Breakin' into Spring

We've started spring off perfectly.

Five days in Newport, having a blast.

We even had some wonderful Oregon coast weather.  (That doesn't happen all the time.  Especially in the spring.)

Levi's favorite part was probably digging in the sand.  Here's the sandcastle "we" built.  I built it.  Levi helped me decorate it.  And being a typical boy, he had to smash it.

We got to fly Levi's new Lightening kite.  This picture was taken just moments before the string snapped and the kite went sailing down the beach.  Gabe chased it and chased it.  Levi cried because Lightening was gone.  And we were lucky a little kid way down the beach was able to grab it and return it to us.  But, it won't be flown again...

We also got a chance to check out Yaquina Head Lighthouse.
And we couldn't pass up the amazing tide pools at Cobble Beach.

We really wanted to see some grey whales and went on a 2 hour wildlife boat cruise.  Unfortunately the conditions were pretty rough out on the open ocean.  So, we set crab traps and caught some lovely guys.  Levi wouldn't touch the crabs but he sure loved watching them!

And we did see these Steller Sea Lions trying to get up on a buoy in the rough conditions.

A trip to Newport isn't complete without spending a rainy morning at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.  We had a great time watching the sea otters get their breakfast.  Levi loved the jelly fish and the touch pool.  When we were exploring tide pools earlier in the week, he would have nothing to do with touching the sea anemones.  Well, he got brave at the aquarium and we couldn't tear him away from them.

It was a great spring get away.  Newport is a good Oregon coastal town to explore.  I feel like there's more to do when the weather is rainy and windy.  As it so often is...

The rest of the week Gabe and I are hoping to attack our downstairs guest bathroom.
We'll see how that goes.  After getting home this afternoon, all we got done was a quick trip to Target and Home Depot.  What did we come home with?  Paint and a shower curtain.  That was it!  Neither of us is being very decisive about our choice in tile and the new vanity.  Hopefully we'll get some ugly red tile and an old vanity ripped out of there bright and early in the morning.

Tex-Mex & Vegetarian

We invited my dear friend from college, Mindy and her husband (and also one of Gabe's co-workers) Mark, over for dinner tonight.

When accepting our invitation, Mindy warned me that they've recently decided to eat vegetarian and she hoped that wouldn't be too much trouble.  I assured her it was not.  Gabe and I have often discussed the heath benefits, and ecological benefits, of vegetarian eating.  But then I realize there is no way I could give up both sushi and bacon for the REST OF MY LIFE!

In thinking about what veggie dishes to make, I immediately thought of soup.  (That might be because it's almost spring and we had snow falling this week.  It might also be because I went to see Wicked with my mom and Becky this afternoon and I knew Gabe needed something easy to put together for dinner tonight.)  Well, Gabe convinced me that we should do something "Mexicanish".  Probably because we didn't make any other Mexican inspired meals this week and he's going through withdrawals! So, we compromised with Tex-Mex.  

I made corn bread from scratch this morning.  Which, I've never actually made before.  The Jiffy mixes are just too cheap, easy and yummy to bother with making it myself!  But I wanted to try something new so I tried out this recipe.  These veggies (along with corn) go into the bread.  It was great!

Gabe made his favorite vegetarian chili.  It's been made at Monday Guys Night on many occasions but I've been resistant to trying it because it just seems weird.  Oranges in chili just doesn't seem quite right.  But it's really yummy.  Especially for those who love things "sweet" like me!

It's always sad to say good-bye to the weekend...
But I only have 4 more days until SPRING BREAK!
I think I can do it.

-h (Gabe edited and uploaded pictures for me while I folded laundry!)

Better late than never

This week really got away from me.  So much for that promise to get back on here this week and share some photos (and stories) about Levi.

Levi's got lots of phrases he loves to use all the time.  Two of my favorites are...
"Watch this trick."  (Then he proceeds to do some thing that really isn't that tricky.)
and
"I have an idea." (Which he uses EVERY TIME he wants to do something.)

We had a two hour delay for school on Tuesday because of snow.
By the time we got out to play in it about 9am, it was pretty much gone.

But lets be honest, this is Levi's favorite part of playing in the snow any way.

And according to Levi the "warm" coco I make is "super duper yummy".  And tastes just "like a chocolate chip".

So here we are enjoying our weekend again.
We've started the weekend off right by celebrating St. Patty's day.

Had to have green blueberry pancakes this morning...just for the occasion.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

sunday suppers return

I feel like it's been forever since we've hosted our Sunday Supper and this is going to be quick.
(I'll have to stop by with pictures of Levi later this week for the Grandmother readers.)

We had Bryan and his girlfriend Jackie over for dinner tonight.
Gabe made this pork roast and gravy.  And I made these mashed sweet potatoes.  Both were super yummy.  I did modify the potatoes slightly by adding some heavy cream.  Heavy cream makes everything a bit yummier.  I think I also added too much rosemary.  Levi loves sweet potatoes but didn't really like them all fancy.  I think the rosemary was too much for him.  He had broccoli instead.

After dinner, Levi had fun showing off on his bike and building crazy Lego creations with our guests.  Once Levi was in bed we got out the game the Morrisons sent Gabe for his birthday gift.  We played it for the first time last night and I beat Gabe.  Tonight, Gabe was the victor.

I've got laundry to fold and a new book club book to start...

Birthday Trifecta

Happy Birthday Gabe, Tricia and Travis!

In celebration of the day he was born, Gabe and I have a birthday date for dinner tomorrow night.

Happy (early) 33rd Birthday Gabe!

little bit of everything...

Describes our weekend perfectly.

Gabe's dad and Joanne came up to visit/celebrate Gabe's birthday weekend.  They took us out for dinner to one of Gabe's favorite places.

Levi took the pedal car he got for Christmas from Grandpa Tom and Grammy Joey for it's inaugural spin.  The empty parking lot at the dairy was the perfect spot.  It was a great first ride.  Complete with mud puddles and all!

We decided to take a walk around the dairy and go check out the duck pond.  In the process, we met a 4-H girl and her mom walking the goats.  They took us back to the barn for the full 4-H tour.  We got to meet Daisy the pot bellied pig.  Feed carrots to the 2 miniature horses, 2 normal sized horses, and donkey.  Pet the two rabbits and find eggs in the chicken coop.  The final part of the impromptu "tour" was holding the 9 week old chicks.  Levi said that was his favorite part.

Everybody Read!

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, today is National Read Across America day!

We celebrated the occasion.  

It was a great excuse to buy some new books.  And they had to be Dr. Seuss classics!

And then read them of course!

Hope everyone picked up a good book today!