A Trip to Astoria.

A couple of weeks ago, the temperature was supposed to reach over 100 degrees, so Tim and I decided that a trip to the coast would be just the thing to do. We packed up our car with a days worth of supplies and headed out to Astoria.

Along the way we drove right by a train, which caused Beniah to shout out "Tain!Tain!"


Once in Astoria, we decided to ride on the Astoria Riverfront Trolley.

The lady in the front window was very helpful with helping entertain Beniah.

Beniah fell asleep on our way to Warrenton.


The Perter Iredale.


Beniah was not happy with the beach this time. He only wanted to be carried and he would try to steer us away from the water with his legs if we got to close to it.


From there we traveled down to Seaside for dinner and to walk along the boardwalk. Beniah was much happier with this idea.


Looking at the river with Daddy.


We stopped by the arcade and let Beniah play with the Wack-A-Shark game. He loved being allowed to hit something with a gigantic mallet.


On the way back to the car, Beniah decided to sit down in the middle of the sidewalk and try to throw the pebbles in the cement.

Homemade Strawberry Jam

This past July, we went on a family excursion to our local farmers market in search of fresh strawberries to make honey sweetened strawberry jam. The recipe is a little tart, but if you are wanting to cut down on the amount of sugar that your family consumes, this one is pretty good.

Beniah eating the foam that was skimmed off the top, just like his mama did when she was a little girl.



No Sugar Needed Strawberry Jam
(Makes 3 pints of jam)

4 cups hulled and crushed strawberries (about 4 lbs)
1 cup Unsweetened White Grape or Apple juice (100% juice only. I suggest using the bottled juices so you know that the juice isn't too watered down)
1 No Sugar Needed Fruit Pectin (1.75oz pkg)
Optional Additional Sugar (0-3 cups Sugar or 3/4 - 1 cup honey. I used 1/2 cup honey and it turned out fine)

To cook the jam:
Combine fruit and juice in a 6-8 quart sauce pan. Gradually stir in pectin making sure that there aren't any clumps. Bring to a rolling boil that can not be stirred down while you are stirring constantly. Add sugar or honey if desired. Bring to a rolling boil again. Boiling hard for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and skim off the foam. Pour jam into clean, warm glass pint jars.

To Can the jam:
Once you have 7 jars of jam prepared, clean off tops of jars and place canning lids and rings on top. Place in a water bath canner and bring to a gentle steady boil and process for 10 minutes. Take the lid of and let jars stand for 5 minutes. Remove the jars from the canner and place it up right on a clean towel. Do not disturb for 24 hours. Wipe clean jars down and remove rings. Label jars and store in a cool dark place for up to a year.

Note: Do not double or triple the recipe to save time. The jam will not set up and will be wasted.

What Tim and Beniah Did Today

Tim was asked by his Dad to help with the cutting down of 2 obnoxious tree limbs, so Beniah and I went out to watch the cutting procedure. He was so excited that he didn't want to wait for me to find his shoes and grabbed the 1st pair of shoes he found and put them on.



He was very fascinated by the whole ordeal and was upset that I wouldn't allow him to climb the tree after his grandpa. Once the tree limb was down, Tim pulled on the work gloves to start chopping up the limb into firewood pieces. Beniah looked at me and said, "Goves!" So we went inside in search of some gloves for him (and to change into tennis shoes for the both of us).


Beniah was so proud of his gloves and the fact that he was able to help his Daddy haul wood.

1st Good Look at Baby #2

Today I had my 12 week ultrasound to determine if the baby has any birth defects. We are all in the clear on that account. We received a cd of the visit which thrilled me because now I don't have to take the time to scan in the pictures to the computer! The baby was so active that the technician had a difficult time measuring the baby. At one point he had to turn the examining table at such an angle that I felt like I was going to fall off or slide right out of my pants. Neither of which happened thankfully.

Baby #2


When Tim asked what the thing coming out of the baby's nose was, the technician said, "That's a booger." It's actually a hand curled up and pressing against it's nose.

Kris and Nick's Wedding

This past weekend we drove down to Eugene to attend Tim's aunt's wedding. Even though Beniah didn't get a nap that day, we had a great time. I realized that I didn't take any photos of the wedding party, only of Beniah.

