Here's to Traditions!

Ahh, nothing like a fall day at a pumpkin patch!

The Pumpkin Patch

I love family traditions. They are what excite me about the holiday season. I loved the traditions I grew up with, but even better the ones that I create as a mom. One tradition that we've done since Ella's first Halloween is to go to a pumpkin patch to get our pumpkin. I thought this might not be possible living in the Phoenix area, but sure enough I found one just 20 minutes away and still in Glendale. It was cute and had all the qualities a pumpkin farm that I needed, except I didn't need the 100 degree weather. It was a record breaking weekend even for here. Despite the heat, we did our best to keep this tradition alive.

He was quite upset that he couldn't pick this up.

Right before she attempted to lift this she cracked her knuckles to prepare for the big moment. Which sent us giggling. Where did she learn that?

Corn maze! What the kids don't know is that we walked for 15 minutes inside and then found our way back out through the start opening. It was a great idea!

The only place Tyler was happy was in the corn box.

Not one kid could see the camera with the sun shining so bright! Don't you love the shorts and flip flops! Outfits to the pumpkin patch were not traditional!

Sorry, I didn't know!

Last June I was folding clothes in the living room and in one pile was Tyler's dog blanket that his cousin Maren made for him when he was born. To me it was a warm and cozy blanket that I took out of his bed a week prior and slowly got around to washing it. In the meantime, poor Tyler was not sleeping well. He woke up a few times at night and would be unhappy in the morning. I thought nothing of the blanket. As I was folding, Tyler spotted the red, white and blue puppy blanket and crawls as fast as he could and proceeded to snuggle and roll around with this blanket for almost a half hour. These are some pictures of his reunion.


How did I miss this bond that he had? I guess it was always just in his crib before. I think I would wash it and put it back the same day normally, but when summer came and I switched to lighter blankets while I was washing it. Needless to say, after his sweet reunion, he went back to sleeping through the night and now I have to hurry and wash it in between naps. A friend of mine soon after this watched him and when I picked him up she said, "How did you NOT know that this was his blanket?" I have no idea! Sorry Buddy!

First Day of School-Take One

So, I decided to jump around a bit on my catch up entries to keep things interesting. These are the pictures of Ella's first day of first grade in Oregon. I actually forgot to take a picture of her first day down here, so these will have to do. Tyler and Chloe wanted to get in on the action too.


Not quite ready for school!
I wonder how long she'll let me do this?
Hardest thing about the move-Ella leaving her little best friend Rachel. They were two peas in a pod. They were in the same class again and they got to sit by each other! Sorry Ella!

Summer Notes- June Addition

I've got some serious catching up to do on my blog. Here are some picture highlights of some events of our summer. This post is just of June. We stay busy don't we?

Strawberry picking and making freezer jam. If you have never had an Oregon strawberry than you are missing out on one of the most delicious things that can come from the ground. We went on to make raspberry and marionberry jam also. When it came time to move, I was so bummed about all my freezer jam and didn't know how to part with it. In the end, I gave some away, but then ice packed a small cooler full to take with us. I just couldn't part with it all!

I turned 31! Why does that sound so much older than just 30? The kids and Eric surprised me with the biggest chocolate cake I had ever seen. We had a pretty relaxed day which was fabulous and the best part was I went in and out of little shops in Antique Row in Sellwood all by myself while Eric entertained the kids at the park. Is that bad that I really enjoyed not being at the park? Plus I found the best thing ever to buy for me. An aebleskiver pan from the 1950s! That deserves its own post. My little Scandinavian Troll. We went to Astoria's Scandinavian Midsummer Festival, which I remember being a lot more fun in my youth. The only thing to do is eat and shop and watch the dancers, which isn't so bad, but my girls weren't as thrilled with it as I thought they would be.

This cutout makes me laugh because when I was in middle school I was a part of a Scandinavian dancing group and had this exact costume. (Yes, I did have friends and no, my parents didn't make me do it!)

I learned my girls have very little fear of roller costers. We went to Oaks Park a few times during the summer and they love to go fast!

This past summer in Oregon had great weather. We spent a lot of it in the backyard. This makes me miss the green grass and flowers, but our pool is a bit bigger now.

We visited the Rhododendron Garden in Portland and it was very beautiful. Every color Rhododendron you could imagine. It's not a very well known park, so it was fun to find.
Mr. Tyler got his first haircut. He was still for the first part, but then I couldn't get him to stop wiggling. Nothing like trying to cut someones hair on the go. It actually turned out pretty good. And now reminds me that he needs another one.
Eric ran in another marathon. This one was in Bend, which is so beautiful, but with the high elevation, heat, and the weird drink they had at the rest stations equalled Eric not doing so well at mile 21. Once he stopped throwing up and his nose stopped gushing blood, he pushed his way to the finish line. It was bad! He threw up for the next three hours too. Needless to say, he hasn't quite been up to running since.

Hello Blog... It's Me Chrissy.

So, what can I say? I took a tiny bit of time off from blogging, but I have some really good excuses. Want to hear them? So, first things first, I am no longer living here-

But instead now call this home-(well kind of)

I have been buried in these-

And still trying to make these people happy-

So the blog had to get put aside for a bit, but now that I have no social life nearby I should have more time to write. Forgive me? There's nothing worse than logging on to a private site and still seeing a post from June!

Anyways, yes, we waited eight years to move closer to family and live in the northwest and yes, that only lasted just a year and we are now living here. If this is a surprise to you and you are feeling a little offended that you are just now finding out, I apologize! It was fast and we didn't see it coming. Long story short, Eric's previous boss offered him a new contract which included a 30% reduction in pay which we had to pass on. Eric interviewed down here at the end of August and a month later we were here unpacking! Can I just make it official that I hate moving? It gets harder each time we do it. The problem is I know that this move isn't the last either since we are still renting.

Good news now.

• We have a great house in a beautiful neighbor in Glendale.



• Eric is really liking the new work environment and comes home with no stress, which is fabulous for all of us!



• Ella will be reading in the next week or two due to her crazy hard teacher and the curriculum at her school. (I put this on the good news list to keep my thoughts positive!)



• The weather is gorgeous this time of year here. Fall is giving me a welcome gift on Wednesday, the high is suppose to be 64!



• I have a few friends that live here that I will be able to reconnect with soon!

Although we were bummed to not find a job that Eric was looking for in Oregon or Washington, we have found one here and we will chalk it up to more life experiences.

My boxes are all unpacked and now I will do my best to catch up on all my blogging!