Flooding in the Valley

Yesterday morning we woke up to find this outside our window.

Yes, that is the creek that runs on the far side of the lot next to ours.  It overran its banks during the night and over took our street!  Since our house is on a hump, we luckily stayed dry, but we were a little worried there for a while.  I walked across the field to see the extent of the flooding and saw that the water level of the creek was about 4-5 feet higher than normal. 

Our neighbors who sit at a lower elevation than us have sandbagged their houses as you can see from the photo. 

I also walked around to the back of our lot to check the level of the second creek (the one that runs behind our fence) and saw that the water level was about twice as high as ususal, but it had not yet escaped its banks.  The nutria (an invasive water rodent that lives in the streams) were having a hay day and were swimming back and forth up the stream while I watched. 

We were able to get out of our street to take Big-Bug to school, but the district called families halfway through the day and asked everyone to come get their children due to the rising water levels (I had already picked Big-Bug up at that time since he is in the am kindergarten class.)  When I drove up to the school for pick up the school grounds were (relatively) dry, but the storm drains were erupting like fountains in the intersections! It was pretty crazy.

Around our town, other families have not been as lucky.  An entire town to the south east of us was evacuated yesterday as water levels rose.  A town to the east of us has a lot of water over their roadways (although I read it is receding today) and our downtown area has been expriencing a lot of flooding.  The city has been updating a google map documenting road closures and there were 35+ noted in town last night. All of this flooding has been the result of heavy rain, runoff and overfilled creek beds.  Today it is forecasted to rain another inch and the Willamette River is predicted to breach its banks and reach 100 year flood levels by 4pm today.  This will result in a lot more flooding throughout down town and the surrounding areas.  A 100 year flood map was published this morning in the newpaper and I was nervous to see a few close friends of mine live in areas that are expected to be impacted by the Willamette today. 

On a side note -something I have been seeing a lot of on the news sites is a misunderstanding of the term 100 year flood.  A lot of people seem to think it means a level of flooding that has not occured for 100 years.  This term actually refers to a flood with a water level that only has a 1% chance of being equalled or exceeded in a single year.  So if you are reading this, please give the police officers and the reporters a break - they actually DO know what they are talking about ;-)  (see, my natural resources degree DOES pay off every now and then! haha)

Three Words...

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls.

That is all :)

Been a While!

*whew*  where did the last month and a half go?! 

December turned into a super busy month for us (no big surprise there I suppose.)  The first week of December I coordinated a family game night at Big-Bug's elementary school.  This turned out to be a monumental task that involved countless hours of prep work, much coordination with other groups and a LOT of table assembly.  It was further complicated by my husband's out of town business trip that happened to overlap with the fun night, meaning I had all three bugs in tow the entire day!  In the end, I would say the event was a success.  Many families attended, people seemed to be enjoying themselves and there was a nice write up in the student news paper the following week as well.

The second week of December was Baby-Bug's two year birthday party.  We hosted at the house this year and went with a hungry caterpillar theme. I was trying hard to learn towards healthier food options, so a hungry caterpillar party with an emphasis on fruits was a winner! We put out a spread of food that had each of the food items mentioned in the story (minus the salami and the leaves) and it seemed to go over well.

We had apples, pears, plums, oranges, watermelon, strawberries, swiss cheese, summer sausage, miniature chocolate cake bites, mini cherry pies, mini cupcakes, lollipop sugar cookies and icecream cone cupcakes.  The kids made a few caterpillar crafts as well - clothespin butterflies, thumbprint caterpillar bookmarks and egg carton caterpillars.  We also had a basket of caterpillar antennas for each of the kids to wear at the party, it was a pretty fun day!

That same night we attended a holiday parade in town and were able to bring both sets of grandparents with us as well, which was an extra treat!

The third week of December was the annual holiday get together with my mom's side of the family.  This is always a great time, but it also a four hour drive away!  Because of the drive, the party turns into a weekend event, which is extra fun - but also adds a little chaos.  This year we decided to really pack the schedule and aside from attending the party we also met a friend for coffee, visited my Grandmother and delivered a Christmas gift to a friend...all in a 36 hour window.

