Meaningful Names

My sis-in-law, Mandee, posted a blog about a cute website that she found that has tons of baby names. It's called "What a Lovely Name" and it is a lot of fun. I especially like how they show names all decorated for use on scrapbooks or blogs. They offer all kinds of ways to change the backgrounds and colors too. Very cool.

I have no intention of having any more children, but I was interested to see what it said about our names meanings. I am a firm believer that you grow into your name.

Bob : Meaning "bright with fame". Shortening of the name Robert. Can also be given as an independent name.
Tags: American, friendly, intelligent, strong

Deborah: Deborah is a Biblical prophetess and judge who was instrumental in the victory over the Canaanites. She was also Rebekah's nurse. In Hebrew Deborah means "a bee." Nicknames for Deborah include Debbie and Deb.
Tags: athletic, funny, Hebrew, strong

Katya (I had to go with a combination since they did not have hers): Katyayani. This sis a name of the goddess Parvati.
Tags: beautiful, funny, Hindu, leader
Katherine. This name is derived from the Greek root "katharos," meaning "pure, unsullied." Tags: English, intelligent, strong, wise

Alexis: Originates from the Greek word Alexein, meaning: "to defend, to help." Tags: American, brave, fun, strong

Logan: Meaning "dweller at the little hollow". Taken from the Irish surname, a diminuitive form of the Gaelic word "lag," meaning "hollow".
Tags: American, calm, happy, independent

So according to our names, Bob will be famous. He already is in his business circle for being an extremely talented and hardworking engineer.

I am a strong woman who can conquer injustice in the world. Man, how I wish I could. However, I am a major rule follower. My view on what is right and wrong is pretty clear cut. I am a hard worker and I would like to think I am strong.

Katya will continue to become a woman who is strong, wise, a leader, and funny. She already is all those things now. I hope they are qualities that she nurtures as she continues into adulthood.

Alexis will become a helper to the world, brave, fun and strong. All excellent traits to have.

Now for Logan. He is going to be my happy, mellow, independent little dude who likes hanging out in his house. Not too shabby. Happiness is a wonderful personality trait to have.

Don't See It

I love my hubby.

Even after two babies, weight that just won't leave, age creeping up on me... he still thinks I'm hot. Really hot. Even if he doesn't mean it, he says it - which counts for EVERYTHING in my book.

The latest compliment that I have gotten from him is that he seriously thinks that I look like TinkerBell. Whenever we watch the "TinkerBell" movie, he reminds me how much he thinks I look like her.

Totally not true, but I love him for thinking I look like a cute little fairy.

Halloween

I was so not feeling the "mood" this Halloween. Not sure what my funk was, but I was not motivated to do much of anything Halloweeny. Katya was going to a football game and then movie night with some girlfriends, so she was MIA.

Lucky for me, my husband is a social butterfly and he had accepted an inviation to a family Halloween party with some friends of his. I actually had to don a witch hat and cape that I had stashed away so I could at least say I was dressed up. Bob put on a mullet wig and looked pretty funny.

Alexis was dressed up as a flower and she didn't want to take her costume off for anything. Logan was a dragon. He couldn't have cared less that he was dressed up. But he looked cute.

When we went with the whole crew trick or treating I wasn't sure how the kids would do. Alexis worked the "Trick or Treat" and often scored herself an extra candy. Which she promptly put into her mouth paper and all if she got impatient.

Logan refused to say "Trick or Treat" and instead resorted to the cute parade wave that he has going. Being a forceful guy, he would just reach in and grab no less than three pieces of candy a handful. That is skill.

Afterwards we went back to their house and noshed on BBQ meatballs and pumpkin cheesecake until bedtime. It was fun and hopefully next year I will be feeling more festive.

More Pumpkin Patch Fun

On Sunday we returned to the Central Oregon Pumpkin Company - only this time as a family.

We had a lot of fun this year since both kids could walk and had an attention span of longer than 30 seconds. We hit the petting zoo, which was remarkably low on goats to pet. Then we got a caramel apple, yum. With dark chocolate chips on top. Double yum. Then was the train ride, the archery challenge, the pirate ship and slide, the beloved pumpkin canon (I missed hitting that beat up old car by "that" much) and finally the maze.

Bob went on the train ride with the kids while I went with Katya to the archery challenge. She got five arrows and on her fourth hit a BULLSEYE. Right on! She is so cool.

After the archery we went to the pumpkin canon and I got to launch a cannon for the first time. I loved it. What a feeling of power when that thing launches. I so wanted to see it splat all over that beater car. Next year for sure!

By this point Alexis became demon child. I had to forceably strap her into the stroller and ignore her screams and tantrum throwing for seemingly forever. Luckily the "thump" of the pumpkin canon drown out her screams. Even kettle corn wouldn't appease her.

