Car Wash Today!

If you live in Dallas (Oregon, not Texas!) and you have a vehicle that could use a car wash come on by the Dallas United Methodist Church this afternoon between 12 and 5pm! We'll be washing cars as a church fundraiser and would love to wash yours!

Dallas United Methodist Church is located next to La Creole Middle School at 565 SE Lacreole Dr Dallas, OR 97338

See you there!

Everybody Luau!

It's that time of year again, all of our activities are winding down for summer including Indoor Park. Today was the last day of Indoor Park for the semester and we had our annual Luau Party to celebrate so of course we had to dress for the part. Grace's luau dress from last year still fits as a top but Ethan couldn't squeeze into his Hawaiian shirt. Oh well. I looked at last year's Luau Party blog post and was amazed at the difference a year makes. Grace was in the very beginning stages of growing out her bangs and was just starting to potty train. Was that really a year ago? Seems much l0nger then that. We've come a long ways baby!

Before we left I snapped a few pictures of the kids in their luau getup. Good thing I did because Ethan's white shirt didn't stay pristine very long.


Several of the kids broke out the hula hoops and gave them a shot. Grace still doesn't get the hula technique but likes to fling the hula hoop around her waist and watch it drop to the floor.

We also had fun crafts today. Grace made a beautiful lei necklace out of colored noodles, paper flowers, and yarn. She also made a lovely "grass skirt" out of crepe paper that she didn't want to wear.

After crafts we had a limbo contest for the kids which was hilarious to watch. Not too many of them caught on to the concept but they thought it was fun anyways. The prize at the end (a whistle) was more then worth the effort!

Ethan didn't get to do a craft or the limbo but he didn't care because he had balls and the play piano to play with. Who needs organized activities when you're a little guy?

Goodwill Bargains!

I love thrift stores, it's so much fun to browse through the racks and find the gems. I'm always one to sniff out the good deals so when I was greeted by a friendly salesclerk and told that all clothes/linens over $2.99 were $2 off and purple tags were 50% off I thought "Hot dog!" and got busy browsing. I was mostly hoping to find a skirt or two for me for the summer because my wardrobe needs the most help. Especially in warm weather bottoms. I have a pair of denim capris that are 2 sizes too big but I can wear if I wear a belt. I also have a pair of light khaki shorts, long chocolate brown shorts, a plaid pair of bermuda shorts 2 sizes too big, and a blue pair of long shorts 2 sizes too big. See the trend? Too big. Not that I'm complaining about the size, I'd just like to have clothes to wear that don't require me to hike them up every 20 seconds.

After an hour of scouring we left Goodwill with our treasures. We spent $12.93 and came away with a skirt for me (!), a Beauty and the Beast puzzle for Grace (she's getting into the harder 100 piece ones!), a pair of black snow bibs for Grace for next year (they had purple and pink but I figure black will work for Ethan in a few years much better), a long sleeve shirt for Grace for next fall, a pair of flannel two piece Buzz Light Year pajamas for Ethan in 3T (2-3 years from now at his rate of growth but too cute to pass up), and two costumes for Grace. Everything was $.99 except for my skirt ($2.99) and the snow bibs ($4.99).

The costumes were probably the best deal, at least compared to the osbsenly high Disney Store prices! I can't find the sizes on them anywhere but I'm guessing 4-6x. I spotted the Jasmine costume first and about gasped when I saw the $.99 price. Grace went bananas when I showed it to her and was ready to do cart wheels when I showed her the mermaid costume next. The mermaid tail costume is handmade and is pretty big on her right now. I think it's supposed to be a skirt but we're using it as a tube dress. Grace wanted to know where the matching bra was of course. I rubberbanded the skirt to make it the right size around for her but will need to think of a better solution. Any ideas? Take in the seam 2"?

As soon as Grace finished her lunch I let her try her costumes on and snapped a few pictures. I love her poses! I told her to pose like Jasmine/Ariel and she did quite a nice job. She even sang two Little Mermaid songs for me while modeling her Ariel costume. In fact she's now sitting on the couch in the mermaid costume watching The Little Mermaid. Yes, those costumes were money well spent.

Grace modeling her Jasmine costume. It's a little long in the legs but doable. She told me later on that Jasmine doesn't cover her tummy and that she's "spicy". I couldn't stop laughing.


And here she is showing off her Little Mermaid costume. She's wondering where her bra is in the first picture and telling me about how Ariel has feet when she's a human in the second picture. Then she sang Under the Sea. We love that song!

