My New Purse

Okay, not that this is big news.......but I thought I'd share my new purse. It's not something I would normally buy.....but figured now that I'm a SAHM, and not in the "corporate" world I could get away with it!













It's a little flashy & maybe has too much "bling"....but it's fun! (It looks pink, but is technically "Lilac"). Malia loves it and thinks it looks like a "princess purse"....which may be my first clue that I'm too old for this. OH WELL! :) She could barely wait for Alex to wake up so he could see the purse (he's 2).......and raced to show it to Rourke as soon as he walked in the door tonight. Such excitement here today......I had no idea anyone else would be so thrilled.



AND.......it came with a little coordinating make up bag.














Tell me......would you be embarrassed to carry this??

Curious George!

Happy Sunday!

I had read in the newspaper that Curious George was going to be at Barnes & Noble yesterday, so we made a trip to meet him and take some pictures. Malia was into it, but Alex was happy just waving at him from afar. :) Afterwards, the kids each got to pick out a new book! Yippee!

Malia had been wanting to go to a pet store for quite awhile (big treat I know), so there was one close by and we walked over there after the Curious George "event". This pet store didn't have dogs or cats, but there were birds, bunnies, ferrets, fish, hermit crabs, lizards, mice and snakes. It was VERY exciting for the kids, especially Alex. We picked out a few new toys for Coco and some catnip............so everyone was happy. Malia really wanted to buy a ball of string for Coco, but we didn't find one. I haven't told her that I could quickly make one....................bad mom!

Here are a couple of pictures from meeting Curious George.

I'm adding a picture of one of our squirrel friends eating the bagel covered with peanut butter & birdseed that Malia made at school.

Have a great day~~~~
~L

A Trip to OMSI

On Tuesday (TAX DAY!!) the kids & I took a trip to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science & Industry) with Mindi, Mia & James. Malia & Alex had never been there before, and I hadn't been there in at least 10 years, maybe more. Right now they have a big dinosaur exhibit up, which was great for the kids to see. Both Malia & Mia have recently been learning about dinosaurs in preschool. It was fun for all the kids.....so many different things to do and explore. Here are some pictures I took along the way. Alex espeically loved anything that involved playing in water.

The art center was a nice break, where the kids could sit, unwind and "create" a little bit. Here are Malia & Mia stamping, and Malia's masterpiece. Alex wanted a picture of his work too......but this isn't actually "his" artwork........he snagged it off the table when he saw me taking a picture of Malia. Someone left this behind, so Alex claimed it as his own. :)

I love this picture of the boys playing with "flubber". They were so engrossed in it!

Here the kids are taking a break.

Checking out the huge T-Rex. He (?) moved and growled. Too cool!

The girls as dinosaurs:

Overall, we had a great day! The kids were exhausted by the end of the day.......so was I!

I think we're due for a zoo trip soon. Just waiting for the weather to warm up a little. :)

Is This Really Spring Break???

Believe it or not, these are pictures from the last weekend in March, when we went to visit YaYa Peggy in Nehalem (she had just had a knee replacement! Ouch!).

We woke up to snow like this every morning we were there. It was more snow than we had in the winter! It was a nice relaxing weekend for us...Peggy who was on the mend, Rourke who was quite sick, and me who was getting over the cold and is generally slow moving & tired in this phase of the pregnancy........the kids had fun in the snow & hot tub. :) One day the snow did melt in the afternoon and we visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory. The best part was getting the ice cream cone at the end. I chose "cookies & cream" in a waffle cone. Malia wanted anything PINK.....so she had strawberry. Alex shared with us........Rourke snuck a few licks too.

Of course I forgot my camera, so these are courtesy of Peggy. (THANK YOU!)....she managed to snap these early one morning when Rourke and I caught an extra half hour of sleep. :)

Easter Pics

Better late than never.......as usual!

I thought I'd share a few pictues we took on Easter morning here at home. They aren't the greatest photos.....Rourke and I weren't feeling our best, still fighting that cold that seemed to last forever. This was the first year that Alex really understood what was going on. He *LOVED* hunting for eggs and almost beat out Malia on the hunt. Of course it was rainy and wet outside, so the egg hunt was inside. We went to Dad & Jan's in the afternoon for a nice Easter dinner and another egg hunt for the kids. LOTS OF CANDY!! :) (I forgot to take pictures there).

I like the last picture where Alex is dipping into Malia's basket.....and she has no clue! ;)

Hope everyone had a great EASTER!

~Linda

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Top o' the morning to ya!

HAPPY St. Patrick's Day!

Not much to report today........we are all sick and feeling lousy. Not much of a festive place to be. :)

I hope you all are having a great Monday & St. Patrick's Day..........

May the luck of the Irish be with you today!

~Linda

Happy 2nd Birthday ALEX!!

Two years ago today ALEX was born!!

