Reconnecting is a wonderful blessing

Woke up to a wet but colorful neighborhood

Our maples are almost completely turned into the red beauties that impressed us 24 years ago when we put a bid on this house. Our neighbors have a Japanese maple that is a gorgeous orangey red. I hadn't noticed it before this morning. It almost glows from the inside out.

A long longed for reunion

Barb Maunu was one of the first women to sort of take me under her wing when I was a young bride that had just moved to Oregon Territory. It may not have been the wild west anymore but it seemed like a place a long way from my Michigan. Barb, her sister-in-law Lori Lappi, and my sister-in-law Susie became my friends and mentors and made a lasting impression on my homesick heart.

It's been many years and children (for me) and grandchildren (for both of us) since Barb and I have had the chance to sit and visit. I must say that she hasn't changed a bit. She's still the wonderfully warm and caring woman that I remember.

 We reconnected via facebook probably close to a year ago.  I'm so grateful that we got to chat for a couple of hours in person today. The line in the song that says: "A friend's a friend forever if the Lord's the Lord of them" is so true. Thank you Barb for being a friend to me years ago and for renewing that friendship today. It was a blessing!

 Russell St leaves

Still a mix of green and gold. Reminds me of Packers colors. Other Oregonians may think of some other team but as far as I am concerned green and gold will forever belong to the Green Bay Packers.

Oh I'm not much of a fan of this place

IKEA... 

I should have heeded the sign

My family loves IKEA as I've mentioned before. I've had a couple of negative experiences there in the past. Alyssa wants to help me get over my IKEA-phobia. So we headed over there on Saturday early afternoon. I should have stopped and turned back to come again another day. 

It was incredibly busy!!!

1st stop the cafeteria

 I would give this area of the store two big thumbs up. It's decent food at a decent price and unlimited lingonberry juice is hard to beat! We got a table for the 7 of us to sit around while Evie stayed in her stroller in the cart.

Children's decor and toys

I did have a good time with the girls looking at the finger puppets and cloth dolls while Alyssa was checking Rowan into small land. We got about half way through the marketplace when the guys (Harlan, Hayden and Cameron) were done with their trip through the furniture displays upstairs. Shopping with toddlers (not the problem) and teenagers (BINGO) is not a great combination.

Could this be our dream car?

 The next time I go to IKEA I'm taking as many people as can fit in this car. Maybe Har and I will head over there on a Tuesday morning or Thursday early afternoon. Saturday will not be the day to go there again.

 The 8 of us in this vehicle survived our shopping trip to this Swedish box-store. I managed to buy some glasses that stack safely in our cabinets, a couple of hanging lamps for either side of our fireplace and a matching shade for one of our lamps. I had to sadly walk by the Christmas stuff as everyone was wanting to go home.

Monday morning near Lloyd Center

 Harlan and I decided to have a mini-coffee date. While I was waiting for him I heard a helicopter. My trusty camera was with me so I zoomed in and took a picture of it hovering over what I assume was I-5. I figured it was a traffic copter from a radio or tv station but it didn't have any markings of a TV station its side. It sure was loud!

Seasonal appreciation

 I caught multiple hues as I was sitting near Har's work. I then snapped a picture of the red ivy and pale yellow leaves while driving home.

Almost 11 months

Joylynn unearthed some old baby clothes while going through stuff. One dress she found was the one that Cherise wore in her official baby picture. I put it on Evie and took a few pictures of her in it.

 Here is Cherise on 03/05/85.

A colorful girl and a colorful quilt

Kate wanted me to take a picture of her too. She held a microphone in front of her face to be silly. I love all of the layers and colors that Alyssa puts on these girls. It's so fun and frilly.

The quilt that is laid out here is for Alyssa's niece, Piper. Her mom took weekly pictures of her on a different piece of fabric for her whole 1st year. Crystal (Piper's mom) chose 35 of her favorites for us to make a quilt out of.  We cut and stacked the squares and today we laid them out. I'm hoping to get them sewn together after the kids are tucked in for the night tonight.

A surprisingly balmy day

 My van thermometer read 68 degrees when I went to pick up the grands from school. It was forecasted to rain today, tomorrow and Wednesday. I was pleased to park at the far end of the block and take a few pictures of the trees over on the other side of the playing field. 

Wyatt is gathering acorns, which I hope to encourage him to put into a feeder box for squirrels when the weather gets colder. Genevieve has a new very large goose egg on her forehead from a recess mishap and Danika had a field trip to a pumpkin patch today.

