Christmas

Who doesn't love Christmas morning? The boys were excited to see that Santa ate their cookies and left them a note and presents! We had a full day of fun and were spoiled rotten!!
Here are just a few photos.

This picture was kinda precious to me because Uncle Emile/Dad is one cool cat if you ask me! He captured all of kids attention with a book when there were gifts to open, food to eat, and stories to tell!!!
What a wonderful Christmas!

These pictures don't belong on Christmas morning, but it was a highlight of my holiday! The primary children that I work with recreated the Nativity scene while singing a song. They were wonderful.. and they even had a baby to go along with it all.
(It wasn't my idea, and the credit belongs to my friend Robin who can pull these things together without even worrying about it!!!)

We made it just in time

Thank goodness we made it back in time to see the big man!!! The boys were so excited and made Santa laugh pretty hard when they started asking for guns and aircraft carriers that could "kill"!
To kill? Really... what about the sweet loving boys that want to play with shovels and trains?
At least everyone in the room was laughing and the photographer said that he hadn't seen Santa laugh that hard all year.

Feliz Navidad

We are headed home.

Our skin might look a little different and we might add a few vowels at the end our words but we are still the same gringos.

We'll see you soon!

Paradisio

We're just getting ready for the holidays.

We'll be ready for Santa soon.

To be Continued...

Thanksgiving!

Amongst other things...
I am thankful for desserts! I had so much fun making them for Thanksgiving this year!!! There was Pumpkin Bread Pudding AND Pumpkin Roll cake with the most delicious cheesy caramel filling, and even Pumpkin Flan!

I was sad that we were so stuffed from all the other delicious food that I couldn't keep eating all the sugary stuff.

And of course... I'm so thankful for these boys! They make every day an adventure.

Hope your thanksgiving was wonderful!

Halloween

So, I'm slow at posting right now, but I'll get caught up.
Here are my handsome Super Hero's for Halloween!!!

Emile and I were a little less obvious, and this picture doesn't help. If you look closely you'll see the golf club broken around his neck.
He was Tiger Woods, and I'm the blond wielding the golf club! :D

Oregon Beach video

I made a new video. This is from our family weekend at Lincoln City in September. The weather was perfect, and we had some fun games you'll see at the end.


Lincoln city 2010 from Raina on Vimeo.

Pumpkin Smash from Jamba Juice.

Pumpkins. I normally don't spend a lot of time thinking about pumpkins, but this season with our trips to all the pumpkin patches, I am left with a few thoughts.

These gourd-like squashes are kind of annoying! They are massive to wrap your arms around, heavy, not always the most attractive, and somewhat rude with prickly stems. This is just what I think of the outside of them. On the inside they are totally disgusting. They are stringy and slimy and have lots of thin seeds that slip out of my hands when trying to grab them out. I know you can roast them, or plant them, but why? My boys won't even touch the insides. They make the most awefull faces at the sight of their guts.
But around Halloween, this useless gourd-like squash starts popping up in the most exciting places. Cookies, smoothies, pies, candies, and more! So, on my errand the other day, I saw a sign that seemed like it just might interest me. "Creamy Cool"... yes please.

I hopped in line at Jamba Juice and discovered something that MUST be shared! The flavor was.. pumpkiny, the sweetness was... rich, and the spices... made my palette come alive. I will be back for more. Have YOU tasted it? Did you like it? You should go get one... and tell me if you liked it as much as I did.
Enjoy!

Pumpkin patches

We've been to the pumpkin patch!

Here is what we saw...
2,000,000,000 acorns
765,000 pumpkins
13,832 hay bails
150 candied apples
23 baby chics
7 goats
2 pigs
1 train
Ok... we didn't just go to one, we went to as many as possible.
I thought I might help you out for next year

Here is a little more detail into where we found these things.. and mostly.. you can enjoy a few pictures.

1. Lee's Farms was fun because the baby chics, the hay slides, and the pigs! They were a little pricey, but what a fun place to just play ... and spend a few dollars.

2. Ryser's farm had a fun hay maze for little ones, and a fun swing set that my kids wouldn't get off of!

3. Fir Point Farms had a goat that climbed on top of a bridge and the boys sent food up via a pulley system. This was entertainment that lasted for.. hours!!! Then they discovered they had these bouncy horse things. Really? They went to bed tired after this one.

4. Baggensto's farm had these hay bails that left my children crawling with dust, dirt, and I'm sure a few mites of some kind or another. They were fun, and the view of those hills kept me singing and thinking I was Julie Andrews for a few moments!

5. Oregon Heritage Farms had this gigantic bounce house in the shape of an apple! We went when there was almost not one there.. so this was a fun afternoon!

6. The Flower Farmer had a super dark and scary pyramid out of hay! This might have traumatized the kids had it not been for the train that was going back and forth to the patch. We refused to pay for the train and just insisted the passengers were royalty to the kids. They wanted $20+ for the four of us to ride a grand total of 100 yards!

We made a few friends along the way, and loved all the sunshine that came out for us.

Here is Simon, Trenton and a new friend in the "Nut House"

The bouncing horses were a huge hit.. even with Emile and I. Good thing there were no pictures of us having a horse fight on these things.

Can't wait for next year!

My dream came true!

I dream of this image, but NEVER would have thought they would have behaved to actually capture it! I cried when I saw it... and I just HAD to share!!!
Please go see the rest here.. I'll be blubbering over them for the next few days.

Happy Birthday

He's 5 years old!!!
I can't believe he is 5! I know everyone said it would go fast, I have heard that a million times, but until I experienced it... I didn't fully understand how time works against me.

He is fabulous! I love every toe and finger on this boy, and I can't wait to see what a man he becomes!

I usually have a GREAT picture to show you, but it will come later...
as for now, this is the 5 year old that I have in my head right now!

We did have a party though, and we had SO much fun. He wanted it to be a space party, so we made him a space shuttle cake, hung planets from the ceiling and blasted off with a pizza party.

We had a few friends over (there are a few missing from this picture), and we launched rockets into the air until one blew up.

We made flying saucers and decorated them like a galaxy...

We even went on a space adventure and ended up finding "moon rocks" that could be examined closer at the NASA laboratory. Here they discovered that they would bubble and disintegrate to expose ALIENS!!!
(Baking soda balls with toy aliens inside put into vinegar)

Then we ate our rocket cake on our rocket plates, and drank Tang!

I hope he remembers this party, because it was some serious fun!
Happy 5th Birthday Trenton!