Look What I Found

Under the carpet in the living room....There is a 3 foot square section where someone cut out the hardwood and replaced it with plywood. It's next to the fireplace so we figure some kind of fire damage maybe. We'll replace that section or do some built-ins, haven't decided yet but I'll post pics when we are done. We painted the living room also. It's now a lovely pale mint with blue white trim. It was puce with black trim, and someone thought they'd do some faux marble or some such on the trim so it wasn't just black but black with yellow streaks. I think someone was colorblind. If I can find my camera again I'll see if I can get some more pictures.

All settled

We are in and mostly unpacked. Doing some home improvement work, painting, window treatments and such. Nothing too expensive yet because we are saving to put a new roof on this summer. The roof over the garage is too shallow a grade for the type of roof on there so it leaks during heavy rain. I'm only on dial-up so it's really slow. I'll try and post some pictures if I can. Made some friends, the neighbor on one side has young children so the kids are happy.

Moving!

We got the house and are moving in. I don't have a lot time to update. I am at the library right now. Hopefully we'll get the internet set up within a couple weeks. I'll post when I can but as I rarely have more than two minutes of privacy at the library it won't be often.

A little behind

I will admit to being a little old-fashioned, behind on the times, and slow to catch up. I think it reflects my upbringing. How many people are raised on the family farm, with their grandparents? But I just realized I love texting. If only for the reason that I can send hubby dirty messages without the kids hearing or worrying about any of his co-workers overhearing. It's great for when he's out of town. Now he knows exactly what I'm going to do to him when he gets home, if I can keep the kids out of the bed.

Happy Valentine's Day

Aww a day for love. Now I'm not Catholic and really don't care too much about St. Valentine but a day about love to me is just wonderful. Now everyday should be a day that you dedicate to your love, however I'm realistic and know that sometimes life gets in the way of love. We all get busy and some nights go to bed without telling our loves how special they are to us. I know there are nights where I am lying in bed trying to calm down my mind and I'll think over the day. I haven't kissed my hubby all day. Of course I have to wake him just to kiss him. So give all your loved ones and extra kiss today. We are making, I <3 you cookies to give to our special someones. I'll save an extra big one full of green m&m's for my hubby.

Ewww!

Little boys can be so gross. Journey picked his nose and stuck his finger right up in my face. So sweet offering me his bugger. Of course I refused, I believe I said "Eww, I don't want your bugger." His response "But it's yummy."

Happy Birthday to me!

Will not tell my age but I'm okay with it. Not getting old yet although I have days when I feel about 60. Having three kids can do that. I got breakfast in bed. Started doing the taxes, yeah money! I really wish hubby would change his exemptions so they wouldn't take so much out each year rather than get a large return. I'm going to have dinner with my family and cheesecake.

On house news, we finally got in to do the repairs. I'm tired and sore. I havent' physically worked that hard in awhile. What a lazy broad I have gotten to be. Hopefully close by the end of the week, keep those fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly.

Frustrated- house stuff.

I am pulling my hair out here. In order for us to get financing for the house a few minor repairs, and I mean minor like outlet covers, have to be done. We are willing to do the repairs ourselves, out of our pockets, but the seller of the home just won't get back to us giving us permission to do it. So we are just stuck. Originally we had to close by the 6th or else we had fees of $40 a day after that. No way we will close by then now. Doesn't even look like we'll close at all. Right now as long as we can get our earnest money back I'm ready to just back out and say let them try and find another buyer. With this market, I think they are crazy.

Various thoughts and such...

So I haven't been working much on my writing because my computer just pooped out. Once it gets fixed I'll be able to. Right now I am using my mom's computer for the various things that I do on it. I miss writing though. I feel kind of guilty just leaving my characters in limbo. Poor thing has had a two year pregnancy with twins...

So while we were house hunting hubby and I were fighting like cats and dogs. I swear I was ready to strangle him in his sleep. He just got on my nerves. But now that he's been gone for work all week I miss him like crazy. I can appreciate the relative calm, as calm as it can be with three kids, while he's been gone. It's like the intensity in house has gone down a couple notches. What does that say about our marriage?