Then we got to the pumpkin patch to find our pumpkins. It took for freakin' ever because all the crazy frost had caused a bunch of pumpkins to start rotting. Alexis asked nicely if she could walk so I let her out and she roamed the patch for about an hour trying to touch the yulky ones. She became so happy that she started randomly hugging Logan. It was pretty cute but Logan wasn't loving it. I'm thinking that if a gigantic garden is what makes her happy, we are all over that next Spring.

It was fun and after several hours we headed home. I wish I could say that they fell asleep on the way home, but they didn't. I think the caramel apple and kettle corn might have been to blame.

Bend's Fall Festival

This past Sunday we all headed downtown to attend my favorite event of the year - the Fall Festival. Fall is my favorite time of year with the leaves changing colors, the crispness in the air, wearing sweaters and fuzzy boots, hot cocoa and snuggling under layers of blankets in the living room while watching tv.

Well, the weather noted the festival was here and did an abrupt about face from the 80's a week ago down to the 60's with a cold wind.



At first we just wandered around looking at all the vendors offerings. Katya and I both got new shirts and we came pretty close to actually buying something to put on the wall of the laundry room.

When the kids had decided we had done enough shopping, we headed over to the kid area and did some pony rides! Alexis went with Bob hovering next to her and Logan rode with Katya firmly holding onto his jacket. They both loved it! At first Alexis didn't even want to get on the horse at the last minute and then it became getting her off of the horse was the problem. Logan love it and was screaming something (I think he was saying horse).

After the pony rides Bob and the little ones had fun running around the maze while Katya was visiting with some friends that she spotted.

Then after having some lunch we headed back to our car and walked right by the giant blow up slide. Well, that was a fun thing to pass up so Katya went with Alexis and Bob went with Logan. Both kids would gladly have gone again and again, but we were out of tickets and it was nap time.
All in all it was a great time and I am looking forward to next years!

"The" Bed for a Little Boy

My mom keeps telling me that boys are boys no matter how big they might become. Inside, a full grown man is really just a little boy who likes toys, just more expensive ones.

Well, the time has come to put Logan into a different bed. The crib is all of a sudden causing all kinds of problems. Logan tries to climb out (we found him hanging by his fingers once) and Alexis likes to climb in to visit. Or torment. I still haven't figured out which since she likes to do both.

We have an awesome little toddler bed that our neighbor gave us, but Logan would fling himself right out of it. He is an all-over-the bed kinda sleeper. So then that puts us at a twin. Most twin beds are too high and would require a step stool like Alexis has to get into and out of her bed. That is a bit too dangerous for a little almost two year old.

When looking on Craigs list I found a race car bed. Bob didn't know that they made race car beds for little boys in a twin size. Unfortunatly, I missed that one opportunity. Nobody else in Bend is selling a race car bed. Then comes Target and WalMart. I found a cool bed, but it was not exactly cheap. But Bob was all excited about his little boy sleeping in a race car bed. I ordered it from WalMart since they had no shipping (Target wanted to charge me $300 in shipping!) and we pick it up later this month. Bob can't stand the wait. Here is the new bed:

Now, being Mom, I don't want Alexis getting all jealous since she didn't get a princess throne bed or anything. So we sat down and I let her pick out some new bedding on-line. It is arriving from Target and will be put on her bed the same day as Logan's new bed arrives to hopefully mitigate the jealousy factor.

Man, I didn't realize this whole gender specific bed/bedding thing would hit so soon!

First Bike

What was Bob thinking? We each take a kid to run errands for a morning because it is easier to deal with one than two.

Only, Bob sometimes comes home with "stuff" for the kids. This time he came home with a bike for Alexis.

Yes, a bike. Not a trike, not a big wheel - a bike with training wheels.

He is about one to two years too early for a bike for Alexis, but he won't hear otherwise. It does provide lots of entertainment watching him try to teach her to push the pedals with her feet while she just holds them up and lets Bob push her around.

When Debbie K. heard about the bike, she sent me home with a tricycle for Logan so he wouldn't feel left out. Isn't she sweet?

Maybe next year she might actually want to push the pedals. Until then, grab a cool drink and watch the fun!

Madras Air Show

I am a woman who likes a good airshow.

My mom used to take my brother and I to the Miramar Air Show in San Diego on a fairly regular basis. It is massive. We would park way out and trudge our way in, roast under the always hot sun and have the BEST time looking at all the airplanes classic to stealth fighter and the airshow was always something to oooh and aaah about.

I had taken Katya several times myself, only I bought the VIP tickets through Qualcomm so we parked on the tarmack and were served food in a covered tent. Ahhh, those luxuries I used to enjoy.

Well, now that I am a full blown Oregonian we decided to go to the Madras Air Show. I had seen the signs on my many walks around Bend and we put it on the calendar. My hubby, having a pilot's license, always wants to go to an airshow.

