Fruit and Vegetables

We've had a ton of fresh fruit and vegetables this summer thanks to a very generous family with a huge garden! Because of this we've talked quite a bit about what makes a fruit a fruit and what makes a vegetable a vegetable.

Well tonight we had sauteed squash, turkey meat balls and mac n' cheese with corn mixed in. After analyzing his dinner Titus asked, "Is macaroni and cheese a vegetable since it doesn't have any seeds in it?"

Cute kid!

Italian Soda Stand

Leeann opened her own business this weekend-- An Italian Soda Stand!

She used her own money (mostly from her Birthday) to buy cups, lids, straws, club soda, whip cream, ice and half and half. Mommy and Daddy contributed some flavored syrups.

She set up her stand at our friend, Eroica's garage sale. Due to a little advertising geniusness on her Mommy's part (facebook and an email to just about everyone we know in Albany!), she had customers come by from far and wide!

She seriously had so much support from so many wonderful people. It makes me giddy to watch her work so hard and to watch others go out of their way to support her and to give generously to her 'cause'. She made more than 50 cups of Italian Soda over a two day span and also earned some wonderful tips for what I kept hearing were, "The best Italian Soda's ever!"

"What is her cause?" you may ask. Well, you can read all about it, and what she's doing to get there on Real Life Pastor's Wife (my other blog), but in short, she's working toward a Nintendo DSi. She's saving her money and working hard to accomplish her goal, and I couldn't be more proud of her!

My heart belongs in Disneyland

I don't think words can begin to express our family's love of Disneyland. We have so many great family memories there and it's a place that we can go and truly "get away". We talk and dream about Disneyland on a near daily basis. Since our 2007 trip we are always in the planning process for our next trip. It may sound silly, but it's just what we love to do!

We plan to go in 2012 (when the new Cars Land opens), but we're hoping to take a trip between now and then too. We've been talking perhaps, February. Or maybe next Fall?

I just found a one day deal on air fare between Portland and Long Beach for $69 each way if you travel between August 31st and October 27th. I want so badly to book these tickets. I've thought so much this month about just getting in the car and driving down there. Though, summer is NOT the time to go if you can help it. And depending on the price of plane tickets driving can actually be nearly as expensive. And well, driving to Disneyland on a moments notice isn't necessarily the most responsible thing to do.

But maybe flying is? :0) Then again, do I always have to be responsible? Sometimes I wish I could let myself be less-than-responsible and somewhat impulsive. Would it truly be impulsive if it's been "in the planning process" for some time? I wish money grew on trees. I wish I could go to Disneyland at least once a year. Maybe once each season? I wish I could work there. Or live there. Or maybe split my time between here and there. I can feel myself "Soarin' Over California" as I type this!

Maybe if I walk to my mail box today and find a random $1,000 check out of the middle of nowhere, I'll book the tickets. See, that's about as impulsive as I get. Darn my responsible nature...

Maybe if I get something in the mail from Disneyland? They send us things from time to time. Can I take that as a sign? Maybe if my husband calls me back and tells me we can go (Yes, I called him at work and told him about the deal. He laughed and said he'd call me back after his meeting). He's the one working on our current Disneyland budget.

Maybe my garage sale this weekend will net enough to go earlier than we'd planned? Then again, I really don't have that much to sell. Maybe I can sell my house by this evening? Or a kidney? Platelets? All of our kitchen appliances? My first born? Perhaps not my first born... but you get the picture.

Perhaps I ought to stop blogging and thinking about Disneyland and start thinking about swimming lessons? Because a responsible person would be getting their children ready for swimming lessons that we need to leave for in a half hour. Darn it all, I don't want to be responsible today... can you tell?

I just want to be a kid...

Cute conversation

I'm sitting here catching up on some blog reading while my kiddos color at the table with their friend, Kaylee who is hanging out with us for the day. Kaylee is 5 and cute as can be. She wears glasses too, just like Titus.

Titus has talked for quite some time about marrying "Kaylee with the glasses". Well, Leeann just told Kaylee, "Titus wants to marry you." Kaylee just kind of said, "Oh."

Then Titus chimed in. "Kaylee, do you love Jesus?"

"Yup," she said.

"Okay, then I'm going to marry you so we can both be cowboys together."

Ah, to reason like a four year old!

Swimming Lessons

The kiddos have been taking swim lessons at the Cool Pool this last week. Leeann has taken lessons for a couple of years and has become quite a good swimmer. As you can see in the first picture she swims side ways for the most part, it's really cute!

This is Titus's first time getting to take lessons though. He's finally gotten to the point where he'll actually let go of his instructor instead of hanging onto him for dear life. He even 'swam' on his own holding onto just a noodle today. You should have seen the look on his face, he was so proud of himself!

