Found....

Found Cousin IT in my living room this morning... and can't find Sarah...hmmmmmm!!!

Tyler's 10th Birthday Trip

Bright and early Wednesday morning, Tyler and Matt headed to San Diego for Ty's 10th birthday trip!!!

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Food Carting....

On Monday, my friend Angelica and I headed to Portland for one of my favorite lunch adventures.... Food Carts!!  Portland is known for its food carts, and I am bound and determined to try them all eventually!!!

Our original plan was to head to Mississippi Marketplace, to try some of the food carts there.   We drove 45 minutes to Portland....were thrilled to find a parking spot right next to the marketplace and the food carts....and then realized why we were SO LUCKY!!  The food carts are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays....  SIGH!!!!!

Not to worry....Being a Food Cart Junkie I knew exactly where to go, and we headed back Portland and found (once again) a GREAT parking spot right by the parking lots that have dozens of food carts on 10th and Alder!!!

After literally walking around to each and every food cart, we made our choice......

Angelica in front of the "Bento" food cart!!!!

Me with our food and our chopsticks....(note here, Angelica and I will be practicing our chop stick skills in the future...as rice can take a LONG time to eat if you go with the stab and scoop method)

Our DELICIOUS food!!  Salad, glass noodles, Kimchee (to spicy for us to try), I had teryaki chicken over rice and she had their spicy chicken over rice, and we had an appetizer of pot stickers.

After eating and eating and eating until we couldn't eat anymore, we saw a homeless person going through the trash.  He was thrilled to have our left overs ... in his words "I'll definitely take it.  It is FRESH food!!!"   (Note to self....another thing I take for granted on a daily basis..not just having food, but FRESH food)

It was a fabulous afternoon and I'm looking forward to the day we go back again to Mississippi Avenue when those carts are open :)

Dinner, Ducks and a Downpour

 On Friday night, Matt and I headed to Portland for dinner at Morton's Steakhouse to celebrate his latest promotion!!!

 Matt with his margarita ----  Grainy photo is thanks to having the ORIGINAL iphone, with no flash and having the "ambiance" lighting provided in the restaurant. 

 

 Morton's restaurant customized our menus for the evening!!!

 My appetizer -- Tuna Tartare  -- Delicious!  I didn't take any other food photos....too busy devouring the wonderful food they offer!!!  

One picture I wanted to take -- but didn't.....  While sitting at our table, there was a wheeled cart, that was against the wall, behind Matt.  On the cart were 3 silver platters.  One platter with vegetables, one platter with all of the different steaks they offer on the menu, and one with a lobster.  While chatting with Matt, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move (long antennae).  Thought I was imagining it, until I saw a much more noticeable movement (the leg) of the 4 pound Maine Lobster.  Which then resulted in my saying "Matt,  there is a live lobster on the platter....isn't there supposed to be a tank somewhere???"  As it would be "bad manners" to get up and take a photo of Mr. Lobster...I had the opportunity to visit him up close when our friendly waiter "Jeremy" wheeled the cart over for our dining experience lesson (always nice to have a lobster right next to you -- lucky guy was flown in that day from Maine).  We learned about the veggies, the steaks and the lobster (no tanks....they breed bacteria, and one bad lobster infects the rest, so they fly the lobsters in every day, and have them individually wrapped in seaweed.  Within 2-3 days, those left over become lobster bisque.

 My end of the 5 course meal coffee beverage -- OH SO good!!!

 Saturday morning, Matt and 3 of the boys headed south to Eugene to attend the Oregon Ducks vs. Portland State Football game.  Above is a photo of my "Duck Men" -- note Brandon is not in the photo because he is an Oregon State BEAVERS fan.  He was a good sport and donned a Ducks baseball hat at the game but was not willing to be in the family "duck fan" photo!!!

 The boys in front of the Moshofsky Center

 The field at Autzen Stadium

 The boys cold and wet....it rained throughout the entire game, and the score at half time was around 54-0, so after warming up for a bit in the Moshofsky Center they all decided they'd rather head home and listen to the rest of the game on the radio.  That ended up being an excellent choice, because those that stayed for the entire game got stuck in the Duck and Beaver (who also had a game that day) traffic on I-5 and took them over 5 hours to get home (normally a 1 1/2 hour drive).

On Saturday night, at about 9pm a storm came in.  You know the storms, where all of a sudden you hear rain POUNDING on the roof, and within 2 minutes the gutters are overflowing, the street is full and the drains cannot keep up and there is flooding in the streets.  The temperature was actually pretty warm, so Matt and I drug a few of the kids outside and taught them one of life's lessons --  Sometimes you have to learn to dance in the rain!!!  They had a GREAT time puddle jumping, running around, and trying to do baseball slides across the front lawn. 

 Soaked from head to toe!!!

Charger coming in after playing for an hour in the rain!

 The kids having fun in the storm

Learning to do a baseball slide.....

Fun lunch option of the day....

Sarah with today's fun lunch option ---  Hot Dog bun filled with peanut butter, honey, a banana and strawberry syrup!!! 

Fun sandwich mission....

Help!!!!!!!

I have made it my mission for the year to make some creative sandwiches/lunches for the kids that will keep their friends asking "What on earth is that????"  So far, I've done pretty well.....   There was the Belgian Waffle I made, that I cut in half, then slathered with Nutella and added sliced bananas.  Very delicious!!!

There was the Banana Bread sandwich with various fillings -- Peanut Butter..... or Honey Butter.....Or Cinnamon Cream Cheese with vanilla

I am in desperate need of some more fun ideas.  If you have any, please post them in the comments below, or if you have links to some fun brown bag lunch sites, I can use those as well!!!! 

Today's sandwich was Shish Kabob sandwiches (idea sent to me by my mom) --  Skewers with mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese, grapes, deli sliced turkey, and banana bread cubes (photo she sent also included apples, but we were out, and me going to the store in the morning in PJs ...not really enticing in the least).

If you have any more fun ideas...please please please....post them below under comments!!!!!  Thank you!!!

Apple Cider Season!!!

Today was the first day of Apple Cider season at our favorite Farm!!!  So, Sarah and I took a little road trip this morning before school to stock our fridge with a couple of gallons (that should last us a day or so.....)

Adding to our delight...it is almost pumpkin season!!!  

Mums and pumpkins.....True Fall Love

We stopped by the barn so Sarah could feed the goats..... There are a new set of triplets there "Edgar"  "Allen" and "Poe"

Is this guy a stud or what.....LOVE the trendy hairdo!!!

This little guy..not sure if he is "Edgar" "Allen" or "Poe" apparently loves the flavor of Sarah's shirt  (naughty naughty)

Congratulations are in order......

Tuesday evening we had a family celebration!!!  Matt was offered a promotion and he accepted!!!  We made Matt's favorite dinner and put up some decorations to surprise him when he arrived home!!!!            
The best news of all --- He'll be back working in Oregon!!!

Another fun weekend.....

There weren't a whole lot of photos taken this weekend, but we had a great time with Matt's mom who came up to spend the weekend with us!!!  Below are the few photos we took!!!

 Tori Lynn

Sarah

Every girl should have a feather boa in their closet...

Out to dinner at Claim Jumper Saturday night....Tori's hamburger is almost as large as her face!!!

  Ryan and Ryley's baseball team played against Molalla on Sunday morning and won 12-4.

Unfortunately, since Matt is the coach, I was doing the score book and Tori was running the score board, we didn't get a single picture....

Thanks for coming to spend the weekend with us Omie!!!!

Sarah's first day of Kindergarten

Today is Sarah's official first day of Kindergarten!!!!!  She is SUPER excited!!!!!

She LOVES her Hello Kitty backpack!!!!

The bus comes right to our house to pick her up!!! 

We went jewelry shopping this morning...because every Kindergartner needs a little "bling" on her first day!!!

When she saw the bus turn onto our street she had a smile from ear to ear and announced "Here it comes!!!  Here it comes!!!"  She was SO excited to go on her first school bus ride!!!!

Meanwhile, I held back the tears (as best I could) and wished her a wonderful day....and then once the bus drove off the floodgates opened......

Letting go sure makes my heart hurt........

It is back to school season.....

It is back to school season and all of the kids were looking forward to their first day of school!!

Brandon's first day at the high school relatively well.....he caught the bus (for the first time!!!).....sat through orientation.....for some reason they didn't have his schedule, so after the tour of the school he headed to the counseling office to get his schedule and came home.  The good news...they gave him a schedule...but it was missing his band class, so his schedule had to be redone and he is supposed to receive it today (Wednesday morning).  The bad news...since he didn't have his schedule with him, he has no idea where any of his classes are.  Nothing like an adventure to start out your high school year!!!

