So Long, Farewell...

Well, we are off for a week. We're headed to the Great Wolf Lodge for one night, and then to a little cabin on Orcas Island for the rest of the week. I promise to return with plenty of pictures! Until then, Adeu!

Stick Lunch

I try to do some fun things for meals every now and then- especially for lunches, when it's just me and the kids. I'll make things in a different way, do a fancy or funny plating, create a theme... just put some sort of twist on the whole meal.... Today we had a 'sticks' lunch, with some awesomely good, healthier fish sticks (from Costco) , cheese sticks, carrot sticks, and apple sticks. In reality, the apples weren't really 'sticks', but we're very good at pretending. I want to get one of these for making homemade fries, and would have also been perfect for making the apple sticks. Anyway, it was obviously a super easy, fast meal, and the kids thought it was fun. Maybe something we can do for our recipe club is share some fun and easy kids meals? I'd love some more ideas. What do you think Stef?

Mad Skills

Ok, so now that it's on my mind, I'm coming up with a lot more posts. Here is a video I took a couple of weeks ago of Elijah showing off his mad dancing skills!
(Once again- don't forget to scroll down and pause the music before viewing the video)

More Lexi

I just happened upon a pic of Lex that I forgot I took at the park not too long ago. So here you go, Mike:

And, while we're on the subject of Mike, here are a couple more pics I found that I took the night before his big wedding day!

Being Wierd

That's more like it

Per My Brother's Request- Crazy Lexi

I know, I know. I am continuing to be a slacker. We just haven't been doing anything very exciting lately. However, my younger brother keeps getting after me, because he lives over in Utah, and is anxiously awaiting updated pictures of the kids- especially Alexandra (she's so young that she's changed quite a bit since he last saw her). So, I apologize for not posting last night as requested, but here are some long awaited pics of Alexandra. I realized that I really don't have any good pictures of her lately, and as I got out my camera to take some, I remembered why. That girl is impossible to get a picture of. She is just too darn fast, especially for my old camera (I got out my much better new one, only to find the batteries were dead, of course!). I tried my best, and there still aren't really any great pictures of her face, but at least you're getting something, right?
Well, recently, I've begun shopping at Hanna Andersson. The clothes aren't necessarily all the styles that I love to dress her in, but they are growing on me. What makes them so nice, is that they are all soft, organic cotton clothes in designs that are so easy for kids to put on themselves. Plus, while new styles emerge each season, they are all generally in the same color palette, so that everything coordinates. Hopefully, I can eventually have all of Alexandra's clothes easily accessable to her, so that she can pick out her own clothes, and get herself dressed. Anyway, I've begun laying out a few clothes to choose from-

Finally- all dressed!

This girl is a total book worm, by the way. She could probably sit and look at books all day long. This one is her favorite- she's bending down to kiss the picture of the dog :)

SICK moves

If you missed the "So You Think You Can Dance" season premiere last night, then you missed out on the most amazing dancer ever! He is just incredible. So, for those of you who missed it (and for those of you who are watching it over and over again like me), here it is:
* don't forget to scroll down and pause the music first *

SLACKER!

I've been a slacker, I know. I have a hard time posting when I don't have any pics to go with it, but I suppose I need to get over that, so that I'm not going a whole week at a time without posting. Anyway, here's what we've been up to lately....

1. Elijah was accepted at Abiqua School. I'm excited that we were able to find this school- it's going to be fantastic.

2. I got my hair chopped off and colored. Trav is happy that I don't have my rocker hair anymore, and I'm happy for a change (although I do miss my long hair still).

3. We splashed and played in the Barkley's pool on a sunny, hot day.

4. Grabbed some lunch at O'Brian's Cafe with Ashley, Eli and Alice last week. The Grilled Turkey sandwich is absolutely scrumptious! That place is fast becoming a favorite lunch spot.

5. Elijah spent the night at my parents' house, where he did a full on treasure hunt, with an old map and real burried treasure (see his blog for more details to be posted later today).

