beth's blog

Wrestling in the News

2012-01-27T11:44:00.000-08:00

Lately I find myself frequenting a few of the local online papers for news in High School sports. Luke's wrestling team will occasionally be featured and I always look to see if he is mentioned. Last week he was interviewed and quoted in this article in The Beaverton Valley Times.

Then again this week this article on Oregon Live came out with Luke's picture on the front.

It's a cool picture, although he lost this match 8-4.

Wrestling season is about half over now. I am enjoying it more this year. I am a little more relaxed this year so maybe I am just getting used to it. It helps that he is eating pretty well this year and that puts him in a better mood all around. Also, he is having a good season so far and of course it is always more fun to win.

Here are some more pictures of the season so far courtesy of a dad on the team who always shares his pictures with us.

Getting into the Spirit

2011-12-24T23:44:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been a little crazy. Lots of things going on and buying a new business and getting started with that have left me a little frazzled and barely even aware of the fact that it is Christmas time. I feel like I have missed it this year. Friday night we finally took a little time to get into the spirit and headed downtown to visit Santa Land.

Santa Land at Macy's is a staple for many Portlanders. I know people who have been going since they were kids themselves. We have been a few times but my favorite part is just being downtown and seeing all the lights.

After our visit with Santa we went outside to visit the Christmas tree. We were with our neighbors and we had a good time looking at the lights and listening to the Christmas music. It was just what I needed to relax and really enjoy the holiday season. Just being downtown at Christmas time can really put me in the mood.

Then today was gingerbread house day. Some years I make the gingerbread houses and some years I get lazy and buy a kit. This year was the laziest yet, I bought a kit with the house already built.

Luke and Hannah got a little silly with their house. Tyler and Cole stuck with tradition.

I don't really think it matters though. I suspect that they just like building them with the intent to shoot them up with BB guns later. It's another holiday tradition. And you can't mess with tradition.

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Weekend

2011-12-13T14:56:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving we stayed home for a change, something we have not done in probably five years. I love Thanksgiving. It's probably my favorite holiday of the year. It was nice to be at home and to cook Thanksgiving dinner for a change, which I always miss doing when we are not here. Despite the fact that I probably spent two days cooking for a meal that took us 20 minutes to eat, I loved it. It was a nice quiet and relaxing day, we just hung out together, ate plenty and watched Super 8 (loved it!!).

Julie and the family did come up late on Thursday night and spent Friday and Saturday with us. It was fun to hang out with them for a couple of days. Friday we did some shopping and took the kids to see Hugo. Then on Saturday the boys went up to Brown's Camp to do some target shooting, so the rest of us headed out for a little walk in the woods. We headed out to Noble Woods Park in Hillsboro where we did some letterboxing. We found 3 out of 4 boxes hidden along the trails at this quaint little park.

It's always more fun to take a little hike when you have something to search for along the way! We rewarded our efforts afterwards with some frozen yogurt. Then we said goodbye to our cousins and ended our relaxing weekend. We are now ready to face the holiday season and are getting excited for winter break!

Dressing the Turkey

2011-11-24T22:17:00.000-08:00

Tyler had an assignment this week to decorate a turkey. They could dress them up as a celebrity, someone who they would want at their Thanksgiving table, or just make a masterpiece of their choosing. Guess who Tyler chose to dress hers up as?

That's just who I would have wanted at my Thanksgiving table too.

The Fall of Fall

2011-11-24T22:10:00.000-08:00

Can it be? It's nearly the end of November already? Fall is nearly over and I'm sensing winter creeping in. It was a beautiful fall here this year. The leaves have lasted an unusually long time. It seems they are usually long gone by now and we still have some fall colors hanging on until the bitter end. In places the streets are blanketed with leaves so thick it looks like snow. Now the rains have moved in and are here to stay it seems.

