Today...

...is my birthday. I'm a year older. Can I say better?! I don't know. What I do know is I neglected to get a picture with all the lovely ladies who joined my in an early birthday dessert last night to help me celebrate. Though, it was amazing and oh, so beneficial to my soul.

Thank you, ladies, for the smiles and laughter and lettting me be me!

Let the Birthday Celebrations Begin

So, these pictures don't all apply to my (early) birthday celebration, but they were all taken on the same day, so bear with me.

One of my girls groups, the one that hasn't been getting together on a consistent basis, got together yesterday morning for a cookie exchange. And, really, the most important part was to see all the new babies in the group. Three of the "girls" aka women from this group became mommies (2 or them for the second time) in the month of October. The two repeat mommies made it to the groupone because she hosted. There was also a 10 month old who came with her mommy. It was great to see all the little ones and how the older little ones got along.

These are the three princess'.

Evie was born incredibly early and was in the NICU for months, she is now 10 months old and entirely to precious; then there is Amelia and then my little Goddaughter Josie. All so precious!

Here are the boys swarming around the cookies while we were all coo-ing over the girls.

Alex in the red on the left, Myles in the center and Isaiah behind the stuffed animal on the right.
On my way home I realized how frosty things were and just had to take a few pictures of the frosty leaves and liked the definition of the frost on these rosebushes.

After being at home for a time between the girls group and a fun evening with a friend for an early birthday celebration I worked on Christmas cards....dun, dun, dun.

Then, Tera came and picked me up for a night out. It was so nice to know I was going out for the evening and didn't have to plan one minute of it. Tera planned the whole night.

First we went to one of my favorite all time restaurants- Deschutes Brewery---yummy gluten free buns for the amazing burgers and homemade gingerale=an amazing meal.

After dinner we went to Tea Chi Te for tea and walked the fun NW 23rd area of Portland to see the lights.

What a fabulous day and night spent with friends. Thanks, Tera for kicking off my birthday "season" the right way!

Birds on a Wire

For some reason, birds on a wire fascinate me. I took these pictures a week ago or so. I like the color in the sky, and of course, the birds on the wire.

You can click on the photos to make them larger.

Miss Stephanie and Myles's Grand Adventure!

I should have known when the day started out sunny, that it would indeed be a good day for a grand adventure. My friends Stasia and Dave have two darling kids. Myles will be three in February, and I had been thinking about "borrowing" him for part of a day and going on an adventure. Stasia had said that would be fine and once I came up with a plan we set it into play. So, today Myles and Miss Stephanie (how they refer to me) went on a grand adventure. We both had a blast!

I picked Myles up at 8:30ish and away we went. Myles loves Christmas trees so our first stop was going to be a REALLY big Christmas tree. The tree at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Look how small he looks at the base of that tree.

Smile, Myles!

Miss Stephanie and Myles at the base of the tree.
(I wish I could say my name the way he does-it's too stinkin' cute)

Looking at the tree from a higher perspective.

I love his expression in the picture. And, Sammy the cat joined us for our adventure also. You can see him in this picture.

:)

In order to get to the tree we rode the Max train, which Myles loved. At each stop he would say, "go, go." He liked to be moving, not stopped.

On the way back to the car we had some apples as a snack.

And we smiled.

Walking back to the car Myles held on to a few poles and would spin around them. He can count at least up to 15...Stasia- when did that happen? And he said all of his numbers in order. He's growing up too fast.

The next stop was at my place of work for a potty break and to see the fish in the fish tank. Which he LOVED. I hadn't planned on staying long, but we were there for at least an hour. Maybe a little longer. Myles introduce Sammy the cat to almost everyone.

He checked out the fish.

He went spinning in Chaplain John's chair.

And, he even played catch with people using Sammy as the item thrown.

Eventually we got out of there. When Myles was first in my car he had asked if we could have a hamburger, fries and a shake. I told him it depending on which kind of shake he wanted. He stated that he wanted a chocolate shake, of which I approved of and therefore we went to Burgerville for a lunch of a cheeseburger, french fries and a CHOCOLATE MILKSHAKE, which Myles was so excited about.

