Christmas tree hunting

Today was our Christmas hunting expedition. Jason wanted an artificial tree, but I convinced him that Lilli needed the experience of hunting down the perfect tree, cutting it, and bringing it home. Plus, with Oregon being the #1 grower of Christmas trees in the country, we're supporting our local economy! We had an artificial tree last year for the first time, and I was not impressed.

We started with breakfast at Dea's, a local institution. An elderly lady stopped by our table and asked, "Does he know how to say "como estas?" I said, "No, she doesn't" and the lady apologized for calling her a boy, so I didn't bother to bring up that she is also not Mexican, but Taiwanese. Sheesh! Jason and I just rolled our eyes and laughed.

Here are Lilli and Jason walking down the rows looking for a tree.

This one was just her size! The poor thing looked like a marshmallow, wrapped up in a winter coat, a jacket and a turtleneck, along with hat and gloves. It was about 30 degrees outside, and the wind was blowing really hard, so it felt even colder.

Lilli spotted some horses, and even though she had never seen
one in person before, ran towards them yelling, "Hosey, hosey!"






Lilli found this branch and carried it around the whole time, calling it "my tree."


Here they are with our pick: a 7-foot Douglas fir for only $10! For those of you in the area, the farm is called Donahue's, right off of the Boring exit on Highway 26. They will even cut and bale the tree for you. For those of you not from this area, yes, there is a town in Oregon called Boring. I used to live there.
It lives up to its name.

Timber!

Future Lumber-Jill
Lilli loved the farm's border collie. I think he reminded
her of our part collie at home. More on Jasper later.

Mt. Hood getting a dusting of snow.The tree is now in its stand in the living room, but not yet decorated. Pictures to come!


Lilli has started talking in (partial) sentences. Some of them include:
I do it
You do it
Lilli shoes off
Lilli coat off
Mommy coat off too
Lilli socks on
Lilli boots on- you get the point
A few days ago, she said, "Mommy, hold me." Talk about melting my heart! The next day she had me cracking up when she laid down next to Jasper and said, "Jappas, hold me!"

She has also learned that Santa says "ho ho ho." Unfortunately, when she saw Santa at the Christmas party we went to tonight, she would only say "no, no, no." She wasn't too fond of him last year, and I guess this year will be more of the same. This is the best shot we could get, and you can see her giving Santa the evil eye.




That's all for now! May your shopping lines be short,
your loved ones near, and your hearts and cups of cheer be full!

~Chisms

Fall Miscellany

It's been a busy fall around the Chism household. Here it is almost Thanksgiving and I haven't posted pictures in a month! So this post will hopefully get everyone caught up.

We've all had a visit from the flu bug in the last month. Jason and I both turned 31- he on the 11th, me today. We are trying to save and fundraise for our second adoption (see previous post.)

My friend Beth came to visit for a week, and we went to Hood River for apples and the beautiful scenery. Here is Lilli at Kiyokawa Farms, our favorite farm on the Fruit Loop, with a big juicy Honeycrisp apple.

She really liked the goats at Draper Farms:



After the goats, she had a little meltdown,

but was back to her sweet self in just a few minutes.
Another good friend, Nicole, made it up to Portland from the San Francisco area, and we took Lilli and her son Jack to a pumpkin patch. We noticed that they did a good job of playing near each other without really playing WITH each other. Lilli had her picture taken on this tractor last year, and her whole body fit on just the seat! This year, since she is a big girl, she was able to sit up there without any assistance. It was, apparently, a "blank look" day for her (see the next three pictures with no expression on her face.)




Jack ate almost all of that apple by himself!


A new friend from church, Angie, took some fall photos for us. They were actually the first professional pictures of the three of us together.

If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can see a little tear under her left eye.
It just melts my heart!


Here she was running in her new boots and fell down, kind of reminding me of Carrie at the beginning of Little House on the Prairie, which is one of my all-time favorite shows. But I digress, as I usually do!



This was Lilli's first experience carving pumpkins, since we didn't do it last year. When Lilli says pumpkin, it sounds like "pungkung."

I said "Yuck!" when Jason pulled all the guts out of the pumpkin, and Lilli was flinging seeds and guts all over the table and saying "Yuck!' after that.

Jason found a Ni Hao, Kai-lan pumpkin stencil for Lilli's pumpkin. I just freehanded a silly face on mine. Jason's didn't end up getting carved because we ran out of time. We had to fit in visits to both sets of grandparents, as well as my grandparents, a little trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, pictures, dinner, and of course, the Ducks game.

Lilli was a ladybug this year, as well as a lot of other little girls we know (at least 5 that I can think of.) I couldn't resist the Hello Kitty candy basket! She learned the word "candy" that day, and asks for it all the time now, even though she doesn't get it.




Lilli the ladybug with cousin Tucker the lion. King Andrew I is in the background.

Some of Lilli's favorite things right now:

-saying "OK" after everything I say
-soup
-her boots
-the songs "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"
-pajamas, the word and the clothing article
-trying to dress herself
-saying "Mommy!" over and over and wrapping herself around my leg
-saying "I do it" when it comes to getting dressed or eating
-saying "You do it" when she is done coloring, and then she wants to watch me color
-her tea set
Lilli finally hit the 20-pound mark at the doctor's office last week. Granted, she had just eaten and was fully clothed, but I'll take it! She has 13 teeth and is getting 3 canine teeth right now.

Until next time,
Chisms