Through the Garden Gate

 The garden gate between our house and Mimi's house...

 

West helping Mimi weed her garden and more eggs from our flock of 6 hens

 

"To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive."
— Robert Louis Stevenson

Waiting for Silas

Here's a pregnancy pic of me at 27 weeks. We're patiently waiting for Silas' arrival and are busily finishing up projects before his Nov 7th due date. On the list this week: build garage shelves and reorganize garage, switch bedrooms with the girls and paint room plus build closet shelves and clean out the storage bedroom closet. We have plenty of fun things planned this week too including a day at the water fountains, a bike ride and picnic with good friends, treasure hunting at garage sales, a Silverton homeschoolers park day, a BBQ with  favorite family friends, a birthday party for my sister Leyah, the Portland Farmer's Market, the Children's' Jobs Day at Champoeg and the annual old time fiddle concert at our friends the Ortegas. Whew, as I type this I realize that once again there is way too much on the agenda! It's Shane's last week home before going back to work Aug 1st so we're trying to pack in as much as we can but we'll see what the week brings. I am suddenly feeling very, very pregnant and am not moving around at the same speed I was so we may have to limit some of the walking this week!

Summer At Suttle Lake

 

Shane and I grew up spending summer days at Suttle Lake near Sisters and we love taking our children there for vacation too. This time we camped with Dennis and Tammy (Shane's dad and step-mom) and we had so much fun just being together. I loved watching the girls get up the nerve to jump from the dock and little West playing at the shore's edge. A hot summer day spent at a lake is what sums summer up for me and this last weekend did not disappoint.

 Mama and baby on the shore knitting and digging.

 Grandpa Dennis' dog Lilly too turns pulling the girls around.

Rainy July and a Milo for Annah

 This month the weather has been so depressing - rain and lots of cloudy weather! Rain is so unusual for July in Oregon and it's been hard to do all the fun things we've planned when it's always crummy outside. BUT.... it has made knitting much more fun and cozy. I just finished Annah's Milo sweater and am now working on a Hill Top Hoodie/cardigan for Mira. 

July in Oregon

Mira's Hill Top Hoodie in process. I'm hoping to finish it in time for her 10th birthday.

Family Play Day in Portland

 

We try to get away for a family day in Portland at least once a summer and today we had a break from days and days of rainy, crummy weather so we headed to the Rose City. After dropping the Elisabeth's off at the airport we picniced at the Portland International Rose Gardens and visited the girls' favorite playground in Washington Park. We also found the Sacajawea sculpture as Mira has been wanting to see it. She has read every book about  Sacajawea and we officially study Oregon history this year (we're making a scrapbook about Oregon history as we study  so we need a pic for the scrapbook). We then hopped on the Max from Washington Park and rode it into downtown where we spent way too much time exploring the fountains and Finnegan's Toy Store. We also picked up smoothies and coffee and rested in Pioneer Square while West napped in the stroller. As if that wasn't a busy enough day already, we rode the Max back up the hill and went to the zoo to take advantage of our last month of zoo membership. After our zoo visit we ended the day with dinner at Baja Fresh. Although I'm now almost 27 weeks pregnant (almost 7 months) I felt great all day  even with all the walking.  I love making memories like we did today and the girls couldn't believe their luck with all the fun packed into one day.  Stay tuned for a few more annual summer traditions we have planned for the next couple weeks.

Newport Beach Trip

 

 

Third Street Block Party

 

On Sunday our neighborhood held its first block party to celebrate the houses that turn 100 years old this year. We blocked off Lane St., a sidestreet, and tables, umbrellas and BBQs filled the sreet. We had great food, fun games for the kids, a house tour and a presentation by Mr. Poole, an older man who grew up on the street and whose grandfather built many of the homes. Shane and I really enjoyed visiting with all our neighbors including the couple from Canada who are currently living in my mom's house as part of a home exchange.The two Elisabeth's from Denmark and my sister Leyah joined us for the party and Elisabeth L. got a chance to experience her first real cupcake! She was a little turned off by the bright colored frosting though. The party was a fun way to end a long day that started with church at our new church, Gospel Fellowship Community Church. Shane is on the leadership team and has been busy helping get the church off the ground.