Fort Scrap Ball Falls

Most weekend nights, the kids get to have "fort nights". We set up a cool fort in their room (it's different every time), set up the laptop with a movie, and let them hang out, eat dinner, watch a movie, then fall asleep in their fort. Everyone enjoys it. We love building cool new forts for them every time, and the ability to put them to bed early and have some free time to ourselves. They, of course, enjoy the spoils. It is so much fun, and I hope that this is a tradition they will remember fondly when they're older.


Last night, after the kids were settled into their fort, I snuck out to a friend's house for a scrapbooking night. The desire to do this comes and goes for me. I have Elijah's 1st year book done, but I never finished Rogue's, and hadn't worked on it in about 2 years. Last night, I was excited for the opportunity to work on it- I got 6 pages done! Woohoo!


This morning, we were up and out of the house pretty early for Eli's basketball team photos, which was followed up by his game.
He made this shot- Way to go, Eli!
Rogue was taking his own pics
Lex was rocking out the whole time


After we returned home, we quickly threw on a few more layers of clothing, packed our backpacks with water, snacks, and even more extra layers, and headed up to Silver Falls. I love Silver Falls, and we don't utilize the incredibly close proximity nearly enough. We hadn't gone since the Christmas Festival, and before that, since the summer. It's such a gorgeous place that we are so lucky to live near, and I am determined to take more advantage of it. Anyway, we had a great hike and got some great photos. I was extremely frustrated, however, when I realized that after all of our hiking, we finally reached the 2nd falls, just in time for my camera battery to die- UGH! The kids were all lined up in front of the waterfall with cute little grins on their faces, too. I really need to purchase an extra battery to start carrying with me!

25 Random Things about Little Miss Sunshine

This began as a Facebook tag, but Alaina brought it on over to the blogosphere, so I did a little copying and pasting to share with all of you non-Facebook folk (I made a few changes though, for those of you that have already read the other one).

This is a list of 25 random things about myself:

1. I love to create unique things.
2. I have lots of rad hats.
3. I got Mr. "Carlisle Paddlestrap" from Wacky Sockits for my birthday.
4. I'm a Twilight fan, although recent rediculous hysteria makes me a bit embarrassed of it.
5. I jumped off of a 35 ft. bridge when I was 6, and was appauded by all of the teenagers too scared to jump.
6. I fell off of a car, sliced my leg open, and had 17 stitches the day of my Freshman year district track meet. Yea- everyone was really happy with me about that one.
7. My favorite food is sushi. More particlaurly, Unagi (fresh water eel)- yummmm!
8. I also love mixing sugary and slaty snacks (ie. potato chips w/ m&m's)- double yummmm!
9. Trav & I flipped in our kayak going down Blossom Bar- a class IV rapid on the Rogue River.
10. I am mildly afraid of small, enclosed spaces, and intensely afraid of the ocean . As one person put it: "Yeah, I can't help it. There are beasts out there in the briney deep that scare the beetlejuice out me." Couldn't have said it better myself, although it really sucks, because I'd love to learn to surf :(
11. I like shooting guns, mostly rifles, with my Dad & brothers. (And ready to beat Jana at target practice next time she comes to town- that's right, Jana, you're going down!)
12. For some reason, I was voted "trendiest" in high school. Strange, considering all I wore were groovy, grungy thift shop finds. Go figure.
13. I was also voted "craziest hair". I colored my hair all kinds of colors, had all kinds of cuts, and styled it all sorts of crazy ways.
14. I was prom queen. Once again, go figure.
15. I hate wearing make-up. Mineral make-up has made it a little more barable, but overall, I'm still not a fan of the stuff.
16. I love rock shows, although I haven't been to one in years.
17. I'm a terrible singer- REALLY terrible. It's something that I really wish I could do well, though.
18. I hate the color pink. (And, yes, I know "hate" is a strong word)
19. I've had loads of stitches in my life, but no broken bones. Don't know how I managed to avoid that one.
20. I believe Nertz to be one of the raddest games ever!
21. I can't stand country or rap. I'll take my classic rock, acoustic/soft rock, or my hard rock instead please.
22. I was big into running back in my earlier years, and wish I were still in that kind of shape.
23. I think I could live in a make-shift shelter in the woods and survive and even enjoy it.
24. I am the proud owner of the most mischevious little girl that ever existed.
25. I would love to travel around the world: England, Thailand, New Zealand, Africa, Denmark, ....

Well, that's it, there you have it. I'm sure that was thoroughly entertaining, right? I now tag Amber Lashmett, Angee Burton, Alison Andersen, & Amberly Miller (hey, look at that- all "A"s)

Minority Report

I know I am in the minority here, but I cannot stand watching American Idol! Trav is totally hooked on the show, and I just have to leave the room. Right now it's all auditions, which is Trav's favorite part, and my least favorite. They show very few clips of actual good singers, which are just boring to watch. Then, there are the ignorant ones that have somehow convinced themselves that they are awesome and/or funny, when they are SOOOOOOOOOOOOO not. At these, I just cringe, and feel so embarrassed for them, that I can't stand it. It's flat out painful to watch! Oh, SYTYCD, where are you?