Soccer is over now. Tyler had a fun season even though she got a new coach this year and half her team was new to her. We spent many a Saturday morning at the soccer field this fall. I'm kind of missing it now it's over.

Halloween was just us girls this year. The boys both went off with some friends.

Here's Piglet and the M&M.

Roloff Farms Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a couple of days off school, plus some decent weather, so we decided it was time to hit the pumpkin patch. I love the yearly tradition of going to the pumpkin patch with my kids. It gets me in the mood for Fall and Halloween. Here in the Portland area we have pumpkin patches galore and have gone to a different one each year for the past several years. This year we decided on Roloff farms. It is pretty close by and one we haven't visited yet.

I haven't really watched much of the Roloff family's show on TLC, Little People Big World, but I am familiar with it. I think the farm is geared heavily towards fans of the show, Amy was out taking pictures with fans and we spotted a few other family members milling about as well. Even though my girls don't really know who they are, it was a fun place with lots to see and do and they loved it.

One of the best parts of our visit was the tour of the farm. It is a 25 minute ride that takes you all around their property pointing out all the interesting landmarks, like the house and barns, their private soccer field, volleyball court and basketball court.

Driving by the house they are quick to point out all the cars in the driveway and exactly who drives what. (Did I mention that it is geared towards fans of the show?) Despite all that the property is really very beautiful and they have built on some really fun features to entertain their Halloween guests. The tour stops for 10 minutes at this western town that they have built and it was really fun to walk around and peek in all the buildings. Like the general store, which is complete with bolts of fabric and old tins and glasses. The creepy doll house was filled with old dolls and stuffed animals in various creepy poses.

We also rode past the Goatel (goat hotel), an ark, a 4 story tree house, a pirate ship, a castle and various forts the kids have built over the years. They clearly like building things.

They have a beautiful view of the Cascade Mountain Range, one of my favorite pieces of scenery here in the Portland area.

Oh, yes.... and there were also pumpkins...

Now I am ready for it. Bring on Halloween!

Feeding the Masses

2011-10-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

I survived my first pasta feed this week!

Every Wednesday after practice Luke's water polo team goes to a different player's house for a pasta dinner. I have always shied away from signing myself up for things like this, especially after hearing all the stories about how much food these kids can put away. But after several emails looking for someone to fill in Wed. Oct. 5th, I finally relented and offered up our house.

How much can 25 water polo players eat you ask?

5 lbs. cooked spaghetti pasta
3 1/2 batches of my spaghetti with meat sauce
70 breadsticks (heat and serve from Costco)
some salad
60 snickerdoodles
40 brownies
5 gallons of lemonade

It was a lot of fun. I definitely took some notes for next time. For instance a 3lb. bag of salad was a bit much. Let's just say we will be eating salad for a few days around here. Also, despite Luke's insistence that I make plenty of brownies, 100 was probably overly ambitious. I have been giving brownies away left and right.

The biggest surprise? Breadsticks! Those kids can really put away the bread sticks!

Labor Day Hike to Punchbowl Falls and Tunnel Falls

2011-09-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

Labor Day is not my favorite time of the year. It is a rather depressing weekend for me actually because I am dreading the end of summer and sending the kids back to school. I need an activity to distract myself from the impending doom of Tuesday and this year I decided we should go on a hike. I had no idea what I was getting us into but bright and early Monday morning we packed up plenty of food and water and headed east for the Columbia River Gorge and the Eagle Creek Trailhead.

Luke had gone on a backpacking trip last summer for High Adventure on this same trail so I was anxious to see it for myself. The trail cuts through some of the most beautiful area in the gorge with a gradual elevation that follows high above eagle creek and passes dozens of spectacular waterfalls. At times the path was narrow and the drop off is quite steep with cable lines built into the sides of the cliff to hold onto.

After about 2 miles we came to the overlook to Punchbowl Falls, probably the most popular destination along this trail. I couldn't get a good picture of it but found this one online. It is quite a stunning sight and a side trail leads down a steep hill to lower Punchbowl Falls which is a popular place for hikers to wade in the cold stream and even the more adventurous can jump off rocks into a swimming hole. Here we had a quick rest but decided to save the side trail for later in the day.

Shortly after passing Punchbowl Falls we passed Loowit Falls, followed by High Bridge which crosses eagle creek some 100 feet above the narrow gorge below. Our intent was to get to Punchbowl Falls and see how much farther we could go. The girls were a little tired by now but the boys were anxious to get to Tunnel Falls, some six miles from where we started.

The path gets a little rocky here but we trudged on and just when I thought the girls could not go any further, we turned a bend and were met with the breathtaking view of the 175 foot Tunnel Falls.

The trail itself passes through a tunnel behind the falls about halfway up and out the other side with a dizzying view from the bluffs to the creek bed below.

Again, the trail here is very narrow with cables built into the side of the cliff for security. From here hikers can continue on to Twister Falls along a part of the path known as "the vertigo mile" because of the steep 200 foot drop off. Tempting as that sounds (and truthfully I would never take the girls on it, although Luke did it carrying a 30lb. pack on his back) we were ready to head back at this point. The girls had been troopers up to now but were getting tired.

Finally, we arrived back at the side trail to Lower Punchbowl Falls. We were relieved to sit down, shed our shoes and socks and soak our tired feet in the cold water. So cold! But it felt so good!

The view of Punchbowl Falls from below. It was hard to get a good picture as it is kind of dark down here.

In retrospect it was probably an overly ambitious hike to take the girls on, but they did great and did not complain. Not much anyway, there were no tears or tantrums but they did let us know when they were tired and their feet hurt. It was not until we got back to the car that Hannah finally broke down and said "I'm never doing that again!"

How I Spent My Summer Break

2011-09-09T06:38:00.000-07:00

This summer has flown by and I have not done a very good job of documenting it. We had no big vacation plans this summer so I tried to find fun things to do close to home to keep us busy. We live in a great part of the country. There are no shortage of great things to do around here. And so, in no particular order, here are a few of the things we crossed off our list of things to do this summer.

1. Redmond

Early in August we had a break of sorts between swimming lessons and water polo practices, EFY and scout camp and we decided to take a few days to go visit my sister and her family in Redmond. The kids were anxious to spend some time with their cousins this summer, so off we went.

We had a nice couple of days. First we spent an evening hanging out at the lake.

We took in a parade while the boys went caving.

We also spent a few evenings at the county fair. The kids love the fair, despite the fact that we wouldn't give them any money for rides. There are plenty of free things to do at the fair too, like the rodeo, visiting the animals and the art displays. We also took advantage of some of the free family activities - like a pie eating contest.

Sadly, she didn't win.

2. A Bike Ride
About 20 miles west of us lies the small town of Vernonia and the Banks to Vernonia Bike Trail. I have been wanting to get out on this trail for some time now but it is hard to talk a group of people who are used to riding dirt bikes into getting out on a bicycle again. The path is 20 miles of beautiful, paved and relatively flat trail from the town of Banks to the town of Vernonia. We parked at the trail head 5 miles from Vernonia and rode into town. We had lunch there and then rode back to the car. A short trip, but we had gotten a late start and had other plans later in the day. It was a nice ride though and I think everyone would do it again. Eventually.
Actually, Danford took the scouts on it a week later so he must have liked it too.

I'll have you know that I took the above picture while riding a bike. I'm surprised it is in focus. I tried to stop and get a picture on solid ground but by the time I stopped and got my camera out, an empty trail was the only picture I got.

3. The Beach
We only made one trip to the beach this summer. It was early on in the summer and I was shocked the kids were brave enough to get in this frigid water, but they played in it for some time. I wish we had made more trips out there, but perhaps there is still time.

