Liam's Birthday

Liam is loves airplanes so there was no question about what to get him and how to celebrate his second birthday. I strung several (like 35) airplanes from the ceiling the night before and I won't forget his eyes when he saw them when he woke up. He definitely wore out his pointer finger saying "plane! plane!"

 My Sweet Birthday Boy, the above photo is when he was only a couple weeks old, and now he is 2 as you can see above that. It's been some of the hardest years, and well worth it. I love my little boys.

Birthday Presents! Ethan was very jealous.

Lovin the Airplane, that's all he care about.

Birthday Cake, made by Jodi. Looks amazing. 

Two dear sweet friends! Ethan misses her so very much. He asks to see her, and draws pictures for her all the time. True friends.  

Thanksgiving

We made the trip back to Portland to see many of our dearly missed friends! It was great to see neighbors and friends again! I shopped my heart out on Black Friday, and we also Celebrated Liam's Birthday too.

 The dinner setting

 The company (and great company!!!)

Halloween

 Ethan had this elaborate idea of being Curious George, and he wanted daddy to be the man with the yellow hat, mom professor wiseman, and Liam was to be Hunnley. (I know I'm not spelling names right here. ) Since we moved a week prior to Halloween I opted to go a little more simple. Ethan was  Buzz lightyear and Liam was the dinosaur from Toy Story, which is actually a dragon-dinosaur thing that was recycled from when Ethan was 2. Easy! I made a pumpkin pizza and for dessert we had chocolate dipped oreos that looked like bats. 

We also made it to a pumpkin patch in the area. Kids loved the tractors to play on and diggers to dig in the sand!

KGW News Tour

So yes, I tagged along with a dear friend to get a tour of the news studio from another friend from church who is a producer there. We got to meet the news anchors, watch them live (in the studio while airing the 5:00 news live) and sit in their chairs. Ethan was going through an identity crisis at this time. You'll know what I mean when you see him. This was also during the time John was living at our new location and I was still in Portland. Also another reason I decided to allow myself to be embarrassed by my child.

Buzz and Liam doing the weather.

Beach photos from August

Here are a few photos I took at the beach when My brother and his family were out. The last couple are my favorite. Looking back at these photos reminds me how tired we were every night. It was a fun trip!

 This photo is on a sand bar at fort Steven's Park. The water would come up very gently over the bar. as you can see.

This last photo is at Fort Steven's park. This is a really old shipwreck there. On this rather rare day there was a sand bare that appeared during the low tide, and you only had to wade through a little bit of water to get to it.

Orchestra on the River Front

We have gone several years in the past to the traditional Portland Orchestra concert on the river downtown. This year was was a lot of fun as always! We loved the company of our friends, and enjoying the classical music. Including the 1812 overture with real canons and fireworks at the end. 

August LIghthouses

I know that every post I start with either the Title saying I'm catching up or the first line says I'm catching up. Well that hasn't changed. So yes this post goes back to August, a week of day trips to the Beach with my brother's family. This First picture is of the four older boys. I called them the fearless four. Ethan loved paling around with these guys/ They taught him more about being a boy. Ethan has been the only boy his age at church for the longest time, and hasn't had a group of boys to hang out with. He knows a lot about being the king in a castle or playing with Ken dolls, but this week taught him something new and it changed him forever.

We visited the Astoria Column. This stands on the top of a hill in Astoria. It is at the mouth of the Columbia River. You can see for miles and miles in every direction. We climbed those couple hundred steps to the top, and it's even more amazing up there.

Cape Disappointment, and sure was it a bit disappointing. Not only was it a good little hike into there, but as you can tell the State of Washington does not take that great of care of the exterior anymore. When you look online the photos of this lighthouse was amazing. I was dying to see this one, and it was a bit disappointed. There is however a coast guard station here as well. This lighthouse is located on the north side of the River and the day before we stood at the opposite point on the south side of the river at Fort Stevens on a platform right at the Jetty. It was fun to be at the points on either side of the river.

This is my brother's family at the Cape Disappointment North Head lighthouse. It is really pretty, I like architecture of this one with the tile roof.

