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Sunday, June 28, 2009, by Leigh Anne
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We are headed out for our annual Week at the Beach.
It is one of my favorite weeks of the year.
Our family is able to get away from our “normal” life and just relax at our beach house in Manzanita on the beautiful Oregon Coast. Logan is flying home to join us.
Clark is still backpacking through Europe having the time of his life so he won’t be there. He is having some amazing experiences though - check out his Polish Miracle! He has promised some pictures of the food he has been eating soon! He’s his mother’s son!
I’ve got a quilting project planned for our Week at the Beach as well as some reading and scrapbooking!
Many of you know that I have a scrapbooking homebased business - I have been a consultant with the direct sales company Creative Memories for almost 19 years!
There are many advantages and blessings to having a homebased business. One of the best things that has come as a result of my business, besides the many wonderful friends I have made, is that we were able to realize one of our dreams - to own a home at the beach.
Since our beach house has no internet connection I may be slow in approving comments, responding to questions and comments this week so please be patient.
I am also excited to announce to you today that I have started another blog - how many blogs does one girl need? Well I’ve decided you can never have too many shoes or too many blogs!
This new blog is a scrapbooking blog and I have started this new blog for purely selfish reasons. Ever since I began my Creative Memories business my main goal every year has been to get caught up on my albums. Don’t get me wrong - I have walked my talk all these years and have completed over 120 traditional albums and several dozen digital ones but I have never been TOTALLY caught up.
Well, I decided that this was the year. One thing I have learned about myself is that I do much better when I am held accountable so I have started this blog to chronicle my scrapbooking journey to completion and I am inviting you to join me!
Here’s the first project on the list - finish up Cali’s high school albums. It’s about 80 percent done.
This blog will be a private blog.
If you are interested in following me or joining me on this journey or just learning some new scrapbooking tips and ideas please leave a comment below or email me through the Contact form above and I will send you an invite to be able to access my new blog - Homebased Scrapbooker.
I look forward to sharing this journey with you! Let’s get scrapping!
Here’s the view I will be looking at from the living room of my beach house as I do a little scrapbooking this week! Want to join me??
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Sunday, June 7, 2009, by Leigh Anne
Our favorite Saturday morning activity during the spring/summer is to have breakfast at the Beaverton Farmer’s Market. We usually enjoy an omelet from the Canby Asparagus Farms but a few weeks ago I noticed a new food booth - Zest Crepes.
We couldn’t wait to try it. I knew I would love the crepes before I even tasted them because the Zest Crepe booth was so cute with a black and white pendant banner and their cute black and white polka dot caps and great logo t-shirts!
Cali and I had a hard time deciding which crepe we wanted. We had our choice of sweet or savory. Since we couldn’t decide on just one we got two! After several minutes of deliberation we decided on the Nutella Bliss and Sweet Italy
Owner and Crepe Chef Tina Abrams was hard at work! Each crepe is prepared fresh to order.
Everyone needs a crepe maker at home like this one!
Tina used this fun little wand to spread the crepe batter perfectly even.
She was a master at flipping the crepe too!
The Sweet Italy had berries, marscarpone cheese and a squeeze of orange with zest.
Cali couldn’t even wait for a fork - she dove right in!
My favorite was the Nutella Bliss!
The Nutella Bliss had nutella, strawberries, whip cream and a dusting of cinnamon
Each crepe prepared and served by Tina herself!
I have never been to France but after eating a Zest Crepes I feel like I have had a little taste of Paris!
If you are in the Portland area I highly recommend you pay a visit to the Beaverton Farmer’s Market and enjoy a treat at Zest Crepes - tell Tina that Leigh Anne at Your Homebased Mom sent you! Maybe I’ll see you there!
See you next Saturday Tina!
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Sunday, May 3, 2009, by Leigh Anne
Being a mother is hard.
Being a mother of small children who don’t always sleep at night and are involved in a million activities is physically exhausting.
Being the mother of teenagers and young adults can be emotionally exhausting.
As I told a young mother friend of mine this week - it doesn’t get easier, it only gets different!
Although I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a mother and wouldn’t trade it for anything there are times I enjoy being a mother more than others.
I am grateful for my mother. I am grateful that she put up with me. That she loved me despite my sassy, mouthy teenager phase and that she continues to love me and support me as an adult.
In honor of Mother’s Day I am sharing with you five things my mother taught me. She taught me a lot more than five things but you are only getting five today.
Here’s a picture of me and mom - isn’t she beautiful!
So here’s the list:
1. Always be on time. My mother is always on time. From the time we were little we were trained to be on time. My mother taught me that being on time is a sign of respect.
2. Develop your talents and creativity. My mother is a very creative lady. In addition to developing and sharing her own talents she always gave her children opportunities to develop their talents and creativity. There were always lots of craft classes, sewing, music lessons and sports growing up. Once I was married and had children of my own she would babysit my children so I could take painting classes. Thanks mom for helping me develop my creative side!
