pancakes are delicious

Here is the pancake I have made for a special request. Hopefully, she'll like it. I particularly like the tiny strawberries. Now I have to hide it from the girls.

New Toys

I added some new items to my Etsy site. I'm trying to pace the additions over the next week.

First the sweet:
Ice Cream Cones.Ice cream sundaes.

And the savory:
Mushrooms.
I'm also adding some fuzzy critters. I added this little guy tonight:
Hedgehog!
I'll be adding a ladybug, suffolk sheep and chicken later.

The critters have been fun to make. The girls especially like the lady bug. I plan on adding dolls in the next month or so. Just in time for Christmas.

SNL

ONCE in awhile SNL is still funny. I know I'm late to this particular party, but if you haven't seen Tina Fey's portrayal of Sarah Palin go here. It's freakin' HILARIOUS..... and spot on.

Trish Soap

So a week ago I went to Trish's house to make soap. It was a blast! (except for the part where she blended her finger) I learned many, many things about the soap making process and was especially happy to see the gel phase, since had I not been told it was normal, I would have thought the soap was botched.

Trish makes absolutely lovely soaps, which I am still using. Here are a few:
I probably should have taken pictures BEFORE I started using them. The one without the wrapper is kumquat, which smells DELICIOUS. Although my hands down favorite is chai spice, which is a nice smelling lump in my shower right now.

In the 80s, before they were ironic, Hello Kitty accessories were a necessity in every little girl's pencil case. The best item was the Hello Kitty eraser because it smelled like heaven. My best friend, Kimmy, had a friend who would break off pieces and shove them up her nose so she could smell that eraser all day. I'm telling you this story because, if I could, I would break off pieces of the chai spice soap and shove them up my nose since it is what the air should smell like.

Camping pictures

As promised, here are some pictures of our Star Party Camping Trip:
Here are our lovely tents. Notice me changing Pilar's diaper. This tent was an anniversary gift from my parents-in-law (along with some sleeping bags).
Here we are in the "play tent." Jared and Emily brought it along to keep the kids in and to have a bug-free place to eat. these are the little folding chairs my parents bought the girls when they visited.
Here is a rare picture of Lena actually wearing the hat I brought for her.

And, of course the shot you were all expecting. Dirt was probably the most fun toy at the party.

Those pants will never be the same......

Scheduling Sleep

So on the job front, when it rains it pours. For one, I am still loving my job. It's part-time so I still have the afternoon with the girls, and it's just enough time away for me to miss them. :)
Jason will start teaching next week at 3 different community colleges: one in Hillsboro, one in Gresham and one in Vancouver, WA. For those of you not in Portland, that's a lot of travel travel. He will also be doing some tutoring and teaching for the SAT. At the moment his schedule is PACKED. He is literally writing in "sleep" on the calendar. Even though it will be a lot of work, I think he's really looking forward to teaching again. It is so much a part of who he is and I know he's missed it. I just wish he didn't have to travel so much.

Speaking of school. Lena will start her new pre-school next week. We got her into a local Headstart program and we are all pretty excited. Last week we had a home visit from her new teacher. Lena IMMEDIATELY grabbed her hand and showed her around. (never shy my girl) She'll get to take the bus in the morning and afternoon and I think that's almost as exciting to her as school.

Pilar will be attending a local community center playtime twice a week. She started that last week and really seems to like it. I was concerned at first because she's always gone to those sorts of things with Lena and I was afraid she wouldn't want to stay without her. But she really seems to like it and I think it will be good for her to get out from under her sister's shadow for a little while. Her 2nd birthday is coming up soon and I can't believe how fast it's gone. (cliche, I know, but oh so true). She' s not a baby anymore which makes me both happy and sad.

I'm hoping all this activity means the girls will be a little less crazy in the afternoons, but I know deep down that is a foolish hope......But a mother can dream. :)

Happy Campers

So I've been waiting to blog about this because I wanted to add pictures, but I haven't had time to edit the picture, so this will be a less interesting post than I wanted. Once I get all the pictures edited I'll post them.

So the most exciting thing we've done lately is camp. At the end of August we went on a 3 day trip with uncle Jared, aunt Emily and cousin Anna to the Ochoco National Forest for the Oregon Star Party. Lena was really excited to sleep in a tent and even more excited when she found out she got to pee on the ground. Yes, there were port-a-potties, but she has enough trouble with regular potties....We brought a little portable potty just for her. The potty included a bag just in case the ground was not an appropriate place for pottying... (we were fine with peeing on the ground, but pooping was another story.) After she'd gone in the bag she kept yelling "I pooped in a bag!" She's so easily excited. I'm sure our neighbors were impressed. We went on a few walks, and Jason and Jared took Lena butterfly hunting. She actually caught one on her own, and was VERY proud of herself. Emily, who is always creative, helped the girls make little forts for the plastic bugs we brought along, and I mostly just hung around. In the evening, the sky was the brightest I've ever seen. Jason brought both his telescopes and Jared brought his. We had a nice time the second night, sitting out, talking and looking through the scopes. The girls stayed up just long enough to take a few peeks, but were pretty wiped out from playing all day. I think this will likely become a yearly tradition.

Long Time no Blog

It's been a while since I posted so I thought I'd send off a quick one. It's been crazy busy (and sometimes just crazy) here. I have many things to share. Here are a few items I will blog about later, when I have pictures to add:

-We camped. Lena peed on the ground and pooped in a bag. Excitement abounds!!
-My soap turned out much better than I expected.
-Trish's soap ROCKS!! I think it's what the air should smell like.
-Jason will be teaching 4 courses at 3 different schools this fall.....

Come back later for these stories and likely more.
Hope you all had a great Labor Day Weekend!