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. :)

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.

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... :)

Fall....

Sadly it's upon us.... don't get me wrong- I LOVE fall. I love the crisp air, the falling leaves, the cooler weather. It's definitely Crockpot soup season and snuggling under a blanket at the end of the day. I'm just not READY for fall. Perhaps it's because we haven't really HAD a summer up here this summer. And wouldn't you know it- just as I'm ready to get into fall, the weather decides to climb back up into the upper 70's, possibly hitting 80 this weekend. Nevertheless, I did a fall project with Sawyer this afternoon. I went to Target with the thought that I would get a roll of brown packing paper to make a tree, double sided sticky tape to tape it to the front window, and then make leaves, etc to have them 'fall'ing off the tree. Brown packing paper- $4.99.... turn the corner and found a pack of manila colored construction paper- on clearance- 49 cents! :) Guess which one I got?! We also found gel leaf clings to add to the window. Then I got coffee filters for Sawyer to color so we could make more leaves. I put the tree up on the window this afternoon (in the direct sunshine and it was HOT!), then let Sawyer begin applying the gel leaves and the 'watercolor' leaves he made at school.

Our coffee filter leaves are still drying and will be added tomorrow. But here are some pictures of his trees- he's so proud of them and clapped happily when we had to leave the house and he could see the tree from the outside. :)

"Sawyer"-isms

This post will be dedicated to the "Sawyer"-isms: the funny things he says and does.

July 23rd:

Tonight as we are watching America's Funniest Home Videos, there was a video of triplets. He was watching it and turned to me and said "I don't want THAT many babies."

While reading our nighttime book, he turns to me, puts his hand over my mouth and says "mom- stop talking. I have to bless you." HUH?????? OH!!! Sneeze!

At Sweet Tomatoes last week, I told him he could have either an ice cream cone there or popcorn once we got to Target. He told me he wanted popcorn. We continued our lunch.... then he says "mom, I changed my mind. I want ice cream." "are you sure?" I responded. "Yes." So we get our ice cream and go about our errands. We pull into the Target parking lot and he says: "Mom, I changed my mind again. I want popcorn." "Um, Soy? You can't change your mind AFTER you consume your decision!"

On wanting something at the store and me informing him we're not buying it: "It's okay, Mom- Dad has money."

Recently on a trip down to Wilsonville, I bumped into the median (while looking for the place I was going to) and knocked one of my hubcaps off. Sawyer gets out, looks at it and says "It's ok. Dad can fix it."

He wants to see 'his' baby.... he, however, doesn't understand that he cannot see his baby by looking down my shirt. :)

Sawyer and Ivan are roughhousing on the floor tonight.... "Dad- why your boobs coming out of your shirt?" (he was wearing a tank top....) we couldn't stop laughing... "Dad, Mom- why you laughing? What's so funny?"

Ivan and Sawyer went upstairs so Sawyer could get money out of his piggy bank to buy a new police car. Sawyer went into our room and tucked 'Blue' in. Ivan said "Oh, is Blue tired?" Sawyer: "No- Blue needs a rest. He gave me attitude yesterday." :)

AH.... the blissful sound of....

Sawyer is at a point in his life where naps are optional.... or so he believes. Thing is- if he doesn't take a nap, a meltdown ensues at 5 pm and it doesn't get any easier as the night drags on. By bedtime, he's so exhausted that his whiny, overtired voice grates on everything- and the procrastination! OMG! Those are the nights that Ivan and I come downstairs and don't talk to each other for about 30 mins to decompress. The days that we are active and he's needing a nap, I put him down and he screams for an hour easy.... then finally wears out and falls asleep. It's hit or miss if he wakes up happy too.... I wish there was an easier way to figure this out. It's wearing on all of us. Mommy and Daddy would really like to take naps too at some point....