Last Weekend........

We went camping.
Yes again.

It was our last planned trip of the summer.

Hopefully there will be a couple of last minute getaways,

but no guarantees.

Lauren used a bike with training wheels for the first time.

She was awesome at it.
The shirt my Grandma made for Claire.
Claire Great Grandma made it.

I got the idea for making hoola hoops from my long distance friend

Stephanie.

Daddy brought some pipe from work,

And I found decorative duct tape at Ace.

Silas learned to ride without training wheels.

He rode 'till his legs hurt

then rode some more.

And nearly gave his Daddy a heart attack.

I'm not sure if it was because of the fear for his son's life

or all the running.Oh how I will miss camping land.

Where babies stay in their jammies all day,

There's time for reading a cookbook or two.

Ice cream for breakfast.

bathing in the river.

Catching and eating.

Doing nothing....

The boy's first keeper

Silas caught his first "keeper" fish last week.

He was such a big boy-

reeled it in all by himself!

His line was only in for close to 30 seconds.

Jake cast out for him,

took about three steps away,
And boy says:

"It's moving!!"

We fried it up and and ate it on the spot.

Silas pulled the eye out with his bare fingers.

What a gross kid.
Mama's so proud of you son!

Bravery!

It has been a week full of brave decisions and accomplishments.

Exhibit A,

The new do:

A surprise for Daddy.
Something he has been asking-no begging me to do for almost ten years.

I Never thought I would give in to the request.

If you don't know me well, you know I absolutely cannot:

1. Be somewhere on time (since the addition of Corn dog Baby #3),
2. Wait to give a great present to someone until the appropriate time
   or
3. Keep a good secret.

But this was an exception.

I kept the haircut appt. a secret for four days

FOUR DAYS!

Torture it was!

The master plan was to get my hair cut

And just let Jake find out when he came home from work.

All was well.

Just a couple hours till the big change.

I decide to tell the kids.

I show them the picture of the gorgeous model that I am going to try to mimic,

and look into the rear view mirror

to see Lauren looking like a panic attack was on the horizon.

"Mom I think you will look like a man!"

"Don't do it!"

"I want you to keep you're hair long like me!"

It took a while to get her to stop being clingy,

but she calmed down a bit.

Then she leaked my huge secret.

To Dad.

AHHHH!

Seriously?

Now I have to go through with it!

Anyway, Some friends love it,

Some friends are polite and don't say anything about it,

One friends told me I look excessively 80's and would not stop singing

"We are young, Heart ache to heart ache we stand"

That was a downer.

Especially since I am not sure if I even like the look yet.

She sang f-o-r-e-v-e-r

"Sear-ching our hearts for so Lowowowowong"

Okay stop!

Really! I had to tell her to stop!

Really, it was all in fun,

But I am scarred.

exhibit B:

Brave boy randomly decides to trust his life vest this week,

And jumps off the diving board all by himself!

He even started yelling

"CANON BAALLLLLLL!!!!"

I swear he looked eight or ten years old

Not five.

The boy needed me not one bit.

It was amazing.

He also figured out the life vested doggy paddle

And made his was to the wall after every jump.

He was a champ.
Jump, Paddle, climb out, repeat

Then there's Baby Dolly.
She was a different case.

She only jumped when I coaxed her into it
By saying that people were watching and they all wanted to see her jump.
The girl loves to perform.

The other stipulations were
that I had to catch her,
Which meant to float directly below her landing path
And be pummeled on the top of the head
my her bulging toddler belly,

I had to count to three
At least four times,
Then finally,

by the time the line had reached half a dozen kids long,
I would have to say:
"Lauren Joelle, you jump now!"
And she did.

Not the typical approach I would use,
But I knew she needed to get over the frightened hump
Of thinking that neither her life vest or her Mama would save her life.
She was happily surprised to find that
When she jumped right on the top of Mama's head,
Only Mama ended up going under and sucking water.

Don't particularly like the haircut from this angle.

C :
Lauren asked me to do this.
This is brave for Lauren

She is usually like a kitten when it comes to water.
She has been known to get upset for running through a sprinkler and actually getting wet.

She asked so politely
which made it double cute.
It was something like:
" May somebody please pour this on my head?"

The other huge milestone for both the kids:

Silas learned to ride a bike without training wheels!

Lauren went from a tricycle to a bike with training wheels!