I have been thinking about adoption and fostering. I'd like to be a foster mom. Hubby and I have talked about it and he's open to the idea but thinks we need to wait awhile. He wants to wait until we have $10,000 in savings. That will take forever because we just spent every last dollar we had buying this house, and we'll probably need to borrow a few from our parents for closing costs. So we'll have to pay that back. Then the house needs some work. Not huge major things but it's 100 years old, what do you expect. So most of our extra money will be going to towards that. I try and tell him that you don't have to pay to foster like you do with adoption but he wants us to be more stable. I've kind of been feeling that it'll never happen. There's some part of me that doesn't feel as if our family is complete yet. I know that Sapphire wants a little sister. At times I'll look back and think that a child is missing when I check to make sure everyone is buckled in the van. It just feels off. ((SIGH)) All I need is time I suppose, either to convince hubby or reconcile myself to having three children. I know most people think I'm crazy for wanting more. I guess I am a bit.

You knock my socks off!

Any holiday where you get candy is one of my favorites! Hello, my name is Elaina, I am a chocoholic... So of course I love Valentine's Day, I saw this fabric and couldn't resist. It's just too cute.

Hubby was teasing me that I'd have to change the name of my company from Cottage Babies since we'll be moving to Mill City. I don't think Mill Babies has the same ring to it... Maybe just City Babies...? I don't think so.

Recent custom

So a friend and I traded, she sent her fabric in to be made into diapers. They turned out great. Why would anyone use disposables when cloth diapers are so darn cute?!? The insides are minkee and bamboo velour. It's so super soft, I seriously want some underwear made out of this stuff, beats plain ole cotton anyday.

Dragging on and on

I am so ready to move into that house but still no date for closing. It just seems to drag on and on. I'm tired of being stuck in the trailer with the kids. It's fine in the summer but it's just been to cold out to go out and do a lot of stuff lately. There aren't many free indoor things to do. I don't have a local library card because we don't have an address. I'm tired and a little frustrated. I just wish that I could move in tomorrow. Part of the problem is that dh is working out of town all week and only coming home on the weekends so it's just us.

Okay enough pouting. I just finished a trade with another lady. I made diapers for her and she knit some longies and a hat for Journey. I made a shirt to match and a diaper but you can't see that. I'm running low on fabric now. I need to go shopping but nothing is selling right now. So I can't exactly go shopping right now either. So here's to all my inventory selling out and my shopping spree. :)


I also dyed my hair. It's a little funky, I dyed it blond first but I looked too pale and washed out. Now it's red with purple streaks.

Some catch up

So we spent the fall in Cle Elum, Washington...it's a small town at the base of Snoqualmie Pass. There is a lot snow there in the winter but I didn't want to stay and see. It's a very beautiful area though. We were lucky enough to live right down the street from other kids. So the kids were in seventh heaven, everyday we would go over visiting. We had so much fun. We plan on going back in the spring once the snow melts.

Happy Holidays

We had a wonderful holiday season. All the kids ate too much candy, made gingerbread houses and tore half the ornaments off the tree. I bit my husbands head off at least a dozen times. We ran from one family member's house to another and ate too much. All in all a good holiday.

We are currently house hunting, part of the biting my husbands head off. As if the holiday season is not streasfull enough add to it spending 4 hours a day in a car driving around with your husband and three kids. I am going insane. I am practically bald with all the hair I've been pulling out. I'm tired and grumpy and emotional. Ready to just give up the hunt, really. Fine we will live in the trailer forever. (sigh)

Some pictures

Happy Halloween!

Fall is my favorite season

All Settled

So we've moved yet again and are all settled in. It's a lovely park not far from our families. Perfect for the holidays. We moved just in time too. The day after we moved there was 4 inches of snow. I am not fond of snow. I really hate the cold. The kids were sad though. They wanted to go sledding and stuff with their friends. We will be back there in the spring after the snow melts though. But for now we are staying here near our families for the holidays.