4. Camping
The only person in this family not to go camping this summer was me. Danford and the boys go so often with the scouts, it is hard to talk them into a family camping trip. Fortunately, Danford was able to take the girls on a little daddy daughter campout this summer. They have been begging to go for a while now and they had a fun time with Dad, riding bikes and sitting around the campfire.

5. Dirt Biking
Everyone got some dirt biking in this summer. I even tagged along one day when Hannah learned to ride. I sat in my chair with a book while I wached her ride around in circles at the kids play area. She did a great job. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that day - something which she still has not let me forget. We tried to recreate the moment in the backyard, but it is just not the same. Next time.

Cooking Class

2011-08-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

Every year I sit down with the kids (the ones who are willing) to write a list of things to do during the summer. One of the things that always seems to make the list is cooking classes. It is also one of the things that never gets checked off. Every time they come to me and want to cook, we always seem to end up making cookies. One day when they are all in college they will astound their friends with their mean chocolate chip cookie making skills.

A few weeks ago, Hannah got to participate in some cooking classes with four of her friends from church. I applaud the mom who came up with this idea because it turned out to be a great idea and all the girls had a great time. They met everyday for one week. Each day they went to a different house and learned how to make something new. Here is how the schedule played out.

Monday - they made and decorated sugar cookies and made a cookie bouquet.
Tuesday - they made bread dough and made it into pizza and cinnamon rolls.
Wednesday - they had a tea party, made mini cakes and pigs in a blanket and learned about manners.
Thursday - we were at our house and I decided on a breakfast theme. We made two kinds of muffins, crepes and fruit smoothies.
Friday - they made and decorated cupcakes.

It was a great week. Hannah had a fun time and I had fun having them at my house. I thought they would get bored and want to take off and play but they were interested in everything that we did. The most fun was making the crepes. They measured the batter and poured it into the pan, swirled the pan around to spread the batter out and flipped them over when they were ready - all by themselves. At one point I just surrendered the frying pan to them as they kept coming back to make more. We had plenty of yummy things to top them with too - strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, choc. chips, nutella, whipped cream and a cream cheese mousse. My personal favorite was nutella with strawberries. So good!

Hello July

2011-07-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Summer is in full swing now. We have finally had some sunny weather. Thank goodness! and we have been doing our best to get out and enjoy it. At the risk of getting too far behind, here is a brief recap of the first couple of weeks of July.

Breakfast at the Beaverton Farmer's Market.

4th of July Fireworks at Oak Hills, our annual tradition.

Happy 4th of July!

Fun at the lake with our good friends.

Goodbye June

2011-07-12T14:54:00.000-07:00

June is over and with it we said goodbye to another school year, another baseball season, and another dance recital. I am always glad when school gets out and I have the kids at home, no homework to keep up with, no schedules to keep. Part of me, though, is always a little sad to see another year gone. It is an all too shocking reminder of the passing of time.

This year Cole played his last season of little league. It is strange to think of how long we have been watching our boys playing little league baseball. As much as I complain about how time consuming it is and how long the season is, I love watching the game. Next year I suppose he is on to junior baseball, or whatever he decides to do next.

The first week of summer is always a busy one as we get ready for the girls dance recital. In some ways I am glad to be so busy that first week. It keeps us from getting bored too quickly. And the girls love every minute of rehearsals, hanging out backstage with their friends, getting hair and makeup done - they don't even mind that they have to do three performances. They start getting excited in the spring when costumes come in. This year we had a little photo shoot in the backyard since we missed picture day.

Waiting to go on stage.

I always feel like the summer can really get started once the recital is over and done with. This is my favorite time of the year. When school has just let out and the whole summer lies ahead of us, a blank slate ready to be filled in with whatever we want to get done, whatever summer activities we want to accomplish - barbecues, beach trips, fireworks, swimming lessons. We have our list of things to do and we are ready for summer.

