So yes it's been a while. Ok a long while. I've moved from Springfield to the Portland area and now settled in Lebanon. The girls have grown so much since I last posted. Zoe is now 11 and almost as tall me, about 4'11" now. She will be in middle school next year. Oi vey! Lily is 7 and my little diva. I am in trouble when it comes to her teen years. Here is a couple pix of them now:

And we recently took in a kitty. The girls have named her Sparta!

Free portrait session by Kristen Moss

http://kristenmoss.blogspot.com/2010/10/did-you-just-say-free.html
Hurry, must enter by Oct 25th at 7pm
Good Luck


I really should blog an update soon**sheepish grin**

First Day of School!

The walk to clas on the first day. Zoe was really excited and ready to start her independence, already. I knew I didn't need to worry about her having separation anxiety.

I really had to pry her attention away for this.
After School

Lily was happy Zoe was home too.

Disneyland/Califrnia Pix

Waiting for the shuttle the first day.

Frank and Zoe flying with Dumbo

The girls with Ariel


I think Lily is getting tired

At Tritons Pool



At Medieval Times, yea!

Zoe with her flower from the Blue Night

The Blue Night and Zoe (I told ya they are getting younger)

With Great Great Uncle Dick on the old homested.



The old barn on the property. Built in the mid30's with scrap wood.
And still leaning! The barn and the chicken coop are still there with
2nd house on the original property, still at 1 acre. Everyone else has
sub-divided in the area to developers.

Some Disneyland Highlights

On the way down we stopped in Redding to visit a friend I hadn't seen in almost 20 years. The girls absolutely loved it, mainly because of the horses. Zoe still asks if we can live there...she'll stay in the barn with the horses. =) Silly girl

Arthur(the black draft horse, Belgian I think) and Gwenevere (a Klydesdale mix)
The girls riding Chance

Well lots of fun in the sun, as it goes. The girls and Frank enjoyed their 1st visit to Disneyland, I return after 17+ years. The first day we got to see Cruella, our first "character". She said hello to Zoe as she was returning to the Cast Only door. Zoe just looked at her like OMG she's real, she was speechless, seriously! So Cruella says well just wave then, still no acknowledgement from Zoe. So Cruella says." Fine then don't wave darling" and stalked off. She was good!

It took us all 3 days to cover MOST of Disneyland and scratch the surface of California Adventure with these two. One of the highlights on the first day was the Princess Dinner. It was Lily's turn with Ariel to give the OMG she's real look. I've added the Ariel photo in my pix on Myspace(Momma Irish). Zoe really enjoyed the one on one time with them.

On the second day we finished Fantasy Land, minus the Princess area, caught that on the last day. We worked on Tomorrow Land and enjoyed that alot. Zoe even went on Space Mountain. We did the New Orleans and got short lines on the Haunted House (super short here, an oddity) and Pirates of the Caribbean. The new Pirates ride is pretty good, wasn't sure what to expect.
Now that we cooled off we got ready for Medieval Times! Yea....it was fun. The story line is different now, but Zoe "caught" a flower from our knight and loved all the horses. She even got to meet our Blue Knight. The get younger all the time!

Ok, back to Disney to utilize all the time we have! whew, keeping up? Back to Tomorrow Land to finish up. We did the Buzz Lightyear ride, that was fun. Then on to Star Tours. Frank and I had to take turns on alot of stuff with Zoe then the other would fly solo. So I let Frank take Zoe on this one and passed this round.

When they came out the exit for Star Tours Frank came walking over laughing. In the line he had told Zoe about how they were going to fly in a space ship to outer space and see the stars, etc. When the ride is done, he looks down at Zoe who is starting to cry. Frank asks why she is crying and she looked up at him and asked," Now how are we gonna get home?" Kids, gotta love
em!!!

On the third day we tried to finish up the park and get in some "big kid" rides. Not much to tell hear, the girls were wiped out and moody. I am sure you hear enough of that at home as is, no need to spill it hear too. = p

We took our time getting home to visit family on the way up. Stopped by the old family homestead, where my Great Grandfather built the house, after the depression, around 1935. It was good to get away, I miss that place. Oh and one last Zoe-ism. One of the mornings at the hotel, I was telling Zoe we needed to get going so the maid could come in to clean the room and make the bed. Her reply - Why does she need to come in and make the bed, we already have one?

Ok, I didn't want to fuse with arranging the pics with what I wrote because I wrote this some time ago and am now adding pictures. I have created a separate blog post for them, enjoy.

