Joren at 7 months old

Joren turned on this month. He has been an absolute delight. I know I always say that, but now I mean it even more. He's such a smiley kid. He is so easily pleased. He rolls and scoots and turns all over the place. He is actually interested in toys. He cries now when he can't reach something he wants. He will spend tons of time figuring out his toys and playing on the floor.

He loves to practice standing. He loves his exersaucer and his jumper. He started sitting with no trouble mid June. I love this stage when they can start holding on to you when you are walking around with them. He digs in fingers into my arms and holds on tight. It's so cute.




Eirik is a great big brother.
My very first campout July 25th- 8 months old! I got 10 mosquito bites on my head this night! What were my parents doing??
The food at the campout was not that good. Ick...
On this day I fed him some yummy food in our backyard. He got his first two teeth on the bottom in the third week of July. It was not an easy week for him. The poor kid was in a lot of pain, but now he's back to his happy self and super happy about the new things he can eat. He's not a picky eater, and he's excited to try anything. I was nervous to give him cheerios before he got his teeth and so I put it off for a long time. Imagine my surprise when I gave him a handful of cheerios for the first time and in about 1 minute he had eaten every one of them, dropping none! I didn't even realize he could pick up small objects with such dexterity yet. More please..
Oh, you wanted to see my silly face??
Here's another one of my silly faces. You like it?


His hair grew in super red this month. Everyone comments on it! I guess only 2% of the population has red hair so he's a special kid. I love his birthmark on his leg too. I hope he grows up to like it. It's pretty prominent. This is Paul's shirt from when he was a baby. Since Joren's middle name is Paul, it's perfect.
but he didn't think so.
Joren rocked on his knees for the first time on his 8 month birthday. I think it will be a while before he crawls still. He is pretty content watching everything. He makes cute noises all the time and has a very high pitched squeal he uses to communicate. He's not a big crier at all. He will lay in his crib for a long time before he really wants to get out. I have to listen for him on the monitor so I don't leave him up there too long.
He's just wonderful. We'll keep him.

Fishin'

We had an impromptu trip to Heritage Park with a bunch of friends a couple of weeks ago. It was a bring your own lunch and come fish day and I loved the no - stress feel of this outing. Maybe that's because both of my boys fell asleep in the stroller toward the end and I got to chat for what seemed like the first time in ages with some of the people that I see on a regular basis. I don't do well with good conversation when I have little boys demanding attention. I'm just too scatterbrained for it. So it was a lovely day and thanks to Christina for passing on these great photos that she snapped.

A few Quips from Eirik

So the other day I was cruisin' home from the grocery store when I suddenly realized that the lights were blinking next to the train tracks that I was just about to cross. It was so last minute that as soon as I realized that there were no arms that come down on either side of the track I was already over the tracks, and just about as fast I had blinking lights of a cop behind me. Imagine my embarrassment and astonishment that I could have almost been hit by a train! (I never claimed to be the sharpest..) But the best part of the story is that even before the cop was to the door my little Einstein in the backseat was telling me in his bossiest tone, "Mommy, gotta be careful when a train's coming, gotta be careful!"
Eirik held up a clam shell over his chest today and asked me "how do I look?" I said, "you look a little bit like a confused merman." He said, "NO mommy, I am a sir knight with a breastplate!" Oops, sorry, I should have known. Then he said, "I have my breastplate, helmet and all my armor so you can tickle me!"


I love it when Eirik is really appreciative of something like the other day when I gave him a milk and he said, "Oh Ank you Ank you Mommy!!"

Eirik likes to "pretend" talk on the phone. He loves to call Benjamen, Abram, Oly and Jakey all the time. The best part is when he is "talking" to Benjamen and he gets in a fight with him. "No, Benjamin, that's mine. I stout you! I bout you!" Then he pretends like he is both voices... "Ahhh!" "Ahhhh!" "Ahhhhh!" and the screaming war continues until I "break it up!"

Eirik is a major collector. Every day he has knew items that are absolutely essential and he can't go anywhere without them. Usually each object represents something grandiose that is happening in the imaginative story playing out in his head each day. Today we went to Joannes with a bath towel (cape) drumstick (sword) horse (Spirit of course) and a rocket (rocket of course). The other day it was a dog leash, a horse, Pete's dragon, and a ice cream scoop. He gets pretty possessive of his objects. The other day he fell asleep in the car so I was carefully trying to take him to his bed. When he woke up, he was immediately in a giant tantrum uproar. As soon as he could speak he shrieked, "I need my 5 hangers, my pink chapstick, my penny, a NEW milk (apparently the one I tried to give him was too "old" as in 1/2 hour out of the fridge) read some stories, watch Zaboomafoo horses, and then go to bed right now mommy, right now!!!" And then after reciting all his "needs" again in record time there was a lot more crying. I just had to laugh. Wow, that's a lot of needs. :)


