a trip home...some of the first week

Oregon will always be home to me.  It's a kind of wonderful place!  My parents and grandmother are there and it's always great to see them, the town is quiet/peaceful (insert deep breath here).  We were kind of in a whirlwind preparing for the rest of the family to get there and still managed to have a good time!

clouds....

blaine and i sitting on the steps in front of the art museum in baker city.

halfway to halfway, my dad and blaine...

mom and i....

dad on his rebuilt bmw....born to ride!

an introduction to comics...

Blaine discovers Calvin and Hobbes.  Sometimes he laughed and laughed!  

And there were other times where I'm sure he wasn't comprehending but forged ahead anyway :).

blaine-ism....

Blaine said, "Mom, when you say that you're not pretty, that's like saying that you don't like the way Heavenly Father made you.  It's like someone saying that they don't like your art."

He can be deep sometimes.

a bit of catching up...

Alayna about to race the biggest 15k in the country!

Not even close to all of the people that were there, 20,000+.

Blaine being piraty.  hahaha

just one, for now....

I've been meaning to do a post on my sister's visit here, but have not gotten around to shifting the pictures from media (a) to media (b).  We'll get there!

This is a picture of Blaine and his first school project.  Each student had to pick an insect to talk about.  Blaine wanted to do his on dragonflies but another classmate got to it first....he panicked and picked the first one that came to mind.....the lady bug.  No worries, we both got into finding out more about them!  For instance, did you know that lady bugs can eat up to 60 aphids a day?  Dudes, that's nuts!

some goings on and on and on and on and on.....

And on, I tell you!  I swear, if we ever get done with this wallpaper and bathroom fiasco I will never complain again.  Oh look, now I've lied as well.

Here it is, Satan's toilet.  Plaster patches, wallpaper stuck in crevices....ick!  We removed the mirror so we can paint behind and I'll remove the light fixture within the next couple of days.  We're going to paint it satin brushed nickle just to update it a bit.  On Saturday we plan on painting the walls a nice blue/grey and then it will be over.  Over!

A random picture of Blaine in Grandpa's tree.  He has to climb it every time we go over there.

And look, the devil's kitchen.  Actually, not near as horrifying as the bathroom (to me at least).  This one will probably be in process for a while.  We've got beadboard planned and some new molding.  I eventually want to paint the cabinets and get new hardware, but not as in a rush as we were with the a fore-mentioned Satan's toilet.

My 2 tomato and pepper plants.  Aren't they awesome?  Can't wait until they produce!  I call them my ladies and talk to them as dear old friends every time we're outside.  Live.  Please live, my dear little ladies!

So it has come to this?  Face masks were necessary, I'm tellin' ya.

the birthday boy turns 7!

A lot of our pictures did not turn out very well...sorry!  I let Blaine open one present before school (no picture) and he chose the one from Oma and Papa Dennis.  They got him the greatest book called "The Dangerous Book for Boys".  He loved it so much and kept browsing through the pages to see what he was going to make/do first!

We went out to Kan-Ki for his birthay dinner (which is free).  It's his and our favorite place to go, for sure and Chef Johnny was very entertaining!  You can see Blaine's Aunt Satha in the background :).  Everything was so, so tasty!

Happy Birthday my little dude, so glad to have you in my life....I love you so much!

it's been pretty uneventful really....

DIY wallpaper removal, not for the faint of heart.  I guess we'll just have to keep plugging away at it...pray for us!

Our new clock...a gift from Michael because I've been under the weather, I love it so much!

And this is Blaine, our super-carnivore.  He ate a quarter pound of pork tonight....Is that sick or what?

new adventures....

Christmas was a delight....picture the following day for me though, if you will.  I hear coughing from both boys and Michael's got this weird look on his face.  Two Dr visits and two pharmacies later, we're pretty grumpy.  Me especially...for which I feel terrible (maybe because I'm well and there's guilt to be felt haha).  So the last two days had been an indoor carnival.  We wanted to get out of the house but still couldn't be around people without risking contagion.  What to do.....what to do.  Well, what about a Sunday drive?  We always used to do that as kids...it's kind of a nice lil break.  And since we live in a new part of town, we thought we'd do some exploring.  It was not a disappointment, let me tell you!  Actually, it was absolute nature heaven.  Heaven!  Here's a picture of Blaine and I by the water.  It felt so good just to be alive, you know what I mean?  Do a little exploring of your own, you just might be surprised at what you find!!