Hats

So June 13th I got to visit my best friend. It was bitter sweet, she only got to stay for about 8 hours. No where near enough time. But I did get this funny tid bit from her visit.
Both her and her boyfriend came up to Oregon, she was headed to a wedding up north. Not many of you know that she has alopecia, which cause ones hair to fall out. So she buzz cut her hair a while back and has worn wigs from time to time.
The girls have an old costume wig they paly with and Mary was curious so she tried it on. Lily was not miss out on the fun, pointed at the wig and said "I want hat". It was funny to see her swim in the wig.
Next she turns to Marys' boyfriend and points at his hair and says again, "I want hat". She was very adament about wanting to wear his hair, she asked several time for his hat.

As you can see he is called Blue for a reason, the "hat" doesn't come off.

Finance It!

So many of you are familiar with the Massey Wholesale car commercials right? A few weeks ago Zoe was with me running errands and we were driving past the dealership on Hwy 99. " Look Mom, it's the Finance It guy," she tells me. " I don't like him", Zoe said. I asked why not? And this was her answer.
" I don't like him because he finances everyone. If he tries to finance me, I'll finance him back!"
Haahahaha, you go girl! And charge double while you're at it. =)

New Friends

So I wasn't planning on doing this so soon after Bubba, but in light of Lane County Animal Shelter closing, I stoped by on Thursday. Frank and I had been talking about fostering and volunteering with the local animal rescue groups. Anyway, I saw this adorable girl and talked to Frank about fostering her. She is sweet and mild and skinny.

I decided to bring the girls down on Friday afternoon to meet with the pup and see how they got along. It went very well. The pup isn't sure about playing yet though. As we played with her a man came over and introduced himself as a photographer with the Regist Guard and that he saw a photo opportunity. So here it is, Lily made the paper and not just the paper but front page! Who knew it was going to be front page. I figured the Local section. But Frank got to meet the pup later that day and we are currently hoping to bring her home. We've also been asked to foster some brothers who we met yesterday. Poor things aren't getting along with the other dog in their foster home.

If anyone is interested I have a link to the rescue site on my blog in the Friends section under Save The Pets.

Roller Skating for Charity

Tonight we decided to go and have fun while helping raise money for animals. They had a roller skating fund raiser for meds for Lane County Animal Shelter. Frank went with the girls and I got there as soon as I got off work. Zoe had done a bit learning already and showed me what she could do. It was so cute.

Then I got a crazy inkling to don a pair of skates myself. I don't think I have done that in over 15 years! Ah but what the heck, right? Boy was I rusty, but I never fell, thankfully. Ya know it's like riding a bike, you never forget. I tried to take Zoe around the rink once. With the way things were going I had to get her off or we were both giong down.

Lily had fun just looking around. She really enjoyed the "dog" on skates and wanted to see him. It was kind of ironic really, that she liked the dog so much considering that just Saturday she say Chuck E Cheese and freaked. All in all it was great, we'll have to do it again.

Who's My Good Boy?

You came into my life 11 years ago. We used to cuddle together in the earlier morning hours, because you refused to sleep quietly in your enclosed area. You are loyal, loving and a protector. Not to mention an all out goof ball. You were always so strong and hardly ever complained. We shared so much together.

I am glad to call you my friend...more than my friend you are and always will be part of my family. Even as old age crept in you still remained my good boy. Everytime I came home you were there to greet me, sometime with your bowl in tow. You would sometimes howl as we left to go somewhere.

Now it is I who howls, as you have gone somewhere....somewhere I cannot be right now. Who's my good boy? You are Bubba and I miss you emensly. As I held and cuddled you in youth, I held and cuddled you in death.

'Til We Meet Again!

Tooth Fairy

So Zoe finally lost her tooth, or rather pulled it out. So not me. I was child that let my loose tooth come out on it's own accord. Not her though. I came home Thursday night and she showed me her missing tooth. I helped her to get it ready for the tooth fairy and stuck it under her pillow. Zoe was so excited it was hard to get her to go to bed, let alone stay put. The next morning she woke up and almost had to remind her look under her pillow for what the tooth fairy left her.

According to Mr. Toothfairy, she got $5 for inflation. I had a $1 all ready for Zoe. Well this is what Zoe got with her money......yup horses. Imagine that ;)

Vintage and the Rock Star

As usual, I come home from work to the fun stuff. Mom and Zoe had been playing dress up and Zoe was a rock star. It was too cute to pass for a picture opportunity....only I had misplaced my digital camera. For most of you, if you misplace your cell phone your world comes to a screaching halt. Well almost the same goes for me and my camera as I have no cell. But I have to get this picture before the moment is gone....what to do? AH-HA! I just bought film for the polaroid to do a project for the kids at church.

