Chocolate Bliss

I got the girls a treat the other day. Those chocolate chip cookies from McD's didn't look this messy in the cookie case. Oh well, at least I have black carseats. Viva la delish messies!

Fa La La La La

We got our Christmas tree this year at Furrow Farms in Hillsboro. I forgot we went there 2 years ago, and my friend Leah suggested it this year so we ventured over. I forgot all about it - it's a neat place, complete with tractor hay rides, free hot chocolate & cider, a cute little shop, and nice trees. Too bad we forgot any sort of cutting tools for the rope, so we spent the majority of our time cutting the twine with miniature nail clippers. Wow. At least we had the clippers or I guess I would have been using my teeth.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, every morning Marin says to me "Mommy, what should we make today?" I'm always scrambling to think of something to have her mix, stir, roll or fold. She is quite the kitchen diva! She is muey proud of her gingerbread house. Except I let her eat a bunch of the leftover candy, not realizing the ball candy was actually gum. Too bad she's never experienced gum, hence not aware that you don't swallow it. So we have about 37 pounds of gum in her tummy. Needless to say she has had a tummy ache for the past few days, a bout of the runs, and yet STILL look at the smile on her face posing with her apron and her creation. True love for the kitchen! She takes after her Daddy, once again :)

Thanksgiving in Renton

Thanksgiving this year was spent with the Newell family, complete with delish turkey dinner with Nana, Grandpa, Great-Nana, Papa, Auntie Jessica (who has officially announced her pregnancy, due in May!!) and Uncle Geoff. Other fun activities over the weekend was a family wedding in Seattle, Black Friday shopping, Snowflake Lane Christmas parade, ginger-bread house construction and other general merriment. Let the holiday season begin!

Fishing Take 2

Another fun trip to the trout farm in North Plains. This time accompanied by Auntie Sarah, Uncle Drew and cousins Miles & Christopher. Those 2 year olds really know how to reel em in!

We heart our cousins

Auntie Kate and her daugher Erin were in town visiting from Oklahoma and came over for lunch, accompanied by Auntie Mara and cousins Megan and Katelyn. It's hard to see in this picture, but baby Erin has the most gorgeous blue eyes you've ever seen. We wish you lived closer Kate!



The weather has been gorgeous so we just had to take another venture to the zoo with Auntie Sarah and cousins Miles & Christopher. I just can't get enough of that "baby fix" with that cute elephant romping around. Also witnessed a baby warthog. Not as cute as the elephant, but still worth a mention. Marin and Miles barely cared about the animals, they had too much fun running around and exploring off the beaten path.

And here is another random picture of my bathtub sweeties. Everytime I bathe them together, I get completely soaked. I keep thinking one of them is going to put up a fuss with all the massive splashing, but nooooo. I think they are conspiring to get Mom as drenched as possible. Oh well, that's what dryers are for, right?

Two happy holidays

I love having a birthday two days after Halloween. I used to have costume parties for my birthday growing up, and one of these years I am going to throw myself another one. But this year I had no need to throw myself a party. More on that later :)

For trick-or-treating, the little girls were ladybugs ~ yes both of them ~ of course they match!!! Marin was poring over her small stash of candy after we took them to Avamere Retirement Home to visit with the residents and collect some chocolate. After Avamere, we came home and visited a few neighbors before settling in for an evening of door bell ringing and take-out.

My 32nd birthday was on Sunday, and to celebrate, Kyle and I went to Park Kitchen for dinner Saturday evening while Nana babysat (thanks Nana!) ~ too bad we forgot our camera, because we were looking dapper that night! We spent half the time enjoying the place, and the other half making whispery fun of all the "HT's" that we could spot. Hoity Toity people are funny.

Then Sunday we had church, lunch, presents and lemon pie from my favorite: Beaverton Bakery. On top of the present pile was one which Kyle told me "you can't open this until 5pm". It made me crazy to wait, but I was a good girl.

So once 5pm rolled around, I ripped open the present ~ and to my surprise it was the first clue to a scavenger hunt! Devon and Sommer planned the most elaborate, funny and thoughtful adventure involving several of our other friends. All the stops included places with inside jokes, favorite stories and when I arrived at each place, a new friend was there to meet me and jump in my mini-van for the next leg! By the end I had a van full of friends and a heart full of happy :)
We ended the evening at Papa Haydn for dessert, and stayed out waaaaaay too late considering we all have young children who are not adjusted to daylight savings yet. Did I mention that I despise daylight savings? Never mind, I don't want to ruin my happy mood by thinking about it.