Visits

2011-05-20T15:59:00.000-07:00

Recently we had a visit from my parents in Virginia. They got to spend the week hanging around Portland, going out to lunch, and watching a few games of baseball and lacrosse. It was a bit chilly for them, but it's not often they get to watch the kids in their various activities.

It's fun to show off your skills for grandma and grandpa.

The following weekend we went over to Redmond for a baptism and a birthday! Quinn turned 8 and got baptized. It was fun to have the whole family together to celebrate her day.

Fun times.

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm

2011-04-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

How have we lived here for almost six years now and never been to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival? I feel like I have been missing out on a necessary rite of Spring tradition, like going to the pumpkin patch in the Fall.

Friday was a day off school for the younger kids, and probably the most beautiful day we have had here in many a long month. We were seriously due for some sunshine and spring weather, and we finally go some this weekend. It was a great day for the girls and I to head down to Woodburn for what I thought would be a couple of hours and turned into the better part of the day.

This place is truly a wonder. With over 40 acres of tulips it was a sight to behold! They also have lots of activities for kids, concession booths, craft booths... and miles of tulips to wade through.

It is a photographers dream. The girls kept asking me to stop taking pictures, they wanted to do stuff. I still feel the urge to go back and take more.

One of the activities they have is a letter boxing route with 5 boxes hidden throughout the farm. We spent a good while searching them out and ended up with all but the last one. It was frustrating to leave our task unfinished, but it was getting late and we were tired. Better luck next year, I guess.

A beautiful day!

More Spring Break Fun

2011-03-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from our week of spring break. We also went to central Oregon to impose on my sister's family for a few days. The kids always have a good time together.

We had a fun day sledding on Friday. We got a mix of some snow and sunshine and it was not too cold out so it made for a pretty good afternoon.

Now, enough of winter! Bring me some sunshine and warm weather!

Tillamook

2011-03-28T16:10:00.000-07:00

Last week was Spring Break and by Monday I was ready to get out of the house and do something. I put my slightly reluctant family in the car and we drove down to Tillamook. Driving to the coast can be a hit or miss activity. You just never know what the weather will be doing and it doesn't matter what the weather man says, the forecast will change hourly. Sure enough it was raining when we got there, but this was fine because our first stop was the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

It is always surprising to me how entertaining it can be to just stand and watch an assembly line package cheese. We could almost stand there and watch all day. There is so much going on.

Hannah wants to work here when she grows up. In fact, she wants this lady's job which seems to be standing there and checking random packages of cheese. For what, we were never quite sure. air perhaps? We did stand here for a good 20 minutes trying to figure it out.

Tyler would like this guy's job of checking to see if the cheese has aged properly.

Cheese tasting.

Of course, you can't leave here without ice cream.

By the time we came out of the cheese factory, the sun was partially out and it was a pretty nice day. We drove down to Cape Meares to walk down to the lighthouse and gaze out at the ocean.

The octopus tree.

Day 1 of spring break down; 4 to go.

Pizza Night and an Awards Night

2011-02-28T12:57:00.001-08:00

My favorite day of the week is pizza night, which is usually on Friday. It is the only day of the week that I don't have to think about what's for dinner. The decision is already made, and it is guaranteed to get no complaints! Everyone loves pizza night.

For years I tried to make my own pizza, but with no luck. I bought a pizza stone from the pampered chef, I tried different recipes, I tried cornmeal on the pizza stone... it was never quite right. A couple of years ago I read in my trusty Cooks Illustrated cookbook about a method using parchment paper, and finally after long wait - the perfect pizza crust! Now we eat it once a week.

Whenever people ask me for my pizza dough recipe I always tell them - It's not the recipe, it's the parchment paper! I still use my pizza stone. I preheat it in the oven at 500 degrees and roll out my pizza dough onto a piece of parchment paper. I use the back of a cookie sheet to slide the whole thing into the oven and bake about 8 minutes. It's the perfect pizza crust every time.

