The Dairy Free-ks

Neither Hannah nor Tatum can have foods with dairy products. Hannah is lactose intolerant and can have some things with a little milk, though.

We had pizza, which Tatum thinks she loves and so I decided to improvise. I took a tortilla and spread it with some plain tomato sauce and sprinkled some Italian seasonings in it. Then I put her soy mozzarella and cheddar mix shredded cheese on and then some little pieces of pepperoni. I put it in the oven with the other pizza for about 5 minutes and then cut it like a pizza. Tatum ended up eating 5 of the 8 pieces from the 1st one and Hannah, who usually likes to eat mostly fruits and veggies (and a hot dog here and there), ate 3 pieces of it!!! Chelsea was so stoked! I ended up making another one and Tatum ate another 3 pieces. Lucky it was a small tortilla and I didn't put very many toppings on each one. LOL!

I also added another picture of them sitting under the desk in the kitchen. They are seldom found playing apart. They follow each other around all day. It is so fun to watch.

The "cheese-rs" eating their "pizza"

Always trying to hide!

Oregon State Fair

Mariah and Brinlee have been waiting 3 years to go to the fair! Everytime we would see a carnival in HI, they would beg us to go, but it just wasn't in the budget, so we promised them that as soon as we moved back that we would take them to the State Fair in OR. They had a BLAST!! We left Tatum home with Grandma Jones and took the older 3. The weather was perfect. It was partially cloudy, no rain and not too hot! Seeing that I am fairly huge now, I would have been miserable in some kind of blistering heat.

It was "bracelet" day, which means that you pay one price for a wristband and they can ride as many rides as they want between 11am and 4pm. They couldn't believe that they didn't need tickets! They rode a ton of rides (WELL worth the money for the bracelet), ate corn dogs, cotton candy and curly fries. As part of the bracelet "package" each girl got 10 game tickets, as well. They each took a turn playing the softball bucket toss. Brinlee went first and won a little stuffed monkey, then Mariah did the same. When it was Asia's turn, I tried to help her, but it just didn't go in her favor. She was a little sad that she didn't get a monkey, so Brinlee (sweet Brinlee, I am tearing up thinking about it) said "Here Asia, you can have my monkey". I totally melted! Brinlee got super extra bonus points for that one. She is such a great sharer, but that was the ultimate! We finished the afternoon by walking through the Jackman Long Building, where they have booths (including my dad's veterinary assoc. booth) and where they display all the vegetables that were entered for contests and by looking at all the animals in the barns.

I couldn't leave without getting an ice cream cone from the Oregon Dairy Womens booth. It is still, BY FAR, the best ice cream at the fair. One thing that I forgot to do was get an elephant ear. I always get one, but this year, I forgot. We did squeeze ourselves (except Will) into a little photo booth to get the traditional booth pics. It was fun!

Asia was too short for this one =(

Too short again for Asia and Mariah was too scared.
Someone had handed Will their leftover tickets and so he rode with just Brinlee.
She absolutely loved it! (It's my favorite, too)

The end of the funhouse

The Merry-Go-Round (Mariah in back)

Canoe Ride

The "Li'l Coaster". Mariah and Asia in the 2nd car in pic,
Brin's face is hidden in the next car back.

baby update

I FINALLY went to the OB for the first time since we moved here on June, 4. Since I am 36 weeks along now, I figured it would probably be best to go asap. I am going to the group that my sister-in-law, Chelsea, went to in Tualatin. Chelsea saw Dr. Allison, but she is not taking new patients with due dates in Sept, so they assigned me to Dr. Burgoine. He was really nice. I gave him copies of my records from HI and he went over my pregnancy history with me. After he realized that my deliveries have been getting shorter and shorter, he immediately wanted to set up my induction for the 16th of Sept. I was shocked! I was actually a little anxious about the thought of it being 1 week sooner. I still don't have a car seat or a stroller to my name. I don't have a lot of stuff ready and together like I normally do. Because we are staying with my parents, I haven't done any "nesting" like I normally do. It's driving me CRAZY! Usually I've redecorated something, or totally cleaned out and reorganized every closet in the house, or insisted that we rip down those ugly brown cabinets in the kitchen and sand them down and paint them (LOL, you couldn't forget that one, could ya Will?) Anyway, Will looked at his work schedule and asked me to find out if we could do it on the 18th so that he could be off work not have to switch anything. Dr. B said I could pick the date anyway, so now I just need to let him know. I go back next Thurs. I can't believe it's so close!!

