Rejoicing!

Baby Anna was born today, on her due date. I'm sure my friend Jenny is glad she didn't wait any longer as she was 9 pounds 5 ounces! Mo and I have been praying every night that his friend Isaac's baby sister would be born soon and healthy. Another prayer answered!

Clean Sunday Morning

Mo is enjoying a clean couch and his organic maple yogurt.

Yesterday we busted some dust bunnies in our home. (I hope they didn't all move down to see you Jen) Now we have the last 2 days of the long weekend to just enjoy!

We had mom and dad over for barbeque last night. Hamburgers on the grill (chopped jalapeno, onion and cheddar cheese mixed into the beef before making patties), corn on the grill (basted with a seasoned butter while grilling), BBQ Jalapenos, coselaw (mom brought), chips and dip, and blackberry peach pie for dessert. I'd love to show you the pie, but only 2 slices are left. Those are going to Grammy and Papa's today since they are kid sitting while Dana goes to the firing range with his brother and I go to a movie with the girls of the family.

Can you believe this dish was free at a yardsale?

Have a wonderful weekend!

Fish Soup

Don't worry this is not a recipe! This is a learning experience. While packing Kaia's lunch this morning, Mo came out and asked me for "fish soup." I said, "you want fish soup?" He said, "Noooo Fish Soup!" This is when Kaia, interpreter extraordinaire steps in. "Mom he wants some fish soup. Fish soup is yummy isn't it, buddy?" Mo looks at her like she has three heads. I knew he wasn't saying "fish soup," but I couldn't remember what "fish soup" actually was. Finally, Mo brought the fish soup to me. Duh! I knew that's what it was, but in this sick fog couldn't remember. Now I am blogging it so all of you, and I, will know what "fish soup" is.

Swimsuit.

At only 73 degrees outside, he didn't get to wear it. I'm off to rest and eat my soup now.

Kindergarten

Today was the first day of school! Kaia was definitely excited. She dressed herself and got ready without an argument.

Here she is in her new outfit. She was bursting as she put in on "I've always wanted to wear this outfit all day!" This was a school outfit from Grandma Owie, and she has only been allowed to wear it once to church. Of course Mo couldn't let Sissy get all the photo attention.

This is the lunch I carefully packed for her, and she didn't eat. Crackers, cheese and summer sausage, fresh tomato, banana, juice packet (I haven't found a small reusable container that doesn't leak yet) and a small chocolate wafer bar. She had the Eating Right Puffed Cocoa cereal for breakfast. (Just $1 at Safeway) Apparently the teachers had everyone eat the same meal today. Not sure what was the reason, but oh well, the food was still cold when it came home so Kaia's lunch is ready for Thursday.

Tomorrow Kaia has the day off, and then she starts in full on Thursday. I admit I didn't even tear up dropping her off, and was very excited to pick her up. She was just as excited to go as she was to see me.

Dance Party

Dana is riding his ATV today with my cousin. Kaia is at Sabbath School. Mo and I are supposed to be cleaning up. I am, he's not. It's been a great morning! I found out first thing that I won the give-away on Kelli's blog! Even more reason to get the house in order, new towels and apron are coming my way (along with some more great things!). Then I saw that Jen gave me a friendship award! So why not take a quick break from cleaning for a little dance party?

Show & Tell: I'm Sooo Excited

My Show & Tell today isn't a cherished keepsake. It is all new, and one of the items arrived in our home last night. Click on the link below to join in the fun!

Most moms are a little apprehensive about sending their child off to school for the very first time. Most moms get a little emotional about it. Well you all know I'm not most moms, and the biggest emotion I have is: Excitement! I cannot wait! Kaia starts school next week. Not just next week, but in 4 days! We had her orientation last night. She has 2 teachers. They are splitting the week so that they both have time at home with their own young children. Dana pointed out that he is older than both teachers. So am I, but I also had expected them to be young.

There are 4 kindergarten classrooms at her school! The kids all had a great time playing outside though, while the parents got all the details in these lovely blue folders.

Of course Kaia doesn't care about the details. What's important is the goldfish named Norman in the classroom. And the fact that there is a bin of dress up clothes by the wall. She's also pretty excited about her new backpack.

We actually got this at Bi-Mart for much less than I had expected I would have to spend. I tried to convince her that my old blue Jansport bag would work (remember how cool those were?), but she refused, which really didn't surprise me. Tinkerbell was less expensive than many of the backpacks we've seen. While Dana and I tried to talk her into a cool pink camo bag, she insisted on Tink. Which I guess is ok. The pink camo will come later. The other thing she's really excited about is her new lunchbox.

Princesses of course! Now she received a new lunchbox at Christmas, but she found this for half price, and there is something cool about the metal lunchboxes. While this isn't exactly retro, the retro girl in me loves that it is not vinyl with a puffy Dora image on the front. So now she has 2 lunchboxes.

Thanks for visiting today! Have a great weekend.

Pretty as a Princesss

We ran out of pull-ups last night. Mo refused to wear a g diaper. I improvised. I just didn't expect him to like it so much.

I realize I'm bending the rules a bit, but this post is part of Sincerely 'Fro Me to You at We Are THAT Family. Someday, Mo will be shaking his head and wondering why he thought this was so cool.

Playing around with the photo of my stars

Normal?

Yep, I'd say things are back to normal around here. Whatever that means.