It was so much like when I was little. We had to park way the heck out, we roasted in the hot sun and enjoyed some nice aircraft. There was also a really nice small classic car show at the same time. The airshow itself was really awesome! A cool sailplane demo, a fly over by some military jets (I miss the sound of afterburners for some reason), some insane guy from Canada that was doing all kinds of crazy stuff.... way cool. We had to leave early because we were WAY past naptime, but it was worth it. Logan never really noticed that there were planes in the air - but Alexis did!

All in all - a way cool airshow! If you are a local, I suggest you check it out next year. It is only $5 a person for a full days worth of fun (kids 12 and under are free).

Family Update With Pictures

Life is busy, busy, busy in our household. (Not as busy as Mandee's though. She has five kids.)

I just thought I'd put up one picture of each of us and caption it so you can see what we have been up to. Kinda of like a scrapbook page.



We have been having some crazy weather up here, but on one of our nicer days last week we went to the park to play. This is Logan's first time in a swing. He wasn't so sure about it at first, but he warmed up to it after a few times.



We went down to Drake Park to feed the ducks (with bird seed) last month. It was still getting dark early so sunset caught up with us faster than I would have liked. But Alexis LOVED feeding the ducks. She didn't understand why I didn't want her to pet them and why they didn't want her to pet them either. But luckily with ducks, if you have food, they will come back to visit.



Katya had jammed her finger the day before her last volleyball tournament. Actually, someone ran into her hand during school PE. It had gotten all swollen and she couldn't bend her finger so we went to BMC to have it looked at. Evidently, it was just a sprain so Katya, being the hard core Sports Diva that she is, taped it up so she could still play.



My good friend, Woody, came up to visit in February and he wanted to see some snow since most of ours at the house had melted. So, we went snowshoeing for the morning and this is one of the pictures that he took. I was writing out a "hello" to my friend Robin down in San Diego (we all worked together).


This is Bob being the awesome Dad that he is. He was out there with the kiddos finding Easter eggs and consoling Logan who was so unhappy that he was outside in the cold.

Easter

Let me just say here (since it is my blog) that Easter should NOT be in March. Although we had a lovely Easter, it didn't feel very Easter-y. Ginger told me that it won't be this early in the year again until something like 2080, which is fine by me. The leprechaun from St. Patrick's Day shouldn't be bumping into the Easter bunny in the same month.

That said, our Easter was lovely. It was supposed to rain, but it didn't so we could enjoy a little egg hunt with our neighbors in their backyard. I had hidden empty eggs, but Maya had put some chocolate in hers so Alexis had a bit of a chocolate ring around her mouth for most of the hunt.

Alexis loves being outside, but Logan not so much. Most of my pictures of him had him complaining loudly that he didn't like the grass, the breeze or the pine needles. I think that should he decide to walk one of these days, he might enjoy being outside a bit more.

Later that afternoon we headed over to Ginger's house for tacos - don't you all eat tacos on Easter? We hung out for hours and just visited and laid around like sloths on the couch while we watched the Veggie Tales "Jonah" movie for the umpteenth time (Alexis' favorite).

We missed our Katya since she was in San Diego. But her Easter secret is sitting on her desk waiting for her return. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter no matter what you did.

It Was A Merry Christmas

I am finally sitting down to write about our Christmas. (Things have and still are a bit crazy around here and Logan has learned about the power button on the computer.)


Although we missed family and friends in San Diego something fierce, it was a good Christmas here in Bend. And it was a "White Christmas" because it dumped beautiful, fluffy snow on us all day.

I was lucky enough to have two of my bestest best girlfriends in the world come and share it with us. Michelle, her daughter Rese and Desiree and her daughter, Alia. Michelle and I lived only about a mile from each other in Poway and we pinch-hit parented for each other when we had crazy times at work. Not seeing her almost every day is still weird. I met Desiree through Michelle and I have found her to be one of the nicest, most genuine, caring, complex individuals I have ever met. Being friends with them has been a priviledge.

Anyway, everyone showed up on December 22nd (after we battled another round of stomach flu the week before) and the house was full. The addition of the lounge made things really nice though. People had some space to go to when they needed it. December 23rd was Katya's birthday and the girls all headed out to do some last minute shopping, endless window shopping, catch a movie and lunch while us moms relaxed and caught up. Sunday night was a big family pizza and ice cream cake party at our house.

Christmas Eve was spent with Desiree and the girls at Mt. Bachelor doing some snowboarding while Michelle helped me chop endless veggies for spaghetti sauce for our dinner that night. We had some extra guests come over for dinner and we all had a heated game of Taboo. Way fun.


