Caught Red Handed

We are looking into treatment options (wink).

Duri-ecipes

Most of you know our good friends Ian and Mindy Durias. But did you know that Mindy is a very talented cook? For years now she'll tell me about something she created in the kitchen and my girlfriends and I will beg her to write down her recipes! Well, finally she and Ian have collaborated and created Mindy Cooks, a blog with a "Mindy Original" recipe every Monday.
Here's some of her vision:
"I hope these recipes inspire creativity, build confidence, and bring joy when you cook. You're encouraged to experiment with more or less of each ingredient to your liking--that's how I made these dishes up in the first place. Maybe you'll be inspired to leave your cookbook on the shelf, too. Who knows what you'll dream up!"
Yay!

Super Mario Brawlers

We're Drawing up the Appropriate Documents...

To get these two couples hitched.
:)
Brynne and Joshua Durias dancing while the babies play on the floor. Brynne says Joshua ("Cha Cha") is her bewwy best fwiend.

Accurate Acrostics?

The kids worked on these acrostics for Language Arts the other day. You gotta love the misspellings!
Jonah first:

F-faster at eating
A-and he's dashing
T-the best dad
H-halarios
E-everything good at
R-really awesome!

A-awesome
V-very cute
A-a great girl

M-marvelous!
O-olimpic (he explained that this means I am competitive!)
T-the butifalist
H-happy
E-exellent
R-rather pretty

Ava made these:

J-jam lover
O-OK but nice
N-nice and wunderful
A-akshin (action) goooooooood
H-he always has a hand

B-big but difrent (different)
L-loving
O-olwaes (always) comes when we cry
S-sweet
S-shes like a sister
U-un fer getubl (unforgettable)
M-marvuliss

P-plays stufd anumals
A-awesome
G-graet frend
E-extra fun
A-always plays with me
(this is supposed to spell Paige, her best friend and also a Durias).

Annual Beach Trip!

Thanks to Ian, I don't even have to come up with an original post about this. :)
Click here to view!
(thank you Ian!)

Getting To Thanksgiving...

We had such a relaxing Thanksgiving Day with our good friends the Durias'. Mindy and I were cooking up a storm in the kitchen and laughing at how our men were jamming on guitars together (we even heard Jon sing, which means he was really relaxed!). After we were all stuffed the adults just sat in the living room and closed our eyes for about an hour. What a blessing to have friends with whom you don't even have to make small talk. The kids had fun watching Christmas movies and playing ninjas or dollies respectively.
Click here to see who all was on our guest list. (Thanks, Ian!)

Pumpkin Patch Kids

"Ricolaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" (I made baby Samuel this sweater and hat and this was the first time he got to wear it)

Boo was a little grumpy that I wouldn't let her run to the farthest field...

BFF Makaena and Clara. Both so sweet and such a privilege to watch them grow together.

The four girls together (L-R: Paigey, Ava, Jolie, Audrey "Rosie")

The three boys together (L-R: Aidan, Tim, Jonah)

Our very own homeschool co-op! Gone are the days when we can all pile into two minivans... :)

Yup, They Look Alike

Last night Jon and I babysat Aidan and Joshua Durias. This is a conversation I had with Joshua (nearly 3) during dinner:
Joshua (Pointing to a picture of Jonah): That Boo-Boo (Brynne)?
Me: Nope, that's Jonah.
Joshua: That Joe-Joe?
Me: Yup, he's a boy. Boo-Boo's a girl.
Joshua: Oh. (pauses, then points to the picture again) That a boy Boo-Boo?

Last Ones

Mindy with a really cute hat on the beach.

Eating lunch in Astoria at the Cannery Cafe

Four Coo-Coo's in a row

Walking down the beach

Outside the Cafe in Astoria, overlooking the Columbia River.

J & E Vaca-tion at the O-cean

This weekend we dropped the kiddies off with willing Grandparents and headed out for three relaxing days to Cannon Beach with our good friends Ian and Mindy.

This is how Ian looked the whole time because he kept filming us with his new video gadget thing (what are those things called anyways?)

The last day we drove home through Astoria (since I'd never been). This is near where the Columbia River empties into the Pacific. Several tankers and a cruise ship were making their way on the river today.

Ian slept the whole way home.

Jon scratched this on a huge wall amidst other "natural graffiti". I thought it was so sweet until he continued to scratch out this:

"KISS Rocks"

Ian and Mindy at Haystack Rock

Being silly on the beach

My feet, my book (courtesy of my mom), and my coffee. I was happy, indeed.
Other highlights from the weekend included: Watching "Once" (all but the last 20 minutes when the DVD player broke), renting "3:10 to Yuma" until we figured out the DVD player really was broken), beating Ian at Hearts, drinking really great wine (courtesy of Jerry), having Jon ring the bell at the Cannon Beach Conference Center and us all running down the street like we were pulling off a tremendous and original prank, eating loads of candy, sleeping all we wanted, not having to wipe anyone's booty except our own, walking on the Oregon beach and not freezing, going on a beach weekend and not having to put on a bathing suit (yeah, all you girls know what I'm talking about), and eating fresh seafood (hey, I can appreciate it when it's fried).
We just had a wonderful wonderful time.

Whatchu Talkin' About Willis?!?!

Brynne making a funny face for Uncle Ian. (This post is dedicated to Brooke, who made me laugh so many times by making this face in college!)

War, Part 3

Jonah, Adian, and Makaena, and I (elisabeth) toured the USS Blueback Submarine at OMSI yesterday. The kids were so awestuck by how compact everything was and of course the periscope, all the switches and lights, and how cool it is that this sub had been involved in a war (Vietnam).
Plus seeing the torpedoes was really cool (about 1.2 million apiece!) Our guide asked if anyone knew the difference between a missile and a torpedo...his answer: 12 million dollars. Yikes!

Outside the partially submerged sub (we were only about 12 feet underwater).

Time with Friends

Our friends Steve and Brooke stopped over for a night on their way home to Spokane.
Addysen (almost 4) and Paige (1) are their sweet girls with Brynne in the middle.

All the kidlets in a row...

We made it to the park on a warmish Sunday--Brynne with Daddy on the swings

We met our friends there! (In case you don't know them yet, L-R: Aidan, Joshua, Jonah, Makaena, Paige, and Ava-Lou)

Paigey's Party

Jonah, Ava, Brynne, and I went to the Durias' last Saturday to help our friend Paige Elisabeth (ahem) celebrate turning the big fiver! It was a sunny and beautiful, albeit cold, day and the kids even got to play outside for most of the time.

Brynne soberly modeling the new sweater I just finished for her. I still need to add some snaps or a decorative pin (as the pattern calls for) I'm just afraid she would chew the decorative pin to shreds with those TWO teeth she has now...

Paigey and Ava eating the yummy cake Auntie Mindy made!

I guess I was grilling Paige about what's changing in her life now that she's five.
We both look pretty serious!

The rowdy "Star Wars" boys taking a break from playing to eat some lunch.
(L-R: Jonah, Aidan, Tim)