Good Deal on Aveen Baby at Costco

If any of you love Aveeno Baby products, right now at our East Wenatchee Costco the bath set (2 large bottle of wash, 1 tube lotion) is on clearance for $7.97. :-)

Oregon Trip: Day Two

Day two consisted of heading to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). It came highly recommended from Dr. Chad, our friend and chiropractor. The kids had tons of fun, as shown in the pictures below! I did wish that they were a little older so they could get more out of it, but they didn't know any better :-) OMSI had an amazing display of week by week fetal development, but photography wasn't allowed. All the specimens were real babies, which made it a little... uncomfortable... but it was beyond words to be able to see how intricately we are formed from the very beginning. (Note: There was a sign stating something to the effect that the babies were not all aborted. Some of them may have been, due to the wording "could not survive," but some had the entire uterus displayed, which would indicate further trauma to the mother as well.) I don't think Gabe or the kids were nearly as taken with it as I was, but it was just amazing to me to see the growth within that we don't get to witness firsthand.

We met up with Jeremy S. (old friend) at OMSI, then he and Gabe left to go shooting. (No surprise, right? ;-) The kiddos and I stayed at OMSI until lunchtime, then headed back to the campground to get lunch. Isaac fell asleep during the drive and lunch, and woke up just in time for the zoo. (Yep, I drove all around Portland, all by myself, with the GPS, while it was still working!) We had a GREAT time at the zoo- The weather was questionable, so there weren't any real crowds, plus alot of the animals were very visible, so even Isaac was able to see them and enjoy! We actually spent three hours there, until Gabe called to say it was dinner time. We attempted to meet up at Chili's but apparently the website lied about the address- because there wasn't any Chili's there! So we hit Applebees instead, and had a good time with Jeremy and his girlfriend Brittney.

How big are we???

The only animal picture I got- it was a wild raccoon that we caught sneaking through the zoo! I'm not so good at remembering to take pictures... Gabe always does a better job!

OMSI was super crowded, and I found it interesting the difference between how people react. Sometimes, parents or grandparents were right there, playing with their kids and helping them to be courteous to other children. Other times they were busy talking, like when the girls were being bullied by a little boy who "wouldn't let girls play," and his mom had no idea, even though we were there for 20 minutes. And like above, the girls are actually sitting upside down in the shuttle. The correct way was to lay down with your legs up, facing upwards. But when I let them do that, I got a VERY dirty look from some grandma who was telling her grandson all about my wild girls! Like I couldn't hear her just 5 feet away! What an example! It was a learning experience. I wasn't sad to get out of there by the time we were done being around that family!

Melia working on Morse Code.

Hair standing up :-)

Isaac learned the joy of digital cameras, as he was getting pretty bored in the stroller while the girls played.

Stand off with a not-so-nice little boy who hogged the machine.

Isaac cracks me up by the way he plays. He likes to throw things over his shoulder to get them out of the way. On the beach, he'd scoop rocks underneath himself- he looked like a cat in the litter box :-)

He was very into wrecking this creation- which was ok because it's creator had left a while ago!

Melia's Traditional Blueberry Birthday

We have a slight tradition :-) 2 years ago, we went blueberry picking for Melia's birthday with Lindsey, Chase, Abby, and Grace. Last year, I was really last minute and we caught Annie and Rennea out and about, so we went with them. This year, I was still behind, but we went picking on the day after with Lindsey again. She didn't disappoint in remembering her camera (like I always do!) and put together some CUTE storyboards! Thanks for letting me share!!!

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!