No pods

They don't have the service in my area. That just sucks. So today I go down to find a storage unit to rent. I've got boxes scattered through-out the whole house. I have wrangle with my dh about what goes and what stays. He wants to keep some insanely large pieces of furniture. I want to keep a few boxes of books. I would compromise on the books if he would compromise on the furniture. We had a small talk about it last night so we will see what comes of it.

I thought about having a yard sale but that just seems like so much work and the only time I would have to hold it is in the middle of the week. Who goes to a yard sale on Wed? So I will be getting tax deductions care of Goodwill.

Moving again

No big surprise there. We will be headed to lovely central Washington, within a couple weeks most likely. Dh is heading up there tomorrow to check out the job and plan and whatever things he does to prepare for a new job, order parts?? I am not exactly sure but it requires planning and organization two things which I am sorely lacking. Both of which are kicking me in the butt right now as I get ready to move. I have boxes and boxes of stuff. Did I mention that I have a small tendency to be a pack rat? But I am overcoming that, the local freecycle and Goodwill are my friends. Now if people would come when they say they are going to but that's another matter.

No pictures of my mess but there has to be a better way. Has anyone tried one of those Pods storage things? I was thinking that would be nice since they deliver it. We have some family pieces of furniture that we have to put into storage but I'm not that attached to much else. Except my books, if I've read them why is so hard to get rid of them? There are few books that I will read again and again. Most of them I would consider reference books (love Dr. Sears!). But really how many reference books do I need, and do I really need to keep my A&P and Chemistry text when I won't be finishing school until Journey start Kindergarten at least. Help, my name is Elaina and I have a problem. I hoard useless books!

At the Beach

We went for a little camping trip to the coast with my mom, dad, sister, niece, and of course all of my kids. Poor dh was working so hard that he couldn't make it. We went to a wildlife park on Sat. The kids had a blast! There were a lot of little babies there, and tons of animals that you could pet and hold.

Then on Sunday we did a little shopping, of course, there were three women! Then went to the beach. Everyone got covered in sand, wet and a little sunburnt.


I think I should get postcards made, what do you think? A little thing I did for dh, I missed him. We went to the coast on our honeymoon so it's always special.

We will be heading out in our land yacht to lovely Central Washington here soon. I'm going to miss all the friends that we've made here. We will come back and visit though. I'm packing since we've been in a real house for the past several months we've accumulated a bunch of junk! I can't believe how fast it piles up. My 5 rubbermaid totes of just fabric surely doesn't help. It's hard choosing what goes into storage and what we take with us. All this packing reminds me of when we first started. I wrote a little poem about it way back then.

Jen I'm working on it, you wouldn't be interested in reading timelines, and outlines and notes though.

I spend way too much time here!

The "P" Word

Potty training, okay it's actually two words. We are getting to this point now with Journey. The other day he was having some nakie time and told me that he had to poo. And unbelievably he actually did, several times. He'd poo, look in the potty chair, empty it out into the toilet then sit and do it all over again. About 5 times. A couple hours later he went on the potty again. Quite a feat for a not quite two year old.

Now you think I'd be jumping for joy but I'm actually kind of sad. I'll miss my pretty diapers. I know I'm a weirdo. But it's also a sign that he's growing up, that he's not a baby anymore. That's what really makes me sad.

I asked him this morning if he was my baby or my big boy. He said my baby. Wahhh! Why do they have to grow up so fast?!?

Random Pics

See Smoky was right, always make sure that your campfire is completely out. This is so much more dramatic in the spring/summer. When there isn't snow on the ground. The amount of devesation is just amazing. Journey took a picture of me. I'm not sure why it ended up all red. I have not edited this except to rotate it.

Covered Bridge. I really love the little town where this is and would love to finally settle down there. It's pretty close to all our family without being close enough that they are over at our house all the time.

How come no one told me?

All this time it has said "The nomadic life of a almost normal family". I can't believe no one corrected my grammer before now. I've had it like that for what almost a year now. I'm sure it wouldn't bother a normal person but that's just gonna annoy me now.