P.S.  Sorry for the whining......I won't do it again!

Merry Christmas!

Our first Christmas tree in the new house - all decorated and purty.

Blaine and his gift from Gram, Rudolph!  I'm dreading the year he no longer wants to go to Build-A-Bear.  Hopefully, that's light years away~

I wish you all such a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic new year!

Love from,

The Vorwallers

Here it is....our new home!

Our very first addition, a Christmas tree!  We didn't let Blaine know that we were closing.  So we picked him up from school, bought our tree and surprised him by taking it to the new house.

Our lanai...it will be a nice place for the dude to play when it's rainy out :).

The yard needs a lot of work, but certainly has potential.  I was charmed by the trellis and white picket fence but the "grass" leaves a lot to be desired.  We'll get there in the end, though :).

Hope you enjoyed a peek into the newest chapter of our lives!

"happy thanksgiving back."

And if you're wondering about the title, it's in reference to the movie 'You've Got Mail'.  Let me know if you get it. :).  Anyhow, we've had a very busy week and it's been wonderful.  Blaine got his new hearing aid molds.  They're called 'skeleton molds' because there's a little cut out where you can see a bit of his ear.  What do you think?  We really like them! 

Blaine is very proud of his Native American heritage.  He was super quiet yesterday morning and came out bedecked in this chief's head-dress.  He made it all by himself.  Pretty amazing, no?  I was so, so proud of him and his dedication to making it.

He was pretty proud of himself, too.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

odd ducks....

Gotta say, Blaine, Mike and I are all odd ducks.  What are you gonna do?  I often write down funny things that Blaine says.  It's a way to journal his childhood, I guess.  So, without further ado here are some more Blaine-isms.

After passing gas (gross, I know)  Blaine says, "Sorry mom, but it was just a delightful little toot."
And this morning after I asked him to pick out a book for the ride to school;
Me- "That one doesn't have pictures buddy, is that okay?"
B- "Yeah, I make pictures in my mind with my imagination anyway!"

I hugged him real close after that.

walk for hearing and a little clarke in the park...

digging into some kettle corn...

he loves clowns and she did a great little magic trick for him...

blaine and i getting ready to walk!

him and his old school chums...

bagpipers....awesome sauce!  one of the pipers was also hearing impaired and bilaterally aided, very cool to see the hard of hearing pursuing music :).

blaine was one of 7 winners in the raffle...lucky boy!

This was our first year participating in the Walk 4 Hearing.  It always impresses me how much people give of themselves to put something like this on!  They all spoil these kids rotten (they do deserve it sometimes :).  Free kettle corn, treats, pizza, comic books, Frisbees..just endless!  I love meeting up with friends and getting to know new people and hearing their stories.  It was a fun and special day~

trunk-or-treat....

a mummy and his mommy, great trunk-or-treat this year!

love a good pumpkin patch....

the selection was insane and the price was right!

blaine pretending to be sad...couldn't do it...  we ran into his first speech therapist.  carol was the one to nudge us in the direction of an audiologist.  she literally changed our lives and i cried....sheesh!

awww, a little cinderella moment haha.

go jaguars!

like papa, like grandson...

his "silly" face...

heck yes, we belted that guy in!  best pumpkin(s) ever!!!

it's been a while.

Went to a friends birthday party last week.  We had such a great time!  They were gracious hosts and we saw friends and teachers from school that we'd not seen since graduation.  I wish we could see them all more often :).

Is it just me or does Blaine have the prettiest red lips you've ever seen? Lol.  Honestly though.  He's quite the "pouter".

So Cousin Carter let Blaine borrow his robot dinosaur.  Blaine named him Honor.  He then convinced me to throw a birthday party for him.  I even made a cake.  Ridiculous? Yes...but it was fun!