Strawberry Season is upon us......

Sometimes I'm tempted by those BIG red strawberries in the plastic tub I find in the grocery store in May. It's understandable! When it's been 11 months since I've had the juicy, fresh berry that steals my heart every June, even the most discerning could be swayed. But alas, those California berries never live up to their good looks. I'll wait a little longer for my little sweet Oregon berry.

Now that they are here I am in heaven. Every few days I bring home a flat. And those juicy babies are gone in no time flat! My fingers are stained by eating them, canning them, freezing them and baking with them. I need to go pick some the old fashioned way, because I haven't got my fill yet, and the fruit stand up the street is getting all my hard cold cash as I try to sustain my desire.

Savannah finishes High School

Savannah had her official last day of high school EVER yesterday!

About 4 months ago Savannah came to me with a plan to finish high school one year early. She wanted to transfer to a program through Clackamas Community College. She would finish her classes at her own pace and receive her diploma when she finished. And her goal was to finish this year. This meant taking her entire Senior year and the remainder of her junior year in less than four months. I was against this idea. I was afraid that she would miss out on so much by leaving our neighborhood high school. But this girl of mine did her reserach and was prepared to conquer her goal. And now she is done. She will receive her diploma June 11, 2009 at a ceremony at Clackamas Community College.

When Savannah decided to go to CCC I said that I would not be available as her transportation. She would have to be responsible for herself, which meant taking the bus or finding another way to get there. We both saw this as an opportunity for Jordan, who has struggled to finish his high school diploma, to get into the same program as Savannah, as well as provide her transportation. Jordan registered, and at the nagging of his very motivated little sister, was forced out of bed each day to attend classes. He is one class short of being able to receive his diploma with his sister. But plans to finish his class in the next couple of weeks and be finished by the end of June. I am beginning to feel hopeful enough to say that my struggle to get him graduated is coming to an end. I have never given up on him even when I really wanted to.

A Me Day

I spontaneously decided to flee the house on this beautiful day and see where my car would lead me.

I stopped by the Travel Agency (they weren't open) because I'm really trying to make my dream of going to Mexico during my off call time a REALITY. My cousin has a house in Sayulita that he said we can use (for a darn good price=practically free).

Then I went to redeem my Mother's Day gift: Mani/Pedi. Very relaxing and now I have some wild RED toes. Don't you like how I cropped the picture to exclude my funny little toes.


On my way to the mall I detoured to Lowes. I don't know why. Just because. Looked for pole beans and they didn't have any.

Then I headed to the mall with my other Mother's Day gift certificate to redeem at See's Candy. Oh mother load of chocolate and nuts! A whole pound just for me.

I headed to the Land's End section of Sears to return a swimsuit I had ordered. I was just trying to save the cost of shipping and lucky me, they had the same suit in the store so I got to find the right size and exchange it there. (side note: why don't they turn down the heat/turn up the air in the dressing rooms? That is hard work. Take clothes off. Put clothes on. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Wrong size. Put own clothes back on. Go out and find correct size. Do it all over again.)

Of course I found another outfit I had to have.

Then I walked the mall. Just for the heck of it. I perused Barnes and Noble and found a couple of new gluten free cookbooks. I'm really excited to try this one. I recently saw the author on Martha Stewart and her gluten free treats looked soooo yummy. Many of the recipes are spelt recipes. Not gluten free but easier to make.


Next stop: Grocery store, for items needed to try a new recipe I found on The Food Network. And they had pole bean seeds.

Then: Trader Joes, for more gluten free goodies. Quinoa, brown rice, rice pasta mac & cheese, almonds.

Also: Jo-Ann Fabric, for....dadadada....FABRIC. I'm going to cover the cushion on the bench that now sits on my front porch.

Now I have a long list of things to do tomorrow: Make a cushion cover, try my new recipe for dinner, plant beans.

I hope I'm at a birth, but if not I'll tackle that list.

Meet Annie!

Emilia and Annie

Amos being very jealous of Annie.

Annie is wiped out after hours of playing with Amos.

The girls and their puppies.
Emilia and Annie. Savannah and Amos.
(Amos is going crazy trying to get to Annie)

NO!

We did NOT get a new puppy. Emilia's dad got a new puppy and we got to puppy sit her for the day on Sunday. She is a 10 week old lab-shephard mix. She is sweet and Amos is crazy for her. We are trying to tell him that in just a few weeks she will be bigger than him (and she will continue to get bigger than him) then she will be pushing him around. She was a little stressed by our rambunctious dog at first, but as the day went on Annie learned how to keep Amos in check.

Our Backyard Addition

I love the flowers in my yard.

After three weekends of labor we finished our backyard project. I should call it the accidental project! One morning while I was away Mario began hacking away at this overgrown tree, which opened the door to our imaginations. With the brush and branches gone we found almost 20 feet of yard. It is all shaded, we've added the hammock and a couple of tables.

Unfortunately (because it was an accidental project) we didn't take "before" pictures. And the "after" pictures aren't very good, but we are very happy with the end result. The weather has given us a gift these last few days and since we finished on Friday night we have spent every free moment outside. We LOVE it!

Juice Taste Test

For a school project Emilia conducted a juice taste test. She asked us which juice we thought we would prefer before the taste test. After trying each kind of juice (apple, grape, orange), she asked us which was our favorite. It was nice that all the kids participated and had fun together.

Parker at Work

He really does have a job! Here is the truck he drives every day to pick up donations for the Vietnam Veterans of America, with goods that end up at our favorite thrift store, "Red, White & Blue". Go HERE to schedule a pick up and maybe you'll see my handsome boy.

All Because Of A Hammock

I guess the hammock is the reason we've been "remodeling" our backyard for the last three weekends. When we realized it wouldn't fit the hammock frame that we already had, we needed to find another place to hang it. The perfect location was hidden by brush and branches. Very soon it will be done. As soon as we lay the bark chips I will take pictures of the results. I'm excited to have about 20 feet added to my back yard. Oh, and doesn't Emilia look adorable chillin' in the hammock?

One Of My Favorite Things

Lilac's
The sweet smell of spring, and one of my favorite of God's creations.

I am lucky enough to have one tree in my back yard with large, succulent blooms that appear fairly early in spring. They remind me of my childhood. We had a purple tree and a white tree in our backyard. (I liked the purple variety best). I would pick them and fill my mom's house with their sweet scent. I would use them to fill handmade May day baskets that my friends and I would secretly place on the neighbors door.

Now I love it when I see the buds on my own tree and know that in just a matter of days I will be able to enjoy their glory. They don't last long, so I have been picking bunches every few days and filling my home with the sweet reminder of my childhood. Just today I went out to cut a few more flowers to refill the vases and noticed the brown petals appearing. The end of another lilac season is near. But something wonderful will soon be here in it's place!

Honor Roll!

Oh Middle School. It's amazing that we all survive it. It's such a rat race....friends, fashion, phones. Choices, choices, choices! I'm lucky that my kids haven't suffered too much through those two awful years of school. In fact most of them excelled academically and socially. Here we are, down to the last year and a few months of parenting a middle school age child. It will come as no surprise that this one may be the most difficult.

I'm proud to announce that her busy social life has not impacted her academic life. She has worked hard to get good grades and has made the honor roll two semesters in a row. One more to go! And if she makes it she's asked for a trip to visit Aunt Gretchen this summer. I think she deserves it!

Way to go Emilia! Keep up the good work.