Timothy Lake Camping Trip

We just got back Monday after 3 nights camping at Timothy Lake with Papa Craig and Memaw Mary. So much fun, so much work! Good thing we only camp once a year, Mike and I are completely pooped!
I took some photos around the campsite but forgot to take some by the lake. We had beautiful weather and enjoyed wading in the lake (Mike and I even swam in the lake a bit! Pretty cold!) and taking our blow-up raft out for rides. Mike and I also got away for an afternoon to go up to Timberline Lodge for a visit. We had never been to the historic lodge and wanted to look around a bit. There were beautiful views from up on the mountain, but we both agreed we probably wouldn't want to stay there. There were tons of tourists (like us) and it seemed overpriced (a bottle of water from the vending machine was $2.75 (we decided to stay thirsty :))
Apart from the lack of sleep and a few mosquito bites, it was a wonderful camping trip. The kids love being outdoors, making S'mores, getting dirty, rafting, fishing, biking and exploring!
Grace ended up going home with Papa and Memaw for 2 nights after the trip. My mom needed to take a work trip up to Newberg on Wednesday (tomorrow) so we offered Weston that he could go to Bend if he wanted to. Weston decided he'd rather stay home with us, so the offer went to Grace. She snapped it up with no hesitation and showed no signs of sadness as she waved goodbye! What different personalities our children have! We'll meet in Newberg to pick Grace up tomorrow at lunchtime.


Here's Elsie and Grace feeding Baby "Pat". I'm not sure why Grace was scowling. I think maybe I told her to give the doll to Elsie so I could get a photo.

Elsie caring for the baby. We're a little concerned over how she'll do with her new baby brother in September. She's pretty attached to me right now and not too fond of sharing my attention sometimes. I need to be better about praying over the adjustments that will happen when the new baby arrives.

Grace being silly. I think this was taken before giving the doll to Elsie :)

Elsie loves the bikes! She wanted to put the helmet on and climb on the bike all weekend.

Weston showing Memaw something "cool". She looks very interested!

Weston and Daddy in front of the manly tent. The girls all slept in the trailer while Weston, Mike and my dad all slept in the tent. Weston woke Mike up at about 2 am. the first night to say, "Daddy, Papa's been snoring all night long!" Weston felt pretty special sleeping in the tent with the men!

Grace sitting under the picnic table making pies and soup. The little girl has never minded getting very dirty!

Grace with Papa and Memaw. She was being naughty and not smiling. She also has jam on her face.

Wilderness Man eating lunch!

Weston was building a fort out of bark.

Mike and my dad "shootin' the breeze".

Garden and Yard Updates

Here's a few photos of the yard and garden progress. I don't think I took the photos during the best time of day, but at least you can see that stuff is growing. We have sugar snap peas, carrots, marigolds, 5 tomato plants, lettuce, spinach, zucchini, onions, sweet peas, morning glory flowers, and some various annual flowers all planted here. The sugar snap peas are so large now that they are flopped over the back of the picket fence I have them climbing. I've been picking a handful of the peas to eat everyday and it looks like our yield will be increasing! We finally even have one little tomato starting to grow on the yellow pear tomato plant! The 4 tomato plants we started from seed are flowering, but no tomatoes yet. We shall see!
The black tube you see sticking up at the corner will eventually be a sprinkler head. The sprinkler system is still a work in progress, but we're getting there!

Front yard flowers. The hole by Dave and Julie's front door is the sprinkler system again. The black tube is the soaking system which hasn't been completed or buried yet. The flowers are pretty though!

Front view. As you can see we also have to tackle the strip of land right by the street. I think we're planning on shrubs and bark in that area.

Some petunias that are doing well. A few weeks ago I took the advice of a gardener friend and violently clipped them back to almost nothing. She promised they would come back much more full and healthy after the clipping. She was right!

The same gardener friend gave me some of this plant from her yard. I'm not sure what it is, but it is flowering pretty pink blossoms.

It's Been So Long!

