Day 31 and a foggy morning in Portland

So I did it! I have taken at least one photo a day every day this month AND I blogged every day this month. This is the first time I have blogged so consistantly. The boys and I went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) this morning. My photo today is of Christian watching the Gravitram which is a large wire contraption that has elaborate tracks for balls to travel on. And from the name, it must use gravity.
OMSI is right down on the river and we had a foggy morning so I took some foggy photos.
On the way down, we were delayed at the train crossing. I grabbed a couple shots.

Canadain Geese like to hang out on the Marquam Bridge.

This is the Marquam Bridge

This is a photo of the submarine that is part of OMSI

This is the Hawthorne Bridge. Downtown Portland is in the photo, but it cannot be seen through the fog.

Day 30

I took a self-portrait in the bedroom mirror from Ikea. I really like this mirror, but I realize that since it from Ikea, everyone probably has it in their house too.
Here is a layout I did last night.

Credits: Inspired by Monsters my Leslie Bodah

Day 29 and a layout

Today I took a photo of my afternoon cup of coffee and chocolate covered JoJo (from Trader Joes) I have admit that I am a dipper. I love to dip the cookie in the warm coffee so that it outside melts a bit. It is like a mocha on the cookie.
Liam went back to the doctor today and the swelling is down enough in his finger so he started oral anti-biotics. He seems to like going to the doctor. I am not sure why, his doctor is nice, but I would not want to spend time with someone who orders painful shots for me.
Here is my week in review layout from last week.

I used some new products from Lindsay Jane Designs...P365 Cluster Frames Vol. 1 and Spring Showers

Day 28 - A finger infection

I noticed that Liam's finger was swollen Monday afternoon. I decided to watch it and wait until the next day and see if it was better. Yesturday afternoon it was not, so I called the doctor. He went in this morning and as I suspected, he had an infection. Liam has had infections in his feet in the past so the doctor did not want to mess around with this and decided to give him an antibiotic shot. It was actually a shot in each leg. Liam usually does not cry for vaccines, but he was screaming during this shot, so it must have really hurt bad. He was also in too much pain to walk around while we were waiting 30 minutes to make sure he did not have a recation. He is home and walking around again. David got him a M & M cookie to help him feel better. This photo is his finger this afternoon.
Here are my ADSR challenge 7 & 8 layouts.

This is Christian's referral picture.

I took this photo on Monday when Liam and Luna were enjoying the sun.
Credits Here

Day 27 - Baking Bread

Okay, so Christian is actually peeling a potato in this photo, but it was step one in our Potato-Buttermilk bread recipe that we have been making this morning. There are two loaves in the oven as I type this. I am working including the kids in the cooking more and letting them build some motor skills while they are at it. I washed the potatos and showed Christian how to peel and he peeled two of them. Liam tried a bit too, but he is not quite ready. I can't wait for the bread to get out of the oven. The loaves were huge before I even put them in the oven and they do one more rise while cooking. I also defrosted and warmed up some tomato/orange soup in the crock pot.
Here is the finished product...

Day 26 - sun, cats and oatmeal

I had a some photos taken to take my photo of the day in one direction, then I walked in on Luna sunning herself. Liam came in and struck some poses with her. So I am using one of these photos as my photo of the day.

Here is Luna doing her who spread. She is exposing her pelt-like stomach.

This is my original photo. This is our morning oatmeal and toppings. I take milk or half and half and warm it up to 170 degrees while stirring briskly with a whisk. I then add the oatmeal and stir for a minute or two. After putting the oatmeal in a bowl, I add a bit of raw sugar, fresh grated nutmeg, cinnamon, dried fruit and nuts.

Here are two layouts...

Credits: Template by Chrissy W., free as part of the Elemental Scraps Template Challenge, Kits: Sea Breeze by Little Miss Liz and Becki Kress and Seascape by Lindsay Jane Designs

Kit: Love It by Jannylyn Brokken and Juno Designs, Heart Mat by Melissa Bennett

Day 25 and more snow

We woke up to snow this morning. Most of it is gone now. Most years, snow in January, even a few flakes, would amaze people and probably shut down the city. This winter, we had so much snow in December (more than a foot) that the novelty is gone. I think a good gage is the kids reaction. I got up and told Christian that we had snow last night and his response was "oh, I already saw it." Usually he would run around with joy. I decided to still take pictures because this is the first and hopefully last snow of 2009. I took the above picture of our cat Luna during her morning hunt. She sits at the window during a couple of her waking hours every day to "hunt" she looks out the window, does not want to be touched and waits for birds and squirels. When she sees something she crouches and makes wierd sounds.
Here are few more pictures. I am thinking about doing a garden journal/scrapbook kind of thing this year. I thought some snowy garden shots would be a good way to start. I often have more failure than sucess, so the idea of a garden journal is rather optimistic for me.

