To finish off with June

I have been a horribly sporadic blogger of late, so just to catch up with a few things on this last day of June:
We have been keeping busy doing many things. You all know how summer is, wonderful, and exhausting at the same time. Alexa loves the park still. In fact today we are going to meet her school friend Deniece for a playdate there.
I finally finished a project I started a couple of years ago, the Icarus Shawl, and I wore it to the annual fiber festival in Eugene called The Black Sheep Gathering.

We went to the zoo with friends. Here are Tayler and Alexa.

Alexa riding a "horse."

I love that Alexa has so much fun running up and down the ramp, even more than seeing the animals possibly. The orangutangs remind me of her, one was playing hide and seek under a sheet the way she does with her blanket and the mirror.

Tayler riding an elephant.

Cute baby Kaia and Carleen.

Alexa enjoyed Tayler's hat very much.

I have also been making jam like crazy this summer, strawberry, rhubarb, sour cherry, yum!

We are still taking horseback riding lessons, and Alexa is doing gymnastics. We go to the gym almost every day so I can swim, and spend a few quiet minutes soaking up the sun before it goes away again. We had our front lawn killed and replanted, so we have been watering it a bazillion times a day. Farmer's market is twice a week here, and we go to every one we are home for. Alexa is loving the tomatos, strawberries, raspberries, and cucumbers, and so are David and I. It is so easy to eat locally here!

A quick camping trip

Alexa still falls asleep suddenly sometimes in the late afternoon. She had a nap on her monkey here. We went camping Friday night at Memaloose State park in the Gorge. It was a beautiful campsite, and the first camping trip in about three years.

Alexa loved it, she got to ride her trike, and go hiking down the hill with Daddy. Our campsite was overlooking the river on the edge of the campground, so we had a beautiful view.

The one disadvantage was that the railroad track also border the river here, and many trains went by throughout the night. There is a track on the other side of the river too, so we could hear those trains also. I managed to sleep through most of it, but David did not.

Alexa got to run around in her pajamas and Keens. She sat in the dirt a lot, and didn't understand why she shouldn't stand on the air matress in her dirty shoes.

David does not like having his picture taken, but he endured it for one shot.

On Saturday we drove to the Tri-Cities for a graduation party given by the Fosters' old friends the Sloughters for their children McClean, Kalin, Kalin's fiance Josh, and Carolyn. We are proud of all these graduates!

And Sunday we drove all the way back home. That is a tedious 5.5-6 hour drive, and I am glad we don't make it often.

The fifth birthday.

As many of you will know, Alexa does not like cake. We made a cake for the candle and for the rest of us to eat. Alexa is still a little uncertain about the whole candle thing too. When you think about it, this is understandable, we have this odd little ritual of baking her a cake once a year, and putting a candle in it, then we sing to her and blow it out. We only put one candle in because she is a little worried by it.

There is the exceedingly unflattering photo of me blowing out the candle for her. (When she blows she holds her nose and spits a bit, which we thought would not add to the flavor of the cake.)

And then Alexa got to have strawberries while we ate her cake. She opened her presents and played with them and cried when she had to go to bed. Carolyn and Penny came for the party, so we had a nice time.

Yesterday was also the last day of school, a sad day for mommy and Alexa!

A little party.

We had a little party for Alexa's birthday on Friday. She gets a little overwhelmed with too many new people. Tayler wanted them to have matching dresses for convention, and so they brought Alexa a beatiful dress as a gift. She also received a book, which she loved! Carleen knows her well!

Tayler and Alexa got to ride horses at the same time as a special birthday gift, and we got to see the newborn Welsh pony.

I wanted to take him home with me, he is so cute.

General Business

I haven't written here in so long, so I'll try to update a little. Here is Alexa in her cute Sunday clothes.. I am not sure why we hadn't put her glasses on yet. If I stand her on the piano bench she holds still long enough to take a picture. She seems to have hit the terrible two's or three's now that she is almost five. Every time I ask her to do something she runs the other way. She now has angry crying fits when David leaves for work, or when I deny her something she wants. You know the kind, where they go limp and fall on the ground and pull away. I am trying to do the thing where you give her two choices, so that she feels more in charge, but sometimes it's hard to think of two good options.

She still goes to therapy, once every two weeks, speech therapy and occupational therapy. This picture is just her playing on the ramp and stairs, I am not sure why she is carrying the pull rope.

We had a big garage sale and sold all the baby stuff. It was a relief to get it all out of the house.

I have been making scones right and left. Rhubarb scones mainly. Thanks for the recipe Holly! Here it is.

3 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

6 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix together and cut in

1/2 C butter

then stir in

1 cup milk

1 egg

If it is really hard to stir at this point I add a little extra milk

Then stir in whatever you want, fruit, chocolate chips, coconut

Drop onto a lightly greased baking sheet and bake at 400 for fifteen minutes.

If you like (and I do) ice with a little powdered sugar/milk glaze.

Also I have been very into making lemonade lately. They have good lemons at the coop and I have made two pitchers of lavender lemonade and one of raspberry. Both delicious!

Lavender lemonade

1/4 to 1/2 cup dried lavender

1 Cup sugar

5-6 lemons

Make tea with the lavender, allow to steep for 10 minute, strain into the lemon juice and sugar, dilute to 1/2 gallon approximately

Raspberry Lemonade.

Make the same way, minus the tea and dump a pint of raspberries in, mash them against the side of the pitcher with a spoon, and then let the whole thing sit in the refridgerator for a day or so. The raspberries sort of dissolve into the lemonade and make it so wonderful!

I got to lope/canter at my horseback riding lesson Tuesday. I am not sure if those two are the same thing..(Carleen?). I wasn't terrible graceful at it, and thus am very sore in the part of me that hits the saddle. I love it though, so fast!

We have the big meeting at the school today to decide where Alexa goes to school next year. This has been a very paperwork laden process, and seems sort of ridiculous, but we should get it finished and figured out today.