Pictures

Here are the promised pictures!

We are Oregonians!

I am bummed to be posting without pictures - which we do have! - but I can't go any longer without a post:o).

We spent a beautiful day on the beach in Cannon Beach on Saturday. It was sunny and warm enough, believe it or not you fellow NWerners, that we could run around in swimsuits! (Okay, the kids and Bryce ran around in swimsuits - I wore my cloths...) And the ocean water was "warm" enough to stick our feet in. Bryce even went nearly waist deep!

So true to Oregon nature... this weather was not to last.

Sunday morning we had an 8 mile run to accomplish and thought it would be great to run on the beach (which is a total of 5.4 miles long - thanks Dad:o). Well, it was a wet day. By that I mean, it wasn't truly raining... it was misting - a very usual Oregon Coast day. (Late August and it's grey, wet and in the 60's)

In Michigan - we wouldn't have gone out. However, we are in Oregon!

The kids got bundled in rain coats and ponchos, two very neatly wrapped plastic bundles in the stroller, and off we went! We ran what we gussed to be 4 miles one way and 4 miles back... the whole time fighting coast breezes (more like gusty winds with sand pelting our exposed legs, because of course, we are wearing shorts!!). We were drenched in about 2 seconds, but it wasn't "cold" so we persevered.

There were others as brave as we were... so we weren't totally crazy. However, some where along the way it started truly raining, and when we got back we could wring water out of our socks and had puddles in our shoes... not to mention what the rest of us looked like. The kids were completely covered and came out totally dry - with the exception of Jadon, who didn't like his feet covered, go figure, and was slightly damp on his legs.

We got our 8 miles in, and proved we are still Oregonians to the core! Yay us! Also true to being Oregonian, we had hot showers and snuggled in sweats and had hot drinks while napping in front of the Discovery channel's showing of a baby tigers documentary, much to both kids' delight. Later we went out for coffee. Yup, it's good to be back:o)!

Pictures will follow soon.

Father and Son

This conversation took place as Bryce and Jadon were walking around the yard outside. Camdon is our 10 year-old neighbor a couple of houses down.

"Dad, you look like Camdon when you do that."

"I look like Camdon?"

"Yeah, but Camdon has a round head, not a carrot face like you."

"You think my face looks like a carrot?"

"Yep."

Bryce cracked up laughing - as did I! (and Camdon's parents when they heard the story!!)

Women of Faith Weekend in Indianapolis

For the second year I was able to spend the weekend with my neighbor, Sheila, and women from her church in Indianapolis for Women of Faith conference.

It was incredible! So totally what I needed to hear and be encouraged in for this time in my life.
Plus we stayed in a 5 star hotel for two nights at $40 a night!! Can't beat that:o) Everything was within walking distance, and we were able to peruse the mall and eat at some amazing restaurants. (PH Changs & Buca di Beppo)

This, unfortunately, is the only picture I got for the whole weekend! We weren't aloud to take cameras into the arena, so I left mine in the room... the whole time. Sheila got a couple, which I'm hoping to get from her and post one of these days:o).

I'm so thankful for the break this weekend provided - I've got such a great guy, who let's me leave him alone with a house full of work to be done and two kiddos!!! This was truly refreshing & so much fun!

Our weekend in the UP

We had the amazing privilege of spending last weekend in the UP with our friend Lonnie at his grandparents' fishing cabins.
We spent time exploring three of the great lakes (Superior, Heron & Michigan), hunting for crawdads and frogs, playing in the wanter, having a camp fire with sparklers... among other totally amazing activities.

There is a story behind the top I'm wearing... as I will be in my sister wedding later this summer, and wearing a strapless dress I have been trying hard to keep the strap tan lines at bay... so this is my beach outfit.
The reason I'm wearing it here is because I misunderstood that we were going on a hike before we hit the beach... I thought we were hiking to the beach... so in a lot of our pictures I'm the dork hiking in a tube top and tennis.

Tube top and all it was a weekend full of laughs, games and fun!
Thanks, Lonnie for the rousing games of peanuts!

Crazy Fluke

While trying to retrieve a match box car from this little bike Jadon got his arm literally stuck in the tunnel!
I tried everything I could think of to get it un-stuck... which led to a lot of tears and wincing in pain for J. We resorted to margarine even... but to no avail!