I can't believe how fast time goes by....








Here he is now in front of in front of his birthday gifts!!



















Blowing out his 2 candles.......... on his "construction cake".........













Some birthday candies......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!! He had a great time at the party. It was a day filled with "diggers", dump trucks, bulldozers, etc...everything he loves! The party was a construction theme and he loved the trucks on the cake. :)

We love you~~~~~~~

A Few Things Crafty~

Hi!
I have been not so good at taking pictures of the kids & family this past month........so I thought I'd share a few crafty things I've been working on for m ETSY shop http://www.poshpaisley.etsy.com/ and with my CLOSE TO MY HEART goodies!

If Only.........

they were this sweet to each other all the time! Here is a picture Rourke snapped (after I begged) early one morning after both kids woke up and got into our bed. Rourke was leaving for work, but on his way out he captured the moment. :) In her sleep Malia reached out and put her arms around Alex and cuddled in with him.

I thought it was so cute.

Happy Sunday! Enjoy the Oscars!! If only I had seen ONE of the movies nominated for ANYTHING! :)

~Linda

I Met Ali Edwards!

About a week and a half ago I heard that Ali Edwards was going to be at "SCRAPBOOK ATTACK" in Cedar Hills (a local scrapbook store). I have seen her books, read her blog, and always read her articles in "Creating Keepsakes" magazine. I thought it would be fun to see her in person and have her sign a book. Kandi went along with me (thanks Kandi!) for the adventure. We assumed she would have her new book there to buy & have signed......but she didn't and the store had sold out! We made a quick trip to Joann's and Borders and finally found ONE copy of her last book. It would have to do. We barely made it back to Scrapbook Attack before she left.......she was off to IKEA. :) Anywho......I felt a little like a stalker, but got a picture, a book, and she signed it. She was really nice, funny, laid back, TALL and had a deep voice that I didn't expect. She had a lot of her mini- albums laid out that were so unique and inspiring. Her handwriting is to die for! Take a look at her blog: http://www.aliedwards.typepad.com/ She has some great ideas....and thinks mistakes are a good thing. :) That's all for today. I have been trying to get my own scrapbooking underway and caought up (which will take awhile)......so far so good. Happy Tuesday!
~Linda

Malia's Dinosaur Project

Last week Malia had to make a dinosaur sculpture for preschool (reminder...she is 4!)...so, between the 3 of us (Rourke, Malia and I) here is our T-Rex that we made out of paper mache. This is totally NOT my type of thing.......thank God Rourke made the actual body shape because I really had no interest. We then covered him with paper mache' (which I hadn't done in probably 30 years) and painted him as best we could. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad this project is over. I wonder what will be next!

Baby News!!

Happy Friday Everyone!
Today was the **big** ultrasound day! We were anxiously awaiting the news and now we know what our final addition to the family will be.

We

are

having

a

GIRL!!










We are all excited and happy to see that the baby appears to be healthy...Malia is over the top excited to have a baby SISTER! Hopefully that will last.
Hope everyone else is having a great day!
Love,
Linda

The Christmas Tree - Dec 2007

Hello. Here I am again, playing catch up on pictures. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Ours was great - but always so busy right at the end. At the beginning of December I always feel like I have so much time to get everything done, then all of the sudden one day I feel panicked that there is no time left and I have so much to do. I never feel that "in the middle" place. I'm not sure why. I think part of my problem is I always add more things to do or make because everything seems so fun & festive in December.

Here are a few pictures fom the Christmas tree farm in Yamhill where we got our tree. It's quite a drive, but we always like the horse ride on the covered wagon, hot chocolate & cookies and the Frasier (sp?) Firs they have. This year it was snowing when we headed out there, but it didn't stick. We missed the horse ride twice (because of all the people) and didn't buy a Frasier Fir because they were either too big or half dead inside. Ugh. We are thinking of finding another (closer) spot for next year.......especially with 3 kids! Does the gas station still sell trees? Ha ha! (Oh - I forgot to add, I threw in my old pair of tennis shoes, and went to put them on and had 2 left feet!! How is that possible, I thought - but I have 2 nearly identical pairs of this brand of shoe.......so to top it off, I got to hike the tree farm in my good (suede) shoes!)

Here are couple of picture of that day and our tree at home. I forgot to get a picture of it after we cut it.

For Those of You Who Don't Know...

Our family is growing!! We are excited to let you know baby #3 (and THE FINAL BABY) is scheduled to arrive in June. Malia is hoping for a baby sister, but said a baby brother would be "okay". Whew!
Happy New Year to you all!!

My Elf Name

Hello!
I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. I am feeling like things are more under control then in past years.....Yippee!
Here is a fun thing to try...........

Until Christmas you can call me by:

My Elf Name ...

Giggles Slave O' Santa

What's" Your Elf Name?

Give it a try~
:) Linda