Those Krazy Keyes Kids

Happy February!

2009-02-18T08:07:00.000-08:00

Hello, hello! It's a few days after Valentines Day and I guess I need to catch up in here, huh?
It's been a mellow Winter so far. Nothing too exciting is going on, other than the kids are growing like weeds and getting too old, too fast. We're all just truckin' along.

MiNiMa just left after a V-Day visit, and that was fun. We kept her busy with the kids' Soccer classes, the Zoo, the Wildlife Refuge, and various errands. She also babysat for us so Jerome and I could have a date night on Valentines Day! It was great - we got to have a few hours to ourselves, and went to our fave place - Benihana. YUM.

Let's see if I can post a few pictures of the past month and a half without going overboard ;)

Since we were stuck inside a lot, we had to get creative. Here are the kiddos "going fishing". They needed a map to find the fishin spot, and Jason apparently needed some heels to make the trip (?)

Playing Dora games

and on a lazy day, catch a movie with some popcorn

Scootin around the 'hood

all the way to the playground!

We caught a gorgeous sunrise one morning while taking J to work

my sweeties

my fashion model

And on another rainy day - we had a dress up day!
Our lady friends joined us for tea...

And the kids got all ready to "go to preschool". Jason was so excited to be doing a big kid trip to school like his sister Nina (he calls her Nina - isn't that cute?!)

apparently this preschool requires you to dress up in costume as you sit in the playroom and wait for the bus

another snow day came upon us, but this was only an inch or so, and melted within the day :(

We made it down to the childrens Museum with some friends and they had a ball

brushing the alligator teeth

A cold day at the lake - there is still ice on the water! We went with a friend and walked around for a bit.

Still with me? I am totally overloading on pictures, I know this. But it's been a month and a half, so I'm catching you up :) Bear with me!

Miss Makenna had her very first sleepover! Her friend Teagan was turning 4 (M is 4 3/4), and wanted a sleepover. I fully anticipated a crying call at bedtime, or even leg clinging when I was dropping her off. But nope, she was a champ! She gave me a hug, said she loved me, and ran off to play! She did call twice - once to ask if she could put nail polish on (since we don't do that normally. I said yes though, since it was a special occasion), and another time to ask if she could have orange juice (we don't normally do juice, especially late at night). She had a ball! The rest of us arrived the next day at 12, for the official party, and she wanted to stay - ha ha ha! So did Jason!

Another dress up day.

Like I said before, this past weekend was V-Day weekend and MiNiMa was here. She treated the kids to soccer lessons, and it was their first day on Saturday. They had so much fun! They are in two different classes, so I was bouncing back and forth, trying to watch them both :)
Jason had so much fun - he was super excited!

Makenna loves it too, she did great although she kept looking at MiNiMa and I to wave instead of paying attention.

We came home to open our Valentines!

Even pancake got a couple cards ;)

Makenna dolled up MiNiMa

and we hit up the Zoo on Monday as well. We love the Zoo! It was slightly chilly, but not too bad at all.

And that's it! I will let you take a break now! I'll try and keep more up to date, so I don't need to do these big ol' updates all at once :) I hope everyone is well

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-25T09:27:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas morning and I'm posting on here... hmmm... what's wrong with this picture? Oh yeah, it's because the Portland area got so much snow that my Mom's flight got canceled on Monday, and they couldn't rebook her until today - Christmas!! So we shifted "Christmas" to Saturday, so everyone can be here, and be ready to go :) The kids don't know the difference, so thank goodness for that!

Speaking of snowed in, I wanted to take this chance to post some more snow pictures! We have had about a foot or so of snow here, which is unusual for the Portland Area. It definitely slowed things down, and we've been housebound for the most part for the past week. Our car actually does great in the snow, and we ventured out a couple times for food, etc, but everyone else was slipping and sliding and we figured there was no need to get ourselves hit, so we just hunkered down, did tons of crafts, baked tons of cookies, watched lots of Christmas movies and played in the snow. Sounds like fun, huh? Other than the fact that we need a full finished basement with a play structure so the kids can burn some energy, and a Wii for J and I to burn some as well, we did pretty well. Cabin Fever never quite got to the level of the Overlook Hotel, so that's a good thing.

Some snow pictures!

Our house

our sled ride down the street to Albertson's for supplies. The kids thought it was so fun to be sledding in the street! That's our house right behind J's head

This was on the bigger street... NO sign of a plow anywhere! Not even on Main Street or the Freeways!

icicles on our icicles

On Tuesday we ventured out and this was Hwy 502, getting to the freeway. It was absolutely gorgeous - a total Winter Wonderland!

J worked hard to shovel our walk. It was funny, we were the only people in the 'hood that did so. I thought we had to, but maybe that's just Portland. Plus it was nice to just be out there, moving around

My little snow bunny

Yesterday it snowed more, and we played in the backyard. J and the kids were having a blast tackling each other and having snowball fights (or as Jason says, "no-ball hits" )

my plant has a hat

Poor J's hard work shoveling the walk was wasted :(

the park across the street from our front porch

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

2008-12-21T21:03:00.000-08:00

Woo Hoo! Now this is the type of snow that's worth it - not just 2/3 of an inch or so! It's been snowing here for 3 days, off and on, and we have about 8-10" I'd say. Good times!

All three kids had a blast sledding on our mini hill

and Jason decided he didn't even need a sled!

