Wordless Wednesday: First Day of School!

My oldest started kindergarten today...

Oregon Adventures: Week 3

Our last week at Grandma and Grandpa's house started with sisters getting some baby food for the first time.  They weren't quite sure what to do with it, but they did at least eat it and not reject it!

After dinner Grandpa had them both giggling like crazy!

Proud Grandma and Grandpa... only missing one grandkid - cousin William that we haven't met yet!

On Monday we headed out to the beach for a couple of days.  To the family cabin where we spent our honeymoon and our 5th anniversary with Noah in tow.  This time we took all the kids hoping for some fun playing on the beach.  However... it was so cold and windy that unless you looked like this:

you were going to be cold.  And Daddy forgot to grab any long pants or a jacket of any sort!

What's going to the beach without writing your name in the sand?

I had fun taking pictures of the water... from inside the cabin!  Yes, we are so spoiled with our view!

Sisters don't get to interact much unless you are holding both of them.  But they have definitely started to look at each other and talk.  It's super cute!

Looks are deceiving... even though it was nice and sunny the wind was blowing mist and it was COLD!  See the haze over the water?  That's clouds that were moving just off shore.

The cabin we stay in is called the Alvidor and it's quite unique.  It's 2 hexagons stuck together on one side to make something like a figure 8 shape.  One side has this huge fireplace in the middle with the kitchen around behind (it's tiny!) and the rest of the room is open for the living area.  The other hexagon is 3 bedrooms and a bath, with all the walls at funky angles.  It's really fun and cozy though!

Family at the beach!

When we got home we just had one more day to pack up and of course swim in the pool one more time...

Noodle races!

That night we went out to dinner at a totally gluten free restaurant.  It was so awesome to just be able to order WHATEVER we wanted without even thinking about it!  And it was good too!  I'll have to tell you more about it in another post.  I tweaked my back while swinging on the ropes in the pool so I was in a lot of pain and hadn't brought my camera for dinner.  Oops!

Friday morning after a stop at the outlet mall for new shoes for both boys and some school clothes for Brian we headed home... It takes us 7 hours of driving time, but more like 12 hours total to make the trip.

Waiting for Daddy to get coffee I got this most awesome shot of my oldest...

Oh, and did I mention it was hot???

This was at the rest area just north of Selah with Mt. Rainier in the sunset.  This rest area has a sign posted to watch out for rattlesnakes so I always tell the boys to only stay on the sidewalk or in the parking lot (there aren't a lot of cars here).  Tonight after we were done and getting ready to drive back on the freeway all of a sudden there was a rattlesnake right in the middle of the road.  So we backed up and pulled up beside it so the boys could see it.  We had the side window rolled down and used Cory's flashlight to shine on it.  It didn't like the light so started moving away and Cory was pretty freaked out even though we were still in the car.  I guess a good reinforcement for my warning even though they were really good about staying on the concrete.

And finally... home!

Oregon Adventures: Week 2

After being at Grandma and Grandpa's for a week we'd nicely settled in and decided impromptu to go have dinner by the falls we went to last year.  We even managed not to fight about how late we went... although this year I would have preferred to go much earlier because I got ATE UP by the mosquitoes.  Ugh.

But the light was gorgeous!

Last year Cory fell into a really deep hole and Grandpa had to fish him out.  This year it was Noah's turn...

Grandpa is demonstrating the depth of the hole with his leg.  Cory's hole was almost as deep as that stick in the other post.

I think perhaps Grandpa had the most fun here...

We each carried one of the girls so it was a bit harder for us to help the boys.  And keeping a 2 1/2 year old from slipping on the mossy rocks... well, he come home with a big goose egg, but didn't seem much the worse for wear!

The water is fairly cold... and Cory wasn't convinced to lay down like Grandpa!

Brian and Joy

Later that week we made the trek up to visit Great Grandpa and Norma.  They always have yummy food (and are so good with gluten free options in their dining hall!)  They got the boys some cool John Deere tractors and some clothes for the girls that are the perfect size.

After lunch the girls and Grandpa needed a nap and I knew the boys wouldn't sleep... so instead of a rest we took a hike.  We were looking for blackberries down in the canyon, but there were none so we took a walk around campus.  Cory couldn't quite believe that this was where Mommy and Daddy met and went to school!

They were tired boys on the way home that night!

The next day we had friends over for dinner and a pool party.

The guys got pool duty and all the bigger kids loved playing on the ropes!

We'll add two more to this picture in a couple years...

Cory and Troy are close in age (he's on the far right) and Noah and Carly (hot pink) are only a few months apart.  Lindsey just liked playing with the babies when we went to their house later.

And in case you haven't noticed a theme with all the water... it got HOT in Oregon while we were there.

So when your house doesn't have AC (although thank goodness for sleeping in the basement!) you find all the water you can, including the fun fountain downtown!

There were lots of kids there at first, but then they all left and the boys pretty much had the place to themselves!

We tried eating at a Mongolian Grill just across the street afterwards, but they weren't very knowledgeable about gluten allergies so we were pretty limited.  I guess I'm spoiled by our local place up here, this place didn't even compare!

And so ended the second week...

Wordless Wednesday: Nap Time!

Although not a whole lot of napping gets done with this crowd in the bed!

