This lady makes dresses and then just GIVES them away!

No, this isn't my child, nor did I make this outfit. It is from a blog called Grosgrain and here's what she does. She creates darling outfits, then posts them on her blog. If you leave a comment or link back to her page from your blog, you are entered to win. So, in case you couldn't tell, I thought it would be nice to win this one!
I really am not sure why she does this, other than spreading joy to people she doesn't know, but maybe you can figure it out by reading her blog.
Maybe you'll win!

Our trip around Oregon

If you want to see bigger pictures, just click on the slide show above. We just returned from a week around Oregon. The first day we picked up Paul's mother and step-father at the airport and spent the day in Portland. After an early night, we awoke the next morning to drive to Mt. Hood, after stopping first at Multnomah Falls, Bonneville Dam, and Hood River. I had forgotten how beautiful it is there, and how much I love the mountains and rivers. We spent that night at Timberline Lodge. The next morning we got up and drove to Bend. I think we liked that area the best. While we were there we toured Deschutes Brewery, after which Paul swore he would never buy mass produced beer again. It was awesome and I think it might have been the best part of the trip. Also that day we went to Lava Butte and walked around the Old Mill District in Bend.
We actually spent two nights in Bend, so we had a lot of time to see things. The mountains were beautiful and we had good weather.
After that, we hit the road for Newport, which meant driving over the Cascades, through the Willamette Valley and back over the coast range. Unfortunately it was raining and with the curvy, narrow roads, it wasn't a fun drive. It was raining in Newport too, so we didn't do much that day.
The next day, however, was beautiful, thank goodness, and we went and walked on the beach for a while. There were tidepools just down the beach, so we got to look for starfish and fish. After a trip to the Oregon coast aquarium, we went out for lunch in the fishing district of Newport and had a wonderful view from our table of 15 sleeping but noisy sea lions. The kids liked it and no one noticed that our kids were loud, as the sea lions were even louder. We had fresh crab and fish and chips.
the next day we drove up to Tillamook and saw thousands of dairy cows. We toured the cheese factory, and Anna almost got lost. Luckily some people stayed with her until I found her, but she was pretty upset. Scary...
We had a great dinner in Tillamook and the next morning left for Portland. We were planning on driving up the coast more to Cannon Beach, and then over towards Portland, but since we all wanted to go to OMSI, we decided to skip the rest of the coast and just go directly inland. We had another great lunch at our favorite restaurant on the Willamette River downtown, and then played a great game of LIFE before bed.
What a week! We had a great time and we felt lucky that my inlaws decided to spend a vacation with us. It was an adventure, but we had a great time, and I have the pictures to prove it! The kids really enjoyed seeing their grandparents, and they miss them already, as do we. I am sure I forgot details of the trip, but I will post them as I remember.
Now, its back to school and real life!!!

Birds we've seen

An Osprey! Seen on a recent camping trip...

Sisters

How can you say no to this face?

Fishing with Dad

Here are some wonderful pictures of the kids fishing with Paul a few weeks ago. They had such a great time. Also, a friend had some crayfish traps, so look what we got...I only ate one. Honestly, not my favorite!

Paulie is 6!

Well, we had a wonderful day for Paulie, although it was a few weeks ago. Since we had a big party last year, we decided to have a 'surprise day'. This is an idea my mom came up with when I was little...during the day we would have various games and small wrapped presents for my sister and me, and then we would end up at many different surprising places. she would let us pick whether we wanted a party for our birthdays or a 'surprise day', meanwhile crossing her fingers that we would make the right decision. I did a little finger crossing of my own this year, and Paulie had a 'surprise day'. We had a wonderful time. First we woke up and had a few presents with Paul before he left for work. Then we got dressed and headed out the door...to our first destination. We drove about a half hour to a neighboring town and their science center. We had only been there once before, so it was something new and different. The kids had a great time, especially Paulie, who always loves that kind of thing. There actually was only a couple other families in the whole place, so they did a little science demo about static electricity. The picture you see with Paulie and Anna sitting at a table is the demo, and those were really the only kids in the whole museum. Its very small to say the least, although fun because there are activities for all ages.
After spending a few hours there, we left and went out for lunch, followed by ice cream. Wow...after that, I was tired and ready to go home!
Before dinner, the kids painted some wooden model cars that I had picked up, and the had a good time with that too. We had pizza for dinner, and then foosball cake for dessert.
What a day. Paulie got a couple games, including Whoonu, a cranium game the the whole family really likes. He also got a pair of Crocs, clothes and a great book with experiments, jokes, etc. that he carries everywhere. We got him a nice canvas teepee made by a woman online, as well as a bunch of great picture books.
I can't believe how much he has grown up in the past year. I looked at the blog for his 5th birthday and back then he got a superman cape and still played with trains. That is all in the past now. He loves to play dressup, but he his so much more mature for some reason. He really is such a funny little guy. The other day, I was giving him a hug. He pulled a knock-knock joke out of thin air that he had read in a book and made me really laugh...
knock-knock
who's there?
Butcher
butcher who?
Butcher little arms around me.