Mommy was pretty crabby during the sledding excursion... not sure why, but this is how I felt the whole time. Party pooper!

I was so mean, I tried to get a picture of the kids together and made poor Jason cry :( Definitely NOT winning Mother of the Year for that day! But he's cute even when he's crying, so I'm posting it anyway ;)

and today, we got a few more inches...

my poor duck is half buried (and the 2 babies behind it are completely gone - lol)

pretty!

and this is the fun tree we decorated at the park across the street - how pretty is it in the snow??!!

today the snow was topped with 1/2 inch of ice that Makenna was licking all day

Awww... what a good big sister!

then home to warm up with hot chocolate and making gingerbread cookies for Santa! (And MiNiMa!)

Of course, they ate as the decorated, so Santa might be out of luck ;)

Snow Day!

2008-12-17T23:30:00.000-08:00

We got a little snow today, and so that was exciting! Jerome was home today, and we all got to play around outside for a bit.

Makenna needed the bigger black sled, so poor Jason had to use his baby sled... he doesn't really fit anymore - ha ha ha!

our street

the poor ducks were walking on their frozen lake, and were following us around (obviously hungry!) so I ran home and got our bread to feed them

We are supposed to be getting a little more snow in the days to come, so hopefully it will be enough to build a snowman :)

Holiday Happenings

2008-12-17T23:10:00.000-08:00

December is always full of fun things to do. This year we finally made it to the Grotto, went to Zoo Lights which is a favorite, made gingerbread cookies, sat with Santa a few times (and even ran into him shopping at Safeway one evening! Did you know Santa wears a leather jacket over his suit and buys frozen lasagna for one? He must be in trouble with the Missus), drove around our town to look at the impressive lights, and still plan to hopefully squeeze in a few more things although the snow might be stopping us this year.

The Grotto (choirs sing in that little church, and there is a petting zoo, and amazing lights on the grounds)

One nice Saturday, Jerome took the kids to the park while I went to a couple local bazaars

LOL - she's not too sure of the monkey bars

we also decorated a small random tree in the park across the street - they are saying "ta-da!"

Oh by the way... this is a sure fire way to piss off a cat in about 5 seconds flat...

Zoo Lights! This is so fun. The Oregon Zoo goes a little crazy with the lights, and it is like walking around in a fairytale.

Kenna standing with the turkey by the petting zoom (Makenna is the turkey on your right)

M watching the swans swimming

the family (minus me!) under the snake

Jason loved this alligator

M taking time to smell the roses

a quickie one with me (amazing, I know!)

one of my faves... the dragon breathing smoke rings

Of course we had several episodes of cookie making. Once with our playgroup friends, and several times with just us.

we went to Jerome's Office party last weekend - how cute are they?

J got a soccer ball from Santa... he was in heaven and kicking it all over the party!

Makenna the other day... she looks like she was doing the worm

Catchin you up on our December

2008-12-17T22:54:00.000-08:00

So I guess it's been a couple weeks again. MAN I suck.

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we drove up to the Mt St Helens area to cut down our Christmas tree. For only the cost of the gas to get there (only an hour or two), and a $5 tree cutting permit, you can find your perfect tree :) We usually go to a Tree Farm near us, which is fun as well as they have a petting zoo, hay ride, hot chocolate, etc, but it's usually about $50 for a tree. Plus, this way we got to tramp all over a volcano for our tree... how fun is that??

the ride up there

the volcano!

I brought the tripod to try and get some pictures to use for our Christmas card. You may recognize these :)

what a pretty girl

sillies

and I liked this one, but it didn't make the cut for the card this year ;)

Jerome cut this one for our playroom tree (tabletop one)

and this awesome one for our living room

The kids did great decorating the tree

And they did the playroom tree the next day

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-28T09:41:00.000-08:00

So it's the day after Thanksgiving and bellies are full. Jerome made a fabulous Thanksgiving meal for us, and although we were lonely without any family visiting, we had a very pleasant day. Poor Jerome had to work today, so he's sad, and I'm sad I'm not at any Black Friday sales. But other than those minor things, we have a lot to be Thankful for. Healthy and smart kiddos tops the list, for sure.

Because we didn't have company yesterday, it was very mellow and very lazy. We had a jammie-jam day, and the kids and I made crafts while Jerome cooked and prepared. We watched the parade while lazing around, too. Someday we hope to make it to New York to take the kids to see the parade in person. I did it as a child and LOVED it, and judging from their excitement and animation yesterday from watching it on TV, I'm sure they'd have a blast! Makenna about fainted when she saw a princess castle float - lmao.

We made a family turkey with all of our hand prints

and we updated our annual handprint/leaf with what the kids are Thankful for this year

We had made turkey hats at playgroup on Wed, but Jerome wasn't there so he didn't have a hat. He wore my hat, and I wore a pilgrim bonnet Makenna had made in preschool. It's a good thing we can laugh at ourselves! LOL

I have a couple random pictures from the past week for ya, as well.

Makenna cheezin in the front yard while scooting and watching Daddy put up Christmas lights

We went to the duckpond across the street the other day - those poor ducks were STARVING! They followed us around after we were done, and I felt bad we didn't have more. We like to get a bag of duck/chicken food, but we've run out so all I had were cheerios.

Our house is right over M's head :)

M sneaking cheerios away from those poor hungry ducks

pretty girl

handsome boy

Slacker, checking in!

