...or New Years Eve hike
...or frighteningly, death defyingly high cliffs
...or Eagle Creek Trail.
12.31.11
On New Years Eve day we met up with my sisters and their families and went for a hike. My older sister {who does not have kids, by the way} picked out this hike. It was an amazing hike. But kind of scary, even for just me. Maybe too scary to take kids on. Nail-biting, edge of your seat-scary to bring kids and their cousins, who-like-to-play-and-run-along-the-trail while their hiking.
But the amazing thing about this hike was all the WATER. After a rainy week, it was a WET place. Cliffs everywhere = waterfalls everywhere. Despite our close attention to our kids, we managed to get a few photos. And we all came back alive, thankfully...cause I just can't take any more of that death stuff.
raging eagle creek
water falling everywhere
many time along the trail we got a little shower
the shower woke Ollie up from his nap
Toby and his playful cousin
one of the many examples of why this hike was so scary! This is Right off the trail...
funny self-portrait
creek-crossing
dusk brings on blurry pictures at the end of a hike
Believe me when I tell you that we had a vice grip on our kids the entire way!
Oh yeah...HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We had a good Christmas this year. I was just coming to the end of morning sickness and feeling up to making a big feast. I just have not been excited about posting about it. So instead of wading through all the pictures, I made a few collages. There. That makes it much shorter.
12.20.11 Zoo lights!
nothing like a hot cocoa and non-religious holiday zoo lights...
meh, I'm glad it was free with our membership. It was SOOO crowded.
12.23.11 Gingerbread houses!
Here are the houses that I make from scratch every year. It is the one tradition from my childhood that I cannot depart from. My mom's gingerbread recipe is just TOO delicious to do graham crackers or store bought kits. I did learn a new trick this year which made them a lot easier to assemble...when the house pieces are fresh and hot out of the oven, take the cookie cutter or whatever template you used for the shapes (I draw up my plans on a paper grocery bag and cut around it with a butter knife) and cut them out again. The cookie dough spreads as it bakes in the oven making the house pieces all lopsided and difficult to assemble. Cutting them out again {carefully} makes them easy as plum pudding to assemble!
Toby and Joshua's decorated houses.
I *love* the idea of using coconut on the roof to make it look like snow! These guys are obviously still novice decorators. One of these days when we don't have any tiny tots, I'll be excited to decorate one too {and make it just the way I want to!}.
12.24.11 Christmas Eve- a British {Dickens-style} Christmas feast!
One of the other traditions that my family grew up with was having a "tasting party" on Christmas Eve. It started out when our grandmother send us one of those Hickory Farms party packages and we all wanted a taste of everything. So my mom cut them up into small pieces so we could each taste one. Each year we would add some new food that we hadn't tried before. I remember one year we added caviar and it felt all fancy! {but tasted icky!} Eventually we decided to choose a different country each year and have a tasting party with foods from that country. Brent and I have not upheld this tradition, but this year as we were watching "A Christmas Carol" (the new one with Jim Carrey, which I thought was GREAT, by the way) I had the idea to make a British feast for Christmas Eve. I got some ideas from friends on facebook, and even had a local farmer friend offer to sell me a goose. My sisters who live in Portland all thought it was a great idea and pitched in with some of the British items.
We had a delicious roast goose with "neeps and tatties" (turnips and potatoes) with apple and currant stuffing, brussel sprouts, Yorkshire puddings (which is like a puffed oven pancake with meat drippings in it), mini mincemeat pies, pasties, and Christmas pudding for dessert. My sister brought Christmas crackers (which aren't the crackers that you eat...they're like those New Years party poppers that make a loud noise and confetti), which came with our lovely paper crowns that we're all wearing in the pictures. It was all lovely.
12.25.11 Christmas Day
We spent the day with just our family at home. We went to church in the morning and had a special time together afterward opening presents and eating all the leftovers.