Potty time and claymation

Well I got Journey a potty. It's kind of sad because it's one more step towards him growing up. He likes to sit on it but has yet to "do" anything in it. He is telling me when he goes. Also when he's running around naked he makes pissing sounds like he's going. Boys! So he's interested, lets see how long this takes though. Mckenzie wasn't fully potty trained until he was almost four and Sapphire was just three.

On a totally different note Sapphire has taken up an interest in claymation. She loves to do art projects. Has been making these great tiny incredibly detailed litttle things for the longest time. Well she started making flip books after reading Captain Underpants. I told her that she could to the same kind of thing with her clay. So now she's running off with my camera all the time. It's really cute. She needs to work on some fundimentals, such as the camera should be in the same place everytime you take another photo, that way they actually look like they are moving. But she's figuring it out. I think I need another software program so that I can put them all together to make a little movie. I just slideshow them now. Any ideas on this would be great.

Name Two

Two Names You Go By 1.Elaina 2.Lainy

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:1 Jeans 2. Tank

Two Things You Would Want (or have) in a Relationship 1. Trust 2. friendship

Two of Your Favorite Things to do:1.Beat my dh at cribbage 2. Read a good book

At The Moment:1.Watching American Idol 2. Eating Popcorn

Name two people who will fill this out: Probably no one

Two things you ate today: 1. Clam Chowder 2. M&Ms

Two people you Last Talked To:1.My Mom 2. Randy

Two Things You're doing tomorrow:1.Sewing a couple diapers 2. Laundry

Two longest car rides: 1.Mexico 2.Montana

Favorite Holidays:1.Halloween 2.Christmas

Two favorite beverages:1.Hot and Spicy tea 2. Cranberry rasberry juice

Two of your favorite things to wear:1.Jeans 2.Boots

Two songs you love to listen to: 1. The lighthouse by Nicklecreek 2.The Christans and the Pagans by Dar Williams

Fun in the Snow

As much as I complain about the snow and the cold the kids love it. My inlaws were over this weekend. I'm lucky, I don't have the dreaded inlaws. I just love them to pieces. We had so much fun playing in the snow. We made snow men and sledded. My father in law even tried to snow board. I will hand it to him he stayed upright. Better than I. Kenzie kept getting cold and running back inside the house. He kept taking his gloves off. But Sapphire will stay outside all day long if I let her.

Sick

For the last two weeks someone in this household has been sick, constantly. I am just tired. Journey is sick now, poor thing. Coughing, snotty nose, fever...just icky. As a result he's been having trouble sleeping and so have I. Someone send some healthy household vibes my way. I could use them.

Visitors

In our backyard, taken by my budding photographer, Sapphire.

Been Busy

Can you be busy and lazy at the same time? I don't know it seems like I'm always doing something and yet nothing is ever getting done. The house is always a mess and the pile of laundry to fold is taller than me. Of course that's not a hard feat with my stature.

Sapphire loves the snow and is always outside. Kenzie however takes after me and hates the cold and whines after about 10 minutes outside. Journey like to see the snow and be outside but doesn't like to touch it or walk in it. So I end up carrying him around.

There is a small mound of dirt around the side of the house from construction of the house. It's perfect for sledding with the little ones. It's only about 4 ft. tall and not very steep. So we got a few sleds. Theres a three person plastic one that I take Journey down the hill with me on. He loves it and says "weeee" the whole way down. However we had our first sledding accident today. Not serious but the plastic sled has kind of sharp side and Kenzie scraped some skin on his finger. It was awful for him though. He kept crying that this is the worst day ever. Of course once he had a bandage on he was running around playing as if nothing happened.

Update

So we've settled down in our new house. Well new to us at least. It feels so huge after being in that little trailer. In fact the master suite is about the same square footage as our whole trailer! I don't know how we are ever going to get back in the trailer when our lease runs out. It'll really feel tight after this.

The kids are loving thier own rooms, making a mess of them and we are constantly fight to keep them clean but they're kids so what's new. We had a great Christmas and New Years. Went down to visit with all the family and had a great time. I got my butt kicked playing a new card game but of course Randy won. So I lost my money but since Randy won the pot I got it back in a round-about way.