2008-11-17T19:36:00.000-08:00

Hello hello! I am quite behind in here, and although we've been busy bees, I don't have many pictures to share.

It's been a wet November so far so we've been stuck inside for more than we're used to. The past few days have been great though, and we got a chance to winterize the backyard by putting chairs, toys, grill, cushions, etc into the shed. It was sad, actually, to put the final nail in summer/outside play. We even did the final lawn mowing of 2008. Jerome was happy about that, but the kids will become restless and make me dream of a full finished basement all Winter long so they can run and bounce around. Darn our town's high water level and lack of basements!!

Pancake is getting bigger by the hour, and is still a chill feline. She puts up with a lot from my kids, and although they only want to love and hold her, they just never leave her alone!

We've been Christmas shopping for the kids, and I stocked up on stocking stuffers this past weekend. We are definitely doing Christmas Lite this year :( Jerome and I said we were going to skip each other to save some cash, but that didn't last long... of course we found some fun stuff we had to get. But we will pass on our big gift that we were hoping to get for each other - a Wii. Maybe sometime next year.

Just a couple pictures for ya:

Pancake!

How tolerant is this kitty! She stayed here getting her hair did in Kenna's lap for almost 20 minutes!

She even lets the kids push her around in the dumptruck

We did the Lowes craft a couple weeks ago too - it was fun as usual

Fall is so cool here. The leaves are pretty much done, but it's pretty fun being in a migratory path for the Canadian Geese. They fly over us by the hundreds - in perfect V formations. Then they all just seem to congregate in fields - how do they know to all meet there?? There will be thousands of them just sitting there sometimes.

The geese aren't the only things migrating... the Salmon are running right now. They are working their way up the small streams and rivers now, to go lay their eggs. Anyway, now is a great time to go to the waterfalls to watch them attempt to jump up. So this past weekend we headed up to Lucia Falls by our house and sure enough - we saw a few poor suckers jump (and fail). One pitiful salmon kept jumping right into a rock. That's gotta hurt!

There's one!

and this guy, right before he bounced off the big boulder - ouch!

then I went to the top of the falls, and saw this guy keep trying

Trick or Treat - Take 1

2008-10-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

We went with our MOMS Club friends to a local senior community to go trick or treating a day early :) We bring the goodies for them to give our kids and leave them extras since they will be having an open house for kids tomorrow (actual Halloween Day). Anyway, it was pretty fun and the kids had a good time. Plus it gave me time to let Jason practice saying "Trick or Treat" and "Happy Halloween" (and "Thank You" of course, but he is already a pro at that!).

Saying "Yeeeee Haaaw!"

collectin candy is tiring work for a cowboy and his horse

Enjoying some loot when we got home

Fall Makes My Heart Sing!!!

2008-10-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

I know I keep posting pictures of Fall leaves, etc, but it is just so darn stunning right now!! It seriously takes my breath away.

Not that you can see any pretty leaves in this picture though, ha ha ha (no, we didn't wake up in San Francisco either)

But once that cleared up, I was able to see the gorgeous Fall leaves all around us!

Jason and I went on our walk when Makenna was at school yesterday. He was tired, and kept trying to give me dirty looks. His new dirty look is the furrowed brow, with his piercing eyes beaming little rays of death at me. Or he tries to roll his eyes, thinking that if he can't see me, I'm not really talking to him *snicker*.

mean muggin' with his furrowed brow...

What. EVER. Mom

he's trying to give me his furrowed brow look here, but my silly faces are making him break his meanie concentration

SCORE! I got him to smile!

and like I said... he was tired. This was about 2 minutes later

After we picked up Jerome, we headed to Salmon Creek Park again. The plan was to go for a walk, but we got sidetracked with the playground by the pond ;) And now it's getting dark so quickly - booooo.

I only got a couple shots before my camera died

Ok. Now I love California. I've lived there 3 separate times, and have nothing but love for it. Same goes for Maryland. I have lived there twice and think it's beautiful. But seriously? How can they compete with this??

Now I hope your heart is singing too :)

Last but not least... today

2008-10-27T23:06:00.000-07:00

Here's a typical Monday for us :)

Went to the playground behind the house

hahaha

then to Lewisville for a walk after Jerome got home. We've been really lucky with such great weather, we are trying to go out and enjoy the Fall leaves as much as possible!

getting ready to jump in the pile of leaves we made

so puuuurrrrty

Misc info from the past week

2008-10-27T22:52:00.000-07:00

Ooops - I should have done this first tonight, but was too excited about the kitty so I skipped over the past few days :)

Let's see - the day after the walk at Salmon Creek I posted about, we went for a walk on the Columbia River. For those out of towners, this is the big river that separates Washington and Oregon. It's about 5 minutes South of Jerome's work, so an easy jaunt after we pick him up from work.

But before all that, we went to playgroup to play with our friends, and on the way back we drove the backroads which are always so much prettier.
A barn on the way

and one of the blueberry farms we go to in the Summer - I love love love how they get all red in the winter! I think we need to start a blueberry farm.

Jason loves his birthday present!

and later that evening, at the river

3rd Annual Pumpkin Party

2008-10-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

Woo Hoo! We had our annual pumpkin carving contest and it was great :)

I wish more people had showed up so we'd have had more pumpkin entries, but it was a gorgeous and perfect Fall day so it was just nice being outside and watching the kids play. We need our family closer so they can come to these things too :(

Lots of pictures from the party so go to the bathroom now, and get your drink and snack. All settled? Good, here we go:

The party site:

Pumpkin Paaaarty!

