The Ultimate Paper Airplane

Tyler brought home a paper airplane he made at school today! We took it for a test drive and it flys extremely well from the kitchen to the living room! We've deemed it the ULTIMATE PAPER AIRPLANE!!!

Sarah is feeling much better!

Sarah is feeling much better today! First words out of her mouth this morning were "Look, mommy! All of my hives are gone. I don't have spots any more!" She was out decorating our sidewalks right after we walked the kids to school!

Poor Little Sarah

Well, if it wasn't enough that Sarah is recovering from an ear infection, upper respiratory infection and has been throwing up the last couple of days due to a horrible cough, this morning she woke up with hives ALL OVER HER BODY. She woke up and came into the living room and said, "Mommy, I'm itchy all over." Poor little girl is surely miserable. Now I'm trying to figure out why she has them....could be the Talapia I made her for lunch or the mango sorbet she had for snack? Or maybe a delayed reaction to her antibiotics. I'm hoping the Benadryl kicks in quickly.

I forwarded the emails...

A trip to the beach!

School was out today in honor of President's Day so the kids and I took a trip to the beach!

We stopped at the top of the coastal range to play in the snow!!!
Then we headed to the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook, Oregon!
View of the factory from the observatory.

Another view!
The kids with their Tillamook Ice Cream!!!
We went to Cape Lookout State Park and had a picnic lunch and enjoyed the sunshine and blue sky!

Then we headed north to Manhattan Beach (just north of Girabaldi, Oregon)! Sarah loved the beach and was sad when it was time to go home!
Ryan and Tyler with their moat and sand castles!
Tyler lost his tooth on the way home this evening!

Our first picnic in 2008!

Sunday afternoon we took the kids to Delta Park in Portland. We haven't seen the sun in so long, that we took advantage of the blue skys and warm (56 degrees) weather!!!! The kids were thrilled to get out and play and have our first picnic of the year!

Our first picnic!
Tori and Tyler on the tire swing!
Brandon

Tori
Tori, Tyler and Ryley
Sarah

Great Train Expo

On Sunday morning we went to The Great Train Expo that was being held in Portland, Oregon!

Train tracks with the fair in the background!
Great waterfall and bridge exhibit!
Drawbridge that actually worked as trains came and went!
Train with old town background and popcorn vendor!

Notice all the working people in the background!
Lego Train set up!
Mary Poppins on top of the house!

Seattle as a back drop (notice the space needle in the background)
Starbucks done in legos with people leaving with their mochas!
Micro trains...they had tons of details in a small amount of space!

Our first flowers!

Our first signs of spring bloomed today! Sarah was so excited to find the crocus flowers she had me take a picture!

St. Joseph to sell our house!

February 15, 2008
Well, this post is for all of our friends' and families' entertainment! We've had our house on the market for 2 weeks and had only one showing (from a nosy neighbor). A friend of mine told me that I should go and buy a St. Joseph's statue and bury it in my yard. When I told her I'd never heard of such a thing, she said she hadn't either until one of the ladies in our neighborhood had her house up for sale for several months. The lady bought the statue, buried in her back yard, and her house sold quickly after that.

Well, we can use all the help we can get in this buyer's market, so I went down to the local pharmacy and asked the sales ladies where they kept their St. Joseph's statues. It took them 15 minutes, and they finally found them. All of the gals said they have been selling like crazy. I paid my $6.99, and will bury it this weekend.

You can go to snopes and read the legend about St. Josephs http://www.snopes.com/luck/stjoseph.asp

UPDATE MARCH 18, 2008

To date, we have had to showings. One was a nosy neighbor, the other couple said the "house was too big". A friend called from Seattle and asked how I had buried St. Joseph. I told her I buried him UPSIDE DOWN in my front flower bed. (The instructions said, some believe that if you bury him upside down he will try hard to get your house sold to get out of the flower bed -- once the house is sold you are supposed to dig him up and put him in your home).

She said that was wrong and to bury him facing up......he is now buried facing upright.

UPDATE APRIL 1ST, 2008

Still no showings on our home. I have checked around and the market is so slow nobody is having any showings. Our agent is having a broker's open house this morning and providing lunch so hopefully we will have a good turn out!

*****20+ real estate agents showed up today for the open house. All with rave reviews! Suggestion was made to move our entryway side table into the dining room to open up the foyer more, so we did that.

April 17th -- Still no showings!

June 2nd -- 2 showings since my last post in April. First family said the "house was too big" in April. Second showing was in May and the family said they wanted a very specific house plan and because our home has a great room it won't work for them. We have now dropped our price $10,000.

Brandon and the Baritone!

Brandon has decided to switch from the trumpet to the Baritone!

Matt's birthday!!!

We celebrated Matt's birthday on Saturday! We went out to eat at Claim Jumper where we had an excellent meal and great service. In fact, the manager noticed that all of our entree`s didn't come out at the same time, so he treated us to dessert. A HUGE slice of ice cream pie. It was literally about 10 inches high and 6 inches wide, AND an eclair dessert (enough to feed 9!!!). There was vanilla bean ice cream on the bottom, piles of custard filled eclairs, covered with chocolate ganache and whip cream! Right before we left the restaurant the manager came over and gave Matt a box and said, "Take this home and put it in your fridge. Once the kids are in bed, enjoy it!" It was a HUGE piece of their "mother lode cake"! Picture of the "slice" is below. We weighed it and it is 2 pounds!

Matt opening his gifts!
The front of the "Mother Lode" cake2 pounds of chocolate bliss!

Way to go boys!

Brandon was recognized at his school assembly and given a "Certificate of Excellence" for problem solving! He also received a stuffed school mascot (the eagle) and a pin!
Ryan was voted classroom President for the month of February!

We are so proud of them!!!!!

Cave Men and Bud Light

Favorite Super Bowl Commercial!