Snip Snip

I think this explains it all...

a monkey in the making

Look dad, I am as tall as brother now!

Yep folks it is official we have a climber on our hands...it started with little things like stepping up on he first shelf of the bookshelves and progressed to small chair at table,
                                                    to sitting at big table....

so proud to be sitting at
big table!

Hi everyone from way up here!

to one day Olde telling me he caught him on top of the big table clapping his hands. And he gets really frustrated when he can't ride the big bike (J's tall bike) or climb the big hill (that J runs up). He wants to be able to do everything big bro does, which I supposed is the curse of the second child.





It is so scary as parents, because you know a trip to the ER is in the near future for a broken bone or stitches...be careful my son!

Avengers are alive here!

superhero poses everyone!

Right now in our house we have a superhero obsession that started with Big Bro and has now spread to Aram. At this point our house is adorned with all kinds of gadgets and toys from a glove that makes the sound of shooting Spiderman webs, and a Green Lantern ring that lights up, to masks and costumes and props such as a baterang belt for Batman or a Captain America shield, as well as many many t-shirts.   Every time someone puts on a mask or he sees a superhero (lots of stuff in the stores this summer from the Batman movie coming out) he says "bamannnn" in the most scratch voice he can muster. What is funny is that he does this for all things superhero.

Letter to my sons

Dear Aram and Jasper,

It is that time of year again where I will no longer be with you every morning as your sleepy eyes open and you greet a new day. I am not worried about this, as you have the best dad that will have lots of fun planned for you everyday and I know you will create a brother bond around sharing, jumping, running and playing.

I know that this time of year is hard for adjustments for everyone and even though it may feel stressful at times, please know that my thoughts and desire are to be present for you when I am at home as your mommy so we can play and have fun together. I look forward to the greetings of love when I come home everyday, as that is what makes my long days bearable.

Remember to be good for dada and when you get sad about me being away just find your picture of me and hold in near your heart.

I love you VERY much,

your mommy

Jasper turns 4!

WELCOME TO 
THE DINO DEN!







The Bat Birthday Boy and His Sidekick: Jasper celebrated his 4th birthday with family and friends at Fernhill park. It was a perfectly sunny day for the bat boy to show off his tricks.

The Food: This year we went with a Dino Theme. Cake cutout was made by Olde and then dusted with powder sugar to get the bones affect. This was so much easier than doing icing decorating!

The Decorations: Decorating at the park was a bit of a challenge but a few drawings hung on chairs and trees made it seem festive enough.

The Fun: Dino Masks, tattoos, and piñata were just a few of the props to keep the kiddos busy. We also had a dino excavation kit for each kiddo to pick apart and find the bones...

Summer Fun Pt 2

As we hurried to make sure we saw everyone we wanted to and did everything fun (not that fun stops--it is just harder to spend long days doing it) that we wanted to...we finished the summer with lots of activity...


here are the photos to illustrate the fun...

lots of sleeping in...especially in mom and dad's bed

PDX POP NOW is always a highlight for the entire family

a long visit to Seattle was fruitful for cousin bonding where Jasper
got really good at reading to the younger ones

Danpa came for a visit

Water park(there is one in almost every park in Portland)
 fun, for those unbearably hot days

grandpops came for a visit

peach picking that turned into delicious jam

Nana came and hung for a entire week---what a treat to get so
much time with her

bike riding, although it was discovered that Big Brother needs a new
bigger bike.

Jasper picked HIS carrots

Ren Ren and cousin Caden came for a visit

keepin' em' alive

The stuff

Earlier this summer Old and I thought it would be fun to take the family camping...so we made a pile of stuff we might need, stood back and were astonished at the amount of stuff a family of four needs to go camping, and sorted again the stuff we NEEDED only. Nonetheless, we stuffed every corner of the car with stuff and piled in and headed South East of Portland to find a nice secluded river spot.

photo op with the boys

Little did we know what was in store for us... The first night we found a great little spot, not near the river as I was worried about Jas being to close to water. So instead we picked a spot with a little ravine near the back that also had a fallen tree blocking access to the road. Safe right? WRONG! As Old and I were setting up the tent, out of the corner of my eye saw Aram standing near the cliff looking down at the ravine. And before I could get to him he took that step and disappeared from sight. He took the fall with grace, rolling up in a little ball tucking his head and tale in like a professional stunt person. I dove down to get to him and noticed he had landed a mere 6 inches from a very big jagged rock. Amidst tears from everyone, we discovered besides being covered in dirt and branches he had survived with just a little scrape on his head. WOW---so resilient!

