Friday, May 29, 2009

Field Trip

I got to chaperon a field trip to PGE Park on Wednesday. OMSI, US Bank and PGE Park all put on "The Science of Baseball" day and invited a ton of schools to participate. This year the 2nd grade team at Noah's school decided to participate. We left bright and early, got to the park 2 hours before the game started. From 9-10am we walked around the food court area and visited all of the booths that OMSI had set up. From 10:15-10:45 we watched an assembly about the science of baseball and then we got to stay and watch the Portland Beavers play the Memphis Redbirds. It was really fun BUT that was a long time for a bunch of 2nd graders to sit and watch a game. We could get up and walk if we wanted but there really wasn't anything to do so they were a bit bored. We didn't leave and go back to school until 2pm so they were seated for most of the time between 10am-2pm. I lucked out and got three great kids in my group, Noah, Nathan and Shawn were awesome and made the day fun! I taught them a lot about the game, we talked about the park itself, we dodged the constant barrage of foul balls smacked our way. Actually, that was a bit scary at times, we were seriously in foul territory and had, I would guess, at least 8-10 balls hit into our area. I tried to find other things for them to see and learn about as the day went on and the boys got a bit tired of the game. Noah, however, really enjoyed the game and wants to know if we can go to a few games this summer and I'm sure we will!

(The slide show over to the left is after the Beavers got a home run. I kept snapping pictures of Noah as he celebrated.)

Noah explaining that, because I wouldn't let him bring his glove to the field, he will now have to use his brand new hat they gave him at the door to catch the foul balls.

The Portland Beavers warming up.

National Anthem time.

This is an older park and I love it. The board is run mostly by hand, no electronics. Actually, the balls, strikes and outs might be turned automatically but the rest is done by hand.

See the guy sitting under the 10, the boys and I speculated that he was controlling the balls, strikes and outs.

Then we caught glimpses of this guy changing the board to the jersey number of the player at bat.

Go Beavers!!

It was a double.

It was a beautiful day for a game with a few really cool and cute boys.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Memorial Day BBQ

John and Steph invited us down to their house on Monday for a BBQ. It was great food and we had a wonderful time with our friends. At one point, Steph and I took the boys and dogs down to a little creek by her house to let them play. They loved the cool water on the hot day. Thanks again for the invite guys, we had a great day!

Cute way to start off my picture taking.
Don't worry, the shirt didn't last long!
One of the pups (looks like Woodrow), Ollie, Noah and Ty wasting no time getting into the water.

I thought this was funny in a Mowgli from Jungle Book sort of way.

Boys being crazy and building a dam.

I'm really trying not to go there but come on, those dam rocks are being placed by those dam builders. It just makes that dam area even more dam fun!
Sorry! I couldn't help myself.

Roaring and growling are very helpful during construction.

Hey look, there were pretty flowers there too!

Friday, May 22, 2009

5/21/2003 A Girl Was Born...

And her name was Brelynne!! Bre turned six yesterday and I wanted to do a digital layout for her. It took me an extra day so I could use a picture from her actual birthday. I used this tutorial from Designer Digitals, I got to make something fun for Bre and learn something at the same time! We love you Bre, hope you like it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRETTY GIRL!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Quick Visit

Pop and H came to visit us this past weekend, I only got one picture of them (what was I thinking?) and it only shows them from the back! You can't even see their faces. The visit was short but we are glad they stopped by to see us. We took them up to the garden and showed them around a bit. While up there they took off with the boys to explore and play while Joel and I watered a bit. I had my camera hanging around my neck so I snapped a few shots when I had the chance. Nothing too fancy but spring is definitely here and I'm loving it!

This bee buzzed in just as I was taking the picture.

The pond is beautiful, look how much things have grown.

This dogwood was spectacular about a week ago.

This dogwood tree is HUGE, I was standing under it and the branches were cascading down around me. Honestly, probably one of the tallest dogwood trees I've seen.

Wouldn't it be fun to build a tree house waaaaay up there?

Friday, May 15, 2009

Seriously?

Bakugan box, dump truck book, Ben10 Omnitrix, Star Wars watch, pile of Legos, Percy the battery operated engine, white truck carrying engine Bill, 2 monster trucks, pen, rubber band, bouncy ball, crinkled paper, torn paper, stick, Bandaid, remote control, one sock, 2 color blocks from the Rubiks cube, Doc Marten shoe lace paper, Star Trek communicater, piece to a Hot Wheels car and a broken crayon??!!?? This was just swept out from under my couch, I'm thinking I should hold another contest. What do you think?

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The Contestants Are

SEE BELOW FOR THE WINNER!!

I will announce the winner shortly after Noah gets home from school. I promised to let him pick the winner...

Beth
- I think I recognize the toy trailer, we may have one just like it!! And the quarter...finders keepers.

