Happy Birthday P Jimmy!

P turned 2 today!  It amazes me how much of a little man P has become.  2 years is not a lot of time to grow and learn.  Yet, each day P surprises me with some new skill or word. (Sometimes he kind of regresses - last night he decided truck was now pronounced with an f replacing the t and r.)




P is just like his papa.


And just like his mama.


He likes cats over dogs like Papa and Mama.

And he is such a talented kid.

(His favorite book Down by The Station by Jennifer Riggs Vetter)

Love this little guy.

Happy Birthday Little Parker!

Grandpa Hines

My dad turns 80 today!  That's four score!  You would never know he was 80 if you met him.  He sure doesn't act his age.  Here he is having fun with Parker.  (I remember these games from when I was a kid!)

Can you believe this guy is 80???

Testing out Ma's chair when she broke her ankle

Grandpa says busy with his garden and chickens.  P loves feeding the chickens when we visit.  And P LOVES the tomatoes Grandpa grows.  Make sure you ask Gramps how many tomato plants were planted.  It goes up by like 10 each year.  I think the entire Hines garden is tomatoes by now.

2014 Hood River Trip

You might know by now that each year we make a family trip to Hood River.  It was a tradition started the year before Brandon and I were married.  We made the trip 2 weeks before P was born, and last year we made it on the way home from our Utah trip.  This year we stayed an extra day after B's Portland meetings and made the drive for apples.





We always make three stops - Cody Orchards for most of our apples, Draper Girls to see the goats, and finally Rasmussen Farm to get all the apples/pears we couldn't find at Cody and to see the pumpkins.  While at our first stop, P grabbed a pear and started eating - without us knowing.  They were nice enough not to press charges and P enjoyed his pear.



P was excited to see the goats at Draper Girls.


P was able to feed the goats thanks to another boy who shared his goats feed.  He was thrilled when it came time to leave.


The pumpkin patch was a hit.

Unfortunately, P had pumpkins waiting at Grandpa's house so we left all the pumpkins in the field.

When we stopped to eat P was entertained with the train on Washington's side of the Mighty Columbia, and the barges pushing scrap metal and sand.

And since P loves fishies, we stopped at the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery.

Summer

This summer was busy...  Isn't it always??  Here's an update on what kept us busy.

We started the summer by installing a paver patio.  We finished the patio just last month...  There were a lot of issues that popped up.  We are still waiting for the fence to be finished, but it doesn't matter too much since the rain arrived.  We'll enjoy the fenced patio next year - when we have down time from fixing up the side yard.  *sigh*

Backyard before we started the summer project.  I kinda miss the grass, but it didn't grow well

and the patio gives P room to ride bikes and play.  Now he has a small play structure, with a slide - weeeee!, to keep him busy.

P helping tamper the gravel

Sand down - ready to go

Got this far in 1 day....took 2 months to finish.  Of course, I had to acid-wash all that white crud.

Finished raised boxes on upper level of yard

We just had a major storm roll through - ignore the mess

North side still waiting on fence

Finished section of fence - no gate yet :(

Shortly after we moved in, the city decided to purchase land north of us and use it for a fire station. We weren't too happy thinking about all the siren noise.  They finally had an open house and dedication in September.  We found out they had been using the station for almost a year - and we hadn't noticed any more noise than the year prior.  P discovered the fire engines.  He even made it into the local paper!

I am hiding behind B....  We never said we wanted to see what the commotion was about.  We wanted free hot dogs and soda...and to see the new firehouse.

P was too scared to go in the engine, even when the neighbor showed him it was nothing.

We made it to the Zoo.

P was amazed by the river otters.


P joined Grandma and me at the Strawberry patch this spring.  Yum....

And later P helped Pops and me pick peaches.  Yummier.....

Grandma Hines ruined her summer by falling and breaking her ankle.  Once she got her cast (2 weeks later...that's insane!) P helped decorate the cast to cheer her up.

Finally, we had a few random hot days in Newport.  Now, you usually say Newport had a few warm days, but hot days - those don't happen very often.  Don't believe me?  Here's my screenshot from The Weather Channel.  They never lie.

I think they said we hit 92*.  I couldn't resist grabbing a shot of 102* even if it wasn't correct.  Can't remember, but think our A/C was fixed by then....yes, we have A/C in Newport.  I'm spoiled.

The first hot day, in early summer, we had lunch outside on the cool north side of the house, pre-patio.

The second hot day, mid-summer, we went for a frozen drink.

The third hot day, towards the end of summer, we partied in the water pad.

Sewing Challenge: September

This month I actually got my challenge done before the end of the month.....then I forgot to post it until now.  wah-waaah

This month I made P an apron!  It was perfect because P LOVES to help cook dinner, AND the theme this month is In The Kitchen.

I also made an apron for the neighbor kid, who's birthday we were invited to this weekend.

Sewing Challenge: August

Last day of the challenge - but I did it.  The theme was 'Back To School".  No one in our home is going back to school so I thought of something that could work outside of school too.  P has these wonderful bibs Grandma Hines made him.  Love them!  They cover more than just a little at the neck.  So I thought about making one into an art smock.  Then I remembered that a few days back a friend told me that the bib I gave her for her little boy, well, it wasn't usable anymore.  I decided to try out a pattern for a new bib. It wasn't too successful.  Still usable, just not for a 2 year old.

Sewing: July Edition

You may be thinking "I don't remember what Christine did for June's Sewing Challenge?"  Don't worry, I missed June.  I was so sad...  But when you are out of town for two weeks, and then have a toddler with hand, foot and mouth disease, you decide that sewing isn't a priority.  In fact, I almost passed on this month too.  We had a family reunion last week, at our house.  B and I thought we could install a paver patio while trying to clean, organize, do all those last minute projects before the family showed up at our house.  Yeah, right.

However, in cleaning and organizing my sewing area for the visitors, I discovered a HUGE mending/to be completed pile of stuff.

This isn't the full pile, but a nice sampling of what is in the pile.  What better way to make this pile smaller than to sew up one the projects I cut out months (years?) ago!  And this month's challenge is Put It On - something someone can wear. 

I present: Toddler Tie for P.

 
I think this is actually for a baby.  I don't remember when I cut it out - possible for P's first Christmas. (oops) I was making so many baby ties around the time P was born.  Then, P ended up with church clothes that were hard to match to tie fabric.  Here's a shocker: I messed up.....on the neckband.  I realized too late that I normally use just one piece of fabric for the neckband - not two.  It is way too wide for P's little neck.  Sometimes you just let things go so you can finish and enter your sewing challenge on the very last day of the month.