back at it.

I haven't been on a good bike ride for years! Well at least since before pregnancy, which is pretty much 2 years.

So we borrowed a bike trailer and took her out for 2.5 hours/30 miles. It was so much fun.

Tonight, as we washed our dishes by hand (since our dishwasher broke) we discussed the top 5 adventures we've had in oregon. We put this in the top 5.

We rode on the banks to vernonia trail - we recommend everyone to check this out if they like to bike or walk or run. You will see a lot of pretty farms, a lot of forests, several cool bridges and slugs big as pickles and long as pencils. Not that you can't see those in our backyard.......

the end. oh and yes anna's helmet did her a lot of good in the car and in the first 5 minutes of riding. then it got in her eyes and was not likely to help her so we ditched it. Oh and one more thing, you may notice that there are pictures of both richard and I carrying the bike. Richard started out then I volunteered and took it up this big hill and richard took it back down. just kidding. richard took up the bigger hill and most of the time, but when i was pulling it up one hill we passed a man pulling his kids and richard said - i feel like the man of the year.

It was hard work pulling that thing. I was worried that it was going to pull me down the hill a few times. I didn't dare take my hand of my brake.

oh and another thing. After 2 years off the bike my butt is SORE! And we are weak sauce and exhausted.

our other child.

fooled ya - no love child here - just a very time consuming money eating yard. i sometimes wonder if richard loves the yard just as much as he loves anna. he has to check on his plants every morning when he wakes up and every night before he goes to bed.

cauliflowers and a tip of the daisys. we just need to put a concrete border here.

i obviously need to clean the camera lens - but i dont know how. any tips?
tomatoes (beneath richards eccentric tomato support) - peppers - eggplant - parsley - strawberries - leeks - beets - chard - carrots - and soon to be squash
prolific oregano and pretty rhododendron
our awesome lawn a very blurry hanging basket, the jap maple (you couln't pay me a million dollars to go under there thats where the big spider live) and patio
20$ patio set. cilantro - talk about farm to plate. And the pathway we built that i dont like
onions (red white and green) mustard greens broccoli spinach romaine more chard and a lot of potatoes
trailing peas. i spent all my birthday money on annuals mostly for the front yard.
i love it when the rhodys are in bloom! don't worry - that sun only lasted about 2 hours then it poured all day.
the hydrangea that i didn't kill (i severely stunted the other ones with excessive pruning last fall..)

sunny day in the park

.................its only like a month and a half until the 4th of july!!

anyways we've had beautiful weather in portland and thanks to some good friends we've been liv'n it up - babystyle!

ME AND MY PEA.

The last picture inspired this post. I wanted to plant my mothers day present - 2 flats of petunias - and wanted to get it done before the rain came - so I had to take anna out there with me. She started out in the bumbo with a book. My very cute little lawn ornament. Then she crawled out of that and headed over to help. My neighbor dorothy is such a doll. She heads out with her camera to snap a few pics for me. Thanks dorothy!

Before Anna was born I thought I wanted a little boy - but I am so glad I had a little girl first. She's my best friend (well #2, sorry but Rich is #1). We do everything together. Nap, clean, eat, go to the bathroom, garden, run, walk, shop. I can't imagine my life without her. Everything takes like 10 times longer and is 10 times more complicated when you try to do it with a baby - but it is also 10 times more fun - mostly because to little people our everyday tasks are new adventures. And it makes you feel smart describing to them everything you know......(this is your neighbor dorothy she is nice, that is a racoon - it is not nice, this is a flower - it is not edible, we are sweeping the floor - no you cannot eat that, that is a spider - they are scary, it is a sunny day - we spend sunny days outside, that is rain - it is fun, this is the grocery store...library...car....bus...church - this is what we do here.., those are rocks - also not edible, do not put dirt in your mouth - it tastes bad....you get the idea). Anyway I love my little pea. I am so grateful heavenly father loaned me one of his choicest children to watch over and protect. Hopefully her exuberance for gardening, hiking and being with her mom never dies out.

10 months!

If you don't like reading here's the main point: she's still growing!

Anyways 10 months is my favorite so far. Anna is HAPPY. I've never seen such a happy baby. For probably the only time in her life she loves helping with chores. Okay, lets be realistic. For the rest of my life Anna will love making chores for me. That's okay cuz she's cute when she eats toilet paper and drags my underwear all over the house. We'll see how I feel about that at 11 months.

She has started to crawl (its sort of modified with one leg up in case she needs to stop and sit somewhere). Her uncle steven says it's like she is kick starting her inner motorcycle. This movie is of Anna making a beeline for the toys at babytime. Hence all the babies.



Possibly due to our stellar book baby attendance - but more likely just because she's related to Aunt Joy - Anna loves reading books. I think it's a decoy to try to get us to fall asleep so she can do what she wants. Richard was reading books with her and got a little drowsy. He says next thing he knows he's awake and anna is out of sight but within earshot playing in the halloween decorations in the hall closet. No but really, she will read books on her own for a few minutes now (like all alone in her room without me in there)- which is so cool.

She does a lot of babbling. Mostly da da da da. She has only done the ma ma once though. It would be cool if she knew what da da meant. She gets so excited about all her talking and learning that she often doesnt want to take a nap and I'll go in there and she's just hanging out looking out the window......


Outside is anna's best friend besides avrie and zachie that is. Unless she's stuck in the pack-and-play while I am weeding planting or landscaping. She likes to crawl in the grass and eat leaves and bark chips and plants and dirt. Oh does she loves to eat dirt.


Speaking of eating, Anna eats everything. I mean everything. She especially loves tofu and beans. I think because they are easy to shove in fast. Or maybe i like them because i know they are good for her and I don't have to worry about her choking. She also likes bread of anykind. I think that is actually her favorite............except for the big piece of chocolate cake her dad fed her last night......

She's getting a little better at church. She plays well on the floor while we teach sunday school. She has some pretty bad stranger anxiety and buries her face in my chest when new people talk to her. But she loves attention. At the grocery store she looks at people expecting them to look at her and smile. When they don't she looks at me like "mom why aren't those people cooing over me?" She just gets too much love from us. We can't get enough. We're still at the stage where we like to go in a watch her sleep in her crib before we go to bed. It wont be like this for long!

anna is cute

and getting more and more independent everyday. i took some pictures trying to keep in mind the tips from a book my sis sent me called "how to shoot your kids"