Look at that spread!

And, to top it all off, he got a balloon. It was green. He said green was his favorite color. Sweet!

After that, I delivered him home to his mom, who was missing him. He was wired. I apologized. He never did take a nap. But, we sure did have fun on our grand adventure!

A Peaceful Thanksgiving

I had decided to spend Thanksgiving at home. In the peace and quiet of my home. It was marvelous. Every year I cook a turkey. This year it looked particularly nice and scrumptious.

Friday evening I headed down to Pioneer Courthouse Square to see the lighting of the tree. This year it is 75 feet tall and is beautiful.

Pre-lighting
with lots of people.

Santa and a few of his helpers to turn the lights on as the thousands of people on the square counted down.

Every year Pink Martini, a local group does a sing-along of holiday songs...Christmas and Hanukkah songs. This year held a special surprise. The Von Trapp Children, great grandchildren of Maria and Captain Von Trapp (the real life Von Trapps) joined us. Their voices were absolutely beautiful. I will hear them in concert, someday.

The lady in the middle, dressed in costume for a play called Ebenezer, has played Maria in a stage version of The Sound of Music.

And, the tree is lit!

And, I was there!

Lots of people are there!

On the way out...

It was a fun evening and a good way to start the Christmas season.

Merry Christmas!

Inside out, Upside down, Backwards & Sideways

My friend, Linda and her family have a Harvest Party every year and theme it differently. Linda has invited me in the past but I was never able to make it. This year I was. And, the theme was inside out, upside down, backwards and sideways. The food theme was something to do with apples. So...I fed two birds with one stone (as my friend, Cindy the bird lover says) and I made "Inside Out Caramel Apples" AND they were yummy. Now, they didn't look like the ones in the picture, but they were just as delicious, I imagine. You see, I can't eat puff pastry, so instead of using puff pastry, I made a gluten free pie crust and used it. It didn't cut into nice strips like the puff pastry would have, but I still had leaves.

Pre-baked.

I made 8 of them. It took me four hours. I made two sets of pie crust (out of a bag from Bob's Red Mill) and homemade caramel sauce from scratch. I forget how long it takes to bake since I hardly ever do it anymore.
Pre-bake and post bake photos.

Doesn't that look amazing?!?! They were SO yummy. And, because it was a backwards themed party dessert came first. As it should anyway. My inside out caramel apples were a hit.

But, I don't have a single picture of the party, where there were soups, dips, appetizers all made from apples. There was a reading of the poem Backward Bill by Shel Silverstein was read and the game Apples to Apples was also played and lots of laughter filled the air.

Crazy Cat Lady

I don't dress up for Halloween unless it is on a work day. Luckily, I've gotten off the last couple of years. This year, however, no such luck. Last year one of our nurse's had told me that her granddaughter was a crazy cat lady for Halloween and they sewed stuffed animal cats all over a bathrobe of hers and did her hair realy crazy. I had told her I was stealing the idea...and I did, this year.

I got a short bathrobe so I wouldn't die of heat and went to like a billion Goodwills and other thrift stores (really, it was only like 13, but still way too many) to find a decent amount of stuffed animal cats. I got dollar store foam rollers and put a few in my hair and teased out the rest...

I feared that I would be combing my hair out for hours, but I didn't have to spend long on it.

Every year Jack-o-lantern (Jack for short) gets made. The co-worker who used to make him every year left and has moved back east, so this year my friend Jenny from work made him. Every year I introduce him to participants as my boyfriend, Jack. They get a kick out of it. He is just around for about a month. and then gets dismantled for another year. He is also dressed differently every year. This year Jenny put a heart on him that said "Stephanie and Jack." We just had to get a few pictures.

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!!

"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord..." Psalm 127:3 (NASB)

You saw a few posts ago that my friends Stasia and Dave and their son Myles had a new little one added to their family. Baby Josie was Baptized in the name of Jesus Christ this morning. I am one of her Baptismal Sponsors (aka sort of like a Godmother-which is how I refer to is when asked or when I am telling someone).

In honor of Josie's baptism I gifted her this cross that reads, "May the Lord bless you and keep you; May His face shine upon you." Numbers 6:24. Along with this cute block version of a piggy bank that reads, "Little Miracle, Big Blessing." Psalm 127:3.

Josie's grandparents (Stasia's parents) got this cake for the celebration and potluck after the church service.
After a few pictures with Josie laying next to the cake she stuck her fingers in the frosting and proceeded to get it all over her face...too cute. You can see Myles and Grandma Janice in the background.

Josie sleeping in my arms before the service.

We arrived early for pictures and this is Josie and me at the Baptismal Table.

During the baptism. Big brother looking on in curiosity.

All bundled up in the pew. I'm pretty sure she slept through the whole ordeal...water on the head and all! Actually, she may have awaken ever so slightly during that part.

Isn't she a precious child of God?!

Keeping Portland Weird

About a year ago I shared this. This year I am sharing this...

Unicorn hood ornament....awesome!

Soccerball kicking leg attached to a house...crazy decore!

Keep it up, Portland!

What constitutes a Giant Pumpkin?!

Apparently, one that weighs 1,431.5 pounds.

After wanting to go for a few years, I finally made it to the West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta. It was a blast and I will go again.

I didn't know what to expect at all, and when I arrived there were all these huge pumpkins on display. They were amazing!

In order to move the pumpkins they needed to rig them up with this rope system and use a forklift to manuver them.
After seeing a few of them being weighed I got to see the biggest being weighed that was there that day. It weighed in at 1431.5 pounds...that. is. One. BIG. pumpkin. Wow. The guy standing with it is the grower. His name is Steve. He was pretty proud.

This pumpkin was also grown by Steve and had been at a competition in Half Moon Bay, CA. It had bottomed out, cracked and the "pumpkin juice" running down the sidewalk was sort of interesting.

After the weighing of the pumpkins they put them in this pond, at the Tualatin Commons, and prepared them for the regatta.

This is the moving of the biggest pumpkin to the pond.

Lowering the pumpkin...

Even in water, it must be difficult to push a pumpkin that heavy...

Look at all those pumpkins!

In black and white...

Smile!

I loved the suit that the guy in yellow wore...it said "Seed Extractor" on the back. Sweet!

By the way....I heard some people talked about buying those seeds...I thought to myself, "gee, I wonder how much a seed from a giant pumpkin would cost?" That was then answered by someone behind me, who must have read my mind. A mere $100. Yes you saw that right - 100 big ones for a seed, a pumpkin seed.

Trying to flip the pumpkin so that the flat part would be on top for carving an opening purposes. It took a bit of heaving and hoeing to get it.

Got it! Every once in a while there would be a stray pumpkin and there were these weird this remote controlled boats that would push them back into place.

Making the first cut.

Check out the inch depth of the hunk of pumpkin that is being held. That one piece alone would probably make a whole pumpkin pie.

Digging deep to get all the guts.

Taking away a precious bag of spendy pumpkin seeds.

Don't fall in!

A cute dog in one of the canoes in the pond.

Testing out the pumpkins. Making any last minute modifications.

After having added some fun last minute details.

Getting ready to head towards the start line.

At the start line.

go, Go, GO!

After paddeling down around the pond they were on the homestretch!

One of the pumpkins was a dud and the guy fell out....he swam, while pushing his pumpkin at least half of the race back to the start/finish line.

There were four different heats of races. The next was a relay. It as a competition between the Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue Department and the Portland Office of the Army Corp of Engineers.

The third heat had to do with people fetching balls that were tossed into the pond by the audience. Racers had to fetch as many as they could and the balls had different point values based on color. The picture below is of the Mayor of Tualatin competing. There was another heat, which I decided not to stay for, but the event overall was a lot of fun. I have been to many fall festivals and events and this was probably one of my favorites. And, like I said, I will go back again another year!