Five times around the sun

Five years ago tonight I left my house for the Birth Center just before midnight as the fireworks were shooting of down by the river. A few hours later in the very early morning my second child was born in water by candle light. I fell immediately and deeply  in love.

Our sweet son, our only boy, my favorite guy in the whole world, Solomon.

Our New Years baby. A new year, a new life. A precious new beginning.

I am so very glad he came.

I love my funny guy so very very much. Something magical happened the day he was born and I have been a happier person ever since. I am so blessed to be his mama!

****Happy Fifth Birthday Solomon!*****

Warmest Holiday Wishes!

Wishing you a beautiful Christmas in the company of people you love.

Love is by far our greatest gift. 

****Warmest Blessings from my family to yours****

Happy Solstice!

Wishing you all love and light through our longest night.

A tree story, and the flu..

I planned on posting this past weekend but my two youngest children and I got the stomach flu Sunday night  which was then immediately followed by a head cold of some sort so we are all pretty worn out around here. I should post a picture of how awful I look right now, its pretty bad. Poor Sollie missed his school picture day.

Last weekend before all the illness we were able to get out and find the perfect Christmas tree.

We were out taking a drive in the country just and saw a sign on the side of the road for 10$ Christmas trees! Yes! I thought it was too good to be true but we followed the signs to check it out.

A really sweet family, with lots of men dressed in camouflage(which reminded me of my brothers back home) and their children were selling trees that were grown right in their own front yard. 

Any tree any size 10 bucks! I can tell you if we bought that same tree in town it would have been over 50$ for sure. 

 So Solomon spotted the perfect tree.....

and got to watch them cut it down....

  and help Papa tie it on tight for the drive back to the city...

Meanwhile, Nalah and I were distracted....

Why does it look so much bigger when you get it home?

and tasty too..

Nalah thinks it is pretty great...

Can you tell Solomon decorated the tree? You never know what your going to find in it :)

Yarn Along: Some recent baby knits

I am joining along with Ginny today for the Yarn Along.

Nalah does not like to wear hats, and she is very good at pulling them off , even the hats with ties. I needed a hat that she couldn't get off and I found this adorable pattern on the Pickles website when I was browsing on ravelry and thought it would be perfect for my little hat hating baby goose. I just knit it up with some yarn from my stash,mostly Patons wool.

( Please forgive the blurry photos, my camera is having a hard time with the dark Oregon winter lighting.)

 

The cowl part of the hat tucks underneath her jacket.

This has been a great solution for riding in the backpack. Before, when we were out walking she would take off her hat over and over again and I would have to stop and take her off to get to tie her hats back on, it was a pain. Now I don't have to worry about her taking off her hat.

I also finally got buttons on the vest:

I am currently reading the Dr. Sears Baby Sleep Book and a few parenting books on sibling rivalry. 

Also reading Dry By Augusten Burroughs. I really enjoyed his other book, Running With Scissors   ( a very disturbing memoir of his childhood) so I checked out a few of his other books at the library.

New at HumbleLuna...and a Giveaway!

*Happy Cyber Monday*

I have added a few new pairs of Fleece pants to my shop in the last few days sizes 2-4T. Please stop by and take a look. These little whimsical pants are super cozy for this time of year and are great for hiking, camping and playing outdoors year round, especially if you live in Oregon like I do :)

I am working on adding more in several colors and sizes or boys and girls from 12 months to 4T, so check back often.

Leave a comment for a chance to win a custom pair for your little one, you pick the size and colors.

I will pick a winner on Sunday. Please leave your e-mail so I can notify you if you win. If I don't hear from the winner in 48 hours I will chose another.

Thanks so much!

This Moment..

A moment to cherish and remember, inspired by Soulemama.

Happy Thanksgiving!

****Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!****

Warning: cuteness overload!!!!

A day at Sollie's school

Once a month at Sollie's school parents sign up to bring the snack for the class and have the opportunity to spend the day at school with their child, today was our turn. I was a bit  worried how this was going to work out with Nalah along for the ride but it worked out great. She was in awe of the kids and didn't make a peep the whole time, I was impressed and relieved (during the tour we took this summer before we enrolled Solomon we actually had to leave early because she was screaming, glad this worked out better).

It was fun to see Solomon in action at school. I really enjoyed seeing how he interacted with the other kids and his teachers. We had a fun day and it was beautiful outside.

I keep thinking back to Sollie calling it "his school"  when he was a little babe when we would walk past and see other kids playing. It made me smile.

Yarn Along

  

   

Hello, joining Ginny this week for the yarn along. Not that I have time for knitting ;)but a hat for little Nalah Penelope is in the works with some stash yarn and left overs from this sweet cocoon.
  I just finished a beautiful book called Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson. A touching book about an unlikely friendship between two women . This book was heartbreaking but also uplifting and tender. In all honesty I bought it on a whim from a thift store because I liked the cover ( I can't help it I'm a visual person) but I really truly enjoyed this story. It is a good winter read.
                                     While I am at it I  thought I would share a few  more recent knits. Ben and Sollie in their coordinating hats. Ben's hat was his annual Birthday gift and Solomon needed an upgrade(he is growing up so fast!)I found the perfect yarn for Ben at the Fiber festival this year, There was a time he asked for a dark blue hat with flecks of brown and green..taaa daaa. I found the perfect hand spun skein just calling out his name... I used the wee bit of leftovers from his Papas hat plus some  green Patons wool to make Sollie's.

Day hiking with the family...

I have a problem. I live in a city and I am NOT a city person. Therefore I am often plauged with wanderlust for the good outdoors. Living in such a beautiful part of the country there is not shortage of mountains and rivers and lakes and even the ocean but traveling costs money and burning a ton of gas for a day trip isn't always within budget.
Lately I have been looking closer to the city to get my nature fix and have been happy to discover a few little hidden gems.

 I recently discovered that there are some great hiking spots around the City that we have never been too. I thought we have exhausted all of our semi urban hiking spots in the last 10 years of living in Portland but there are several spots SW of the city that are quite charming for a family day hike. I think we have avoided that area because it is  not fun to get to..located off of a spiderweb of interstate and highways..kind of stressful and not my idea of a relaxing day, but once you get through all that these spots are really worth it.

The first hike in pictures above is Cooper Mountain Nature Park. My family really enjoyed this park. The trails are the perfect distance for families with small children, they all loop and you can chose between a smaller loop and a larger loop depending on the mood of your little tribe. I love loop trails for hiking with children, I think it encourages them to keep going rather than to want to stop and turn back. My kids always start off really enthusiastic and end up burning out quickly. This park also has a neat play area for kids right off the parking area which is a bonus because some times my idea of going to a park and my four year old's idea of a park are quite different, so this is a perfect compromise. I was hoping we would see the resident bobcat, no such luck but we did find little poop piles he left behind.

Another really beautiful spot lies in the middle of a pretty congested suburban area so I was reluctant to visit. Tualatin Hills Nature Park is quite large and quiet with diverse habitats and beautiful trails going through swamps, towering trees and meadows. There are several raised wooden pathways that go right through wetland areas so you can easily spot wildlife. We saw several varieties of frogs and I was excited. Frogs are everywhere in Wisconsin here I grew up, but I have only seen and heard a few living in Oregon. I am sure that is because in live in the middle of the city, not because Oregon doesn't have frogs. We didn't get a chance to explore this entire park in one morning so I look forward to going back again to see more. There are some smaller trails that are better for foot travel but most of the park is paved paths that would be perfect for bringing a stroller if not to push your kid but to carry all your snacks and baby/kid paraphernalia.
Here are a few photos from our day at Tualatin Hills Nature Park: