What I heard from the other room...

Kiera: "Siiisssyy! If you be mean to me, I'm not gonna be your sister any more!"

Oregon Trip: Day One

The first day we got out of town around 1, which we thought was pretty good! We drove and drove... Gabe was awesome and encouraged me to try driving, towing the travel trailer! He pulled over on White Trail Rd, and I drove all the way down to Goldendale! Then he took over and pulled us the rest of the way into Portland. This was Melia's opinion of her inability to sleep while we were driving.
We stopped at the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery to stretch our legs, plus we'd been told that they have some really cool sturgeon! Boy, do they ever!!!

That was it for our first day- the goal was to make it to Portland so we could spend the next day with Jeremy. And we did! I learned I could tow a trailer, which was a big deal for me, especially considering my motion sickness problem (this makes a huge difference the rest of the trip!) and I am starting to understand the love/hate relationship between google maps, microsoft streets & trips, and tomtom. Too many hands in the pot.... More on that later :-)

Happy 6th Birthday Melia!

I know it's cliche, but I just can't believe you are SIX! You are becoming quite the young lady, with grown up conversations and the inquiring questions that accompany them! I love love LOVE being the one who gets to teach you new things and the way your face lights up when you grasp a new concept! Reading is still coming, but you are doing much better with being able to remember the different sounds that the letters make. The last few months you've really picked up speed in this area. You are fantastic at math! Your ability to remember how to add and work numbers impresses me every time, especially since your memory of letters is more difficult. You must have a little logical mind; handling the hard sciences may be easier for you!

You can't wait to have more little brothers and sisters. 3 more brothers, and 2 more sisters, to be exact, although that number seems to fluctuate almost daily. It never seems to come down though! You love to watch the Duggars, Martha Speaks, Curious George, Dinosaur Train, and Bugtime Adventures, and several movies, when we'll let you! You are learning how to help Momma weed and do work outside. Most of the time you do a good job helping with the chickens, but more often than not your sister convinces you to go in and chase them in order to catch one for her to pet!

You adore your brother, and you get along with your sister most of the time! You wish Isaac would not mess up your room right after you've cleaned it (welcome to my world!), but willingly allow him to play with your toys. You are starting to pick up the words to songs at church and on the radio, trying to sing along. I love listening to you sing praises to the King!

You are proficient at making your own peanut butter & jelly, and toast, although you use way too much butter!! You love to help cook, but I need to do better in this area. You could probably do much more than I let you, so I need to stretch myself and allow you to do new things. You definitely have a flair for the dramatic... it makes for the best entertainment!

The most important thing is that you've accepted Christ as your Savior, though we don't exactly know when! We just know that you have a full understanding of the fact that He came to this earth, lived a perfect life, and died to pay the price for our sins. You've expressed interest in being baptized, but we haven't followed through yet. We are so grateful for your sensitive heart for the things of God.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! We love you more than words can say...

Melia's 6th Birthday Present

Before: So Excited!!!
After: What do you think, Mom?

Pretty Girls!!! (Chelsea got her ears pierced for the first time too!)

(The only one who cried was me, though I desperately tried to hide it. I was so proud of her being such a tough cookie!)

Home again... ahhh...

It's always good to take a long enough vacation that it really is a relief to get home again. I appreciate being able to wash clothes, make coffee that turns out good every time, being able to put Isaac to bed and shut the door on the screaming, let the girls run around outside without having to be with them every second, see the abundance of raspberries, strawberries and blueberries that we will be feasting on for the next few weeks... just to name a few.

Our trip was fantastic. Nearly everything went well, and the things that didn't we were able to work our way through without killing each other. The hardest part was that the kids got sick (fevers) and that made Isaac teeter on the verge... and then his new tooth pushed him right over the edge. We teetered there for a few hours as well, but with prayer and hand holding (ours, not his) we survived.

I'll share some pictures as I can, but now I work the next two days, and Gabe works like the next 10 or something crazy like that.

And yes, today is our 10th anniversary... Because of the trip, we aren't doing anything special, but we hope to fit in a little time alone together at some point in the next few crazy-busy weeks... I'm thankful I was so tired last night, because then I was actually thankful that we weren't celebrating today :-) Soon though. Soon.

Water... Watermelon!

UHHH... MMOOOOOMMMMM!

We figured maybe he was trying to get to the bird feeder...

But because of the hole the cats made in the screen, he was in between the screen and the window. It was pretty funny- he crawled around for us for a good 5 minutes :-) Oh, she. I mean she crawled around. ;-) Too bad Kerzon missed all the excitement!

Isaac's Second Haircut

Before...

After. I couldn't stand to do anymore than just his bangs. The curls are still there. For now...

Monkey Boy Chowing Bananas

Just for fun!!

And another Melia saing...

Kiera: Please stop talking.
Melia: I need to talk. It gives air in to my heart.

Just another conversation at our house...

