Tuesday, December 29, 2009





This morning I was listening to the weather forcast and they said it would rain this afternoon. It has been cold and windy for the last several days and I thought that it would have to warm up quite a bit this morning to get rain. I also saw frozen water on the sides of roads.
We reserved a three day pass to the Children's Museum and it came in today. I picked it up and we headed up there for some fun. The Children's museum is at one of the higher points in the city. They boys wanted a snack and we walked out to the lobby, we were surpised to see snow coming down. At the same moment, David called me to tell me it was snowing at home.
We did not stay at the museum much longer since it was at a high elevation and the Sunset Highway, that we use to get home often has problems in the snow. The roads were clear until we got back on our street.
When we got home, we all put on proper snow clothes and went outside. It is getting dark now and the snow is coming down hard. It is also accumulating. The magic question is...will it still be here in the morning.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

a new tradition


After we decorated the tree, the boys ran to the back room where they keep their art supplies and got busy making presents. Christian made one for Santa. It has two parts. I am not sure what one part is, but he did tell me he wrapped up his map of the world to give to Santa, so Santa would know how to get back to the North Pole. I bet that will earn him a check-mark on the "Nice" list.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Traditions


I bought this little Nativity Scene at The Dollar Tree several years ago. In our family, we don't wrap and place presents under the tree until Christmas Eve after the kids go to bed. We do this for two reasons. The first is practical. Little hands can really shake up or even open presents before Christmas morning and it removes the tempation by not even having the presents there. The other reason is that Jesus and his gift of salvation is the tree purpose of Christmas, so we keep the little Nativity Scene under the tree to remember this.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Christian's big week




Christian had a big weekend last week. He celebrated his 7th birthday with a couple of friends on Friday, a Tae Kwon Do tournement on Saturday and a swim meet on Sunday.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Thursday, December 3, 2009

the pets

Our new rabbit, Phina is quite a delight to have around the house. She is happiest when she is free and hoping around the entire house. I am not sure where she is right now. I think she is back in our bedroom with the boys. She is very easy going, quite fond of food (have to be careful and watch that), and very affectionate. She likes to be held and is very good about grooming which is important for an angora rabbit. Henrietta was very put out by her introduction into the house at first. I put their cages together, like a rabbit book suggested. The other night, Henrietta was make lots of noise as she re-arranged her cage so she could sit next to Phina's cage. Henrietta is still a bit unsure about spending time with Phina outside the cage. I am hearing a lot of grunting. In this photo Henrietta just jumped over Phina when she wanted to get to a different part of the area rug.

Galelio enjoys having a more engaging bunny around. We still have to watch him since he can play a bit rough. Phina keeps approaching him, so it must not bother her too much. All this playing with bunnies wears the kitten out.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

A visit with Santa



We went to the downtown Macys (formerly Meier and Frank) yesterday to visit Santa. My mother took me to the downtown Meier and Frank to see Santa when I was a child and David and I worked at the store at different times when we were younger. I don't like to shop there, but it is fun to go to Santaland.
Liam was eager to visit Santa. He gave quite the list of things he wanted to Santa. Among the requests were a remote control airplane and a ham. I always dream of getting a Honey-Baked ham for Christmas, I guess we share the same desire. At one point the photographer asked Liam to show her his teeth. He opened his mouth and pointed to his teeth.

Christian is not terribly fond of Santa. He did agree to step in for a couple of photos and show off his newly lost tooth.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Christmas Cards and Kits




I have had the pleasure of working with some fantastic Christmas Designs lately...

Templates: Holiday Card Bonanza - Shutterfly Ready by Hillary Heidelberg at scrapbookgraphics. Today only $1.00

Kit: Christmas Trimmings by Lindsay Jane Designs at pickleberrypop

Kits: One Magic Night by Flergs and Alana McCarthy at scrapbookgraphics

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

another turkey



There is another turkey in our house. This one is a little less work to take care of and instead of becoming our Thanksgiving dinner, it will get baked down to go into breads, muffins and pies.
We went to Limbo (a neighborhood produce shop) on Friday. I love Limbo for two things. Their bulk spice and tea section. I think I can safely say it is the best in Portland. Marketspice in Seattle can compete, but Limbo is only a mile away. The other thing I love is their dollar table. They gather up bruised or flawed fruit and veggies package it up and sell it in big bags for a dollar. This giant squash was only one dollar. So for Dollar Tree prices we get a table decoration and several meals. Can't beat that. I just remembered a third thing I love about Limbo. Almost everything is organic and many of their products are local.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

