Thursday, June 25, 2015

Zoo Time

We went to the zoo this last Monday and made some new friends!  We had so much fun with Jeni and Olive.  It was a beautiful day and we spent more time there than we ever have in the past and it was perfect!  


Logan has dutifully got his poses down!



We've always watched the masses of children getting on these lions.  This time we actually gave it a whirl.  


Cute hand holding...which speaking of public displays of affection.  This child, meaning Logan, went up to Olive while she was running in the grass to give her a hug.  You wanted to just eat up the cute moment, but then the toddlers fell over because they are oh so coordinated.  Olive got her hand smushed under Logan's head and was crying.  I couldn't help but laugh at the level of cuteness.  Logan started crying because he realized his hug did not go as planned and he was sad because Olive was sad.  


Next time I should try including us adults in the photos.  Next time I'm going to catch one of those unsuspecting passerbyes ;)

PS. Don't set the bar high now that I have more posts. 

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Camping at Nehalem Bay

Last weekend we went camping at Nehalem Bay with the Keeley's and my parents.  It was a blast!  One of the first adventures we had while camping was crabbing.  We had SOOO much fun!!  Really crabbing made the camping trip.  It was too windy on the beach to enjoy it, but this was such a treat for us all.  We did not catch a single crab we could gobble up, but we still caught a bunch to send back to the deep blue. 










Grandma thankfully assisted in reeling in the pots...she was a natural.  We caught the most on the times she reeled in the pots.  






Our tent...it was so cold at night and I was not prepared.  Totally forgot pillows (who forgets pillows) to sleep on.  Forgot Logan's special brown blanket.  Forgot an extra jacket or pajamas for Logan.  My parents loaned us pillows, but Logan had a rough first night.  Then we got a loaner blanket which Logan got bundled up in, so night two was as good as camping sleep gets.  The sad thing is I took an extra day off work before the camping trip to give me more time to remember everything.  Bah!  This job and the elderly...their forgetfulness seems to be rubbing off on me :)









Strawberry Picking

Strawberry season was so early this year (granted these pictures were from May).  Logan and I decided to give Sauvie Island a whirl and we got the mother load of strawberries!  Logan was into the strawberry picking for what...5 minutes.  Then it turned into time to chuck dirt clods at mom.  I wasn't going to let him defeat our goal of enough strawberries for strawberry jam.  I assumed it would take the whole cardboard box they provided.  Boy...did I over-estimate it.  It made two recipes of strawberry jam and many leftover to freeze whole.  Overall it was a new adventure for us...as far as the world of strawberry picking goes.




I should have taken a shot of the wheels on this wagon...entirely trashed.  It ended with me just dragging it along as Logan would not travel any other way...always an adventure!


Wedding Dance Video


I didn't take hardly any pictures, but thankfully I grabbed my camera for this darling moment shared by Logan and Piper at Janae's wedding (Jimmy's sister).

Friday, June 19, 2015

Funny Tooting Story

Well photo uploading has been a major hitch for me, despite friendly prodding (**cough cough...Joey)  :)  I need to do it, I know!!  So many fun things to post, hopefully coming soon.  However, I REALLY don't want to forget to share this funny story Jimmy filled me in on.  Jimmy was putting Logan to bed and just as Jimmy came off the bed he let a "toot" loose.  Logan was quick and said, "Dad!  You tooted!!"  Jimmy couldn't deny it... and agreed.  Logan then said, "you need to go to the bathroom....(waits a couple seconds) no, you need to take a shower!"  Haha...where does this kid pick this up?

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Spring!

I always feel challenged in the late winter early spring to keep positive and have things to look forward to.  So...these were the adventures that came of my restlessness.  Multnomah Falls became a Sunday trip.  It was rainy, but NOTHING was going to stop us.  We went on the "Bridge (a literal bridge) of the Gods".  I hope I got it right...anyways it's this bridge that you can see the ground beneath in the cracks.  We even had to pay a toll.  It's funny the things you find excitement in, even if it is the cracks in the bridge.  


Logan was just so thrilled to be forced to stay strapped into the stroller.






I've been wanting to bring Jimmy to the tulip festival ever since we came to Oregon, but our timing was never right.  It's only open for a month and really only a couple weeks are the best.  Spring break came at a perfect time.  It was absolutely beautiful and it most of the pictures here.  I LOVE love love tulips.  














