The Armstrongs

Thursday, June 21, 2007

SPRING HAS SPRUNG... and turned into summer already and I've been dinking around somewhere NOT keeping up on our AMAZING family blog! I have no idea where the time all slipped away....

We have a new driveway in the "upper field"! We (you like how I slip myself into this laborous task?)... WE dug a trench and installed a french drain to help control the natural springs that soggy things up in the winter, and then brought loads of rock and spread out this great driveway for all the cars that seem to need a parking spot all the time! (What's up with all the cars around here all the time, anyway?!)

Spring turns our attention to the outside yard and the beautiful flowers and bushes that wonderful people lovingly planted years ago. I love to take as much credit as possible for the amazing beauty everywhere - see? I've got some pots out there!

On May 5th, we celebrated 9 years of being married to the most wonderful person on the planet! (The feeling was mutual!!) Jeremy gave me the most beautiful roses.... he never forgets. We went out on a date for our Anniversary this year. I think we saw a movie... it doesn't matter. Dinner, movie, with our kids, on our own... it's nice being together all the time.

We love our home in Damascus, although, living on Sunnyside Rd, we don't get to see this view very often. At our house, the whole world that exists is in the back yard. If I angle the camera just right, it looks like we live in the woods! Well, with goats and peacocks and turkey-things and chickens at our neighbors, we definitely feel outside of the "city"!!

Saturday, May 05, 2007

I started a new business!!!

My website is www.suzanne24.com/LauraArmstrong

You MUST come check it out!!!!

I held my Premiere Party on April 24th and put out my jars as a decorative centerpiece. (Thanks to family and friends, I've started quite the collection!)

The food is sooooo declicious - "Easy Gourmet" and it's true! I add a touch of this and that like a gourmet chef (wannabe) and it turns out great! Jeremy is a great food critique to practice on, and he was scraping up the last herbs on the plate... so, see?! I mean DELICIOUS!!!

But I also have great Beauty products, too!

These have been made with organic ingredients starting with seaweed and pomegranite. This is the Hydrating Therapy cleansing line, which doesn't strip and dry out my face and calms down my dry, itchy spots - I actually look forward to washing my face! (That's a first!) It is so refreshing and massaging.

So, why am I going on and on about products for sale?! :-) Well, they are great - and I haven't meantioned even a small percentage, but I'm having a lot of fun sharing everything! So far the products have been a huge hit with everyone who's tried them - not to mention the bonus of helping out ME!!!! A very noble cause!

Baseball Season is now open!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In Oregon, we start practicing and playing in pretty soggy conditions. Most of the first games were cancelled/postponed due to downpours, and the ones we have played were on chilly, damp ground. But what's that compared to the game?!

Trinity loves it and never notices the weather! She likes to play with everyone's hat

s when they're not looking! :-) Watch out for the little girl with the poof of blond curls!!!

Shad is in "Farmers" this year, #5 on the A's Team. He is batting to a pitching machine or an up-and-coming pitcher, and he really likes hitting the ball!

Go, Shad!!!!!!

Go Aidan!!!!!!

Aidan is in T-ball on the Bear's Team. Cam and Trin like going to both of the boys' games. At Aidan's field there's a playset close enough for Dad and Mom to watch everone all at the same time - what a big bonus!! At Shad's field, there's a huge stretch of grass and an abundance of imagination with no way of getting lost. Perfect!

Monday, April 16, 2007

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

Easter is amazing... there's so much significance, so much drama, so much death and life... that looking for eggs and chocolate bunnies is a lot of fun!

Memories... I remember getting up SUPER early, dressing in a beautiful summer dress and putting on a new, matching hat and going to the very important "Sunrise Service" in the school field in Scappoose. I especially remember trying to wake up and the shock of the cold air in such a frilly outfit.

...I remember going to Grandpa and Grandma's to hunt for Easter eggs outside and all the cousins and playing in my pretty outfit and eating food that everyone said was sooooo delicious. I always thought it was all a little cold from everyone trying to coordinate the big dinner and then gather everyone at the same time. (sorry Mom, it's true!) I remember having to wait before I could eat my eggs until "the count" had been completed and all eggs verified "found". I remember loving to eat those hard boiled eggs with blue and pink stains on the whites. There were never enough eggs for me to eat. I always had enough chocolate, though. I horded my stash for the whole year, only eating my favorites when the next Easter was coming up for me to get a new stash. No one could touch my chocolate stash... (interesting! no wonder Jeremy always thinks I've got something hiding somewhere... and he's usually right!!)

