when we set out to see what we could see on our second day in Oregon. We called them Oompa Loompas the entire time we were there.

More pictures of Day 2 in the blog below...

Cape Meares Lighthouse- this one is the smallest lighthouse on this side of the US. I actually hit my head pretty hard on the ceiling when I was going up the stairs to view everything from inside the top of the lighthouse. After that, I got a "sue us now, or not at all" type lecture from the guy that volunteered there. That was probably the most annoying part of our trip right there, which isn't bad! LOL

The Octopus Tree...we wouldn't have stopped for this one but it was at the Cape Meares Lighthouse so we thought we may as well see it ;) It actually was pretty cool...it's over 46 feet around and 105 feet tall. Yaquina Head Lighthouse- this one required a little bit of a hike but it was worth it. The beach around it isn't sand...it's small lava rocks that make an enormous sound when the waves draw them back into the ocean and the crackle against eachother. It was so loud that Mike and I both commented about how it was kind of intimidating.This was the view from our dinner table at Pirates Cove, a really great restaurant that I have loved since I was a little girl.

When we got back to Pacific City, we went back down to the beach and explored a bit more, since the tide was on it's second way out for the day.

And Mike made one more friend...(which Mike didn't want me to tell you that his friend was actually dead).

Oregon- Day 1

Our trip started off with taking pictures of anything and everything!

See below for more pictures of day 1!

The Stonehenge Memorial
Bonneville Dam- viewing the Sturgeon. This is such a cool dam...it was so well put together and the viewing areas and landscaping were gorgeous!

Multinoma Falls- Those of you that have read 'The Shack' should recognize the name of this place...and know the story behind the falls because it's in the beginning of that book.

Finally setting up camp in Pacific City, OR

The Oregon Coast - introduction

Mike and I just got back from a four day trip to the Oregon Coast. My sister had the kids for one day and then my dad and mom had the kiddos for the rest of the time (HUGE THANK YOU!!!) and we took our leisurely time to get down there, spent two entire days, and then high-tailed it back here and still didn't get back till 8:30 tonight! I want to spend more time blogging and adding pictures than I can tonight, so I'll slowly add them...a blog for each day we were gone.

Musical Beds

I think last night topped off most bad nights that I have ever had as a parent. We started out with all the kids in the living room in sleeping bags. Just as I finally fall sleep, in walks Ethan. I snuggle him for about five minutes....
in walks Cohen. I put Ethan next to me on the floor in a sleeping bag, Cohen between Mike and I.
In walks Danissa. I make her a bed at the bottom of our bed on the floor.
In walks Chezney. I make Cohen a bed on the floor on the other side of Mike and Chezney nessles between Mike and I.
Cohens blood curdling scream then follows.
And follows.
And follows.
That kid screamed for a good portion of the night which inspired more of the musical bed game to follow. I've never seen him cry like that...I have no idea what was wrong and there was nothing I could do...he wouldn't even let me hold him- most of the time. Ethan switched bed locations about 4 times. Chezney and Danissa both slept soundly through most of it, but I could have pulled my hair out by the end of the night. *Sigh*
Now I have four very cranky kids at daycare.
I am so glad I had to work today...*grin*

What Dad and Moms bed is for....

Small Blessings

I have been blessed lately with small opportunities to spend some one-on-one time with a couple of my kiddos, which doesn't happen very often. Last night, Cohen ended up staying up later than everyone else, so he helped us clean out the side room (actually pretending to be a big boy and "helping" us carry stuff) and then went to the store with Mike at about 9 pm. Then came home and had some good snuggle time before finally heading to bed, but Mike and I both cherished every moment. It never ceases to amaze me how different my children are when they are individualized, rather than traveling as a herd. Their personalities become so much different and their spirits seem so calm and loving rather than the typical level of energy and commotion.
Then tonight, Danissa ended up crying over a growing pain in her leg, so after some lotion, Tylenol and some rubbing, we calmed her down and ended up playing a game of Sorry, which she beat us at. It was just nice to have some much-needed alone time with two of my kids. I love times like these.

Sick but Smiling

Chezney had a fever all last night and this morning but isn't she cute, anyway?!

My Girls

Danissa loves to look through the scrapbooks that she has put together during our scrapbooking weekends. Yesterday, she got one out and had fun going through it with her little sister. Chezney had no problem soaking up every second of her big sister attention.

"Stick 'em up...meow!"

Ethan thought he should be a cowboy-cat today...

Motivation

I blog this so that on the days

When the twins are hitting eachother with broom sticks

And slapping eachother across the face;

When they sit on top of eachother-

Letting the other one scream for minutes on end...

When they pull hair and leave teeth marks-

I can look at this and remember

Why I'm chosing to go through this thing called Motherhood...

Why I can't get anything done....

All I wanted to do was go downstairs and help the kids get their laundry going (yes...I make them put away their own laundry...). So I was down there maybe 5 minutes at the most...
I come upstairs and not only is my son naked, but he's colored on himself, on the floor...on everything. Sigh. One more thing to add to my list of stuff to do today:
Clean marker off of everything...check.

Picture Thursday

Reverse Psychology

Mike and I were trying to eat dinner in peace and Cohen kept bugging us for food while all the kids were downstairs watching a movie. Finally Mike said "Okay, Cohen...you can't watch movies anymore. No more movies!"
Cohen then backed up slowly toward the stares shaking his head and saying "NO...no!" and then split for the stairs to go watch a movie. We laughed for quite awhile at his expense...

Productive Day

While the boys were busy with the adventure I blogged on previously, the girls (Danissa and I)went off today and picked apricots and proceeded to can them into apricot syrup. My only disappointment was that after all that work and following instructions, I ended up with only 1 1/2 jars of syrup. Bummer! But, at least we were using the apricots from last weeks pick and we have a new bowl of them to do again tomorrow for another jar and 1/2! So in the end, I'll have two WHOLE jars in my cupboard and two 1/2 full jars in my fridge. Oh well...it's the learning experience that counts I guess!
Now, once the kids are in bed I'm going to be sewing new covers for the throw pillows in my livingroom!

Mr.Fix-it

The last few weeks have really kicked my butt. It seems like everything that could wrong- has. And then my dishwasher broke, which made me do dishes by hand...okay....no problem...I guess. Except when we found water leaking from the kitchen all the way down to the kids bedroom downstairs...so off goes the water pipes. Now I can only do dishes by hand for a small while, while catching water with a towel and a bowl. My grandpa has worked hard on the dishwasher and that project is still tentative but may result in us getting a new dishwasher.
However...as far as the sink goes, my hubby came the rescue (after mom so graciously bought us a new one!) and put in a whole new sink system so now I once again at least have running water consistently! Hooray!
And little Ethan, my daddy in training, got his head under there, as well, and well...what a pair they made!

Thousand Trails

I took the kids up to Thousand Trails today (where Mike works on the weekends) for a picnic and some swimming. The kids weren't as enthusiastic about the swimming as I had hoped but it wasn't a scorching day and the wind was picking up. Chezney bobbed in the water the longest, and at one point I thought she was about to take a nap right there in the water. LOL

After Mikes shift was up, we headed for the putt-putt they have right there at the campground. Although Mike and I realized how impossible it was to both get to putt-putt, we quickly relinquished our putters and all four kids had a blast. It was pretty funny to watch the way they all found ways to manipulate the course and made it through in record time!