Don't look too close at the top of Jimmy's head...I cut his hair too short.  More I buzzed it, I've gotten fed up with the amount of time it takes to use scissors, however...his hair seems to have this perfect sweet spot for length.  If it's too long it looks like a comb over...if it's too short you can tell the forest isn't so thick.  Then, it grows out a bit and it looks perfect.  Just wait a couple weeks...he will forget about this hair cut...just in time for me to buzz it again ;)


Oh...the sweet stud muffin.  Pretty dang cute...he was ALL over the tractors.  Pink or not!  In fact, I hate to say it (hopefully Jimmy doesn't read this blog post) I think this little guy's favorite color lately is pink.  He's got his colors all mixed up.  When I ask him what color "blank" is he always says in his excited voice "Pink!"  I blame him having too much time with his girly cousin, haha.





The photo above is actually compliments of Logan running away with the camera.  He brings a whole new perspective.  He was getting into it at all sorts of angles.  It helps having a digital camera for him and getting that instant feedback.


Yup...pulling at the levers.  It's SERIOUS business.  I could not get this man to look up to save my life!


Funny story...it's funny the things a little 2 year old picks up.  Nana spends a lot of time with Logan and the dogs.  Well, he has learned to get the dogs to come you need to make kissing noises and smack your thigh.  He's gotten quite talented at mimicking this when it's time to get Maggie or Opie's attention.  Whether they actually listen or not is another story.  Well, as I was distracted cooking, or on the computer or something.  Logan is calling for me.  Initially it was "Mommy."  Then "Mooooommmmy!!!"  Most kids resort to poking their parents or calling them by their first name.  Nope this kid...kissing noises and smacking his leg stating, "Mommy, mommy come here" and repeat until I came.  Seriously?!

Now for a story,  I've been skeptical in sharing this story because some may consider it TMI.  Point being, you have been warned.  Skip if you must, the rest is all this story ;)  We have started the path of infertility and it has so far led us to unmedicated IUI (intra uterine insemination).  In short, they basically get all the good stuff from the boy and then put it closer to the egg (inside the uterus) and I suppose the hope in shortening the distance is bad-a-bing you have a prego me!  Well, let me tell you about our experience with this IUI business.  It happened to work out the appointment was on a Saturday at 7:15am.  They informed me to come nice and early because the goods needs to be ready to process at 7:15am.  Well, we were there 6:50am and felt rather anxious to not mess this up.  There is NO ONE around this building.  I mean...DESOLATE!  It's a rather big building.  We were knocking on windows...walking around the building, no lights on and man...I thought "this is weird."  Well, it's cold and I go into our car to contemplate and think...maybe it's just too early.  7:10am rolls around and nothing looks different, still no cars or people.  So, I make a few phone calls and demand Jimmy knocks on every door throughout the building.  Lo and behold, we missed a sliding door on the far end of the building.  In we go.  Well, it's still completely dark in this building and I don't know where to go.  We check in with one of those computer check-ins and then look for a lab or something.  There is caution tape across the lab...so, probably not there.  Finally we find the fertility clinic...again, is there a soul to be found...no!  So...I open the door and yell into it, "Hello!"  Wouldn't you know, there is this lady who comes to the front and directs us to the bag with a brown paper bag and points Jimmy to the bathroom.

This is where it gets interesting.  This lady struggles to speak English.  This bathroom has a little cart with some special magazines, a chux pad and a chair.  Surrounding which is tile, a toilet seat...I hope I'm painting the picture.  What only makes this better...it shares a wall with the lady lab tech on the other side.  Seriously...there's no one in the stinking building, but this wall has to be shared with the only soul in the building.  I immediately think "how awkward can this experience get?"  Not really how I thought part of our baby-making would go.  Hah!

If only it ended there.  Well, back to being called in once everything is ready.  There is this fairly nice doctors office and they are playing elevator music in the background.  Where was this room when we could have used it earlier?  Well, the delivery is done and the doctor says, "Now, there have been studies that show it's more successful if you lay on your back for 10 minutes.  Would you like me to dim the lights?"  Really lady?  Now is the time to set the mood...boy, you guys have it all wrong.  As I know some may be wondering if they actually endured the story-telling if it worked.  The answer...no.  So...next time maybe it was the magic of the lights not being dimmed.  I don't know.  Surely I hope we can reason with a different lady in the beginning or at least do some good ushering/pointing to at least be in another room until the deed has been done.  