We had to leave on Saturday night this year instead of staying the whole weekend because Big-Bug and Middle-Bug were in a Christmas program at church on Sunday night.  This was their first ever Christmas Pageant and they were absolutely adorable dressed up like angels, singing Christmas songs :) 

During that same week, we also attended our fantastic playgroup's annual Christmas Party. This year was special because we held it in a local coffee shop that is designed to be kid-friendly.  But this isn't just any kid-friendly coffee shop! It is a brand new shop that was opened by one of our very own playgroup mamas and her husband! They were so generous to open their place to us after hours, and they even provided drip coffee and herbal teas for the party. We really enjoyed our evening with wonderful friends - and the kids had an amazing time playing with their buddies and of course gorging themselves on holiday cookies, fudge, taffies, chocolates, etc.

The fourth week of December was Christmas of course, and we were lucky enough to be able to host my in-laws AND my sister in-law this year :)  We had a lazy Christmas morning opening presents, eating cinnamon rolls and bacon and testing out the new video game santa delivered - lego star wars III for the wii! Once the family arrived that afternoon the bugs headed out with their daddy, grandparents and auntie to test out their brand new Christmas bikes!  They had a blast riding up and down the street.  I started the dinner prep inside and kept it simple this year (I was so proud of myself for reining it in!!)  I made roast beef with oven roasted tomatoes, citrus mashed yams, bread stuffing, bacon wrapped green bean bundles, stuffed mushroom caps and roasted Brussels sprouts with pecans!  I also served shrimp cocktails for an appetizer and my mother in-law brought her signature English Trifle for dessert....we can't have Christmas in this family without it!



mushrooms didn't last long enough to make it into the photo! lol

The fifth weekend in December we headed to my parents' house where we celebrated Christmas with my parents and my sister. The boys had a great time seeing their Auntie and really enjoyed the time with their grandparents.  On new years eve my parents stayed with the boys while My husband and I escaped for a rare night out!  We went for dessert and martinis at a local brewery and had a nice time chatting without kiddie distractions :)  We made it back to my parents' before midnight and settled in to play a HILARIOUS game of "Quelf" with them before toasting each other into the new year.   I have never laughed at a game so hard in my life...I was honestly in pain from laughing.

On new years day we headed further north to spend some time with my husband's parents at their annual new years day gathering.  There was an amazing spread of food to be sampled and a house full of friends and holiday cheer.  The kiddos were in 7th heaven playing with their daddy's old legos and watching a marathon of disney films.  It was a great way to start the new year!

The first weekend of January....we were out of town AGAIN!  This time staying with my parents once more as well celebrated my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary!  They are such an amazing couple and have always been a touching example of the way devotion, tender love and a sense of humor can build an unshakable marriage. We have been so blessed to have them as role models in our lives.

While we were at the anniversary party, the Bugs had a chance to play a LOT with their second cousins. There was a great grassy area perfect for Star Wars reenactments and a big friendly, gentle horse on the other side of the fence who was eager to be pet and have carrots fed to him.

This week has been relatively calm considering the past couple of months, but we have still been running pretty solid.  Baby-Bug had his two-year check up, we have had a couple of fun play dates and my womens' bible study group has started back up after their holiday break.  Oh - and did I mention I am planning the second family fun night at Big-Bug's school? :)  Yeah...that one is a real energy drainer for sure! The event itself is going to be held next Friday night and I have three local science clubs and a local astronomy club coming to set up experiments for the students to watch and the astronomers are setting up telescopes and facilitating star gazing in the school field.  It's going to be amazingly fun for the kids, but boy am I exhausted!

There is only one more fun night on the school calendar this year and I am planning a family read-in in the gym.  Everyone will bring their own blankets/pillows/sleeping bags/bean bags/etc and all I will need to coordinate and supply will be cocoa and coffee and books to read :)  *whew*

So much fun and so little time!!

