Things I Love Thursday

The relief of having a healthy baby (I can still call her that because technically, she's just one). And the notion of gratitude over that fact that my baby only suffers from croup for brief moments in an otherwise strong and happy existence. Solving problems. Geneva and Avery's favorite thing right now is a new show on Disney called "Imagination Movers." For Halloween, Geneva decided she would like to be a mover... I thought, "easy enough." Unfortunately, it was not so. The costumes are sold out until May! And go ahead and try to find a coverall pattern to fit a three-year old! I finally came across this costume online and ordered it (in the only size available--WAY too big) which arrived...

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Avery's Procedure Went Well

First of all, thank you all so much for the amazing expression of love and well-wishes that came our way since the last post. We felt it all and it made a huge difference! We love you, love you. Based on Avery's history of Croup, her ENT wanted to perform a laryngoscopy (visual examination of her throat and vocal chords) and bronchoscopy (air passage and lungs) to determine if there was anything abnormal contributing to her excessive Croup cases. Here she is after being admitted this morning. She's showing you where the doctor is going to have a peek. The Children's Hospital came very equipped with lots of interesting toys. In her loopy state (they gave her some kiddy-valium) she...

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Send Your Happy Thoughts to The Pipes

Avery is having a minor procedure tomorrow morning at Legacy Emanuel Children's Hospital in Portland. If you've been reading our blog regularly, you are probably aware that our little Monkey has a tendency to get Croup. We took her to the pediatric ENT a couple weeks ago. He wants to have a better look in her throat to see if there are any abnormalities that might be contributing to her developing Croup at such a high rate. They will have to put her under in order to do the procedure. I was on the phone with the anesthesiologist earlier this evening which gave me some measure of peace about the prospect of handing over my baby under these circumstances. The procedure should take about 45...

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Halloween Festivities

We started our weekend with a little Halloween Party at the Club. I knew there would be tons of kids and running around, so rather than dress Piper in her actual costume (furry and warm for trick-o-treating) I put the little monkey in yet another hand-me-down: Geneva's costume from last year.We "pre-partied" (heehee) at our neighbor's house. A handful of the families on our street that also go to Club Sport attended. We ordered pizza and the kids ran around and had a ball. Here's Geneva  in an intense game of CandyLand with Sydney and Izzy.(Note she is wearing one of her dress-up outfits: mermaid... because her actual costume of choice this year is not ready yet.)When we arrived at the...

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M.A.C. Preschool Open House

Geneva's school had an Open House last night.We got to meet a lot of her classmates' families and check out all the projects they've been working on.Sissy Piper got to play with all kinds of great things.She had a ton of fun (even though Mommy mistakenly brought her without any shoes--yep, I'm that Mom).This is Geneva at her favorite school activity: painting.She's working on a spooky bat with nice thick paint.Avery enjoyed the Halloween-themed play-doh.(Note to self: Learn to make homemade play-doh... it smells so much better!)Daddy met us there after he got off work.We all had so much f...

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Dress Up

Avery is getting into "dressing up" these days. Clearly, she's mostly into accessories... who needs clothes when you have:a great bag,new boots,and fabulous jewelry???Serious...

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In the kitchen with Nana

Nana and Geneva decided to have a cooking project yesterday. Cinnamon rolls seemed like a good choice, something Geneva could really "get her hands on." Crescent rolls + butter + cinnamon and sugar (pinch of flour) = Delicious mess I think Geneva's favorite part was licking flour off of the counter. Seriously. Not sugar. Flour. ? The cinnamon rolls turned out great. Nana and NeeNee had a good time and we enjoyed a sweet treat after nap time....

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Things I Love Thursday

Taking the girls on our daily, post-nap walk around the block to see all the spooky/scary Halloween decorations our neighbors have added to their yards to accompany the standard pumpkins, cornstalks and bales of hay. The creepy additions include: huge spiders, black birds, rubber rats, giant webs, McCain/Palin signs, bats, mummies, ect. Listening to Avery put words together into her first mini-sentences. I asked her to go find her shoes in the mudroom and put them on, "No Mama, shoes car" she said. Oh, I forgot we left her shoes in the car when we got home. I asked her to pick up her puzzles and put them in the drawer. She said, "No Mama, upstairs Ma-maw." Clearly she had a date with her grandma...

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Happy Birthday Lulu!

Happy birthday Grandma Lulu! I hope you like your scarf!Greg's mom is moving to Oregon to be near her children and her grandchildren. We are so happy to have her! We celebrated by having a great dinner downtown in The Pearl at a restaurant called "50 Plates;" delicious food and great ambiance. Greg and I were still really sick, but managed to drink and eat our way through it!On her actual birthday, I made a "fancy" dinner. Linda requested grilled flank steak. I made roasted veggies (red potatoes, carrots, and beets) with olive oil, garden-grown thyme and blood-red orange juice--topped with crumbled goat cheese. I also tried a new carrot ginger soup recipe and served it in these roasted squash...

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Fall = Scarves

It's a good thing we're coming into fall up here in the northwest--I'm even more into scarves than I've been in the past. My latest crafty experiment has been "pieced" together from a few different ideas I've seen done. The great thing about this project is that you don't even have to sew a very straight line to make it turn out cute! Most of the idea came from this online article. However, I had to make adjustments based on the neckties my husband would donate to the cause and the ones I was able to find at the secondhand store to coordinate (in the 10 minutes Avery let me look).I invested in a rotary cutter and small cutting mat, then began deconstructing the four neckties with my...

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Things I Love Thursday

Making new friends. Greg and I had plans Friday night with a great group of people to celebrate one of our new friend's birthday. We met a lot of new people/couples. I then received an email on Monday inviting me to a "Bunk-no" party on Wednesday with a few of the ladies from Friday night... (apparently, they gave up on the game some time ago and now just have dinner, drinks, and great conversation). I had a great time! Yea... making friends... My new iPhone and taking pictures wherever I am of the sweet moments in front of me: Getting "Boo'd" by our neighbors (if you don't know what I'm talking about, Google it!). I really love our new neighborhood. Seriously, 95% of the people I've met...

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Lee Farms

Geneva's preschool class (plus siblings and parents), "The Dolphins," had their first field trip this Saturday to Lee Farms. The kids have been talking all month about farms, animals, crops, etc. The morning started of a little wet and chilly but it turned out to be a beautiful day. Avery stayed home with Grandma Lulu and Geneva had Greg and I to herself for a special day.After we toured the farm we carefully selected several pumpkins to decorate the front porch. It's a good thing they had carts and wheel burrows because we had a great time getting a variety of sizes in our collection.NeeNee also enjoyed her pony ride on "Misty."The "walking rope" was really cute. Geneva shared a handhold with...

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