Ok, this one is not so funny. We were having dinner at a friends house. All of their kids were excited to see this thing on the computer Paul was going to show them so they all trooped downstairs. My friend and I sat down to talk. The conversation moved to talking about how we have to be so careful to protect our kids since it's so easy for them to run into trouble. Right about then the doorbell rang and her neighbor from a few blocks down was wondering if Eirik belonged to her!! He had wondered out the back door and down the street!! Paul and I were absolutely sideswiped! Nothing like an incident like that to make you freak out. I thought Paul had him and he thought I had him. Yikes! We're lucky all of my friends kids have white hair because that's why they thought he belonged to her. When we asked Eirik what he was doing he said he was going to the forest to fight wild animals.

Which leads me to my next story. Today I was singing "Teach me to walk in the light of His love" to my boys. Then I said to Eirik, "Do you know that Heavenly Father loves you and will always lead you to safe places where you can feel love? He will never lead you to dark and scary places." Then in all seriousness my 2 year old said, "Actually mom, actually, I like dark scary caves to fight wild amimals wif my sharp sword and KEELL them. I KEELL the scary wild amimals wif my sharp sword mom." hmmmm..... how am I going to turn this one around???

I try to shirk my duties and "rest" on Sunday so my Mondays are always a race to try to regain a bit of order in the house. I was feeling pretty good about the state of things about 1/2 hour before my visiting teachers came over. I went upstairs for a spell and when I came back down to answer the door I discovered the results of the whirlwind that is Eirik. He had pulled all of the sporting equipment out of the closet by the front door, spilled about a gazillion crayons and a bunch of pretzels and dumped all of his toys. Yes folks, my visiting teachers had to step over all of these things to find a seat. I always thought that would happen in someone else's house, not mine. I am officially a mother of a 2 year old. And, I am proud to say that I was a bigger whirlwind today and the house is clean! Ha, 2 year old, I win! (until tomorrow at 7AM)


Recently Paul heard about a study that said that people on average claim that having kids does not make you a happier person. Well of course not on some days, but on the days when your kid takes your face in his grimy little hands and says, "Mommy, do you know that I love you?" it is all worth it. Those people that say it doesn't make you happier must not be embracing their role as a parent because if you are trying to be your best self in the world while neglecting your home, yeah the rewards aren't going to be there and you'll just feel the frustration. Parenthood is sacrifice and nothing that is worth it was ever easy.

Dreamy Rugs

I've always been a sucker for rugs. My parents wanted to give me a graduation gift from college many years ago and I asked for a rug. It's still one of my favorite things.
I was researching rugs for a friend of mine this morning and stumbled onto a site that has some fabulous rugs. Seriously, I could decorate many houses based on just these rugs.
Here is one of my favorites. If anyone has $5000 to spend, this is totally what you should get. :)
modernrugs.com

I thought that only happened in the movies: Eastern Market

When we first moved to Michigan we took a Saturday and drove downtown to see "Eastern Market". We had read about it and heard it was something like Saturday's Market or Flower Market so we were really excited. Imagine our dissapointment when we got there and all we could find for the whole 6 block radius were empty warehouses and dirty streets. We thought Detroit was really empty and hopeless.Luckily we learned today that we just went at a time when everything was closed for the season and today it was a big bustling Saturday's Market. We drove up there (about a35 minute drive) and walked around enjoying antique stores, TONS of flowers, trees and herbs, vegetables, insense and carved masks and of course Blues Karaoke and ribs on the BarB! It was a great time and tons of people. I was so glad we went. We found a few very unusual plants that we couldn't pass up for $1.50 each. One is a beautiful little vine called a candy corn vine.
The best part about the trip was when Paul was loading the stroller in the car. He folded it up and started to walk of the curb to the car when suddenly the bag that was in the bottom of the stroller slipped out and a banana just happened to slip out of the bag and in that one step Paul just happened step right on the banana and literally skated on it for about the distance of a short couch, and fell on his knee!! I thought that only happened in the movies!
Later Paul said it was very Mario Cart-esque- like the perfect storm. Classic!

I didn't get a picture of the banana fiasco, but I did get a shot to perfectly compliment my last post. All his screwdriver friends are lined up. Have I told him that it is dangerous to sleep with sharp tools you ask?? Uh, you try being his mother!

What are the boys up to these days?

