Pink Stay Puff Marshmellow Baby

Yes, a long title for the cutest little girl ever. We have had all the snow, but we haven't gone out to play. Today we did... I got her all bundled up, then put on her pink snow pants, her pink snow boots and her pink and black snow jacket with pink gloves, a white hat and a black scarf. Yes, there was a lot of pink...

Enjoy!!

What's that on my hand??
I told her to eat some.... she said 'no'

Stay tuned for the stay puff!!

This last one is here to show just how beautiful it is looking at our back yard. I love the snow on the tree branches.

The Snow Fun

Well, we have had snow here, you read about it a few days ago and now it is time for some cool pictures!!!

This was taken 20 minutes after the storm had begun... the winds were so fast it was like mini tornados... I tried to capture one from inside, but that proved difficult. As you can see, I got myself in the above photo... I wasn't going outside! :)

The gust of wind is there right above the cars. This was about an hour into the storm. The poor roses.

The next morning... check out the table top to the middle left of the picture... watch that table over the next few days of pictures...

This was the day that I wentout and got stuck on our road... which is now plowed thanks to our neighbor. I wish I could say the same for our main public road... That story will come later

Our Christmas Tree... yes, it still sitting in the back of our pickup... It is a live tree. We wanted to plant the tree after Christmas, instead of giving it to the goats for a nice snack. But it can only stay in the house for 7 days max (rules), so it is staying outside till Sunday.

The bird bath in the fron rose garden...

That was all Sunday night and Monday morning.......

I now bring in today: Wednesday

The back deck...

There are more, but they include a cute little girl in a lot of pink...

I hear too that there is a new storm coming in on the weekend... More pics fromteh window possibly. :)

Adventures in the Snow

Hi all!

It has snowed in Ravensdale!! And unlike the rest of the area that got a dusting, or maybe an inch or two, we got 6-8 inches. Bring in the heavy wind storm and we got 3 plus feet of snow drifts.

So yesterday I went out, to do some last minute shopping... and it took about an hour to get from our front door to the top of our road. The story goes like this:

Out the door, all bundled up with a scarf and gloves and a layered rain jacket (yes one of my purchases was going to be a new snow jacket, since the one I have is from 11th grade and the sleeves are a bit short now... so it was time to splurge) and of course boots that my pants fit down inside of. The car was covered with not only snow, but a nice layer of ice under the snow, about a half inch. So with my trusty scraper I began scraping off the snow and ice. About 20 minutes later, I was ready to go. I will say that having the car running with the defrost on helped a ton... It could have been longer.

Did I mention the wind yet?? Oh GOODNESS!! THE WIND!!! We had gusts up and past 60 mph. Twirling, Swirling winds that blew the scraped snow right into my face. (When I eventually came home and glanced in a mirror, I saw that my cheeks and nose had gotten 'burned' by the icy wind. CRAZY)

Ya-hoo.. I was in the car, got it in reverse, backed-up, put it in drive and off I went... down my drive way... no problem, not even a little slide... this is no big deal. Out of the driveway, I turn onto our private road... no biggie. There is a neighbor plowing his driveway, (that must be nice to have a plow), I wave to him as I pass. I see a littel snow drift, about a foot or so... ok, ready... GO. I slowly go through the drift. Yes, I made it! There was another one, it was longer but it didn't seem any higher. I got closer, it got bigger, then visibility went from great to non-existant as a huge gust of wind and snow completly wiped out all sight of the drift. I kept going... and going... and then sideways... and then spinning tires. I was stuck. The drift was bigger then I had expected... a lot bigger. It was about 3 feet on the short end... closer to 4 near the fence line.

I knew what to do... my neighbor can dig me out with the plow. As I opened the car door, the bottom of the door scraped along the top of the drift. ooh, I was really stuck. So in the wind and blowing snow, I walked back down the road... I found my nieghbor and out he came to dig me out. About 25 minutes later (yes, that long... it was hard to work when you are getting blown over and sideways and trying to walk through the drifts) I was finally free. My neighbor also plowed that part of the road so that I could get out the rest of the way with out getting stuck again.

Yeah! I was driving down our road again... and there was another drift. This one was smaller at least. Looking back in the rear view mirror, I saw my neighbor sitting in the plow, waiting to see if I made it through that drift... how nice he was!!! (Santa will be good to him this year!)... I made it through that one. Yes! There was the main road in site. And there was also some ice ... and there was another neighbor's fence. Three feet from the fence I stopped... I got out to chat with these neighbors for a bit (they saw me sliding their way and came out for a bit).

