Our First Christmas Tree

This year will be our 7th Christmas together but our first time getting a real Christmas tree. We used to have an artificial, but this year we decided to go for a real one. I have so many fond memories of going with my family to pick out our Christmas tree. I can never forget the Christmas my mom and I went alone and picked out the worst tree ever. It was so bulky we could barely get it into the house let alone get it to stand upright, I loved that tree. I want my kids to have those same memories as I had. So we bundled up and headed out.

Jefferson was so excited to get the perfect tree for our family. He ran loose and was shouting through the trees, "I found it." This is the tree he wanted us to get.This is the tree Grant wanted. Grant wasn't to hot on the idea of searching for a tree. He was happy to cut down the first one we saw, then leave.
We had so much fun. Here we are standing in front of the tree we got. The top looks bent, but it really is the most perfect tree. I love it. I love that we made a memory with our family. Even though we couldn't find Jefferson in the maze of trees and even though Grant whined the entire time, it was something we'll never forget. And as the years go on, we'll make more memories. At least until the kids get older and think it's BORING to go to the Christmas tree farm. Then, we'll get an artificial tree again.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was pretty quiet for us. My Dad came up from California to celebrate. The day started when I woke up to find Jefferson had decorated his face with my eye liner and had chocolate all over his mouth from something he scavanged. I couldn't possibly get upset with my son on the very day I am supposed to be thankful for him, so I laughed instead. Plus, he looked a lot like an indian which was festive, so I didn't make him wash it off. Our family made some leaf garland. It was really great to be able to talk about everything we are thankful for. The boys were REALLY excited to have my dad around because everything they named as being thankful for had to do with him.... "Papa", "Papa on the boat," "Papa playing with me," "Papa visiting us," "Papa right here." I encouraged them to think of other things they are thankful for. Jefferson said he is thankful for "Animals like reindeers, bears, and lions - but mostly reindeer." Grant said he is thankful for "Jesus and Heavenly Father."

My little Jefferson is growing up so fast. It's not his birthday. Better.... he was the "spotlight" at school. As we were filling out the paper I realized just how much he has grown. I still think of him as my baby. What is frightening to me is how smart he is and how I don't think I am ready or even mature enough to be the mother of anyone older than 3. He really is teaching me more than I teach him. I guess that's what happens when you have children when you're young. They raise you. Here are some portions of the spotlight that I thought were cute.
He really can draw better than this, he was just in a silly mood. When I asked him what is was a picture of he said it was a "dinosaur head in outer space with a fireball" - who would have guessed that?I was surprised when he answered that he would NOT like to have children someday. He adores babies, especially his sister.

We're still here

So, it's been almost a month since I last posted on here. I get online all the time to put pictures up, then I spend so much time looking at everyone else's blogs that I never do anything with my own. Well, here I am.

I haven't even put up our Halloween pictures. Here's a couple. It was fun because my mom was visiting. She was our official 'candy hander-outer'. I don't know whether or not we'll go through the neighborhood again next year, it was pretty traumatic this year. There were some very frightening costumes and the boys got really spooked. There was one person who's mask altered his voice when he talked into it, we saw him a couple times and he growled at the boys, which I thought was rude! Then, Grant was trailing behind us when I heard him screaming. I looked back to see this rude guy again, but this time CHASING Grant. Come on! I picked up Grant and then yelled at him and told him how mean that was (it was probably my neighbor, oh well). Grant was freaked out. Halloween is supposed to be fun, but if my kids are going to get scared to death, I would rather do something else.

Here's my mom with the kiddos.
We took a trip to OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) - such a cool place! Grant, in some sort of space shuttle thing, I had to bribe him to get him out. My little chickies.We decided to take the light rail into Portland this time. The child/adult ratio was 3/3, so it went well. But I swear I will NEVER go into Portland on the train by myself with the kids. I may have to though, because we told Grant that if he goes potty on the toilet, he can ride the train. On this day, he actually did go on the toilet, which was AMAZING and very exciting, but it hasn't happened again, boo!

And to top it off, here's my cute girl with a cheerio on her nose

Little People small world!

Guess who lives 8 miles from us in Hillsboro? The Roloffs from "Little People Big World". I was completely obsessed with that show when we had cable. Then, come to find out, we live in their same city, it really is a small world. So, we took a visit to the Roloff Farm today to get ourselves a pumpkin. We saw Amy on the farm and got a picture with her. She was SO nice! I had my very first awkward situation with Jefferson when meeting her. She shook his hand and asked his name and how old he was. He told her he was 4, then said "wow, you are really small" and "you have a big head" I was totally stunned and didn't know how to react. She was really kind to him though and helped him understand, they talked for a while about it. He was just innocently saying what he thought, but it was still really embarrassing. On the way home we stopped at the library and checked out many books about differences in people, and races and things like that. I think he's ready to learn about that, obviously. They had animals on the farm to pet and hold. Jefferson really loved holding the snake (Shawn stood at least 20 ft back - scaredy cat), and bunny. They sell tickets for tours of their farm.... maybe next year for us. Shawn picked out the perfect carving pumpkin for us! Isn't he strong?
A side shot of their house, if anyone cares. To top off the excitement, our sister in law, Tarrah (and baby Taven) were visiting Portland this weekend and they went to the Roloff's Farm today too. I think Reagan is scaring Taven.

Multnomah Falls

Yesterday we took a drive to Multnomah Falls, it was spectacular! It's the second tallest waterfall in the nation, 620 ft. The boys thought it was pretty cool. We got so close we were getting wet. We hiked up to the bridge. The hike actually can take you to the very top of the waterfall, but there's absolutely no guard rails, we decided to play it safe. The view from the bridge (my whole body was shaking, seriously!)

We took a walk along a trail and it took us underneath a bridge for a railroad train. I said to Shawn "wouldn't it be cool if the train came right now?" and sure enough, we heard the horn's whistle. Grant and I stayed under the bridge for a while and watched it pass. Grant's mouth was so wide! I don't think he's ever seen a train that close. Wait..... I've never even seen a train that close, at least a moving one!

Halloween Pava Party

We belong to PAVA, a group through Shawn's school for all the spouses and families of students (I don't know what it really stands for, your guess is as good as mine). So, tonight Pava had a Halloween party. This year I decided to make the kid's costumes, so the pressure was on when I found out the party was 10 days earlier than when I had planned on finishing the costumes. So, I am pleased to say that I was able to finish all 5 costumes, have my visiting teachers over, do 5 loads of laundry (and fold them!), make soup for the party, and make a dessert for the party all in one day. The boys actually helped me make the dessert, Frankenstein cupcake cones. We won a prize for these little Frankensteins for the best dessert. Wow! Now I get a free day at some fitness place. I can take as many classes as I want in one day. They have tons of classes like yoga, and even belly dancing. Cool!

The costumes........

Jefferson is an astronaut and Grant is a cowboy. Reagan is a panda bear. The party was really fun. We had soup, ate goodies, played games and visited while the kids ran around. Shawn and Jefferson playing musical chairs.
Here's Reagan with some baby friends her same age. Our family! Reagan wasn't looking, and the boys ran off right after they said "cheese".... we take what we can get!