I haven't gotten around to posting very much lately as we are having so much fun doing summer stuff. Here's a few recent photos. Up top Grace is riding her new "big girl" bike (Weston's old one). You can also see a bit of our new grass and the edge of the garden. The next photo is from the 4th of July. We had the Von Gunten Family and a friend, Terry, from church over for a bar-b-que. The Von Gunten's have 7 children so it was lots of activity and lots of fun! I think the sun was behind me as all the kids are looking squinty in the photo :) The day was wonderful up until Grace burned herself on a sparkler at about 10:00 at night. I'm not sure how it happened, but somehow her coat caught on fire and she got one little blister on her hand. She was more scared than hurt, but we have new respect for sparklers now!

The other news in our neighborhood is that we now have a neighborhood rooster! Some neighbors of ours (the same ones who let their pitbull and chihuahua run loose) now have a rooster that crows from about 5 am. to noon everyday. I never thought roosters could be so annoying! Aren't roosters only supposed to crow at sunrise?

Well, I'd better get to loading the van as we're taking off for camping in about an hour to Timothy Lake on Mt. Hood. We will be meeting my parents there, who also happen to have a large trailer (we're not into roughing it when we have 3 children and one on the way). We're looking forward to some fresh air and lots of fun. I also brought Reese's Peanut Butter Cups to put on S'mores! Yum!

Enjoying the Backyard!

Yesterday I took the kids outside to enjoy the new grass. They played in the sprinkler awhile and soaked up some sun (good vitamin D!). Elsie wore her birthday suit. I might as well let her enjoy her baby freedom while she can. Sweet baby innocence :)

You've got to love that little tummy! How fast these days will go by and she'll be a "big" girl like Grace!

After playing outside Elsie made a beeline for the potty. She doesn't actually use the potty, but enjoys pretending. She also knows how to take her own diaper off now. While my parents were watching the kids for us the weekend of the 19th she took her diaper off during her nap. My dad came to get her up and found her holding her wet diaper and looking pleased with herself. It took him a few moments to notice the "gift" lying in her crib. I told him he was pretty lucky that she didn't touch it and do artwork with it as we've known other babies to do. Note to self: don't put Elsie down for nap without shorts over her diaper :)

Progress on the Yard

We finally have sod in the backyard! After 9 months with stinky mud in the back, the grass is beautiful! Here's a few photos of the progression.

Here you can see our garden. We're growing tomatoes, onions, carrots, lettuce, spinach, zucchini, sugar-snap peas, marigolds, morning glories, green pepper, strawberries and some annuals. Nothing seems to be thriving so far, but we've not had much sun this spring so I'll be patient.

The darker dirt is a four-way mulch mixture for under the sod. The regular dirt that came with the home is a gross, clay-like, stinky mess. Not great for growing anything!

Progress!

You can tell we're pretty excited! Of course, we still have the bark and the fence to complete eventually, but those aren't needed for awhile.

Little House Series Completed!

Weston and I officially completed all 9 "Little House" books yesterday! This morning he asked to read some "little house" and was so bummed when I reminded him there weren't any more to read! He tried to talk me into starting the series all over again, but I think we'll take a little break and read some other things ;)
I enjoyed the first three books of the series more than the others, but all nine were very good. I feel like I learned so much about life for pioneers in the 1800's. How much we take for granted in our "instant" society! They certainly didn't take survival for granted like we do here in the U.S. If they didn't work, they didn't eat!

Happy 8th Anniversary!

