1 Day, 2 Parades

Finally we had a sunny day in Portland! It is June and we haven't had more than one sunny day in a row in weeks. I swear, there has been more rain recently than I can ever remember happening. It's nice for all those ferns we transplanted, but not so nice for Elliott who wants to be outside all day, every day.

But, the sun gods shined on us yesterday and gave us one really nice, warm sunny day. Just in time for the Starlight Parade during our annual Rose Festival. Saturday morning Dan took Elliott to Wilsonville (where his parents live and my sister, Amy) to watch the "Junk to Funk" parade. They were joined by Dan's Mom and Grandma. Dan decided this was the perfect parade for Elliott to watch. It was 20 minutes and every few minutes he was given either a new toy or candy. Can it get any better than that? Dan received 2, 24 oz cans of Monster Energy Drink....he was thrilled!




Later that night Dan, Elliott and I went to the Starlight Parade in downtown Portland. We met up with my sister, Sarah, and her family Ryan, Grace and Brooke. As we waited for the Starlight Run to take place - a 5k that happens before the parade - the kids got to play with sidewalk chalk and frisbees in the middle of the road. Here is Sarah playing Ring-around-the-rosie with Grace and Elliott:




We decided that this parade wasn't good for Elliott. We had to wait for way too long for the floats and even though the run was fun he wasn't into watching people running. We didn't leave Portland until 11pm and he was exhausted. Maybe in a few years he'll be happier to sit and watch a parade. Until then we'll stick to 20 minute parades with candy.

On Thursday we had a non-rainy afternoon and went down to Amy's to test our her new trampoline. The three little kids, Grace, Elliott and Caleb got to play on it together. Once Grace and Elliott warmed up to it they had a great time.

May 2010

Big Kid Bed

Well, Elliott is graduating up to a big kid bed in the next few weeks. For the past few days I've seen him experimenting with putting his foot on the edge of his crib. Yesterday Dan saw it and said Elliott was "practicing" his escape. So, we went out and go E a big bed. Much debate over getting a twin v. a full/queen. The twin size won out in the end. For the time being Elliott is sleeping in his port-a-crib because the sides are too high to climb out of. I can't say I'm looking forward to teaching Elliott how to stay in his bed at night. It's nice to put him in his crib and walk away when necessary. Nap and bed time just might get harder...

I mentioned that Dan and I were going to the beach, baby free! We had a great time with out friends. Of course, we both missed Elliott. But, it was really nice to have the time away from him to just be ourselves again. Unfortunately, I got sick on Saturday night and have still been fighting the cold...10 days later. Guess that's what happens when you are on immune suppressors. :(

Shopping Carts

When Elliott and I go grocery shopping he is more often than not unhappy in the cart. I can understand why. At the same time there is so much to look at in the grocery store I do wish that he would just "suck it up" and be good!

However, his cart at home...you can't keep him out of it.


I just had to take it away from him for a couple of days because he decided it was a good idea to stand in it and rock back and forth (multiple times). Smart thinking, kid!

In other news...Dan and I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary this week! I can't believe it has been 5 years already. It doesn't seem like it could have been that long. We are leaving on Thursday to go to the beach with friends. Elliott is coming down with us for one night then Chris and Larry are watching him the rest of the weekend. We are very excited to have a whole weekend of sleeping in and hanging out with friends without having to worry about Elliott.

New Doors!

We live in an old house. I think it was built in 1923 and there are a lot of upgrades that we could do, if we chose to. This past year Dan has replaced the stairway with nice new Douglas Fir treds and new white risers. We still have a bit of work to do to finish that project, it's probably 90% completed. But, we decided to install 2 new exterior doors with money from our tax return. When we moved in we knew both doors needed to be replaced at some point, it was just a matter of saving the money and then choosing the doors. With the arrival of Elliott we fell a bit behind in repairs, just too busy with a new baby. Yesterday the new doors were installed for us and they are AMAZING! It is weird to be so excited about doors? I don't think so, not if you understood just how bad the old doors were.

