Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Christmas Tree Shopping

I don't know what it is.  Perhaps it's the crisp air, the trekking around on the mountain side, or just being out with my family, but moving up here has designated that we cut our own Christmas tree.  When we lived in Arizona, we had the "box-it-up" kind, but that just doesn't fly up here for me :)  This year we have moved the family room up into what was the "pool table room" (or living room if you didn't have a pool table...whatever), so that meant that we could get a HUGE GINORMOUS TREE!!!!!  That is, until you remember that how ever tall it is, usually means that it's width also grows exponentially.  So I dialed it down to BIGGER THAN LAST YEAR BUT NOT HUGE tree. :) 
We went to the place we found new last year.  LOVE this place- $25/tree. Period.  It's the Sunny Day Farms in Sherwood.  Anyways, it began with a sleeping baby, lovingly placed in the Kelty (which hasn't been used in 3 years) and shifted ever-so-softly to my back (since my hubs is the one that cuts the tree down).  Mittens placed upon baby's cold little hands and the hood of his jacket placed gently on his head..... which woke him up.  After a 10 minute nap.  Great.  I should mention now that he HATES hats and mittens..... cause along the way of traipsing through the rows and rows (not in an orderly fashion either- just randomly cutting through the trees), he lost a mitten.  Apparently he uses his teeth (which more came in over Thanksgiving) and pulls them off.  Bye bye one mitten.  I have no idea where he lost it and there's no way I'm going to carry a 25 lb baby in a 4 lb Kelty over rough terrain, backtracking to possibly find the one lost mitten.  Carrying on, my parents were first to find their tree.  
Then it was our turn.  We had a "tiny" problem finding a tall enough tree.  Our front windows are like 12 feet tall... putting a 6 ft tree in front of it would look stupid.  We went up the hill to the barn to regroup and have a hot chocolate break.  Then back down to the other side to look for ours, finally settling on one that was tall enough and would work....
It didn't look that big around on the mountain....
Anyways- Sawyer was a huge help holding the tree while the boys (my dad and my hubby) cut it down, but I'm not posting a picture of that.... I'm going to post an adorable picture of him instead. :)  He is holding the tree, so I'm not really lying....
See?!?!?!

Then, in an attempt to get a picture of the baby, I turned the camera around:
Hatless and mittenless..... *sigh*

Back up to the top of the mountain where we took a couple of family pictures. :)
I'll blog about the tree trimming in the next post. :)

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Aversion To Kindergarten

Sawyer enjoys having in-depth, heart-to-heart conversations with me.  Usually on the way to and/or from school.  While I'm trying to concentrate on driving.  Yeah.  So this morning's conversation was this:

S: "I don't want to go to kindergarten."
Me: "why?"
S: "Because"
Me: "Because isn't an answer."
S: "Because there wouldn't be Kate." (his friend in Pre-K)
Me: "You'll make lots of friends and we'll see Kate at playdates."
S: "I don't wanna gooooo...."
Me: "Is it because it would be a new school and new classes and new teachers and it might be a little scary?"
S: "Yes." 
Me: "Ok, but they have this thing. It's called the Kindergarten Roundup. You'll see the school, the playground, meet your teachers, everything.  It's so cool. They do that so you won't be scared when you go to school. You'll get to ride the bus to school and everything.  It will be so grown-up!" 
S: "I don't want to go to kindergarten."

We'll pause now and remember that this school year has just started... we have another 10 MONTHS until Kindergarten!  Yes, we are having this conversation.....

Me: "You still want to be a fireman?"
S: "Oh, yes."
Me: "Well, you have to go to Kindergarten, then 1st grade, 2nd, all the way through elementary school, middle school, high school, and college- then you can become a fireman. But you HAVE to do Kindergarten in order to become a fireman."