Those are just a few of the things I want to remember when I look back at this blog.

So thankful for this mode of memory keeping!

Friday night with friends and a silly Saturday a.m.

At the Turner's for dinner

We've been friends with Jennifer and Blaine Turner and their family for over 17 years. It hardly seems possible that it's been that long. Jenn has had a special connection with Alyssa as she was always there as an encourager and mentor through Lyssa's teens and even into her married life.

We spent a few hours catching up and letting the Turner's get to know Rowan, Katie and Evie better.

IT guys and bicycle enthusiasts

Har and Blaine are both in the IT world. I really didn't know what IT stood for other than it has something to do with computers. So I googled it.

The Information Technology Association of America has defined information technology (IT) as "the study, design, development, application, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems", but the term has also been applied more narrowly to describe a branch of engineering dealing with the use of computers and telecommunications equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data. 

Harlan uses his bike for commuting almost exclusively. Blaine bike commutes some but is more of the hard core get out and ride kind of guy. These two have a lot more in common than work and biking. They are both Godly men who are also awesome husbands, dads and friends.

Lego-mania with Joel

The Turner's son Joel took out his big bins of Legos for Rowan to play with.

Katie built some creations as well. They had a bunch of Evie friendly toys too.

Little Evie-Jump-up

Our trip to Just 4 Kids scored a Johnny Jump-up for Evie. It's installed in the doorway between the dining room and the living room. She has been jumping and spinning to her heart's content. 

Katie likes playing the the play house.

Kate runs around and round Evie as she spins around too. Katie said, "Look Evie's chasing me!"

Eve was joined by a "friend" on her tray.  Too bad that Oregon State didn't win against the Washington Huskies. 

The Beavs have had a great season so far though with only one loss. 

School Spirit week

Reading with Danika

This book was Danika's choice. It was a good one about a small mouse with a big name. Very Danika Jane Kelly-esque.

Rock Star day

Wednesday was "Rock Star" day at the kids' school. Courtney spiked up Wyatt's hair into a fauxhawk and it was pretty impressive. G'vieve and Danika wore sparkles and bows. I didn't take a picture of them in the morning but did get these after school.  Wyatt said his hair was messed up by people touching it but I think he looks even more like a rockstar snowboarder dude with it like this. The girls looked like they stepped off a Disney kid's sitcom, sweet and smiley.

Crazy clothes day

 Can you see all the craziness in this picture. They looked so cute. Danika was the most mis-matched but Genevieve did a good job of mixing it up. Wyatt doesn't have a whole lot to work with in the "crazy clothes" department so he just wore shorts over his pants and wore a couple layers of shirts.

Meanwhile back at the house

Evie and Katie, the two blondies around here, played and ate and played some more. Kate was especially attentive to her doll that day. She fed it and napped it and carried it around inside of her shirt. Such a little mommmy!

Squirrel! Really.

 For those of you who don't know the movie "Up" the squirrel reference may not click. I have the attention of a toddler most days and there is a dog on the movie that is constantly distracted by a squirrel. So whenever I change the subject or randomly throw something out there, it's very like the "Squirrel!" exclamation of that goofy dog. In this case though there really was a squirrel in the parking lot of Sears where we picked up our...

NEW Freezer!

The freezer that we had was found for us 25 years ago by our brother-in-law Byron. It lived on the back porch of our Aloha house when Krystle was a baby and was installed in the basement here when we moved into this house almost 24 years ago.

The kids were fascinated by the big box in the back of the van and climbed around and on top of it while Jess and Harlan moved the old one out and arranged things for the new one.

It's a bit smaller than our old one but it's going to be nice to have a functioning freezer.

Moving freezers calls for a pizza party

 Six mini pizzas and two family sized plus a marvelouse salad and fresh veggies. There was a party in everyone's tummy. So yummy! So yummy!

Friday was Crazy Hair Day

Wyatt was pretty pumped about having something done for crazy hair day. We had a couple of hair color sprays that we used for a half and half weird hair-do.

His mom must have got the memo as she was waiting for the kids with crazy hair of her own! I wish I had gotten a picture of all of their expressions when they saw her. Fun.

 They are soooo two years old

These are the ultimate monkey see, monkey do pair. They keep us entertained for sure.

 School pictures have arrived!

 It's always a great day when the pictures come in. 

It's fun to compare with previous years. They are all growing up so fast.

As they should.