4th of July - action packed!

We started off the 4th of July by heading downtown to the Blues Festival. It is right on the Willamette River and quite packed with people. We stopped at the Fountains first to get cool (at least the kiddos got to get wet - I didn't bring my swimsuit - next time I will). It's quite a great place to enjoy the water and see lots of other kiddos.

We spent most of the morning into late afternoon, at the Blues Festival on the waterfront. We went with our friend Paul (who is the Dad of Margaux) and had quite a time. The music is so great to hear live. There's just nothing like it...the beat...the way it makes you want to move (and pretend that you can groove)...the food, WHOOPS, I was talking about the music! Anyway, it was a great time, hot, but fun and exhausting!

Here are Cody and Caitlin enjoying their PB & J's on our blanket. We were listening to the A & E stage. Those musicians were very good. I guess there was some type of competition that they were in, so it was GREAT music.

Caitlin getting her face painted (which quickly washed off once we went back into the fountains).

Here are some random pirates that were out on the 90+ degree day. They sure are tough guys to wear all those clothes in that heat!

Later on that evening...

Here are Caitlin and Cody enjoying our amateur fireworks show in the driveway!

Here are the fireworks that we set off in our driveway. We bought a great package at Costco and spent a good hour lighting them off. It was fun and the pictures even turned out pretty good!

Hope you had a great 4th of July! (Please post comments as to what you did or where you went. I always enjoy living vicariously through others!)

Random things...

Here are some random photos of Brian mowing the backyard (random and rare, I should say). Both of the kiddos have enjoyed the little play lawnmower, but Cody seems to love it. He always wants us to mow the yard and constantly says "loud lawnmower" and "Mom, lawnmower" (because he knows I most often mow the back grass).

Here he is trailing after his Dad. (Cody's newest thing is to call us just Mom and Dad, no longer Mommy or Daddy. Don't know why, it's just so.)

This photo (and action) brought back some old memories. I thought I would dig this out of the archive just to show the sweet, sweet similarities.

This last one is a funny little drawing that Caitlin made. It's "No Codys allowed." I can't even remember why she drew it, but it's funny nonetheless. Happy Summer!

Some old photos...

Wow! I haven't posted since March! Why do I even have a blog? Brian got a new camera, then proceeded to categorize all our old photos from the memory card onto the computer in Cody's room. I decided today to do a blog entry (gasp!) and sadly, no recent photos were on it. However, we did find another photo card and VIOLA! I found some old photos on it. So here they are!

Here's little Caitlin at the Big Bear Diner sitting on their Kodiak carved bear!

Here she is with Grandma Delores, (I tried to get Caitlin to call her G.G. for Great Grandma) whom she really does adore because Great Grandma D spoils her rotten! She spoils Brian too! ha, ha!

Isn't she sweet? I sure love old photos (especially when you haven't seen them in awhile)!

Caity's creations...

So sorry for the length of time (endless) between posts, but I'm TIRED at the end of the day! Plus, like I've already stated, the artistic piece of putting a blog entry together escapes me most days (probably what makes me tired, just thinking about it). HOWEVER, I had to post about Caitlin's artwork again. I just love this stuff!


We took a long, painful trip to Seattle this past week. It was fun, don't get me wrong, but the car ride was definitely on the stressful side. Cody was crying often because he wasn't feeling well, and poor Caitlin was just sitting it out. She said, just as we crossed over into Oregon, "I don't ever want to go there again!" I honestly could feel her pain. It was a tough trip when neither kid slept for more than 20 minutes.


The flip side is that Brian gave Caitlin this little set of post-its he'd gotten in the mail, and let Caitlin create small masterpieces to stick up on her window. It was quite funny. I took one of the best ones she did and took a picture of it:




This is me and her walking the dogs! (Isn't it great that she wrote LOVE above it??)



I wish I had gotten a picture of all 8 of the small post-its she had drawn on, they were quite clever.


Today, we decided to go garage sale-ing again (can't wait for summer) and I found a little bag of stamps that I got for Caitlin. She really "went to town" (one of her favorite phrases) with them once we got home. Here's a picture she made:



I glanced through her book and decided to also take pictures of some of the others that caught my eye:


I probably take her for ice cream more than I should, but I didn't realize it until I spotted this one of me with 3 scoops and her with 2! =)


She loves polka dots and stripes, and a rainbow of colors!


Then, I grabbed her little scrapbook for my finale:



This is one she did about the time she helped Brenda make brownies.