Jerome up to his elbows in pumpkin guts

Jason's pumpkin (for some reason I don't have one of Makenna's with her alone - I have some great ones of all the kids and their pumpkins, but I'm trying not to post pictures of other people's kids on here ;) )

I found a way around it - cut all their heads off! This is about half of the kids' entries

The kids made a huge pile of leaves and were playing them - and they had so much fun! I'm trying to find some with only my kids in them, and it's hard to get any that show the looks of pure glee on their faces, so just take my word for it

Jason doing his tribal yell in excitement. I was totally expecting him to start pounding his chest

Makenna doing her answering tribal yell

Jerome's bloodshot eyeball pumpkin

my goofy dude pumpkin

and my other goofy dude... oops, I mean, my other pumpkin

We had a great time and hope our guests did as well :) We look forward to seeing everyone next year.

We have a new family member!

2008-10-27T21:37:00.000-07:00

No, I didn't have a baby over the weekend, but we DID get a kitten! It was totally spur of the moment - a neighbor found it outside (in this cold :( ) and went around asking if anyone lost it. I had jokingly said, "no, it's not ours, but if you can't find the owner, we'll take her". I was KIDDING. Apparently they didn't find the owner though, because the next night, the neighbor came over again and said she can't keep her (she has 3 dogs) but do we want her.
We were going to say no, but then held her and she was so calm and sweet - we couldn't resist her! She is seriously the. most. mellow feline I have ever seen.
Does anyone remember the character Frieda from Peanuts? She was the little girl with "naturally curly hair" that was Linus' girlfriend, and had a boneless cat slung over her shoulder sometimes. Anyway, our little kitty reminds me of that cat - totally boneless! She is like jello. I could probably fold her like a pretzel if I were so inclined (and if I were that weird).

So... please let me introduce the newest Keyes family member... Pancake!

See? Boneless and mellow. Perfect! Most cats would be wiggling and kicking their back paws but Pancake doesn't even move.

Makenna carried pancake around like this for at least 4 hours solid this morning... not even one peep of complaint. She's a great kitty! Makenna even fell asleep with her last night and today for naptime. Poor teddy bear got banished to the bottom of the bed, and kitty got the primo spot in her arms with her little fuzzy head on Makenna's pillow. Pretty darn cute!

The kids with their babies this morning (I was blocking Dora on tv, hence the reason they were looking beyond me)

It's Fall!

2008-10-21T21:59:00.000-07:00

We went for a walk along the path near Jerome's work after we picked him up today. We are a one car family, so we pick him up and drop him off most days, or he'll take the car on days we don't have anything planned. Anyway, there is a park/creek/path on the way and since the sun popped out and the leaves are a'changin, we tossed Kenna's bike in the car and headed on over this afternoon!

Before we left the house though, we had to have a little fun ;)

As soon as we got there, Makenna took off on her bike. She is getting so good at riding now! She was even standing up on it, trying to pedal like the big kids

Along the path we found caterpillars

and flowers

and cool berry trees

and stopped for some family photos

We also stopped to enjoy the creek

and the leaves

These bushes are AMAZING in real life - so vibrant!

And it's hard to tell, but this grainy blob is actually one of 2 Bald Eagles we saw soaring above us. Seriously, who needs more in life than that???

Wildlife Refuge

2008-10-17T23:00:00.000-07:00

The night before Jude left, we took her to see our local Wildlife Refuge. This place is awesome - you drive through really slow, and check out all the local birds and wildlife. It's a loop that is several miles long, through woods and around marshes and creeks. We go several times a year, and it's always different, and you always see something new.

This time we saw Silver Herons, a Bald Eagle, Sand Pipers, several Osprey, and a truck stop for the Canadian Geese flying South for the Winter. They are amazing birds these Geese... somehow they all know where to stop and rest, and you'll come across fields with hundreds of geese just chillin. They don't all travel together, but they all seem to know where to congregate. Odd ducks. Geese? Whatever.

Silver Heron

and another

Sand Pipers

a field of Geese

and although I didn't get pictures of the Bald Eagle or Ospreys, I did get one of the incredible moon that was close enough to touch

It was a fun ride through there, as always!

Our Lakes

2008-10-17T22:51:00.000-07:00

So this was on the last day with Jude here... we went for a drive all over the place to show her our pretty area. We went to our town lake for a small walk while Makenna was in preschool.

Jason played for like 2 seconds... did this

and this

and did THIS to his brand spanking new pants that I had just tore the tags off of that morning *sigh*

so pretty there... I need to go back up in a week or two, to see what the leaves have done

After we went to get Makenna, we went to have lunch with Jerome, then to the big town lake (Vancouver Lake). It was gorgeous!! Totally empty, with the geese flying over us, a beautiful day... perfection!

a perfect day for hill rolling, I must say (and yes her khakis got mud and grass marks too... 2 pairs of khakis thrashed. I think I got the stains out today though)

awww... he loves his Mommy. Only 2 and writing so well ;)

they played in the sand for hours while we were waiting for J to get off of work! It was just a mellow afternoon. I laid back in the grass and almost fell asleep. It was nice to have MIL there to keep an eye on them

this one cracks me up... totally looks like I'm torturing him! He kept pulling me back on him and was laughing, but this picture looks like he's crying. I SWEAR I wasn't hurting him

and apparently, I'm the eyeless wonder. Creepy!

moi

the geese from my view on the ground

and Mt Hood got some snow so it looked pretty too

Jasons 2nd Birthday Party!