The door out to our garden had a hole cut in it for a dog door. We just put some plywood on the outside and left it that way. The door was really old, the glass was single pane. Around the lock mechanism you could actually see outside. Basically there was a lot of air leakage. Here is the old door from the inside and then a picture from the outside:




Now here is the new door:




Here is the door from our basement hallway out to our back patio. Before it was a terrible slab door with a dinky hole cut into it:




Now it is so pretty!




The installers said that this basement door was one of the most challenging they had every done. Made me very thankful that we decided to have them install for us, rather than Dan learning how to do it on his own.

Can't wait to see what a difference not having those two leaky doors will make in our heating bill next winter.

Tulip Festival '10

On Friday Elliott and I went to the Tulip Festival with both of my sisters and their kids. We were celebrating Sarah's 34th Birthday - Sarah, you are old! Ha ha, just kidding. It's just nice to know that even though I just turned 30 she is now 34 :) (evil smile, he he).

The kids had a great time. There were a lot of activities to do without even going to look at the amazing tulip fields. Everyone, except E and I, went on a cow ride around the farm. I'm not sure what I was thinking...I think I thought someone needed to guard the strollers. I'm sure they would have been just fine. Maybe next year we can go on the ride.

Sarah and Grace getting ready to start the cow ride:


Amy with Cameron, Josh and Caleb:


Elliott on the horse swing:


Elliott sniffing the tulips:


Getting ready to investigate more tulips:


Tulip fields:


Brooke and Josh on the walk back:


Elliott is chatting up a storm recently. His new favorite word is "Amy". This morning he pointed at a picture of Amy and said her name. We are now working on the names of all the other aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc... Owl is still a good standby, as well as turtle. We also think he says, " I want that". What manners he has!

Easter Picture Extravaganza!

Sorry for the lack of updating! I have no excuses, I'm just too lazy to hop on the computer at night to update the blog. We've been spending some time outside - when it's not raining. Dan and I had a great adventure which ended with us having a car towed out of our backyard... It is finally spring here and while it is still raining a lot, there have been quite a few great sunny days. A few weeks ago Elliott and I went on a big bike ride with both of my sisters and their kids. Amy and I towed 2 kids each while Sarah, Josh and Brooke all rode by themselves. It was really fun, though I did have a hard time riding up hill pulling at least 60lbs. of kid behind me. I had intended to take pictures of this fun trip, but was working too hard to remember the camera.

This past week was very busy for us. I think we had something happening every day, which is unusual for life around here. On Saturday we went to Wilsonville (we spend a lot of time there) and had Easter with my family at Amy's house. The kids played and did a little egg hunt inside.

Most of the cousins:

Brooke has a bruised eye because she ran into a door knob earlier in the week

Caleb:


Cameron hunting for eggs:


Elliott showing off his loot:


Elliott totally understood hunting for eggs, though most of them needed to be fairly obvious. I have a video I'll post below of him doing a small hunt at the Porter's house on Sunday. The most thrilling part of the day was also very scary! Elliott fell all the way down Amy's stairway. We are so thankful that Ryan was so quick on his feet and was able to, somehow, get to Elliott in time to catch his head before it hit the hardwood floor. E seemed to be fine, amazingly. He was very scared but didn't have even a bruise. In all, I think we are very happy and thankful as it could have been so much worse. We also learned that Elliott is into "group comfort". He had to be comforted by me first, then Dan, then Grandma, then Amy... then Amy gave him chocolate milk and he was fine.

On Sunday we had Easter with Dan's family. (I guess it's helpful that my sisters are nurses and always seem to have to work so that we move holidays around.) It was a pretty low key celebration compared to the day before. Elliott played with his Easter loot - including a new broom! Then went down for a nap while the rest of us ate dinner without him. I sometimes forget how nice it is to eat without him there. After his nap he discovered the broom again and went to work cleaning house.


Egg hunt:


We had a great weekend and had fun celebrating with all of our family.