Oregon Newt

Some more photos from our camping trip. Jake & Ollie found an Oregon Newt in a pond near our campsite. Of course he wanted to bring it home. Being as the newt was so cute and frankly who wouldn't want to have it as a pet, I struck a deal to avoid a meltdown on Ollie's part when I said no. Show me you can take care of it, you know what to feed it and a place for it to live and then you can have one. I told him they had books about newts at the library and that's where we would gain our information. He agreed and I was sure it was something he would forgot about over the next couple of days. When we arrived home he went straight to the plastic container drawer in the kitchen. "Why?" I asked. "For the newt" he replied. The next day we went to the library and what are the odds our small branch of the Portland Library system would have a How to Care for Newts book? They did and we've been reading it almost every night before bedtime.

And here's my advice for other mommas who strike deals they are sure they'll win - newts eat chopped up worms, newt have toxins in their skin (this is only harmful if you decide you want to eat one), they need a cool environment so your refrigerator would be an ideal place to keep one and little boys never forget when it comes to small animals or bugs.

yodel-lay-hee-hoo

We're so pround to announce that Leo was born with a hidden talent...yodeling.

Shark Week on the Discovery Channel

"Psst . . . you missed Shark Week"

"What?! Damn, not again. I wonder if Brad and Annie Tivo'd it?"

"Nom Nom Nom."

Daddy's little helper

Recently Jacob and I finally finished the drywall in our bedroom. We had knocked out the closet wall and closed up Oliver's closet so that we could also gain that space in our room. Regretfully the exposed sheetrock and mudded tape has been there for about a year. Nothing beats being reminded that you haven't finished a project, that should have been done months ago, like having it be the last thing you see every night.

It entailed copying the texture on the existing ceiling to the new drywall ceiling. Let me also point out that this is the WORST possible texture choice you could make and the previous owner made it. I found that taking a handful of plaster and slapping it around created the same effect. The more ugly peaks the better. And we were able to find cans of orange peel texture that we could spray on the walls.

Finally we painted the room. Jacob said he wanted "blue" and he picked one from our swatch book. He got to pick the color and I said I get to decorate. I'll be making it as girlie as possible.

Oliver loves when we work on projects because we usually find something he can help do ... like painting. Notice the oversized latex gloves! We also have him paint in his underwear because he doesn't have clothes dedicated to home repair like mommy & daddy do.

Baby Leo Video

Oliver turns FOUR!

These photos are from Oliver's fourth birthday party. Jacob was getting the boys to show him different emotions, maybe for their modeling careers? At first I think Ethan didn't know what to think about it all but as you can see from the photos he got into it.

Angry: Curious:

Surprised:

Scared:

Sad:
Blue Steel: