Appliances, Toddler Traps and New Bedrooms

Our washing machine finally kicked the bucket or should I say the laundry basket! After one last attempt to piece it back together we finally decided it was just time, after about 10 years, to buy a new washer and dryer. Don't they look pretty? We are back to washing and drying and not a minute too soon! Of course that means that we have a large empty box or two in the house... We found that the box made a great toddler trap! Oliver is the master of getting into anything and everything and he couldn't get out of the box! I took more pleasure in this fact than I really should have.
Then we decided that Noah deserved a new bedroom. It even comes with a skylight, we splurged a little on that feature. As you can see, he almost fits inside nicely and feels right at home in his new digs.

Happy Birthday GrandBob!!

I told Noah you were turning 29 and he said that you didn't look that old. I thought that you would appreciate that comment very much! The boys worked on this poster for as long as their attention span allowed them on a day that was beautiful here in the Pacific Northwest. Noah wanted me to point out the cactus above the "n" in GrandBob because he knew that you love the desert and therefore would love the cactus on the poster. Oliver demanded that I draw a yellow flower, so I did and he added all the confetti touches. Oliver also felt it very fitting to blow a raspberry every time I asked him to smile for GrandBob...go figure! We all love you and wish you a very happy birthday!

Remember the Surprise Inside?

Oliver: Momma, can I have a bowl of cerweal?
Mom: Sure, want your Honey Nut Cheerios?
Oliver: Pwease!!

Mom: Wow! Look at that! I never got anything like that in cereal when I was a kid! Those are some fancy new surprises they are putting in the boxes these days!
Oliver: What momma?
Mom: Nothing baby, want your cereal with milk or do you want it dry?
Oliver: MILK!
Oh yeah, I gave him bowl! I'm not wasting good cereal just because my boys decided to put a sock in the box. It's not like they haven't eaten worse things! I promise to offer you a bowl from a different box if you come over for breakfast though. We'll save this one for the culprits.

Practicing His Alliteration

Oliver LOVES and I mean LOVES getting dressed up and going out to the bus with big brother in the morning. This is not some cute crush, passing fad or casual acquaintance, it's honest to goodness true love. It's the same thing every morning, while Noah is getting dressed for school so is Oliver. Rubber boots are retrieved from the garage, red jacket (and it must be the red jacket!) is taken out of the backpack, put on and zipped up and finally, the Thomas The Train backpack that brother handed down to him put on. On the extra special mornings his blue blanket goes into the backpack too. We head out the door and go across the street to the bus stop. Oliver says hi to everyone, "Good mornin' Eddie, hurry Bwadwee (Bradley) the bus is coming, hi Cole and Fwatcher (Thatcher)! LOOK IT'S THE BUS YELLOW!!!" The bus finally pulls up and the kids get on, Oliver is torn between waving to the bus driver and saying goodbye to the kids or being sad that the bus yellow will soon be pulling away without him. Now, transport yourself back to the day where movies like Casablanca or Gone With The Wind, are you there? Okay, now picture Oliver yelling, "wait!", waving to the bus, running after it a few steps with one little tear sliding down his cheek. Yes, this happens just about every morning, except for when the bus driver can't take it anymore and gives Ollie a balloon or a little thing of bubbles, somehow this lessens the trauma.

So back to the alliteration that my post title alludes to, one of Noah's chores in the morning is to turn on the light in the fish tank and feed the fish. Oliver also enjoys feeding the fish and wants to help his big brother with this chore. Yesterday, Noah did not let Oliver help which led to a bit of a temper tantrum. I ignored him and finished getting Noah ready for school. When it was time for Noah to get dressed I asked Oliver if he was going to get dressed for the bus too and this is what he said...

"NO BOOTS, NO BROTHER, NO BUS!!!!"

It's not a true alliteration but, like I said, he's just practicing.

Rhododendrons With Friends

We went to Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden with the Pyryt family on Saturday. We took a ton of pictures and I couldn't narrow it down to just a few, so check out the slide show to your left.

Welcome!

Our friends, Chris, Amy and their son, Ian, welcomed baby Carys Jane tonight. She came into this world at 7.1 pounds and 19 inches long. Congratulations!!

April Showers bring...Snow??

Yes, on April 19th, here in Vancouver WA it snowed. It didn't stick around long and it was hard to get a good picture of but it snowed...

He's a Good Healer!

It's hard to see, even this close up, but the goose egg is all but gone and all that is left is a faded bruise. He still complains if you poke it but I guess that's to be expected!

THUNK!!

That odd, inexplicable, melon-like sound you hear minutes before the nurse at you child's school calls to tell you that your son has hit his head on the play structure and has quite a headache...

Comfort

This is what I came home to after a quick trip to the store...

Soap Winners Read On...

...all others, unless you can control your jealousy, should probably just look away now. You're going to read on? Well then, you can't say that I didn't warn you.

Today, Joel had his first soap making session and we made the winning soap, ginger lime! I wish that Blogger had smell 'o blog because it's wonderful! The soap will be removed from the molds in about 48 hours then it will have to cure for a few weeks. I will ship as soon as I feel it's ready to leave the nest and include a note of when it's ready to use. Congratulations again to GrandBob, Auntie Janet and Trisha! Here are a few steps in the process, I did want to take more pictures but not at the expense of a delightful batch of soap so this is all you get folks...

The soap mold boxes, lined with plastic wrap and lightly sprayed with oil.
These are the trace elements waiting to go in, we have ginger and lime essential oils, along with some dried then ground up lime zest. Seriously, I wish you could smell this!!
Here is the oil, being coaxed gently to the proper temperature, can you see the heat ripples? The tiny flecks are remnants from the ginger when I infused the oil.
Here is the oil, beautifully traced, essential oils and lime zest added and getting one last stir before heading to the molds.
Here is the soap resting nicely in the molds. It will sit here for a day or two, then it will be removed and cut into bars.

No Momma!

Ollie, look at mommy. "No, Momma."
Oliver, say cheese. "No, momma."
Oliver, PLEASE look at me. "NO, momma."
Oliver! Just look at the camera! "NO MOMMA!!"

OLIVER, all I want is one picture of you looking at me, please look at me. "No, no, no , no, no, and no Momma!"

Tulips in Woodland

Oliver and I visited the Woodland Tulip Festival yesterday. It's a late bloom year so most of the flowers weren't open yet but I still got a few good shots. It was also a bit rainy, which meant the field was all ours. A few others would drop in now and then but the rain scared them all off quickly. My friend Steph and I are going to go back again next week so send good vibes to flowers in Woodland please!

Almost Done???

We are soooo close to not needing anymore diapers! I can not tell you how much this excites me. Oliver is waking up from naps and in the morning with dry diapers, he doesn't want to wear them and I'm happy to oblige. He is doing great and rarely has an accident. I plan on not buying anymore diapers, once these are gone we are done. My biggest battle right now is that he doesn't want to wear underwear. This will make it difficult to go places but I figure once he gets left behind a couple of time the underwear won't be such a hassle. Wish us luck people!

Third Stop: Oceanside Beach

Oceanside was our third and final stop of the day, that is if you don't count the restaurant for dinner and then back to the hotel for some swimming stops. Oceanside is a cute little town or village that I've never been to. Not a lot of people there, but I guess that could be because it was Tuesday, April 1st and not exactly swimsuit and shorts weather! Oliver enjoyed the sand this time around much more than he did a year ago.

Oliver and I making our way down to the beach, as you can see we are a bit more bundled than at the last stop.

Noah had already run halfway down to the water and back by the time Oliver and I made it to the sand.
The tide was in when we were there and I'm wondering how close we could get to those rocks when it was out...sounds like a good reason to go back!
Noah traversing the hand crafted bridge.

This is an entrance to a tunnel that took you through the hillside.

Small portion of the tunnel, it was dark and hard to get decent pictures.

The other side/entrance to the tunnel.

Discussing something serious I'm sure...

Oliver telling daddy about the water.

Second Stop: Cape Meares

After the Tillamook Air Museum, we landed at Cape Meares and the lighthouse that is there. It was a beautiful day but it still wasn't very warm, add a nice breeze coming in off of the cold water and it was quite brisk to say the least! This stop had some amazing lookout spots, I imagine that this would be a great place to see whales.

The boys racing down the hill to the lighthouse, no wait, it's Oliver racing and Noah yelling at him to walk. I think I will make up my own story when I put this into the scrap book!

View from one of the first lookouts we came upon.

The boys racing around the base of the lighthouse.

I could live in a lighthouse - beautiful!

Lookout on the way to the Octopus Tree

The Octopus Tree
Ollie and I taking our time getting to the Octopus Tree, can't rush a toddler who has decided that "I do it!" are his new favorite words.

First Stop: Tillamook Air Museum

As we were coming in on Hwy 101 Joel says something like, "I wonder where the museum is?" then we come around the bend and see this massive building telling us exactly. Although you realize that the structure you are headed towards is indeed large you don't quite grasp the "largest wooden structure in the world..." concept until you get really close. I kept telling Joel it would be cool to own that thing then you could turn it into a home with all sorts of fun things...like a regulation tennis court AND regulation basketball court AND regulation ice rink AND a full size bar with billiard room, darts and other various bar games AND an indoor swimming pool AND a bowling alley with two or three lanes AND, AND, AND, AND OHHHH could you imagine the kitchen that I could design??? I don't think Joel said anything but, "and what do you propose we do with the other 80 percent of the building? Come on, dream a little!! This is what us non-airplane buffs do while touring a hanger full of planes, engines, propellers and other assorted airplane memorabilia.

Noah, Oliver and I standing under some plane...ask Joel if you want to know which one.
Noah standing under some propeller, I'm sure there are a few airplane geeks out there that can tell me exactly which plane this propeller belongs to and I'm sure you're right.
The enormous hanger!

Oliver flying through the museum, you'll have to make your own toddler airplane noises to go along with the picture please.
Noah sitting in the A-7 Corsair II cockpit. I asked Joel what plane it was and when he said the name I then asked A7 or A dash 7 then he says, "A dash 7 Corsair I, I, not the number 2, I, I." Then I laughed.

A-7 Corsair II

This is a picture of a picture, it shows 8 blimps inside of the hanger.
This is the end of the hanger door, I'm standing near the bottom looking up.
The hanger door or your front door if your a big dreamer like me.