Kids, kids, kids!

I am staying with my MamaPajama in Bellingham for 3 weeks while my sister Barb is on vacation with her family. Kelly, back from Afghanistan, brought his family up for a visit. He came with Melissa and two of his kids, Marcus and Brianna. Also accompanying them was 2-year old Cameron, Mister Busy. We had a blast playing, eating, chatting, and picturing-taking.

Mom's heart was filled with joy by the visit with little Cameron,

so much like Kelly when he was two!

Melissa is a kid at heart, and she LOVED playing legos with Marcus!

Marcus celebrated his 5th birthday while he was here, and I let him help me build his cake.
He was more into decorating it with hundreds of 'sprinkles' and some candy corn.

Mama taught Brianna to knit for her b'day present. She celebrated her birthday, her 11th!

Marcus made a catapult with his new lego set.

Cameron was mostly into fruit (bananas and grapes0 during their visit.

I love his big eyes and long lashes, so much like his Moma, Mandi, my oldest granddaughter.

I think this is a magical picture that Kelly took of us as we watched something on TV as we all lined up on the couch together.

My sister Margy has blessed us with a visit since Kelly left, and now we are on our own, just the two of us sewing, knitting, visiting, cherishing our time together which we both know is short.

Filled Up

When my son and grandson visited just after school was out time stood still. They are a delight to me, and it was fulfilling to watch them interact with cousins/siblings. There was a marshmallow roasting contest, a four-wheeler race, eat fests, and time to look at and enjoy small children discovering caterpillars crawling on the forest floor. When they whisked themselves off for Kelly's new job at Coke I got 'down' with dear ones and a big painting project. The pictures below do not do justice to the green on the right or the Italian texture on the red wall. I love it!

As soon as the painting was finished I packed up for a trip west to see my son's family, my daughter's family (minus the hubby in Iraq), my sister, brother and mother. Whew! It was a whirlwind of travel in Oregon and Washington. Below is Isabella helping me pack the car when I left to return. Don't you love how little girls will dress themselves up. She wanted to wear her Barbie heels to shop with me, and she did; but I don't know how she remained upright.

This is the view from my son's home in The Dalles, Oregon where we watched a pirate ship (used in the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean) go through the locks at the dam. As it docked at the marina, we drove down to look closely, question the crew, and marvel at the smallness of the ship. It is a replica of one used for early exploration of the Pacific Northwest. When you click on the picture you can get a better view of the ship itself.

On returning home I brought along three of my grandchildren for a week's visit. Oh, my, what a passel of fun they were. Two girls and one boy livened up the house, meal-time, and daily activity level. When we returned them half-way, in Walla Walla, Jay's daughter Lovella and grandchildren accompanied us because the kids loved each other's company so much. Evan was devastated when we had to turn around to come home. He was tired of riding a long way, he was missing the kids, and told us sadly and sweetly he'd " being needing a puppy."

I had bought river shoes on sale for the grand kids because it is hard to explore rushing creeks in flip-flops. The shoe store in town had a sale, so I bought three pair. On our first outing to the Snake River, Brianna (above) lost one. I was so disappointed! So I prayed that when we returned the next day the Lord would reveal it to us. He did!! Orion was feeling on the bottom for rocks and came up with the shoe and a big smile. I gave him $5 for that treasure. He bought himself a meal at MacDonald's.

Which reminds me: While at Kelly's I was awarded the pleasure of taking Marcus on a trip by himself to visit some old school-teaching buddies in Wasco. On returning, and hungry he saw a MacDonald's out the car window. His response was to suck in a big breath and announce, "Look what I found, Grandma, a MacDonald's!" It was so cute that I stopped for an ice cream cone.

I'm not going anywhere in the very near future, but will get on with painting more of the house. My studio is the exception when it comes to vibrant colors. The upstairs will be serene shades of blue.