We haven't decided decisively what sort of memories we want for our kids.

This year we had a chocolate hunt inside the house after church. That was because we heard it would be standing room only and went to the early service to get a seat.

This year Nana and Papa Jim came to church with us and joined us at home for a huge Easter breakfast of french toast made from homemade bread and strawberries, scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon.

This year Papa Jim helped the boys make a boat and tested it in a big bucket of water. Nana helped everyone have a lot of fun and stay clean.

This year we went to my grandparents' house for a delicious "dinner". I brought some of the food, and I thought it was all amazingly good. :-) The kids hunted for eggs outside with Elliott and Anna and didn't have to wait for "the count". They squished at least 1/2 their eggs, though. I know some of our family hold that dinner sacred and Uncle Bert has never missed an Easter. I guess I love the relationship with my grandparents and the oportunity to see my mom and dad while my kids have fun, too. I would have chatted all day, I think. That's my favorite part.

This year we stopped by Brian and Tanya's and met little baby Owen. What a little cutie!!! Judah woke from his nap to find his house full of kids! We had a lot of fun talking about this and that and nothing and babies and what to feed kids and how messy they can be and houses and finding lots to build on and all kinds of important things.

This year was a great year. If I had my wishes for future Easter traditions... there would be chocolate, as always, maybe a Passover meal or something to really pause and remember WHY, we would see Jim and Trish and Dad and Mom and the boys would feel the importance of family. I don't like burdening my grandparents, but I always want to see them and I love sharing that with my children. I love the Hunt idea, and I think I would try to do more, not less. There are always treasures to be found and Easter Egg hunting gets everyone in the mood for watching for them. Breakfast was fun. Church is important, of course. I guess I want it all. Only, next time I want to take a lot more BETTER pictures!!!!!

On April 1st, 2007, Shad Jeremy Armstrong was baptized at Abundant Life Christian Church.

We sort of skipped any fanfare and let this be a family event. Aidan stayed with us for the service to watch/witness, and some friends happened to join us. A lot of people have stopped me in church who were excited for all of us as a family to celebrate with our son.

Shad, obviously, was quite decisively thrilled!

I can't believe I got a picture at all, quite frankly. But that's OK, 'cause our church took some pictures, too, and is sending a video.

Congratulations, Shad!!

The Armstrong Family made it to the beach!!!!

We found some business we had to do out there, of course, and then off w

went to play quite spontaneously!!

The Oregon beach is unique, I think. The Idea of "beach" implies the ocean and swimming or surfing... unless your a normal Oregonian family. Then you know to pack coats and extra shoes because you'll be bundling up against the cold wind and driving sand. If you plan on picnicing on the beach, you plan on eating a little sand - "sandy sandwiches" - because the sand never stays near the ground. That nice wind caries it right into the next bite your taking. Children always come running up with some amazing treasure to share and shake sand all over the picnic area, even if you hide behind a log. If you do find a nice log spot, pre-check for broken glass or some unfortunate find previous visitors forgot. Oregon beaches are clean, don't mistake me, I love them, but lots of people visit at all hours and you might have little ones, like we do.

We hadn't been to the beach for 3 1/2 years. I know! It's hard to believe! But there's a serious story behind that. When I was pregnant with Camten, Jeremy's dad had come to live in Portland near us for his last year because he had lung cancer. Looking back we wish we had understood more of the serious march of cancer. At the time we were frustrated with the grim acceptance of Jeremy's relatives, and we were trying to approach the situation with hope and, well, basically denial. The day he died we were at the beach. It just happened to be the weekend we went to the beach every year, and we had visited with him the day before... needless to say, we were caught off guard and the thought of returning to the beach to play was a little too hard to swallow for quite a while. That's how this little trip came to be Camten and Trinity's first trip ever.