For the record I like the Pioneer Woman's basic pizza crust, but I have sometimes been known to use a store bought pizza dough. It really doesn't matter. Sadly, most of my family will only eat pepperoni on their pizza. I usually make half a pizza for Tyler and me with pineapple and ham on it, but I secretly wish I could sneak some veggies in there. If I am feeling ambitious I will save a small piece of dough and experiment with other toppings. Like this white pizza with arugula. Yum.

On another note, Luke's wrestling awards night was this week. Oh, happy day - wrestling season is over! (one more post-season tournament in Reno in 3 weeks and it will really, really be over).

Here is a terrible picture of Luke receiving his varsity letter. (That's the last time I give Danford camera duty.)

It was very interesting to hear his stats for the season. He wrestled 42 varsity matches - won 22, lost 20. He earned 140 varsity points, which was 5th highest on the team. He had 15 pins, which tied for the most on the team. Also, he only got pinned 6 times. I can just breathe a sigh of relief now that there were no injuries on that list. Congratulations Luke!

High School

2011-01-31T08:49:00.000-08:00

Luke's Freshman year of High School is half over already. Where does the time go? I feel like school just started. It's already starting to slip away too quickly. Part of the reason for this I know is because this kid is just so darn busy.

Here's the thing about High School that I never knew ... High School sports will completely and utterly monopolize your life.

And it starts over the summer before the school year has even begun. Daily Doubles. Now there is a monopoly on your time if there ever was one. Two practices a day, two and a half hours each, for two weeks. Who on earth would want to do such a thing? Luke did. When he came to me and announced that he was going to play water polo I thought he was crazy. He had never played water polo a day in his life, he had never even been on a swim team (although he is a good swimmer). Water polo is a tough sport. I had visions of him getting pulled under water, swam over top of, pushed around, drowned. Where is my faith in my kids? All that stuff did happen, of course - (except for the drowning part) but Luke is a tough kid, he can take it. He caught on fast and started on his JV team all season and played in a couple of varsity tournaments. Can I just say how much fun this was to watch? The games are fast and furious and they are over before you know it but it's really some of the most fun I have had watching my kids play sports.

Before I knew it, the season was over and he was on to wrestling. Not my favorite sport. But here is one thing I have learned about watching sports - if my kid is participating, I am interested no matter what it is. It is not an easy sport to watch though. I have never been so nervous watching my kids do anything. I start to feel nauseous before I even get there and my whole body tenses up just watching him. I admit I have had to close my eyes a few times. He is very intense about it too. It is one thing if your team loses a game, but when you lose a wrestling match - that is all on you and it can be a tough pill to swallow. Likewise, if you win it can be a big high. Needless to say, we have seen a wide spectrum of emotions around here this season. The win to loss ratio is about even right now.

(Gotta love the purple singlet!)

Wrestling will all be over with by the end of February and I must say I will be much more relaxed when it is. But I have to admit I will miss having some kind of sporting event to watch him in. ... At least until he finds something else to get involved with. I have a hard time picturing him with time on his hands.

Back to Reality

2011-01-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

This holiday season has flown by just like every one before it. I am always a little melancholy at the start of a new year because it means the end of the winter break. I love having the kids at home for two weeks and having fewer activities and generally just having more time to relax and hang out as a family.

It was a good break. We slept in a lot and watched a lot of movies. We did some shopping, hung out with friends and baked up plenty of tasty treats. I definitely ate too much and so did Luke. He had a rough couple of days getting ready for a wrestling tournament that took place between Christmas and New Years. He wrestled 7 matches over the course of two days. He won 3 of them and lost 4, which was not what he was hoping for but not bad for a freshman wrestling on varsity among some fairly stiff competition. We spent the better part of two days watching most of it. As much as I will say I hate to watch wrestling, I think I hate not being there more.

Now the kids are all back at school and I am getting my house put back together. It's time for the January cleaning and organizing to begin...

Lazy, Lazy Me...