Tyler is in 5th grade and still in the Spanish Immersion Program!!!  He spends half of his day learning in Spanish (classes in Spanish are reading and mathematics) and half the day in English (science and social studies I believe...but could be wrong...).  He is thrilled to have several of his good friends in his class this year.  The best news of all.......He has his FAVORITE teacher again this year.  Mrs. Reid (who was his teacher in 3rd grade) who is absolutely phenomenal!!!

Little miss Sarah starts Kindergarten this year and is SO excited to start attending school!!!  She is pictured above on the left with two of her favorite friends!!!

All 3 of her friends from dance class transferred to her school from other schools in the area and they ended up in the same class together!!!  They'll be spending 80% of their class time learning in Spanish!!!  It is going to be a SUPER fun year for these wonderful girlies!!!!

Ryan is starting 8th grade this year!!!  

Tori Lynn is in 7th grade this year!!!!

Ryley is in 8th grade this year!!!!

My THREE middle schoolers on their first day at their new Middle School!!!!  They were all excited to head out the door this morning!!!!

Of course....I had to follow them with the camera this morning as they left the house.....

and down the sidewalk

and past the neighbors as they headed down the street

and it was at about this point this morning when I ran ahead to take some more photos...while I was cheering "Papparazzi!!!  Papparazzi!!!"  That a neighbor across the street (who I didn't see originally)  shouted out "I take it this is the first day of school?????"   

YIKES!!!!  How embarrassing........as I then decided to scurry quickly back home........ and I'm sure my kids were THRILLED that I was no longer on their trail!!!!

Labor Day weekend

A few snippets of how we celebrated our Labor Day weekend......

Matt's cousin Susan sent us a recipe for S'mores Cocktails --- They were delicious!!!!

S'mores Cocktail

2(12-ounce)cans evaporated milk 

4(28-gram) envelopes milk chocolate hot chocolate mix 

1/2 cup chocolate or vanilla vodka 

8 large marshmallows 

1.) In an 8-cup microwave-safe glass ...measuring cup, pour evaporated milk. Microwave on High for 3 to 4 minutes, or until hot. 

2.) Whisk in chocolate mix, whisking until smooth. Stir in vodka. Pour into mugs, and top each with 2 marshmallows and 1 teaspoon chocolate shavings.

 Saturday night we headed into Portland to Helium Comedy Club with several friends where we watched 3 comedians...the headliner for the show was Todd Glass.

 After the show we all headed to Burnside Street in Portland where we stood in line for 40 minutes (after 10pm, the people watching is almost as entertaining as the Comedians at Helium Comedy Club) at Voodoo Doughnuts!!!

What we learned --

1.  One of the couples with  us appeared to be in fear for the lives, while standing in line.  Not sure if it was because the line was 1/2 a block long and rambling (and one groping) transient paced the block, or the fact that there is an adult "business" along that block where ALL SORTS of eclectic people came and went, or the fact that they didn't understand the concept of why people would stand in line for 40 minutes, in the middle of the night, in the seedy part of town for a doughnut.  I do believe I may have to pay for their therapy.

2.  When Brides and Grooms, on their wedding night arrive, people allow them to cut in front of the line.

3.  On 3rd and Ash there was a rocking bucket band!!!!  No tickets needed!!

4.  Either my friend Mechelle and I look really young (which I'm voting for since we were carded at the comedy club) or Mechelle's husband looks really old, since a transient..after asking for one of our doughnuts (and was told NO..per the sign in Voodoo that clearly states not to feed the homeless people that loiter on their sidewalks) asked Mechelle's husband if we were his daughters.

Our 2 dozen doughnuts.... worth every minute we spent in line!!!!

Monday, Matt, Sarah and I spent several hours at Swan Island Dahlias!!!  They had almost 400 floral arrangements showcasing their dahlia varieties!!!

Sarah with her balloon caterpillar

Acres and acres of dahlias

Sarah in the dahlia field

 

My friend Heather teaching a floral arranging class.  She is the 3rd generation at the dahlia farm!!!

 Monday evening we headed to the baseball field for the twins to practice for the upcoming fall ball season.

 Ryan

 Ryley

 

 Tyler

 Sarah and Tori on the playground