Parade Happenings

Last weekend we went to the Starlight Parade in Portland. Sydney had so much fun! We always get there way early to get a good spot. Sydney was very good about staying in her chair while all the cars were still driving right by us.


Of course, the best part of the parade isn't the parade itself, it's waiting for the parade to start. That's when you can eat licorice...


...play with bubbles once they close the street to traffic...


...and do sidewalk chalk on an otherwise very busy road.


Of course, you can't do sidewalk chalk without having a chalk outline drawn of yourself.


Then it's time for some goofing off with the auntie who is freshly home from college, then have some roadside Pizza Schmizza right before the parade starts.


Once the parade does start, the best thing to do is snuggle up with a Barbie blanket and your daddy for some good, warm parade fun.

Indoor Picnic

One of the many things I love about Sydney is how little it takes to make her happy. Last week while making breakfast I decided to surprise her with an indoor picnic. Same food, same time, just throw down a blanket and call it a picnic and she's happy. Little things like this are what I love the most about being her mommy.

This is What Pregnant Looks Like

I am 31 weeks along in my pregnancy now. Up until about 2 weeks ago, I would have said this pregnancy was flying by. Well, it's come to a screeching halt now. I feel as if every day were 10 days. I am so tired all the time. Thank you Jesus for my wonderful husband who pampers me and makes me relax. It's not the size of my girth, per se, that is uncomfortable. It's this horrible, excrutiating pain in my pelvis and constant, nagging cramping that bothers me the most. It's ok, someday I'll make Savannah pay for this discomfort, and Sydney for what she did to my ribs when I was expecting her. Maybe I'll show up to their school in my bathrobe or something when they're 16. This is what I think about at night when I'm lying in bed, not able to get comfortable enough to sleep. Anyway, here's a shot of what I look like at 31 weeks.


I had a little trip to the hospital a while back with some constant cramping. I can't take the medicine to stop contactions because it makes your heartrate go really fast, which is already something I've been dealing with this pregnancy, so I have to ward off labor the only other way...water. Dehydration is a huge factor in pre-term labor, so instead of the normal 2 liters of water a day, I have to drink 3. It's AWFUL!! I feel so bloaty and full of water all the time. I am sick, sick, sick of the taste of water, too. Lemons and limes help, but until someone invents chocolate flavored water, I'm just in it for the long haul. Here's what I stare at all day:


And if I really want to spice things up, it's water of the bottled variety for me. Whoo hoo.

It's totally worth it, I know. But I'm out of time, I need to go drink some more water now. Blah.

Jill's Cheesy Garden Soup

I made a comment yesterday that I was making my friend Jill's Cheesy Garden soup for dinner and was immediately bombarded with requests for the recipe. Here it is, the best soup EVER! There are a few changes that I have made, but it's mostly the same as Jill's. Melissa has made this and added ham or bacon, too, which would be tasty. Very kid friendly, too, Sydney loves it.

Cheesy Garden Soup

1 cup sliced celery
1 cup chopped onion
2 T margarine/butter
2/3 cup flour
4 cups water
2 T chicken bouillon or 6 cubes
1/4 t pepper
2 cups frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot combination
1 cup frozen hash brown potatoes (unseasoned)---I always use 2 cups!
3 cups milk
2 cups shredded Colby jack cheese, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Cook celery and onion in butter until tender, stir in flour until smooth.
2. Gradually add water, then bouillon, pepper, and vegetables. Bring to boil.
3. Reduce heat, cover and simmer about 8 minutes, then add hashbrowns. Continue to simmer for 7 minutes for a total of 15 minutes of simmering.
4. Add milk and cheese. Cook and stir until hot and cheese melts. Do not boil.