Cape Meares is another lighthouse located a few miles from Tillamook. It isn't a well known, but very cute and tiny.

Another view of Cape Meares.

And of course we visited the Air museum in Tillamook. They had planes and helicopter cockpits to play in. talk about boy heaven.

Liam, almost big enough to reach the floor. :)

More posts to come soon. I have more from the beaches we played at during the week. Stay tuned....

Music with Grandma

One morning in Idaho my sister and I went for a morning jog and when we came home grandma and Ethan were in a music lesson. Take a look! I have a few videos, but in this one Ethan's dancing just kills me. It was a little choppy for me, I hope its better for you.

Idaho

It had been over 7 years since I had been home for the Preston Rodeo Days and not that much less since I had been home altogether for an extended period of time. But the boys and I made a trip this year and the kids loved it. I forgot how slow paced and care-free life can be in the summer of small isolated town. The boys loved the endless amount of grass to run on, and just plain old fun in the dirt in the country. We went swimming, ate at the Main Street Grill which is closing due to contract issues :(, played at the park went to the parade, carnival, rode bikes, met up with friends, planted flowers and went jogging which wasn't as hard with the elevation, but I couldn't get much over 3 miles or so.  Here are pictures of the highlights.

Isn't he so darned cute? :)

Ethan loving french fries on the way to grandma and grandpa's house. I drove the 13 hours by myself with the boys. They did really good!!

Liam loves sweets. We went to the fat boy factory and had some ice-cream.

Candy at the Parade. Liam loved throwing it back at the floats. He didn't get that we get to keep it.

One of Ethan's favorite things about being in the country is the tractors on the road. He would shout like there was a fire at the park when he saw one because it was so cool. All the local kids probably thought he was crazy. When we returned to Oregon, he got a free library book, and what did he choose? A book about tractors in honor of seeing so many in Idaho.

Ethan loving the parade and catching candy.

This is the ride I made John go on... the first of many he will have to. He has never been on a thrill ride I found out recently. They don't sit well with my stomach anymore, but I toughed it out for him.

Give a kid lots of land and he will play all day. Yes Ethan is in his pajamas picking crab apples off the neighbor's tree and putting them in his helmet.  He played hard all week. He asks regularly to go back. I've realized I'm raising country kids in the city.

Just some of the flowers, of course the boys couldn't stay out of the dirt.

Meeting up with a dear friend at Ross Park. This is the best picture I have. I didn't take enough photos at all.

4th of July and other Summer Fun times

So our summer was slow to come, by that I mean weather. Portland still hasn't hit 90 degrees, and its August! To find summer I went to Idaho, and that post is coming soon. Despite the weather we are having a lot of fun amongst a lot of work. :) Both kids came down with the stomach flu right before the 4th of July and that coupled with rainy weather meant we canceled our vacation to the San Juan Islands. The 4th of July was actually the first day the kids felt good after puking and fevers. And it was one of the first sunny days! Ethan rode his bike a mile in a children's parade, and Liam  sat in the stroller. Ethan loved the fireworks and Liam cried the entire way through them.

Other things we have enjoyed doing this summer is going on walks or "hikes", swimming, rough housing, playing at parks and riding bikes.

Water, there isn't anything better than playing with water! I love this picture because it shows Liam's personality. He is such a wild fun guy!

Likewise, this is also a glimpse into Ethan's personality. He is such a fun kid.

On one of our day outings with grandma Sue, we rode the Tram. The tram is a controversial ride that connects buildings of the OHSU campus. Anyone can ride it, and my kids love it. Next to it they are building a barge and we will get to come back and watch them launch it in the river.   This is a bad picture, but its the best I have. Ethan hates getting his picture taken these days.

Overlook Park. We discovered this park recently in Portland. The boys love trains and this was heaven for them. There were lots of "Creaky Crankys" and other trains.

Liam loves to tackle, and he really gets into it. He holds his own plus 10! Frequently it's Ethan who has had enough, and Liam could go all day. This is Liam's signature move, where he pretends he is riding a horse.

And yes they love each other very much. Ethan always gets more than he bargained though. :)