zoo animals!

oren's daycare is on spring break this week (aligned with portland public schools) so ian and i are splitting the week to be home with him and still get some work in. ian took him to the zoo this morning. again, it was cold so they didn't hang out too long. oren really loved the gorilla and elephants. and then they came downtown for lunch with me! best part of my day, for sure.

and speaking of animals and entertaining kiddos: this series of peek-a-boo apps by night & day studios are pretty awesome. if you've never seen them, check 'em out! we have the 'wild' version and the 'forest' version. the latter has images by charlie harper. oren giggles like crazy every time we play them.

apologies - blurry phone photos:

oren says 'ba - boom' hehee!

on the waterfront

I had to put a couple hours in at work on sunday, so ian and oren hung out downtown a bit, including a little walk around the waterfront. it was pretty cold, but i think they both enjoyed it.

oren's school & current stats

In case you're interested, Roots was featured today in a blog about educating young children. Oren isn't mentioned directly, but you can see some photos and read about how he spends his day. I love this place. link:

http://educatingforlife.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/in-home-montessori-part-iii/

We also had oren's 15 mo. well-child visit today with dr. chrissie. and he had his first full-on melt down in public (if her office counts as public--we were the only ones there). for some reason he really hates getting dressed/undressed right now. I guess one good side...i don't think he even noticed the vaccine shot as he was already so mad. :-(

i'm sure hoping it's a phase... whew. a short phase.

otherwise all is great. He's 26 1/2 lbs., and unfortunately i didn't catch his length as i was distracted by the screaming. that boy's got some pipes. sorry i don't have any new photos tonight...i'll get some this weekend.

first hike for 2011!

Latourelle Falls, just east of portland a bit. It was an easy hike, and fun to try out oren's new pack! There are actually two falls. One right near the road (below) and another about 2 miles into the forest...the trail went right up to its base...and was it ever intense! There was so much water pouring over, it really took your breath away.

beautiful historic bridge, all board-formed concrete. This is part of the historic gorge highway, built in the early 1900's.

crazy tree. love all the moss.

this is just past the 2nd falls, far enough down the trail my hair wasn't blowing all over from the falls. Lucy literally pulled me over this bridge to get away from the noise/water/wind.

cuties.

a little mealtime video

Oren is just excited about mealtime as ever! perhaps even more now that he's using a spoon and drinking from a cup...so much independence.

february snow!

We got a little bit of a snow storm last week. Didn't really stick around at our house but ian, oren, and lucy did get out for a walk. and yes...REI sale = we are ready for hiking season!

garage band

oren and his buddy annik have started a band. they are still working through who will play what instrument...we'll keep you posted on their first gig.

valentine weekend at nannie & papa's

Lucy's valentine - Reggie.

christmas!

long overdue - photos from oren's 1st birthday!

Here are a few photos from oren's bday back in december. apologies for the long delay...

not a baby anymore...

oren is walking. he's been tentatively taking steps for a few weeks, but last week he just started going from room to room like it's no big deal. and he gets a big kick out of this new skill...it's super cute.

Playing piano with grandpa garriott

this is the best.

Phoenix visit

Oren and I flew to phoenix for a quick visit to grandma and grandpa garriott. oren was a rock star on the plane - i really had nothing to worry about.

This series of photos is so cute. Oren was clear across the room when grandpa began to play. He quickly took notice, crawled right over and pulled himself up for a better view. He was fascinated. :-) I sure hope he has grandpa's talent.

this photo cracks me up because there are SO MANY photos of us as kids totally attacking grandpa. he was always on the floor rolling around with us.

oren is such an enthusiastic eater. i think grandma got a kick out of feeding him.

We had a nice lunch one afternoon at the clubhouse. I didn't get any photos, but afterward oren and I tried to go for a swim with grandpa - he just was NOT going in that pool. poor guy. we'll have to work on that.

Woodlawn Coffee and Pastry

We have a fantastic new bakery in our neighborhood! We met Sarah and Oscar there on Friday before our flight to Phoenix. so nice to hang out a little bit and play together in their toy corner.

Portland Christmas tree lighting

Yes, we went down for the lighting ceremony. It's something we try to do each year. I love Christmas carols and don't get many chances to hear them, and it's something we love about living in the city and getting into the holiday spirit along with 25,000 other portlanders. I'm choosing to ignore the whole 'terrorist bomb' thing...it was never a true threat and i think it's unfortunate that they had to publicize the thing they way they did. let's scare folks just for the sake of drama. boo!!

regardless we had a good time.

haircut!!

this one was hard for me. i put off scheduling oren's first haircut as long as possible, until ian threatened to do it himself! so it was time...

and his hair looks great! kassandra did a super job.

coast hike

lovely day for a little exercise!

apparently the remains of a 'big foot' was discovered on the beach below us!

mom - can i eat now????

shem, noelle, and elijah braving the wind.

great coastal forest

Halloween and the coast!

ok - there are a lot of teasers here...the cute costume is at the end.

proposal rock, neskowin, oregon

gorgeous sunset

playing football with shem!

cute hat elijah!

hanging out with elijah

ahhh....time to read

we hosted our annual pumpkin carving and it was a ton of fun, although quite different from years past in that the adults were almost outnumbered by babies!!! chaos...but so great!

here are a few of the results:

ok -- here you go!

roar!!! (oren really liked practicing for his costume)