2008-10-17T21:55:00.001-07:00

It was so fun! I know Jason sure had a blast, and I hope everyone else did as well.

We had it at the park and thank goodness it didn't rain. It was a smidge cold for some people, but we had a nice fire in the shelter, and pocket warmers. I was running around so I didn't even notice the cold ;)

the front table was where our construction workers picked up their tool belts, customized their hard hats and got tough man truck tattoos

the food

the truck quarry

all the kids liked it

the Birthday Boy

bounce house fun, of course

cone sippy cups - what will they come up with next??

cake!

another satisfied customer...

and this little tired boy was worn out as we were packing up... he almost fell asleep on Daddy!

Train Ride and Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

Grandma Jude came up as well, so we had both Grandma's here for Jason's Birthday weekend extravaganza!! Wheee!

On Saturday we went on a local train ride through the countryside near our home with a stop at a local waterfall. It was so fun!
Kenna stole Mommy's glasses - isn't she cute?

awww

the waterfall where our rest stop was

a family shot!!!

We rode back on the caboose

On the way home from the train ride, we went to the local Pumpkin Patch. The kids were soooo tired, but they perked right up when we got there!

We rode one of these guys to the patch

He almost jumped off the hay ride to get to those pumpkins!!

Kenna found hers!

Jason found his too

but then he decided to have a pumpkin stare off (the pumpkin won)

all done with our pumpkins, we headed back to the farm for some games

on the way back to the farm, the hay ride takes you down Pumpkin Lane - filled with all kinds of pumpkin people

Makenna loved throwing the corn husks through the hoops

Jason liked the trucks

and the ladies by the tea room and gift shop had to say goodbye

Jason's Birthday weekend!!

2008-10-17T21:28:00.001-07:00

Oh. My. God. My little sweet baby boy is now a 2 year old. He's growing so fast. I'm so proud, yet so sad. It's all so bittersweet!

On October 10, 2008 my little noodle turned 2 and we went to the Portland Children's Museum for his Birthday! MiNiMa came up to visit and Jerome took the day off of work so we could all go. We also met up with our MOMS Club there, so the kids had their friends to run around with (and Mommy had her friends too!).

we have these gears at home, but we do ours on a table... I might have to figure out a place to put up a metal pad and slap some magnets on them! Jason didn't want to leave this area - my little engineer *love*

Makenna serving MiNiMa up some chow

digging! So fun!

Jason loved the water table too

there was a Bob the Builder Exhibit going on so they got to play with their TV friends

saying bye to Bob

Since it was J's actual Birthday, cake was a must!!

How old are you today???
Twooooooo

And his big Birthday present from MiNiMa... it was a hit!

October Updates

2008-10-17T21:23:00.001-07:00

Whew, we're finally getting close to current! I promise not to slack for this long again!

Which witch is the true witch?

The sweet one?

the sly one?

the happy go luckey one?

or the pouty one?

My answer is all of the above, and this is your little glimpse into a day in the life of Makenna Lee. Shoot... an HOUR in the life of Makenna Lee.

With little brother Jason following along and wanting to do everything just like big sis. J's new favorite saying, "me too! me too!"

Lowes Rocks

2008-10-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

So both Lowes and Home Depot have kids wood projects for free on some weekends. We have done a bird house at Home Depot, and this time was a fire truck at Lowes. These are so fun for the kids, and the stores give them each an apron. Lowes gives them a patch for me to sew on the apron with a picture of the project, like Boy Scouts.

and their end results

had to finish out the night by watching the sunset on the back porch

Jason on our bi-weekly park walks

Crafting is serious business in the Keyes Household. No smiling allowed!

The end results makes me smile though :) This is our "project door" in the kitchen - we update it with the weather and their current crafts. Kenna's trees are on the left, and Jason's on the right

Mid September

2008-10-17T20:53:00.000-07:00

Since I have a lot to catch up on, I'm skipping all the parks, playgrounds, Zoo trips, etc.

But these are pretty cute so I want to share :)

9-19-08 We went to the local Fire Station with my MOMS Group and Jason loved it

Makenna was less than thrilled....

9-20-08 we went to a party at JJ Jump and all 3 kids had a blast ;)

9-21-08 We went to the local waterfalls with Uncle Travis and Aunt Laura. These falls are about 3 miles from our house! How cute are they?

Curly girl

One day the following week the kids and I walked across the street to feed the ducks

I just love watching them walk together! Makenna was a great big sister and made sure Jason would stop at the corners and wait for Mommy so we could all look both ways and stay safe

Mike Check

2008-10-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

Is this thing on? Does it still work? *squeeeeeaaal*

Ahem. Sorry it's been so long. It's been a busy Fall so far. Makenna is loving preschool, as usual, Jason is growing up WAY too fast, as they usually do, and we've just been enjoying the Fall season.

I'll try to start where I left off. In early September (which seems like a lifetime ago, not just a month ago!) we headed up to the Washington Coast for the day. Of course we left a beautiful sunny day to head right into the foggy coast, but it was still fun. Washington is home of the cranberry bogs - which are conveniently next to the Ocean Spray factory. Anyway, there is a fun self guided tour through the bogs that we did. Good times!

