Friday, August 30, 2013

hair clips

s insists on more and more hair clips each day. this adds an extra dimension to getting ready in the morning.

self portrait

yay! mommy went running! yes, i ran up the hill!

cuties.

sibling affection in the crib...



and on a family walk.

ahem.


ahem. someone left his breakfast dishes at the table instead of clearing them (and i'm not referring to the sippy cup). 
daddy, you need to remember you're setting an example!!!
last saturday, z, s, & i were playing in z's room, and all of a sudden, z said, "dammit dammit dammit!"
i was shocked, because i never swear in front of the kids! i said, "z, that is a really bad word, and you are never supposed to use that kind of language. where did you hear that? who said it?"
z said, "daddy." 
sigh. 
ahem.
bad daddy!!!

more playing




here we are, enjoying swings in another park.
she's wearing the sunglasses again!
s is starting to realize she is her own person & can make her own decisions. this causes many tantrums. so far i've been successful in standing my ground without too much trauma and drama.

playing



my little cutie is actually wearing sunglasses!!!

summer is disappearing quickly. i've been trying to visit playgrounds when possible. z has been in camp all month, every morning from 9-1, so it has just been s & me. 
 
the water sprays disappear and reappear at this fountain. they definitely caught s off guard. she didn't like it so much.

birthday party

s has a unicorn head!
one sunday afternoon, we attended b's 5th birthday party in a ne portland park. 
there was playing, nibbles, and a pinata.
she was not happy. it went away.



destroying the remnants of the pinata.

the birthday spread. cake was yummy. cobbler was yummy. s especially enjoyed the cheese and salami.





Thursday, August 29, 2013

running downtown


two thursdays ago, i escaped while los abuelos visited with s, and went for a run around the waterfront downtown. i encountered TWO bridges lifting en route.

deer


deer in our neighborhood!!!
they must like this yard, because we've seen them several times in this same exact place. always the mom and the baby.

s tantrum


this is what happens when mommy finally insists on finishing her dinner in peace.

domestica


new apron, new table cloth, new pot holders - all matching!

hair clips





hair clips are s's latest thing.


she loves taking all the clips and ribbons out of her ribbon box and make ribbon "piles," creating lots of extra work for mommy. she also tries to put them in her hair. when z is around, he helps her!

new friend!

z and c decorated this bus together at camp at amiguitos!

skills



z is learning to read & spell!

friends!

the girls, playing at the water table
 one evening, we had friends g, s, x, & t over for dinner. normally they live in phoenix, but s has been up here as a "seed" for intel. we'll be sad when they go back in september. the kids are growing up so quickly!
no, t! don't eat the shovel!

not the best picture of s, but i wanted to show how the girls were both wearing jeans on the bottom, and white on the top! we did not plan this!

spinning



z said, "mommy - take a picture!!!"






s talks


s's speech evolves, little by little.

ewwww.


we woke up one morning and found this on our lawn, outside our bedroom window. 
creepy. just creepy.

our leader.


s "conducts" during dinner.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

picture for mommy

z created this picture for me when i was stuck in bed with a wicked stomach bug. it brightened my day!

reading


z was practicing writing/reading by drawing letters in pudding powder, so s wanted to do it, too. it's lick-able!

goodbye, m, and happy birthday, d!



we had friends over to say goodbye to m, and happy birthday to d.






cute!


my little cuties!!!

Thursday, August 22, 2013

more raccoons.

another raccoon

our neighbor's sick (but funny) sense of humor

dinner with friends.

dinner with friends!

miss v, reading to all the kids.

pastry cream fail

 the friday after the neighborhood party, we were having friends over for dinner. i wanted to make a fruit tart, and was trying to make pastry cream for it. i tried THREE TIMES, and the cream did not turn out. the egg yolks kept getting cooked too much. i WILL master pastry cream, just not right now. i need to try a different recipe. i'm trying to remember what i ended up making instead... ahh. with all the egg yolks used, there were lots of left over egg whites. i made a pavlova.
here s is eating some pastry cream that didn't turn out. it still tasted really good!

s had fun standing next to me at the counter on a chair, but she did get into a little mischief. she kept digging her fingers into the ripening fruit on the counter. i didn't notice until after three nectarines and a fig had fallen prey, so we ate a lot of fruit that morning.

cute


after the neighborhood party, there were lots of extra baked goods left at our house, so here is a cute picture of s eating a leftover cupcake.

mcgruff visits!!!





on the first tuesday in august, we hosted our neighborhood party on national night out. mcgruff and police visited. the kids loved mcgruff! there were a couple of sets of police that came. each time, j would say "oh no - more complaints about sound," and i would get nervous for a second before i realized he was just kidding. sigh. it was fun to see everyone. fairly easy cleanup.

cute


every now and then, z will say, "mommy - look! take a picture!" and he'll be doing something randomly cute with his sister, so i'll run and get the camera. this is one of those pictures.

snake in the garage????


our garage was all cleaned out on a monday night, as we were hosting our neighborhood's national night out party. j had left for the climbing gym, and the kids were in bed. i went into the garage for something, turned on the light, and right there in the middle of the garage was a snake!!!! it took me awhile, but i managed to coax it outside to a happier place to live.

neighbors



our neighbors on one side took a trip to the east coast for a month. this was taken the morning after they returned, when the boys saw each other for the first time. they both thought each had grown taller, so they were trying to size each other up in this picture. cute.

short sands beach

we visited short sands beach at the beginning of august on the weekend. a friend was celebrating her 3rd birthday with a party at this popular surfing beach. it was our first visit - there is parking up by hwy 101, and you walk a half mile to the beach. there are bathrooms and water fountains right by the beach, which makes it convenient for visits with kids. z had fun playing with birthday girl a's brother. the tide went out, leaving a large swath of sand that was just barely covered in water - the largest tide pool ever! they found two starfish (someone must have set them there, but still) - they were alive! the boys were really excited. we will definitely visit this beach again. unfortunately this was the only picture i got of the whole visit. this was taken on the walk back to the car. both kids passed out on the drive home.

washington park

s walks the beam

riding the elephant
we hadn't been to washington park for a long time, so we revisited it. z didn't remember it! s was afraid of the sand. she did not like the feel of it on her bare feet, so we left soon after taking this picture. she wasn't very happy.

playdate pdx



on our last day of vacation, we took the kids to playdate pdx for the morning. s is still terrified of the high slides, but likes this little one in the little people area. j went for a massage after we finished here, while i took the kids home. he had an injury from playing indoor soccer which was still bothering him. the person doing the massage? our very own neighbor, f. she is fantastic!

whee!!!



mommy gets free time!


daddy got a day of absenteeism and climbing during his second week of vacation, so i got to do some things on my own, too. i baked lasagna, froze portions, and took them to friends who just had twins. i went to hall street for this lovely manhattan and a bite to eat for a late lunch, and then saw two movies back to back. we each got a second day to ourselves on the weekend, but unfortunately mine was spent in agony in bed with an awful stomach bug. j picked it up a few days later, so he missed a couple days of work. i hope we are illness free for awhile now!!!!

cute

i saw this one day. i had to take a picture.

dinner with friends


we had tried to have this family over for dinner before sunriver, but we all caught bad colds, and e was about to go to italy with his choir for a competition, so we had to cancel. we rescheduled for this night and all was well.