Today was our 8th anniversary! Mike surprised me by having these beautiful roses sent to the door. They had a little "I love you" balloon attached, but I think they look prettier all natural, don't you?
We'll celebrate our anniversary with a weekend away later this month, so tonight we watched our wedding video with the kids and spent time as a family.
In some ways our wedding day seems so long ago and in other ways it seems like just yesterday. Of course neither of us look like it was just yesterday! ;) It's strange to think we've already been married 8 years, are the parents of 4 children, homeowners, etc. I'm sure we will always feel younger than we really are. The years are just going to keep going faster and faster. Older women at the grocery store are always telling me to appreciate my kids now as they grow up so fast. Another 8 years will go by and Weston will be 13 years old!
As we watched the wedding video Mike and I were saying we are so glad we've matured since June 10, 2000. Of course this is said with complete awareness that we have a looooong way to go still (2 steps forward, one step back). I'm so glad that God promised us in His Word that he continues a good work in us until He returns! (Phil 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.) I know part of the way God will continue to grow and mature us will be through trials, but I take comfort in knowing He will be with us during the good times and the bad. I had a quick thought today that I could have been alone with 3 (almost 4) children if God had decided to take Mike home the day he was hit by the truck. I'm so thankful He didn't, but I know God would have met my needs and given me peace! I'll still pray that Mike and I will be able to celebrate many more anniversaries together!

First Soccer Season Complete!

Saturday was Weston's last soccer game of the season. We had a great experience for Weston's first sport although it was a bit more of a commitment than we anticipated. Mike was the assistant coach and loved being out on the field with the kids. The kids were troopers through it all, even playing games in the pouring rain and not complaining (notice I didn't say that I didn't complain. After getting rain down my collar we invested in one of those massive sporting events umbrellas :)
We were blessed to have a wonderful coach, Tim Hardt, who obviously has a gifting in coaching children. Unfortunately I don't think we'll have him again as a coach as his daughter was not quite as thrilled about soccer as he was ;)

Weston even scored quite a few goals throughout the season.

You can see the kids are holding their soccer trophies very proudly. We had a little team party after the last game with a trophy ceremony and finger foods. On the way home Weston started crying that he wouldn't be with the same team ever again. He didn't understand why it wouldn't all be the same next year.

They look so tough! I'm sure the other teams were pretty nervous, especially to play the one on the end!

Trip to Bend!

Here's a few photos of a trip to Bend I took with the kids this past weekend. Mike has been so busy with work and yard work that we decided I'd take the kids for a few nights to visit my parents. We had a wonderful time riding bikes, chasing lizards, exploring the 2.5 acres, making s'mores, flying the kite, swimming at my aunt's country club, and relaxing! The only bummer was Mike not being there with us!

All three kids loved to ride their bikes around a loop in the driveway. Elsie couldn't peddle on her own, of course, but she loved for us to push her around and around on the tricycle. She has to do everything Weston and Grace are doing!

Elsie and Grace had a little tea-party in the bathtub. Cheers!

Healthy Smoothies

I thought I'd share a newly discovered healthy lunch the kids and I have been eating daily. On a friend's blog I read that she makes smoothies which include greens such as spinach, kale or chard. I was sure it would taste gross but thought I'd give it a whirl. I happened to have one of those huge bags of spinach from Costco!

Here's my "recipe":

pack blender 1/3 full of raw spinach (about 1 and 1/2 C packed?)
1 ripe banana
about 1 C Nancy's honey yogurt
dash of vanilla extract
1/2 tomato
juice, milk, coconut milk or soymilk for liquid
about 2 tsp. coconut oil (don't put it next to the frozen stuff or it hardens)
about 2 T frozen 100% juice concentrate (I just keep the can in the freezer and take spoonfuls out and it lasts me probably 10 batches of smoothies)
frozen kiwi, strawberries, blackberries, etc. (I happen to have frozen kiwi left over from last summer and I buy the large bag of frozen berries and frozen strawberries (I have to soften these a bit in the microwave) from Costco. I've also used frozen peaches that I cut up and froze last summer).
I tried putting hard-boiled eggs into a smoothie once. The kids thought it tasted great, but I think I could taste it.
My mother-in-law has also put frozen peas into a smoothie and thought that tasted good.
You can also grind up some flaxseed and add that.

If my blender is filled to the top it makes enough for a large smoothie for me and 3 kid-sized smoothies.

The kids love these smoothies! Sometimes I give them a spoon full of peanut butter after the smoothie for a little bit of extra protein.