(Pause)
S: "But MOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!  There HAS to be a way that I can become a fireman and NOT go to KINDERGARTEN!" 
ME: (trying to quell the laughter....) "Buddy? Can we talk about this later?"  :)

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Summer '11 Post #1

It seems as though we've been busy.... a LOT this summer, but I can't pinpoint exactly where the summer went or what specifically we did.  My summer hours vary, so I worked those hours around camps, visits, etc.  Sawyer has been involved in so many camps this summer!  Two sessions of swimming, VBS, Zoo Camp, Tennis Lessons, and "Bug" Camp.  Not really sure why we didn't think about this before... but Sawyer (the self-proclaimed Know-It-ALL) has now gone to 3 curriculum-driven camps.... so now we have a MAJOR Know-It-All.  :)  Sitting at the baseball field today watching a friend play, we noticed a bee buzzing around.  Sawyer asked me what the bee was doing, I told him the bee was collecting pollen.  He went on to inform me EXACTLY how the bee collects pollen and what he does with it, etc...  It was so cool to sit and have this wonderful intellectual conversation with him.  :)  

So, in looking back on some pictures I've taken this summer, I thought I'd do a picture re-cap.  I'm thinking that 3 months of pictures is going to take a while, so here's the first posting of our summer. :) 



Clover Pictures:
The clover was out and I couldn't resist taking the boys out to shoot some pictures!





Sherwood Drive-In:  Car show in downtown Sherwood.  We love walking around and looking at all the different cars since each one of us has their own favorite era/make :)
The Police Cars are Sawyer's favorite!
Father's Day:  My grandparents were sick on Mother's Day so they couldn't come down to celebrate the holiday with us and decided to come for Father's Day instead.  We converged on my parents' house, where Sawyer's "job" is to water the plants. 

Some Generation Pictures:
So clockwise from bottom left: Finley, (great) Grandpa (my dad's dad), Ivan, Papa (my dad), Sawyer.  

Finley, Sawyer, (Great) Grandma (my dad's mom), my mom (Ama), and me
Finally pics of my boys just being themselves. :)
That's all for tonight and post number one.  It's way past my bedtime and I need some sleep tonight. :)  



Monday, April 4, 2011

Just Because

I love baby feet.  I really do.  I don't know why, but it just what I love :)  

                                        See what I mean?! :) 

And two pictures of my boys... who are actually looking towards the camera... at the same time.... 


Yeah... I kinda like them :)

Seafood Snatcher....

March 18th was my dad's birthday.  Whenever one of us has a birthday, they get to decide the restaurant.  Dad chose Red Lobster. (YES! I can have seafood!)  So we all went. I order clam chowder to begin with.  When it comes, Sawyer asks for some. 

 So I let him have 1/2 of my bowl.  He finishes it and asks for more.... serious?!  I ordered another bowl and he ate 1/2 of that!


Then I ordered crab legs (since I NEVER get them!).  I'm thinking that it was because you have to use tools with your dinner and that holds a certain appeal for boys... but Sawyer came over to investigate and help.  I informed him that if he cracked it, he had to eat it- those are the rules....
"DO NOT CRACK IT NEAR MY FINGERS!!!!!" 

Yeah... lost 2 crab legs to him too.  I'm glad that he likes seafood.  Really.  I think next time, we'll just order one and split it. :)






Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Spring Break Adventure Day #2- Oregon Zoo

Today's adventure is nothing new- the Oregon Zoo.  We have a membership and love to go there.  It was 'supposed' to be a mostly dry day... yeah, the weathermen don't know anything!  It was drizzly... and fortunately only turned to rain after we were back in the car.  This marks Finley's first 'real' trip to the zoo (the first was Zoolights and he was 3 weeks old and slept through the whole thing so it doesn't count!)
Off we go! 
The lions are one of my favorites (must be high school brainwashing....)  
So beautiful!
This was also Finn's first trip sitting in the stroller rather than being in the carseat in the stroller.... he was good with it as long as it was moving!  