I remember when Eirik was a baby and I loved watching the lights turn on as he discovered new things. This week has been one of those awesome weeks for Joren. We gave him baby food last month and then off and on for the past few weeks, but all of the sudden he is all over it! He can't get enough and he's learning to let his wishes known. He won't sit at the table with us without grabbing and squealing and drooling. He can down the food too. It is so cute. He's so excited about it and sad when it's gone and I think I could just keep shoveling it in for hours. I haven't tried that yet. He is also really scooting around and loves his toys. I know I shouldn't compare, but Eirik loved his toys when I was helping him play with them, but he was never content with just playing by himself. Joren just loves to figure every little thing out. He's so content it's just a beautiful thing. He's so fun!
Eirik has said some really cute things lately. Yesterday he took his dirty spatula and patted it on my shoulders and said, "I knight you sir Momma"! He also can't whistle but loves to make this little high pitched screech that he thinks is a whistle. He stands at one end of the house and "whistles" for me. He is so serious about it that it just cracks me up!
He's been terrified of bugs lately. He carries his fly swatter around everywhere. He won't put down his screwdrivers. You know your a mother of a tool loving 2 year old when you wake up and there are 4 screwdrivers next to my head on the pillow and a little voice is saying, "shhh, don't wake up my friends the screwdrivers!" I bought him a toolbelt and he loves it because he can keep all his favorite things in it like 4 screwdrivers, 3 wooden spoons (aka swords) his beloved pink chapstick, oh and his flyswatter. He's all geared up. He's convinced that his girl cousins are all sisters and talks about sisters all the time and likes to whistle for his sisters to follow him through the house. I've been making up stories to tell him about knights and dragons and other magical creatures. He always insists that he is the main hero in every story so it's fun to build up this big story without Eirik in it and then have the brave strong knight Eirik gallop in on his noble steed right at the end and save the day. You should see the satisfaction on the kids face. He loves it!
Today I took him out after the rain to play in the mud. I fear that I have made the kid terrified of getting dirty because even when I told him "GO! Get muddy!" he wouldn't do it. I had to help him get going and show him how to use his monster trucks in the mud. It was fun once we realized that the mud wasn't going to hurt him. Am I that OCD?
Paul took Eirik for a bike ride the other day and Eirik saw some people running. Eirik said, "those people are jogging. They're running very very fast from the big big giant frog, (and then he growled in a deep scary voice) RIBBIT, RIBBIT. "
Eirik still can't pronounce the TH sound. I have been waiting for some well meaning adult to full on mock his lisp and it finally happened. After that onslaught of mockery I worked the next morning with Eirik on how he says, "Vat fing over dere" instructing him to say, "That thing over there." We're not there yet, but we will continue to make our boy sound like a boy, even though his pronunciation is so cute it's hard to let go of. My favorite is how he says play structure like "play rucwere" When I repeat back to him "play rucwere" he says, "no mommy play rucwere". He gets so frustrated, and I have to try really hard not to laugh.

Yesterday we got to go with some friends to Greenfield Village. It's a historic village that Henry Ford built that his historic buildings transfered from around America to create a village. These photos are all from our outing. We had so much fun. Thanks Beth and Jenny for hosting Erin and I.

More Oregon and beyond.. `

Paul has been asking me to paint a painting of this view for as long as we have been visiting Oregon but it seems like every time we go the mountain behind these trees is covered in fog. ell instead of a painting I worked on the photo for a while and I think it's gorgeous. Someday babe, I'll do a painting for you. Just hang in there.

The Oregon Zoo is really great. Eirik had a great time but wouldn't stop talking about how disappointed he was that there weren't any whales or horses. How sad. He got to see bears (which totally freaked him out) and bobcats and warthogs, but was sad that there weren't horses. What a weird kid.



And this is the cute face that I got to look down at the whole day at the zoo. What a sweetheart.

Luckily after the no horses at the zoo disappointment, our trip to visit Grandpa Rallison really paid off for little Eirik! Not only did he get to feed the horses, but he also got to ride in the trailer pulled by the 4 wheeler. After the week was over this was what he remembered as the highlight of the whole vacation!
We love you Grandpa! We planned to help him plant his garden but we're slothful grandchildren and didn't help him with anything except eating his food. Sorry Grandpa. Next time!


On Saturday we drug everyone downtown for Saturday's Market in Portland. I love this event. I found two artist women at this market that I would totally try to be friends with if I lived there. They were both named Erin. I thought that was funny since one of my best friends here is Erin too. They both have etsy shops.
handpainted textiles and handmade accessories by Erin Albin
skirts and jewelry by Erin Macleod

My super hot hunka man. I don't talk much about Paul on this blog. Maybe because I don't want to embarrass myself or him, but he's really something beyond. I don't know how I got so lucky.