Disneyland!

So things have been absolutely crazy around here the past two weeks!  When Big-Bug's school break started two weeks ago, we packed up the car and took the boys for their first trip to Disneyland :)  We decided to drive so we would have more control about rest periods, meal times and potty breaks and we were really glad we went that route.  We made it to Sacramento our first day of driving and then were able to make it to Anaheim by about 3:30 in the afternoon the following day.  That first evening we explored downtown Disney (which was new to me!) and enjoyed dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.  The boys declared it to be "the best restaurant in the world." After dinner we spent some time in the gigantic Lego store where the boys each made a custom mini, it was super fun!

Some of the highlights from the actual Disney park days were the Buzz Lightyear astro-blasters (which we had to ride twice,) star tours (which the big boys had to ride twice as well) and the pirate's lair on tom sawyer island!  I think the boys could have spent the entire three days running around the pirates lair and would have been perfectly contented :)  We also watched the Jedi training academy, which was a fantastic show and enjoyed some mandatory churros!  We had some amazing luck meeting the actual Disney characters themselves; time and time again we were in the right place at the right time.  We were able to get photos of the kids with Mickey and Minnie, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy, Rabbit, Tigger and Eeyor and Mr Incredible! We also saw one of tinkerbell's fairy friends (who Big-Bug informed me is named Vidia) and she waved to the boys - but the meet and greet line was 45 minutes long (!!!) so we decided to pass her by :)

The first night we came back to the park after dinner to watch the holiday firework show.  We had a great view of the fireworks going off above the castle (which was all decorated for Christmas) and when the show ended it suddenly started snowing all up and down the main street of Disneyland.  It was fake snow of course, but the kids didn't know the difference and it was so sweet to see the faces of all the little ones as they gazed up at the snowflakes and tried to catch them :)  That was definitely some tangible "Disney magic" and you could have heard a pin drop in the crowd, even the adults were swept up in the spirit of it all.

On the second night we left Disneyland and took the kiddos to a surprise dinner at Medieval times! This turned out to be the favorite part of the whole trip for my husband and myself.  The acting and horsemanship was unbelievably amazing (and the "feast" was delicious as well!) I would 100% go back to Medieval times again (in fact, I can't wait to go again!)  The boys loved it too and were completely swept up in to the fantasy of it all - I genuinely think they believe they met real knights :)

On our third and final night in Disneyland we watched the holiday parade.  We ended up with great seats right in the front row and the parade was fantastic! Baby-Bug was hollering out and pointing to different characters as they passed by "mick mouse!" "buzz bybeer!" and Big-Bug and Middle-Bug were amazed by the marching toy soldiers and bouncing snowmen :)  We stayed late that third night finishing up some rides in California Adventure and said a fond farewell to the castle on our way back to the hotel.

After two more days on the road (and a lot of holiday traffic!) we arrived back home the night before Thanksgiving.  We spent a quiet holiday at home and enjoyed a traditional turkey dinner, just the five of us.  I made my first-ever batch of homemade dinner rolls and was very proud of them :)

That night I headed into work at 11pm to be ready for our store's midnight opening for the black Friday sales.  It was an interesting experience for me, having never worked or shopped black Friday before - but I don't need to do it again :)  Working a ten hour night shift when you are used to working days is a hard adjustment! (Especially hard when the break room is stocked with tang instead of coffee!!!  Tang?! Really?!)

So now we are trying to catch up from all the business of the past two weeks (lots of laundry waiting for me!) and we are settling back into the school routine.  My husband has a business trip this week, and I am putting on a Family Fun Night at Big-Bug's school on Friday, then it's Baby-Bug's second birthday and Christmas soon after...so December is going to be another fun, busy month!

Early Morning Games with Baby-Bug

This morning Baby-Bug managed to take down the baby gate that normally keeps him out of the main living area of the house during the night.  Since he is a pro at unlocking and opening the doors, we like to have some extra security insuring he is not doing any traveling while we are sleeping at night! I guess those peaceful nights have come to an end!

