Road trip with Lyssa and kids

Plans change sometimes

Alyssa originally planned to drive down to Sisters to spend a few days with Logan's folks while he was away for work. She is 4 weeks away from her due date and all the grandparents were a bit apprehensive about her driving by herself with the kids over the mountains where there is no cell phone service. The alternate plan was for her to drive down part way and Allan and Kathryn would do the same and they would have a couple of hours to spend together.

So Garrett and I crashed the party and went down to Stayton with them. It was a foggy drive down I-5.

Stayton Community Center Park

Garrett is not used to walking on soft surfaces. He did pretty well as the cushion of bark dust was super thick and spongy. All of the play equipment was wet but Allan and Kathryn brought a towel that dried the slides and swings for a more enjoyable playtime.

A portion of the Godsiff gang

Posing amongst the fall foliage.

Horses are enjoyed by Gremmy's Grands

There was only one of these ride on little horses but both Rowan and Katie took a turn on it.

Rowan and Gremmy

Swinging is always fun for young and experienced.

Katie and Goddy

Goddy was there to help Katie play on these platforms. He was also a cheerleader/spotter during Rowan's trip across the whole thing.

Four on three

There were 4 adults and 3 kids and it seemed that it took all of us to keep track of them!

I love this photo of Rowan and his Goddy.

Alyssa and Kathryn guiding the youngsters up the big kids play structure. I think they should have age ranges posted. Some of those openings are definitely not toddler safe.

Grown up girl time

We had such a brief time together. I'm glad Alyssa and Kathryn had a little time to visit.

Lunch at DQ!

What did we find as we entered the local Dairy Queen? Another horse!

Gremmy and Rowan played I-spy while waiting for their food.

Goddy took Katie out to entertain her while we finished up.

I found a makeshift baby seat to enable me to take the previous picture. Doesn't look like Garrett minded at all.

Fall beauty is just outside our front door

This little tree has grown so much in the past couple of years. The landscapers planted it when they planted the other shrubs to its left. I'm thinking that they picked up the wrong type of bush. Because this has definitely turned into a tree. I don't know how big it will eventually get but the foliage is sure pretty right now.

Doctor visits

Appointment at Providence Child Center

Garrett has had numerous appointments in this building. It is a lovely facility. We have had nothing but positive experiences here. The most important thing when you are packing around a baby, diaper bag, stroller and a very large purse is finding convenient parking. This place has parking always available close to the door. Starts our visit out on a bright note.

I notice this beautiful carving as we were leaving today. It's beautiful.

Speech Pathology Appointment

Garrett got busy checking out the room. He was given this toy but continued to explore, opening drawers and trying to open locked cupboards.

Did I mention he likes to climb?

He did his whole evaluation on this table. We will be going back one more time but it looks like he is doing great!

We experienced another perfect Fall day.

A trip to the new Veterinary Clinic

This is our neighborhood vet clinic. Irvington Veterinary Clinic. Our cats got fleas for the first time in years. We didn't catch it until it was getting out of hand. We people weren't bothered by them but poor Max certainly was. :o(

He was just miserable. So we established a file for him and got an oral medication that is supposed to kill all fleas on him and keep them from reproducing if they do bite him. It was a night and day difference in his comfort level within hours of being treated.

Comfortis works!

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Fabric store bounty

It's not easy wearing green

This morning I put on a t-shirt with a cat wearing a Santa hat on it. I'm in a Christmas craft and sewing mood. Since the shirt was green I dressed Garrett in green and Kate was already wearing green, so we posed for a picture. Then we headed out to bring the kids to school. Then on to Joann's Fabrics!

Evelyn's Layette

The heart and basket weave fabric will be lining the Moses basket for little Evie. It looks pink in the photo but it's really a pretty coral-y red. Alyssa and I were tossing around ideas and considering perhaps using Christmas fabrics but being that she is due in December the Christmas fabrics will be obsolete fairly soon after she's born.

Joann's had a bountiful assortment of flannel fabrics and a wonderful sale! I also had an additional 10% off coupon to apply to my whole order. We chose a monochromatic palette for making a quilt to match.

Some flannel blankets for Anabelle too!

#1 princess monkey backed in pale pink

#2 lavender owl and bird print backed in white with brown dots

#3 multi colored dot backed in coral

Their first sleep over

Katie really wanted to lay down with Garrett when we put him for his nap. They lasted all of 5 minutes and then were up playing. Then Harlan came home for lunch and they were too excited to sleep. They are in their individual beds now and both have settled down.

Perhaps I can get some sewing or cutting done... but only if I get this posted and sign off of here ;0)

FYI

Some people like ketchup, some like gravy, I like mustard but better yet Chow Chow if I have a jar! Pasties plain are just fine as well.

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Pasty feed in NE Portland

Beautiful Sunny Sunday

It's the first Sunday in November and the weather was wonderful. The time change last night was nice. It would have been nicer if Garrett got the memo that we had an extra hour to sleep. :o)

The sun seemed so low in the sky when we got home this afternoon. I love that my impatiens haven't succumbed to the frost yet. They are pretty shelter because the trees still have leaves on them. Max liked the fact that the lawn wasn't sopping wet for "doing his business".