Monday, December 22, 2014

Happy Halloween/Thanksgiving/Potty Training/Christmas

The only reason I got a compelling enough urge to update the blog was Sarah (an old roommate) reminded me there are other people than myself that actually see this blog.  Sometimes I feel like I update it all for myself, so it was a nice reminder to take a little time out for others to get updated on our lives.



This term has brought Jimmy to the highest amount of school credits ever (which he rocked by the way). That led to Logan and I having plenty of alone time.  This was one of those moments.  Pumpkin carving would have never happened if I didn't realize it was time to put my big girl shoes on and help this little guy have it happen.  Logan was happy with the pumpkin carving, but was absolutely incident the pumpkin had to have ears...his little touch.  He's not one for putting his hands into the gut of the pumpkin...my pushing only led to a melt down.



We only lit and blew out the candle a thousand times.  Boys and fire...



Flashlight hunting
I got this book from the library on activities to do with your toddler as I needed a push of creativity.  My quick glance of it, led to one of our new favorite things to do before bed.  We turn out all the lights, Logan gets a flashlight.  He hangs out in his room while I "hide" all his stuffed animals throughout the apartment.  He comes out searching for all of them with his flashlight.  He loved it (of course the charm wore off after a time).


Craft Day creations with Nay-na & Aunt Key (Katie)


Then Jimmy finished school, hurray!  So, that very first day off I had with him we went to go see Santa with my sister and her two cute children.  They loved these reindeer.  Jimmy helped them "feed" them.  Obviously they were getting a kick out of it.



Santa happened between these photos....no photo for us.  Logan had a death grip grasp as we neared Santa.  It's like he knew we were going to have him sit on this jolly man's lap.  Naomi was the brave soul who quickly told him she wanted a bike for Christmas, but definitely had troubles looking that man in the eyes.  Too cute.

The Polar Express


As children we would go to Meier and Frank and ride this train around the store from the ceiling.  For some reason the switch over to Macy's did not keep up this tradition which was a bummer.  The kids have no idea what they missed out on :)









Potty training...this also happened this last week.  Just after meeting Santa, Jimmy's break went straight into potty training.  I'm sure he wished his break in some ways was shorter, haha.  These boys have done great with it.  We started out with the classic M&M's for every time you sit on the potty, etc.  Well, it worked the first few times, but let's be honest that boy could care less for sweets.  I visited the Dollar Tree and Fred Meyer getting the cheapest toys...it has worked great.  He gets a little plastic animal every time he actually goes in the potty.  I never knew the joy parents could get when your little one goes #1 & #2 at the same time on the potty (he got a nerf gun then) or just last night for the first time he woke up crying.  I was sure he went in his pants...no he was crying because he wanted on the potty.  He went then...  Seriously...the excitement.  I'm sure some wishes they never read that paragraph, my son probably won't appreciate this post until he has his own child.




Santa was nice enough to pay us a visit for my only day off this week.  I work a double on Christmas :P  We haven't even finished the Christmas presents, Logan was so excited after waking up to try and go on the potty that present opening ensued.  We couldn't get past Buzz & Woody.  "To infinity and beyond" has been heard all morning.





Oh yes, how this drawer has caused me a number of headaches.  We bought these super cute boots a couple months ago.  So proud of this find $30 at Famous Footwear.  Logan loved them.  Then all of the sudden one day they disappeared.  We checked every stores Lost & Found went through our cars, my parents house, occasionally glancing through my sisters.  I was really upset about this, but determined not to buy another pair.  Like I have said before (I can't get enough of it) Jimmy has been home.  Logan then showed Jimmy his secret drawer.  There was his boots and the missing fish net in the oven drawer.  Our place is so small it's amazing he could find a secret hiding place like this one.






Finally we got our date night in.  Celebrating 4 years of marriage to this lucky fellow.  Jimmy planned this night from beginning to end.  It was real fun.  We went to glow-in-the-dark miniature golfing, Brazil Grill and Baskin Robbins.  Brazil Grill was the main issue/attraction.  It was one of those buffet of meats where they come around and you take off what you want.  The meat was DELICIOUS.  We loved it while we were there.  We didn't make reservations, so our time was limited which quickened our eating pace.  This led to some gruesome stomach aches between the two of us.  Not so sure we'll ever go back, or at least not until we forget those terrible stomach aches.  It was so yummy, but yet so horrible.