This recipe freezes well. One recipe can easily be divided, we usually keep one half to eat (and it makes at least 2 dinners) and freeze the remaining half. When serving the soup after being frozen, it does need some pepper as it loses a bit of the flavor while frozen.
I do have to say that I make this recipe a lot and we absolutely love it, but it has never tasted quite as good as the time Jill made it for book club. Allow me to tell the story...it's no secret that I don't like vegetables. One day Jill was hosting book club and made this for the dinner and I politely declined, after all, it was full of vegetables. Everyone was raving about it, though, so I finally took a very small mug of soup, not even springing for the bowl. It was AMAZING!! You don't even really taste the vegetables because of the milk and cheese. What I can't reproduce when I make this soup, however, is the atmosphere of fun and family that Jill had when she made it for me that first time. To this day, that was my favorite book club, nice and cozy with all of us girls eating yummy soup on a cold night at her pretty house. She is an amazing cook, everything I've ever tasted of her's is wonderful and this is my favorite. There is a rumor that Jill might be someday moving back to the Portland area from the Eugene area where she currently lives and I hope she does. Enjoy!

Photography by Sydney

Here is the latest installment of photography by Sydney, aka, when Sydney steals my camera and takes random pictures around the house.

Our kitchen:


The desk chair:


The rug by the kitchen sink:


Stay tuned for the next installment of Photography by Sydney. If this is going to be a regular feature on this blog, maybe I should name it, like Sydney's Snaps. Suggestions?

Preparations Part IV

Last weekend Chris got Savannah's room all painted and I have spent the week washing everything and putting it all away. Her room is ready except for things hanging on the wall. I promise to post pictures of that soon once everything is hung up. Here are a few pictures of Sydney "helping" us to paint.



Here is a sneak peek at some of the artwork for Savannah's room. I found these prints on EBAY and they perfectly match the Pottery Barn Kids Penelope set that we are doing. There are four pictures, but here's a look at two of them.


I'm hoping to get things hung up in the next week or two, so stay tuned for pictures then.

Sunshine and Showers

The weather here has been wonderful lately. For me, at least, the native Oregonian who loves the rain and wind, and also who considers everyday that it's not sweltering hot while this pregnant a success. We've really only had a few nice days this spring, the rest has been blissfully rainy. On one of these days Chris was in Eugene so Sydney and I headed to the park for a while. On the way to the car she fell down and scraped up both knees (see the second picture) and it was actually quite tragic for her. You would have thought the Neosporin was poison the way she carried on. Here in this top picture is my little miss at the park with the Pez dispenser I gave her to make her feel better about her knees!


And there they are, the boo-boos themselves (and it's not upside down, she's sitting in her carseat). It was quite a epoch in her little life to have both knees scraped up. Every day, multiple times a day, she remembers she has them and starts to limp when she thinks we're watching her. She sighs very dramatically, too. And every day at bathtime we check the progress of the boo-boos to make sure they are going away. Like I said, it's been quite traumatic (and dramatic) for all of us. Anyhoo...we also went to a baby shower just a few days after the boo-boo incident and Sydney always loves a good party. It was at our church and while I didn't get a single picture of the shower, I did manage to snap these gems of my future American Idol winner.


Don't you love how into it she looks in that first picture?

Wordless Wednesday-Shoes

Preparations Part III (Sort Of)

So we've been working really hard to get Savannah's room ready. When I say "we" I really mean Chris because there isn't much up until now that I have been able to do. He and my mom painted the room last weekend a really cute pink color and then he put together the crib last night. All I did was hold one end of the crib for him and fetch a screwdriver (the tool, not the drink...although I think he would have preferred the drink). Today I have been very busy washing onesies, jammies, blankets, crib bedding, and tiny little socks. Some new, some hand-me-downs from Sydney. I even packed the hospital diaper bag. I promise there will be pictures soon, but I want to wait until it's all done to show you all. So, in the meantime to tide you over, here is something funny...

I found this on one of my favorite sites, Awkward Family Photos (click here). Love, love, LOVE this site, totally funny to look at and they update daily. I found this one recently and thought it was pretty funny. Then, I realized that that baby is in a CRIB, those guns are in his ROOM! I can promise that there are no rifles in Savannah's room!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

My little Taylor Swift fan.