So, an hour after leaving my front door, I finally got on the main road and off to do that last minute shopping. The roads in the city were fine... a bit of snow on the road but nothing big if you were going slow (unlike the truck I saw on it side with its windshield hanging off and all cracked up and its cab completely crumpled). And yes, I got my new jacket... it is WARM!

The adventures in Snow Land have just begun. The winds were up to about 75/80 mph last night, luckily none of our trees fell down, and the power was only off for about an hour. This gives us an excuse to read and play card games by candle light and cuddle by the fire. The whole time hearing Isabelle call out to watch "Diego." They are calling for another snow storm to hit on Wednesday...

I am working on pics, but for now, stories will have to do.

Newest Member

There is a new member in our family. Sophia is a big sister to a beautiful baby girl. All the family is doing well, especially mom and baby. Baby Girl Henry was born Friday night at 9:46 pm at 7.8 lbs and 20.5 in long. I call her Baby Girl, since she hasn't received her name yet but she is beautiful all the same. They were released from the hospital this afternoon and we got to visit them at Nana and Papa's for a bit before they headed home. (Now some of you have done the math... but for those that have not figured it out... when they left the hospital Baby Girl was not near 24 hours old... Wow!! I was in the hospital for 3 days (and loved the pampering)).

Enjoy the photos.

3 cousins!



Baby's Nose

Happy New Big Sister!

No Water

A few of you have commented that our front yard didn't look 'THAAAAT' flooded... I would like to share with those that have never visited our home the big hole that is our front yard... it is now just over 45 ft long, 12 ft at its widest point and 5-6 ft deep. And the way the water rushes in, (it sounds like a waterfall sometimes) it is getting bigger through erosion.

Here is our front when it is dry:

Bragging Rights

First: Isabelle...
Genius!! She picked up one of her books, "Smooch and Smack" and sat in the nook in the side of the TV unit. A real strange look came over her face, she turned the book around (so the words were up right) and smiled... then kissed the picture which was of a dog kissing a frog. She can already read .... the pictures. ;)

Second: Eric
He is also a genius! He climbed in the attic, found where the leak was, and over the weekend (yeah, not raining!) climbed up on the roof, took off the broken times, fixed the hole and replaced the roof with new tiles!! No more leak!

New Season!

This morning, the 2008-09 Gymnastics season started for High School. Yes, still 5:30 am practices, which are wonderful!!!

Also this year, there are just under 40 girls trying out for the team, which ROCKS!!!

Wish us luck this year!

And now...

... there is a ceiling leak in the kitchen, coming out from one of the lights.


What's next???

Neighbors are Blessings!

Let's start at the beginning. The first November we lived here, the driveway (in 2 places) and the front yard, and a bit of the back yard flooded in two really bad rain storms. Luckily for the front yard (and us) there is a massive hole. Those that have visited us know the hole is big, VERY big! In the rainy season it fills up and continues on toward the house. Well, the past two years it hasn't been to bad... just about 5 feet closer to the house then edge of the hole.

Some may ask why a hole in the front? Well, it was the people who lived here before us, I guess, were thinking of making a pond and putting a bridge over it, for cars to drive over possibly?? Anyways, it is just a big hole in the front, to us, that has become a burn pit and is now, quite literally full of water, which is rising. There is actually a current in the front yard, which is nothing new in rainy season.

What is new, happening right now, is that the water was coming over the paved part of our driveway, towards the garage. Our neighbors across the way saw this, and offered to help, and we said YES PLEASE!!! They have big tractors and other pieces of large equipment and after about an hour of getting soaked and taking pictures, there is now a new current that runs off our property and into the wetlands. Of course, this new river that has been created does not really help the area with the hole, but extra water does not go into the hole to create more problems.

So now there are two currents running through our front... one into the big hole, and one across our driveway out into the wetlands... And it is still raining. The good news is that our garage and house are currently in the safety zone... hopefully this stays the case.

Enjoy the pics.

See the floating wood?? That is where our burn pit is and that is the left over wood from our Bonn fires over the summer...

Here is an after shot of our driveway... I didn't think to get one prior, but the green bucket by the bushy tree was sitting in water.

Standing on the curved of our driveway. In the front yard, on the far side of the hole the water went up to the most upward line of the boots.

This was on the paved part of our driveway about 10 feet from our cars.

Puddle Jumping anyone??