Right across the street from the bogs was the beach! Kenna was happy to get out of the car and run around

looking for some whales but didn't see any this time

I'm skipping ahead to the next week when we were at a local park. Jason took my shoes off...

and we all know what damage that can do

First Day of School!

2008-09-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

Well, Makenna went all last year and Summer so it wasn't really her first day of preschool, but I didn't want her to be a scrub when all the other kids were in their shiny new back to school clothes, so we put on some new duds :)

her poor eyes are a little bit swollen still, but at least they weren't scary like they were this weekend!

Of course she told me Jason needed his new clothes as well, so we had to pose with those too ;)

Labor Day Weekend 2008

2008-09-02T13:13:00.000-07:00

Hmmm... the weekend went by in a blur as usual. MiNiMa came up for a couple days mid-week, so that was a fun treat. We didn't have much play time (darn that work!), but still got some visiting time in. We also played in the fountain at Water Front Park downtown Portland after picking up MiNiMa from her office one day.

In theory it was fun, but apparently city water has cooties so we'll just stick to our country-fied parks! It turned my sweet girl into a mutant Sloth-looking creature. Apparently some got in her eyes and ran amuck. Green ooze, tears and all. Disgusting!

the next morning...

We fed the ducks across the street the next day, and although she still had a bum eye, they weren't too scared of us ;)

She rode her bike - she is getting better and better each day!

And he scooted for a couple minutes, but then rode in the push car the rest of the way :)

On Sunday we got a fun visit from Uncle Wyatt, Uncle Travis and Aunt Laura! Wheeee! It was really great to see them all, but especially Wyatt. He lives out of state and I don't stay in touch with him nearly as much as I should :( It was so nice spending time with them, although I wish it was more. I hope they don't mind if I post pictures of them...
Laura, Travis, Wyatt

We went bowling and Makenna did great

Jason had fun too

J-Diggity with Uncle Travis

Wyatt, Jason, Travis and upside down Kenna

It was so much fun and makes me sad that Wyatt is so far away. I need to go work for an airline so we can get free tickets!

Yard Sale!

2008-08-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

And as if we didn't have enough to do, we had a yard sale this past weekend. Jerome got the last of the dirt moved by midnight the night before, so we had the sale in the driveway. It went pretty well - we got rid of a bunch of stuff, made a little money and our little entrepreneur Makenna made a bit of cash too! She had a lemonade stand and was such the little hostess - making sure to ask all the yard sale customers if they were interested in some refreshing lemonade to quench their thirst. We even had sliced strawberries and our fresh blueberries to add to the drink if they wanted :)
She scored over $15 for her piggy bank - woo hoo! To be fair, we gave Jason all the change from the sale for his bank as well ;)

Don't sell me Mommy :(

Awww... who could sell that little cream cheese face?

M's Lemonade Stand... she wants to do it everyday now - ha ha! Too bad the Summer is almost over, we have a prime location on the main path to the playground. She could clean up! Maybe a Red White and Blue one this weekend for Labor Day, and then many more next Summer, for sure.

And the serial posting continues....

2008-08-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

One day last week Jason and I had an hor to kill before picking up M from preschool so we stopped at the local u-pick blueberry farm - YUM!

He did a great job helping me pick!

Except this is where they all went... ha ha

Note our buckets... guess who's is who's??

Dishing the Dirt

2008-08-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the dirt I have to dish isn't the fun gossipy kind, it's more in line with the back-breaking, sweat inducing but Thank-Goodness-We-Did-It kind.

We had a visitor on August 17th...

We had to get allllll of that spread around our bushes and plants. Oy Vey. Jerome worked super hard doing most of it, but we all helped as well :)

Jason putting it by the jasmine

Some of the finished product... so nice and clean looking!!!

we also put down the dry creek bed/river rock on the left between us and the neighbor

It looks SO much better than the crappy dirt that was there before!

In the midst of all that outdoor work, we were also still moving/shifting around the inside. We moved one of the big white cabinets from the kitchen into the playroom...

and put together some new furniture (bins are next)...

and in the dining room...

and we did other smaller projects like painting the sign train

and I did another rock for the front porch

and this is makenna's for her room

Fun filled week!

2008-08-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

The week beginning August 11th was busy! 2 Birthday parties, a playgroup, 2 days of preschool, an evening at the spray park, and still more house organizing, etc. Fun stuff!

Makenna at one of the Birthday parties

Jason at the same one

and some spray park fun!

why oh why don't you bring me here everyday mom??!!

Daddy got in on the fun too - that's his headless body under that big bucket full of water!

I caught a few snapshots as they whizzed past me...

This was a gorgeous sunset we had the next night as we were playing in the backyard and in the pool

and our homemade version of the spray park on another hot day

nah... that couldn't possibly be Jerome's son

another amazing sunset...

MiNiMa came to visit!

2008-08-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

We had MiNiMa here for a few days mid August too :)

That's always fun and we managed to drag her around to see some fun stuff here in Portland. We did the Saturday Market, the Zoo, out to eat a few times and other random outings. It was fun and we loved having her here :)

A few days after the visit, we went to a Lavender Farm and the kids had a ball running around in the gardens. It was so pretty!

pardon the grainy picture, but this hummingbird followed us around and obviously wanted to play

Makenna put on a show - she's sooo dramatic! Definitely going to be an actress.

A couple flower shots - they were so pretty!

the bees LOVED these flowers

and my floating boy

Slacker, checking in!

2008-08-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I haven't posted in a while... oops. My bad.