Preparations Part II

Chris and I have been very busy trying to get the "back room" as we call it all ready for Savannah. It used to be an office, then it became a catch all room of all our junk. It was literally so full of crap that you couldn't even open the door without pushing really hard. We worked like dogs for a few weeks to get it emptied. I should have taken a picture of our garbage can because it was overflowing for a few weeks. After many a trip to Goodwill, the room is finally emptied out and ready to be painted. Chris will paint it next weekend and set-up the crib, then I can get busy putting everything away.

Here is the closet. It actually isn't bad. All the tubs up on top are old clothes of Sydney's to pass down to Savannah. The teal tub that's not on the top shelf is full of baby blankets, crib sheets, and onesies and will go away when I can put things away. That little white 4 drawer unit is full of shoes, baby slings/carriers, and misc things. Notice the stockpile of diapers we have started, too.


This is the HIDEOUS border left there by the previous owner. It's not the first time I've questioned her sanity. Look at it, isn't it terrible? Needless to say, it will be coming down.


Here's the rocking chair, which will of course be staying, and the butt ugly multicolored walls, which by next weekend will be painted a nice, light pink color.


More of the awful paint color, and there is the dresser. We used the dresser with Sydney, too, and I loved it. It has lots of small drawers that are perfect for diapers, tiny baby socks, and burp cloths. It was Chris' mom's and it's nice to use something of her's.

So there you go. I'll post pictures again after we paint and I get things put away. I am so excited to see it all done!

Preparations Part I

We have been very busy preparing for baby Savannah, and Sydney has been very involved in the process. I absolutely love the age span between them because Sydney is able to be involved in such a unique way. At least, most of the time...


...we got the exersaucer back from Melissa this last week and I set it up in the front room. Sydney immediately wanted to crawl in and rather than fight it, I let her. Sure enough, she liked it for about 2 seconds before her knees started to get sore and she wanted out. She has been really excited about the swing, the exersaucer, and the little baby toys I got out for our front room. Stay tuned for before pictures of the nursery.

The Black Thumb

Let me tell you about a conversation I had with Melissa today. Remember, she's my best friend, who probably loves me more than a lot of people do and knows me so well it's scary. We were talking this evening about how we spent our Mother's day and I told her I planted some flowers. It's a good thing she is a good driver because she was driving and it's a sign of her self-control that she didn't crash. She said, "You TOUCHED a flower?!" I'm not sure if she was surprised that I touched a flower or afraid for the said flower that after touching it it might immediately wither away and die. Either one is probably true. I do not grow things. Well, I grow babies, but I don't grow plants. I am not one to rummage through dirt and try to coax life out of a bulb that looks like a nasty onion or produce vegetables from a seed (I don't like onions or vegetables). I also don't tend to remember to do things like water my plants. But, our front deck needed some life this year and I knew Sydney would enjoy it, so we planted 4 small, inexpensive plants so in case they die I'm not out a ton of money. Sydney even bought her own little tools, which was adorable.


Sorry these are so dark, it started to rain so we moved our project to the garage.





I let sydney water the plants with her squirt gun, which I figured would be gentle enough for the plants and still give her the satisfaction of helping.


We even bought a new doormat for the porch. Isn't that cute?

I'll let you all know how long these plants live. They have to put up with me and my black thumb, but hopefully Sydney's TLC will help the plants to thrive this year.

Photography by Sydney

Once again, while uploading the pictures from my camera to the computer, I found more pictures that Sydney had taken without my knowledge or permission. I am thinking of making this a regular feature on this blog.

A close up of a book...


The handle of the end table that holds our printer...


An abstract shot of the master bathroom...


And finally one that I took, Miss Sydney in her favorite get-up these days, a Snow White dress. She spends the majority of most days in this dress.

Never too Late for Easter

I know it is WAY past Easter, but I am so far behind on posting that here it is, Mother's Day, and I am finally blogging about Easter. We had a very nice day, Sydney loved the Easter baskets. Church is always so much fun on Easter with all the kiddos dressed up in their fancy Easter clothes. Sydney had on her pretty little Easter dress with lacy gloves, purse, and ruffle socks. We went the day before to my mom's work for the annual Easter egg hunt. It was freezing cold and pouring down rain, but Sydney still managed to clean up with tons of candy that we are still eating.