Macy's in Portland

When we moved here six years ago we started the tradition of taking the kids on the Max to the downtown Portland Meier and Frank. We were so sad to see it be bought out by Macy's only two years later. Meier and Frank had classic window displays, amazing decorations and the best was the miniature monorail on the ceiling of the 10th floor. The kids could ride it as many times as they wanted. The monorail brought back the nostalgia of Christmas! When Macy's bought them out they dismantled the monorail and changed the whole layout to downstairs. We were blue to see the old Meier and Frank go but we continue our tradition of visiting Santa Clause, playing on the dismantled monorail and eating Mall food at the Lloyd center!

Happy Birthday Aurora

After a long 10 hour drive to Twin Falls Aurora had a Texas Sheet cake waiting for her made especially by her Great Grandma Harris to celebrate her birthday. Lucky Girl! Yes -we drove to Twin Falls on her ninth birthday. Avery was more concerned about driving on her birthday than she was.

Her "friend" birthday party choice was Out of this World Pizza. I am convinced this is a perfect place for a party. The kids are entertained the whole time, there is the food option, the mess and prep was not at my house, in fact the only thing I did prep was her pizza birthday cake. We found out as we brought it in that only store bought items were allowed, but Alex the employee let it slide! Whew!

I am not quite sure why she isn't smiling, because she had way more than her quota of fun. She really loved helping me put together her pizza cake.

Happy Birthday Aurora!

The Japanese Encounter

Myah was elated when she had the opportunity to dress up at Epcot in a Kimono. As I went to check in for our dinner, Dave was hanging out with the girls in the Japanese gift store. When I left, the girls were ohhing and ahhing over the " Hello Kitty" paraphernalia, the origami and the amazing puzzles they had. We hadn't made it to the "pick your own pearl out of an oyster" or the whole kimono area yet. When I came back down to the gift store, Dave was in the very back with the girls and Myah was being pampered on by this cute girl from Japan. She even put an amazing hair comb and the cool flip flops on. We then went to dinner and had some amazing sushi and rolls and headed back down to the store-our girls couldn't get enough. We looked a little longer and tried to leave. As we are leaving both Aurora and Myah are begging to pick an oyster and get their own pearl out of it. They were completely mesmerized by this for about the last 10 minutes in the store. Usually at 7 and 8 we can persuade them out of "things", but Dave nor I were getting anywhere with our usual tactics. I honestly thought Myah was going have a nervous breakdown if she was not able to pick a pearl. We quickly walked back into the Japanese gift shop for the fourth time, paid for the pearls and then waited in line for a few minutes and then watched Aurora's and Myah's eyes light up as they picked their pearl. The top picture is the cute Japanese girl shucking the oyster. Whew, what a night!

A trip down South

To Disneyworld we went! Here are just a few pictures.

Aurora danced along main street with a very entertaining
group of singers and dancers!

Thank heavens for Walt Disney-As Dave said, "Maybe

Disney should govern our country! "

And of course at Epcot. The girls are wearing pin lanyards.

They had fine tuned the art of trading pins at Disneyworld by the time we left.

It was another great way to entertain our children by trading pins with cast member and other kids.

Plenty O' Patches

So we scoured the pumpkin patches again this year. Unfortunately we still have 7 large uncarved pumpkins sitting sadly on our front porch. We even had two grow in our garden from seeds I didn't plant. (Myah!) How this happened-I have know idea?

I love the picture of Avery trying relentlessly to push the wheelbarrow at Lakeview farms, but it was going nowhere with it's bum wheel. We managed to make it home with plenty of large pumpkins, about 20 "baby" pumpkins, farm fresh eggs, squash, more tomatoes and a five suckers and had to turn around and exchange pumpkins because we had the wrong one!

The Seamstress and a good example

Aurora attends a sewing class every Thursday. Here she is showing off one of her finished products. She has absolutely loved the class and is the sewer extraordinaire now. Some of her finished products are a pin cushion, a sewing bag, a stuffed pumpkin, a pillow case and she is currently working on pajama bottoms.

If you can't read it, the band on her hat says, "I can be a good example." Avery promptly changes her clothes after church every week. (heaven forbid she stay in a dress any longer than necessary) This week in her Sunbeams class they talked about being good examples. She cracked me up how she gently placed her headband on top of her favorite hat. She wears her favorite blue hat non-stop. It finally became "lost" for a few weeks!

A fiesty little player

Soccer girls

Myah is a hustler! She will run and run and run. Where she lacks in aggression, she makes up in her ability to run. She loves the social aspect of the sport and I love that the excercise partially wears my kids out.

If you can't tell Aurora is overheating! She had a game in Vernonia a couple of weeks ago and they played like crazy. Six kids showed up which is enough to play, but no subs. Compounding on that problem, it was about 92 that day. Her whole team did a great job, but lost the battle!