 On to the Lorikeets... which I will tell you - I HATE!  I don't like birds to begin with and then they are all flying around and dive bombing you and then you can buy these stupid nectar cups and walk in with it and let many of them land on you... at the same time... *shudder*

Sawyer, however, LOVES them.  The things you do for your children....
me to Sawyer: "Turn JUST your head.... "

Then to the tigers and leopard.  The leopard was snuggled up (he wasn't a fan of the rain (sorry-drizzle!) either!)  Once Sawyer realized the leopard couldn't get through the glass, he was okay with me taking this picture: 
:)  Had to- it looks so cool!

Finn woke up in time to see the fish on our way out.  I will say he LOVED the penguins.  The others *shrug* not so much. :)  (this time....)  

Our second stop was to take Ama out to lunch- at Guild's. LOVE Guild's.. they have an amazing dill macaroni salad- which Sawyer tells me "I want my OWN salad- I don't want to share with you." :)







Stay tuned for tomorrow's adventure: Oaks Park Roller Skating and Slappy Cakes Restaurant!

Spring Break Adventure Day #1- Bob's Red Mill

Today is Spring Break!  YEY!  Or not because I now have two children at home... all day... with nothing planned.... I decided that we were going to go out and do different experiences "adventures" throughout the week.  Some of the ones we've done before, some are new.  Here's our adventure day #1: Bob's Red Mill....

We began by putting the address in and away we go.... 
Bob's Red Mill is located in Milwaukie and it's open to the public for a tour from 10-11 am.  
Waiting for the tour


The tour began with a 15 minute video about the mill, Bob, etc.  Don't really remember it and neither probably did anyone else.  Then our tour began in the gluten free area of the mill.
Sawyer looking in the window watching the forklifts.

 We stayed in that area for 30 minutes.  Now, if you are keeping timing, we're at 45 minutes of the 'hour' long tour.  She was a great 'adult' tour guide, not so much on the 'kid-friendly' tour guide, sadly.... I ended up even losing interest. :)   But then Al came in and took the kids aside to show them how to mill wheat.  He gave them a piece of the wheat and let them bang and smash the wheat to get the seeds. 
Smashing wheat = good way to take out frustration :) 

Feeling the different flour textures based on the different milling. 
We moved on to the other side of the mill and got to look at some antique mill tools (which was the second most interesting part- the first being the kid's activity)  About an hour and 15 minutes into the tour, Sawyer turns to me and says "I'm kinda bored- can we go now?"  I heartily agreed with his statement and we left to the next place.
Many thanks to the homeschooling mom of 4 (now grown) kids who volunteered to take our picture!


 Our next stop on our adventure was to see the mill's products in action and so we ventured 2 miles down the street to the original Bob's Red Mill- now a restaurant and store.  It is cramped in there!  We found our way to the lunch counter and ordered our lunch- Sawyer: a PB&J, me: Grilled Cheese with a tomato basil soup (the weather totally called for it!).  We climbed the stairs and sat next to the window.  When our lunch arrived, Sawyer took a bite and exclaimed "This is the best sandwich ever!" 
The hambone :) 
 After our delicious lunch, we stopped outside at the wagon wheel.  Sawyer is in awe of water wheels now and asks questions all the time :)  
The water wheel.

 We most definitely will be making this a lunch stop sometime this summer.  I would like to have some time to go through the store and purchase some of the yummy bread, cake, and muffin mixes.  

Every night this week, we have enrolled Sawyer in a special Spring Break swimming session. He swims until 7:55, then gets into jammies, comes home and goes to bed.  My thought?  Get him tired so he'll sleep!!  :)  Must have worked since he didn't wake up until 8:30 Tuesday morning :) 

The fish.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

ok...


So to completely catch everyone up... we now have 2 boys in the house. :) Finley Rae Tjossem was born November 3rd, weighing in at 11 lbs 5 oz. I am now the proud mom to stubbornness times 2.... :)

I promise to keep it updated.... I really and truly promise.
See? This picture is only a few weeks old... :)