Awhile later, as he was playing near the fallen tree, he cried out as if in pain. Alarmed, I went over to him to only discover he had three big black ants on his face and I realized that he was being bitten. Man, as if the fall was not enough.  After this, we decided that we would move spots in the morning, as it was already dark.

I can sit here if there is no fire, right?

Besides, trying to keep the little man out of the fire pit, poison oak, and sleepless nights, the rest of the trip was fun. Swimming in a great river pool, hikes, and playing in the woods. But decided that was plenty of camping for us this summer, as neither parent really relaxed and enjoyed our selves much. Sorry there aren't more photos...as we somehow did not get to taking pictures much.

sleepless night does not look pretty in the morning...hehehhe

HFMD...the plague

Many of you know that my husband is kinda a germ-a-phobe since kids came into our lives. He does not mind dirt mind you, as he loves to garden and camp, but health germs like the ones you pick up at the hospital or grocery store gross him out and make his skin crawl. Therefore we have a strict hand washing and no shoes policy in our house, as you can imagine. With this being said I feel like we are always sick. I think it is the germs that Jas brings home mixed with germs little guy picks up from sticking everything in his mouth and cross contaminate with the germs I bring home from school and voila criss cross of every germ/bug circulating in Portland.

Well this most recent bout of plague just about put my husband over the edge. After several miserable days of high fever and sleepless nights, as well a refusal to nurse by little Aram, which we figured was a flu bug, little bumps started showing up on his hands, feet, elbows, chin and thighs...that kinda looked like blisters. After a quick call to nurse advice line, it was confirmed to be a case of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. YUCK! It sounds as gross as it is. AND IT IS VERY contagious. uggggh.

Although the nurse reassured me that adults rarely get it, I, of course, came down with the bug. Then it got Jasper (thankfully a milder version). So after several days of laying on the couch feeling horrible, eating a diet of tapioca, pudding, yogurt, grape gatorade, and jello (trying appease a very soar throat) I soon got the blister like dots on my hands and feet and in my mouth. Ughhh. On the bright side, 10 days later (7 of which I did not eat solids) I was fitting into my pre-prego pants.

It was the longest 10 days of my life (well not really... but definitely in the last year the longest 10 days). All four of us had to learn to co-inhabit the same space without really getting on each other's nerves, which we did pretty well considering the temperament of illness in the house. What made it really hard was that it was the two hottest days in Pdx thus far this summer. After about a week Jasper started to just run in circles around the house to burn off steam. One of the evenings we watched through the screened window dad hanging out with our neighbors outside and yearned to join them...all three of us called out hellos with a desire to play and chitchat.

Once I could get off the couch my hubby turned into the hand washing police, but I don't blame him. To be kept up among the sick for that long and not get sick, he must have been doing something right. I guess sleeping on the couch, no kissing/touching (including using different hand towels), and so much hand washing that his knuckles started to peel worked for him.

I would not wish this bug on anyone...it sucked! Check the photo below of one of my fingers at it's worst stage...ewwwww.

what ever you do don't google this disease images...they are way grosser
 than this!
ewwwwww.

Summer Fun pt 1

I had all the intentions of doing a blog once a week this summer to show how much fun we were having...but wow...then summer happened. We were really busy this summer and had lots of fun as the below pictures show.

A visit with grandpa Alaska allowed for some Playmobile Knight playing. These are Young Old's "big boy" toys that he spends hours putting together and setting up for battle and loves, loves, loves when someone will play with him. 

Got to organizing with this new toy storage system...it has helped tremendously corral the continuos assault from the numerous toy piles. Aram also got to help build it and used real tools for the first time, of course under the supervision of his ever wonderful dada.

A trip to Seattle lent for some very fun water table time with cousin Caden. This little nifty toy has been a much needed relief on hot days for sure. Plus water never is boring for any age.

Also got some good gma o-o hang time in...

Picked our hearts content of strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries at Sauvie Island Farms and stocked our freezer for yummy berries in the winter. Although the blueberries are always a favorite for the boys, I love the strawberries that are so fragrant. I find that when you are in need of a reminder of Oregon summer during a totally wet winter just open the bag of frozen strawberries and take in a big whiff. YUM!

Braved camping one time and one time only this summer. We decided that luck could run out on keeping our lil' ones alive and camping was testing it a little too much---more on this later.

Went hiking and enjoyed the outdoors. Jasper impressed us by hiking an amazing 2 miles with very little complaining! He is so grown up. Before long he will be calling me from a top Half Dome to tell me he made it to the top of the world.

Enjoyed Bagby Hot Springs as a family. Some might say that the new management was an improvement for cleanliness and safety but I kinda missed the rustic feel of the place from before. Though what really counted was that the water was still nice and hot!








to be continued...