Way Back When-sday

Junior year of High School. Spirit Week. Hippy day. Yeah- I was cool like that.

My Jewish Daughter

Alex has always been a jabberbox, especially in the car. She asks where each member of the family is at multiple times, has an "I love you more" battle with me, and belts out her favorite tunes, among other things. Today, on our way to pick up the boys from school she starts up with a song I have never heard her sing before: "EEEEverybody, EEEEverybody- Mazel Tov. EEEEverybody, EEEEverybody- Mazel Tov." Now, she is 2 years old afterall, so I'm sure I'm just misunderstanding her, because I don't know how in the world she could have heard the term Mazel Tov. Another possibility (clearly the more logical one), is that I could have genius on my hands, that is apparently teaching herself Hebrew.

"They're Playin' Bas-ket-ball"

I love that our kids are finally getting old enough for us to go and watch them at sporting events. I've been so looking forward to this step in their lives. Elijah's been trying out a few sports and hobbies: gymnastics, dance, piano, but more recently, wrestling and basketball. First was wrestling.

Despite the fact that he was quite good (yes, I know I'm his mother, but he really was good- he's a quick little bugger), he wasn't interested in sticking with it long term. Two weeks ago, he began basketball on Cascade's league for 1st & 2nd graders. Elijah's best buddy got onto the team, because his dad is the coach, and since that coach is also a good friend of Trav's, Eli got on too, even though they're kindergardeners. Life's good when your parents have connections :) Anyway, Saturday was his first game. He was VERY nervous before the game started, because he was playing against new kids, but once we coaxed him out onto the court, he played great. He bragged the rest of the day about the two baskets he made, but he was also super quick at chasing down the ball, and played defense really well. I was so proud of him, most of all for overcoming his nervousness and playing through it. He had a great time, and is excited for they're next game! Go, Eli!

Talkin' some smack

The dribble master at work

Playing a little "D"

Showing some hustle

Check that jump shot!

Silly spectators:

Young Jane Austen Fan?

VS

Usually, trying to get Lex to watch a TV show or movie with us is quite a challenge. We have taken her with us to the movie theater a few times, and only on one occasion did she actually make it through the whole movie. On that particular occasion, we brought her booster chair, strapped her in, snapped on the tray, and piled it with food (you all know by now just how fond she is of food, I'm sure). She's just not much of a TV girl. I know this is a good thing, but it's nice to be able to sit down together for a film from time to time.

Today, I decided to turn on Sense and Sensibility while I folded some laundry (this is one of my least favorite chores, and I have found that popping in an audiobook or movie while I do it makes it much more tolerable). Alexandra was mesmorized. Apparently cartoons bore her, and she prefers emotional drama to the comedic adventures of say, Phineas and Ferb (which, by the way, is the coolest cartoon ever!).

I'm sure it's just a fluke, but I would be thrilled to actually have someone else in this house to share my love of classics with as she gets older!

One Year Older & Wiser Too

Mr. Elijah Rhodes Newton turned a whopping 6 years old yesterday! He's inching closer and closer to those double digits, then, before I know it, he'll be a teenager- agh! Ok, I' know I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but SERIOUSLY! A 6 year old? Didn't I just get out of high school? Well, I may not look it, but I feel like it!

Anyway, he woke up this morning wondering where all of the balloons and cake were at. It made me feel kind of sad- I'll have to start doing something fun for them to wake up to on their birthdays. One friend told me (I don't remember who it was- feel free to claim it if it was you) that she put streamers in her kids' doorway and filled the room with balloons while they were sleeping. I thought that was a great idea, but I had forgotten all about it until Eli mentioned his disappointment yesterday morning :( His mood was lifted by the time he got out of school, though. The teacher made him a special birthday hat, and everyone sang to him at lunchtime in the cafeteria.

In the evening we celebrated at Red Robin. As I'm sure you've noticed, this has become our traditional birthday dinner. It's such a great, family-friendly restaurant, and the birthday boy/girl gets a big free sundae and, of course, gets sung to. Occasionally, they do what they did to Eli this time- our waitress had Eli stand up on his chair and hold his dessert up high in the air. Then, she got the attention of everyone in the restaurant, and announced to them that that Eli was turning 6 years old. After a big round of applause, the waiters all sang to him. Needless to say, he was grinning ear to ear.

No longer rockin' the hair

Well, I finally did it... or rather Rogue did. I liked Rogue's long locks, and he had liked it too. It's not as if I was torturing the poor kid, as I'm sure some suspected. (Although it was a little irritating having people think he was a girl- come on, are you even looking at what he's wearing?!) Recently, however, we agreed that it was time for a trim. So, I pulled up a few pics for Rogue to choose from, and he decided what he wanted. He opted for still keeping a little bit of length, and although it ended up a bit shorter than anticipated, he is happy with it. I'm sure he would have been fairly pleased with anything. He's such an easy-going kid.... Anyway, here's the new 'do!

Before:

(actually, this pic is from September. You can scroll down to the Christmas pics for something more recent)

After: