Steve's Birdhouse

I guess I am not the only nostalgic one in the family. I was with my kids on Gma Eloise's hill and took a picture of the old bird hotel my Gpa Burl made decades ago. Then, I went to see Steve's new place and he had built one just like it for his yard. Here they are......

Funny WV sign. This is not a joke.

This was hanging in a roadside store on Rt. 50 in Cool Springs, WV. Gma Judy, Carson, Sam, and I drove there to see the store with all the old time toys and the donkeys. I almost peed my pants when I saw it!

WV whirlwind trip

On the way home, carson gets an airport manicure.
Seriously, Uncle Steve has turned into Uncle Owen. This is his tractor in his huge garage.
Sam was collecting pinecones at Gma Eloise's house.
They picked flowers at Gma Eloise's to put on her kitchen table.
Sam and Carson feeding the donkeys at Cool Springs.
This is Carson in my dad's buckskin suit. He made it when I was little. He was a hunter and used every part of the animal.....yuck, but cool.
Carson and CoCo in a dress. Carson thought a Chihuahua was the best.
Pappaw and Sam on the bumper cars at Valley World's of Fun
Collecting acorns at Kati's house in Virginia
Me and Kati. I am glad I drove to Charlottesville to see her even if it was too long in the car for two days.
The kids at Caverns in Shenandoah Valley. Cool tour. Cool caverns.
Carson and Sam at Valley Falls.
Carson got into Grandma Eloise's wigs and hats.
With Grandma Judy. I loved playing at Grandma Eloise's when I was little.
The kids with grandma.

Portraits

She and he.

The Circus is in town. Again.

Not to be outdone by his sister, the amazing SAM DODY performs his circus act. His death- defying trapeze act of swinging back and forth was incredible. He could log roll under a little girl. His donkey kicks were amazingly donkey-like. Then he stood with his hands down his pants and his tongue stuck out while parents hooted and hollered like fools. AHHH. Motherhood.

Blowing the budget at Ken's Artisan Pizza

We realized that we blew the budget in many areas the very first month....Maybe we went to the extreme with the planning. I am well known to go overboard. Can Kim cook every night? I think not. Can she cook 6 days a week? That also seems to be pushing it. The budget was blown on housewares (thanks to a dead vacuum), pets (thanks to an dead hamster), and vacation (thanks to Mickey Mouse). So we decided to go ahead and eat the pizza tonight. Was it worth 60$? You bet. While waiting for the pizza, Sam wrote his name for the first time, Sharon had to finish my second beer which left her a little giddy on the way home, and we all got our tummies full of yummy food. Carson even found a new food.....If rhubarb crisp qualifies as food.

Maybe she will join the CIRCUS!

Carson had her Do Jump "show" yesterday. Do Jump class is an acrobat class for kids. They do trapeze and gymnastics. The camera couldn't quite catch the action shots, but here she is on the trapeze. The little boy hung under her with his hands and they hooked feet. The mom sitting beside me started crying when her daughter was on the trapeze and said, "I didn't expect it to be so beautiful". I thought that was a little much, but it was a really cute show. Sam's is later today.

The Eruption!

sick day

Is it really possible for a child to be so ill that her Pediatric ICU mother gets nervous enough to take her to urgent care only to find her perfectly fine the next day?  We spent the morning yesterday at the urgent care clinic where Carson had her 3rd day of fever and lethargy.   Her influenza A test came back positive which tells us her mother is bad for not getting her a flu shot.  Her chest x-ray was fine even though she sounded like she had pneumonia.  She took a four hour nap yesterday and we prepared ourselves for a few days of movies and popsicles.   She woke up her usual chipper and funny girl this morning.  I kept her home to make sure, but she hasn't complained all day.  So, I had to fill the day with activities.  She and Sam are working on a Plaster volcano.  We are waiting for Mama Share to come home to do the lava.  Pictures to follow.  In the meantime, here is Lulu lounging around Carson.  Seems that she knows Carson is sick and follows her around.  Very sweet.   Also a picture of my new vacuum.  Funny that we sold the scooter only to have our old vacuum break for the final time that very same week.  I can't BELIEVE vacuums cost so much!!!  You can't even ride around on it!

It's a Sunshine Day

OMSI

Sam and I spent the morning playing at OMSI in the science playground. They have a giant indoor sandbox with buckets and shovels, sifters and spinners and LOTS of kids. The playground also has a big water exhibit that you put rubber boots and smocks on to play in. Sam found some blocks and wood to weigh on the scale, he built a road and made tall towers.
Carson has been doing the "raindrop knitting club" on Thursdays at a neighborhood fiber arts store. They had a display in their front window for a while of an underwater scene. Carson knitted and eel for the store display. The display then made it's way over to OMSI in one of their display cases so here are some pictures of it. I thought it was cool. All the sea creatures were made with wool felt or wool yarn by customers and friends of the owner of Gossamer (Fiber store). I think it is wonderful that she put together all the items from the most novice finger knitted eel (Carson) to a felted wool octopus by an artist.

Homemade goodness

Sharon made homemade soup and bread for dinner and Sam and I worked on some Apple Spice cake. I took some of Sharon's old sweaters and made some fingerless gloves for all of us. Check them out.

Two beauties...errrrrr make it three.

Today Carson, Gma, Gpa, and I went downtown and met Share for lunch at some funky hotdog place and then she went back to work. The rest of us went to the Portland Art Museum to check out the French painting exhibit which was quite intriquing to the 7 year old. Nearly everyone was naked (in the paintings) and there were many Cupids involved. We had a lovely time and even splurged on a Starbucks!! We thought it was time to go when Gpa started knocking on the exhibits to see what they were made of and Carson started telling on him. Carson and I picked up Sam and they wanted to head out to Mt. Tabor to play. I felt so lucky to have my camera handy for these shots of Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens. Breathtaking! I love to hear Portlanders tell their stories of where they were when Mt. St. Helens erupted. If you lived here then, you have a story.

Budget Update

I haven't caved on Starbucks, but did go to IKEA. Sam had the choice to do "anything he wanted" yesterday. I gave him many options....OMSI, Zoo, playground, walk. He said, "I want to go to IKEA". Well, how can I pass that up? I have been waiting for their shipment of oversold fabric. Of course, it came in yesterday morning! I limited myself to 50$ of fabric (about 6 yards). I also bought a reading light to go in the computer room and some frames to put up the kids drawings and my Kenneth Cole ad of Jay Bakker (Jim and Tammy Faye's son). SEE ABOVE.

I am excited because I have 60$ credit at the book store, 10$ goodwill card, 25$ REI credit, 20$ Amazon credit, and three restaurant certificates. I am saving all for when I MUST go shopping. I also sold a pair of my awesome Velvet Curtains from Restoration Hardware on Ebay since they were sitting in my basement.

The countdown is on!

It's the countdown to Disneyland chain. The yellow link at the end is Disney and the yellow links in the middle are Grandma and Pappaw's house. The kids are so excited to see Pappaw Rick this trip. They haven't seen him for a year! But, they remember that he plays with them (silly stink bug games and fun stuff). Carson has a little calendar of her own and she crosses off the days as they are over. This is right beside it. Sam counted the loops (with help if they went past 9) and Carson did all the stapling.

Lesson for the day....Monkey Puzzler

I have been fascinated with these trees since moving to the PNW and finally got around to finding out about them. Their long tail-like branches look like giant green pine cones to me. But they aren't a pine tree. They are a conifer called Monkey Puzzle Trees. In France they are called Monkey's Despair but they didn't evolve to keep monkeys from climbing them. They evolved their prickly long branches to keep away grazing dinosaurs. (Don't forget, I believe in evolution). So what are these Chilean trees doing in Portland? They were given out as seedlings in 1905 at the Lewis and Clark expo by the Chili Exhibit. So the ones that are here are about 100 year old giants by now. They were given out in Seattle in 1962 at the Seattle World's Fair so they are about 50 years "smaller" there. The tree is either male or female. Above is a picture of a female tree and it has a large globular cone. The male cones look like cucumbers.....go figure.....

These pictures are of a tree next door to Carson's new piano teacher. Another story altogether...

sam's sleeve tattoo

Like I said.....he gets a tattoo when he takes his dose of Amoxicillin. Look at his fevery eyes and rosy cheeks.