Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving 2012

Mer's all ready to head to the Salty's on the Columbia.

What a great day! We joined Mike and Mom for an amazing brunch/lunch buffet at Salty's. Yum!! Always a treat. The girls especially love the chocolate fondue. {In fact, I'm pretty sure that all Meri ate was strawberries and chocolate.}

There's so much that I'm thankful for, and these two are at the top of that list. :) I'm a blessed mama.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween 2012

Starring Alison Marie as "Alice in Wonderland", and Merilyn Grace as "Frannie K. Stein". {A Monster High character, in case you didn't know :) ...}

I must be getting old and senile... Halloween really snuck up on me this year. I don't know what happened {life and such??} but we were scrambling at the last minute for costumes. Both of the costumes came with wigs, but due to wardrobe malfunctions, they weren't working tonight. 

The cousins came for pizza and trick-or-treating... the holiday wouldn't be complete without them! :)

 Natalie (the Wicked Witch) & Alison

Ali, Meri, and "Dorothy" aka Charlotte. {Although, if you ask Charlotte, she was "Dorpy".}

It had been raining all day. so we went out armed with umbrellas. However, we ended up not needing them! Yay! We had a good time, but it was a pretty early night for us since Halloween was a school night this year. Whose idea was that?!?

Happy Birthday Merilyn!

Our baby turned 6 this year! 

We celebrated with a few family and friends at Kellogg Bowl. Fun, fun!! :) Everyone took their bowling scores very seriously... even Charlotte got into it! Add in pizza and rainbow cupcakes, and you've got yourself a pretty good party!

Luke and Ryan... Our best buddies since Ali and Ryan were born!

I love you, Sweet Girl!

Meri, Charlotte and Johnna... Our cousins are never far! :)

The First Day of School

{I'm chuckling to myself that I am writing about the first day of school... and it's almost Christmas Vacation!}

Alison started 4th grade this year! What?!! She is an old pro at school now... it helps that she had a couple of best buddies in her class and they've been hearing great things about the teacher. I'm so grateful that Trav gets to be there for these moments.

The kindys were on a staggered start, so Mer started a few days later. After three years of pre-school, the first day of kindergarten was a BIG deal. She has been ready for this day for a long time! She was pretty annoyed with me for wanting to take pictures... She had things to do and people to meet!!

I'm so proud of my girls. :)

Camping with the Girls

Our annual Girls Camping Trip was at Suzann's farm this year. It was SO fun! The girls had a ball climbing trees, wading in the creek, riding in the tractor... there was so much to do!

There was lots of playing dolls and Barbies in the shade of the trees.

Gramma Midge busted out the "Poor Man's" silk screen (a coffee filter!) and roup pictures in the t-shirts they made.

It was such a great time! The bummer was that Casey and her girls couldn't be there... and my girls and I had to leave a day early. We're already thinking about the fun we'll have next year!

What the What??

It's November? {Technically, closer to December.} Ali has been giving me a hard time about not updating the blog in forever. I don't know what has been so different about this school year; life usually gets extremely hectic in September! However, this year has been really overwhelming... I haven't even taken pictures like I usually do. Huhm. Is it too early to make New Year's Resolutions? :)

The Pacific Northwest

There's just something about Oregon... and each time I've been somewhere else (especially someplace hot and dry!) I'm always reminded why I live here.

Trav said his favorite sight on our trip was Crater Lake. Thousands of miles, around several states... and his favorite is right here. Who knew? It is a pretty spectacular place!

We went on a couple of different hikes by the river and around our campground. We had lunch at a great little restaurant along the highway, and of course, had to stop by the ice cream shop.

Almost Home!