Christmas morning brought with it a gluttony of gifts and a huge breakfast. It was a lot of fun watching Alexis really get the hang of the gift opening this year. Thank you so much to everyone that gave us or the kids a gift, it was much appreciated! We felt really spoiled by family far and near with letters, cards, homemade ornaments and phone calls.

That evening we had more guests and we all merged at Debbie K's house for a feast of Honey Baked Ham, turkey, stuffing, pies, baked potatos, asparagus, yummy rolls, Ginger's homemade cheese ball and tons of other assorted munchies. Michelle and Rese got a Wii this Christmas so most people spent the evening trying their hand at it. It was a lot of fun and it felt good to be surrounded by what family we had in Bend as well as some great friends.

Christmas is all about sharing your love with others. I got the best gift of all by having my girlfriends come up with their daughters. Throw gifts into the mix with some other great friends, family who you love endlessly and great food - it was a great time. Next year, I will be in San Diego for Christmas to be with the rest of my family .... fer sure, dude!

Pumpkin Patch Time

Fall is my most favorite time of year and the annual trip to the pumpkin patch is my favorite outing of the season.

Picking your pumpkin, feeding the animals in the petting zoo, walking around the pumpkin patch to find "your" pumpkin. So cool.

We have been a bit pressed for time lately with Bob working every single day for the past two weeks and Katya's schedule - so we hit the last two hours of the pumpkin patch yesterday. I may go with the kids this week just for fun, but it would only be the three of us. The annual trip is a family affair.

Alexis was WAY more fun this year. She loved the animals. She wouldn't really touch them, but she liked talking to them. She had a great time just running off in different directions squealing in delight. Katya was being a teenager and it took a while for her to warm up. Those of you with teens understand.

We went and explored the pumpkin patch and after much searching and deliberating we each found the pumpkin of our dreams. Well, not our dreams but the one that called to us. 100 pounds of pumpkin baby!! Luckily, only $24. Alexis wasn't sure what to do with hers and she tried eating it like an apple.

After some kettle corn and fresh air we all trapsed home. Our pumpkins are patiently waiting on our front porch for carving day. Now I just need to decide what face I want to put on mine. Hmmmmmmmmm.

Pumpkins $24

Kettle Corn $5

Bottled Water $1

Spending time together as a family - PRICELESS

Maiden Voyage

The baby backpack gets lots of use at our house. I was hoping to get Mandee's old one so we would have two, but I will have to buy one here. Got two kids, need two backpacks.

When Bob pulls out the backpack Alexis runs over and tries to climb in it. It is her favorite thing to do when Bob is doing yard work or we go for a hike. It must be nice to be tall when you are so small.

This past weekend Alexis was taking a nap and Bob had to mow the lawn so he decided to try Logan in it . I was busy sanding an old nightstand to put in the lounge (there will be a post about that when I'm done with it) so I couldn't watch him.

Logan LOVED it! The noise from the lawnmower didn't seem to bother him either. He just leaned way over so he could see what Bob was doing. I need to start saving my pennies so I can get over to REI to buy another backpack. Bob doesn't want me to show these pics to Alexis for fear she will get upset.

The Duck Races

Bend is big into festivals, farmer's markets, races of every kind (especially bike) and the Great Drake Park Duck Races. The duck races are an event sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Bend (we have four of them in our little town) as a fundraiser for their main charities.

What happens is that people can "sponsor" a duck for $5 a piece. Then at 2 o'clock they release all the little multicolored duckies into the river (much to the surprise of the resident ducks) and they float downstream to a funnel that feeds one duck at a time through so they can record who the winners are. The prizes are AWESOME! We're talking about a boat (Bob was drooling over this one), a car, ski passes, hotel vouchers for weekend getaways, decking material (we could have used that)...etc.

Before the official duck race started, there was a kids duck race. Every child that was in attendance was able to sign up for a free duck, get a free t-shirt, a free HUGE red licorice stick, and a coupon for a free kids meal at Applebee's. It was awesome! The kids race had their own prizes and I think they had a total of 75 prizes ranging from a tubing party for 10 at Mt. Bachelor to a Wii Playstation to bike helments to Happy Meals from McDonald's.

We had fun just cruising around, watching the ducks, visiting with our friends Ed and Barbara that joined us and hanging around Katya who was working a Campfire booth selling yo yo balloons, helicopter balloons and those huge punching balloons. The weather was just beautiful and couldn't have been more perfect.

As the kids were falling asleep on us we waited for the prizes to be announced for the kids race since you had to be present to win. Guess who won something from our family? Logan!! He won a Happy Meal gift certificate! Granted, after watching "Super Size Me" we won't be going back to McDonald's any time soon - but it is so cool he won!

Unfortunately, we did not win anything from the main duck race. Bummer! But there is always next year! I need my mother up here to sponsor a duck. She has the best luck of anyone I have ever met. She'd win us a boat for sure.