Spring is Here

It has been a very busy year. I am looking forward to the sun coming out and starting our mini-veggie garden again this year. Hoping to get Parker even more involved this year with giving him his own box to work with. I will let Parker decide what he wants to plant and make his responsibility for taking care of. Also then I don't need to worry about him pulling out my plants not weeds as he did last year. Last year he was very into the watering, but I hoping to get him excited about the planting and harvesting as well this year. The other smaller box will contain my Tomatoes this year. Tony is limiting me to 3 varieties so I will probably get pear tomatoes, and 2 other slicing varieties.


Our first task will be to clean out the current boxes, and then to add more dirt to fill them up. I always plan on doing this at the end of the growing season, but it always turns out to be the first thing I have to do in the Spring. Just hoping for a few good days so I can get out there and start yanking. The bigger box will contain a variety of veggies. Hoping that my Peppers will do better this year, and to be able to use the Broccoli this year.


We also are going to start some basic seeds inside hopefully in the next few weeks when it isn't nice enough to be outside. I have one of the indoor trays where I can start about 25 plants. Even if they don't get transplanted it allows Parker to see the process from start to finish. I also just ordered a bunch of organic seeds online so we will see how many of those I plant in the garden when they arrive and it gets warmer outside. The rest of my veggies (especially tomatoes) will probably come from the college plant sale in May.


I am really hopeful that I can finally get some cucumbers out of my garden this year. Last Year the deer ate them before they could take off, and the year before they were in too much shade. Hopefully I learned enough from the last two years and will really be able to take advantage of the veggies I grow this year. Hoping to have enough for us, and plenty to share as well this year.

Catching Up

Howdy gang. Just sitting here playing with my new camera lens and listening to Parker talk to himself in the bath.

Blazer Game 4/24

So for Tony's Birthday I got him Round 1 Blazer Playoff tickets. We prepared ourselves by making a sign rooting on our home team in the hope that Parker's Cuteness would get us on the big screen. Parker enjoyed the first three quarters and was waving his sign yelling let's go Blazers during the timeouts. All the excitement of Brandon Roy's return, Lamarcus having a wonderful game, and the fact that he was without a nap wiped him out. He slept in my arms most of the 4th quarter, and we never did get on the big screen. How the kid could sleep through all that excitement is beyond me, but he did. The Rose Garden was alive today. Great game, and am glad that we got the chance to go.

Easter Eggs!!!

It was a busy weekend. Friday Afternoon we went to Great Grandma's apartment for a huge egg hunt. Avery and Parker had a great time, and it was indoors which was key due to the rainy weather all weekend. Saturday Morning we gathered with Papa and Nana at the Gladstone Football field for another egg hunt. Parker did pretty well this year gathering 8 eggs. Avery had a little harder time. She had a good game plan, but then with all the excitement of showing everyone her first egg she ran right into another kid. By time she had recovered all the eggs were picked up.

Saturday night Tony and I helped Parker decorate eggs. We decided to forgo the dye, and let Parker decorate with crayons, stickers, and a blow dryer. He had a blast, and we were happy for the easy cleanup.

Sunday morning Parker woke up to see his basket filled, and found the eggs we had hidden around the living room. After a nice Breakfast with Grandpa Abbott we took a much needed nap. After Parker woke up from his nap we headed to Nana and Papa's house for a wonderful Ham dinner.

It was a busy weekend of egg hunts, family, and fun. Hope everyone had a fun and family filled weekend as well. Take care!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

So this year we decided to dress up as Pirates. It was a last minute decision, but it all came together pretty well after a very long trip up to Vancouver, WA to get Parker's Costume Thursday Morning.

On the 30th We went to Grandma Eaton's Home for Trick-or-Treating, and then met Tony's Dad for a late dinner. Parker's Trick-or-Treat ended up being more like Treat, and he had to be prompted each time. He also was not that into the candy which I guess is a good thing. Except for the Suckers. He really wanted to open all the suckers right away. However we had a good time, and were home before bed time.