Back to School with TinyPrints (and giveaway!)

Brian starts his teacher meetings today and next Wednesday is the first day of school, for him AND Cory.  My oldest child is starting school.

We really hadn't even decided what we were going to do about school this year until just last month.  But I'm so happy that we've chosen a local Montessori school.  I really don't have anything against public school except for the fact that they have all day kindergarten and I think that's just too long, especially for boys.  Boys need lots of creative active time!

So, he's starting school next week, we just got home from vacation on Friday, and now the mad rush is on to find the things he needs.

One thing I'm most worried about when he's out of my care is his allergy.  A gluten allergy, while not life threatening, is pretty overwhelming at times.  It's not just one thing, it comes in many forms and is in practically all pre-packaged foods.

So I'll be sending him to school with one of these adorable allergy alert cards from Tiny Prints.  He's 5 and pretty good about not eating foods without asking what's in them first, but a mom has to have something to worry about, right?  I'll feel a little better knowing the staff will have a quick reference handy!

And in that homemade lunch I will be sending because of his allergies I can add some cute little lunch box notes.  I remember when my mom sent notes in my lunch.  It wasn't every day, but made a special reminder that my lunch was packed with love.  And no, she didn't pack my lunch when I was older, that was my job!

Tiny Prints has lots of great options for your back to school needs and I've got a $50 gift card (plus free shipping!) for one of you to stock up!

Please visit the back to school page and check out all their supplies.  Pick one (or five!) and come back here leaving me a comment about what you like.

For extra entries you can use the options on the product page to share your choice on Pinterest, Facebook, Google+, or Twitter with the hashtag #TinyPrintsBTS.  Leave an extra comment for each share - up to 3 comments total including the first one.

Giveaway will close on August 28th at midnight PST.  Winners will have 2 days to reply so please make sure I have a way to contact you!

PS. Want more prizes from Tiny Prints?  Join the Back to School twitter party today (8/21) from 1-2pm Pacific.  RSVP and follow @resourcefulmom to play!

Tiny Prints has compensated me for my time on this post, but all opinions are my own.

Oregon Adventures

We have our house mostly back in order after 3 weeks in Oregon...

It's only 7 hours driving time, but with 4 small children it routinely takes us 12 hours to get there.  Here are sisters hanging out with Grandpa just after we got there.  Bed time!

We had lots of fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa for almost three weeks!

Noah was swimming all over Grandpa's pool with the noodles.  That kid has no fear...

The boys and Daddy and Grandpa went to various parks in the mornings.  This one's for Uncle Kevin!

Hope on the garden bench

Mommy and the girls mostly hung out with Grandma at home although we went shopping a couple times.

Joy discovered her hands

Somehow Grandma's sinks are perfect for taking baths in!  Both the one downstairs and the laundry sink!

At the end of the first week it really warmed up and we were headed out to the coast to meet Grandma after a memorial service.  What should have taken us about an hour and a half would have taken closer to four hours... apparently all the people from Portland decided to go to the coast too because it was so hot.  So after 2 hours in the car we turned around, stopped at Burgerville, and found that this little park had a fountain to play in.  For three hours of driving we ended up having dinner half an hour from home and then going home.  Oh well, it was an adventure!

Thus ended the first week.  I'll attempt to fit the rest of my pictures into two more posts.

Five Months Old

My baby girls are soooo interactive now!

This is their standard "taking pictures" face since they still don't quite know what a camera is...

But put Daddy beside me talking to them and they get very smiley!

At five months there are quite a few milestones to report!  They both learned how to roll over from back to tummy, sometimes back, but sometimes they just get frustrated.

Hope sucks her thumb and Joy her two middle fingers.  They've both found their toes now, but more especially Joy.

They are growing girls, I don't know if the 6 month clothes will quite make it to the 6 month mark before we have to get out the next size!  They each weigh at least 15 pounds according to my bathroom scale, but we won't get an official weight for another month.

And it finally seems our nursing issues are behind us, hallelujah!  We also started feeding them a bit of baby food last week and they seem to like it.  (pictures to come)  Of course they make a giant mess, but they aren't refusing it.  And they sure make noise when you stop feeding one to feed the other!

Hey look, we're also getting some stomach muscles!  Doing baby situps in the bouncers, reaching for, and holding onto the toys that hang in front of them.

So much bigger than the bunny now!


PS. We're home now so hopefully I'll have time to tell lots of stories this week!  As long as my back lets me sit for a few minutes...

Stretch...

Right now I wish I could stretch... Maybe I should have been doing more stretching lately... who knows.

This morning I went swimming with the boys and decided to swing off the rope into the pool.  I've done this before, but for some reason when I came up my back just tweaked and suddenly I was in intense pain.

I've been hobbling around all day, trying not to be completely useless.

In the morning we are leaving for home.  We have a 7 hour drive, not including stops along the way.  It's going to be a looooong day.

So if it's not too much of a stretch for you, would you please pray that I'm not in pain the whole way, that my back would heal quickly, and that the kids would have an okay ride?

Thanks!

Maybe this is stretching my tendency to want to control everything... since I can't do anything to help us get packed up and going in the morning...

This is a post prompt from The Gypsy Mama. Join in?