We had a quiet New Years with just the kids and us at home staying up late eating junk food and watching TV.

Sapphire is learning cursive, which she thinks is just stupid and squiggly lines. Still for all her arguing she's doing well. She's working on multiplication and division, she does really well with fact families but not so good with testing. But it's just something you have to memorize so she'll get it eventually.

Kenzie is off the wall as usual. We have a ton of snow but he hates getting cold so he's cooped up quite a bit. He's learning to write his letters and loves to read books.

Journey is talking up a storm. Speaking in full sentences and really letting you know what he wants. He suprises me all the time. I think the first full sentence he said was "I want candy" He cracks me up. He such a little comedian. He's always making silly faces or putting things on his head like hats.

We don't have internet service right now. Hope to have some by the end of the week. I'll update more later when I have the chance. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic New Year ahead of you.

Let it snow

I don't know how well I am going to adjust to this colder weather. I do not do well in the cold, my bones ache and I just get generally grumpy. But the kids love it. They are really looking forward to having a lot of snow. I am wishing that dh had gotten sent to Arizona. It was -2 the other night. Seriously, it's just barely November, not even techinically winter. Brrrr. I tried to get all three of them to just stay still and look at me long enough to take a picture. Ha what a joke. I have immense respect for portrait photographers now. It was just a little snow but
there were already several car accidents. And you should have seen the line at the tire place. The whole parking lot was filled with cars and then the net two blocks. Just outrageous. I don't think I'll be getting studded tires anytime soon.

On better news we will probably be moving next weekend. I can't wait to get into a real house, get to take a bath in a real tub, cook in a real oven, instead of one that's a step up from a doll house. I'll be sure to post some pics once we get moved in. It'll be pretty bare, we don't have much furniture stored so we'll have to shop around for somethings like a couch. I don't care if I have to sit on the floor, it'll be a real house. Yah!

Little Update

We are somewhat settled here in Central Oregon. We are looking for a house to rent. We'll be here for 6 months probably and I am getting really cramped. It's kind of hard to think that we've been doing this for a year. I remember when we first bought the trailer and started traveling that I wondered if it was going to work. I worried about there being room for Journey to learn to crawl and walk. I worried about the lack of privacy, can you believe that there weren't locks on any of the interior doors? Who doesn't have a lock on thier bathroom door? I was afraid of burning myself every time that I lit the stove, I must have jumped back a couple inches each time.

So now we are used to it and it feels like home. It's a distant memory living in a realy house. And I get my husband home every night. I think that this whole thing has brought us a lot closer together, and not just physically. We rarely fight anymore. It's odd that we'd spend so litle time together before and spend half of that bickering. I think that the financial strain of the rental and such being gone has helped a lot. At least as far as I am concerned. Of course we still argue about what a slob I am. But it seems that we are both getting back to basics in a sense and connecting more. Who would have thought that living in a travel trailer and moving every few months would be good for a family?

Infant and Pregnancy Loss Awarness

I'm lighting a candle for all the lost babies, including my own. We all have different ways of dealing with loss. I guess writing about it helps me. I was hard getting prenant after losing a child, each time was different. There was a certain guilt because it could have been prevented, just a little stitch and my baby would have lived. I guess I still live with that. I don't know if you believe in reincarnation but there was a feeling that my baby came back to me.

Happy Birthday Sapphire

Dark lashes spider walk across pale cheeks
Freckles dance between the webs
Spinning dreams behind eyelids.

Snuffling breath shallow in your chest
Whistling through your missing teeth
Giggling sighs under tangled sheets.

I cherish the moments of angelic serenity
That are missing in the daylight,
As I watch you while you sleep..

I can't believe it's been 9 years. I still remember the first time I saw you, all blue and purple over the sheet for the few moments before they wisked you off to the NICU. I was so scared and so in love with you. When I finally got to hold you I just stared, you were such a miracle. One that I wasn't expecting and didn't think I'd have. I count my blessings everyday. You are still my miracle. I love you.