Melia: Mommy, you know, boys make me mad sometimes. Just cause they're so... weird.
Me: Yep, sometimes they are weird. God made boys and girls different....
conversation drifts to mommy and daddy being married..
Kiera: Mommy- You MARRIED?
Me: Yes, Mommy and Daddy are married.
Kiera: What? Today?
Me: No, ten years ago!
Kiera: What? I not see it! Who watching us? Where we go?
Me: You weren't even around yet!
Kiera raises eyebrows..
Melia: We were in her tummy, but I was first...

I wonder...

Melia: "Mommy, I wonder if I have all the ingredients of being carsick..."

A couple more pics

Ripe raspberries.... already!

Melia's first attempt at making PB&J by herself. (this is a few months old)

Another shot of Kiera sleeping...

Welcome to the JUNGLE!!!

The Strawberry Jungle!!

It has begun...

Gettin' all worked up...

I don't want to put too much out here, as this is a public blog, but our vacation is coming up soon, and I am struggling between out-of-control nerves, and pure excitement! I am really nervous about Isaac's sleeping in a trailer, but I'm glad we are going to be gone long enough that he will have to learn how to do it... or we might be stark raving mad by the time we make it home. I am also nervous because I'm unsure of how much activity to plan for this age group (mainly the 4/6 age.) We'll be driving a lot, with a day here and there of no driving, and I'm not sure how they will handle it.

For those sweet friends of mine who've already undertaken road trips with their children, I would love some advice!
We do have the leapfrog and lap ColorWonder boards, and we're considering purchasing a Netbook to use for videos and pictures (we've been thinking about this for a while, so it's not a "whim" purchase ;-) We are planning on going to the Oregon Zoo, Voodoo Donuts, AC Gilbert's Discovery Village, Rogue Creamery, Scienceworks Hanson Museum, and the Oregon Coast Aquarium, give or take a few. Those are just one's I've picked out that the kids would be able to enjoy.

Following Karalee's advice: Our Needs/Wants List :-)

Karalee commented on my yard sale post and recommended that I post on here things we are looking for, so I am following that bit of advice. Here's a list of items we are looking for- if you know of somewhere we can find them used and cheap (!) please let us know! Thank you!

Needs:
Toddler carseat for Isaac (have one to use for now, but still looking for another cheap one)
Wagon, preferably plastic
(Taken!) Bicycle Helmets for Melia and Kiera
A neutral toned sectional sofa (would love if it had a hidabed!)

Update: Wow- that worked well :-) I think I'll post this link on the sidebar so if you ever have stuff to get rid of, you can check our needs list! Thanks!!

Ok- I can't help but rant a bit here..

For those of you who don't know, we don't vaccinate our kids. It's a long story, but we don't. We are considering introducing some vaccines as our children get older, but it's not a done deal.

I receive the NVIC's (National Vaccine Information Center) emails on vaccine news. I must say, my jaw hit the desk with this one. (I copied and pasted this directly from the email sent out from NVIC on June 1st)

"In the past few months, the American public has been informed that two infant diarrhea vaccines - GlaxoSmithKline's Rotarix and Merck's RotaTeq - are contaminated with pig virus DNA. But there's a difference between the two vaccines: Rotarix contains parts of a pig virus that does not make pigs sick while Merck's RotaTeq contains parts of a pig virus that kills baby pigs. How many mothers know that, when Merck's diarrhea vaccine is squirted into the mouths of their two month old babies, they are swallowing parts of a pig virus that suppresses the immune systems of baby pigs so badly, they waste away and suffer respiratory, kidney, reproductive and brain damage before dying?"

Insert my sarcastic voice- "And people wonder why we are being cautious?!!"

If you'd like to read more, here's a link to the NVIC's website article.

Confessions

Confession #1: Gabe makes fabulous crepes. I do not. :-) I'm trying to learn, but just can't bring myself to make the batter as runny as milk. I always think, "Oh, that's close enough," but it still ends up "fluffier" than his! And I'm making progress with cottage cheese- it's one of my "mind over matter" foods... (it so helps to have raspberry jam to eat with it!)

Confession #2: I still haven't finished copying Genesis. I know, I was almost done a LONG time ago, but it fell off my radar. I did chapter 47, and am halfway through 48. I'm sooo close! Only 2 1/2 to go! I have been working on Revelation though; I copy it during church because we are going through it during service, and having just finished our class not so long ago, I'm not learning a whole lot of new material. I listen with one ear and write with the other... wait, not really... ;-) I'm on Chapter 17 of that book. I still love the process- since starting I've had occasions where I remember that I read/copied that somewhere in regards to something someone was saying, and I'll go look it up. It sticks in my memory so much better when I've actually written it out. :-)

And, just for fun.... Kiera, helping with a big batch of breakfast burritos for the freezer.

Kiera... again :-)

I had finally been able to pull the sliver out from beneath Kiera's fingernail where it's been living the past week or so. She asked, "How can you possibly do that?" I said, "Mommy smart, that's how." She then said, "Mommy, you're kind of smart, but not really."

I tickled her until she said I was really smart :-)