We had a really great time and had great moments to think about the birth of the small babe in Bethlehem who brings hope and life to all.
God bless us! Every one!
Every time I looked out the back window this December I noticed how the snapdragons from Elsa's birthday celebration were still in bloom.
12.23.11
The line "In the Bleak Midwinter" would come to my mind immediately, as I had been practicing that song with our church's choir for our upcoming Christmas program. Here in Oregon we don't quite have a bleak midwinter, with snow falling on snow and a frosty wind. But we do have a season of darkness, where the days are shorter and the nights are longer; the leaves fall off of most of the trees. But to look out my back window every day and see this pink blossom brought a thought of summer to my heart of winter. A thought of hope and life in a time of darkness, and made me think of one of my favorite poems, written by French Existentialist philosopher and author Albert Camus after he suffered a deep loss:
In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love.
In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile.
In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm.
I realized, through it all, that…
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.
I have always felt the drive of optimism and an "invincible summer" pulling me through my deepest darkest winters. And right now, I need that more than ever. For some days it seems that I don't remember what the shinning sun looks like and it feels like I can't fathom the amount of days until I'll be warmed again. But I know that if a snapdragon can bloom in winter, Jesus can rise from the tomb, then my heart can hold onto an invincible summer.
I *miss* her today
Sitting on a bench in the new park by our house...
12/21/11
So this is love?
I just thought I'd take a moment and wish myself a happy birthday. Just because.
Me, at 6 weeks old.
And I wanted to thank my mom for bringing me into the world. Thanks mom.
Oh, and I'm 20 weeks pregnant today!! Celebrate!
One of my
major goals for last year was to do service and/or raise money for Mamababy Haiti in honor of Elsa. One of the very first ideas that I had was to sew a bunch of blankets and stuff and sell them, donating all the proceeds to Mamababy Haiti. I named my brand "Sweet Meadowlark" as a way to honor and preserve a little girl who didn't stay long enough, but still touched the hearts of many. As time went on, I realized that I really did not have enough time or motivation to make that a reality, but I did decide on a one-time fund raiser instead.
THANK YOU once again to everyone who donated money to Mamababy Haiti for Elsa's birthday. I do believe that we have now reached my goal of raising $500. Incredible. And I can tell you that the money has helped with WONDERFUL things, most namely a generator for their clinic/birth center so that they can have lights and running water at all times. This is such a blessing to the people of Haiti.
It took me a few months, but I finally mailed out the blankets to the winners of the drawing. I LOVED the way they turned out, and I hope the families who get them loved them too. I thought I would post some pictures of my sweet meadowlark blankets:
this one had super soft coordinating blue minky on the back
this one had super soft coordinating white minky on the back
These blankets went out to two little girls who I hope love and cuddle with them for years to come.
I LOVE the birdie appliques.
12.13.12
Oliver
16 months old
These pictures of this most precious boy were taken the night that I caught the entire contents of his stomach in my hand during Joshua and Toby's Christmas concert at school because I was nowhere near a bathroom or even a garbage can, I had to hold that vomit in one hand while I carried him in the other and ran past myriads of parents to the nearest bathroom. How was that for a run-on?
...or frosty fungi.
...or small wonders.
Nevermind. I have more than two things to post about for December. I was looking through our pictures and noticed that Brent took some AMAZING mushroom pictures on his daily walk through the woods near our house. I have got to give credit to Brent's eye for the amazing little things in life. And how I appreciate that so much.
12.9.12
This is pretty much what winter looks like here: fog rising off the river, mushrooms sprouting up everywhere, and an occasional frost covering all the green things.
Maybe once or twice we get snow. So far this year, we've had two days where snow was forecasted. And it was a big disappointment! Oh sure, it snowed up where the altitude was a teensy bit higher (like at our old house), but down by the river we just didn't get snow.
Other than fog and frost, we get rain.
jogging up on the frost covered plateau
the trail back home...