Beach Day

I know you are all sick and tired of looking at pictures of baseball and barbecues so I'm moving on to Sunday's fun day at the beach. We didn't get out as early as we would have liked because we were all pretty groggy after our late night movie (especially Grace!) but we managed to get to the beach by 11am which isn't too bad. We brought a picnic lunch and enjoyed the sand. Actually all of us with the exception of Ethan enjoyed the sand. He hated his feet touching the sand and was pretty grumpy about the whole beach trip excursion for the first 45 minutes or so. Once we dug out the food and he spotted some seagulls he brightened up and after we put his shoes back on and kept him on the blanket he really cheered up. I have no idea why he freaked out about walking on the sand because he hasn't done that before. Guess we need to visit the beach more often!

Grace on the other hand thought the sand was the best stuff on earth. She literally swam through it, we couldn't get her to stop rolling around in it! She had a great time playing in the sand but didn't want anything to do with the ocean. I think she was a little scared of the water and I don't think that's a bad thing. I'd rather have her scared and safe then brave and me having to run out in that icy water after her. Plus it made clean up a breeze when we eventually headed back to the car!


More pictures!

Grace playing in the sand.

Ethan chowing down on string cheese and spying on the seagulls.

Grandma and Ethan taking a walk on the beach. He's still not sure about all the sand.

Ethan with his ball and Mommy. Makes for a happy combo.

David blending in with the bags of gear. I think he enjoyed his nap!

Grace and Grandma playing in the sand.

Barbecue & Outdoor Movie Pics

Now that I've shared the baseball pictures from our Baseball & Barbecue it's time to share the Barbecue pics! It's a little challenging to get decent pictures while trying to keep tabs on the food and two small children. Plus it was getting dark. I wanted to get a few pictures of our outdoor movie set up as well since it's kind of hard to explain. I haven't gotten any pictures from the previous outdoor movies because it's so dark by the time we watch the movie that pictures don't really work. So enjoy!


Tatum giving Mommy kisses.

Spencer and Ethan playing with jungle animals. Roar!

Colton and his friend up in the tree. Aren't they cute?

Pat enjoying some barbecue food. We completely covered the neighbor's hot tub with food!

I warned you about Pat's mohawk. Just so you know, he did this as a fundraiser. The best part is that he has to keep it for a few more weeks!

Tatum really liked Josh's phone and he was crazy enough to let her play with it.

Josh hanging out on the grass. Check out those shades.

Katie is the lucky woman who is married to the man with the mohawk. She's a good sport!

Dessert was strawberry shortcake and when I bought the angel food cake I discovered that it comes in two flavors now. Of course I had to get a pink strawberry flavored angel food cake for Grace's benefit. She loved it.

The ladies chatting and keeping warm before the movie started.

We watched a movie Friday night and about froze so for the party I busted out the hot chocolate to keep us warm! It worked pretty well, I wasn't quite as cold.

We let Grace stay up and watch the movie with us and she was so excited!

Spencer got to stay up and watch the movie too. His mom forgot a coat for him so he borrowed Grace's most boyish coat. At least she owns a few non-pink ones!

Here's the movie screen set up. We hang a big white sheet on the neighbor's gazebo and use a projector connected to our laptop. Nate has his yard wired for sound so it's a pretty awesome set up!

Saturday night we watched The Sandlot which was an appropriate ending to our fun filled baseball themed day. I'm sure we'll watch many more movies outside before the end of summer because it really is fun. I just hope it warms up a little bit so I don't freeze!

More Baseball Pics!

I know you all can't live another moment without seeing more baseball photos. Or maybe you can and you're getting bored, in which case I suggest not looking at this post. From my count I think there were 29 of us at the game, of course some of us don't like to play (give me a camera over a bat any day) and some were too small. We still had enough for two good sized teams though! I tried my best to get pictures of everyone, though I think I missed a few.


Making up the teams took some discussions. Ethan doesn't look too sure about his team does he?

Ethan also made sure to get in on the warm up action. He had at least one ball in his hands the entire game. That boy likes balls.

Katie looked so cute in her hat!

And there goes Pat, rounding third. Just wait until you see his mohawk in the pictures I share tomorrow. You'll be impressed.

David taking a turn at pitching.

Jonathon on base!

Sitting down on the job? Come on Josh, let's see what you got!

Carrie taking a break to watch the action with Tatum.

Grace and Miriam had a great time playing on the playground. As much as Ethan loves balls Grace dislikes them. They really are polar opposites when it comes to sports.

Miriam and Ethan both liked the tee ball set up. I don't think Grace even tried it!

Melinda and Kim watching their team's turn to bat.

Carrie on third! Can you tell that's where I was sitting :)

Ethan took a turn with the kick ball. He didn't understand why he had to leave the ball behind after he kicked it. He made it to first base and was done. Yay Ethan!

Nate chasing after the ball.

Josh ready to hit a home run.

Here comes the outfielders!

Carrie looking thrilled that she pitched a home run. Whoops!

Margaret was our youngest fan in attendance.

Tatum had a great time watching her Mom, Dad, and big brother play ball!

Stay tuned for barbecue & movie pictures tomorrow!