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My friend Rachel is giving away a pretty cool sign, check out her blog!

Getting Ready for School

This morning Carter and I watched a new Leap Frog DVD that I got him titled "Let's Go To School". He thought that school looked fun which is good since he starts Kindergarten on Sept. 2! During breakfast I asked a few questions and one of his answers made me laugh.

Mom: Do you like your new back pack for school?
Carter: Yup
Mom: What is in it?
Carter: Stuff
Mom: What kind of stuff?
Carter: School stuff...because I am going to High School!

Okay Captain Obvious, of course there is "stuff" in there.
Now, about that High School thing, let's not push it!

More Summer Fun!

The Washougal Community Pool
(I bet you didn't know that they had one huh!)

Ellyson and Grandma at the River!

Carter's 1st ride on a Komodo Dragon.
Hold on buddy!

Carter's 1st Pie Eating Contest.
He really didn't get the idea of the contest - he just wanted the pudding pie!

Culinary Exploration

There is a lot of great confectionery places to visit in Seattle, however I never seem to have a chance to visit any of them. Since we were heading to the Woodland Park Zoo I decided that we should detour and check a few of them out.

First stop Trophy Cupcakes...oooo, ahhhh yummy! Since our budget is tight we all sampled one divine chocolate cupcake. I am defiantly going back for more!

Next stop was Theo's Chocolates. This wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be, but it was still worth the stop. We got to sample all of their chocolates - boy what a explosion of flavor in my mouth. The most extreme one was a Spicy Chili Pepper Chocolate bar - yuck, not even my spicy lovin' brother would like it.

After the zoo I got to go the the "palace" for bakers! HEAVEN!!!! The Home Cake Decorating Supply Co. is a 30 year old, hole in the wall store that has everything an aspiring baker like me would need. If she doesn't have it here...then a probably don't need it! I am so inspired to bake up a storm now. I am working on a few special things for Ellyson's 1st birthday party!
Our final stop for the day was a delicious dinner at Buca Di Beppo. We normally can not afford a tasty supper like this...but this frugal mama had 2 coupons for free food who-hoo! Since we were there a little bit before the dinner rush we got to sit at their famous kitchen table. The head chef was awesome in spoiling our kids with spaghetti and ice cream. It was so good and cheap too!

S'mores on a stick

This is how you do it in the Northwest when it rains in August...I like the burnt, fire roasted ones better!

Summer lovin...had me a blast!

Looking Cute....Water Baby!
Mom...stop taking pictures of me in my swimsuit!

The Girls floating around in the Lake!

My dream came true! Since I was 13 my favorite animal has been a giraffe and I have ALWAYS wanted to pet one...and I finally got my chance! It was a great experience.

Woodland Park Zoo with Gma and Gpa! Happy Birthday Gma!

This monkey must have escaped!

Brother Bear

Elly's first lemon...no we are not mean I think that she liked it!

The kids play in this new water table for hours (another garage sale find) ...it is a big hit on hot days!

Little Cowgirl

This is Ellyson's newest toy...she loves it! We snagged this bargain at a garage sale for only $3.

The Gardening Report

My prized Tomato plants are doing well, they are loving the sun and the yummy food that I give them. The sweet 100 already has a beautiful and tasty red fruit with lots more to come! Carter and I started some mid-season plants...pumpkins, radishes, spaghetti squash, and peas. We will see how they do.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

These have cupcakes instead of ice cream in them! Yummy!

Beach Vacation 2009

We had a blast on the Oregon Coast last week! Elly and I went down on the 4th and Rodney and Carter joined us on the 8th. We stayed in a great beach house with my family in Gearhart (3 miles north of Seaside) and then hostessed our annual family reunion there for the weekend. Here are a few of our highlights:

Happy Fourth of July!

Am I a bad mom for letting Ellyson lick the BBQ sause off of my ribs? She went crazy!

Grandma rocking Elly and the newest addition, Aiden
We meet Kevin and Dena and their kids at the Tillamook Cheese Factory.
Dena and I were roomates in college and then she became roommates with Kevin after I introduced them and they got married! I am currently working on another match that looks like it might end in a marriage too. I think that Bravo TV should give me my own reality TV show for match making!
I almost fell all the way down the stairs with, Elly on my back at this lighthouse. Good thing my awesome sister caught us!
Sisterly Love!
I love you Rachel!
Cannon Beach with part of the fam.

Let's Go Fly a Kite!
Maezie and Ellyson finally get revenge on Carter!

The Goonies house in Astoria - we went on a movie tour and also saw the other Goonies sites, school from Kindergarten Cop and the jetty that Willy jumps over in Free Willy.

We tried chocolate covered oreos, bacon, pop tarts, twinkies and pringles! Yummy!
The Little Engine That Could
Trying to be cool like Grandpa.

Jammin' with my mom

I got some wonderful strawberries from the local market so I thought that I would make some freezer jam. Well, since I have never actually made jam before....I called for my mom's expertice.

Since we were so sucessful at make the strawberry jam, we sent my husband and dad down the road to pick some yummy raspberries from the neighborhood shared raspberry garden and jammed them up too!

Next up - blueberries and blackberries!

I am a Sneaky Chef!

Carter's favorite food is spaghetti....so I thought that I would try and reduce the number of carbs and give him a little bit of vegetable power. I have used spaghetti squash before (in place of pasta) and really enjoyed, but I wasn't sure how Carter would like it - it worked, he loved it!Actually I think that his words were "this is pretty good"! Off to figure out a few more sneaky ideas!

The Expert

Carter: When is dad going to be home?

Mom: After he is done working.

Carter: No, I think that he is coming home now.

Mom: How do you know that?

Carter: Because I am an expert!

Mom: Who made you an expert?

Carter: God did!

Carter: An expert is someone who knows lot's of
things and I know lots of things!

Fast Food Father's Day

After a wonderful homemade dinner that my mom made we went fast food style for dessert! I found this idea from my new favorite blog, Bakerella, and decided to give it a try. Mind you that I have only had 1 cake decorating class so far....but I think that I did a decent job. The "Burger Basket" was made from cupcakes, brownies and sugar cookies! I even went the extra mile for the dads in my life and handmade all of the paper serving stuff.

MY DADDY!

My Father-in-Law

My Baby Daddy - aka husband