I will post my photo tommorow. We are off to the beach this morning. I thought about taking a photo and posting before we go, but common people...we lots of pictures of our house and beach pictures are so much nicer.
Portland has been plauged by high East Winds for the last couple of days so we will actually have warmer, most likely less windy weather at the coast than we have here. That is quite a change. The coast does not get very warm in the summer or very cold in the winter, so there is not much difference between going in July or January.
The other odd thing is that the rest of the Willamette Valley is in fog and the coast is not.
There is a bumper crop of razor clams so we are planning to get down there just before low tide and we are armed with our shell-fish licenses are ready to dig. Plan 1 for dinner is clam strips, plan be or a side dish Mac n cheese.

Day 17 and a couple cat photos

We went to the mall yesturday to get a new ballet skirt for me. They have an Old Navy at that mall and I heard that all the clearance was 50% off. I am glad we went. I was able to get some cute things for the boys. They had hoodies for $3.50. I picked out matching green ones for the boys. I wanted one too since they were so cute. I looked in the woman's section to see if they sold them there and they did not. When I was looking in the boys section, I noticed that the XLs looked pretty big, so I tried one on and it fit. So I now own a piece of children's clothing. The photo is one that David took of Christian and I in our new hoodies. Liam has refused to put his on so far. He does not like to match other people.
I also got a couple of cute pictures of Liam with our cat Luna.

Day 16, last day a hostage situation and a layout

This morning was my last morning at Starbucks. I had the opening shift, so I took a picture of my alarm clock right after it went off for my photo of the day. I do want to make it clear that it is 3:45a.m. I will miss the free flowing coffee, my friends from work and the pleasant customers, I will not, however, miss seeing that number on the clock, knowing it is time to get up.
My last shift was eventful because there was a shooting and hostage "situation" a few blocks from the store. We were all safe to my knowledge, but there were police vehicles speeding by for a couple of hours. I saw a newsbrief about it when I got home and they were showing the SWAT team approaching the house with guns out. The "perp" was a 90 year old man with dimentia who may not remember much, but he remembers where he keeps his guns and how to shoot people. There was one person shot and last I heard, he was at the hostpital getting treated.
I did my Project 365 Week two layout yesturday...

Credits: Kit - Art 101 by Lindsay Jane Designs, Template by Chrissy W.
A quick editorial note about yesturday's post. I bought a Crab cage at Sportsman's Warehouse not a Crap cage. With two cats, four chickens and two kids (one who was only recently potty trained) I have often felt the need for something of that nature, but I have not purchased one.

Project 365 day 15 and a couple of stories

Liam had his first art class today. I decided to get my photo of the day at class. I chose this picture as the "official" photo because I liked the sunlight and the color of the paints and the artwork on the rack by the window.
Here are a few more pictures from his class.




At one point during the class I looked over and noticed there was a puddle on one of the chairs. I checked Liam to make sure he had not had an accident and when I realized that it was not my child, I went to get paper towels to clean it up. The mom of the little girl who had the issue was talking to her by the chair as I was trying to wipe it up and I accidently flung the urine on the little girl. I felt so bad. First she had an accident then some odd woman flings urine on her. The teacher asked us what happened and we said there had been an leak. At this point, I realized we were on city property and there are laws on handling human waste. The teacher pointed this out and went downstairs to get the correct protocol and get supplies. When she came up she told us that only she the teacher (what an honor) or the child's mother are allowed to clean up. As a mom, when I see a problem, I just want to jump in and help since I know what it feels like to be in those situations.
After I took Liam home, I went grocery shopping. I used that time to go to Sportsman Warehouse for the first time and get shell-fish licenses for David and I. I also bought a crap cage, a shovel for digging clams and gloves for David and I. We are going to go clamming this weekend since there is a bumper crop of Razor Clams on the coast. I have to say that I was quite the hit at Sportsman Warehouse. I don't think many woman go in. I was wearing jeans, fleece and my outdoors/hiking shoes (this is the standard Oregon uniform) so I looked like I didn't mind the outdoors much. I think the men were thinking that they wanted to find a woman who would go out and buy them a crab cage. I don't think David is going let me go there alone again.

A Warm Winter Day

We have had warm, sunny days the last couple of days. It is quite a contrast after the snow and intense rain. I took the boys to a local garden this afternoon to feed the ducks. There is a produce stand down the street that sells big bags of duck food for $1.00.
Here they are feeding the ducks and geese. Christian likes to feed the birds, Liam needs some coaxing to share the food. I have explained to him that I won't buy him food if he will not share it.



There was a large flock of Canadian Geese flying back and forth over the gardens while we were there.

The boys love watching and imitating the birds.


A couple of serious photographers where at the pond by us and they observed how great the shadows were. I decided to grab a photo of the our shadows.

I am always asking Christian not to run. He was running across a wooden bridge that was covered with duck poop and he slipped and fell. His hands and clothes were covered with it after the fall. I rest my case.

There were a couple sneak peaks of spring at the park.

I used my macro setting for this photo.

Project 365 - Day 14

I went on a nine mile bike ride this morning. We have a nice bike trail in Portland, The Spring Water Corridor. This path has a couple really cool bridges that cross a major road and the railroad. I brought my camera and took a couple of pictures of the bridges. We had heavy rains and flooding last week. I was able to see some of the high creeks and and river on my ride today. It is quite a contrast from summer.

Project 365 - day 13 and a story

I had to go to work early this morning. When I got up to get ready, the boys woke up too. They both got in our bed and were going to sleep with David when I left. Liam slept in until 8:00.

Yesturday, I decided to start a new thing with homeschooling. We have read some books like Diary of a Worm and Diary of a Wombat. I asked David and Christian to find Diary of a Wombat, which we own. Neither could find it. I put it on hold at the library and downloaded Diary of a Worm for Christian to listen to. He listened to the story a few times then I asked him what a diary was. His answer was "a big poop that runs down your legs". I told him that he was talking about diarrihea and a diary was like a journal that people write their daily activites. I cannot imagine what was going through his mind when he was looking for Diary of a Wombat.