Sweet sentiments, sweets and signs

Beautiful bouquet

Joylynn and Genevieve came home from Safeway the other day with a bunch of roses for me. Aren't they a unique shade? The are opening nicely.

The Belated B'day Celebration

We finally got to take Jess out for his birthday. One of the perks of being one of the marrieds is that if your spouse is getting treated to a birthday dinner you get to go along. So Jess, Joylynn and Garrett (the stowaway), Har and I went to Gustav's for dinner. The food there is always yummy but there is usually a wait to get seated. That's what iPads are for... entertaining the kids. They have a little kids area that Garrett tried out. I think he enjoyed being the only kid for an evening.

Even though it was belated, we were there to celebrate Jess's 36th birthday so he got the complimentary apple strudel! YUM!!!!

Some random photos...

The photo on the left is something that I have become very close to in the past few months. We have a couple more little things to do before I'll be on the road in "Home Fries" once again.

Thank you so much L & L for the use of your Subaru!!!!

Hayden and I were surprised to see the this bus at Wyatt's school. We think it belongs to an after school day care. I wonder how many people that see this know where Goldendale is.

You know you're getting old when...

The AARP junk mail is no longer for you but your son! I wonder when Hayden is going to get his membership card.

A weekend of reunions

Happy Belated 16th Birthday

Our friend Garrison's birthday is right smack dab in the middle of the holidays. His parents often have a belated birthday celebration because it's nice to have his party after all the holiday hoopla dies down. We joined Garrison and a bunch of old friends for a party at the Lloyd Center Burgerville. I wish I took more pictures... here are a few.

The Dominas, Courtney and Charlie, got reacquainted with Megan N. and Suki K.

David N. got to spend some time with two of his favs. Gary D. and Harlan.

It was wonderful to get to see Joy D. and Shela. We really need to get together like this again soon!

Garrison was the recipient of one of my rag quilts. It's the first time I made one using only 2 colors. I think it works great... especially for a guy.

Genevieve and her friend

Genevieve loves our cats but they aren't exactly fond of her. Except for Courtney's cat, Chloe. For some reason Chloe doesn't mind her affection at all. Makes for one happy little girl.

Surprise Reunion!

I got to get reacquainted with our "niece" Julie today. She was shopping and saw me and stopped to say hello. We had a nice little catch up chat in the shoe aisle. I made Courtney take our picture. Julie and I are going to be friends on Facebook soon and I hope to keep in touch better than I have.

Thanks for stopping me, Julie! It was great to see you!

Creative expressions

Breakfast Protein

Yes, I took a picture of the eggs in the pan. I thought they looked photo-worthy. It was something about the shape, colors and shadows that made me reach for the camera. I'm not alone in this photo fetish but most of my friends think I'm a bit strange.

Creative Cuties

This painting session was spearheaded by Wyatt. He LOVES doing crafts. It's messy and is a lot of work but they enjoy it so much. He wanted to make me a few banners "To thank you for taking care of us for so long". My sweet boy!

Sweet brother boys

Garrett's siblings have him smiling and giggling on a regular basis. They sure love him!

Freeform dressing

On school days or visit days I usually pick a couple of outfits for the kids to choose from. On days without structure or things we need to do, I let them dress themselves. We have a pretty cold and drafty house and the girls reflected that in their choice of clothing yesterday. A combination of patterns, colors, too small and too big things. Very eclectic.

Library Day

Wednesdays are library days for Wyatt. He is all boy when it comes to picking his literature. I'm surprised there were no "Captain Underpants" books in this batch.

White Commute

We have had morning fog all week. Every morning I wished I'd had one of my boys with me to take some pictures. It's quite eery to drive onto the Fremont Bridge and not be able to see any of the city or the bridge ahead of you. I was in somewhat lighter traffic yesterday and chanced taking a couple of pictures myself. I spend too much time looking at the tail lights of cars. So many of them look like eyes. Some cars look like they have faces. I'll have to do a photo collage of the backs of cars to show all of the different looks. Happy, bratty, angry, silly... they are all out there on the road.

Sporting a new look

Har was tolerant of my taking his picture during Happy Hour yesterday. (Our first time getting there in several months!!! Happy Happy Happy Hour!). His new mustache and goatee is coming along nicely.

I really like it! I have such a distinguished looking husband.

Cat, kids, a birthday and some sporting events

A boy and his Cat

All of the cats love Cam. He and Ry speak feline language. We have been re-evaluating the pros and cons of pet ownership. Cats are definitely easier to have than dogs. We haven't had a dog for many years. I think that I may have to get one when we are headed into empty nest syndrome.

