In a galaxy far far away....12.26.06

How cool is this?!? This was soooo fun! OMSI was having a Star Wars exhibit, and because we bought the membership we got tickets for $3 a piece, instead of the $15 they usually cost. They had props and costumes from all 6 movies, we took tons of pictures, this is just a few of the highlights. There was a fun Hover car that you got to drive, the kids loved it, especially Bekah. There was a little movie/show kind of thing with a C3PO talking to a real robot engineer about the differences between robots of our time and droids from the movies. They had all these real robots there to see, and there was an exhibit to build your own mini R2D2 and then program him to move around little obstacle courses,( I will be adding a video to our video site, click on the videos to see if it is there yet). There was an exhibit to make floating cars and so much more. We all had a blast. We went with the Carters, all of my family, my mom and Jim, Ty, Tab & Trae. So once again it was a very large crowd and we had a ball! We went out to dinner at La Costita afterwards, a favorite of our little group around here. They have this dish called Fundido Especial, and yummmmm! Basically it's a cream cheese, cheese & chicken chimichanga-it is divine, a must try for any mexican food lover! It was such a fun night, but we are getting a little run down, as you can see we haven't had a moments rest around here the past week or so. It's not going to get slower yet either, in 2 days we leave for Utah!

Yippee, it's Christmas!

I think I was as excited as the kids this year! For Christmas Eve I made the kids all matching pajamas, and they looked so cute! On Christmas morning everyone was very pleased with what Santa had left them, I won't list everything we got, it would go on for miles, but I will list the main highlights-Topher got a Little People's Train, Bekah got a wagon and a Tickle Me Elmo, Ryeleigh got a bike, Zachary got some cool cars, one of them even goes up the wall, Chad got a couple of AirSoft guns and I of course got scrapbooking goodies. After we filled the apartment with torn wrapping paper and empty toy boxes to the ceiling, we headed over to my moms for round 2. We got just as spoiled there if not more than we did at home! Topher got a Little People's Bus, Bekah got a cute little snap on dress doll, Ryeleigh got a Cabbage Patch Baby, Zachary got a RoboSapien, (they all got way more toys than that too, I'm talkin stacks! Plus they all got like 10 new outfits each! Yikes!) Chad got a rolling tool box, stuffed with fun treats, movies, gift cards and other goodies, and I got rolling scrapbook tote filled with more scrapbooking stuff, sheets, and earphones for the gym. We got a few family games and movies of course, (those of you who know of Chad's DVD buying addiction know what I mean). We ate lots of yummy food and just lounged all day. It was such a magical day, the kids were all wired and exhausted yet happy at the same time, even Topher could not get in a good nap. He thought it was the greatest. I thought so too, hope your Holidays were as great as ours! Merry Christmas!

Park 12.23.06

We were getting very claustrophobic in our little apartment this day. We had to get out! We went to the library for awhile and then headed over to Fairview Park. The kids got to run off some steam, and I didn't have to get after them for fighting or screaming for a few minutes. It wasn't that bad of a day out either, but still cold enough for their little noses to get red!

Zoo Lights 12.22.06

Way more fun then we could have ever hoped for! We weren't looking forward to going to the zoo in the middle of winter at night time and walk around freezing looking at some more Christmas Lights, but we are glad we did! We went with the Carters, so we were a very large group. My mom bought us a membership, because we do like the zoo here an awful lot and it wasn't much more once we paid for everyone anyway, so Thanks to you mom-love ya!
It was really cool, the lights were great, so many animated displays and fun things to see. Christopher loved the lights and was happy the entire time we were there. Most of the animals were sleeping and out of sight, but we did get to see the elephants, tiger and the awesome animals and fish in the Stellar Cove exhibit. We went for a ride on the zoo train and saw more great lights. Bekah and Ryeleigh had a blast on that. You would not believe how crowded it was though! Seriously wall to wall people, all parking lots and overflows were filled, you had to get on a shuttle to get to the line. The line was unreal! I cannot believe how many people wanted to do this! We understood though once we left, we may have just started a new family tradition.

OMSI 12.21.06

So we bought a membership to OMSI, and are we glad we did! This was the first time we had been there, and there is so much to do! Bekah & Topher loved playing in the sand in the Discovery Playground which is just for kids under 6. The older kids loved all the hands on science stuff, Chad loved all the Brain Teaser puzzles and I loved taking pictures and watching everyone have fun. We took along Tab, Ty and our friend David Carter who is visiting for the Holidays. We had so much fun, and we didn't even see half of the things to see there. Luckily we did buy the membership, so we can come back all year or we would have never been able to get Bekah out of the sandbox!

Christmas Ships

Just one more of our little Christmas activities this week. This was Wednesday night. We went with my mom, Tab & Trae(who just got home from their cruise in Mexico) and our friend David Carter.

We went down to the river in Milwaukie and sat at the dock for over an hour waiting for the ships to come in. This was the last night they were doing it, I guess they are all just volunteers with boats who decorate them and float down the river during Christmas time. It was fun, once they actually came, but we got a little bored sitting in the car waiting for them to come. We had to entertain ourselves by blinding the kids with the cameras flash, which is what this picture of Zachary is. The boats were cool, Chad's favorite was the Santa in the canoe, the kids favorite was the fire engine, that even had a siren and the guy driving had a megaphone and got the crowd all screaming and honking. It was a memorable experience! After this, we all went out to dinner at Chang's Mongolian Grill, Yum!