However we had a little bit of excitement at 11:30 that night. I woke up to Tony yelling at me to get out of bed, that the police are outside. I ran to be with Parker as Tony tried to determine what was going on. He saw the some people wrestling around on our dark back patio. The Police finally knocked on our back door, and Tony turned on the patio light to find 2 police officers, and a young man handcuffed with his head in my Dahlia Plant. We were then told that there was a party a few houses down and the cops were called for a noise disturbance. When they arrived one of the attendees of the party decided to run from the Police, right through our fence and into our back yard. Yes I said "Through our Fence". Our Fence had a huge hole in it, and Parker's Picnic table was broken all up. Needless to say it was a little hard to get back to sleep after all that.

Now onto the 31st. We went to Chelsea and Bryan's for some homemade Pizza, the Duck game, and then some Trick or Treating around their neighborhood. The first two houses we went to gave Parker suckers so we had a mini meltdown when I wouldn't open them right then for him to eat. After we got over the disappointment that I wasn't going to do that we went to a few more houses before Avery declared she was done and wanted to go home so she could eat her candy. Great thing about trick-or-treating with toddlers. We did convince them to go to a few more houses, but then we did decide to head back before the end of the game. The kids ran around the house and stayed up way past their bed time. It was a fun, safe evening, and I couldn't ask for anything more.

Pumpkin Patch 2009

This year we went to Hoffman Dairy Garden to find our pumpkin. There were lots of activities for Parker's age group, but the pumpkin selection wasn't great so I guess I will be getting our Pumpkin at the Grocery store this year. However we enjoyed feeding the sheep and goats, and seeing all the exotic animals they had there. They had a full size tiger which was stalking a man walking outside his cage. Tony took a video of it and posted it on YouTube. I found it a little disconcerting the amount of interest this tiger had in this man, and was glad that there were two cages keeping the tiger in.

It has been awhile so I will update you all on the latest in the Abbott family. Parker has already had his first ear infection, and I have been battling a cold these first few weeks of the term. On a better note I have lost 20 pounds, and have been working out on a regular basis. I am hoping to be at pre-pregnancy weight by his 2nd Birthday. It will be close, but it can be done. No Halloween Candy for me. :(

Parker is becoming more of a little boy and less of a baby each day. Sometimes it makes me sad, but mostly I am just amazed at how far we have come. He can count to 5 by himself, and is starting to work on his ABC's at daycare. We have started working on the potty training, but we are a ways out from that. He was doing pretty good for a few days, and now doesn't want anything to do with it. He will say he wants to go, but as soon as we go in there he just wants to run around without his diaper. So we are taking a break, and know that when he is ready he will tell us.

Hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween. We will post all the pictures for Halloween and the Pumpkin Patch after this weekend. Take care.

Cannon Beach 2009

So we just returned from a wonderful weekend at Cannon Beach. It was a much needed break from work and our everyday life. This was the first time we have been to the beach since Parker started walking and boy did he have a blast. Wasn't too much into digging into the sand, but he was all about the Ocean. He loved dabbing his feet in the cold Pacific, and running away from the waves as they crashed on the shore. He thought it was great when the waves would catch us and I would lift him into my arms to carry him back out to dry land. Then he headed back for more. The first day I was wet up to my knees, and the second day the water came up to my thighs. By the third day we were just trying to keep dry. Every time we hit the beach he would point to the Ocean and say Wah-Wah and start running for it. He also loved seeing all the birds and dogs that were on the Beach each day.

Along with spending many hours playing on the beach we visited Seaside on Friday where they had their annual Wheels&Waves event. Tony loved all the wonderful cars, and he took pictures of some of his favorites. We also made a trip to the Seaside Aquarium where I fed the seals, and Parker saw his first Octopus. We also had to take a ride on the Carousel where Parker rode on a Kitty as he would say. This is his current Animal sound. He was saying Moo, but now everything says Meow. He is very into Annabelle our Cat. She is not so into him, but she is pretty tolerant.

Saturday we packed a picnic lunch and headed to Fort Stevens. They have many cement bunkers for us to wonder around in, and that particular day they were having a living history event from World War II. They had many extra authentic World War II vehicles around, and had men dressed in uniforms, and acting as if they would during war time. It was interesting to Tony and I, but Parker was more interested in picking flowers. We also visited the Peter Iredale ship wreck that is on the beach at Fort Stevens. Of course Parker loved that, but that was because once again he was able to play in the wah-wah. All and all it was a great trip, but as the rain came in this morning we were excited to be headed home.

For more pics follow the link: Cannon Beach 2009 Pictures