Two grandparents + a Very Pregnant Lady + Two Small Children = Lots of Potty Breaks & Six Hours at The Zoo

Since we are moving next week, we definitely needed to spend one more time with Grandpa Scott and Grandma Christine.

What's a better idea than bringing my little animals to meet more animals?

It was a perfectly sunny day and after finding a spot to park, which takes forever things went pretty smoothly.

Jared did however dump his grape water into the pond surrounding the mountain goats exhibit. Hopefully the goats don't actually drink that water...

And he did feed the cougar a peanut...

And Novalee did eat a peanut off the ground...

Well, other than those things, it went pretty smoothly.




Waiting for Grandpa Scott to go to the bathroom so we can actually go inside the Zoo.



Finally inside the Zoo.




Jared's not too happy about the idea of eating raw fish for dinner. But Novalee is obviously thrilled!




The Fish (Thank you Novalee for presenting them so beautifully)



Waiting for the grandparents to go to the bathroom again...hehe.




The Polar Bears

What a cute little bear.




Just Some Monkeys





The Bird Show was by far the coolest thing there that day. Yes, that really is a real vulture in all its glory!



Jared was really excited about the bird show too. It was kind of neat to see him so hooked on to what they were saying about the birds.

And then we checked our clocks and realized that we had only seen half of the Zoo but we had been there for five hours.

Grandma and Grandpa had to leave early but they got us on the train first. I have to admit it was nice to just sit for a few minutes.







When we finally got in the car, we had been at the Zoo for six whole hours. I can't believe the kids walked for so long without complaining and I can't believe it flew by so fast!



Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Vessey for the fun day! It will be one to remember.

It Sure is Fun Having Girls Around

Yes, it is true. Novalee and I played dress up with the dog. She was pretty good about it. Now if only we could get her to clean like Cinderella...



I did draw the line when Novalee asked if we could paint her paw-nails pink. Maybe next time. :)

The other day, I decided to make a tutu for an upcoming friend daughter's birthday party. It was super easy to make. I also got the chance to use some of my fabric left over from our wedding reception which is a plus. Since it was so easy to make I decided to make one for Novalee.

Seriously what girl doesn't need a tutu?




Showing me her Ballerina moves. :)



She's super cute!



Some matching hair clips I made.

Camping with the Diehl's and Wilkinson's 7/09/10

Camping at Indian Henry Campground was so beautiful. It was totally not like the lame newer campgrounds, with gravel on the ground where you set up your tent and only sparse trees around. It was lush and green and right off of the Clackamas River.

When we got there, the boys did most of the setting up of camp and afterwards they were either sweaty (Wes) or just warm. So Reed mentioned something about taking a dip in the river to cool off.

Of course the girls totally "encouraged" the boys to all do it. Which took little convincing on Matt Diehl's part. As soon as he heard of the plan, his eyes lite up like an eager puppy. :)

Here they are, showing of their manliness before the cold dip.



Their faces make me laugh...not sure why... :)


Did I mention Matt seemed pretty eager to jump in? I was just trying to take a picture of Wes with our dog. It was pretty dark out and I took the picture and BAM! Out of no where, Matt's in the shot...stripping down.



Here are some more pictures of the boys cooling off. I still can't believe they did it. That water looked really cold.








Around the campfire...

Matt and Rachel.


Chantel, Reed and Norah. It needs to be noted that their baby is the best baby camper ever. I don't think she cried one time the whole night until she had to go to bed. Amazing!


We had Smore's with Strawberries. And oh WOW, were they good!


No one's a hundred percent sure how it happened but Matt managed not only to burn his marshmallow but his graham cracker as well. :)



The next day we went for a hike called the Riverside trail #723, a 4.1 mile hike one way. It was so pretty the whole way! We are definitely planning on coming back to the area sometime next summer so we can raft the river around there.


So I took a really long time to take this picture, hoping to get a cool group picture. I'm not sure Wes would agree it was worth it.


Here we are at one point during the hike. Try not to stare at the huge belly. :)


Matt and Rachel, as usual being rather cute.


This log they are standing on is actually across a pretty deep gulf with a very small river below. They are definitely daring!


