4th of July

The girls really wanted to go to a 4th of July parade where there would be candy thrown...they also really wanted one where there would be ears of corn thrown (a la Jackson Hole) but we didn't see that happening...We did make it up to Corbett, OR for a "old timey" 4th of July celebration...

We ended up sitting next to some really nice folks from North Portland, who offered to take our picture.


First time I've seen one of these in a parade...


Though I think I might have seen one of these in Jackson.


The parade was preceeded by a TON of antique/restored cars. There were a lot of fun ones to look at, though the girls got a little bored and antsy for the "real" parade the start (even though many of the folks in the cars threw candy).

We spent 4th of July night at our friends Amy and Wade's house -- their neighbors take their fireworks VERY seriously, so with a quick bike ride over to their place, we got to see some amazing fireworks without any crowds. It rocked! The girls loved lighting sparklers, and seeing all the pretty lights in the sky.

Easter

Many an egg were dyed and hid...


Happy girls post-hunt...


Vivian hunting...

Xmas, New Years

These were from Christmas morning, girls in their matching PJs...





Vivian sporting the Hula Girl outfit from Uncle Erik and Donna Sue!



Sabine is way into designing things, including outfits...(I admit to watching What Not to Wear and Say Yes to the Dress with her!)...these were the New Years Eve outfits she picked out for Vivian...


And herself...

New holiday tradition

I love Chinaberry.com. When our house sale in Wyoming closed, I ordered the perpetual advent calendar pictured below. The box sizes are varied, so you could put actual small treasures in them, but we've been doing it like a treasure hunt. Each night after Bret gets home I put a note in the appropriate date and give the girls clues to where they can find that day's prize (an edible treat/holiday book/tickets to see a holiday show/a $1 bill for each girl/etc...). It's been a really fun way to count down to Christmas, and to get to know some of the nooks and crannies of our new home.



Of course, we've also enjoyed the chocolate-a-day calendars that Uncle Brian and Aunt Livia sent...Vivian ate all her chocolates on day 2...not Sabine, she takes this stuff seriously.

Boo!

Had a great time trick-or-treating with the girls -- last year I stayed home to eat, I mean pass out candy, but we only had 3 people come by (2 of which were our neighbors) so this year we all went out.

Ronnie was down here to take her girls to the teen-unschooler-portland-party, and so joined us for the evening of fun.

Made yummy easy veggie chowder (with butter instead of margarine) with bread from Little T, then remembered at about 4pm that we still had a few pumpkins to carve, so whipped them out...














(Bret's alien pumpkin)

Then put the finishing touches on Sabine's costume:

from here. (Worth every penny...we use this daily...)

Then facepainted Sabine:



And then took some photos of both girls with Catalina -- Vivian was a PIXIE, by the way, NOT a fairy. :) She picked out the costume at Goodwill (thank goodness...as she said it was itchy and wanted to cut the sleeve off of it when we got home...go for it girl!)



Here are a few of my favorite photos from the night...some folks went ALL OUT on decorations/costumes...very fun.







Not sure if you can see them very well, but I made treat bags for both of the girls from fabric they picked out (when we went to the fabric store to buy elastic to fix Vivian's wings...). Sabine spotted the zebra fabric, and we knew we had to do something with it (besides sew a zebra costume...that's what masking tape is for!) and Vivian picked out a very cute blue owl print. Just right for a pixie.

Sabine and Vivian have been generously sharing their "loot" with the grownups...we're all almost candied out. Bring on Thanksgiving.

Christmas dinner...

...Pacific North West style!


The girls and I went to New Seasons (the grocery store 2 blocks away) and got 3 Dungeness Crabs (it's crab season...for some reason I'm reminded of Elk Season, but I think Crab wins, hands down...). The woman at the counter, Dana, asked if I wanted her to prep them (are you kidding, free kitchen help? Hell yes!) we watched, and the girls asked lots of questions. Vivian was most concerned that the crabs would pinch her, but Dana assured her that they were indeed, dead. She even showed the girls the heart of one of them (did you know a Dungeness Crab heart is about 1" and shaped like a star? I didn't either...).


Vivian, doing her crab impression.


Sabine, preparing to dig in.


The remains...I think I'm going to try making a stock out of them. We're having crab cakes tonight as we had about 1.5 cups of leftover crab. Bret did the dirty work of getting the rest of the meat out while I watched Prince Caspian with the girls the second time that day -- he watched it the first time. It's the 2nd in the Narinia series -- just found out Disney is bailing on the 3rd movie...not enough $ to be made, apparently, so they're looking for other backers...anyone? Great movie, we've also enjoyed the first one -- read the book aloud to Sabine first, and she wanted to see the movie...thought it would be too scary, but no.

Decorating the tree

Vivian's into high heels these days. She can even walk downstairs in them...better than her mama!


Sabine was very happy to get the tree up, even if we bought it off a lot instead of going into the woods with good friends Juile, Shawn, Birch and Axel. And Julie's hot cocoa. It was only slightly mitigated by the fact that we bought it from Cafe au Play at a fundraiser, and they had hot cocoa...but not Julie's hot cocoa.

Thanksgiving

Kristin and I walked the 2 blocks to New Seasons and picked up our meal in the Radio Flyer.


Vivian, finally satisfied with the size of her piece of pie.


Vivian and Acacia enjoying said pie.


Sabine with her table decorations. Move over, Martha.

Giant Pumpkin Regatta

What's that, you ask? Well here it is:

Yet another reason to love Oregon. We went with friend Dave to this annual event in Tualatin (a few miles west of Portland). It was pretty darn funny, seeing these folks paddle 500+ lb. (if I remember correctly) pumpkins. Bret also got to see the biggest pumpkin grown in the US this year (2nd biggest in the world). How big is it, you ask? REALLY BIG! Over 1200 lbs. Now that's some pumpkin.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

In case you didn't realize it...this is a leprechaun trap. No leprechauns were harmed in the making of this trap. Nor were any eggs.

Apparently those little leprechauns can't resist a carton of eggs, and, not knowing that it is actually empty, jump down the tube...and can't get back out. Now what to do with them...?

Thanks for the Valentines Day cards!

Thanks for the cards, Grandmother Joan, Boopy and Granny Jean!

This is the card Sabine made for Vivian.