He still loves school and reading, but he is getting a lot more coordinated than he ever was and is also getting much more brave. We love you Paulie!!!
ps-I am almost done with his quilt. I will post a picture of him with it when I am done.

Here are some more pictures from his birthday...

Lemonade Stand, 2008

The kids had been bugging me to let them sell lemonade out on the street for a while now. We had tried this last year, but it didn't really work, so I wasn't expecting much. We even bought cookies and biscotti to sell in addition to the lemonade. Boy, what a surprise...we probably had 5 to 7 cars stop and most of the neighbors stopped by and bought something. It actually was a lot of fun, as many people that I only occasionally see stopped and talked...it was almost a mini block party. All in all, the three older kids each got $7 and change...not bad at all! Most people did let the kids keep the change, but we sold all 20 cookies and went through two batches of strawberry lemonade. The only problem is that the kids want to do this everyday now!

Look what I found today...

Hmm...Sophia is being so quiet...what in the world could she be doing?
And then I found her. She was painting the floor!
As upset as I was, I had to take a picture...she was too darn cute.

Some random summer pictures

Here are a few pictures of things we have been doing, as well as some of our garden and some fresh wild blackberries we picked!

Some more...

Learning about Volcanoes

Something I love about homeschooling is that we are able to find moments in which to learn, at every turn of life. We are going to be visiting Oregon very soon and driving around much of the state. We are going to visit Mt. Hood, Mt. Bachelor, and the mountain formally known as Mt Mazama. For those who don't know, it is also called Crater Lake. We are trying to pick up some information about volcanoes before we start our trip. The other day we made a salt dough volcano, formed around a plastic water bottle. Then, with the magic of vinegar and baking soda, along with some red food coloring, we had an erupting volcano. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed...I was expecting more of an explosion, but I suppose we should be happy with what we get.
It was a fun afternoon!

Joey and baseball

Joey had a great baseball season. He made new friends and really had a great average. Here are some pictures. We all had great times at the baseball parks too. Most of them have playgrounds nearby, so it was a wonderful way to spend a summer evening. The smaller kids played on the slide and swings, while the older ones played and watched. There is something really wonderful and pure about summer little league, and watching your oldest son play his heart out!

Our Trip to Dayton

Like I said in the previous post...it has been WAY too long, but hopefully after I catch up, I will be able to keep it up.
Anyway, a few months ago we made the trip to Dayton to visit my in-laws. We had a great time. Paul and I actually got to go on a date to a wonderful musical, Shenandoah. It really was outstanding and we both laughed a cried during the show.
Also while we were there, we walked around downtown Dayton to view all the City Life Statues.
They are very clever and lifelike statues of people doing various things around the downtown area. It really forced us to walk around the city and it was a lot of fun. Joey especially had a great time checking them all off the map, and he and Grandma and Grandpa actually stayed downtown to find a few more, while I took everyone else home for a nap. I've been trying to post pictures from them, but for some reason they aren't working. I will try again later.
Also that week we took in a Dayton Dragons Baseball game, visited Boonshoft Kids Museum, and went to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Museum.
All in all, it was a great trip. I am sure I am forgetting something, since it was three months ago, but it was a lot of fun!

It's been way too long...

It seems like I go for longer and longer between posts. Since I have last written, we have visiting Paul's Mom and Step-father in Dayton, OH, we have made it through baseball season, and we have had a fairly joyful summer. Paulie turned 6 a few weeks ago, and in a couple months, Anna will be 4. It is so hard to believe how big they are getting. Sophia is only just starting to walk (she is 16 months), but we haven't been concerned...she just loves to be carried around!
We have been going to our local farmer's market almost every weekend. It is so nice for the children to see what food is really in season at any given moment and actually meet the people who grow it. I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and although we obviously wouldn't see eye to eye on many political or moral issues, the author really drives home a great argument for eating locally, as well as providing helpful information to help you do just that. It was an enjoyable book and actually was fairly humorous at many points. Here is a link to the website for the book.

Here is a favorite picture of mine, for the time being. The kids all had an afternoon popsicle, and Paulie went out with a book in his hand (as usual!). When I finally looked out after a minute or so, they all had arranged themselves to look at the book with him. It really was a nice moment.