Feeding ourselves

Garrett held his own bottle for the first time this week. Katie is getting to be a pro with her "cuppa". It is amazing how much a child learns in the first year of life. They sure are cute while they are doing it.

Speaking of cute...

I have no idea what these girls were up to but we get a good look at the beautiful job Gremmy did on knitting Katie's sweater. It is so soft a she looks great in it. I love all the stripes in the lower photo. I think some sort of exercising was going on.

Happy Birthday Jess

Krystle took this picture of Jess at Courtney and Charlie's wedding. To me it depicts our first son-in-law very well. He is a strong man, yet a tender father. He is serious but knows how to be goofy with the rest of us on occasion. Hard working and loyal. We observed his birthday this week but are still going to take him and Joylynn out to celebrate his turning 36.

Winterhawks fans

A few weeks ago I bought 4 tickets to a Portland Winterhawks game. For those of you who don't know who the Winterhawks are, they are our local hockey team. Har, the boys and Alyssa went to see our Hawks beat the Seattle Thunderbirds 5-1. They walked to a park to wait for me to pick them up. I made them stand out in the cold so I could take a picture :-)

Rooting for our Packers!

Gar-bear is sleeping with is little Packer bear tonight. Dreaming of a Packer victory tomorrow. That would indeed be a sweet start to the Super Bowl countdown.

Baby days and an unfavorite time of the year

Three Grandes and a Tall

I took a picture of the bottles I had just washed and sterilized. The Starbucks carrier was ideal for them to be transported in. Garrett drinks 40 ounces of formula a day. My least favorite time to be bonding with him? Between 11:30 p.m. and 4:30 a.m. Thank goodness he usually sleeps from 8 p.m. til 6 a.m. most days now.

The most Un-wonderful time of the year

Un-decorating for any holiday is not super fun for me. Christmas is especially hard because I love all of the lights and the ornaments and the garlands. The tree came down this weekend. Har and I took all of the ornaments off and Hayden took care of the lights. Since we now have collection of yard debris every other week our tree came down in a unique way this time. Harlan took loppers to it right in the living room. He had some fascinated helpers.

I must admit that I like having a lamp and a couple of chairs in the space that the tree took up but it's still a bittersweet time of the year.

Still the best!

Fels-Naptha has been my ol' standby for years as a pre-treater for my laundry needs. There is nothing better for baby created stains! I have a bar in the bathroom for scrubbing pjs, onesies and other baby clothes.

Making more laundry to do

Look who's eating some solid foods. He is just getting the hang of it. More is coming out than going down but he reaches out to assist my hand in heading for his mouth.

He's a big 7 months old now!

Pizza night out and the Colors of my life

Pizza Night Out

As you know, Friday is Pizza Night at our house. This past Friday we motored over to Pizza Hut on 82nd. The kids had lots of fun. When I took this picture it surprised me how grown up this boy is getting to look. Where does the time go?

All of the kids got to get something from the quarter machines. It was nice that there were girly coloring sheets.

Cleaning up after eating, she managed her hands pretty well but her face needed a little help.

Joylynn and her little man. He loves being held these days. So my to do list only gets attention when he is napping or after 8 p.m. when he is in bed for the night. He is napping right now so I can work on updating this blog.

COLORS of my life

I took a bit of time the other night to look through my fabric bin. I played and put things together and came up with a few palettes that could turn into quilts eventually.

Which ones do you like best? Now to find the time to sew!

New and Shiny Bike!

Logan ordered a bike and it was able to be picked up here in Portland. Harlan got to ride it and then took it back to the shop for some cosmetic stuff. He and Hayden got to drive up to Lacey to deliver it this week.

Check out the way we tried to protect it from road grime kicking up behind the Subaru. I can't believe they sell these bike bags to wrap bikes as gifts. What kid can't figure out what's in this package?!

Home Maintenance

I am so thankful that Harlan is able to mess with our computers when they start messing with us. He has a little helper in the process too.

Our other little helper here is doing what needs to be done on a regular basis as nails work their way up from the hardwoods as little and not so little feet walk, run, skip and dance around the house.

Happy Commuter

Due to heavy traffic on the Sunset Highway yesterday, Garrett and I decided to take NW Barnes to W Burnside into town. Along that route there is a Sunrise Bagels. We stopped in there for a few minutes, a bagel and a beverage. I brought a nice bagful home along with some yummy cream cheese! If life gives you traffic... EAT BAGELS!