6. We played at Minto Brown Park. We happened to run into my brother and his family there, so the kids all got to play together for a little while. I used to go there all of the time as a kid- we need to take our bikes next time, and ride the trails....

7. The Wests came over some games, and I discovered a new favorite card game- "Up the river, down the river."

8. We played at Silver Falls with the Davis Fam Sunday afternoon, and planned a sushi night with them for Monday night, but it had to be postponed to a later date when Brian can go fishing again for some better sushi fish.

9. Last night, I started a jazzercise class at our community center. I was happy to find that I was in a little bit better shape than I had thought- the class didn't really push me too hard, but it's a decent workout, and pretty fun. I'm going Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and the occassional Monday if anyone is interested in joining Jamie and me.

10. My friend Jill finally had her beautiful baby boy. CONGRATS JILL!!

Lactose Intolerance

Rogue had been getting a lot of stomach aches lately. I had suspected lactose as the culprit before taking him to the doctor, and after seeing the doctor, he came to the same conclusion. So, for 1 week I was supposed to keep him on a strict lactose-free diet... and what do you know- his stomach aches stopped. Just to be sure that it wasn't some coincidence, I gave him a little regular milk with his cereal (instead of his lactose-free "lactaid" milk), and I ended up giving my poor guy an upset tummy for the rest of the day :(
It could be worse. Luckily, it's not a milk allergy, which is far more severe in both food restrictions and allergic reactions. We just have to cut out some of his favorite foods from his diet, and hunt down some lactose-free yogurt and cheese. Poor guy....

Weekend Up North

Friday night we stayed at the best hotel we have ever been to, and plan to return to it often. Great Wolf Lodge is the most kid-friendly hotel I have ever seen. There are several different room options to choose from. We chose the Kid Cabin suite. It has a little cabin inside the room, which houses the bunkbed and a small tv for the kids (although I don't think you'll find time for tv in this place). The hotel not only has an awesome, huge indoor waterpark , catering to all ages, but it also has a craft room with different crafts going on every hour , an arcade with blacklighting and fun games for a range of ages , a teen room with computers, video games, and dancing, a magic room (which is still in construction right now), and a fantasticly yummy buffet restraunt. There are also numberous dessert and snack counters throughout the hotel and waterpark areas. Unfortunately, there was another fun thing that we didn't discover until the day of our departure. Around the hotel, I kept seeing closed treasure boxes, display boxes housing unlit crystals and lamps, and random pictures. Then, I noticed a couple of kids that were waving some wands at all of these things that were making them open, light up, and talk. How awesome! I ran to the gift shop and purchased 3 of them for my kids, and they had a blast running through the hotel making things sparkle & talk by waving their magic wands. :) It was just- AWESOME!
The Great Wolf Lodge was booked solid for Saturday night, so we came back to Oregon, and stayed in a really nice little condo in Portland. We went for a walk, grabbed some grub, and did a little more swimming before calling it a night. The next day, we spent playing at the zoo.
It was a very fun weekend, despite the little bit of extra grumpiness that kept showing up this trip. If anyone is looking for a fun vacation spot, I'd definitely recommend the Great Wolf Lodge, and plan on staying more than one night!

Clothless Lex

Ok, I do not understand this girl of mine. She HATES clothing (although she LOVES shoes)! It is such a struggle to get clothes and diapers on her! If she had it her way, she would be naked from sun up to sun down, and every minute in between. Last night, when I checked on the kids before heading to bed, I walked in to find her diaperless once again. She was fast asleep, but her little bare bottom was sticking up in the air. How does she do it???!!! She helped me discover a new talent of mine, though- the ability to manuver a diaper and pants onto a baby laying on her stomach, without waking her up (but she was, of course, naked once again when I went to get her out of bed this morning). Isn't it exciting, the new talents you discover you are capable of as a mother?

We had a wonderful weekend up north that I will expound upon in a new post with pictures later today :)