This is her and Sam (her birthday cousin) eating chocolate chip pancakes!




Finally, this one is from Cody's baptism. I think she thought that candle meant there was a party. Love how she used these party hat stickers!


I really hope she continues to love doing art. It makes me so happy to see how creative she is and I hope that only gets better and better!

Beautiful beach day!

I had Monday, January 16th off from school. Brian, luckily, also had it off from his work. It was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and to celebrate my dream, we headed off to the beach. (We originally planned to go visit Brenda and the boys, but they didn't have the day off from school.) We drove to Seaside and got to have an amazing day in the sun, with little wind, and 65 degree weather. You really can't beat that, middle of January and all. We got there around 11:30 a.m., had lunch at Doogers (can't beat their clam chowder, even I will eat some), then headed off to the beach. It was just superb! The water was very cold, but overall, sunny and beautiful outside. The dogs absolutely LOVE going to the beach. It saddens me to have them get back into the car for the long haul back to boring old home.

Here's a few pictures of Cody enjoying the beach. Soon, he will be as bad as Caitlin asking to go to the "ocean water" all the time. heh, heh

Yep, he's showing off his wet sand finger. He didn't seem very interested in "tasting" sand, which made me happy. But, I've wondered how much he's tried before to draw that conclusion???
This kid loves to climb. If you build it, he will want to scale it. I'm not sure why. It's like he took every ounce of daring that Caitlin snubbed. It's a bit scary at times, but he seems to do pretty well with his balance and such.

At this beach, we can drive on and park. It's pretty nice. There have been times when the waves have seriously chased us all the way back to our car. Luckily, this day was just perfect and we got to go play in the water and rest by the car when we were done.

Here's the gang enjoying a moment of peace on a random log. We all enjoy taking our shoes and socks off and freezing our feet in the water! (All Casey wants to do is have us throw her a branch that she can chase endlessly!)

Here's Caitlin and I resting after climbing up this small dune. There are these VERY pokey weeds that we tried to avoid, but man alive, they were all over and so painful! Caitlin wanted me to carry her on my back on the way down. Nothing like adding another 40 pounds to my back to step on a pokey weed even harder! Yikes! We made it with only a few mishaps.

Brian swears that there are lots of pictures of me with the kiddos, but not him. I beg to differ! He gets lots of face time on the camera. He loves to drag those kiddos out to the thrill of the crashing waves, or of waves that sneak up on us and we have to run like the wind to get out of its way!

Overall, we had a great time and as always, can't wait to go back. Someday I might get to live right on the ocean (houseboat? heh, heh).

I just want to add, two posts in one week. I'm on a roll!

Proof...

I think I have explained my blog title before, right? I have no talent artistically so I didn't want anyone thinking this blog was going to be SO GREAT and/or SUCH AN AMAZING READ! I just wanted to be able to post what I wanted, when I wanted, and tell a story for others who are far away (and I can't call everytime something is funny or amazing or just what it is). So, this entry is going to be about Caitlin's ability to tell a story with her pictures. I'm always amazed at what she is able to convey on a piece of paper, or a Magna Doodle, or whatever she is using to paint/draw/color us a picture of what is in her head. Here is her latest creation:

She loves the beach! (We ALL do in this family.) It's especially great when you can have the water chase you back to the car, or make sand castles in the sun, or just take your shoes and socks off and feel the STING of that cold ocean water on your feet. We just love it. Caitlin talks about it quite a bit. So, recently, she was sitting down drawing a picture and I casually glanced over and asked what she was drawing. She told me that this picture is at the beach. "But, it's a new beach with diamonds on it." She and Cody are playing on the "diamond" beach. She then showed me the BIG waves and explained to me that Daddy and I were "skateboarding" on the waves. (I was pretty impressed with her idea of what skateboarding was and how someone could do it on the waves.) I told her that it's called Surfing, and she said, "Yeah, that's you and Daddy surfing on the waves." Wow. We must be pretty good too, or else we wouldn't be able to survive in waves two-three times our size. =) I know she didn't get her creativity or artistic ability from me, sadly. But, I'm happy to see how well her imagination works and love to look at her creations. I hope she only gets better and better. Maybe her blog name can be "All that was denied to my mother - artistically." heh, heh

Updates...

