Baby Fix

Yum, yum, yum!

Lincoln City

We spent last weekend in Lincoln City.  Here is just a little photo album of our trip.

This is Beach Trip Eve – a rare shot of me with my kids (Djeryd is not in the picture because he was not even the slightest bit interested in hearing stories about princesses).

This is a shot from the deck of our beach house.  At the base of our flight of 70 stairs is Highway 101.  This almost caused cardiac arrest for me with my three littlest ones.  I had NO idea our “parking space” was on the highway.  Freaky.  Not to mention the house was crooked and made me slightly seasick, and Erik fell down part of the stairs once.  Never again to that place.

I did not actually hit the beach.  Sean and the kids did a few times, but I was not fond of mixing a four-month-old with those clear blue skies and all that sand.  Poor me, I had to read and take naps and have time all to myself, while the kids dug for agates and built sandcastles.  ;>

I love this shot of Anna.  We were waiting for the seals to be fed.  I love the light on her hair.

Thankfully, there were “time-out” benches stashed all over the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

Isn’t that an adorable bunch of people?

Sean took this gorgeous shot.  Here all this time I thought I just knew how to take good pictures.  Instead it turns out my daughter is just incredibly photogenic.

I think this is my favorite shot of the weekend (I love Anna’s little hands).  We packed up Sunday morning, hit church in Lincoln City and drove straight home (the ward was packed – like triple their normal attendance – there were people all the way from Maryland – it was really cool).  This was at the most beautiful rest stop.  And, let me tell you, we got ALL kinds of looks at this lovely place.  It was a great trip.

In My Shoes

 

 

. . . sigh . . .

Apricot Picnic Skirt

My latest creation:

This is the same skirt pattern I used here.

I tried some different hemming techniques (mostly to avoid the traditional double-roll hem).

I added some button details (which Anna actually cried over while I was sewing them on – she likes them now, though).

 

(I love the spark of blue.)  

And here’s my bragging picture.  Check out this girly-girl – spelling her name all by herself! 

Love that girl.

A Notable Quotable

Anna: (in complete shock, surprise and pride while holding the ketchup bottle ) 

Mom! I opened it without my teeth!

Things I’m Loving

:: summer vacation

:: field trip to the Rose Garden

:: my sweet Mother’s Helper who comes once a week to help me keep my sanity

:: this amazing little boy (please note: he is traveling in the correct direction, just getting there backwards – so Erik)

 

:: sunshine in Oregon – at long last

:: watching my kids play together – every single day

 

:: my most very scrumptious baby – I want to eat you up, Miss Alyx

:: courage to speak muy, muy poquito Spanish to my neighbors

 

:: being at the most glorious place every single month this year, for the first time in years – it changes me, and I am so thankful

Civil War Saturday

After a pancake breakfast and flag raising, we spent the bulk of our Independence Day celebrations in Salem at a Civil War reenactment.  It was seriously cool. 

We saw two battles,

toured the camps,

 

and I drooled over a few dresses. 

I think the kids had fun, too.

It was a really neat experience.  We will definitely be doing it again next year.         

Oregon Fires

Our Fourth of July weekend went through many revisions in the two weeks leading up to the actual day it was all suppose dto begin.  One of the many plans was to go camping, which was downsized to camping in the backyard, which was downsized to building a fire pit and roasting marshmallows outside, which was downsized to roasting marshmallows over the grill, which was downsized to making S’mores Rice Krispy Treats.  Erik went along with most of the changes, but missing out on a fire pit in the backyard was more than he could handle.

 

So he conned Daddy into digging out a hole in the back yard.  Erik made a ring of stones.  (I would like to point out this is the kids’ area of the yard – weeds, toys, general mess – not mine.)

    

And then we waited . . . for Dad to get home from work, and for the cursed rain to stop coming down (hence the rapid decline from roasting marshmallows in our own real-life fire pit to mixing up some cereal s’mores over the stove).

But the rain let up (after a serious marshmallow fight indoors) and we took our party outside.

The thing that cracked me up about it all was the weather.  It seriously felt like we were camping.  Not just because we were sitting around a real fire, but because the ground was all wet.  There was a tree overhead so it was shady and damp.  And the weeds were all overgrown in the kids’ area so it felt kind of jungle-y, too.  It was like almost every camping trip I have been on in Oregon (especially the ones near the coast). 

We roasted marshmallows and Starburst and ate way to much sugar, but it was a fantastic start to our weekend.

I threw in a picture of the baby for good measure.  ;>