Such a wonderful, fun place should not have such difficult mental connections, but sometimes life is hard and that's the way it goes. Our kids will never associate the beach with Grandpa Bob, but for Jeremy and I, it's not so bad to have such an amazing place as a anchor for our memories of him. It's definitely a majestic place. We won't push ourselves to play hard or stay long, but we already started building new memories. The beach is an important part of living in Oregon, and our children really enjoyed the visit. So did Jeremy and I.

The reason WHY we went to the beach was so important, I hardly know what to write about our trip!!!

We found a great spot that was super sandy and fun to play at. We brought a box of yummy food to eat that got all sandy, of course. We dug holes and found a bunch of shell treasures. We carried out a whole bag of shell pieces, I mean, Treasures.

We found a seagul... and then 50!! We had fun sharing the bread crusts left that we couldn't eat and watching the "me-me-me" crowd. One almost took a piece out of Jeremy's h

and - I'm not sure which one backed off, but I think it was the seagul.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

We're having so much fun, you'd never guess how busy we feel!!

Camten discovered the world of Hwy 35 in the Hot Wheels collection and has been watching the videos over and over and sneaking his brother's Hwy 35 cars when they're at school. If you know Camten, you know it's really hard for him to give them back, too. He wraps his little fingers around a Hot Wheels car and it's not easily pryed out. But Mom had a great idea! I checked on ebay and found some opened Hwy 35 cars up for bid! I didn't know how they would be a hot bid item otherwise I wouldn't have printed out a copy for Camten to carry around before they arrived... yes, I spent too much on little cars. But what was I to say to that beautiful face?! Next time I'll keep my ideas a secret until I know I can afford it!!

Trinity is rarely clean and huggable - she's often sweet and sticky and huggable just like her beloved bear! but this is one of those squeaky clean moments that friends and relatives never see, since I give her a bath before bed. So I got a picture to share the joy. :-) Just, we don't recomend that anyone else hold Bear. At least, not until I can sneak him away for a thorough washing!!

Camten's showing his stash of cars. It looks like a lot to me, and I hope you'll agree, because around here his stash is very small and beginner-looking. Shad assures me he has many more cars. Camten is picking out his favorites - see how a Hot Wheels fits in his hand? It's a little harder to love 6 at the same time, but he's practicing.

Aidan has boundless energy and boundless imagination to match. He is often moving quickly, running or spinning, and always with a descriptive story to match. After multiple "look at how my wheel's in the air, Mom" I try and get a verbal-only play by play for all the Monster Truck rallies. Here I believe we are looking at a Cyclone - or a "donut" for Dad.

One of our favorite Aidan imaginations is the Scorpian car with pincers and tail. Ever since Jon and Angie gave Aidan a bug book with cool pictures and poster and glow-in-the-dark bugs (which are his treasured pets), Aidan is fascinated with bugs. The Scorpian looks the scariest, so it's his favorite.

We also like the various speaker trucks and cars that Aidan comes up with. He loves speakers and especially big ones that bounce to the music. A shopping trip to Walmart, for example, is a good trip according to Aidan, if we can pause at the car speaker section for a moment. It inspires him for the whole day!

Shad is the nicest, kindest big brother around. I caught him enjoying a quiet moment all to himself - very rare, but highly enjoyed. He is usually the one to make peace between everyone and include them in his complicated plays. His favorites are cars, of course, Monster trucks, which are permanently set up right now, or adding tracks or tinker toys to the same theme. He can make a cool tinker toy car and jump it on his big, red jump (in the background there) so that it falls to pieces to Shad's complete delight. All the parts flying is really cool, I guess. They try to shoot their cars through the ladder rungs on the bunk or off the steps in the living room - whatever results in a good crash.

SMILE!! Nana comes to play and then Dad and Mom suddenly take off - what's up with that?! Trinity's new thing is to sit on people's laps... indefinitely. It's very cute initially. She loves to be held and carried everywhere. Her little face showed complete shock when I didn't immediately answer her upward arms request - she firmly believes everyone wants to carry her all the time. Even at church I'm hearing she likes to spend most of the playtime on someone's lap. Anyone want to arm wrestle me?!

We saw this rainbow right before we experienced one in our family... Shad accepted Jesus into his heart on March 4th. God has always been good to us as a family, and He will continue to bless us. His promises are always trustworthy - but seeing a rainbow so brilliant and so close was a stunning reminder - GOD IS AWESOME!!