A Last Look At Summer

The park that we are staying in has an outdoor pool. All summer long the kids have been swimming in it. It's great. You should see little Journey. The first time that I put him in the water he immediately started doggy paddling. He was litterally pushing himself out of my arms trying to swim around the pool. It was just instinctive. I call him my little water puppy.

Kenzie has started swimming without his lifejacket. He swims like a mermaid. Both legs together kinds of waving along. He only swims under water. He has yet to learn to bring his head up to breath and then go back under. So he'll swim to you or along the wall where he can touch.
.

Now Sapphire is scared of the water. She's the only child that's had swimming lessons yet she won't swim where she can't touch. She will only doggy paddle and is completely resistant to me or dh trying to teach her any other way. We worked out the goal that if she swam all the way from one end of the pool to the other that she could have a pool party. Well the pool is now closed for the season and no party. I'm sad because I don't want her to miss out on things because of fear. Still she loves the water, she just can't really swim

My Grand Opening

Preview is up, Grand opening set for Sept. 23 at noon. There are two free raffles and free shipping on all items. Check it out.

http://www.hyenacart.com/cottagebabies/

Happy Birthday Mckenzie

I cannot believe that in a matter of days you are going to be four. Time has flown. The past year has certainly been exciting with potty training, learning to ride a bike and 911 calls and ambulance rides. I don't know if I'll live to see you grow up with as much stress as this past year had brought. Still you are my wild child, my little dude, a dreamer who dashes out without thinking. I admire you courage and loving heart. My little lover, to whom everyone is a friend. I'm sure over the years you will cause more than a few gray hairs for me. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Mckenzie

Nursing baby

I was surprised to say the least to hear about this. Breasts are made for nourishing your child. There is nothing offensive about nursing a baby. I do it every day, several times a day, in public too! I know, shocking! And you thought that I was such a nice girl. I think this woman addressed this so eloquently. I love nursing my son. It's the one time where he slows down and takes a moment to just be. He sits in my lap stroking my hair and occasionally smiling at me around my breast with milk drooling down. How can you think that is offensive? It's nothing but love.

Where we live

So this is where we live. It looks so huge stretched out behind my dh's work truck. Like someone took a regular trailer and pulled. The two windows stacked at the end is the kids bunk beds. The other end is our bedroom, it's an actual room, with a door. I know that sounds stupid but living in such a small space its wonderful to have some privacy. Just ignore the mess. With three kids it's hard to keep anything clean for long.

My family reunion

This year it was at Willamette Mission State Park. It's the first year I've been here. Last year we missed it because we were moving. As you drive in there are fields of corn and rows upon rows of berries. It's rather dry though. We didn't have a camp fire this year. It was still fun. One of my cousins had a son just under a month after Journey was born so he had a playmate. There was so much food. I swear I gained back the 15lbs that I lost. Yum, fresh made ice cream. Here's the kids all standing around waiting for the ice cream to be ready. The stood there for like 20 minutes waiting and then gave up and went to play. Of course it was only like ten more minutes before it was done but I admire their patience.

My New Endeavor

I've been looking for something that I can do from home to help supplement our income and give me some purpose. I need something to keep my hands busy. So I started sewing, a lot. I've already had two orders. Although do they count if it's your mom?
Isn't it just adorable? Makes me want another little one around the house. ((sigh)) Not that that is going to happen anytime soon as I am fixed. But such is life. I am also making bags, reversible. I've made so many of them already although I've only sold one. Not too good at this business thing. I really don't think that I have all the skills that I need to really get this off the ground but I'm working on it.

Crater Lake National Park

This past weekend dh and I took the kids to visit Crater Lake. I'd never been before. It is the deepest natural lake in the US. It's formed in the caldera of a volcano that exploded thousands of years ago. It's beautiful. It's so blue. The only thing that I didn't like was the lack of guardrails at most places. Not too child friendly. Huge drop off, no guardrails and a toddler with impulse control. Can we say stress? So after the first couple places we decided to do the driving tour. I will take the kids back sometime this week to go to the visitor center and museum.

Do you believe in ghosts?

