Priest Lake: The Forest

We had to get out of the cabin so we headed down the main road and found a short loop trail to check out. There are signs posted all over that this is bear country and how you should manage yourself accordingly (don't try to feed the bears, clean up your garbage, etc.)

Sam was scared to death that we would meet a bear on our short hike. This first photo is sad Sam (sad because he wasn't able to talk us out of going on the walk.) Dan's solution was to laugh him out of it, which is why everyone is laughing.


It worked for a bit, but then Sam went right back to being worried.

But he made it through as long as he was holding mine or Dan's hand.

This moss was hanging off all the trees. And Dan's upper lip.

Had to get at least 1 flower in there.

There must be some magical trick someone can teach me about getting a nice photo of a group of boys. What's the secret? (Can you tell Dan's making these guys laugh behind me?)

On Dan's suggestion these guys rested their chins on their hands. Luke didn't quite get it but kept trying it for the rest of the photos on the trip.

It was a nice trip. Nice enough that I kind of want to get an escape cabin at Priest Lake. Maybe if I buy some property now, I can build a retirement cabin on it later.

Priest Lake: The Water

I did mention that we went up to Spokane and spent a few short days at the lake - didn't I? Well, we did. It rained the first day, so we stayed in a friend's cabin (with sweet 1960s decor) and played games and watched stupid movies on tape. Finally on the day we were leaving we got a nice sunny day.

This lake is cold anyway, but when it's cloudy and rainy, it's even colder, so I didn't even get in the water. Dan braved it for about an hour on the sunniest day. The cold didn't deter the boys. They just stayed in the water shivering and vowing never to get out.

Is it gorgeous or what? I love the Northwest.

Charlie is notorious for not wanting to cooperate for pictures, but when Dan said he wanted to take a picture of he and I, Charlie was right in there. Nice.

We found a little birds' nest. We couldn't see how many babies were in there until I got this photo. But I think the boys saw them chirping for their food.

Luckily we only brought one 12 pack of root beer, otherwise Luke would have done nothing else but drink it.

a good day

The other day Jack asked if he could look in my jewelry box. It's a pretty cool box Dan got me for Christmas a few years ago and it's got lots of compartments and cool drawers. Everyone was soon interested and trying things on.

After that (which lasted around an hour) they all wanted to make their own jewelry. So we got out the craft box and went to work. Charlie has worn his bracelet and necklace since he made it, even to bed.

This is the kind of summer day I've been dreaming of. Getting creative with everyone, everyone getting along nicely. Hopefully we get at least one more day like that this summer. (I have not been feeling so wonderful and have been mostly reading and laying around). Anyone have any suggestions for easy crafts with kids? What fun things have you been doing this summer?

where have I been?

Thanks for asking. I've mostly been here, watching The Tour. Anyone else out there watching Le Tour de France? Go Andy! Andy Schleck is in the photo below (left) with his brother Frank (who crashed at the beginning of this tour and broke his collar bone pretty badly). Right now Alberto Contador is in the yellow jersey and I'm hoping Andy can get it back in the next few days. Only 4 more stages to go!

Also - my mom and dad took my 3 oldest kids for 10 days, so I was working on house projects. No time for blogging.

And then - we went to pick the kids up and spent a week in Spokane. We went to the lake and I met up with a few friends for lunch.

Hopefully I'll get around to blogging at least some of it!

a zig zag quilt

First of all - thanks for all your well wishes for baby boy #5. We are excited for his arrival and to see what he'll look like!


And also - thank you for the potty training advice. I'm debating whether to start now or to wait until Luke is 3. I can imagine he'll want to do it right when the baby arrives.


I have been wanting to make a zig zag quilt ever since I saw this one. I also had to have that fish fabric when I saw the same quilt and now it can't be found (unless you're willing to pay an arm and a leg or unless you have something good to swap.) Lucky I got it when it was affordable.





And here is the back. I guess I went a little overboard when collecting my yellows and oranges. I probably have enough to make another twin sized quilt. And in case you're wondering - this quilt is staying with me. Orange is my favorite color and orange and yellow is one of my favorite color combinations.

potty training again

We just bought a slew of new undies and Luke is currently naked from the bottom down. I know I should be a pro at this after the other 3, but it's hard. I just checked out several books from the library to get some more help (hopefully). I was just wondering if any of you have any good tips, or if you recommend any great books.

Did you potty train "in a day" or over a longer period?

Did your child become night trained at the same time as day trained?

How old was your child when you started?

Was it the hardest thing you've done as a parent so far? Maybe I should be thankful if I think it's the hardest thing so far. And this time, I do have to say, it is easier (but I guess we'll see how long it actually takes before I say how easy it is).

p.s. remember when little Luke looked like this? I barely remember.

I love cake

Cake the band, I mean. Dan introduced them to me the summer we met and I have loved them ever since. On Saturday, we got to go see them live! It was so much fun. They are a great concert - so if you ever get a chance to see them (and you like them) then you should go. (And they still have a lot more tour dates left).





p.s. does anyone know where i can get a vibraslap? because i really, really want one.

well . . . . . .

It's a boy! Of course it's a boy. What did you think it was going to be?

watermelon sorbet and a failure

Last week I told you I was going to make watermelon sorbet. I looked online at a few recipes and just decided to keep it simple. My watermelon was a bit old (not the best texture) and not super sweet. So I cut it into chunks, blended it up, strained it, and added 1/4 cup sugar for ever 4 cups watermelon puree. If your watermelon were sweet, I don't think it would need any sugar.

Then I put it in my ice cream maker, and we ate it. If you don't have an ice cream maker, you could just freeze it in a casserole dish, take it out, leave it out for a few minutes, and scrape it with a fork to make it like a slushie. The kids loved it!

As for the failure. I thought I'd try to make a skirt, a pregnant skirt. So I used some fabric I already had and made it, remade it, and still hated it. It's horribly ugly. I can't even show it to you. So frustrating to spend even a few hours on something, not to mention a bunch of fabric, and then hate the result. So I'm ordering one from Old Navy soon. Somehow I got rid of all my pregnant clothes from last time, except for 1 shirt, which is way to big for me this time. Weird.

Also - I made my appointment for my ultrasound for this Friday. I'll be letting you all know as soon as I can!

hexagons again

Started sewing my hexagons together finally! I have 93 of those flowers - so not enough for the size of quilt I want yet. But that's okay because I like making them.

Here is a tutorial which is pretty close to the way I do it. But I may do my own tutorial - what do you think?

I used paper pieces from here.

These ones are 3/4 inch (measuring 3/4 inch on one straight side).

There is also a good post about hexagons on The Sometimes Crafter with lots of other good info.