Day 24, my Blackberry and a layout

There has been so much talk lately about our President's Blackberry and how he refuses to give it up. I decided to take a picture of my Blackberry. I would think President Obama has a bit more masucline cover. My one piece of advice would be to make sure that if you send a text, make sure you are sending it to the right person. If I make an error, it is just a brief issue. If he sends a text to the wrong person, it could cause an International Diplomatic incident. Could you imagine intending to send a text to Gordon Brown and you really send it to Fidel Castro?
I took some pictures from Christian's class yesturday and did a layout with them.

Credits: Kit: Brickworks by Lindsay Jane Designs, Template by Hummie at Hummiesworld and text path by Shelley Rae Custbert.

Day 23 - Lego Class

Christian had a homeschool Lego Class today.

Each child was encouraged to make a creation beforehand to share with the group.

Here iis Christian sharing his Star Fighter. He talked about and answered questions.

After the show and tell time, each participant got a Lego Set (all the same) to build. Today was Anakin Skywalker's Fighter Ship.

We worked on building it for a while at the class. I do not have much patience for these Lego projects and my blood sugar was quickly dropping as we reached lunch time. We packed it up and brought it home where David helped Christian finish it while I went to the gym. (We hit the dollar menu at BK to help the whole blood sugar thing)

Here is the finished product.

Liam also enjoyed playing with Legos and building things.

Day 22 - the tale of floppy toe

This is my small toe AKA floppy toe. I had a bone spur removed from the toe in 1992 and now one of the bones is missing in the toe. The toe gets its nickname, because whenever I do something like stub it or drop a vacum on it, it gets swollen and floppy. When I walk after one of the injuries, it kind of drags behind the rest of my foot for a few days.
You can see the scar for the procedure in the top of my toe and after looking at this photo, it is obvious that I need to clip that nail.
Here is my week three layout...

Credits: Project 365 Blanks by Lucky Smith

Day 21 and a layout

Liam worked on and off throughout the day yesturday and worked on the above Duplo creation. He decided that he wanted to build a McDonalds. I know that there is an M in there and he also said that there was a Christmas tree in there. The closet in the their room has mirrors on it. Liam wet his pants and woke me up at 6:00 am to help him change. I grabbed the first pair of pants I could find in the dark, while I was half asleep. He got a pair with a giant hole in the knee. I did not realize that his leg went through the giant hole in the pants. I need to go buy some patches and sit down and spend some time doing clothes repairs.
Here is a layout I did with some pictures from Christian's Birthday party last month.

Credits: Birthday Bash by Tracey Monette at scrapbook-elements.

Day 20 - a moment in history

We did a bit of U.S. Government for our homeschooling today. We got to see the peaceful passing of power from one President to another. If you stop and think about it, that is huge. Presidents have passed power peacefully from one to another for over two hundred years.

Days 18 & 19, more beach pictures and year in review layouts

We are back from our camping trip and here are my pictures from Sunday and today. When we drove up to our yurt yesturday, the welcome committee was ready. They were always close by. We had to be careful that the boys did not box them in. I used an extention cord to hook up our popcorn popper to the outlet in the yurt last night and made popcorn on the porch and four of the little guys were circling. This morning when we left they looked kind of pouty because we did not make a big breakfast and spill it everywhere.
The second picture is of Christian and Liam at the mouth of the Columbia River. We stayed a Ft. Stephens. This area is famous for two main reasons. 1. Lewis and Clark wintered in this area. Ft. Clastop where they stayed is just a couple of miles from here and 2. This is the only place on the continental US to be shelled by the Japanese in WWII.






The photos above are from Seaside. We tried to do some clamming, but the clams have moved on. The bumper crop was not hanging around this weekend. It was so windy today we did not want to go crabbing either. The boys had a great time hanging and playing on the beach. As you can see by the bare feet and light clothing, it was quite warm and there was almost no wind.






I took these photos at the beach at Ft. Stevens during sunset. The remains of a shipwreck are on this beach. Christian also found a catepillar here.




I took these pictures at the Russell Battery which was part of a military base from 1904-1944. The others are on the beach by the Columbia River.



I took these in Astoria. We walked on the path along the Columbia. The railroad crossing sign cracks me up since it is right in front of the Columbia river. The bell and anchor are part of a Maritime museum.
Here are the 2008 Year in Review Layouts I did for Christian and Liam

Credits: Poppy Page Kit by Jannylyn Brokken, Template by Stephanie Ogren

Credits: Just Cuz by Jannylyn Brokken, Template by Moriginals, Frames by Flergs and Stitching by Pineapple Plantation (From Daily Digi Download)