A few new recipes

I'm trying to get back to normal blogging, but it is so hard. Life is still kind of crazy. I spent this weekend cleaning things out, so the house doesn't look all that much cleaner. I did do away with 3 kitchen bags full of toys! I listed them on freecycle, and the first response was also another blogger! A blogger I didn't even know about. So you know who I chose to give the toys to.

I do want to share a few recipes with you. One I've been making over the last few weeks and it's a huge hit with my family. I grew up eating cucumbers and onions, also known as quick pickles. It's good, but the vinegar can be overwhelming. The other day I had a ripe cucumber and ripe tomatoes. So I made:

Cucumber & Tomato salad
1 Thin-skinned cucumber (homegrown or english works well)
1-2 Ripe tomatoes
Thinly sliced onion to taste
Rice Wine Vinegar
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Thin slice the cucumber into rounds. Put in shallow dish. Add the thin sliced onion. I used yellow, but red would work great too. Sprinkle salt all over the cucumber. You don't need a whole bunch, but you need to make sure each cucumber slice has some salt on it. Let sit while you work on the rest of the meal. After 20-30 minutes, drain any water that is in the dish. Add sliced tomatoes. Then drizzle the rice vinegar and olive oil over the top. Add pepper. Toss. The Rice Vinegar is a bit pricey up front, but most recipes call for just a small amount and the mild flavor really lends itself to this dish. We have not had any leftovers when I've made this.

Homemade Honey Mustard Dressing
Mayonnaise
Jalapeno Mustard
Lemon Juice
Honey
Pepper

I mixed it to taste. I used about 3/4 cup of Mayo, 3 Tablespoons of the Jalapeno Mustard, fresh squeezed lemon juice from a quarter of a lemon and a tablespoon of honey. Then added pepper liberally. I let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes to bring it to full flavor. We had this on top of steak salad last night.

Take a little trip...

My parents gave us a digital photo frame for Christmas 2 years ago. We decided to download the card my dad had created, and put them on the computer. Wow! I forgot these photos existed.

Newborn Mo

Baby Mo

I'm still not sure it's possible this little girl starts school in a week and a half.

Hope you enjoyed looking. I hope to stop by and say hi to you all soon!

The Weather

Jen asked me just what the temperature was at the beach. On the Oregon Coast, you wear layers. The forecast said 76 degree high in Lincoln City one morning. Looking out the window, we didn't believe the guy. Good thing too, he was wrong! It was right about 70 degrees the day we got there. The temps were pretty much in the low 60's the entire time we were there, which is fairly normal. The wierd part: The wind stopped. You go to Lincoln City to fly kites. People go and do some para sailing and use stunt kites... and we couldn't get Kaia's simple little diamond shaped unicorn kite up in the air.

First day we arrived, sunny and warm, so Papa Richard went down to the beach.

Second or Third day at the beach. A little bit chillier.

No matter what the weather it was a wonderful time. Still trying to catch up at home and work, so more posts that are not vacation related coming soon!

More Beach Fun

If you have never visited the Oregon Coast, you are missing out! Even though I live in Washington, and I lived in California, the beaches do not compare to the beauty of Oregon.

I love the look on Mo's face!

Kaia visiting the tidepools. This was underwater the rest of our trip.

An otter at the Oregon Aquarium in Newport.

A Puffin enjoying the mild weather. The aviary allows you to be right next to the birds. No touching of course, but it's great to see them up close.

You know you've lost control...

When your husband goes to the store and before you know it, both kids have stripped down to absolutely nothing and are running around the house. I'd post a photo, but that would be obscene. For now, I'm going to run around with a pullup and attempt to put it on Mo.

We're Back...

Rocks that we could see from our window.

Starfish on those rocks. First 2 days we had a really low tide. This allowed us to go pet all the starfish, anenomes and small crabs.

We made it home, safe and sound, for the most part. My dad is recovering from his accident on the Harley (he only had a broken rib, separated shoulder, and road rash). I'm sporting a large bruise on my leg (from pushing the trailer out to go get Dad and Dana). My father in law and I enjoyed our time traveling to find the guys (they were almost 2 hours away). It was good bonding.

Kaia at the aquarium.

It's hard to leave the ocean, even if the weather wasn't quite as cooperative as we'd have liked. It's also hard to go from having 4 other adults helping us with the kids, to just the 2 of us. And it's hard to leave a nice clean house, and come home to our mess. Such is life though. I've been picking up the last few days, and doing laundry. Can't wait to visit you all again!

Grammy and the kids.

Vacation's all I ever wanted...

This shirt is So True!

Waiting for Papa to land

Papa after landing

It's time! The house isn't super clean, but hopefully our housesitter doesn't notice. Our bags are packed and I'm so ready to be on the coast! It's been a busy day. We got up and I started packing and cleaning while Kaia was at Sabbath School with the neighbors. Then the kids and I were off to see Papa Richard fly (Dana was already there as official cameraman)! We missed the take-off thanks to a meltdown by an unnamed drama queen, but the kids got to enjoy the museum and Kaia even sat in the small simulator and flew.

Then we hit the library, and home to finish cleaning and packing. I will miss blogging, but after a very hectic few weeks, I will enjoy my time at the ocean. The weather appears to be semi-cooperative and in the upper 60's, lower 70's. I don't care, though! I need that peace that only comes from staring into God's creation that is so vast it is hard to imagine that more land lay beyond. I promise to have plenty of photos on my return, and maybe we'll even catch a whale in one shot. My dad did last time we were there. So enjoy your week, I'll be enjoying the salty air, fresh dungeness crab, and time with my family.

If you're curious we are staying at the Ebb Tides.