We've been super busy, as usual. Sometimes I really feel like we run around in circles. Crazy chickens.

One thing that's been going on is that we sold some furniture to buy new stuff, so there has been a lot of transition going on.
We were without a kitchen table for a couple days so I brought in the kids' outdoor picnic table and they thought it was pretty fun to have that inside. One day I got brave and let them paint inside - eeeek!

It was Jason's first time with water colors and he did great. So proud of himself!

A couple days later, we were at Ikea getting some new stuff. One of our treats (bribes) is a yummy ice cream if they are good while shopping. Best buck we've ever spent because that stuff is good!

This cracks me up - he just sat there waiting for the ice cream like a doggy

giving me fish lips

fish lip kissies - the best!

The Beach!

2008-08-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

Ohmigoodness we need to win the Lotto and buy a beach house. No question. If you had seen these kids and their looks of glee (all 4 of us kids - ha ha ha) while chasing (and being chased) by the waves, you'd agree with me. We took a small day trip up Hwy 101 and stopped at a small non-touristy place called Westport Washington. This beach was the best. Wide open, hardly anyone there, hardly any houses, no shops, boardwalks, nada. Pure simple beach. Not only that, but it felt untouched - we found 6 whole sand dollars, and several buckets of intact shells, sea glass and treasures.

We want to go back to play on the beach, and to tour their Cranberry Bogs (which apparently is their main trade). There is an Ocean Spray plant nearby as well, so the cranberries must be good!

Anyway, some pictures of our fun on the beach:

Makenna looking likes she's 16 - eeeek

showing us their sand dollars:

off to get that wave!

that pesky wave keeps coming back though!

he fell a few times, but as you can tell, he couldn't have cared less!

They look so itty bitty on the edge of the continent

Next stop: Japan (or is it Russia? I need to look at a globe)

one of our finds

all done for the day...

Jason Can Ride a Scooter!

2008-07-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

The kids played on our street while I watered the lawn and Jason rocked that scooter! He's not even 2 yet! He did great, and had a blast. Makenna loves riding her trike too, and they were racing up and down the street for an hour :)

Are we the last Keyes left??

2008-07-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

Just wondering because none of our Keyes family (or formally known as Keyes) has checked in to visit us Anyone alive out there?

