great-grandma darlene

Last Saturday we got to visit with Doug's Grandma Darlene for a little while. It was Grace's first time meeting her. 

She's hilarious, smart, and kind, and it was great to see her.

sisters

These girls love each other, and it rocks.

(Both these poses were Addy's idea.)

800 posts

This is post numero 800 for our blog. Yes, folks, 800! When I started this blog almost exactly 6 years ago, we were newly married and looking for a way to give our families updates on our extremely important lives.

Blogging was also the new thing with a bunch of our friends, and soon all our siblings and all the cool kids had blogs. We were all showing off our weekends, sharing hilarious youtube videos, tagging each other to do surveys, and occasionally bearing our souls. Blogs were all the rage.

The more and more I blogged, the more I realized I needed it. At first I thought I just needed the attention, but then I saw that it was more than that—I needed a creative writing outlet. Somewhere that I could write pretty much whatever I wanted without worrying about rules, quality, or grammar (there, I admit it).

A lot has changed in 6 years. We've gone from being an editor and a student, to a mother and a dentist. Our numbers have doubled. We've moved from one coast to another, endured heartache and trials, gained a lot of weight, and discovered a lot of joy.

Today, blogs like ours are a dying breed. While I doubt this blog will ever see another 800 posts, I have to say I've been grateful for the ride.

So with that, enjoy this list of the best of dougandjackie.blogspot.com:

the default pose

what I think about when work is slow

sometimes you break a window and find a mouse in your apartment in the same day

photo booth

fun with jackie and doug

indian grandma

the bitter, the sweet

because we're really good parents...

tornado

i'd never fit in in saudi arabia

getting gracie

first tooth

Know what that grin is hiding?

Her first tooth. Finally!

keep portland weird

Yesterday we decided to go into Portland for the morning. 

We went to Saturday Market under the Burnside Bridge, tried to find this Venezuelan food cart that did NOT want to be found, and ate lunch at Pittock Mansion overlooking the city.

We felt this picture perfectly summed up the sad homeless issues the city has AND the city's desire to stay weird.

pigeons

Last week Doug told me we had a pigeon problem on our roof. I arrogantly laughed at him, thinking we had a few Mourning Doves hanging out. Hardly a problem, right?

Well, I walked alongside the house and I was stunned to see this:

And I as I disgustingly inspected our poo-covered meter, I heard the cooing of the pigeons. I looked up and saw a ton of them covering our roof, very Hitchcock-like.

[Photo not available. I was too freaked out.]

We've noticed they like to flock from our roof, to the neighbors, and then across the street. We have no idea how we became a pigeon hot spot, but we're so glad those rats with wings chose us.

copy cat

2 fat cats, 2 years apart

Adorably squishable, no?

he sabotaged my pumpkin-carving

You know how terrible it is to clean out a pumpkin? Well I accidentally threw some of the guts at Doug, so he thought it'd be awesome to fill my pumpkin with ALL the guts and seeds from both our pumpkins.

What a gem.

But on a side note, the rest of pumpkin carving/painting was great.

the pink panther and cinderella walk into a party...

Could be the intro to a great joke, or could be how we started our Halloween.

This year we paired off (Fairy Godmother & Cinderella, Pink Panther & Inspector Clouseau), and headed to the Trunk or Treat at church.

 

On the actual day of Halloween, we sported our costumes again and trick or treated at a shopping center (I was worried we'd be rained out that night). We even swung by Krispy Kreme because they were giving out doughnuts to people shamelessly wearing their costumes just to get free food.

That night we ate dinner at our neighbor's house, and then Addy and I went out to hit a few houses. She. Was. Ecstatic.

Seriously, we'd finish one house and then she'd scream (yes, scream), "Let's go to the next one!" She hopped up and down on one person's porch screeching, "TRICK OR TREAT!" When she started asking people for "Two, please" we had to have a little chat about being grateful. She was a more gracious participant after that.

When we got home, she was happy to hand out candy and eat a ton of hers whenever we turned our backs. Grace also enjoyed charming anyone that came to the door.

Man, we love Halloween.