The Coombs Family

It's been a very long time since my sister and I got to take a trip together. Caleb and I went to a family reunion in Bend over the weekend and my sister joined us when it was over. Of course, it was her family too, but she avoided the reunion and just came after. She apparently had other plans, but I think she just didn't want to sit in the hot sun and stare at grass for two days. Caleb had to go to work, so it was me and my kids and my sister and her kids too. My aunt was there with her son too. We swam at the new SHARC swim center they just opened this year. It was very cool and the kids had a blast. We did a 50 mile bike ride for Logan to accomplish his boy scout badge. We ran multiple times together. Went to the park. Ate lots of food. And stayed up late talking after the kids went to bed. It was really a great week!

Ok, when we bought this house we knew the yard was terrible. I mean awful. Anyone who has come over in the past two years just laughs at what a mess we have on our hands. No real ideas on what we could do and we couldn't tell either. We don't mind a project and we are both pretty creative, but we also hate yard work. We want to be gone on the weekends, not mowing, weeding, and edging. I am allergic to everything in a yard, and most of all- grass. Yuck! Anybody who wants grass in their yard is nuts. I can go in the grass starting in August, and even then I can't let it touch my bare skin. Our front yard is tiny. It's hideous. Caleb takes a week whacker to it every month and just cuts down the weeds. Everyone kept telling us to plant grass to get rid of the weeds, but I would rather lay down a pile of gravel and call it good. Caleb went to school with a kid who has been doing landscaping for a long time. His dad does it too and it's kind of their thing. We hired P...

I got a call at work from Krista, the lady who watches my kids. She said Calvin fell and hit his lip and probably needed stitches. I picked up my purse and ran out of work as quick as I could. I was on hold for 15 minutes trying to reach his doctor, which was aggravating. But once they answered I was at Krista's door and could see what was going on. Calvin was playing in a bedroom, tripped, and fell onto the frame of the bunkbed. Which is metal by the way. The sharp edge of it too. Poor kid always falls, but usually it's the forehead that gets the brunt of it. This time it was his lip. The upper part of his gums really. You can see most of the cut here: We finally reached his doctor and took him in. They didn't give him stitches even though it was still bleeding. It's been 8 hours now and it still bleeds when he talks, eats or drinks anything. It has not stopped him from doing his sound effects for cars and trucks so he spits blood everywhere. Of course, I wore ...

We have a new tradition of hosting a party on the 4th. Our house has an incredible view of lots of firework shows in Salem. It's free, there's no traffic, and young kids can sleep inside if they are too tired. We had over lots of friends and ate way too much food. Our kids loved the sparklers this year and they are finally getting old enough to understand the concept. Here is a great picture of all the kids we had over watching a movie, waiting for it to get dark.  Early that morning our church put on a parade. Each kid was a different state and we got to come up with the costume. My mom went crazy on Shelby's Oklahoma costume. She had a red hat, a Sooners shirt, boots, a gun with a holster, and she was pulling an armadillo as a pet. He had a name tag "spot", which was a nice touch. Shelby loved her costume and wore it proud.  Calvin did not have a costume. He just fell straight into a mud puddle. He was not happy about it as you can tell by the look on ...

Both of my kids were so sick for two weeks straight! The doctor said they both have croup. What is that? Good question. It's when kids cough and it sounds like a bark. Then after they cough, they gasp for air and you think they can't breathe. Both of my kids also threw up many times over the past few weeks. If they run and play too hard, look out! They slept with us in our room for the worst nights because we were worried they could not breathe very well. They couldn't really take any meds, and just needed a humidifier and cold air on them. They were tested for mono and some other stuff too because they have high fevers, no energy, no appetite, and are just laying around. Shelby got her blood drawn and she watched them do it. She loved it. She keeps asking to go back to the doctor. I think it's because she got a popsicle and a sticker, but it could have been the needle. She can't stop talking about them taking her blood. She definitely gets that from her dad. No ...

Our little man is now officially two-years old. We celebrated his birthday by spending a day together with just the four of us. Caleb, Shelby, Calvin and myself took off to Portland where we spent the day. We went to the Children's Museum by the Zoo and let the kids play for hours. Calvin is the perfect age for that place and both kids had a great time. One of his favorite parts was riding the bus there: Next up, we went to a motorcycle store. Calvin (and mostly Caleb) love bikes. He got to sit on them, shove his hand down exhaust pipes, and make cool sounds. We stopped at the water park in Wilsonville and let him play until he was exhausted. He and Shelby ran around like crazy. We didn't plan anything the whole day and just drove around and stopped whenever we thought of something fun. The next day was Father's Day so we combined a party for the dads and Calvin. Unfortunately both of my kids started to get really sick. The whole singing and cake episode was p...

My kids love the zoo. I don't know why we don't go more often. Maybe because we always have to go on a Saturday when there are 9 million people there! Calvin was far more interested in the train. Shelby loved the animals. Caleb and I just laughed at the kids and tried not to lose them with all the crazy people. Calvin hated the tractor, which was pretty funny. Shelby drove it no problem.  Do you see the bear? It walked right in front of the kids over and over. They loved it!