Luckily, after he removed his baby-gate, he just came in to say good morning to us and snuggle a little.  While we were lounging around, Baby-Bug started playing the silliest little game.  He would point to me and ask "what your name?" "My name is Mommy," I would respond "What's your name?"  He would grin really big and say "My name ummmm.....PIZZA!" We went through this exchange probably two dozen times and it was so hilarious!

Later this evening I was changing his diaper and he looked up at me and asked "What's your name?" "My name is Mommy," I told him "what's your name?"  "My name ummmm.....HOT DOG!" he said, then he started over again "My name ummmm.....PIZZA!" he said the second time, then started in again.  "My name ummmm....HAT!" he said the third time.  Then he pulled his ball cap over his face, peeked out and shouted "PEAK A BOO!"

It is so much fun to see more and more of his personality as he gets older. He has such a sense of humor! :)

Feed the Birds

Earlier this week one of the mommies in our play group hosted a bird feeder making play date for the kids.  We weren't able to attend, and I was so disappointed!  I asked my friend if she would share her directions with me so I could still do the craft at home with the boys and she showed up this morning with not only the directions (which were super cute!) but also an entire kit of supplies all the way down to pre-cut ribbon for hanging the finished feeders!  She is so thoughtful!

So this afternoon I set the card table up on our patio and the kiddos got to work making bird feeders and selecting which branches to hang them on (we only have one tree in our yard and one large lilac bush, so their options were limited haha!)  They really go into it and have been sitting in the yard ever since, waiting for the birds to come ;-)

It was a prefect fall day to play outside!  Chilly, but beautiful.

Halloween was a Blast!

This year we had the ultimate halloween experience (meaning it stretched for days and days! haha)  We started the festivities with an All Saints carnival at church, which was the boys' first "real" carnival experience.  They had so much fun fishing for prizes, tossing bean bags and participating in a "sucker walk." There was even a station to decorate your own sugar cookies, which the boys really got into.  Middle-Bug was a little intense about his frosting, he had to make sure it was perfectly smooth and completely covered his cookie, so he sat at the table for a long time working on his masterpiece!

After church the next morning we attended a traditional halloween party at a friend's home.  She invited a lot of the families from our play group, so the kids had a ton of fun with their buddies and the adults had a ton of fun visiting too!  There were some yummy snacks at the party (as always with our group!) A delicious cabbage salad, adorable jackolantern quesadillas, home made bat shaped tortilla chips and or course - my monster eyeball deviled eggs ;-)

Amidst all the celebration, we also found time to carve our pumpkins!  This year was a lot of fun because we let the older boys draw a face on their pumpkin and then we cut the face out for them like a stencil.  Their creations ended up super adorable!  Baby-bug got really into the fun and seriously enjoyed munching on the carving scraps....it must have been tasty!

On Halloween day Big-Bug went off to school while I took Middle-Bug and Baby-Bug to a play date in their costumes :)  It was so much fun to see all the other little ones all dressed up!  That night we took the boys for some mandatory trick-or-treating.  They had so much fun and Baby-Bug was hilarious.  Once he understood the concept (knock, say trick or treat, get candy) he was extremely enthusiastic!  He said "trick or treat" at every house and would holler "THANK YOU!" or "Happy Halloweeeeeeen!" as we walked away.  Adorable!

A nice, dark, foggy night for trick or treating!

We let the boys enjoy their candy for a few days and then we told them about the "switch fairy" who is building a castle out of candy and will trade kids a surprise for their halloween candy.  The boys thought that sounded fantastic (although Middle-Bug had a few reservations) and that night they left their candy buckets on the front porch for the fairy to the find.  In the morning they ran out to the porch to find their candy was gone and they each had a new transformer instead as well as a copy of "Rio" for the three of them to share.  It worked out really well, so well in fact we are going to try leaving the buckets out the night after halloween next year :)