Kickin' Back

With our new TV room now in use, it became quite apparent that the kids needed some seating of their own. So Dada found a couple of leather kid-size loungers for them. Too bad Max doesn't know how to kick back and relax!

Reducing our Carbon Footprint

We bid a fond farewell to our Matrix on Sunday.
With our move to north Portland almost 18 months ago, Dada has been riding his bike to work most days. Since the bus stop is directly in front of our house and lets Dada off 4 blocks from his work on the days that he is unable to ride his bike, there is no reason to drive/own/maintain a 2nd vehicle. So we listed it on craigslist and it sold in a little over a week! The buyer actually drove down from Vancouver B.C just to buy the car! I was very sad to see it go - it was my first brand new car and I loved it dearly, but wasn't the practical car to keep in the midst of all of our home remodeling and other adventures.
The other advantage to selling it is now we have the funds to start the next house project this coming spring - a new mudroom at the back of the house and a new deck/patio to increase the livability of the back yard. Woohoo!

Follow Me!

The kids have been so funny together lately. Charlie really wants to do what Max is doing and when they are in the right moods, we parents just grin from ear to ear!
This past weekend Max took Charlie's hand and said, 'Come on, Chah-wee, follow me.'

It didn't take too long, though, before Charlie was leading the way.

Happy Thanksgiving! Where's my walking shoes?

Happy Thanksgiving to all!
We had a wonderful day here yesterday, cleaning the house, preparing food, and of course the afternoon libations!

Once most of our to-do list had been crossed off, Dada had a football break (in the new TV room!)

This year, Dada had his heart set on trying a Turducken (a chicken inside of a duck inside of a turkey - all boneless!!) so he was in complete charge of the main course, including the 'carving'. Not so much carving as slicing, really, due to the lack of bones.

The feast before we all dug in - everything was delicious! We were joined by Dada's parents and our friends Amy & Brian and their two children. Many thanks to everyone for contributing to the meal. It was truly a collaborative event.

Now I need to find my walking shoes to work off all of the wonderful food!

The Blue Room

As anyone who has been to our house in the past 3 months has seen, we have had an empty room downstairs ever since Dada finished the 2nd floor. Max had this room at the base of the stairs until he moved up to his orange room ('Max's Ohnch Woom', as he calls it). We have been planning for quite a while to turn it into a TV/media room but just hadn't done any work on it.
Yesterday we decided it was a project day and spent the whole day working on it - cleaning it up, painting, moving in furniture and electronics. Here is a photo after 1 coat of paint:

Later in the evening, after the kids went to bed, I 'helped' Dada get the electronics moved in there. Here is a photo of my help:

It's a little difficult to see, but Dada asked me to put the speaker cable through the tube in the stand up to the speaker and reattach it to the speaker itself. I was done and about to take them in to show Dada when I noticed that I had put each end of the same cable into the speakers and left the other cable laying there on the floor! Some help. Luckily, it was easily fixed (yes, I fixed my own mistake!)

Here are the kids enjoying the new room this morning as they watched their morning cartoons. Isn't it beautiful?!? I just love the color.

There is no art on the walls yet, but it is usable and the kids seem to really enjoy it. Now we have an extra room for 'living space' in our small home!

Our Little Hipster

Yesterday, Dada got Charlie dressed and found an old belt of Max's to try on her. Isn't this the most adorable look ever?!?

The hat is one of Dada's - it is meant to be fairly snug on the head. I looks a little like a beret on her, no?

Halloween!

Dada is helping Max get into costume.

Introducing, The Man With The Yellow Hat!

Here is The Man in Yellow and Georgina. We had a difficult time getting her to stand still for a picture.

Dada's assistance was required to get little Georgina to stand by her brother!
Now off we go for our first trick-or-treat experience!

Dada's Latest Project

I would be remiss in my duties if I did not include a shot of Dada's latest design project. I think he could really go places with his specially designed 2x4 furniture, don't you?
All kidding aside, this is his new much needed work bench. Now maybe we will both be able to find something, anything, down in the basement!!

Pumpkins into Jack O'Lanterns

Max and Dada did the carving of the Jack o'lanterns this year. Here they are cutting the lids and cleaning out all of the gunk.

Max helped clean them out too!
(OK, he did this one handful and then refused to touch it any more!)

Then the two boys got to work carving.

They shared in the design process.

Max had to supervise the work up close.

The finished product!

Boo!

Breakfast out with the girls

We have a group of alumna from Cottey College in the Portland area and we try to get together for breakfast once a month (sometimes with all of the busy schedules it is every other month!). Here are those of us that were able to attend this past gathering. From left to right, Maggie, Dena, Kristin, me, and the baby on the right is Kristin's youngest, Lily.

Hopefully we'll have a few more at the next breakfast! (Although, it was really great to have more time to talk and hear from each person with the smaller group)

Cherub

This one I had to post just because it is SUCH a great shot!

What's an Oreo?

Dada decided not too long ago that the kids should have their first oreo experience. He got mint double stuff - what a first try!

Charlie dug right in, of course (this kid hasn't met any item of food she won't try at least once!)

Hey, this is pretty good!

Some might look at this picture and think 'Oh, what a mess, she has chocolate all over herself.' I, as the biased mother, think 'What beautiful lips!!'

It's been a while...

Yes, it has been quite a while since my last post. The memory card in my camera decided to go kablooey and took with it about a months worth of pictures, which entirely took the wind out of my sails for a while on taking pictures at all not to mention posting on the blog. So here goes a whirl wind posting session!

One sunny weekend day Max and Dada decided to go on a bike ride. Max got a hold of Dada's riding sunglasses and had to try them on... they were a little big.

Max sitting happily in the chariot.

There they go!