Thanksgiving...with reckless aBANDONment

We had our first visitors here in Oregon for Thanksgiving.  Mom and Dad G made the long drive west and spent a few JAM PACKED days with us.  The kiddos were super excited and could hardly wait for them to arrive.  Even little miss was excited...she didn't know why but she saw her brothers dancing around in anticipation so she joined in.

Our Turkey Day was pretty relaxed.  With only a hand full of us to feed, we made way too much food and ate too much in turn.  The boys and I spent WEEKS planning our table decorations and doing art projects for the big day.  It turned out great.  I was especially glad to use the silver gold-ware that Evus' grandparents gave us the first year we were married.  It was the first time we pulled them out of storage and it made me think of Grandma M and miss her.  I think she would have liked our table.

Black Friday we took off from "the land of mist" (that is where we live) and headed to the coast at Bandon (thus the title).  We picked the PERFECT day to go.  It was sunny and festive.  All the shops in town had live music, free samples, prizes ect.  So we sipped cider and enjoyed the music all morning.

We went down to the dock and ordered some "Little Mateys" (Fish 'n Chips with Clam Chowder).  The sun was shining and it felt so good it made the food taste delicious.  We also watched people crabbing...and we took notes so we can try it next time.  Chicken...or "nuked" turkey.  That's the trick, so they say.

The boys finally got their way and we headed to the beach with sand buckets.  We started at a rock beach and found some really pretty rocks to add to our collection.

Last we headed to Face Rock to find some tide pools.  And we found some great ones!!!  And some super cool pirate caves.  "Avast me hardies!!!" That is what Squashi said when he saw them--thank you Ryan, for teaching him proper Pirate talk.  I was so excited.  Any way--tide pools--we found star fish and annen..annemen...annenemies ;)  We were all worn out but it was a blast.

 Before we let Grandpa and Grandma go we (well, Squashi) talked them in to a visit at the Wildlife Safari and a swim in the hot tub.

Little Miss also got a test run for her birthday, in which she was thoroughly spoiled by her grandparents...did I mention that our little Diva had this strange and instant connection with her Grandpa G.  Within minutes of arrival she was resting her head on his shoulder--unheard of.  And she was more sweet than usual in general.  It was like they secretly planned it to shock and amaze us all; they were insta-buddies and it was great.

O Christmas Tree--our hunt for the elusive Noble Fir

We left bright and early from our frosted parking lot, snowsuits and mittens in hand.  We drove through the fog we are now accustomed to see each morning in our town.  Never would I have guessed I would be sunburned by the end of the day!  We met up with our new friends the Reynolds and followed them to the middle of nowhere.  We found ourselves on the top of the mountains with this amazing view of the Cascades.  Something about seeing composite cone volcanoes just gives me goosebumps!

We enjoyed some hot cocoa and cookies...with no need for snowsuits.

Then we began our hunt.

Say "Christmas Tree"!

Loading in our tree!

The Reynold's Tree!

Family Photo Op!

We came home exhausted!  It was AWESOME!

A Whale of a Birthday--Squashi is Four!

Isn't he handsome!  Our Squashi boy is four.  I want to say that I can't believe he is already four, but honestly I feel like this boy has been four for ages.  He acts much older and his is a big boy.  So it is more accurate to say "he is four at last!"

 Long before we new we were moving to Oregon, our boy wanted to have a whale birthday party...odd for Nebraska but okay.  So when we found out we were moving close to the ocean that was just icing on the cake.  As part of his birthday we are taking him whale watching...that will be a part two as it has not happened yet.

We had a Joy School party where we did lots of random projects and games that had nothing to do with whales but the kids didn't care and I didn't draw their attention to the lack of theme-ness

Recognize the angry bird game from Halloween?...I had to get more than one use out of all my hard work ;)

After school we had the neighbor kiddos come up for cupcakes and play time as well.  Our Porky was in heaven.  It was a great day...exhausting, but great :)

Happy Halloween 2013

Just a few memories captured from this year's Halloween.  I became obsessed with my plans to embrace "Trunk or Treating" (even though I don't really love the idea in general)  but making our trunk into an Angry Bird game.  I crocheted three angry birds...are they so sweet...and angry?