Wait a minute....a what, you ask? Yeah a polaroid camera. Remember it's those big squarish contraptions where the picture comes out the camera and you have to wiat for to develope right before your eyes! It's a vintage thing & Yes I still have one (it was my dads) ;)

Well anyway, I caught the moment!!

My little Rock Star:

Growing Up So Fast

On Saturday Zoe approached me and said her teeth are getting wobbly. Could it be? She only turned 5 a month ago! I ask which one is wobbly....and of course she points to about 1/4 of her front bottom teeth. But sure enough I found a loose one, right up front. I felt like I just received a smack in the face! I know she's only 5 but when the realization hit me that her "big girl" teeth are going to start coming in....I wasn't anticipating this for at least one more year. And then she starts kidnegarden this fall. I know some of you out there have reached this stage at least once and probably know what I am talking about. One more stepping stone reached I guess. **Sigh**

Snow Day

We all had fun.

Fun With Food Day

In the mornings while I was get ready for work I will make the girls breakfast and spend some time with them. It's about the most time I get with them, Lily particularly, during the week. Zoe will on occasion request purple pancakes or something of the sort. On Friday she asked for purple eggs.....we tried this once and the eggs came out gray, king of unappetizing to the eye. So I encouraged her to do green eggs and purple milk(although you can't tell the milk is purple).



I wasn't so sure how Lily would react to her eggs being green. So silly of me, she didn't even bat an eye, just ate them as usual. It was fun.

Later that night after I got home from work and visited with Zoe for a bit, she said she was hungry again. We looked through the cupboard for a compromise on something "good" for her eat and settled on tomato soup. While dishing up the soup I told Zoe to grab a spoon. She asked if she could use a straw. A straw....for soup? Well it is just tomato soup after all and we did eat green eggs, soooo.......

It was fun with food today!

New Experiences

So Lily discovered how to get her finger stuck in the VCR while I was making dinner one night. I couldn't resist getting the camera first before releasing her.



Shortly after returning to the kitchen, I heard her whining again. Low and behold, she couldn't resist another stab at trying to concur the machine that trapped her finger. But the VCR held steadfast.

Silly Lily :)

Long time no Blog

Well I haven't been here in far too long. With my hours at work and the time it takes to commute by bus I have little time these days. And of course using dialing up these days(which is going to be short lived....will be be no internet soon) is a bit frustrating. Hopfully I can get a couple new posts up soon. Until then.....

New Music?

Many of you know that my mother lives with Frank, the kids and I. She works evenings doing janitorial and watches the girls during the day. The girls, Zoe particularly, get excited when grandma comes home.

One of the nights late last week grandma came home through the back door into the kitchen. She comes up to the child gate separating the kitchen from the living room and greets everyone and Zoe runs up to talk to her. After a couple of minutes Zoe asks grandma if she would like hear her music. I am curious what she is going to do, will she sing or hum or what?

Grandma agrees and we all watch with anticipation as she proceeds to turn a 180......and farts!
Now where on earth did she learn that I asked looking at dad suspiciously. In conclusion, no one has taught her.

She also has a new bedtime excuse....I can't go to bed now because I am a night person, not a morning person.

Halloween

Here are some pix from the Autumn Fest this year. It was fun and the girls had a blast. We did trick or treating on Halloween too. Zoe kept on going while Lily and her friend were just plum tuckered out. I had to carry her her friend on my shoulders on our way back to the cars (poor thing was so tired). But Zoe was still going, although she slowed down about half way back. Zoe had to talk to some of the folks passing out candy and twice she pet their dogs {only her ;) }.

Oh and for those of you out of town who know Bishop Hansen, the last picture is his Hlloween theme this year. Last year was pretty good too. Can't wait to see what he thinks of next year. Might have to come up with one next year....just a little friendly competetion :D Hope you had a Happy Halloween!

Day 8

Well Lily's hand is doing better. I removed more of the dead skin from the blister today. It's still pretty red and looks really delicate, so I am keeping it wrapped up for now. Trying to give it some air so it will heal better and toughen up quicker.

When changing the bandages today, she was really protective of it after I left it unwrapped for a while. I am glad to see her do that, 'cause soon I am going to have to stop wrapping it up. I am just going to have to keep an eye on Zoe to be sure she is nice to her sister!

I am hesitant to keep it unwrapped, but I think I am gonna have to do it soon. Here is a couple pix of her hand now. Slowly but surely it's healing.