Both of them quickly learned and became champs at their new skill
While we were camping last weekend.
I am hoping to catch up and post camping pictures soon.


Lastly,
The challenge:

On Wednesday,
I went to the Wednesday market for produce,
Then, later that night,

two different families shared their summer bounty with us.
I was in hog heaven.

This picture only shows the stuff that does not need to be refrigerated!
I feel a great challenge to eat or preserve it all.
So far I have made yellow plum jam,
dehydrated the tomato and then packed them into olive oil, garlic, and herbs.
We used almost all of the fresh spinach and all of the peaches in our green smoothies.
Despite all of the produce,
I think I need to get more tomatoes somehow.
I am addicted to the sun dried in oil tomatoes.
It looks so pretty in the jars,

and smells more appetizing than it looks

I will share the recipe soon!
Have a great weekend!

A Rewind

I waited way too long to post this.

My parents visit for Silo's birthday.

Here are some of the things we did when we were not celebrating the Man cub.

In preparation for their visit:

We made bagels,

And blueberry jam.
The visit was mostly made up of many many MANY many
trips to the beach.

Claire rode on my hip or my back the whole time.

This was to document her existence ;)

Grandma and Grandpa love.

Firewood duty.

Grandma made flip-flop (like the scandal) cookies with Lauren.

That's one way to feed the insatiable shoe obsession of hers.

Driving to the county fair.......

Grandma got an apron like Laurens.........

The trip was WAY too short. Five days felt like two,

And we cannot wait 'till our Thanksgiving reunion!

Garden Show

Look what came knocking at my door this morning!

No kidding!

The funny man actually knocked!

He got up early this morning and went fishing before Breakfast at Grandpa's

It smelled like a fish fry when I got home from the

Garden Show!!!!
I went to the annual garden show today.

It was my (and Lauren's) first time,
And will surely be a tradition from now on!

I got a ton of ideas that I plan on using just as soon as the road construction is done.

This picture is actually dated.

Since this time, the fence and the bush are gone.
But really, its okay!

I have been wanting to redo our front yard for a long time.

I just got free excavating and a boost in the process o actually getting started with the project.

Soon, we will actually have a side walk that wraps around the entire neighborhood

(a first), the option for a mail box (another first),

And a whole new look!

Here are some ideas I want to try:

I want this ornamental strawberry garden

(and the strawberries!)

It really is a lot prettier in person.
Again, absolutely stunning in person.
I NEED some of this dainty grassy plant!


She found the best treats.

Beautiful Myrtle tree.

Can't have this one, but I really love it.

Check out how they carved out the fence to fit the tree.


Definitely up for this idea!

Check out the size of this leaf!

If I don't get anything else that's fine, but I must have this plant!

The picture doesn't even begin to do it justice.

It looks like a palm,

but it is actually in the grass family.

Now I am feeling anxious to get back out in my garden.

Cannot wait for the road construction to be done.

What a great girls day out!

We also stopped by the Farmers market for some pickling cukes,

and Lauren's cute face won her a prize again!

Lastly, I have to say that Lauren was an absolute gem to be with all day.

She fit in so well as one of the girls and it was wonderful!
I love the rare times when it feels like her friend and not so mothering to her.
Lauren, you make my heart sing.

I look forward to Many more days like today!

Birthday post numba 2

It has taken me so incredibly long to put these posts together.

I am not naive enough to think that everyone will be interested and eagerly awaits the next post about the times we celebrated my boy turning five.

I just have this pressing need to document this thoroughly and precisely

You see this boy of mine is a gift. He is not in my possession for long and

I want so desperately to remember and cherish these times.

Soon he will no longer be just a gift of Mine and his Dad's',

He will be a gift to the world

and we will have to share his time.

So without further ado,

Last weekend's camping trip

And the celebration on Silas' actual birthday:

We started out Silas' birthday morning off right.

Ice cream for breakfast,

Because its the true way to win his love.

A cuddle and a little frozen sugared cream.

I actually suggested the idea to the boy

and he laughed like I was joking.

Ice cream fro breakfast?
Is that even possible?

