grotto

my eldest and i attended the st. peregrine mass at the grotto in portland. we're not catholic but my mother is and she really hoped to make it up here in time to attend, but she is arriving in a few days instead. the mass was outdoors and it was lovely. the hubs took the littles around since they wouldn't stay still for ten minutes let alone a full hour.

rishi was so happy when he found me after the service!

back to school

back to school means packing lunches, 'cookie monday' cookie dough, crazy mornings...

daily bliss - sleeping sibs

my littles sleeping together is pretty high on my list of 'things that take my breath away'

homemade scented playdough

this recipe is from my friend robin, who is exceptionally talented in all things craft. she makes jewelry, sews toys, bags, clothes, stencils clothing, makes all kinds of unique things and is raising an amazing daughter and is getting her phd. anyway, i am in awe of her.

the photo is of a double batch i made last week, using yellow (a little too much) food coloring and lemon extract.

1/2 c flour
1/4 c salt
1 TBSP cream of tartar

mix all dry ingredients in a saucepan well

add 1/2 c water & 1/2 TBSP oil

mix til smooth.

for scent and color, add:

1.5 TBSP or more of extract or spice til scent desired (I had to add more of orange and raspberry extract because the scent was really faint)
drops of food coloring until color desired...I think I added 6 or 7 drops to each except for cinnamon, the brown color comes from the spice only

turn burner to medium and stir, stir, stir until it starts to clump, remove off burner when its all clumpy and no longer gooey

transfer to a plate, let cool for 10-20 seconds and then knead until smooth

siletz river, lincoln city

driving home from seal rock a few weeks ago, we noticed this area of the beach in lincoln city that looked like it would be such an amazing spot for the kids. i took note of the name of some condos right by it and then looked it up when we got home.

on saturday we planned to just drive to the area we had seen and look for parking. we have lived in oregon for six years but we are very much newbies to exploring this state. everything is new to us and we are enjoying it immensely. the first area we saw where there was beach parking in lincoln city was very busy. there were huge amazing kites flying and sanji loved the panda.

we drove past there and saw the condos that were kind of our marker of the spot. we turned in to the water's edge condos small parking lot and discovered we could park there. but after looking down to our right, we realized we'd rather be down that way. we noticed a nice area right behind mo's so we decided to drive until we saw mo's. there was a parking area there and after driving around twice, a car pulled out and we got a spot. score.

it was a quick walk to the sand. we set up maybe 25-30 feet from the water. we had taken our dog and he was so happy. we don't often take him on outings. sorry ace. but it was his lucky day. the littles set up with buckets and started digging right away. dee, amit and ace took off to check out the water.

the name of the area is siletz bay, at least i know that is the general area. down further to the right was a more beachy area where the waves were. where we were it was calm. we could see seals on another stretch of land that was across from us. it seemed you could walk across the water to yet another body of land. it was a great area for little kids. when the tide started coming in, it was getting close fast. we had to relocate several times. the holes we dug became little pools and big piles of sand became small islands.

it was a gorgeous day. i wish i could bottle the feeling of calm, peace, sun, breeze, water and my children's joy. i could inhale that combination.

daily bliss - farm & new skills

i love how sanji always looks for her brother's hand and how he trusts her to lead him. she has fully mastered the rock wall. she's been able to climb it for awhile but i've never stepped back enough to take a picture :) today i showed rishi that he could climb up the ladder to get to the slide, as opposed to me lifting him onto the slide over and over. it was a win-win. he was very pleased with himself.

it is magical to watch kids master a new skill. things that we don't give a second thought to begin as huge accomplishments. for my littles it is climbing ladders and writing letters. for my oldest, it is using his new pocket knife at camp.

daily bliss - sun & sleep

after a fun morning/afternoon playing in the sun on the sprinkler slide, the littles napped together. i soak these moments up.