I guess I do bake sometimes

We made pasties today!

pasty/ˈpas tē/ Noun: A folded pastry case filled with seasoned meat and vegetables

This is a look into the pot full of pasty filling. My niece Tiffany and her mom, Coreen put the idea of making pasties this weekend in our Courtney's head. Tiff and Coreen made 51 pasties the day before yesterday. Courtney called me and wanted to know what all went into them. I asked if she wanted me to put them on the menu for today. She did and even volunteered to come and help! She showed up and was soon elbow deep in flour making the crust and then finished cutting up the potatoes. We didn't make near as many as Coreen and Tiffany. One 9x13 pan with top crust for the kids, 17 individual pasties and one double crust pie pan full.

I can't tell you the last time I made them.

Coming along nicely.

Alyssa was the first to dig in.

Katelyn is Thankful for her Family and for her pasty.

She is such a good eater.

Late Fall is the best time to have the oven going.

Perhaps I should work my way through our family reunion cookbook in the way Julie Powell went through Julia Child's cookbook. I don't think my family would complain.

It would shake up our weekly menu... which has been going 8 weeks and counting!

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Happy 26th Birthday Alyssa

Our Alyssa Dawn is 26 years old!

Alyssa is here with her kids for a time while Logan is away for work. We have Trick-or-treated, celebrated Rowan turning FOUR, she went back up to Lacey for doctor's appointments and is now back here. Today it is her time to be celebrated.

Har and I picked up some flowers and made up a bouquet for her.

Pedicures and Chocolates

Lys and I skipped out at nap time and both of us got pedicures. Including a hot wax treatment that left our feet feeling super soft. Her toes are sparkly orange with flowers, mine are sparkly burgundy. We wore our little foam flip flops out into the mall and over to See's Candies for a couple treats.

What could top that for a birthday treat?

Fondue, dinner and dessert at Gustav's!

Har and I kept with tradition and took the birthday kid out to eat with just the two of us. I didn't let her choose the restaurant and I hope that was alright. We haven't been to Gustav's in a long time.

I didn't get my camera out very often today. Lyssa did snap a picture of her birthday dessert though. It was warm cranberry apple crisp ala mode.

I took a picture of her with it.

The poor abandoned children :(

Katie and Garrett were standing on the couch and watching for us. You'd think we left them for days instead of hours.

Happy Birthday Miss Lys!

Hope the little bit of pampering made you feel every bit as special as you are.

On another topic

Harlan designed a made a stand for our flat screen tv in the den. He finished it yesterday. It is installed temporarily as we will be painting it and all the woodwork in there.

The component shelves and cord hiding structure as well as the mounting bracket are well engineered and really nice looking. Still to come are DVD shelves on each side of it.

I love having such a talented and handy hubby.

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Rowan and Danika hit the mall

No school Friday for Danika

There are a few choices of things to do with the pre-schoolers on any given weekday. We could have gone to the zoo or OMSI but we opted to go to Lloyd Center.

I don't usually publish over exposed photos like the one above but it shows how excited they were being in the elevator headed down to the play area.

The 4 year olds take over

Even though Katie and Garrett were both there too, Rowan and Danika played and pretended and played some more. It was fun watching their interaction since they are pretty close in age and when the whole group is together Ro is usually with Wyatt and Danika is with G'vieve.

He had to rescue her from so many perilous make believe situations. He was quite the hero to her damsel in distress.

They both rolled up their pants legs in order to scale this bandaid slide.

One-two-three

SLIDE!

A great "play date"

Can you call it a "play date" when they are cousins?

When our kids were little there was no such thing as a play date. I don't know what we called them. Moms getting together for coffee and letting the kids play. It was more about us than them. I guess I was a selfish mom.

Our mall has a Zamboni!

The kids and I stopped on the bridge going over the ice rink to wait for Lyssa and Katie. It just so happened that the zamboni was out resurfacing the ice. Sometimes I think the zamboni is more fun to watch than the skaters.

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Happy 4th Birthday Rowan!

Rowan turned 4!

Our Super Sonic grandson is a big 4 year old. He loves being outside and being active. He also likes computer and Wii games. Logan and Alyssa do a great job of keeping him balanced. Timers are often set and fresh air and time outside is never discouraged.

He and his mom made this cake together. I have many great photos of them during the process but all of them are vertical! I'm hoping Lyssa can glean some and post her own blog.

Party room courtesy of the Uncles

Hayden has proven to be a great guy to have around during parties. He is a master with crepe paper and by the looks of this room balloons as well.

Party kid in PJs

We were going to watch Cars 2 but it got too late after we finally got dinner on the table. We did have fun watching Rowie open his gifts and we had yummy cake. Cars 2 will be waiting for another day.

A present came in the mail from Gremmy and Goddy in Sisters.

A lion to snuggle with was one of the things on his wish list.

He got a package from Laramie, Wy from his godparents, Brandon and Lindsey. His cousin Wyatt really really wants one of these now for his birthday.

The chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting was delicious!

Eating birthday cake is serious business. The party wound down in time for all the kids to get to bed at a decent time. After all it is a school night.

Grandchildren are indeed a blessing! Our quiver was full now it's overflowing.

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