Prepping for the new river to run through

Ooops... Red tractor with bucket got stuck in a sippy hole in the back while trying to create the new mini river that leads water off our property, so we had to call up reinforcements... the yellow tractor with the 'triangle' There is a name for it, but I forgot. :(

Wetland... where hopefully the water will flow.

It is sill raining and they (news) is saying it is going to get worse. We'll see how our new little river works.

New Niece on the Way

A few days ago, I did a photo shoot (still practicing) with Kristy, who is expecting a new little girl and Sophia. I still need to work on some background ideas... plain seems to work best. Enjoy!

Family

Isabelle with cousin Michael

Michael, Aunt Betsy, Isabelle, Eric and Dave

Blanket

Isabelle now has a new favorite blanket that she will curl up with in her little sized rocking chair. Thank you Karen from Portalnd, for making her such a wonderful blanket, that is sooo soft and warm. You are most sweet!

Portland Bound

Beware... Book Ahead

Yes, that is us. This last weekend we went to Portland to visit family and a friend of mine from high school. It has been 12 years since I talked or saw my friend Karen and that was too long. We totally reconnected and started up without missing a beat, just as we were in high school. We were celebrating with her this weekend, as she is going to have a little girl in December! Zoe. The baby shower was wonderful. I got to spend time of course with Karen, but also her sister Patty and their mom, all who I haven't seen since graduating high school. It was so wonderful to see them again! Patty made these adorable baby buggy cakes that were pink with pink frosting, which Isabelle devoured.

Let me start at the beginning of our trip... We left home, and drove south... easy enough. After about 3 hours we arrived at Eric's cousin's house (Michael) where I and Isabelle changed and then left again 15 minutes later. Eric stayed at the house with Michael to hang out. Isabelle and I were off, with directions in hand to the Spaghetti Factory in Portland. Off we go... driving just fine, on and off the HWY, taking the turns and then oh no... its a one way street and the directions say to go turn left and you can only go right. I go right. But I was lost and somehow, while trying to get un-lost in an unknown city find myself at the "National College of Natural Medicine." This is where I decided to call the restaurant and ask for help. About 25 minutes later... with 'Travis' on the phone with me the whole time he got me to the restaurant with the bright purple roof. And there spent a great baby shower for and with Karen!!

The way back was so easy. I followed Patty back to the HWY and knew my way from there. It was interesting though, when following her, I saw where I was lost originally, and figured out that one of the roads that the directions asked me to turn on no longer existed, and of course there was the one way road issue. MAP QUEST needs to update!!!!

Once back at Michael's, Isabelle and I napped for an hour, then went up the road to Aunt Betsy's to say hi, and drop off our bags. And then dragged (asked) Michael to come with us to dinner at Patty's house. Good Thing Too!!! We would have been completely lost without him. He even got turned around with the directions. (And it was dark). But we made it to Patty's where I met their family's and they met Eric and it was the best evening! Us girls reminisced and caught up with stories and pictures while the hubby's chatted, watched the many games on TV and played with the kids. Isabelle, the youngest and only girl, totally held her own. :) It was so cute!! We eventually left the fun, Isabelle rubbing her eyes was the cue to go, and went back to Betsy's and slept soundly... including Isabelle. We were surprised at how well Isabelle slept in a new place and room and all... She must have been tired!

The next morning, we woke up and I was off to Washington Square, an Oregon Mall that is very nice!!! to meet up with Karen and have some more girl talk and catch up. We also shopped a bit of course. I got there without a hitch too. Then back to the house when Eric and Michael went off Christmas shopping (no tax in OR). Around 6 we left to come back home, and made it safely.

I know there are no pictures here.... sorry, I left the camera in Isabelle's other bag, not the one I brought with me to the shower. So we have to wait till they get sent to me, then I will post.

Either way, Karen and Patty, we are so staying in touch now and not letting another 12 years get in the way. And there is only 3 hours between us... not far at all.

Congrats on Zoe, we all can't wait to meet her!

Charleston Bound

No, not us. My friend Katie and her hubby Tim left two weeks ago (driving) for Charleston, So. Carolina and arrived last week. Yes, they made it safely :) and found a new place to live that takes dogs! I want to wish you both well and I can't wait to visit you on the EAST coast!!

As soon as I can scan them, I will be posting old college pics up of us, Katie :) Some memories of us on the ol' WEST coast.

Miss you and Congratulations!!!

All In a Day Of Fun

The title says it all...

Isabelle LOVES her baby dolls... she caries them everywhere, feeds them, shares her drink with them, cuddles, dances, and jumps with them. It is so cute!