So, you know how somebody was given my blog address and I didn't want them reading...well I have decided to make a new blog hopefully to bypass them. Does that make sense? This one would be public again (so all you google readers will have an easier time :0) I am super creative, and as you will see...my new blog looks exactly the same. Maybe a little more streamlined. Neat and tidy is good.
New blog: http://confessionsofaredheadheather.blogspot.com/

I reserve the right to pull the plug at anytime and go back to just plain old Confessions of a Redhead. Just saying.

a rose by any other name

Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure. I took the flower pictures at a rose garden in Seattle. I'm kind of a sucker for the rose gardens these days. I planted two roses this year, and they don't look nearly as pretty. All three plants are different, hard to tell but true, I guess you can tell the kind I like. I do have a closet full of green shirts, too.

The other pictures are from the park last night. We were having a little family fun night. I had gotten home earlier in the day from my lovely trip to San Francisco. So fun so fun. Lots of eating, walking, cab/trolley riding, shopping, laughing, site seeing, picture taking, and talking. Look at Jane's blog and Sarah's blog to see pictures. They are professional photographers, so I didn't feel the need to bring my camera. Now, to make dinner. I liked it better when we just ate at restaurants all the time.

catch up

It's been forever since I've blogged. Quick catch up, we went to Seattle for the second weekend in a row after my last post. (to pick the kids up from airport) We played again the whole weekend and had a great time. That's a fun city. I must admit, I think Portland/Camas area are equally beautiful, but Seattle is a fun place to hang. The homeless population seemed to be heavier there. I saw a man actually eat out of a garbage can. Sad. The kids saw it too, and were quite puzzled that someone would get so down and dirty with a garbage looking for food. Hunter and Hannah had a great time in Houston visiting friends. Hunter came back really wanting to move back there. I was afraid that would happen. But all is well now. He is off at Scout Camp as I type. Hannah had a great time, too.

One day last week, a neighbor and I took the kids down to Portland for a day of fun. We hit a water "feature"... not a park a "feature"...it was fun and Hope got a real kick out of changing into her swim suit and hitting the water. We did lunch downtown and it was cool. There is this 2 block area, where there are all these food booths set up. My friend had (she just moved here from San Diego so she was reading up on the area) read something about these booths and how they are supposed to be really good. We were not disappointed. Yum! It was there, that a man stopped us and wanted to know if we were Mormon or Catholic. Mormon!! He was nice enough...and we chatted for about 5 minutes until he got kind of weird. After our day of eating and shopping and walking and playing...we hit Voodoo Donuts. That was certainly an experience. Good donuts! They have crazy crazy toppings. Look at the menu. :)

The weather has been great here. We set record highs for about a week. Now it's back to more normal temps. Lovin' that. I have completed the school supply back to school shopping. I'm slowly working on clothes. Tomorrow I head to San Fran for the Second Annual Girls Weekend. In fact, I must go pack.

Kid stuff

Yesterday, Hope spilled some water on the floor. I asked Hayden to grab me a towel (he was upstairs in his room, right by a linen closet) and throw it down. He called down, "Hold on Mom I'm cleaning my room!" WHAAAT? I immediately knew something was up. That boy never voluntarily cleans his room. As I'm starting upstairs, his friend Grant comes out of the room and says that they lost a frog in Hayden's room, but don't worry, it's okay because they found it. Oh good...you found it. Hello? Why was there a frog in there in the first place? See, I knew they were up to something. In Hayden's language cleaning my room=frantically searching for lost frog before Mom finds out.

Today, Hope and I had run some errands. Maybe a little unknown fact about Hope...she is always hungry. Always. She could have just eaten, and 5 minutes later she says she is hungry. It was 12:30 and we were driving away from Costco. Hope says to me..."I'm so so so hungry Mom. If I don't eat now, I'm going to turn into a bad guy!" She felt herself turn to the dark side, because just a minute later she started to fuss and said, "See, I'm turning into a bad guy!"

Seattle trip

Hunter and Hannah went back to Houston for 8-9 days this summer. They flew in and out of Seattle (we were using miles, and Seattle to Houston was a lot cheaper than Portland to Houston) Whatever! We made a fun weekend of it. Actually, it will be 2 fun weekends, we pick them up this next weekend.
We hadn't been on the road for more than a few minutes, ahhhh Hope was asleep ;)

Hayden the ham... errrr pun not intended, actually.

