Rainy Days

 dogwood tree bloom

And some days in this place can be, well, rainy. Guess that's just really stating the obvious. It is the Pacific Northwest, it's like a redundancy- Oregon and Rain.  But to give it credit, OR and rain, that is, we did move here during the rainiest season. So, trial by fire...er...rain!

We've definitely had our fun splashing in puddles and playing outside. One of our first purchases was a pair of rubber boots for Ben- "wellies"- as almost all the kids wear them here.  But I've been trying to get more creative with indoor activities, knowing that rain is a feature that doesn't seem to be leaving this place anytime soon. So I busted out the rice for a little sensory fun this past week! Unfortunately, I don't have an oh-so-necessary sensory table to put the neat stuff in.  Set back aside, I went with a "larger" tupperware container and a stern command of "try not to dump the rice on the floor; keep it in the box". Right. Good luck with that. What I should've said was, "Go ahead and just dump all this on the floor and then roll around in it until it's virtually ground into the carpet".  Followed by, "Tessa, just go ahead and start eating this."

the empty tupperware

It stayed in the tupperware for about 5 minutes. Slowly, the boundaries were chipped away at. A jerk of a tonka truck. Two cars crashing, creating a spray of rice. And then handfuls were removed and excitedly rubbed into the carpet. And finally, with one quick, seamless move and a huge grin, Ben flipped the whole thing over.  *sigh*  But, hey, it was only rice.  And thanks to my vacuum cleaner, it was a simple clean-up. Well worth the sensory fun!

Tessa eating rice; she couldn't stop. Moth to a flame.

The toys, the rice... 

Being inside, I've also started to try out some recipes from pinterest. The first was this cool looking bread; crusty bread.   I'd been wanting to try it, but didn't have the necessary and ludicrously priced Le Creuset dutch oven.  But I kept my eye on Walmart, and got this baby for $35! Shipping was $0.45 ... Now that's what I'm talking about it! (Little "eddy-ism" there) And the bread turned out great- just like they said! I added some roasted garlic for a twist and I might add a little more salt next time, but, all in all- tasted just like costco's crusty bread!  : )

Almost like their pic!

In other news- Eddy is still doing well at WOU; things have gotten a bit more stressful as the term is coming to an end (only 2.5 more weeks!).  But he's plugging along, staying focused and studying hard.

I got hired by a local pediatric clinic here in Salem, Childhood Health Associates.  I've only trained in a few days, but it's been going well and is very similar to my last job in MN. My coworkers seem very nice and look forward to getting to know everyone. I'll be working there about 3 days/week... And so far, Eddy and I have been able to make it work without much childcare- woot-woot! : )

And finally- My mom is coming!!! Tessa is turning 1 on the 25th, so Nana is going to stay and help celebrate! Yay!