3 Appreciation for family history. My mother has had a love of family history and geneology since she was a young girl. Thanks to my mom and her sharing of family stories with me I too have a great love of family history. It is one of the reasons why one of my daughter’s is named Calista, named after my great grandmother and it is the main reasons I have been involved in scrapbooking the last 18 years. Preserving and recording my family’s history and helping others to do so has been a big part of my life.
4. The importance of service. I have many childhood memories of watching and participating with my mother in various acts of service. Making pizzas and coloring greeting cards to earn money to build a church. Working at the taco booth at the county fair and helping at the church bazaar. Whether it was serving at church in various capacities or serving the community as the President of our local Girl Scout Council my mother has always been a wonderful example of service and the impact it can have on people’s lives.
5. A love for entertaining. My love for entertaining comes from my mother. Whether it was a house full of missionaries at the holidays or a living room full of adults playing Yahtzee my mother welcomed others into our home. There was always good food too! She helped me and my friend Jenny put on our first dinner party when we were twelve years old! Her example of graciousness and hospitality has greatly impacted my life.
Thank you mom for teaching me and supporting me!
Please check back tomorrow for a wonderful Mother’s Day Giveaway. To enter you will need to share one thing your mother has taught you - so be thinking and come back tomorrow to enter!!
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Monday, March 23, 2009, by Leigh Anne
Tessa and I are off for the week - it’s Spring Break! We are off in search of sunshine and warmth!!
I still have some fun posts for you this week but I may be slow in responding to comments and questions so be patient please and have a great week!
Back in 1996 Jim and I took the two boys on an American History trip. We went to Boston, Gettysburg, Washington DC, Plymouth and New York.
While in New York we were walking to Central Park when all of a sudden I felt something wet land on my face - on my nose, right in between my eyes. Yep - you guessed it! pigeon poop.
Of course I was totally grossed out but my boys weren’t. They all had a great time laughing and pointing and instead of trying to help me out by offering me a Kleenex they took a picture. A nice lady on the street handed me a Kleenex!
Last week I was going through my reader and found a post over at Fabulous after 40 that caught my attention - one on the latest beauty treatments - Bird Poop!! The New York spas are now offering Bird Poop Facials!
Little did I know 13 years ago that pigeon poop would one day be considered the latest and greatest beauty treatment! Yes, I was ahead of the times.
Just had to laugh!
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Thursday, January 8, 2009, by Leigh Anne
I just had to pop in today to say THANK YOU for all the amazing birthday comments!
You truly made my day with your generosity! It was so fun to get on my computer in between various birthday celebrations and see all the birthday greetings from so many of you.
I also spent a bit of time yesterday enjoying my TWO birthday cakes.
I guess I am a follower of Marie Antoinette - “Let them eat cake!” because I literally did - all day long!!
As you can see I am making pretty good progress with the yummy caramel cake I made for myself although I have shared with Tessa and Jim.
Jim, being the thoughtful husband that he is, did not disappoint. He bought me my favorite cake - lemon poppyseed and cream cheese.
Cake anyone?
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Friday, December 26, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Over the Thanksgiving break we had a family photo taken.
Having a family photo taken is a lot of work! Picking out what everyone is going to wear and making sure it all works together, making sure everyone has a good haircut, finding a time when everyone is available, including the photographer, and then in our case this year - dealing with the weather. A dense fog decided to move in the morning we were to have our outdoor picture taken. Fortunately our great photographer found a pocket of sunshine!
Last year I chronicled our family photo experience here. If you want a laugh, check it out.
For you mothers of young children who think having a family picture taken will get easier when they get older - think again! I use to bribe my boys with the promise of Happy Meals if they smiled good for the picture - now I just threaten!
But I have to admit that our family photo experience this year was one of our easier ones. I only had to threaten Clark not to make silly faces a few times!
Thanks to my friend Sarah who took these wonderful pictures. She is also the one who took the picture I use in the header for my blog. If you live in the Portland area and need a family photo taken I highly recommend her!
The Wilkes Family - 2008!
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Thursday, December 25, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Merry Christmas! Hope you are enjoying a wonderful Christmas day!
I wanted to share our family Christmas card with you.
Enjoy your day!
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Tuesday, December 23, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Back in 1985 a tradition was born.
In Portland, if you want to see the “real” Santa, you go to Santaland at Meier & Frank (now Macy’s).
So of course when we took our first baby to see Santa, off to Santaland we went. As a six month old Logan thought nothing of the funny, jolly old man and happily let Santa hold him for a perfect photo moment.
Well, it was a different story the next year Our cute little 18 month old didn’t think that funny, jolly old man was too great. Logan started screaming when we attempted to hand him to Santa so we could get a picture.
Being the smart man that he is, Santa invited mom and dad to join him. So all three of us piled onto Santa’s lap.
