A few weekends ago!

So not last weekend but the weekend before we had a weekend of FUN!
before the hubby took off for the week for field training.

so a little backwards, but Sunday... there was summerfest at the park that we always go to.
there are food vendors, live music, vendors, and a kids area.

we had a great time just hanging out as a family there!

 

rowan rode a pony! she was saying to the lady "let's go reeeeaaal slow" haha!

 

and the other pony with the little cart. she was more happy about this one.

 

and the little go karts.

it was a hot day and we were getting sweaty, but she sure seemed to love this one with all the bouncy houses!! she just took off in this thing!

 

she cut and picked me flowers from "her garden"

it was the sweetest sweet peas.

 

 

 

and on Saturday we made a trip to Astoria for my grandpa's 88th birthday!!

woooo. what a milestone!!

we were so happy to see all the family and be able to make the trip down there for the day!

 

we of course stopped at our favorite pizza place - Fultanos! YUMMY!

i'm drooling just looking at this picture now.

 

and some of the family! :)

the man of the day right in the middle!

with the wonderful photographer - Craig Johnson.

Garden: out with the old -- in with the new

Another garden update!

 

The hubby came home Friday night from a week out in the field training and this past weekend we worked hard in the yard and got a lot of stuff done!

 

 

 

chives!! -- what to do with all of these?! i'm not sure.

this is what bubba wanted to plant and now we can't keep up with eating them.

 

my front garden.

huge.

and my tomato plants have fallen and broken.

 

 

 

my fallen tomato plants.

sad!

good thing i have an amazing hubby that was willing to FIX them! yay!

 

 
 

 

my broccoli.

i was so excited being as i was going to rip these out of the ground a few weeks ago.

i was very happy that i got such a good yield for my first time!

 

 

 

broccoli, carrots and dead sugar snap peas in the back. .

 

 

that's a big head!

..of broccoli...

 

i harvested all but one plant.

and these things had bugs and spiders and fat green caterpillars all up inside of them.

i soaked them in salt water for half an hour before cooking it all into a batch of soup.

that ended up all done the drain. boo.

so bummed that i lost it all.

i'm not sure that i'll be growing broccoli again next year..

only if it's cooked.

there were far too many buggies in there for me to eat it raw!

 

the beets in the front are doing great! however.. still not sure how many i will get being as i didn't thin them out..

zucchini in the back (left) and a few sunflowers poking out behind the zucchini

 

 

a beet poking out!

 

we saw one carrot poking out and rowan wanted to pull it!

she also got our first little purple carrot that was right next to it!

 

the last peek of the side garden with the small broccolis and small tomato plants growing..

this bed always has some problems.. i don't know if its the dirt or what? !

i added the same new dirt to this bed that i did to all the others..

 

 

THE NEW:

 

the broccoli is ripped out and the pea plants gone!

i planted a bunch more rainbow carrots seeds in the empty spots!

my one tomato plant that had fallen now has a nice new bamboo (cut from our backyard) brace holding it up!

i think its going to work out great and keep those tomatoes off the ground.

 

its looking wilted because it really needed a drink!

its better now!

 

all the whole box full of tomato plants-

with a nice big bamboo teepee brace!

bubba did such a great job building this!

 

front look.

again.. all wilted... super thirsty, but they look great now!

other than the one branch in the front that got broken during the building process.

 

the side garden;

all broccoli but one pulled out.

my little weeny cauliflower plants that never grew anything also got ripped out!

 

i planted a bunch more beet seeds there to hopefully harvest in the fall!!

beets for thanksgiving?

Skating!

we went skating!

 

we met some friends and went skating on post for $1 Wednesdays!

 

it started out rocky... getting used to it all.

she has been ice skating a couple times before and she has some skates of her own at the house, but it's much different than the rink.

 

 

blurrrrr......

having so much funnnnnn

 

 

not so much fun... ha!

 

back to fun again..

 

we had a super fantastic time!!

and it had been a long time since I laced up a pair of these.

weeeee.....

 

No News.

boo!

 

i sent a quick email over to our caseworker.

 

no word on our clearances... still waiting. .

 

it's most likely because i have to get them from 3 states.

 

why did i have to move so many times in the past 5 years?

 

bummer.

 

but it is delayed the dreaded process of our photo books.

 

one day i will be forced to get them done.

 

 

oh and on an exciting note  -- our agency has made "waiting family" profiles available online now. meaning that a birth family looking to make an adoption plan would be able to see a picture of us with a description! how exciting!

 

i'm looking forward to the day that we have a completed homestudy and we get our picture and description up on the website.

 

WOO HOO!

 

keep looking forward... one day we will have our child home!

 

like a friend wrote to me once::

isn't awesome knowing that God is preparing a child for you!

Circus Party!

WOW!

talk about posting this late.. ha. her birthday was in april.

it was just one of those posts that i was dreading because i had so many pictures to sift through

and i still ended with a ton.

i never get all the pictures that i want being as i was hosting and trying to get everything together while also taking pictures - so this is the best i took!

 

 

 

 

why are my family & friends so awesome? :)

 

 

the glitter on that "5" was awesome, but i'm STILL finding it in my house and in my window sill.

 

 

 

 

table centerpiece (minus the flowers)

ticket vase.

pictures on every birthday.

 

 

 

 

made this bunting with scraps leftover from the hats

 

 

 

my cotton candy!

it looked so cute.

until it sat out for about 15-20 mins.

and then it melted.

so if you do this - WAIT- until right before you serve it.

 

 

this is a real popper that i found on amazon.

but we used microwave popcorn and then shoved it inside for looks!

used clear packing tape to cover the hole.

 

 

these turned out awesome!

found these cute bags at a little store in Jacksonville, Oregon

and got the others on etsy.

 

 

most of the kids had fun trying this out!

i have a ton of pictures of the kids doing this!

and the dress up photo booth that we had next to it!

 

 

 

 

cut out - photo booth - ball toss

 

 

this was the hit of the party!

darts + balloons

 

 

can knockout!

 

 

our ticket booth!

& noisemakers

rowan loved handing out the tickets.

but she became conflicted when she wanted to start playing the games and didn't know what to do.

my cousin saw her being distraught and told her to go play at her own party!

haha... i thought it was cute - being as she was so excited to actually use the booth that she thought she was playing in there too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

these bags took forever to punch for the peanuts. but worth it. they turned out cute.

even though we had pounds & pounds of peanuts leftover.

apparently someone thought there would be an elephant at the party

 

 

 

the only pic i got of the hot dogs & tator tots with spread.

it turned out awesome.

and i had a great group of assemblers who made it possible to serve hot food!

 

 

kids pie eating contest! that was the cutest part of the party for me.

i loved watching their faces and reactions.

some kids just dug in, others were apprehensive, some tried it and didn't like getting messy.

it was hilarious!

 

 

and of course this was a hit.

pie throwing.

my husband is such a great dad.

willing to have pies thrown at him for her party. i love it.

 

she nailed it.

 

 

adult pie contest.

same goes for this as the kids.

some were apprehensive, some didn't want to get dirty, and some dug right in.

 

 

 

birthday girl & cake

 

 

the lion piñata.

which we almost forgot to do!

 

 

this party turned out amazing. i couldn't have asked for a better time.

other than the melted cotton candy i think it was a blast! and i think that most people had a fantastic time. especially the birthday girl. who ended up playing Merida from Brave for most of her party.

even though she had a super cute circus shirt on... she wanted to be a princess.

it's her party, she can change if she wants to.

ha.