You chose....poorly

Hint: Next time, when faced with the choice between paper and your legs....
don't choose your legs.


Oh dear! I could be Pollyanna about this and say, at least she didn't write on the walls couldn't I? After doing this we went over to Granny and Papa's (Russ and Judy's) and after only being there a few minutes Evelyn asked, "Uhm, Granny? Can I use your baftub? I need to give my legs a baf" Apparently, she was aware of the problem.

Summer Blueberry Pie

This weekend we went and picked some blueberries and marionberries. Evelyn has been asking all summer if we can make blueberry pie. Every time we picked any blueberries or got some at the market her first question was always, do we have enough for pie? I told Evelyn we needed at least three cups of blueberries (the recipe calls for 3-4) and even had to go so far as finding a picture on the web of a strainer full of blueberries and then showed her our empty strainer to prove we didn't have enough for a pie. This was devastating news for a 3 year old girl who just wanted to make some pie. So we finally went and picked 6 pounds of blueberries this weekend. And what do you think Evelyn's first question was for me this morning? "Mommy, do we have enough for a pie?", She even asked me if we have 2 cups of blueberries; can we say 'on a mission'? But oh, what a beautiful pie we made! And what a delicious pie we ate!

and while we're at it... one more set

Evelyn's Grandpa Russ took some great pictures while we were all at Bella Beach( Evelyn calls him "Papa" and when he has a camera in his hand we lovingly call him "pappaRussy" because he can take 30 pictures in 30 seconds). Here are a few more of my favorite shots that he got.

This first picture has a story behind it. It was the first day, we had all just arrived and had gone down to the beach first thing. We were all together on the beach by the waves and Evelyn was flirting with the surf but always turning right back around. Then my "Mommy bell" went off, I could tell she wasn't going to turn around and I started running towards her. Before I could reach her a wave came up and knocked her down and rolled her under, it took no time at all. Auntie Deb was right there and grabbed her but the water was so cold it knocked the wind out of poor Evelyn. Evelyn didn't get any water in her mouth, and she didn't cry at all, but she was very quiet. I don't think she knew what to think. She was covered in sand, it was matted in her hair. We took her back up to the house and gave her a warm bath, she filled the bottom of the tub with sand. Evelyn may not have known what to think but I did, it was way too close a call. The ocean is never to be under-estimated, especially the Oregon Coast and I thanked our Guardian Angels for safe keeping.

What a bunch, here are a few shots of all of us together.

ISOM FAMILY REUNION 2009, BELLA BEACH.

Bella Beach

Family reunions around here are always fun and this year our annual 4th of July get together involved campfires, slumber parties with cousins, swimming in a hot tub "kool" and oh yes! the BEACH! We broke with tradition this year and headed West instead of East, opting for the Oregon Coast instead of Central Oregon. Andy's cousin Jeff was able to find 2 houses to rent that were next to each other and so on Thursday afternoon 32 Isoms (McGarry's, Palmers and Fossens included) moved into the neighborhood.

Evelyn was in HEAVEN, "S'More" please!



Wouldn't be at an Isom gathering without the "PappaRussy" there to document each bite!

Bella Beach S'More

The first night all the cousins got into their PJ's and watched a movie and then it was time to climb into the bunk bed room. Naturally Evelyn thought she was going to sleep there too with the big kids, but after 10:00pm it was clear that Evelyn does not do well at the Slumber part of slumber parties and we went down to our own King sized bed (ooh la la!).

above: sleepy cousins
below: snuggling with her cousin Ben

The house wasn't far from the beach and since it was a boiling 95 degrees in Portland, the weather was on the foggy cool side on the coast.

Cool weather never stopped anyone from digging great big holes in the sand!

Bella Beach church campfire

We always have church together as a family when we all get together. Again, we broke from tradition and had church on Saturday night rather than Sunday morning because of the checkout time. Andy and his oldest brother Scott played and led the music, Great Grandpa acted as the music stand.

Here's a rare shot of Scott not making a goofy face which he's famous for.

Here's a shot of Grandma and Grandpa in prayer (I was praying too I just had one eye on the camera)

The Isom's are not afraid to do a little dancing around the campfire either, especially when a darling little 3 year old boy is leading us.

"You have to write that down"

Evelyn told my Mom what she wanted to be for Halloween next year. She wants to be a man. "A man in a suite, like Steve (Johnson)". Steve is the Associate Pastor at Milwaukie Christian Church and he and Evelyn see each other every Wednesday after Evelyn is done going to the playgroup that meets there. She loves to talk to Steve, apparently she wants to dress up like Steve. I just might not encourage that one, and keep talking up the Ballerina idea...

Here's a account from Gramma Claire, she posted this on her FaceBook: "A quote from Evelynie as she found a 4 day old popsicle stick laying on a post-it note, looking something like a flag; " Oh Gramma! You made a crap!("craft" in 3 year-old language)"

Evelyn wants to snuggle and hear a story with me after we have said our prayer and said good night to Daddy. She wanted me to sing her a song about a cat and the only song I could think of was the old camp song, "The cat came back the very next day." So I sing sweetly to my daughter while snuggling up

"Old Mr. Johnson had trouble of his own,

He had a black cat that wouldn't leave his home,

He tried and he tried to give the cat away,

He gave it to a man going far, far away, far away.

But the cat came back the very next day,

The cat came back, they thought he was a goner,

But the cat came back, he just couldn't stay away

Away, Meow, Meow, Meow."

It's a weird life. :)

Other songs we sing at night are, "Oh dear, what can the matter be?" "All the pretty little ponies" "Tell me why" "Edelweiss" "This land is your land, This land is my land" "You are my sunshine" ..... to name a few.

Evelyn learned a new song that she now sings all the time, "There were 3 Jolly Fishermen" When my sister was little she loved this same song and we sang it to her over and over. Seems to be a genetic thing, because we are right back in the same routine.

Evelyn loves telling her Dad things she deems important and asks for his attention by saying, "Dad, dis is serious" and proceeds to speak in serious tones about whatever is on her mind. The topic is most often about clay and how you make a bowl out of clay. She will go on and on and on, if you can stand it.

Summer Pickin'

Summer is here and so are our favorite berries, Raspberries! We decided Evelyn needed a long sleeved shirt like Gramma so we stopped at the second hand store and grabbed one and then we headed out. We all wore our "work shirts" so our arms wouldn't get scratched and we headed out to the berry patch. It was the very first day of the season and we picked 9.5 lbs with no fussing from our 3 year old berry pickin champ. She didn't hesitate to help herself often to our buckets of already picked berries and we don't know how many truly RED berries she picked and ate, but she picked and was thoroughly impressed with herself over the small amount she had in her bucket at the end of the day. The girl at the barn was a good sport and put Evelyn's bucket on the scale just as she had done with our full buckets and sure enough, Evelyn's bucket weighed in at .25 of a pound! They should have weighed Evelyn herself before and after picking and they would have had a better idea of how much she picked...