McKenzie and Ashlyn had a date with Plain Grandma today. These days are SO important to them They got to go see a movie, their choice was Nancy Drew, which has been out awhile, so they had to really hunt for a theater playing it. They had to drive to Lloyd Center in Portland to see it The girls both said they loved it!

On their way back, Grandma stopped at Michael’s to let them pick out a few accessories for their American Girl dolls. Ashlyn has Samantha and McKenzie has Nelly. Bailey has a bitty baby. The girls LOVE these dolls and their collection of clothes and accessories. Michael’s sells a line of doll clothes and accesories that fit the AG dolls called Springfield Collection. The great thing is they are a fraction of the cost of actual AG stuff, making it actually affordable to buy outside of a major holiday. Ashlyn picked out a nightgown that came with a blanket (this nightgown is sooo cute), bunny slippers and a set of doll hangers, McKenzie picked out a fancy dress, black dress shoes, and a cell phone. LOL. They also both got sun visors and picked out an outfit for Bailey (thank goodness, she would have been very jealous!), a little crocheted tank top. They wanted pictures of their dolls. McKenzie wanted to make sure everyone knew that her Nelly’s dress up nickname was “Miss Mayor” which I have no idea what that means LOL.

Last night David had to attend a function at work (where he won a new PSP - yah!), so I took the 4 youngest kids and went for a drive before dinner. We ventured out into our new little town.. and happened upon a little park. It’s tucked away behind the local elementary school. There are a few baseball fields (possibly the home of the little league here, we’ll find out) and two big playgrounds. One is older, built completely of wood. It has one of those rickety bridges you hold your breath while you are crossing afraid it might collapse, a tire swing (nothing like getting sick from spinning around on a tire swing ;), and one of those steep metal slides that get so hot in the sun, they burn your legs. It was really cool looking and we started there, the kids played for a little bit, then we went over to the other part with the “modern” playground with all the things they are used to playing with that don’t require a whole lot of old fashioned imagination LOL. The best thing about it, we were there for 1 hour and there was only one other little family that came during that time. It was really quiet and peaceful! There are trails we will explore next time along a creek, heavily forested, almost too spooky to explore without my husband :)… very cool place for me to sit and read while the kids burn off some energy!

I didn’t have my camera with me but I did snap 2 pics with my cell phone. As always the pictures are clickable on my site

Did you know that Ikea is coming to Portland?! It opens July 25th and according to the news, they have reserved 40 Portland police officers to help direct traffic the opening week. Okay, that’s just nuts! Maybe we’ll go… in a year or so. Think the crowds will have dwindled by then? I’ve been to this store once, up by Seattle. It’s a fun store to browse and shop at, their play area for younger kids is a nice bonus so you can take your time shopping. But this store being in Portland (NO TAX!!!) will be attracting alot of people for a long time I’d guess. I am excited to go there…. we need some bunkbeds and a computer desk and…. the list is a mile long LOL Not worth wading through those nasty crowds though. They couldn’t pay me to visit anytime soon!

Something about this picture, made me want to grab my camera and snap a pic. My kids don’t always get along but it’s moments like this that make me remember that they really do love each other, McKenzie picking up a brush and brushing her sister’s hair after a shower… while they were playing on the computer together. Ashlyn was so jealous Kenzie got her hair cut over the weekend while she was at her daddy’s house. I promised to take her sometime this week, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to let her get it that short. She says she wants it straight and short like McKenzie’s. I told her, people pay to have their hair like hers. LOL!

Moon Sand Review
Moon Sand…. it was the one thing my kids requested last Christmas that I didn’t get them. We had a carpeted dining room in our last house. Here we have tile, so I let Kenzie pick that out yesterday while we were shopping with her birthday money. I wish we’d have gotten the castle playset, with the container that holds everything… though that seems like it would only work if one child was playing with it at a time.

The moon sand is SO messy. Tanner and McKenzie played this morning and it was everywhere. I let them know whatever fell on the floor was getting swept into the garbage. McKenzie’s area had sand everywhere. It’s almost more like crumbly cookie dough.. it’s not really gritty like “sand”. We had to use a toothpick to scrape it out of the molds when they were done. It did pick up like playdo, picking a big piece and sticking it to all the little ones, but there was SOO many crumbles it was a huge mess.. and it sticks to your hands like sand does, tiny pieces all over… So… I think we’ll stick to playdo from now on, easier to shape, clean up and just all around better