American idol contestant??

Life has been full around the Little house. I'm taking a few classes at Portland Community College this term (some nursing prereqs...we'll see...), and it has been loads of fun while taking away lots of my blogging time. So, enjoy this little clip of rynn singing her Japanese songs to us at bedtime!

Sunny Sunday

You know you're an Oregonian when....a sunny and 78 degree day means drop everything and GET OUTSIDE!!!!

so this morning Jason got us going to drive 25 minutes up into the Columbia River Gorge to hike to Wakeena Falls. The girls did amazing and hiked quite far.




the Columbia River Gorge behind Eleanor



a little picnic stop

an old stump

Jason helping Rynn do a river crossing.

my little cutie

the falls in the morning light

Later today...on the way to church with Luz, our next door neighbor

Nana's cute pink flipflops...first day warm enough to sport 'em.

Who says princesses can't wear hiking boots?

Happy Easter!

It was a cold, wet, and windy Portland day this Easter, but Eleanor and Rynn still sported their beautifully made dresses from their Oma. How wonderful to remember her on this day of celebration.
Pat & Jason get ready for Hope's first morning service (we'll be back to evening next week, but it was a successful trial run this morning!).

"Is the Easter bunny ever going to bring my breakfast?"

Saturday's Easter Egg Hunt

Some of Hope's kids get ready to hunt..

a chilly picnic

a monday morning walk with eleanor

Welcome, welcome Spring!

I WANDERED lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed--and gazed--but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

- William Wordsworth 1804

Spring has sprung in the first wave of the symphony of color that Oregon sings this time of year. Like an orchestra whose various instruments sing in layer upon layer of melody gaining in intensity and emotion, so too does spring come here in layers of beauty. The cheery daffodils were first to herald spring despite our forty degree temperatures and rain. Next came the cherry trees the likes of I have never seen in such abundance until moving to this city. Portland has a love affair with these trees, or perhaps it is the trees who love this climate, but at any rate the love affair is mutual. They line neighborhood sidewalks, the river front walk, and the Japanese gardens. As the music crescendos there will be the rhododendrons, the azaleas, the tulips, and in a climax of the orchestral piece- the roses in June.


Spring for the Little family means planting our garden and sowing our own seeds of hope.

The girls were anxious to dig right in...

and make the signs.

Check back to see how our garden grows!