Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Heading away from Summer, September 12, 2013

 
Sunglasses!
Lucy really enjoyed playing with the frogs
Jake
 
A perfect day
Living the dream, soaking up the sun
Sunset on East Lake
  
Golden Boy
The kids with the bear statue
Marc and his bounty
Jake just loves to "help" in the kitchen
Lucy with obsidian chunks all around
Proud hiker!
I just love my LucyKat
Enjoying exploring the beach
Little guy
Glowing Girl
 
We had an excellent Summer. Wow! String Summit and Phish Gorge with the whole Leisenring Family and great friends, Marc and I got away to Tahoe by ourselves and saw some great Phish shows, camping, barbecuing, relaxing up at East Lake. We have certainly been blessed. It has been wonderful spending so much time together, soaking up the warm sunshine. East Lake was awesome, just the four of us playing in the water and enjoying the sun.  Most days we just packed a lunch and hung out by the shore. We took some nice hikes as well, enjoying the beauty and geology of the area. Lucy is becoming quite the little hiker, and hiked up part of the back of the Big Obsidian Flow. She charged right up a steep slope to the top!  There are huge chunks of obsidian everywhere and it is very impressive.

Lucy and Jake have grown so much since June...Jake is like a whole new boy. He is fifteen months now (when I wrote this in September!), and I am slowly, slowly getting used to the idea that he is becoming...oh, I can't even write it! I just love his babyhood, he is such a special little boy. He is Momma's Little Boy, that is for sure, and Momma is smitten with her little guy! At this point Jake really understands a lot. He follows simple directions and has a few words. "Ball" and "Hot" are two that he is using often, along with "Mom" "Da" and "Bir" for bird, "Bo" for book. The other day Bob was asking him where his shoe was, and Jake went and got a shoe from the shoe rack. He loves playing with balls, but he loves playing in water the best! He is pretty much running wherever he goes. Books are another favorite, and sometimes he just wants to read them by himself! Other times he hands you a book to read and climbs in your lap. He is super snugly, and just loves his blanket and his binky. He carries that blanket around, but will gladly give me his binky (when he is ready). 

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Mid-August Adventures 2013

Scrunchy face! In a drawer!

Family Camp trip to Mt Hood National Forest

Having fun in the woods

Jake loves camping!

Scrunchy face!

Our beautiful girl

Hammock fun with Daddy!

Big trees and my little girl

LucyKat

Campsite by the creek

This fort was built by whoever camped at the spot before we did.

Look Ma, I'm driving!

Bubba just loves to read books, on his own.

Our friends left these flowers for us after a visit. They were so beautiful! They bloomed for quite some time.

Sunflowers were fun to grow!

We grew a great eggplant bush this year, It was awesome. Rose grew them as starts!

Sunflowers in the yard

Jake loves eating with his fork and spoon.
Tiffany, the bachelorette!

Sisters in the sunflowers

Hall and Oates concert!

Hood River, Oregon. The Columbia River.

Lucy cleaned the whole room on her own, and it was her idea! She also cleaned the sink all on her own as well.

Summer sunflowers in the yard

Jake just loves to read books!

Playing with her puppies
In mid August we were able to take an overnight camp trip with the kids out in Mt Hood National Forest. We lucked out with a great spot right on Barlow Creek, which is near the White River. It was so nice to get out into the woods, hang out together, playing and relaxing.  The kids had lots of fun exploring, and we had to keep a close eye on Jake as he kept heading for the water. It was ice cold, and he would go running in, then start to cry, but then want to go right back in again, He was just over 13 months old on this trip, and really beginning to walk well. Lucy had fun climbing trees.  I love taking them camping! We all had such a great time.

The next weekend my sister and I went out to Hood River for Tiffany's bachelorette party.  It was a fun time! We stayed at this house with an awesome view, and went and saw Hall and Oates at a venue overlooking the Columbia River. It was nice to have an overnight trip away from home!

During this time period I kept a few notes on the kids. Lucy continued to show me her personality. She feels things very passionately when not getting her way, that is for sure, Some epic fits have occurred, though they are decreasing in frequency thankfully!  She has been very interested in how many years it will be until she becomes a teenager. Nine years Lucy, nine years until you are thirteen. She spent a large part of the summer obsessed with the fun.song "Some Nights".  It is so endearing hearing her sing the song, and she sang it a lot! Lucy has special friends at preschool, especially her friend Ella. They did swim lessons in early summer. She also played with Stella often this summer, having sleepovers several times. They are very sweet together. Lucy still loves doing artwork and looking at books, and playing in the yard. She helped out in the garden quite a bit. We grew some great flowers, tomatoes, basil and eggplant. I'm glad she likes to play in the garden just like I do.

Jake just loves his blanket. He really loves it! At 13 months he was walking really well, understanding simple instructions and eats with a fork and spoon, and wanting to drink from cups. He trys to brush his teeth and hair, and is just so cute when doing those things! He likes to scribble with markers, and do stickers and paint. He just adores books, and sometimes prefers to just sit and look at them by himself. He also trys to sweep the floor, and loves to stand on a chair and "help" cook dinner and do the dishes. He loves playing with balls and was zooming a car around the house going "vroom". One nice, warm Summer evening we all took a walk up to the park near our house, and he walked the whole way.  He was shouting in excitement the entire way, as if to tell us all how happy he was to be walking around the neighborhood like a big boy.  He is a light and a joy, just like his big sister Lucy. We are so blessed and lucky to have them in our lives.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Tahoe Phish 2013

Kelly and Amon

My honey

Lake Tahoe
 
So pretty!
Having fun!

Loving life!

Old Friends, seeing Phish together for almost 20 years!

Kyla, boater extraordinaire!

Brad and Viola

Happy together
Right after Phish at the Gorge, Marc and I got to fly down to Tahoe for our own independent Phish shows. Two nights! Randy and Bob watched the kids in Portland for us. It was awesome! So very nice. We had a fabulous time relaxing, visiting with some great friends that we hadn't seen for a long time, exploring the lake and taking in some amazing shows. The second set on the second night was a miracle to me and really really special. The Tahoe Tweezer...one for the ages. Look it up and you can read all about it! Phish at its finest. We were also able to take a memorable trip around the lake on Kelly's friend Kyla's boat. Wow! It was my first time visiting Lake Tahoe, and it was great to get a tour from a local and see some of the sights on the lake.  We also saw some great friends from Humboldt at the shows. It really was a good time. Before we left, I had been able to visit my chiropractor and doctor so my back was feeling somewhat better, thankfully.  We were so happy to be able to take this trip and enjoy some downtime together. Much thanks to Randy and Bob for caring for our children while we were out playing!