A Little Lost

Well it's been at least a month since I've written anything. I've been feeling a little lost. It's like talking to my best friend, then she goes on vacation and I can't chat with her. I miss it. I know that the best way to remedy it is to just sit down and type but it's hard. I have trouble focusing and can't seem to stay on subject. I have about a 1/4 of a book written. I left my main character pregnant with twins and that's about it. I have a lot more planned for it and I just can't get to it. I also have about three other half written books. So what is the problem that I can't finish what I start? Short attention span? Maybe...maybe just too many kids not enough time.

Happy Anniversary

Not only did we celebrate our 6th anniversary the whole nation did. We always have a big party. That's what we get for getting married on the 4th of July. We went camping and had a wonderful time. The weather was warm and sunny. We spent time with both of our families. Then on the 4th enjoyed a huge fireworks display. I couldn't have asked for a nicer weekend. I hope that everyone else enjoyed thiers.

Balloon's over Bend

Dh's family came over this way to visit for the weekend. I think that we wore them out. On Saturday evening we went to the evening balloon light up. It was really cool. You could go out and tlak to the people as they were waiting to set up the balloons. There was live music, the kids danced themselves sleepy. Which was a good thing because then they were tired enough to sit still and watch them blow up the balloons. They just glowed in the evening dusk. It was a beautiful site. Next year if we are over this way we'll get up early to watch the balloons take off. They had 20-30 balloons take off in the way early morning that Saturday but we didn't want to wake up.

The next morning we got up and went to another balloon thing. they had three balloons set up in the high school field. They were giving free balloon rides. Not really rides. You got to go up into the air and then come back down. The balloons were still teathered. We got there a little too late though. We were in line waiting for a ride and the wind picked up and the balloons had to be taken down. But the kids and dh got to help take downt he balloon. Still Sapphire was crying int he car she was so dissappointed. Maybe next year. I take it though that they don't do that every year. They just did this year because the wind was too strong for them to take off.

Christmas Valley, Oregon - Camping

For Journey's birthday/ Memorial weekend we went camping in Christmas Valley, Oregon. Unlike what most people imagine when they think about Oregon it is not lush, green with lots of trees. There are few trees, mostly juniper, and those there are are short and rather stunted. The majority of plant life is sage brush. It's high desert. It gets really hot during the day and then very cold at night. Well generally in the summer months, but we happened to visit on an off weekend and we got rain and hail.
The kids had a blast. There were a lot of family and friends there. I think that the adults had more fun than the kids did, staying up until all hours drinking way too much. There were many hangovers the next day. The asprin bottle was passed around. I had a couple mixed drinks but I'm nursing still so I don't drink much. It was fun but I think that next year we'll go some place a little more quiet. The teenagers were really loud until all hours of the morning.

High Desert Museum

While my mom was down we went to visit the High Desert Museum. It was really cool. There are several indoor and outdoor exhibits. There is so much stuff that it'll take more than one day to cover it all. I am thinking of getting a membership since we will be here all summer. The kids favorite exhibit was the river otter. You could see it above water and then below around the side of the tank. It came right up to the window.

There was a birds of prey exhibit.

I was probably 3 feet from a turkey vulture. Then they brought out a merlin, a small falcon, and a snowy owl. They were right there, you could practicaly touch them. It was really fascinating. Of course the kids got tired of it long before the adults did

There was an old saw mill and cabin that you could walk through. An interactive kids site that they could put on costumes and play with puppets. There were fish tanks with salmon and trout in them, (that was Journey's favorite). There was a rattlesnake, a couple scorpians and some lizards. The kids were more interested in the animals than any historical information. But they had a really interesting Native American exhibit. The lights were dimmed low and they had music and background noise playing. Several different teepees were inside and out.

Happy 1st Birthday Journey

It's gone by way too fast but here it is. You are one year old already. You are walking, climbing and pestering your siblings. You're shy and sweet. You are scared of dogs but love cats. You are a dipper, love ketchup, mayo and ranch dressing. You are willing to try anything at least twice. You want to do anything that big brother or big sister are doing and don't let your limitations frustrate you. You are amazing and astounding. I cherish everyday that I get to spend with you. I love you little dude.

