One reason why Sesame Street is so awesome:

Veronia

October 1, 2010

We took a morning drive out to Veronia for a walk and a coffee break.

Nice little paved trail through the woods

Hailey actually got to come along on the outing

Inside the wood pellet storage building from the old lumber mill

Evidence of sisterly love, not always so apparent

Entertainment at the coffee shop

Stone House

September 27, 2010

We hiked the Lower Macleay Trail to the Stone House with the foursome of littles in an attempt to enjoy the last few days/weeks of warmish, dryish days. The big girls spotted some trout in Balch Creek, one stroller tire popped and they all found the "treasure" at the end...the Stone House! Much shreiking and shouting and running around ensued.

Besties

Glamorous girls striking a pose

On top

The little cabooses chasing their sisters

Hiking back out

Late Summer Sun

September 25, 2010

Last swim of the season, with the Murrow girls

Quinn was really into Naomi

New Stage

We waited nearly a year and a half for this to happen: Playing together! Holy freaking exciting! I can kind of cook a meal without having to entertain! I can sometimes go to the bathroom without a two man audience! I can go to the basement to put in a load of laundry without worrying Quinn will find a way to kill herself!

*not the best pictures to demonstrate this, but cute nonetheless*

In unrelated news, Ella is still into photography, especially self-portraits and landscape

"Awwww, that's a cute one Mommy"

Monkeying Around

When Quinn learned to walk we finally installed a baby gate at the top of the stairs. Now we can actually play upstairs without worrying about the baby tumbling down. She has a habit of crawling upstairs to find pacis any time we don't put up the gate at the bottom of the stairs. (A completely foreign concept for me, Ella wanted nothing but to be by my side at this age and wouldn't have dreamed of climbing all the way upstairs without me accompanying her) This created panic in her mother, and led to several crashes down a few stairs. During the past two weeks, she has learned how to climb down on her own. What a relief.

Hunting for pacis lost under her crib

Building a tower of matryoska animals

Rolling around and general craziness

They like to hide in their bathroom to hoard barrettes. "Mom don't come in."

A Break From Swim Lessons

Instead we're working on coordination, strength and confidence:

Just for reference~ the two girls on the left are 4 1/2, and the two girls flanking Ella are also 4 already. Our little bean pole!

Garden

This summer was not a good one for gardening in Portland. Atleast in our yard. Last summer was so hot that I decided to not even try any greens. Apparently that was a mistake as this summer wasn't even hot enough to ripen our tomatoes before it started to rain again. Not a complete waste of time, lessons learned for next year and some food for us to eat. We got a few pounds of tomatoes and zuchini, some green beans, 2 jalapenos, 2 half ears of corn, several strawberries and 2 cucumbers. Ella helped me make some tomato sauce at the end of the season:

Strawberries, we think

Another development from earlier this fall. Hives! We are fairly certain she developed an allergy to strawberries, despite having eaten them for some time before having a reaction. Fortunately this is the only manifestation of her allergy, and strangely they don't bother her. The third time she broke out in hives, she was literally covered head to toe. This past week she got her first ear infection. We decided to treat it, and it seems she also has a mild allergy to ammoxicillin. Small hives. Boo. We're going to stay the course and discuss at her next appointment. Good news however~ her 6 week runny nose went away overnight once we started the meds.

Belated First Day of School

Ella started preschool at VCP again this year with Mrs. Broome and Mrs. VanDitti. Great names for fearful young ones, huh? Fortunately, they are amazing, teaching as a team for the past 14 years. Very much my speed, letting the kids lead, and focusing on the process not the product with art projects and other experiences in the classroom. Ella is fiercely loyal to her friendship with Lauren, and Lauren equally to Ella. They really are sweet together, but we are all working on making new friends as well. The two of them pair up with another strong two-some in the 4's class on the playground to play fairies and princesses. Rumor has it the teachers tried to break up Isabel and Sarah last year to no avail. So the four of them are kindred spirits! Starting next week, Ella will be going 3 days a week, wahoo!