Instead we called Dad, who told us to stay put and if he couldn't get the bike apart we'd take him to the ER...

So Elie and I made Jadon as comfy as we could...

Devoted sister that she is, Elie brought Jadon his blanket and passy...

When that worked it's magic they decided to play a game until Dad got home...

It took Bryce literally two minutes to get his arm out! The miracle of Dad's!!!
(seriously, I tried all the same things he did - what's up with that??)

All is well now. We know not to stick our limbs into small spaces... lesson learned, for the time being.

Dress Up

My son, King Saigon My daughter, Queen Esther

Oh the fun that kids come up with on a cloudy day with a box of dress-ups! (By the way, the costume Elie is wearing was mine for my Jewish pre-school festivities - I was Queen Esther. Thanks, mom, for years of fun!!!)

(And, no, I'm not Jewish by heritage, race or religious preferences... it just happened to be the community pre-school in Denver, Colorado.)

A Conversation

This is a conversation that took place on our family walk tonight and so eloquently depicts the differences in personality between our son and daughter.

Bryce and Elie had been behind Jadon and I to fix Elie's shoe. Elie had caught up but Bryce was still behind, jogging to catch up. ( A favorite game with the kids is that Bryce and I are the monsters when they run ahead) Jadon had a firm hold on my hand, and had been displaying his manhood by "helping" me walk.

Elie: Breathless and giddy with anticipation, "The monster is coming!!"

Pause, as Jadon languidly looks back. "Yeah. I know." Hand firmly holding mine.

Elie: "Run!" squeals, "Run, Jadon - the monster is getting closer - Run!"

Jadon: "What for?"

Elie: "He's going to get us!!!" And she runs ahead squealing.

Jadon: Deep breath. "If you say so." Hand still firmly holding mine. Another pause, languid look over his shoulder, then decides it might be fun to run and takes off.

God In My Tummy

I woke up this morning to sweet cuddles from my boy. My daughter was already dressed and eating breakfast in the kitchen. When Jadon heard the noises he turned his tussled head so that our noses touched. "Mommy," he said, "are you hungry too?"

"Mmmmm," was all I got out, as I forced my eyes open to look at him.

"Well," he says, "God is in my tummy and He's yelling for food now."

I chuckled and kissed his forehead, "okay, hon."

"He is in my tummy, right mom?" Jadon persisted.

"Well, not quite," I began, willing my sleep muddled brain to work out a logical 3-year-old explanation.

"Okay, if you say so," He responded doubtfully, "But Someone's yelling for food down there."

First Fresh Produce...

From OUR garden!!!!
We've got bell peppers that will go into chicken fajitas tonight!
And a couple of green tomatoes that Jadon got ambitions over:o)... He's just 3 after all! But that gives us a chance to try our hand and making fried green tomatoes - a Paulson family favorite!!
Thanks to Lonnie Allen!!!

Day at the Beach

Today was beautiful! It was a bit overcast as we headed to Gun Lake with the Eaton family packed into our car. We were treated to an amazing sandy beach, cool water and beautiful sunny weather as the clouds blew away. The kids had such a blast playing in the sand, swimming, eating lunch and meeting friends. Check out the photos here: Day at the Beach

Outing to the Zoo

We decided to visit the zoo while Bryce was in Memphis, Tn. We met our friends, the DeVires family there and ate lunch, played and checked out the animals. It was a blast!

Here is Elie and Micah on the TrainJadon loving on a goat in the petting zoo

Playing the drum - just like in Africa!

Petting a milk snake... the Mom's didn't do it.

My Flowers!

My flowers have bloomed!

Okay so I just posted about Jadon... but as I sit here typing Elie is in the kitchen sounding out words! She is so cute!!! I'm not sure what she's reading, as the sounds haven't quite come together, but she's happy as a clam just sounding out letters... I just had to blog about that:o).

Big Boy Now!

I hesitate to even write this... as we went a week in underpants before, but suddenly had a day of accidents... however, as of today Jadon has gone two full weeks in big boy underpants!!!

I actually had a picture of him in his new undies... but it is now lost in the abyss of my files, so this one is just for a visual of my big boy:o).

We went the whole week at camp in underpants, with the exception of nights, where we used a pull up - but, we never had a wet pull up!

Dare I hope we've seen the last of our diaper days?!!