Thanks to my Mom, Travis and Laura and our friends for coming by to visit and keep up with us! Smooches!

~~~~~

It's been a mellow weekend so far - lots of yard work and some art projects. We got quite a bit done in the back yard which is gratifying. Who invented weeds? Why are they put here on this Earth? Bad bad weeds. So annoying.

Anyway, we get a wonderful cross breeze around here to cool off the house when all the windows are open. The only problem with that is that the upstairs bedroom doors like to slam shut and scare the living daylights out of me!! So to make sure I don't keel over from a heart attack, we decided to make door stops :) We just used some river rocks (which are everywhere around here), some acrylic paints and some imagination!

Jason liked painting the plate more than the rock, but hey, he had fun :)

Here are the the results from our weekend project (ignore the paper plates, they were still drying when I took the pictures):

For our bedroom (which is in black and white and sage green):

For Jason's door stop:

Door stop for our office (which is done with a beach-y/tropical theme):

I still need a rock for Makenna's door stop (which will be lavender with purple flowers and glitter centers!) because she claimed her rock to make her own for the playroom:

These aren't for doorstops, but fun ones to put one the shelves in the playroom:

and the ladybug, which now has eyes:

Fun fun fun!!
I still need to varnish them tomorrow, then we can use them so I can stop losing 10 years of my life when an upstairs doors slams shut.

It is still Summer, right??!!

2008-07-25T22:09:00.001-07:00

Posting the picture below about buying Jason a rain coat in July (which is ridiculous to me) reminded me that not only is all the Summer stuff gone from the stores, but I actually saw CHISTMAS ORNAMENTS yesterday at Fred Meyer!!! Seriously???? Now that's just pushing it to me.

Ok, vent over. Carry on.

Just checking in...

2008-07-25T21:41:00.000-07:00

Our week has been pretty mellow. Same ol', same ol'. It is now Friday night though - the best part of the week! The kids are tucked in their beds, sound asleep. Jerome is doing my watering for me in the backyard because i had to come in to take my meds. I figured I'd check in here while I have a quiet moment, and post a few pictures :)

Last weekend was our town's Harvest Day festival. It was a parade, a carnival, and a ton of smaller events. Good ol' small town stuff. We went to the parade on Main Street (yes, our town has a Main Street!) which was fun. The floats weren't anything to write home about (or write about on here ;) ), but they tossed candy to the kids so Makenna was in Heaven. She has so much fun collecting it. We gave her 2 pieces while there and said the rest needed to stay in the pantry. It's now in the trash but don't tell Makenna!
We also hit up the book sale (scored 35 books for only $15 - both kids and adults) to benefit the new library, and I wanted to go to Teddy Bear Bingo but it was during nap time so we passed. Jerome did take the kids to the Fire Truck Tug of War though, and they had fun watching the firemen spray a ball.

Some pictures!
Makenna is Queen Daredevil! Our bigger County Fair starts next weekend, I think she is going to need an unlimited pass for the rides, she wants to ride everything!

Jerome was with them on this one

she loooooves this ride

the firemen wars

And that was it for the carnival, but just had to show Jason modeling his new rain coat. I know, I know, it's still July, but hey, we ARE in the Pacific Northwest, it can rain any minute! how cute is he?

and Makenna had to show me her fabulous outfit too (dressing up is a HUGE in this house)

Sunday Jerome took the kids to the park and did some batting practice. Makenna whacking the ball

and Jason lovingly tapping it - ha ha ha

One day this week we walked to the neighborhood park and they played. They were cute going down the slide holding hands *love*

Last night involved pony rides before bedtime!

And that's all for now :)

Another busy weekend

2008-07-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

I think we need extra weekends to recover from our weekends! It's all fun stuff (other than the dump run, of course) but we always seem to be on the go.

This weekend we went blueberry picking at a local u-pick farm. We were a little late for it (it opened last weekend) so most of the bushes were picked over already. There were still good berries, just not as plentiful as when you are the first one there. As we were about to check out we discovered some plants that no one had touched though, and that helped us fill up our buckets quite a bit. We ended up with about 14 pounds. We freeze them and use them all year for blueberry pancakes on the weekends and for smoothies - YUM. We'll be heading back when the next batch comes in, because although 14 pounds sounds like a lot, it will be gone before Christmas, I'm sure.

This weekend consisted of lots of playing in the backyard as well, and planting some new bushes in the front yard. The boys got their haircut and we also got our long overdue professional pictures of the kids done, which is always exhausting ;) We'll have them back in about 2 weeks so hopefully I can post them then.

Oh and one little treat for us was that we busted our Sonic cherry! We are no longer Sonic virgins! Vancouver got it's first one a couple months ago, and we finally had a chance to go check it out, after years of commercials teasing us. It was pretty good - the onion rings rocked and the cranberry limeaide really hit the spot after hours of berry picking under the hot sun. Now we just need In-N-Out to come on up thisaway.

Working in the fields

Makenna loves to be stylish at all times - even picking blueberries

Jason was doing great at picking berries for the first time!

Not so great at putting the berries in the bucket though...

Jason must have been about 2 pounds heavier than when we came - ha ha ha!

And just for fun, a couple random pictures from the past week:

Jason trying on Dad's shades while shopping

It's hay baling time! All the farms/fields around our house are looking like this these days

At least 3-5 times a week, I take the kids for a walk along the river at a park about a mile from us. It's great exercise and the kids have a ball seeing the bunnies, robins, butterflies, tadpoles, skitterbugs and sometimes even a big Osprey diving into the water to get a fish (that's a pretty impressive sight!). Our favorite past time there is to throw rocks at the rivers edge, and I usually toss some sand toys in the stroller so we can play for awhile too.

Anyway, this is from one day last week when it was just Jason and I (Makenna was at preschool). We took a break and sat under the willows for a snack and to watch the bi-planes fly over us (there is a small airstrip nearby)

J found some rocks and pine cones to throw in the water

here is another day last week throwing rocks in the water

and after work one night we went with Daddy up to the town lake to check things out. There were tons of people swimming and in their boats, and we found out they rent paddle boats so we'll be doing that soon!

Jerome wants to bring our fishing stuff and a picnic dinner to sit right here next time

4th of July Weekend

2008-07-09T11:05:00.000-07:00

Man, we were BUSY this weekend. I'm still exhausted!
It all started on Thursday night when we picked up MiNiMa at the airport. Always an exciting time! We had dinner at Red Robin and Jason wasn't too keen on a big giant stuffed bird trying to give him 5, but Makenna did great. Finally. She's outgrown the character fear, just as he grew into it!
Friday was the 4th of July which consisted of a kids parade, playing in the bounce house, a BBQ in the backyard and good ol' fireworks. We are fortunate to have the best view in town for the fireworks, right from our very backyard! No more lugging ten tons of blankets/coolers/crap to a park to get sunburned, we just kick back on the chaise and sip a mojito... ahhh....
Where was I? Oh yeah, Saturday we went to Home Depot for a kids craft event and each kid got to make a birdhouse. Jason is great with a hammer - Daddy's forehead is proof of that!
Sunday we went to Mt Hood to see Thomas the Tank Engine - good times! We also did a little of the Fruit Loop (a bunch of farms/fruit stands at the base of Mt Hood) and went to the Lavender Farm.
Busy busy weekend but so fun!

Our "float" in the kids parade

and of course, the license plate on the end of the wagon...

Jason's first corn on the cob! He'll figure it out one of these days...

from my seat on the patio

Making birdhouses

Thomas!

Petting Zoo at Thomas

On the way to the Fruit Loop

At the Lavender Farm

me about to pull a Mike Tyson

there were bees everywhere!

Some Recent Pictures - June 2008

2008-07-01T15:56:00.000-07:00

Just a few recent pictures of us

Makenna enjoying all the signs of Summer!

Jason at Makenna's 4th B-Day Party

and in the backyard this past weekend

they are so cute together

Welcome!

2008-07-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome friends and family to our family blog. I hope to post details and pictures of fun events happening with the Keyes family, and document the amazing speed at which our kidlets are growing. So much happens in a week! Even in a slow week, the kids are growing, learning, annoying, amazing, and frustrating us multiple times a day, so I thought I would share our adventures with our loved ones :)

The cast:

Jerome aka Daddy
Moragan aka Mommy
Makenna Lee - Age 4 - DOB May 29, 2004
Jason Michael - Age 1.5 - DOB October 10, 2006

Enjoy and please comment so I know you are there and watching :)