This is Dave playing the Diggory Doo. He's so cool!
I thought these cool orange doors would be a cool photo opp. Paul was in no mood to pose. This is what we got. Ha!

This is Eirik taking his ice cream cone and hiding under the tree to eat it. What!!?? Does he think we will want to "share" too much?
That evening Eirik said in his prayer, "Thank you for Grandma Pat and for all the good things to eat that she gave me." Do we deprive our child??
The ever-stylin' Patty!

I didn't get any pictures of a few of the other highlights of our trip. We went to lunch with Grandma Aanderud. What a riot. We loved going to happy hour at McCormics with Dave and Kiersten and their awesome friend Shannon. She was a rockin' artist, funiture refinisher and faux painter. Thanks for showing us your crib Shannon! So fun!
And hanging at Ben and Kims was a blast. We can't wait to play more Wii.

Pat and Steve: Thanks so much for helping us come to Oregon!! It was awesome! We love you!

Where have we been??

We have learned, to our great shame, that it doesn't take very much whining to get our in-laws to help us out with the cost of plane tickets to come visit them. How could we possibly say no to the opportunity to spend a week of vacation in Oregon, one of our favorite places on earth??

I'll admit the full day of traveling each way is not the most fun, but it is way easier with two adults than one, and there wasn't any throwing up, only one blow out, and no full blown tantrums on the plane so I felt like we were doing great. And our boys were so cute and well behaved and Eirik was SOO excited to fly in an airplane again.

But look at the treat at the end of the day! Grandma and Grandpa! And just look at that green gorgeous airport.
We headed straight to the beach house to meet up with cousins. What a fun reunion! Grandpa Steve makes the best breakfasts!
We had to hit the beach right away. Even in the drizzly wet weather, nothing beats watching the waves crash in and exploring for treasures that have washed ashore.
This was Eirik's beach attire. He loved wearing cousin Jakes boots and hat and he couldn't leave the house without his "stout" (push vacuum which is a big weapon called a stout if you didn't already know) and his pink horsey.
We all went fishing at this beautiful shore line.
These are cousins Jake and Megan. Jake is the sweetest kid. He loves to share and give hugs and never grabs or hits. Eirik is a little more possessive and grabby so we felt pretty bad bringing the bully child to teach sweet Jake all kinds of aggressive behavior. In the end Jake held his own against Eirik in the screaming wars Eirik started and I think they were better friends at the end of the trip than at the beginning, so I guess all the battles were successful.

While at the beach we always have to take a trip to the Tillamok Cheese factory for samples and ice cream. It's always basically the same, and always fun.
This time after the cheese factory, we went to a great place called the Blue Heron which is sort of like a petting zoo. We all really enjoyed it, but I had an especially great time. I thought the animals were exquisite. I took tons of pictures of them. Eirik had a great time feeding the horses and chasing the guinea foul and chickens.











Paul and I decided we have to have a painting of the amazing long horned steer we saw. It was so spectacular! What a gorgeous animal.
And of course it was all way more fun because we were with our fabulous family.


Jeanette and Jakey
Megan, Aunt Kim and Banana (Eirik had trouble remembering Hanna's name so Hanna told him it was Banana and it stuck. Sorry Hanna. If you read this Hanna, can you comment and tell me if I spelled your name right?)
The cool old vehicles were so fun!

Of course no trip to the beach is complete without a day at Cannon Beach looking at the art galleries and strolling around Haystack rock and eating the best halibut tacos ever at that place on the corner that neither Paul or I can remember the name of (sorry).
This time I found a new artist to fawn over named Michael Orwick. He even teaches classes so I have a new secret wish. Here of my favorites:

I have found some of my favorite artists at Cannon Beach. I always love to stop in and see the work of Casandra Barney.

After Cannon Beach we went to the tide pools! Can I just say that God is amazing. I love watching Blue Planet. It has to be one of the coolest programs ever made, but to see sea life living is even cooler. Starfish are rad.


We were so glad that Dave spent the day with us. It's always a treat to hang with Dave. He's so thoughtful and cool. Dave, we love you.
This is the oh so gorgeous Bernese Mountain Dog that we saw at the beach. These are truly the most beautiful dogs I have ever seen. Paul has always wanted one. Not being a dog lover by nature, I am lucky that my husband has impeccable taste and if I have to be forced into a relationship with a dog, at least it will be a very beautiful and fine animal. Just look at that mug.

Ok, I'm only on day three, but I have to go to bed.. so More to come!