Pretty Felicia
The Man himself.
Aside from the endless crazy-loud partiers down the river,
This was the best camping site ever.
We were literally on the river bed.
Our 'kitchen was less than 50 feet from the water.
We boiled river water to wash dishes.
We walked in nice soft sand.
It was goodness to the extreme.
The second night, someone had it with the partiers,
and made a call to the neighborhood sheriff.
They got busted, we got sleep.
Smooth sailing for night #2




Introducing our newest home.
Its the first one so far that we have owned 'outright'
About 20 square feet,
Spacious enough to sleep us-
any any a few more Peeps down the road!
Is anyone laughing with me on this one?
Ragamuffins escaping the tent

We got creative with out time spent
Tomahawk throwing was requested by Silas' friend Alex.
It's on.
My first throw was a bulls eye.
I later learned that there is a science to it.
It takes 7 steps,
That's it.
Jake measured it out, told me where to stand,
And successfully set me up for glory.
And I felt like Lady Davey Crockett.

So in case you're wondering the science behind it,
here you go:
Apparently some mountain men measured out how many revolutions it takes
for a tomahawk to successfully stick.
It takes 7 leisurely adult steps,
a good eye, and a steady hand.

Try it out.
Its a kick!
My first blood.
(From Harry and the Hendersons)


Our good friend Esque went into town and bought a huge
crab/craw fish/salmon fest.
It was a feast for sure.
A delicacy for camping indeed!
Jake did not go wading with the inner tube
That would have been a great time though.
I'd do it.

FYI: the inner tube is a heavy duty, super thick
used tire from Les schwab.
ingenious idea from my Father-in-Law

Please don't remember me this chubalub.

If it weren't for my Joey pouch, this pic would have been perfect .
I plan on ditching the baggage post haste.
I still enjoy the pic because of the memory it invokes when I look at it

I will remember surfing a kayak

with my little danger seeking
Man-child



For his birthday, he also wanted to go shooting at the range,

So we loaded up and hit the dusty trail.

Mama: Whats that light on the dash for?

Daddy: "Oh shoot that means our rear tire is low"

Mama's Brain "Oh Yeah, Silas said something about a flat tire! He wasn't joking?!"

Note to self: Listen to the little spastic ninja when he says

(in between erratic kicks and karate chops)

"Hey lady, I think your car has a problem with the tire.....

Hi-ya Boom Pow"

Instead, I say:

"You can call me Mom, Pal!"

And we end up with this:

The first time we have ever been too far from good Uncle

Les Schwab to come fix us up.
Jake's first tire change since high school.

My brother was driving in the snow and got a flat.

Jake saved him from having to call home and admit that

he may or may not have been going too fast in a parking lot and hit the curb.

Anyway.......

Thanks for staying with me on that one.

Felicia caught grasshoppers... and we waited.

Sat in the middle of the road,

In the middle of nowhere,

And waited.

Waited, waited,

Used bushes as the out house

while Felicia sang her heart out to scare the Bears away......

Waited some more................

Then Finally we were moving again!

The gun range was scorching hot,

but the kids forgot to even notice!

The safety line I used out of used up shells.

Even a Doll baby can learn to shoot.

Back to camp.

Out of the heat.

grandpa came to visit.

And took a nap in the sand.

So thankful for that rope!

Jake was pretty impressive.

I was impressed
Every night, he disappeared into the woods

And came out with enough

dead trees to build an ark.

We never brought fire wood.

We never Bought firewood.

He provided.

Sometimes with help,

Sometimes not.

This is how close we camped from the river.

Really.

Believe it.

Guess what else?
We just happened to choose the nation-wide free camping weekend.

I guess its an annual thing for federal campgrounds, and we just happened to choose the right weekend.

Don't tell Silas though, He thinks it was his birthday present from the woods.

After three days and two nights,

We were wiped out,

Coming down with colds,

Smelled like camp smoke,

definitely were not lacking on food

( I am a chronic over-packer, Its a syndrome)
And sad to come home.

But the depressing reality was that Daddy had to go to work the next day,

and we had to pack up.

But the party wasn't over yet.
Showers, naps, rest,

then Dinner at

Panchos!!!!!!!!!

Hibbetty-Hip,

Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!

On his birthday, he gets to wear his Sunday tie.

This video is out of order, But it is Felicia singing

to scare off the bears

While Lauren finds the nearest bush.

Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page and pause my music selection

so you can hear this in all it's glory!

Once again, to all those who stayed with me 'til the end,

Thanks.

I hope you have time to take a nap now.

I don't suspect all of my 11 readers stayed tuned for the whole show.

I know you Grandma's did,

And now its here.

For all of you.

Join me in remembering this summer of 2010 and all the Peep-tacular adventures!

Love,

Holly