Thanks for the reminder! Mine wasn't so exciting, although the pen could have done some serious damage. The quarter actually made it past my initial sweep and came out of the washer squeaky clean. :)
Janet - seriously?? You've found all of this in your laundry? Wow! I'm impressed and need to know more about the bananas!
Candy - she submitted a story that I thought was funny...
You would think that 13 loads of laundry since this challenge started would have produced something... But not even one penny or rock. Guess I did a good job of training everyone to empty their pockets!!! So here is a story from about a month ago... Hopefully it will qualify!?!

When I had been sick, Jessica wanted to do something to help me feel better. So she asked Daddy to take her shopping for something to cheer me up. She bought me one of those packs of Kleenex to keep in my pocket. Like a good Mom, I put it in my pocket and forgot about it (Obviously, I need to retake the class myself on emptying out my pockets). They not only went through the washer, but the dryer before they opened sprawling the ENTIRE pack through the whole load. In case you ever wondered, Kleenex really does hold a ton of liquid without dissolving. It looked like it had snowed Kleenex sheets throughout the entire load.

GrandBob -
All I ever find in my laundry is a Kleenex I forgot to take out of a pocket and lint.

Grandma Ricki -
I never find anything fun in my laundry any more...maybe a coin I forgot I stuck in a pocket-that's about it...

Aunt Kelli -
This is so unfair.... I don't have Boys to leave things in pockets. I used to have to check my room mates pockets. That is after the inside of my dryer turned red from a pen. Sadly, no room mates, anymore. I'm with Ritter, just the occasional coin.

Shana - I should have guessed that you would have concrete in your laundry!
concrete chunks, tampon, band-aid, wrench and I think that was it for this week.

Stephanie - LOL!
john says he's too good at cleaning out the pockets for anything to get in our laundry, but i have a permanent marker to prove otherwise


Thank you to all of you for playing! It made laundry a little less painful this week.

Using leftover blue snowflake paper, names of contestants on back.

Noah says this is the winner!

CONGRATULATIONS!!
I will send you your soap a.s.a.p.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Reminder

Don't forget to send me your picture(s) or list(s) of things found in your laundry for a chance to win some soap...
I will pick the winner tomorrow afternoon and announce it tomorrow night.

Oliver is Not The Orkin Man

This is how the conversation went...

MOM! I NEED some crackers, right now.
How would a boy needing crackers ask if he had manners?
(said reluctantly) I NEED crackers now....puh-lease??
What kind of crackers would you like?
Crackers! Please! Just crackers, please!
How about some bunny crackers?
Sure, yeah, yeah bunny crackers.

I hand him a handful crackers and before I could reach for a bowl to put a few more into Oliver bolts out the back door and returns within seconds...

I NEED more crackers!
What did you just do with the handful I gave you?
(said proudly) Gave them to the ants, they are very nice and very hungry. They are our friends.

I gave him a few more crackers and say with hesitation...

Ohhh, you're feeding the ants?
Yeah! And they are eating the crackers, come see!


The feast provided by Oliver.
Let's hope they appreciate the meal and stay outside.

Very happy that the ants are now happy and eating.

Poor little bunny cracker...click on the picture, can you see the ant?
Oliver would scream, "THERE HE IS!" every time he saw an ant carrying away another piece of cracker. We talked about where they were taking the cracker and how it would feed many ants.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Yo Momma!

I hope all of you beautiful mom's out there are having a great day! My day is going pretty well, just resting and taking it easy. Happy Mothers Day!!


Saturday, May 09, 2009

Green Thumbs Aplenty

We had a great day up at the garden, worked for just over 4 hours and accomplished a ton! I tried to get a couple of pictures of Noah too but that boy was off and playing the entire time. Oh sure, he'd pop in every once in a while but not long enough for me to run and get my camera...

Joel was re-tilling the big open sections and gave Ollie a ride.
It's a bit blurry but that tired and dirty face says a lot!

Monday, May 04, 2009

It's Another Contest with Giveaway!

Only because I've said it a gazillion times before, I'm sure you all know just how much I "enjoy" doing laundry. Since it's not my favorite household chore but one that must be done I decided today, after doing a few loads, to run a contest! All entries must be submitted by Monday the 11th! I want you, for one week, to collect every odd object that comes out of your washer or dryer then take a picture of it. Send the picture to me and I will randomly pick one picture to be the winner! I will send you 3 bars of my soap...a grapefruit & ginger bar, a tea tree oil & oatmeal facial bar and a juniper berry & eucalyptus bar. Invite your friends to play along too! Winner will be announced on Tuesday the 12th.


This is what inspired the contest, after about four loads of laundry today this is what I had...a couple of Band-aids, 35 cents, miscellaneous hardware, plastic wrap, a cap to something, a candy wrapper, a chip clip, some cardboardy strip of paper, a grasshopper and a hair pin. Now most of this stuff might come as a surprise to some but I live with three boys so you never know what you are going to find, the one that intrigued me and sent me down the contest lane was the hair pin. The last time I used or had hair pins in the house was on my wedding day over 13 years ago!!

Friday, May 01, 2009

A Different Perspective

Did you ever stop and think...
that maybe, just maybe...
a yard full of lovely dandelions just might be okay...