And set up some bad piggies on boxes in our trunk.  Pictures just don't do it justice.

Picture this: we had christmas lights shining around the trunk opening.  I set them up to a little contraption that made them flicker to the music and then I got the Angry Birds theme song and played it over the speakers in our car.  So the lights where flickering, that annoying song was playing and kids were throwing angry birds at green papercup piggies in our trunk.  It was "epic"...the kids loved it and I won an award so I call it a success.  AND!  now we still have all the stuff and enjoy playing Angry Birds at home so win win.

As for the kids and their costumes...my sewing machine broke and is still in Singer Repair Shop Limbo so the Wizard of Oz outfits I had planned never got off the ground.  One stop at a Second Hand Store later...Willard became a vampire, Porky a gorilla and Little Miss a sweet little lady bug.

I became an angry bird (for obvious reasons and sorry no picture) and hubby pulled out his never-fail Mad Hatter get up.  Happy Halloween everyone.

Better late than never right?

We came late to make an entrance...our Willard is now in Kindergarten.

So why now?  It's complicated and in moments of weakness I still try and talk myself (and husband) out of it.

But our first-born is now a school boy and now days revolve around bus drop off and pick up.

He is loving it too.

We have been blessed to get to know two families in our apartment complex with boys in Willard's class.

Since then there is a pack of boys running around playing after school and our boys are in heaven.

I found a friend who is willing to swop babysitting with me once a week and therefore I am volunteering in Willard's classroom for a couple hours a week.  I love being in Willard's class.

Our little big boy is learning to read like a wiz and we are so proud of him.

He wanted this change and he has really jumped in with both feet. 

It's amazing to see him growing up and being brave.

He is much braver than his mother who would prefer he stay home with her forever.

Our big boy is learning to read!!!

Evus went to visit his brother last week and they gave him these great little books that their kids love to read.  Willard has been inhaling them!  They go perfectly with the reading lessons he has been doing with mommy. (Englemann's "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons")

We are so proud :)

A Beautiful Week of Adventures

The weather this past week was absolutely perfect.  I love waking up to the fog...and Evan and I have decided that the more fog in the morning the better the rest of the day.  By noon it melts off and the rest of the day is nothing but blue sky and crisp but warm fall weather.

We found a fish ladder right outside of town.  We only saw one small fish but it was really cool and we will be checking back in hopes of seeing more migrating fish.

Next we escaped to the North Umpqua Trail and found this beauty along the Tioga Trail--Deadline Falls.

The leaves in the Cascades are beautiful and we spent most of our time breaking rocks open (the boys LOVE this past time) and so do we!  Our little miss even got into the action on daddy's back.

To celebrate the end of the week we escaped to Cavitt Creek Falls and decided that this was our favorite spot so far.

It is secluded and peaceful.  The small falls empty into a big open pool and there is a camp ground right new to the creek.  We are planning to go back next summer and camp so we can play in that pool, it is so fun...anyone want to come and join us???

And we discovered a covered bridge that was so Ichabod-ish :)

We finally broke down and bought a year pass to the Wildlife Safari that is only 15 minutes from our home.  Turns out that there is this small town next to where we live that has this amazing Wildlife Park.  They have a sweet village you can walk around for free and see lots of animals and then there is a HUGE park you can drive around and see TONS of amazing animals in a very free and wild setting.  Our boys LOVE it and we went twice this week.  We were able to take some new friends through too and the boys had fun hanging out with their buddies in the back of the van watching out for wildlife.  If you come to visit plan on seeing this place!

Last of all we ended the week with a festive trip to the local Farm market with some new friends.  We took a haywagon ride out to the pumpkin field and the kiddos got to pick out their perfect pumpkins.

Willard picked the one that was the hugest!

Porky loved his because it was not like any other pumpkin in the patch.

(And we picked up a cute little one for Little Miss)

 Loved this photo of brotherly love...this little girl is learning patience early :)

There was a corn maze and a hay maze and after exploring through each we called it an evening.  The weather was perfect and all I can say is we are LOVING autumn in Oregon :)