Remember those beloved days (like June maybe) when I posted 15 entries per month? Weren't those grand? I have to admit, I have no excuse for not posting more often. It used to be because our computer was in Cody's room and the only time I could truly blog would be when he was sleeping (which wouldn't work because he's the lightest sleeper I know). So, I got a laptop from school to use. BUT, then I didn't have a card reader for my computer. I would have to remember to get the card reader from the other computer before Cody went to sleep! Sheesh. At Christmastime, I bought a portable card reader, so I really, at this point, have no excuse. I should AT LEAST be able to post one blog a week, right? We shall see.

It's been so long since my last blog entry that I have to go back through the pictures and see what I can find. Here goes...

Here's a recent photo of Cody. He's looking older all the time. He loves to play with phones, listen to people on the phone (he doesn't talk to people yet), and pretend that he has a phone. Here, he's modeling the cute dinosaur pajamas Grandma and Grandpa got him for Christmas! (Thanks Mom and Dad!)

I have to take some pictures of Caitlin's new haircut! But, we just bought a new camera today (since we took it out to the beach and to the Sand Ranch, it won't focus) so give me some time to get that done. Here are some photos from our recent trip (beginning of January). We went down to Veneta to visit with John, Brenda, and the boys, then traveled on down to Coos Bay and Bandon for three days.

It was sort of a small family reunion! We got to spend time with Uncle Deacon, Aunt Hilary, Mackenzie, Brenda, John and the boys, plus Brian's counsin Johnny, his wife Nicole, and their kiddos. It was very fun to get to hang out together like that. I think everyone had a real blast!

Here we are at the beach in Bandon. We always go to this access point, and it's usually pretty deserted. But, we've mainly gone there when the weather's been nice. On this particular day, the weather was a bit unpredictable. When we got there, there was a clear spot in the sky. But make no mistake, 15 minutes later, downpour. Everyone got soaked except for me (as I had to wait in the car with sleeping Cody) and Hilary, who didn't have a jacket???? =)

As we were coming back, we stopped by Uncle Deacon's (and Aunt Hilary's) house to have some fun at the Sand Ranch!

It's just amazing to see Uncle Deacon's backyard is acres of sand! He has these three ATVs and we all took turns riding them!Here's Uncle Deacon driving Caitlin and Mason around! He sure is great with kids!

Here's Brian and Cody riding on a sand board (being pulled on the ATV by Deacon).

Here's Sam and Eli (not sure who's pulling them though).

Oh yeah, here's the huge tractor that they use on the sand ranch. I was a little freaked out when I saw this picture too, trust me. But truly, Cody did not want to get out at all. (A few of us actually rode in the plow part of this tractor with Brian driving. He told us he had learned how to drive it that day. A LITTLE scary if you ask me, but we were all game to do it.)
Here are both our little rascals getting some time in the cab of this larger than life tractor. Sheesh.

Here's Caitlin and Maddie just having fun making sand piles. All of the kids had so much fun (and I suppose I should mention the adults might have had more fun than them???)! We can't wait to go back!

Caitlin's Preschool Christmas Program

Caitlin's preschool class (and the 3's class) put on a Christmas Program the first weekend of December. She was an Angel in it. It was super cute!

These are some pictures from the practice (much easier to take photos then). Notice that in many Caitlin is making faces, not paying attention, looking bored...

Not exactly sure what she is doing in this photo, but they did have gestures for most of the songs. They sang, "Away in a Manger" which she practiced for days!

This last picture is at the actual Sunday service. They had to wait, patiently, in the back of the church until after all the readings were done, then they performed. We also have this recorded on our camcorder (in case you ever want to see it).

Here she is afterwards...a successful performer! She did much better in the service performance than she did during her practices! Way to go Caitlin!

Cute Picture Alert...

I just wanted to share a few images because let's face it... a picture is worth a thousand words... maybe more if I'm writing them. This was just a great catch mid-splash. Cody's such a different kid than Caitlin. The more water in your face, the better! Caitlin said, "Look mom, I'm Santa Claus."

If he can't have it, he wants even more. I guess we all learn that pretty early. What did he do when I busted him with my pepsi? Grin a big 'ol cheesy grin.

Cody got some new sneakers and he sure was pretty unsteady at first. This was just a nice afternoon in November with a cheese & crackers lunch on our porch.

The dog is just so cute I had to take this picture. I kept telling Caitlin to "get out of my shot, you're goofing it up". She's always hogging into the dog pictures. :) - Seriously, she & Casy are best buddies and it's just awesome to see their relationship grow closer all the time. Casey puts up with all kinds of games, dress-ups, being pulled around the house with a leash tied to a wagon and just asks for a few belly rubs & hugs whenever we're sitting still for 5 seconds.

Blogged By Brian