Portland's Cutest Baby

K103 - Portland's Soft Rock

Click on this link to vote for my adorable nephew in the Portland's Cutest Baby Contest. Because seriously, he's adorable! The prizes are awesome and it just takes a quick second to vote. You don't need to sign in or register, just click on this link and vote for Jace. You can do this once a day until August 20th.

My brother asked me to post this (which I was of course, happy to do) on my blog. He seems to think I have some fantastic readers (which I do... I think?) that might take a small minute out of their day (which you will... right?) to help Jace win a $1,000 contribution to his 529. Please help me out with this blog readers!

Kyndall

On our way back from The Pike Place Market, we decided to see if we could get a hold of Kyndall, Leeann's birth mom, to see if she could meet us for dinner. I wasn't able to get a hold of her on her cell and I was really bummed. I was especially bummed after I talked to her dad and found out that she was actually working the evening shift. So sad to drive right past her base and not get to see her!

When we were about 45 minutes from her base I got a text from her though, and she was able to squeeze out a long lunch (why is it called a lunch break no matter what shift you're working)? This whole time we kept it a secret from Leeann. She just thought we were going to the food court at the mall for dinner.

After a few minutes Kyndall walked down the long corridor in her fatigues. I almost cried. Leeann didn't recognize her at first, but then flew into her arms when she realized who it was.

We enjoyed some food court food and then snuck over for some Krispy Kreme doughnuts before she had to head back to work.

It was so good to see her! I can't believe how strong, and confident, and poised this young lady has become. The statistics surrounding teenage mothers are astounding. Kyndall has defied all odds however. She is proudly serving our country, and has grown up into quite an admirable young woman.

It's hard to believe she's the same shy, scared, quite teenage girl that came to our youth group seven and a half years ago. Who could have ever imagined our lives would be so entwined, and that we would be forever connected in an awesome way by the little life that was growing inside of her?

I had a very special connection with Kyndall from the very beginning. And for obvious reasons, an even more special connection with her now. I'm so glad that God brought us into each others lives. I'm more grateful than I could ever adequately express at the fact that Kyndall made the choice to let me share in the joy of motherhood to what might be the world's most amazing little girl.

And of course, I'm extremely proud of her for serving our country!

The Pike Place Market

On our way back to Oregon we decided to take a detour to The Pike Place Market. It was Abby's first time in Seattle and we wanted to give her at least a little taste of the city. What better place to do that than at this well known market?

We saw fish fly, tasted some yummy samples and sat on a famous copper pig. I'm not sure why the pig is famous actually. Hmmm...

We also wanted to get some yummy drinks at the first ever Starbucks. Our family has a little, um, obsession with Starbucks.

Too bad we already ordered our drinks before we found out that the Starbucks we patronized was actually a sister store to the very first Starbucks, but not the store itself. The first one was just down the street. Oops, guess we'll have to go again sometime?

Gingerbread Houses

We did gingerbread houses with Rob's family in July this year. It was a special treat to share this time with Rob's Aunt Barb and Uncle Ken, as well as his cousin Stacey and her family who flew in from Indiana.

Gingerbread houses were always a special thing Rob's mom and step-dad did with all of the grandkids who were 3 years old and up. The last Christmas Janice was alive she was in the hospital so the already assembled gingerbread houses didn't get decorated. She passed away in February, so we decorated them near her Birthday in her memory. This year we were going to do the same but decided to wait a little while longer so the Indianans, Indians, Indianites, Indys... I'm an Oregonian, but I'm not sure what they are... could join us.

It was so great to have so much family together and to continue a well-loved tradition in memory of a well-loved woman. Shelly was of course, a gracious hostess to a million and one family members, and her family wore are kiddos out with all of their love and attention.

It's always great to be up in Washington, and this time was certainly no different. My kids just got a larger sugar-high than normal!

Kindergarten Celebration

Why yes, yes I'm INCREDIBLY behind on blogging. So far behind I almost don't want to blog anymore because there is so much left unblogged. My summer has been insane. Dare I say it's winding down just a little? At least enough for me to finally try to catch up a tad bit?

These are some pictures from Leeann's kindergarten celebration. She was so excited to perform in front of all of the parents. She sung nice and loud and knew all of the motions. It was very clear that she was taking her job very seriously. Her music teacher made sure she was right in the middle. I'm pretty sure that was because she had so much gusto!

You'll notice that all of the parents were acting as if their child was the star in a Hollywood production. This went on for a good 5 minutes before the program started!

Leeann's Grampy and his then-fiance, Sally came to cheer her on.

And finally, this is a picture of her with her teacher, Mrs. M.

Shortly after school ended we received her end of the year report card. She met or exceeded all kindergarten standards and reportedly did exceptionally well in math. And, it comes to no surprise that she got along very well with her peers and was a delightful helper to everyone around her.

I can't believe Kindergarten has come and gone and first grade is just around the corner!