Beniah and Donny kept trying to blow out the candles before the wedding. I believe that they actually got one out. (I have to admit that this amazing photo was done by my sister in law, Joann)


During the reception, Beniah was entertained by taking pictures with the disposable camera that was on the table. Unfortunately, Kris and Nick will have around 4 pictures of Beniah's vest.


Waiting for our food to arrive.


After shoving a huge chunk of melon in his mouth.




On the way home, Beniah started getting really excited when we were passing under some bridges because Tim called them tunnels. Beniah kept saying, "More tunna! More tunna!"

1st Professional Haircut

I was putting off cutting Beniah's hair for as long as possible because he is going to be a ring bearer in my sister in law's wedding this August and I want it to still look good. However, this last Friday, I was noticing how mulletish Beniah's hair was getting. It would have passed as a good look 20 years ago, but definitely not now. Tim and I took him to Great Clips and a wonderful lady named Jessica took us back to start the process.

Beniah got decked out in a fun cape and then picked out a sucker (also known as a distraction). The sucker proved to be a very valuable asset to the hair cutting experience.


Before:


Once Beniah realized that his locks were going to be cut off, he burst into tears. Well, maybe it was because the scissors scared him. He was really cute while he was wailing, but we didn't take any pictures of it because it took both of us to console him and remind him of his sucker.


The cutting process.


Finished (with extra cheese)!

A Spontaneous Trip to the Bonneville Dam

A couple of weekends ago, Tim and I decided to go on a spontaneous trip to the Bonneville Dam (well, as spontaneous as you can get with a 1 & 1/2 year old). Beniah had a wonderful time and looking at all of the painted fish on the sidewalk. He just had to touch all of the fish even if that meant trying to run in the middle of a group of people to touch it.



Beniah and Tim looking for more painted fish.


Beniah was a little disturbed by the size of the sturgeon in the pond.


Beniah and Tim growling at the stuffed bear. I would love to see the reactions of the people seeing the security footage of a grown man growling at a display case.


Of course, Beniah had to count the metal fish before we left for home. "On. Two. Fee. Nine."

Mama's Little Helper

For the past couple of weeks, I have been letting Beniah help me with some of my baking. He really enjoys the process of dumping ingredients into the bowl and helping Mama stir by singing,
"Round and around and around we go!
Round and around and around we go!
Round and around and around we go!
Round we go-o-o!"
I remember my mom singing this to my sister and I when we helped her stir food.

Beniah's all time favorite part of cooking was licking the peanut butter off of the spoon.


Our masterpiece, Chocolate Peanut butter bundt cake.


Beniah had fun putting the cheese strips onto the pepper jack macaroni and cheese.


Beniah also got to help his Daddy make wonderful chocolate peanut butter brownies.

Roadtrip Conversations

This afternoon, I had another companion in the backseat of my car. My almost 3 year old nephew, Donny, was coming home with me and Beniah to spend the rest of the day with us. On the way home, I was entertained with Donny's musings. Here are some Donny quotes.

At seeing a lot of cars on the road: "Cars, cars, cars! This is ridiculous!"
At seeing a stop sign: "Turn right at octagogagone."
After being stopped in a long line at a stoplight: "Go...Go....Go pink car, go!"

He had me laughing most of the trip home and wishing that I recorded the drive so that his mama could hear all of his comments.

The Excitement of Life.

I have been remiss on keeping you all up to date for the past couple of months. This is partially due to Tim using the computer so much because he uses it to study for his 2nd actuary exam, but mostly this is due to the busyness of motherhood and spending my time with other activities. Lately, I have taken up quilting and am working on my son's baby blanket. I have made a few blankets for my friends and sister's babies, but haven't done one for my own son until now. Here is the 1st block on his quilt. I will post the finished product at a later date (i.e. when I finally finish the project).


Beniah is definitely growing and changing everyday. He seems to do the small things that brighten up my day (like giving me a foxglove flower off of his grandma's plant).

Beniah enjoys reading his books and says, "Amen" when the book is at the end.

Beniah loves to play with the light switch in our front room.


Our cat is not safe anywhere now that Beniah is a toddler.


The fastest way to light up Beniah's eyes is to bring out his cars and the fabric with the streets on it.


The most exciting news to come to our house is as follows:


I am hoping that history will repeat itself and Tim will pass next Thursday's actuary test since I passed my pregnancy test.