O.K. - so no comments about the hair - it was the 80’s!
Thus, a tradition was born! For the last 23 years the whole family -now six of us - visit the “real” Santa at what is now Macy’s. We all pile onto Santa’s lap for the traditional family photo!
Yes, each of my children, ages 24, 22, 19 and 15 still sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. And you know what - they love it!! You see the rule at our house is “You don’t believe, you don’t get!”
We haven’t missed a year. There have been years when someone has been missing in the photo - the years our boys were serving missions in Argentina and Chile and then there was the year Clark had a wrestling match (don’t start me on that one!).
But there has been a family Santa picture for the last 23 years! I have them all in an album if you want to see!
Well, if you have been watching the weather at all, you may know that the Northwest is now in it’s 9th day of Arctic Blast 2008! Yes, we currently have 10 inches of snow in our front yard and this morning all cars were being advised to only drive if you had chains. I don’t think the City of Portland owns a snowplow!
As a result of the weather our annual visit to Santa hadn’t happened yet.
Well, we were running out of time - only three more days until Christmas! I wasn’t about to let this be the first year we didn’t have a family picture with Santa.
So, we put the chains on the car, loaded in and headed downtown. It was no surprise but there was no line to see Santa and we got the photo! Guess I am the only mother in Portland willing to risk her children’s lives to get a photo with Santa!!
Taking a good family photo with six people can be a challenge. Every family has one - the one member who loves to make funny faces in pictures. You know the one - everyone looks great in the picture except for that one person - the one in the back sticking out their tongue or making rabbit ears. Well ours is Clark. See what I mean!
We have just learned that you never take just one photo - you take several.
You can imagine how we laughed when we saw this picture - Clark is the only one that looks good!!
But thanks to a persistent photographer we got it - we got a good one.
The one for the family album.
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Monday, December 22, 2008, by Leigh Anne
When my children were younger one of our favorite holiday traditions was to have Breakfast with Santa downtown at Meier & Frank each year. We probably did it for 10 years or so. It was fun to get dressed, eat breakfast in the beautiful Georgian Room, enjoy the entertainment and of course see Santa.
Sadly, my children have all outgrown the experience and the Georgian Room is gone but we decided our neighbor children hadn’t outgrown it so we started our own Breakfast with Santa at our house. For the last three years we have invited the three “cul de sac” families to join us for breakfast one Saturday morning before Christmas. But instead of getting dressed up, everyone comes in their pajamas!
We serve the same menu they served in the Georgian Room.
Pancakes…
But ours come with Cinnamon Syrup
Little sausages…
and hot chocolate with lots of whip cream!
The kids all have a great time decorating gingerbread houses together.
We use the kits they sell at Costco!
And then there is that special visitor…..
This year, because of the weather, Santa arrived via special delivery (Thanks Dave!!)
After visiting with each of the children and finding out what they want for Christmas Santa heads out…. until next year Santa!!
Now the confession…
I use Bisquick to make pancakes! I know, that may be hard for some of you to believe but I do - or at least I did, until this year.
Several months ago my friend Sherra had a Pancake Throwdown on her blog and shared a recipe for Buttermilk Pancakes. Well, of course, I had to try them! Since that day I have never used Bisquick to make pancakes again!
They are yummy! If you don’t happen to have buttermilk on hand you can make your own by putting 1 Tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar in a liquid measuring cup and then add milk to the 1 cup line. Let sit for 5 minutes and you have a decent buttermilk substitution.
Give them a try and you may never use Bisquick again either!
59 Diner Buttermilk Pancakes
- 2 eggs
- 2 C buttermilk
- 6 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1-3/4 C flour
- 2-1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp sugar
Combine liquid ingredients and dry ingredients separately. Mix until smooth. Let batter rest for 10 minutes. Cook on a preheated, lightly greased griddle for 1 minute. Turn pancakes and finish cooking. Makes about 10 pancakes.
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Sunday, December 21, 2008, by Leigh Anne
We are having some unusual weather here in Portland - snow! A few days of snow once every couple of years is normal for Portland - not 7 straight days of snow! For the second Sunday in a row church has been cancelled.
As a result, our backyard has turned into a Winter Wonderland and we have had lots of time for baking! I thought I’d share a few pictures of the magic all the snow has created in our backyard and what we’ve been up to in the kitchen.
As you can imagine the kids have had a great time playing out in the snow - even my big kids. Snow is still considered a novelty around here!
We ended up with a house full of neighbor kids on Saturday as they came in to warm up and have some hot chocolate so I decided to put them to work - helping me bake cookies.
We made a batch of Lemon Drops, Snowballs, Snickers Cookies and Almond Sugar Cookies;
And if you get really lucky you will have a sweet five year old neighbor like I do who loves to do dishes!!
Of course, the big boys, were too busy to help with the baking….
There was ballgames to be watched and naps to taken!
Let it snow!
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