Church Christmas Party

We went to our ward Christmas Party on the 15th. Although a little lame, we still had fun seeing friends and watching Bekah think she was one of the big kids singing Christmas carols with them. Then of course there was Santa-in the words of Chad, "I reckon that's the real one, right there!" Bekah would not go anywhere near him without me holding her, and Christopher, well since he couldn't run away, you can see his reaction here... You might want to click on the picture to make it larger...What a mean mom, all for the sake of a picture!

Discovering Peacock Lane

This was last night, and it was really cool. It's a fun old street in Portland that all the houses go way overboard decorating. Everyone gets out and walks down both sides of the street ooohing and aaaahing at all the lights. It was freezing, so we got bundled up good. All the kids loved it, especially Christopher. We went with my mom and because we didn't know we were going to do this, until we were there, we had to borrow some bundling from her, so that's why Ryeleigh has on gloves about 5 times her size! We had just come from shopping at the mall and getting portraits taken. It was a full day, that's for sure, but the kids slept great!

Happy Holiday Portraits

We took the kids into Picture People to get their photos done. Here are the results! I'm really happy with them, Christopher wouldn't smile, but at least none of the kids are making goofy faces!

They're Back!!!

Zachary & Ryeleigh got in tonight, much to Bekah's delight. She has not settled down since they got here. We hadn't told them about the dog, so when we got home we opened the door to their room and Bauer came bounding up. Ryeleigh squealed "A PUPPYYYYYYYYYYY!" It was quite cute. We have them for the next 2 crazy, fun and I'm afraid very loud weeks. We are glad that they are here though!

Discovering The Vista House

This last week we braved the freezing cold wind and drove down the Columbia River Historic Highway. This is such a beautiful highway, with stunning views of the gorge along the way, it also goes right past Multnomah Falls. We didn't go all the way to the falls though. We stopped at the Vista House. I had seen this before on a drive down the highway, but never stopped there. It is this gorgeous building at the highest point of the winding road. It has view points to look out at the river. As the supervisor for the building of the highway and the Vista House Samuel Lancaster put it, it is "an observatory from which the view both up and down the Columbia could be viewed in silent communion with the infinite." The view was fantastic. We went inside, it is this big open room with pillars and an incredible ceiling and floor. You can go downstairs and see some of the history from the building and the building of the highway, there is also a cafe and gift shop which were closed for the season. The lady who worked there was very nice and gave the kids some souvenier pins which Bekah displays proudly on her coat for everyone to see, (she tells people all about it whenever she has her coat on). We didn't take too many photos because it was FREEZING, so we'll have to go back when it is warmer, but wow, it really was gorgeous. If you want to see some more pictures of the building or highway and find out more of it's history you can go the website. http://www.vistahouse.com

Jolly Old Saint Nick

For Family Night on Monday we decided to go out to Washington Square Mall and see Santa. We were a little worried about how the kids would handle him, but they were both champs, at least for the picture. Topher wasn't so sure about him, but he didn't cry at all he just reached for me after I snapped this photo. Bekah wouldn't talk to him until after she was off his lap, but she snuggled right onto his lap when he picked her up. She really loved it.

At this mall there is also an 8 foot tall bear named Chester that will talk to you and sing Christmas songs with you. Bekah must have carried on a 10 minute conversation with the bear about the Tickle me Elmo she wants for Christmas, bicycles, her Christmas tree and who knows what else.

We had a lot of fun just walking around the mall and looking at all the decorations in the windows and the hallways. Bekah especially loved the Build a Bear store and the Disney store, it was kind of hard to pull her away from them. It was a really great night though, I sure love having Chad home so early in the day, we were able to get to the mall before the crowds got there. We've been able to have some really fun time together as a family thanks to his schedule. We are a very blessed family!

It's Begining to look a lot like Christmas!

After we brought the tree home and Chad got it all ready for the house, we got straight to work making our home ready for the Holidays. We got out our two huge totes of decorations, made a mess of them and then put them in all the nooks and crannies of our small little apartment. The tree was a lot bigger than we thought it was and takes up a good portion of our living room. It's really pretty though and both of the kids' eyes light up whenever they come into the room. They love it! Bekah was a lot of help decorating the tree this year, she even put the star on top! Christopher loved the lights, but the tree kept brushing the top of his head when he crawled under it, so he didn't want to be under it at all. He is having a ball with all the metal canisters though. I have about a dozen of them and decided since I don't have holiday goodies in them yet, they can be his drums for now. I have them all in a little corner with the Christmas stuffed toys and board books. It is feeling quite Christmasy in here!

Cutting Down O Tannenbaum

On Saturday, we decided to get our tree. We thought that this year that we would go to one of those U-cut places because Chad thought it would be fun. We drove around to different places looking around and feeling kind of disappointed in the selection of trees they had. So we didn't stop at any of them. We then saw a handmade sign that said Martin's U-cut Tree's in Boring, so we followed the signs for a long way out and found the cutest little Christmas tree farm! It had probably thousands of trees in all different varieties and sizes, they provided the saw if you didn't have one,(we did of course, have you met my husband?), they had a darling little wreath shop with free hot cocoa and twine to tie up your tree. Once we found the tree of our dreams and Bekah and Chad cut her down and put it top of the car the people there gave us all a little candy cane on our way out. It was such a fun experience, despite the bitter cold that was going right through us in sudden batches of wind. We recommend this place to any of you Oregonians that are looking for a good, real, fresh tree. Bekah had an absolute blast picking out "her" tree, and "helping" dad cut it down. Christopher was happy as usual, doing whatever, even in the cold! I was enjoying doing something Christmasy with the family and Chad was thinking he was pretty cool with his little tree saw. It was a fun family activity for all.