Yummy breakfasts and Sunny Seaside

Portland has a restaurant called Slappy Cakes where you make your own pancakes. There's a griddle built in to every table. You get your own batter and can order however many different toppings you prefer. We ordered strawberries, hazelnuts, and chocolate chips. What a clever idea for a restaurant. I should open one in Michigan. Anyone want to finance me!?





Another great idea is the Waffle Window. You order outside at this window and then can take your waffle inside to eat (which we did since it was raining) or sit outside on picnic tables. I ordered the cheesecake waffles. It was so good.



On Thursday we drove through the mountains out to the coast. I seriously love the ocean. Even when it's cold, it's beautiful. This is the town of Seaside. It wasn't too busy for a sunny afternoon.

The water was freezing.

Hannah did not want to be strapped in the snuggly. I think it was too windy for her. So we pushed her stroller out to the beach. Not too fun through the sand but we managed.

Portland, Oregon

I had a fantastic time with the Dale family in Portland. It rained almost every day I was there but I was glad to get away from the high 80 degree humidity in Michigan!


My flight got in around noon on Wednesday. We ate lunch at Chipotle in downtown Portland. I need to find one of these around here cause it was good. Hannah did great on the flight out too.

Jackson reminds me so much of Ava. Four-year-olds know EVERYTHING:) At least mine thinks she does.

Hannah and Max

Memorial Day we drove to Multnomah Falls. It was so beautiful. And FYI, these falls were in the first Twilight film, so they're famous. Steve rode his bike there. He's fast.

The views were so beautiful. This is the Columbia River. I believe Oregon is on the right, Washington is on the left. I think this river borders the two states.

Katie Breen (now Johnson!) drove down from Seattle with us and stayed Sunday and Monday. It was so good to get to spend time with her too.

Believe it or not, Max is underneath Margaret's coat all snuggled in! The babies did great.

Vacation

I have had such a fun time in Portland this past week. I fly out tomorrow night and am ready to see my family, but not ready to leave this beautiful part of the country. I flew in last Wednesday and have been staying with my friends Margaret and Steve and their two beautiful boys. Thursday we drove out to the coast and had a fun day on the ocean. Friday, my friend Katie came down from Seattle to pick me up and I spent the weekend up there. Seattle is huge and Katie lives right in the city. We saw so much of the city including Pike Place market, the Puget Sound, the Seattle Space Needle, and the very first Starbucks! It was a fun weekend. Today we drove out to the Multnomah Falls which were so beautiful. I'll add more pictures when I get home but here are a few of the falls.

Laughing and purring

Today is Anika and Everet's 5th birthday. We have had a fun day with them. They all got their hair done, including Everet who wanted it to look spikey. All the girls got their nails done. Then we had a little photo shoot. I would tell them a certain emotion to express and they would do it.


"Look at the camera and smile"


Same as above except "stand up"


scary face

sad face

super excited

surprised face

silly/confused face

Super surprised

Allie and Hannah

Hard Workers

We've had a lot of wood to burn up after taking down the maple in the back. The girls have had a lot of fun helping daddy.

This bird has taken up residence in our yard. The girls love him, or her, not sure which. We see him daily walking around in the back.

Oh how I love Kroger. Another three hour trip (ugh) but scored some great deals. I had already put away a Freschetta pizza and two packs of turkey breast tenderloins. Everything else is in the picture. Free stuff: 12 bottles of Vitamin water (I love this stuff), 7 boxes of capri suns (my girls love this), 3 Hannah Montana (yeah baby) toothpastes, a gallon of milk, and a dozen eggs. Some highlights: $.67 pop tarts, $.49 fruit cups, $.62 Bushes grillin' beans, $1.99 Starbucks fraps (mmm I love these too!). Anyway, it was a good trip. Hannah was so good this time too:-)
Grand total:
Total: $176.94
spent: $56.04
Saved: $120.90

Hannah's dedication

Hannah was dedicated at our church today. We introduced her to everyone in the service and then our Pastor prayed for her. Ava was very excited to get to go on stage. I thought for sure she'd start singing or something! But Ava and Allie were both very good.

3 months

Hannah turned 3 months today. My how the time has flown by. She is such a great baby. She's still sleeping in a bassinet in our room. She usually goes to bed around 10 and then I wake her up to feed her at midnight when I go to bed. She then will sleep till about 7:30 or 8 AM. It's amazing. I am not someone who can hop out of bed in the morning with only 4 to 5 hours of sleep. I feel like I need at least 8 hours to function so this has been such a blessing. I could probably put her in her own room soon but I just can't bring myself to do it!


We left her with my mom for the first time this past weekend. When we came home my mom said that she got her to laugh a lot. I said that it was probably the little squeal that we've been hearing for a while now but my mom said that it was a full out laugh. Sure enough we got her to laugh that night and it is an all out giggle. It's so cute. She loves being talked to, especially by Ava or Allie. And she loves when people sing to her, which is great cause her sisters never stop singing.

At her last doctor's appointment (about a week ago) she weighed 14 lbs. She's in the 97th percentile for weight, so she's solid! Although she needs to be with two older sisters. We are just adoring this little one. She is such a blessing.

Moments of peace and quiet

Life with three girls

I never thought growing up that I would be a mom to three girls. I always imagined myself having boys for some reason. Transitioning to three has been a lot easier than I anticipated. It was much more difficult for me with the transition from 1 child to 2. Maybe it's because Hannah is the most easy going, wonderful baby. At 2 1/2 months she started giving me 8 hours of sleep! She was giving me 6 to 7 at about a 1 1/2 months. She never cries, even when she recently got a polio vaccine, she didn't even frown. She's such a great baby. Ava and Allie are doing really well with her. Ava is constantly saying "mom you have such a cute baby." Hannah loves her sisters too. She just has to hear them to start smiling.


Ava is 4 and is very excited about summer. She asks all the time if we can start swimming at the lake yet. She loves to color and has started to get into drawing people. Her and Allie play endlessly with their kitchen and fake food set. They're both really into bags too, so I find bags all over the house filled with their little toys. They love jumping on the trampoline and I'm amazed at how good their balance is. Allie is very slowly learning colors. I'm pretty sure she's got pink nailed, other than that, everything is yellow! A lot different from Ava who knew her colors at 18 months. Allie is obsessed with her birthmark. She likes to proudly announce to anyone and everyone "I have a birthmark on my butt!" It's pretty funny.


Allie and Ava both love to sing. Ava reminds me of the singing bush from Three Amigos sometimes. She never stops singing. One of their favorite movies is the Sound of Music and they are constantly singing songs from it. They also love the "Firefly" song by Owl City. Every time we're in the car, they ask me to play it. That and Forever by Chris Brown! It's hilarious hearing Ava singing along to a hip hop song.


It's a lot of fun raising these three girls!

Yard work

I have been working very hard on a flower bed in my backyard. A giant maple was taking all the sun from my flowers so we asked my brother if he would take it down for us. This thing was massive. Brian used to cut trees for a living and was able to do it easily.





It has since become Ava and Allie's playground.

This was the reason for taking it down. Now my flowers are getting lots of sun. The tulips all started blooming the day after we took the tree down.