Camera sprites have taken over

So I pulled everything off of my camera last night and had to giggle at what I found on there. It had been laying on the coffee table and I kept catching one or all of the kids playing with it. I would tell them to put it down and they knew that playing with it was off limits. But that doesn't always stop them.

I find this on the camera. I'll just give it to you in the sequence that I found it. I am not exactly sure who the perpetrator was here, but it made me laugh.







I blame those pesky camera sprites.

The company picnic

So today we went to my husband's company picnic. He works for a local utility company that has a lot of employees that also once included my father in law and now currently includes my mother in law. We are just one big PGE family. (Portland general electric)

So with a big company and a lot of employees, you need a big place to have said company picnic. This year they held it at Oaks park. It is our local amusement park. We had all access passes through the park which meant unlimited rides and roller skating. With our big family , we took advantage of every inch of that place.

Bug was not feeling it for any of the rides. He's not much of a ride kid. He likes to be in control of his surroundings at all times and nutty rides play no part in that. He's just like his Dad. My poor husband and Bug were getting anxious just watching some of these rides.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Sunshine and I were dying to get on them. My father in law wanted to go on them too, so between the three of us, I think we about hit every ride in the place. There were a handful that we didn't make it on, but I will save them for next time.

We also went roller skating for about an hour. I always forget how much fun it is and how much work it is. You use muscles that you use nowhere else but in roller skating. We had a good time.

We got some great pictures of the day. My personal favorites are the action shots in the rides.

Like here we have Sunshine the fearless on the roller coaster with Grandpa.


This one was taken as I was cruising top speed spinning through the air on this thing .




This is My father in law with me going upside down on the roller coaster.



Then here is just a sideshow of the whole day as there were too many cool shots to put them up individually.



Needless to say we had a great day.

Happy Mother's day!!

I just want to publicly thank all of the Mother's in my life that have taught me how to be a Mother. My own Mom, step mom, Mother in law, Aunts and Grandmothers who paved the way and led by example of how to Mother our kids.

So my words are few, but in my opinion, pictures speak louder than words anyways. So I give you my favorite memories of these great women and a few of my own great moments in mothering.

I love you all.

My mom and I then and now.


My awesome Mother in law

My step mom

Sunshine showing off her Mommy skills


Grandma, Aunt and Mom.




Aunt and Uncle

My mom, Mother in law, Grandma and husband's grandma.


Peanut and I


Grandma dressing up with Bug at Halloween




Grandma and Sunshine



Peanut and Grandma up at the cabin

Happy Mother's day!!

Now go hug your mom won't you?

My morning commute

So I have had this idea for a couple years and just haven't put the pieces together. I have been doing this morning commute since we moved to this house over 7 years ago. My husband works downtown in the land of overpriced parking garages. Generally they charged more for parking than we pay for car payment. Because they can. Usually companies pay for their employee parking so they can charge outrageous prices. His company doesn't though. Not even a discount. They won't even chip in for a bus pass. So we are on our own. We laid it all out and it is the cheapest for me just to drive him and pick him up everyday. It was sort of inconvenient for like the first couple of months, but I have been doing this for 7 years now, so it's just what I do. My kids know the drill as they have been doing this since the day they they were all born. We just take Dad to work in the morning.

So because of this I spend on average 2 hours in the car a day. Add in taking Bug to school.

But I have always wanted to take pictures along the way because on a nice morning, it's a really pretty commute. The Portland skyline with the sunrise in the back is pretty awesome. This morning it was about 20 degrees so the added chill makes it look all the more crisp.

Just a little slice of my life here. It may interest nobody but me, but I thought it was worth documenting.

Beach pictures!!

So I realize it would take far too long to explain all of these pictures from our grand getaway.(That and frankly, who cares except those involved, but luckily those involved read this blog.) But instead I thought maybe someone might be interested in a slideshow. However if you are not, now would be an excellent time to check out. I wouldn't hold it against you. Although if you have been reading my blog thus far , you are aware of my complete narcissism and my need to show the world just all the super cute things my kids do on a daily basis. So get over it.

Having said that....I will give a couple descriptions....The ones that look like we were bowling in the living room are actually us playing our new Wii. For the 3 people on planet Earth that don't know what that is, it's an interactive video game system that makes you move around as if you were actually playing the sport. It's really fun......Also, there is one of Peanut where it looks like he is strapped to a chair. Well that is pretty much what is going on there. Our house came with a lot of things, but a high chair was not one of them. So we improvised. It worked just fine. It's just a little ghetto.

Enjoy!