My birthday was so fun, and the best part is that I was not expecting all the attention and so the thrill of feeling special was that much more fabulous. Thank you to my besties and family for making my day!

And these pictures are just showing you how Maddie is becoming a ham.

Time with Daddy

My girls love their Daddy. There is a reason little girls scream so loud, it's because they have Daddies! Nobody can make them laugh as loud, and nobody is as fun! Marin likes to be Daddy's helper with all sorts of projects (ie. fixing the computer), carving a new pumpkin (the old one is rotten already, geez!) and both of them like jumping on Dad on the couch when we are all just lounging around. Maddie likes anything that has to do with her special pink blanky.

Oh and this picture has nothing to do with Daddy, but I've wanted to post it because it's SO cute and it shows the girls with their besties... Matching shirts and all! What a treasure each one of these precious sweets are.

Fun Friday... At least part of it...

The weekend started out so good... Who knew what was to come?

Friday I took the little girls to the Portland Children's Museum, to see the new Bob the Builder exhibit. Fun! Sometimes those exhibits do not impress me, usually because they are more for older kids and my kids just yawn through it. Not this time! Bob was right up our alley, and even little scooting Madeline had a ball galloping through the halls all over the place. If you've ever seen her scoot, you know I am not lying when I say she "gallops". The outing was made especially fabulous by having free passes from the library!

Also contributing to Fun Friday, was a visit from college girlfriends Holly, Tawyna and Lindsay. We all lived together at UCU in college and have lots of estrogen-filled memories together. When we get together to hang out, it's usually involves trips down memory lane and lots of catching up. Kyle lived next door to us all during college, so he got a kick out of seeing them all too.

So, Friday was a great day. Until about 10pm when I started getting the shakes... The ladies were on their way out the door when I just started shivering like a crazy person. I was SO cold. Kyle pulled out the heating pad and piled all the blankets in the house on top of me. So began the most horrible night of the flu I have ever had. So, so bad. I didn't sleep at all until about 7am. I just tossed and made sad noises as my body rejected all good things. Thank goodness it was the weekend so Kyle could take over. Several days later and I feel much better, so thanks for all your prayers. You can tell how sick I already felt & looked when we took this picture of the 4 of us. One of these kids is not like the others!! SCARY!!

This weekend was also supposed to be a wonderful visit with my parents (they did come for the day Saturday and whisked the little girlies off to McDonald's and the pumpkin patch), but I was holed up under my covers until sometime on Monday.

Luckily with Kyle's help I was able to rest a lot and get better. I don't know who is more happy that I'm better - me or him! It's hard work running a house with two active girls. I know we are so glad to have each other, and that we don't have to go through these things alone!

Fall activities...

Our friend Erin turned the big 3-0 and her hubby Ty threw her a swanky suprise party at Grand Central in downtown Portland, complete with dinner, cake and fireside lounging. Such a fun time to celebrate with friends and leave the little ones with the grandparents! Happy B-day my friend!





Girls night out was a long overdue treat! We went to Rose's for dessert and took ridiculous pictures of ourselves with brownies in our teeth. Well, a certain best pal of mine who shall remain nameless did that. But we won't embarrass her with a picture here. Instead I am showing you what civilized ladies we all are :)

We went to this awesome new trout farm in North Plains, which is way closer the other one we visited in Sandy. What a gem to find so close to home! Kyle and Marin love to fish together, and Maddie and I... we we love to clap and take pictures... We caught "the big one", according to the owner! That guy's been escaping hooks for a long time, but he was a sucker for Kyle's super wicked awesome bait.

We had the true pleasure of having our girls dedicated at our church in the presence of many friends and family members. It was our chance to publicly declare our commitment to raise our girls to love the Lord and teach them about God's ways. We are blessed beyond measure to have this privilege. As God has touched our lives, so we pass this along to M & M. We hope and pray that they will realize the Father's love for them, and desire a relationship with Him as they see this in our lives.

After the dedication, we had a little lunch party at our house. M & M received a very cute pumpkin book as a little gift from their cousin Joshua, and Marin is... well... obsessed ~ EVERY nap and bedtime must involve ready this and ONLY this book. She loves it! She requested that we get our own pumpkin and carve the same face as the book pumpkin has. So here you go, the proud artist with her creation!

We had a fun, cold, morning outing to the zoo last week with my pals to see the new baby elephant. I wish I had an actual picture of the little squirt, but unfortunately there were a zillion people crowded in front of us and I couldn't get a shot! Trust me though, there are fewer things as cute in this world. We did also enjoy the lorakeets, Connor's bear hugs, and other zoo-ish encounters.