Poor things

Well the baby fish did not make it. I think they got eaten by the frog. Poor momma. So we went out an got a couple more fish because the kids were so dissapointed. I am glad that we don't have any other pets. They keep asking for a kitten or a puppy but it's just too much work and not really fair to the animals to be living in such a small space.

I'm thinking about starting up a home business. Making dress up clothes. I don't know how it would work. I already have a lot on my plate and finding time to sew would be hard. But Randy supports me. Said that if it gets up and running he'll learn to sew and help me. That'll be interesting. I think he's excited for any chance to get out of his job and is willing to let me try just about anything I want. I think that it could be fun and rewarding but I don't know anything about running a business. Jeez I can't even balance my checkbook. How am I supposed to keep track of the finances? I'll make up a few things and see if they sell on E-bay. If so I guess I'll read up on small business and interenet business. There is a lot of literature out there nowadays. Okay enough babbling.

Babies

Well I killed our old fish and after a proper period of mourning we recently aquired some new ones. Well we bought four guppies yesterday and this morning were suprised to find 10 fish in our tank. Yes one of my fish is a momma. Must have been pregnant when I got her. Not sure how that happened because they kept male and females in different tanks. The kids are very happy and excited. The babies are about the size of a grain of rice. Very tiny, silvery-grey things. They flit about very fast and excited. The fish and the children.

Speaking of flitting. Journey has started walking. He's getting quiet good at it. Letting go and walking a few feet now before he plops onto his butt. He has yeat to fall face first. Smart boy, learned to fall first. He is also practicing standing and bending over and picking things up. He is so proud of himself when he does this. It's so cute the huge grin on his face and the squeeling noises. Now I'm sad because he's growing up too fast.

where we are now

Central Oregon.
Hot, high desert. Although I've been surprised at how much rain we've been getting. For the last few days there have been thunderstorms every evening. Morning is hot and sunny. I've gotten burnt alread. Curse my fair skin. They kids however are all tanning like the the bunch of injuns that they are. I'm sure that is politically incorrect. Should I have said Native Americans? Don't really care. Journey seems to be the only one who has inherited my fair skin, he also has red hair. Where did that come from?

Our park is surrounded by pine trees. We have had a little furry, fluffy tailed visitor a couple evenings. Very cute but not friendly. Turn your head towards it and it bolts. There are lots of birds. I bought a book with North American wildlife for the kids to try and identify some animals, bugs and plants. So far we havn't seen anything really exciting other than the bunny.

We went to see the largest pine tree in Oregon. Not really that tall, i think that the top fell off at some point. But the circumfranse was enormous. It's estimated to be over 500 years old. That's really old here in logging teritorry. I left my camera at my mom's so I will post pictures later.

Cottage Grove, Oregon

We were staying in the Cottage Grove area for two weeks. I love it down there. I think I love it mostly because that's where my husband and I grew up. Our families still live there. My husband's family has been there so long that they have a road named after them. It was wonderful visiting with our families. I had a daquari party with my mom and sister. Went shopping for books with my sister in law. We went to the park and ate ice cream. Just hung out together. I am one of those lucky people who happened to have married into a family that I love just as much as my own. They are wonderful supportive people.

We stayed in the Village Green Park the first week because it was close to in laws. But it was right next to Walmart and there were some weirdos camping out in the parking lot there so we moved. But it would be nice if you were staying in the hotel. It used to be a luxery resort and has the most amazing gardens. It got neglected for several years but there are new owners that are reviving it.

We moved next to Pass Creek Park, in Curtain, Or. It is a County park that is just lvoely. It has all the rv hookups, showers and laundry facilities. There is a arge pond with geese, ducks and about a dozen goslings. There are also two friendly newtria. Which for those of you who haven't seen them are like a cross between a beaver and a rat. Imagine a beaver with a rat tail. So ugly they are almost cute. They come up to the shore and beg like the ducks and geese. There were play structures and picnic tables. We really enjoyed it there. Next on to Central Oregon, Bend area. Will update later.