a new bunny



We got another bunny today! An angora. You can read the story of how we got her and why on my other blog Simple Gifts.
She is a sweet rabbit, which is important, since we will have to groom her often.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

a field trip






We went on another field trip yesterday. This time to Zenger Farms, which is about two miles east of us. It is a community farm in the city. They have an egg co-op, honey bees and several gardens. They even raised turkeys this year. There were only three left.
The theme of the field trip was wetlands ecology. The weather was very cooperative with the wetland theme. The kids explored the water and learned about animals that live in wetlands. The rain was forgotten when we got down there and they got the nets, and viewing tools.
We ate lunch then helped with tasks around the farm. Liam really enjoyed seperating garlic. He wanted to peel it and eat it and they had to explain that they were going to plant the garlic in the sping. We also got to remove the kernals from indian corn to use for popcorn. We bought some of the pop corn to pop and use at home.

layouts




I have some new layouts completed.
Credits
Templates for the first two: Parenthically Speaking by Hillary Heidelberg
Kit for Autumn Afternoon: Mystique by Lindsay Jane Designs
Kit for Winter: Winter Wonderland - a collab by Oscraps
Noel: One Magic Night by Flergs and Alana McCarthy

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

train trip to seattle



We joined a homeschool group for a day trip on Amtrack. We left from the Vancouver, Washington station instead of the Portland station. I like this for two reasons. 1. There is free and abundant parking in Vancouver and because we were only traveling in one state, it cost less.
This was the first time I had been on Amtrack in 27 years and it was the boys first trip. They enjoyed the train ride, the scenery and Liam enjoyed re-enacting the movie Polar Express on the ride home. I am thankful that so many people had bus tickets to give him when he went around asking for tickets. Next time we do the trip, I will bring some 4x6 note cards and a hole punch for him to play with. I might need to also bring a shoe box, so he doesn't leave little pieces of paper all over the train.
While in Seattle, we went to the Pike Street Market. There was a large fish that they tug on to make it look alive. It freaked Liam out. He was not happy until we left. We also visited Market Spice to buy some tea and spices. I am drinking the Market Spice Rooibos Chai right now.
After the market and lunch we walked to the Pacific Science Center. The highlight was the butterfly gardens.

We walked back to the train station. I learned that it is a very long walk, especially in a Seattle Downpour and that the neighborhood close to the station gets quite interesting as it gets dark. I think we will utilize the bus system next time.
a quick note...I finished my the socks I have been knitting. Stop by my other blog Simple Gifts to see them! Wool socks and hiking boots are great for a long walk on a rainy day in Seattle.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

New Chair -kind of

We picked up a chair at Value Village the other day. I wanted a comfortable chair to knit and read in, since the couch seems to always me a bus, car or rocket and is not always available for its traditional purpose. Luna is quite fond of the new chair and has taken over.

They boys tried to squeeze in and share the chair with her, but she was not too happy.


I would like to sit down and knit now, I wonder if Luna will allow it.

New Blog

I finally finished my new blog, Simple Gifts today. I will be using this blog for photography, family updates and scrapbooking. My new blog is about my attempts at empbracing the DIY lifestyle. Stop by and visit.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Thursday, October 29, 2009



We went to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. We had to get out between rain storms and my GPS and I had a major falling out when it tried to take me back to Portland and have me drive back out the way it wanted me to. We found a nice little produce stand and pumpkin patch. The prices were great. They had a fun selection of pumpkins too.
Credits: Halloween by Alana McCarthy

Friday, October 23, 2009




I read a post over at the Daily Digi a while back that discussed getting lots of photos scrapped. They suggested finding a pack of multi-photo templates and a couple of good kits. Open up all of the templates, add the photos and then use the kits to go from there.
Hillary Heidelberg's Square Pegs Template Set #1 was the perfect starting place to get some of our vacation photos scrapped.
I also used Mid-Summer Night's Dream by MGL Scraps, Fade On White Alpha by Diana Rigdon and some elements from Falling Softly by Dani Mogstad.
Hillary also a snowflake template and rub-on set that I used to embellish the snow pages.