Rollins' come to town!

In late August Auntie Lisa, Josiah, and Gracie made the day long trek from Bellingham, WA to come visit us here in Oregon City. (Uncle Brent had to work...catch ya next time!!) Tyson liked to watch Josiah and copy him, although he was a little jealous of Gracie and kept hitting and pushing her...hmmm....sorry Gracie, you were soo patient and nice to him in spite of that! Jada was a little overwhelmed at trying to keep track of everyone, but she did enjoy the special time that Josiah spent with her. Thanks Josiah!!




What a fun kid! He found my sunglasses on the table and kept us entertained while we finished getting dinner ready.





We had our floor vents checked out by a pro....yes she did really lift the cover off all by herself and probably would have stuck her head all the way in the hole if allowed to.



When Lisa and I get together we ENJOY cleaning, organizing and redesigning together. She is the creative one and gives a fresh look to a room using what's already there! I wish I had gotten a 'before' and 'after' photos of the basement. I had a load of boxes to go through and get sorted and cleared out. We did it!!! After that project was done the next week Jason and I were able to get our bedroom painted! It feels great to get these things done and crossed off the list of things to do...


Here's the bedroom photos, before with the white walls, and after with the blue walls... (and a little bit of a twist with the bed.)


So it will be our turn to trek up to Bellingham and work at their house! We look forward to it, though we may have to bring Jada....

Gad Zukes!!

So earlier this year we planted a small little zucchini plant only to find it explode with life and get really, really big. This little beauty was our first pick and we used it in a stir fry dish. It was yummy!

Then came the monster. I kept watering the plant, but not really checking on how quickly the next ones were ripening. I can water it while standing by the front door and spraying the hose to it, so I never had to get close enough to see it growing. I had a feeling it was getting big as I could see the yellow fleshyness of it peeking through the greenery. Well, I also thought I wanted to keep it on the vine to keep it fresh so that when we did use it it would be right off the vine, right? :O)

Well, as you can see it grew THROUGH the edging trellis. Which I was ok with, as I thought I could just pull the fence up and have a huge zuke.
Come to find out, the fence has a bottom, so the zucchini had to be CUT OUT!! Aaaauuuuggghhhh!



It measured 18 inches...Wish we had a scale to weigh it. I had to figure out what to do with all of that zuke, because really, neither Jason or I LOVE to eat it. I don't mind it in cooked with other tasty things or in zucchini bread, but I don't just sit and munch on it. I found a website that had some good suggestions as well as a link to another site that had some good recipes. The broken off end made 4 cups of cubed zucchini to become part of this casserole. The remaining portion was cut up, shred up and frozen to make this zucchini bread and many more recipes to come!

Warning: This zucchini bread recipe is so moist and sweet it's more like a dessert. Yum!

Second Warning: The leaves of the plant are so prickly I was scratched all over my arms and hands. The stinging was getting worse (like nettles) and we found a natural remedy of rubbing fresh onion all over it. It took away the sting immediately! Vinegar didn't help, but the onion did. I only smelled like onion for the next three days. :O)

Auntie Nikki comes to town!!

In mid-August Jason's sister Nikki came to spend a week with us! It was a busy week, we had so much that we wanted to do with her and she so willingly came along! We went to the zoo, took a tour around Oregon City (it was the first city established this side of the Rockies! It's old!) and enjoyed the county fair (rides and all!)

We were entertained by the elephant training

As well as the penguin feeding..

AND the toss AND catch exhibit by Tyson and Papa

That week the weather just got hotter and hotter. We hung out at the mall one day to beat the heat and decided to go out to dinner since we knew our house would be way too hot. Of course the place we chose didn't have air conditioning either! Oh well, it was nice to not have to cook and it was still cooler than outside. We ended the week at the Clackamas County Fair. It was HOT!! But we played and Nikki treated us to some rides. It was great having her in town, come back anytime!!

Bottom's Up

A different perspective on the world. Tyson starting striking this pose a few weeks ago. He thinks it's pretty funny how things look upside down. His silly parents have found it amusing to stand butt to butt with him and take a peek through their own legs at him. Yeah, we're a goofy family. Never a dull moment in the Howland house. :)

barking orders

Busy busy...

Keeping cool on a warm day. Unfortunately, a few weeks after this picture was taken Miss Jada took the blow up swimming pool for a romp around the yard and somehow popped every air cell, so we now have a flat 'drinking dish' she enjoys drinking out of...Thanks Grandma Patrick for the oversized water dish! :O(






Berry picking...strawberries and raspberries. This was a really hot day as well and we went out in the afternoon...



Tyson came down with roseola in the middle of July...a few days of fever followed by a few days of having a rash..



Tyson's eyebrow - meet corner of coffee table...

Coffee table, meet Tyson...





Trying mama's homemade strawberry jam. (not from the ones we picked, these were store bought)


Two weeks ago Cousins Steven, Nina and Isabelle came to visit and we spent the day at the zoo. It was fun having them spend the night. Isabelle is taking soccer lessons, so she was showing Tyson how to kick the ball...

Forget about petting the goat, there were rocks to be thrown!!

She's a keeper!

Yesterday we found her!! She's a little over 1, born a few days after Tyson. She's a mix, obvious German Shepherd coloring, but in a little lab body. She's a postpartum mom, just having given birth to 10 puppies (!! Way to go mama!!!) in late May. She soo very good with Tyson. She won us over when we took her for a walk and he was tottering behind her about 50 yards. He took a spill on the pavement and cried a bit. She immediately looked concerned, pulled me around and we jogged back to see how Ty and Jason were doing. She gave Tyson a few licks on the face and sniffed Jason to make sure everything was ok.. Awww.....We weren't sure how her 'watch dog' skills would be, but once we were home she checked each and every time the front door openend. And then, to top it off, during the night, when Tyson would cry, she was interested and wanted to go in an give us a hand. Maybe we should name her Nana, like the dog in Peter Pan. She really doesn't mind him at all, learning to touch her, accidently stepping on her toes, picking up and dropping her tail. Jason says it's probably not as much activity as she had with all the pups crawling and nipping her. Tyson gets on his hands and knees and says, 'Ar Ar'. How does he know to do that??? It's too cute.

Her given name is Jolie, but it just doesn't quite fit...so we'd like to see what you all think about the names we're thinking about.

She seems to be adjusting really well...already potty trained (whew) and just comfortable hanging out and checking things out. We could go on and on...and it hasn't even been 24 hrs yet.

*sigh*