Hope at the Red Mill Burger, delicious burgers + onion rings. Hunter saw this place on Man vs Food and HAD to eat there.

Pike's Market Place- fun farmer's market.

Hayden wanted his picture with the crabs, then he has a goofy smile/look on his face.

There were some BIG old fish!

This is the bottom of the barrel on the raspberries, but some of the best ever. They were huge. The second day in Seattle, I bought some brioche bread, raspberries and some wedge of homemade cheese and called it lunch. Hannah wanted us each to take a picture of the other taking a picture of them.

On there way to Houston! They weren't excited or anything ;)

Hopey with one of her favorite ear's...

The day I almost got arrested

At approximately 12, I left a screaming Hope in the car (I had just finished wrestling with her while Hunter got his hair cut) with Hunter while Hayden and I ran into the library to drop off and pick up some books. Estimated time away from the car=10 minutes. At about 12:02 Hunter calls on the phone and tells me some lady passed the car and asked him if everything was okay. He said to her, "yes, everything is fine my mom just ran into the library for a minute." I say to him when he tells me that, "It sounds like she has stopped crying, everything should be fine, we are checking out in a minute." WELL, that lady proceeds to stand by the car for a couple of minutes, then proceeds on her merry way...to the FIRE DEPARTMENT right across the street. At about 12:07 Hunter calls me and tells me the fireman is standing outside the car, PLEASE come now. I drop everything, and run out...imagining my arrest on the steps of the Camas library. The fireman is indeed outside of the car talking with Hunter. I say: "Everything is fine, I ran in to drop off some books, the two year old was throwing a fit and I didn't want to take her into the library, so I left her with her brother, it's not even hot (my car said 76* for pity sake), I parked in the shade AND the windows are rolled down!" He said very nicely, "You are under arrest for..." no no I kid. He really told me everything was indeed fine, a passer by had seen the kids and she was concerned, and so he was doing his duty and checking. He agreed that yes, I did park in the shade, it wasn't really very hot, the windows were down, and my son was old enough to watch his sister. There, my brush with "the law". But I must admit, I was rather scared for a minute. But come on...it wasn't even hot lady!! Calm yourself. I wouldn't roast my kids in the car. I lived in Texas and I know hot, and this isn't so bad! I'm just glad it was Hunter I left with Hope and not Hayden ;) Kidding, I'd never do that. ;)

Happy 13th Birthday Hunter!!

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago, in Vancouver, WA at a water park.

This picture was scanned right out of Hunter's scrapbook. There was a whole bunch of cute ones, but I'm short on time and only scanned one. What a cute little budda baby. He has been nothing but a good boy. Happy Birthday Hunter, I love you!! I just can't believe he is 13 already, where has the time gone? Before I know it, I'll be sending that boy on a mission.

Summer groove

I have embraced summer.


It took me a few days, but I'm liking summer now. On the last day of school (the kids had to go for about 2 hours) I was hating life. Sad, but true. For a couple of days, I kept asking myself how the heck am I going to last the whole summer? Everybody came home, and it was friends friends friends. By that night...I felt like swearing. Maybe, I even did. I was in a pissy mood. It might have had something to do with hormones...just saying.

But now... my kids haven't gone to bed at a decent time in ages. Last week, Hannah had 3 sleepovers in a row. Two with the same person. It's a rare night, when we are all sleeping at home and without friends. And I don't care. I have officially chilled out. It's not me that's done all the changing either. The kids are practicing their piano, reading, cleaning, we even all pulled weeds in the back yard today. It's still all about friends and playing. The neighbors have all moved in, so there are lots of kids to play with this year. For the last few nights, the kids have all been playing night tag. It stays dark very late here, so they have been outside until after 10. Luckily, Hope goes to bed still at 8:30. She has given the nap up on most days, even though she still needs it. But it's all good, we get more done, AND she sleeps in, at least that's what I'm telling myself to make myself feel better.

We have made it down to the river/beach once, with plans to go back this week. The river beach is only 10 minutes away (river beach is different than The beach, you know the Pacific Ocean ;) The Camas farmers market is a lot better this year. I took some of the kids+ friends, of course, there today for some berries. The Hood River strawberries are about finished, too bad too because they are so darn good! Blueberries, raspberries and marion berries are on now though. Our garden is mass producing veggies right now. So, I don't even have to buy those, just pick them. We have just found our new summer groove. Ahhhh, thank heavens.