Today was an amazingly beautiful day. We decided we needed to get out and enjoy the day, so after we picked Charlotte up from school we headed to the park to play and walk around. Here's some pictures from our walk.







As we were driving home Anthony spotted this deer and another one grazing on some grass in somebody's front yard. He stopped so we could see them too. I think it must be amazing to have deer in your front yard!

This is a picture of Mt Hood from the freeway. I know, it's not a very good picture, but it's hard to take a picture from a car going 60 mph on the freeway! Plus the sun was just beginning to set so it was starting to get dark. A little while after I took this picture the sun was turning the sky pink and the mountain looked pink. It was really pretty. Anyway, I love living in a place that has views like this from the freeway. I used to live in Southern California where the views on the freeway were graffiti on the concrete walls on the sides of the road and graffiti on the signs on the freeway. No offense to my So Cal readers, but I prefer the views up here to the ones down there. I'm just still amazed at the beauty here. I'm sure there will be a time when I don't even notice it anymore, but I hope that's not any time soon.

A couple of days ago we took the kids and the dog out for a hike to enjoy the weather. It was the first time Charlotte was able to do the whole hike by herself. We had a great time.

You'd think by the way Charlotte is dressed and that she's eating ice cream that it's the middle of summer, but in fact it's still winter. The weather we've been having lately feels more like the middle of spring. I can't complain one bit about the gorgeous weather outside. I think I will go take the kids out to enjoy it some more!

We took the kids to the Portland Police Museum. I've been trying to find fun things for us to do that we haven't done yet. The police museum was on my list for this week. It was fun and educational and free! I didn't know if the kids would enjoy it but they did. Charlotte liked the jail cell and Connor liked anything that didn't have a "do not touch" sign on it. I liked seeing all the old memorabilia from the mid-1800's. There were old mug shots from the 1850's and the men were dressed in suits and hats. It's amazing how times have changed!

After visiting the Portland Police Museum we decided to take a walk around the area since it was such a pretty day. We've never really walked around Portland so I'm glad we did. We walked along the river and around some shops. It was fun sight-seeing in our own area.

Charlotte is all girl. She's only 3 and already loves make-up! She got a gift card from her Grandma and Grandpa for Valentine's Day, so we went shopping and she picked out make-up made for kids. She insisted on getting it. Now she spends a lot of time applying it. She puts on blue lipstick and pink eyeshadow - on her eyebrows! It's really cute. She'll say, "I've got to go get my make-up on", and she'll run off to her room and come out a little later all made up. I think I may be in trouble in about 10 years!!

We took the kids to JJ Jump today. For those of you not from this area; it's a warehouse full of bounce houses. They got to jump until they dropped! Charlotte fell asleep on the way home she was so tired. Anthony and I were in the need of a little nap too!

It's no secret that we get our fair share of rain and gloomy days up here in the winter months, but lately we have had many sunny and warm days. Today was no exception. I took the kids out front to play. You can tell by their faces in these pictures how happy they were to be out in the sunshine.

7:00 AM - I start the day with a terrible stomach ache, but both kids had to go to school so I force myself out of bed.
7:15 AM - I get breakfast ready for both kids. I attempt to eat oatmeal.
8:00 AM - Connor gets dressed and I get his teeth and hair brushed. I get my teeth and hair brushed.
8:18 AM - Take Connor to the bus. I'm actually dragging myself to the bus stop because my stomach is killing me.
8:25 AM - I get Charlotte ready for school.
8:45 AM - Time to leave to get Charlotte to school. Today is her Valentine's party so it's a special day for her. I look for my keys. Where are my keys? I can't find my keys!!! OH NO! I realize I left them in Anthony's jeep. He's already at work. What do I do? (You see, I don't have a spare set of keys because I flushed those down the toilet at the gym a couple of weeks ago) I'm frantically searching for the keys that aren't at my house. AHHHHH!!!
8:50 AM - I call Anthony to ask about the keys left in the jeep. I don't know why I call him. He can't help me. He's patrolling in his patrol car. But I feel I need to call anyway. He tells me he doesn't know of the keys whereabouts.
8:55 AM - I call Charlotte's school to inform them that I'm an idiot and I can't get her to school today.
9:00 AM - I decide to try to get my mountain bike down and the bike trailer down and ride Charlotte to school. I get them down without scratching my car, the trailer has a flat tire. I search and search for the tire pump, find it and pump up the tire. But will it hold air?
9:10 AM - Finally have the trailer attached to the bike and Charlotte is ready to go. We set off to ride to school. About 1/4 mile into the ride my pants get caught in the chain and I almost crash. I force my jeans from the chain and continue.
9:15 AM - The school is only about 2 miles from my house. When I drive her there it only takes a few minutes and seems so close, now on the bike it seems much further. My legs are burning. Ouch. I thought I was in shape, maybe not. I'm thinking this was a mistake because once I drop her off I still have to ride home, then when school is over I have to ride back to get her then ride home again.
9:16 AM - Decide I will make several copies of my car keys tomorrow and keep them all over the house so this doesn't happen again.
9:50 AM - Back home and the stomach ache is gone. Glad my workout for the day is half over. And decide it was all worth it when I saw how happy Charlotte was when she got to her classroom.

Charlotte looks so dang cute in her princess outfit. She got this for Valentine's day this year. She calls herself a tooth fairy. I like to think of her as the Valentine Princess.

Today our playgroup met and we had a Valentine's theme. The kids played with red and white play dough, made their own valentines and ate some yummy cupcakes. They were all acting so cute and silly today.

After we picked the kids up from school today we decided since it was such a nice day that we would take them to the park. They had a great time. The park was pretty empty since most kids were still in school, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was great seeing so much happiness on their faces.

Sometimes you can tell they actually love each other.

Some days my kids wake up on the right side of the bed. Yesterday it was Charlotte. She was so cute when she woke up. She was playing and just acting sweet. Today it was Connor. Charlotte woke up a little grumpy and without pajamas. I guess at some point early this morning she took her pajamas off, so of course she was cold when she got out of bed. She came to my room wanting to crawl into bed with us. I told her she could come in after she put her jammies back on. She refused. Connor got up, (he was already snuggled in with us) went to her room and found some pajamas for her. She still refused to get them on and kept whining that she was cold. Connor got up again and went over to Charlotte and helped her get her jammies back on. He's not always that sweet with her. He tends to defend his territory from her, which this morning happened to be his part of our bed. After her jammies were back on they didn't get into the bed, they went into Connor's room and played nicely for a while. It was a good morning, now if only all mornings could be that way!

This is Connor's first note to Anthony. He found this little piece of paper and wrote this all by himself. I'm rather proud. He put it under the door of our bedroom while Anthony was sleeping so he would find it when he got up. I thought that was so sweet.

Connor got a poster size paper from school yesterday. It already had writing on one side and I wasn't sure what to do with it. Really, it was just trash, but I knew Connor would be mad if I threw it away. So today I decided to let them paint all over the back of it. Now, the question is, what do I do with it when it dries?

My mom recently purchased a home here and since she is not here yet she asked me to check on a few things. The house is only about three miles away from here, but they have snow! We haven't had any snow at my house so I was very surprised to see snow. They didn't have much but it was enough for the kids to play for a while.

Anthony and I were recently looking through some scrapbooks of the kids and we came across this picture. I LOVE this picture of Connor. He was eight months old and too cute. It's hard to believe he was ever that small. Today I volunteered in his kindergarten class and to think that he used to be a sweet little baby is pretty unbelievable. I miss him being that little, but at the same time I'm happy he's growing up. It's a strange mix of emotions.