Of course I over estimated my ability and I was getting pretty tired towards the end of the trail going one way. Thankfully the boys ran back to the truck and picked us up at the other end.

It was definitely fun to go camping with everyone but next time we'll have to bring rafts and spend an extra day or so there.

All About Dresses

3 Dresses

I wanted to show this pillowcase dress I made for Novalee for the Fourth of July. It was really cute on Novalee but she only wore it for an hour and 20 minutes and then she wanted to be back in shorts. So I only have an unworn picture of it. :)



I got the idea from, http://www.jenleheny.com/pillowcase-dress-instructions.

It was pretty simple to make.


My sister recently blogged about a dress she made for her daughter using an old t-shirt so I stole that idea from her, she got it from Make it and Love it and it was so cute I totally have been wanting to make one for Novalee and I finally got around to it.








Yes. She is doing a booty dance.


And finally me at 33 weeks. My dear husband took the picture and then looked at the thumbnail of it on the camera and exclaimed, "HOLY MOLY!" Then he proceeded to drop the camera when he tried to show me what he saw. Here is what scared him so much. :)



I guess I'm officially HUGE! :) Oh well...

Novalee's Doll House Remodel & More

Doll House/ Action Heroes House

About three weeks ago I found this doll house at a garage sale and was able to get it for $4.00!



I was so excited, I loved my doll house when I was a little girl and probably even played with it even when I wasn't so little. :) So I really wanted to get one for Novalee.


When I got it, she was not at all excited about it.

Perhaps it was because it was all one boring color or maybe because it smelt a little like cat pee. :(

Anyways, I talked her into helping me deodorize it, which turned out to be a lot of fun and from that point on she was excited about it too. :)

She even insisted on helping me paint the "children's room." She is just so adorable in her little painters apron!



Jared even played with it, stating that it wasn't a doll house for him but his action heroes house. :)

After a lot of hours painting, one blister from cutting a rug, and an extra dollar later (for kitchen and bathroom flooring), this is how it turned out.













Who knew you could remodel a whole house with such a little amount of money. :)

***************************************************************
Baby Bibs

A while ago I made baby bibs for baby Sadie using a pattern from this awesome website.

http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2008/02/bib-tutorial.html

They are so fun and easy to make.





I still have left over fabric and keep debating if I should make more.

***************************************************************************

Baby blankets for Sadie



I couldn't decide which one I liked the best, so I guess she will get both of them. :)





****************************************************************

Baby Sadie Shoes

Instead of buying shoes, I thought I would just make them. At first I didn't even want to try because the pattern looked really complicated but they ended up only being two pieces of fabric.


Size X-Small



Size X-Small



Size Small


Part of me is thinking that it would be so fun if Sadie had more pairs of shoes before she was born than I have right now but another part of me thinks that would be a lot of work. :) Oh well, either way, I'm officially a shoemaker. :)

July Weekend

So to start off our Fourth of July weekend Wes and I decided to celebrate our freedoms...

by limiting our freedoms...

and getting a...





Yes, that is right, we got a dog.

She's rather cute and good mannered.

She came with all sorts of things, like food and a dog bed and of course a whole bunch of fleas.

So she had to get a bath right away, so Friday night we spent cleaning a stinky dog...



Then we debated on what the best way was to get her to go to sleep without a cage. We finally decided to just make her lay in her dog bed and we would go in the other room. It worked out well except we woke up several times in the night to find her on the couch! Little Stinker.


*************************************************************************************

Of course the kids were very excited about getting a dog. Jared said, "I've always wanted a dog!" after meeting her.

Novalee, I thought was going to be nervous since the dog is just about her size, but she wanted to play with her right away.

We spent Sunday morning listening to the kids tell the dog to "come puppy," "Sit" (When she was already sitting, poor thing) and the occasional "bad dog!" Needless to say there was a lot of excitement.

Later that day we went to the beach to meet up with family. Or course Meala was now an official part of the family and had to sit next to the kids for the drive.



At the beach we all had a great time!









We even desperately tried to light our fireworks in the rain and wind.







All the excitement made us pretty tired, including the dog.







We hope everyone had a safe and happy Fourth too! And maybe even got a little shut eye. :)