February Update

Busy, busy, busy...it is high time I updated the blog! (Sorry it's been so long, grandmas!) All is well here. We had a great weekend...yesterday we went to Eugene for the Asian Celebration. It was very fun, we met some nice people from Taiwan. We've all been dodging illnesses here and there, with some success...but so far, we've been much healthier than we were last winter. Hope you are all doing great!

First and foremost, drumroll...look at the big kid!

First thing this morning, regular smile:

And at bathtime tonight! His tooth was really bugging him while he ate yesterday and today, so before he ate lunch today he told Ryan it was ready to come out! It came out easily and he is back to chowing down without interruption.
And here is Miss Trouble. She has a little Band-Aid obsession going on.

We visited my mom today for lunch. It was a beautiful day! These are the baby chickens that will be providing us with eggs before we know it. (She is keeping them at her neighbor's house--it's already all perfectly set up for poultry.)

Planter Box Project

Working back in time...a couple of weeks ago, I ordered some planter boxes for our alley. They are great! They're made by an Oregon company from Oregon-grown wood (I'm a sucker for things like that). We set them up in a full-sun area in our alley to grow veggies in. I planted peas and spinach today!

1) Seven boxes of boards:


2) Unpack boards:

3) Start stacking boards, insert pins:

4) Pound in pins:

5) Almost done!



A series of photos taken by Aidan:

ATV Spider-Man by Aidan:

Lucky bamboo by Aidan:

Ryan by Aidan:

Amy by Aidan:


And finally, Lauren and Daddy in Grants Pass last month:

4 adults + 4 kids + 1 minivan + 1 drive-through wildlife safari = good times

We headed south to visit the Shrivers last weekend. We met at the Wildlife Safari in Winston...check it out.

You only go 5 miles an hour so the kids don't need seatbelts.

A hippo snoozing in the mud.

The very rarely seen Oregon zebra. :-)

An emu gets up close and personal with Jess's minivan.

My little lambie.

My little girlfriend lambie.

Aidan and Hannah. We really could not get the little ones to stick their faces through these things.

Turkey lurkeys.

And a few short videos. Enjoy the noise!

New Year's Eve Dance Party in Our Basement

Check out Lauren and Aidan dancing with their buddies! You'll notice the video ends abruptly, for reasons that are soon to be obvious. Happy New Year!

Christmas Day

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We had a great one, Aidan just gets more and more excited about the whole event each year. They got a market, cash register and play food from Santa.

Christmas Tree Farm

It's become a tradition to go to a Christmas tree farm near my mom's house outside of Philomath. They give you a saw and a map and send you out to find your tree...then you haul it back and they put it through the shaker to remove the excess needles, which is by far Aidan's favorite part. We decorated it on Sunday, along with putting up the outside lights and cleaning the house in a big way. It's looking good around here! Hard to believe it's only a couple of weeks away.

And a couple of extra pictures...Cutie Lauren with Bethie:

Aidan and his friend made a "nest" to play birds in:

Thanksgiving Fun

On Tuesday morning, we took off for Ryan's family's house near Fresno, CA, for Thanksgiving--in a rented RV! It was a great way to travel and cheaper than flying, but still a very, very long drive. We had a great time seeing relatives, meeting new cousins, walking down to the river, picking oranges and just hanging out. Now we are home and getting in Christmas mode. December already--wow!

Aidan sees the RV for the first time Monday evening. VERY exciting!

Aidan is ready to hit the road early Tuesday morning:
Lauren's ready, too:
We stopped for lunch (to go) at Si Casa Flores, our favorite restaurant in Grants Pass, OR: And then they watched a movie...which they did for much of the trip, mainly repeated viewings of Mary Poppins. We also watched some of our home movies:

We arrived Wednesday afternoon. Thursday morning, Aidan showed cousins Zack and Jaycob where he slept in the RV (above the driver's seat):
Bubble game on Thanksgiving:


A gaggle of boys roasting marshmallows:

Fashionable girl (with her new kitty from Build-A-Bear):


On Friday, we celebrated our niece Elise's 13th birthday:

More cousins came to visit and we walked through the orchards to the river and back:

Aidan needed a little quiet time in the RV:

Aidan and Lauren loved Grandma and Papa's dog and called her "Favorite Dog":

Tristan, Teo and Tate picked oranges to take home:

We left Saturday morning and powered through the drive (we wanted to spend the night at our friends' in Grants Pass). Aidan needed a nap: Lauren, too:When they woke up, they watched another movie and I caught them holding hands:

Before we left Grants Pass this morning, all the kids wanted to pose in the RV with their stuffed animals: