Rocking out

Last night was a thank you event for the volunteers at the Ronald McDonald House. Lots of good food, great music, and wonderful people were there.

This is Jill and Max. Jill is one of my favorite folks at the house, and I ADORE Max. He is one of the best natured babies I've ever met. And he's too darn cute as well.

Lots of good food and CAKE. Yes folks, you know how I feel about CAKE.

And yes Jennifer: it doesn't matter that I had a peanut buster parfait at Dairy Queen earlier that day. Nope. Mary had CAKE. A very, very small piece, but still CAKE. And Mary was happy.

CAKE.

A very nice note from some of the families.

And the music was wonderful. Happy and light and they were good! One of the girls staying at the house played the violin for some of the songs and she did a great job. She's so talented, so I wasn't surprised at how well she played. That made the evening even better.

Cute boys were there. Even better evening.


And gifts! We got bags and coffee mugs. I like gifts. A good evening was had by all.

And no matter what they say: I get SO MUCH MORE than I give at the House. So much more.

Dancing with the stars

Sunshine on the dog

Deacon is loving the sunshine. He lays in the grass (when he's not digging it up: don't mention that to Mark. sigh) and just hangs out. Happy dog.

Lire on the other hand looks for a lap to sit in and cuddle up. Doug is her favorite target.

Steven is too busy playing video games to have a cat sit in his lap.

And Deacon just hangs out. I haven't got the heart to tell him it's suppose to rain tomorrow.

He'll find out soon enough.

Hanging out in the sunshine

Sunday was an amazing weather day here in Portland. The temps were just how we like it, not too hot and beautiful blue skies. Mark and I went to Cari's to pick up her camera (she bought a new one so she's letting me use her older one: thanks Cari!) and we hung out for a while.

Mary Jo, notice the bike behind Mark? He says you had one just like it.

Cari worked in the garden while Mark and I sat around, enjoying the weather.

She got quite a bit done.

Tyler worked on a bike. Busy, busy, busy times.

The cats hung out, chasing bumble bees and romping in the grass.

And being just plain ole nosey.

It's a tough life being a cat.

Sweet Cuppin Cakes

Baked up a batch of chocolate chip cookies at the Ronald McDonald House. Smelled so good!

I have to admit it: I'm not a big fan of chocolate chip cookies, so making them doesn't tempt me very much. Even the batter doesn't draw me in.

Now cupcakes are an other matter! I love, love, love sweet cupin cakes, and when they're in my house they call to me, assuring me that they love me too, and want to spend some quality time with me. And that darn ole cream cheese frosting, it calls me too. I've become very fond of cream cheese frosting. We've grown close, and hang out from time to time.

I practiced using multiple colors of frosting while piping. Worked out pretty good.

And I tried using different colors in the cake mix as well. Fun and festive!

The cupcakes looked very springy and made me happy. They tasted good (remember, we're good friends. I couldn't stand the thought of not letting them know how much they mean to me).

I hope the folks at the House liked them as much as I do. :)

Beach Trip, part 2

When we got to the beach there was some relaxing going on. Isn't that what's great about the beach? It's like a law that you should relax. Excellent.

Our little mother needed some extra shut eye. I remember those days.

And our little mother needed some family time, hanging out with the crew. Uno was the game of the day.

Hanging out.

Hmmm...something has caught Gavyn's eye.

All right, the guys have found a fight on TV! Guy stuff!

Doug hanging out, playing Uno, watching guy stuff.

Jessica, not playing Uno, not watching fights, and wearing an Oregon shirt. That rocks.

Other games were played.

Games on a TV.

Randy got some computer time. While taking this picture I noticed something.

That something was a cute little Gus hanging out underneath the table.

Sunday morning we began packing up.

Thor found a hippo, probably thought he could pack that up to take home, and began to look for someone to play with him and his new hippo.

While Jessica admired the hippo, she didn't fall for those pleading, very sweet eyes. And I do mean Thor's, not the hippo.

Gus hangs out with mom. This dog LOVES his mom.

Final note: the house next door is for sale, so Mary Jo looked up the price.

Are you ready? Three million dollars!!!!! GADS. And you're looking at their front yard. Yes, there's a beach in front of it, but GADS.

Rip City

The wonderful folks at the Ronald McDonald House gave us free tickets to last night's Blazer Game. Rip City baby!

Blazers prepare for the game.

Cars flew. Who knew?

Noise was made (and yes, I did my share).

Ronald McDonald was even there! Three kids were on brightly colored tractors, racing for certain sections to win a prize.

The young lady on the pick tractor was racing for OUR section. Go girlfriend, go!! Mommy needs a big mac!

Ah, it was not to be. This young man won the race. Guess I'll have to buy my own big mac.

Thanks Ronald. It was a great game and we had fun. You rock.