Venus Fly Trap

Dave brought home a carnivorous surprise for the girls today! We couldn't wait to capture the lone fly in our house and feed it to our Venus Fly Trap. Myah ran around with a dish towel trying to swat the fly and she finally killed it. Dave then picked the fly up with the chopsticks leftover from our takeout sushi and quickly the Venus Fly trap clamped down on the fly. This is what you call fabulous Friday night entertainment! The girls were on a mission to find any more insects in our house to feed to our new pet.

Glaicier Park

So I think Dave is jinxed! Almost every time we have been to Glacier, it has been horribly bad weather. This trip was no exception. We drove up to the top of Glacier, Logan Pass, and it was about 43 degrees and raining like crazy. We took the kids on the trail of the Cedars and that was pretty fun, but very wet. We let Avery go home with Grandpa and Grandma and then enjoyed a partial hike into Hidden Lake.

My third and second graders

Here we are-first day of school! Aurora and Myah were both giddy at home before the first day of school. I really enjoyed listening to them talk about all the things that were happening and going to happen. Myah has Mrs. Vega and Mrs. Lohr, the same teachers Aurora had last year and Aurora has faulous teachers. Myah was so invovled so quickly she didn't even have to worry about saying good bye! At least Aurora gave me a quick good bye. Myah is on the bottom with her friend Abby.

Detroit Lake

We couldn't have picked a better week to camp at Detroit Lake. The whole week it was a blistering 100 degrees plus-which is HOT for Oregon. We took the boat our with the Nissenins and had a fabulous time water skiing and swimming. We all dropped into our beds each night because we completely exhausted from the swimming and the heat. I have to say the highlight was a little cove we found that had a waterfall tucked back in it. The falls were beautiful and the water was freezing cold. We found a few rock croppings close by that couldn't have been more perfect to jump off. I just can't believe I didn't get any pictures of all the amazing stunts from everyone. We even had copycat competitions. The crazy part of the trip-Dave running out of gas after dropping the Nissenins back off at camp. He had to flag a stranger down, who had to find me on the island in the lake. After we accomplished that, Mark tried to get on the stranger's jet ski, which didn't work, so we had to ask some people next to us if they could give Mark a ride back to camp to get the gas cans. Mean while Dave is drifting aimlessly, because Aaron had to cut the anchor earlier that day because it was caught under a tree. The first guy went and exchanged his jet ski for his boat and then proceeded to tow Dave over to me. Just as he arrived, Mark showed up with the gas on Aaron's jet ski! Yeah, we were saved. Needless to say, that next week the broken gas gauge was fixed!

And they're up!

Myah was able to get up on the waterskis a few days back, but we were so excited that we didn't take any pictures. Here are the two of them waterskiing! Aurora was even getting a little adventurous by just using one hand. It was a beautiful day, finally about 87 degrees and very little wind. We took Dave's mom and dad out and our friends the Browns. Tanny even got on the tube with Myah and Kayla. Once again Dave was able to eject Beth and I off the tube with Beth's daughter still hanging out on the magic center position!

Ode to Mother's

Aurora's favorite place to eat is Mother's Bistro in downtown Portland. We first took her there about four years ago when we picked my mom up from the train station and she has been addicted ever since. We don't go very frequently because of the distance and well, frankly the chaos of taking children out to eat. We did venture down there with Dave's mom, Tanny, Laura and Kate. We ended up waiting 40 minutes at 10:30 on 08/08/08 and the kids were starving. Kate was super great and we didn't spill anything except the maple syrup!

Tagged by Rachel

I think: About what I should be doing next all the time.
I know: I have an amazing family and husband that loves and supports me and I am blessed every day.
I want: To take Spanish classes and learn as quickly as my children.
I have: Way to much laundry to do all the time.
I wish: I could travel more and help more charities.
I fear: Major health problems.
I smell: The fresh rain smell. It has been sprinkling on and off today.
I crave: Fresh tomatoes and cucumbers from my garden.
I search:For my missing I-pod Shuffle that Avery swears just disappeared three days ago when she was listening to it.
I wonder: Why Avery stays outside playing so long that she can no longer hold her urine and half way pees her pants/shorts/swimsuit almost every day.
I regret: Not figuring out some of Aurora's health problems earlier.
I love: My family and Oregon berry season.
I always: exercise once a day-otherwise I get pretty cranky!
I am not: Tall! I would easily take a few inches from someone who could spare and few!
I believe: In the Book of Mormon and in my family.
I dance: With my kids to Shrek music and the Wedding Singer Broadway musical.
I sing: Songs that my mom taught me and her mom taught her like "Bill Grogan's Goat" and many primary songs.
I write: on my blog, in my journal and in my scrapbooks. (Thanks Rachel)
I lose: Something big every time we move. Last time it was my sleeping bag!
I win: Hang Man with my tutoring students, their eyes staring straight at the word is a dead give away, but I try to let them win sometimes.
I never: Want to back up with a trailer or a boat on the truck-but I have to sometimes.
I listen: To my kids laughing then fighting and laughing and then fighting again.
I am scared: Of the decent size snake that hangs out in our Shasta Daisies.
I need: more time!
I am happy about: Almost everything.

Thanks Rachel! I tag Laura and Beth.