Birthday Girl

Tatum is 2!! I can't believe it. It's such a cliche to say, but time flies so fast! Tatum is such a sweet funny little girl. We just love her to death. Don't cross her path, though, she'll definitely put you in your place. She loves to sing "ABC" and "Twinkle, Twinkle". She's really good at cleaning up the table after dinner or any meal for that matter. She eats up any left over food and then takes each plate to the kitchen sink. Her favorite things to do are jump on the "tramp" with cousin Hannah and read books. She also L-O-V-E-S babies!! She is hardly ever found without a dolly on her arm. If there is a real baby in the room, no matter where we are, she gravitates toward them. I hope that is a good indicator for how she'll be with her new sister. She had a GREAT birthday. We went to church and had her party in the later afternoon. We were waiting for Mary Lou to arrive. She got there around 5 and then Tatum opened her gifts. Her reaction to some of them was so funny. I got a few video clips and I also put together a slide show.

If you want to read the image captions, roll your mouse pointer over each image as it scrolls by.

Birthday Video

Snip, Snip

Tatum got her very 1st hair trim today. It was long over-due. Her baby hairs were starting to get too whispy and out of control. She was SO GOOD! I had cut Mariah and Brinlee's hair before hers and when they were done, she was practically scrambling to be next in the chair and wear the cape. There's not too big a change, but styling it is definitely easier.

The "before" shot

baby bird

Brinlee and Uncle Jay found a little tiny baby bird on the sidewalk behind the house earlier. The kids were so intrigued by it and kept touching it (EWWWW!!). I kept telling them to stop touching because then it's mommy wouldn't help it. My mom and Jay ended up finding the nest in the tree branches above the trampoline and put it back in the nest that had one other baby bird in it.

Girls Lunch

My girlfriends from high school took me to lunch at PF Changs and had a little baby shower for me! It was so much fun! I haven't had a girls day for months and it was so needed. Thanks ladies!

from left: April (and baby Sebastian), Jenny, Me, Jolene, and Elyse.

8.8.08

Happy Birthday Will!!!

My mom kept the kids while he and I went out to dinner for his birthday at (his choice) Red Lobster. It was SO GOOD! It's been a long time since I tasted seafood that yummy, even in HI.

La Vida Loca

A week ago, yesterday, Mary Lou took the 3 older girls to her house for a few days to spend some time with them. That Saturday, Ross and Lindsay left to go back home, so it was a super quiet weekend with just Tatum around the house. We didn't know what to do with ourselves. By Sunday afternoon, I realized that I had been needing a break for a very long time. I felt better than I have felt in months!

On Monday, we went to Vancouver and toured homes all day. We haven't found "the one" yet. We've seen a lot of potential and are excited at the prospects! From Vancouver, we drove to Rainier to get the girls. We stayed over night and on Tuesday we went to the photography studio that Mary Lou used to work at to get our pictures done (just Will and I) for our 10th anniversary. It was so fun! I want to have our pictures done every 10 years. I think it will be funny to look back at how we've changed.

Last night my mom and I went shopping for Will and the girls some new clothes. It looks like Mariah and Brinlee will have to start school here at Lincoln Elementary, which is just down the road from my moms. So we got them each an outfit and a pair of jeans to get them started on their school clothes. Mary Lou wanted to take us shopping while we were in Rainier earlier in the week, but we just didn't have enough time up there. She mentioned that she wants to come down here so that we will have a few more options than what's in Longview. It was fun to go shopping. That's something I haven't done, for real, in years. All the clothes they had in HI were either sent to us from the grandma's, or hand-me-downs from friends. I did buy them things here and there for holidays and special occassions, but I never got to just go out and "pleasure shop". THANKS MOM!

Grubbin'

We've been loving the super sweet corn from Bauman Farms. They are a local family here that grow and sell their own crops. Tatum couldn't get enough! I was surprised at how much those tiny top teeth could clean off the cob. She still only has 4 teeth on top and 4 teeth on bottom.