Berry Nazi

One of the reasons I love our northwest summers, particularly here in Oregon, is the abundance of amazing berries which grow. Today the girls and I made one of our trips out to Sauvie Island to pick berries. We picked blueberries (loaded on the bushes), raspberries (as big as small strawberries), and marionberries, my favorite (at least one inch long!). I could pick for hours and hours - the girls usually hang in there but by the end they are ready to go. "Mom, can we go now?" "Just a few more - there's a great bunch right here." "Mom, can we please go now?" "Just give me 5 more minutes." "Mooooooommmmmmmm, can we puleeeeezz go home?" "I'm coming - let me just pick a few more as I work my way back to the wagon." I simply can't help myself. Needless to say, my stomach was quite uneasy on the car ride home.

I didn't get any pictures of our berry adventure today - my hands were too full. :) But I did take a video yesterday that I wanted to share. Our viscious dog Lewis and his new backyard mate.

Chefs and artists

The girls have been very busy this summer creating all sorts of things. Last week they pulled out all of the cool cooking tools Emma got for her birthday and spent about two hours at the table making dough from flour, sugar, and water - of course, a few chocolate chips were thrown in as well. They made some "delicious" cookies.........a little chewy and dense but very unique! Emma chowed down two of them right away - not surprising with her and her sweet tooth. Julia nibbled on one, proclaiming it scrumptious (an Auntie M-ism) but put it down after a few tastes. Clean up wasn't nearly as bad as I was anticipating it to be. And how can you beat finding something that keeps them happily occupied for hours at at time?????

Today Julia discovered my old watercolor paints and paper downstairs. Needless to say, they haven't been touched in at least 8 years so when she showed interest in using them I thought, "Go for it." Her painting turned out beautifully (I had sketched the picture with pencil long ago but the painting is all her). She did tell me that art and painting are her favorite subjects in school, way better than math. Emma joined in too and her painting was impressive as well. I think they both favor the artistic things which will make all those math classes in school challenging. Thank goodness their Daddy is such a math whiz!

The happy bakers

Supplies

Don't they look scrumptious?

The artist at work

Julia's masterpiece

Emma's masterpiece

First blog entry!

Off we go!

The three Lady Liberties!

The gang with Grandma Varshal in Johnstown

Daddy and the girls waiting for the subway

Chris, Anut Anna,Uncle Pablo, and smiley Nicolas!

Uncle Mike, Emma, Aunt Kristy and Julia at Valley Forge

Chris and the girls with Grandma Varshal in front of her house

Julia and Aunt Anna in the kitchen

Uncle Chris and Nicolas

Emma and me with the NYC skyline in the background

Okay, so I finally decided it is time for me to try my hand at blogging. I don't know how great I will be at keeping it updated but I am going to give it my best shot! I am looking forward to having a way to share things that are happening around here more often with family and friends. The girls are growing up so quickly - the little day to day things are making a big impact on me and I want to be able to document them and share them with all of you.

To start, here are a few of my favorite pictures from our recent trip back East. We visited Chris' sister Anna, her husband Pablo, and their adorable son, Nicolas in New York; his brother Mike and wife Kristy in Philadelphia; and his Grandma and aunts and uncles in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. We had a fabulous time.

Sorry for the out of order pictures and having to search for the commentary at the end of the blog. I'm learning!