2010-11-09T18:44:00.001-08:00

My little Hannah turned 8 and got baptized recently. OK, it was two and a half months ago. I really don't know where all that time went. All I know is that suddenly I am way behind on this here blog.

It was Labor Day weekend actually and my whole family was in town. My parents came out from Virginia and my sister and her clan were in from over the mountain. It was nice to have everyone together for a few days.

I can't believe my baby is eight and now all my kids are baptized! I am getting old! Next they will all be in college!...

The Mansion, The Museum, and the Monet

2010-08-23T07:21:00.000-07:00

I have a long list of things I want to do in and around the Portland area. I imagined that this summer we would take fabulous field trips every week, knock out a good number of things on my list and the kids would love it and never be bored. As usual, I had less time for such things than I had planned, not to mention that my kids were less than enthusiastic about some of my ideas. Last week, however, thanks to Cole and his never ending quest to finish as many merit badges this summer as possible, we did accomplish two things on my list!

First up was the Pittock Mansion. This place has been on my radar since we moved here and I have been wanting to hike the trail up to the mansion for some time now. Hiking was out, but we did go there and I can't believe I waited so long to do it. It is so beautiful up there! The mansion is located high on a hill in a beautiful old Portland neighborhood overlooking the city. It was built by Henry Pittock, owner of the Oregonian, in the early 1900's.

Just look at this place people. It is gorgeous!

The library.

I loved the staircase...

And these windows.

I want this bedroom for my own, or at least the wallpaper.

My favorite part were the grounds and the beautiful view of the city and Mt Hood, (which was only barely visible through the clouds on this day.)

My kids even enjoyed it, but by the end Hannah was demanding that I "stop taking pictures and let's go already!"

Next up, the Portland Art Museum, which I never thought in a million years I would be able to drag my kids to. I just love any excuse to go to downtown Portland. I love this city.

Honestly, you are not allowed to take pictures in the museum, but I snuck a few in on the sly.

I was amazed at how big this place really is. It covers two buildings, and we were there for two hours and only made it through one - and that is with my kids dragging me along at racing speed.

Also, I had no idea that the museum houses a painting as famous as Monet's Waterlilies! I was impressed, but I couldn't get my kids to look at it for longer than a second. Sometime I will have to go back with no children and explore.

For now, that is as much culture as my kids can handle.

Eagle Project!

2010-08-18T20:28:00.000-07:00

Luke finished his eagle project last week, and I have never been so happy to see a project done. It has been weighing on me all summer long. Tracking people down, getting approvals, figuring out cost, getting the money, getting volunteers, and all the while planning on doing it the second week of august and right up to the day we started I didn't feel like we would be ready. The stress of it all!!! In the end it all worked out fine and it turned out beautiful.

He painted a map of the United States on the playground at our Elementary School.

After he cleaned the area with a power washer, and laid out a stencil we started connecting the dots.

Then we filled in the colors.

Two coats. And lastly we went over the lines again and touched up.

Three days, I don't even want to guess how many hours, and lots of help.

Yea, it's done!

It really was a fun project. I could do it again now that I know what I am doing. Just give me a few years to recover.

Mini Getaway

2010-08-08T18:59:00.000-07:00

We took off for a few days last week to go to Central Oregon to hang out with Julie and the kids. The girls had been asking when we were going to go visit their cousins (although we just saw them two weeks ago.) And honestly sometimes I just want to get out of town for a few days.

The kids had fun together as always.

We played at the spash park.

We floated down the river.

Hannah was a little nervous to try this. I offered to take her, but she would not go with me. "I only trust Luke to take me." I was only to happy to concede to him - the water was cold!

What a good looking bunch.

Beverly Cleary Revisited

2010-08-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

We had a girl's week this week while the boys were at scout camp. This was actually the second week this summer that the boys have been gone and it has been just us girls. One of the things that they wanted to do was go see the new movie Ramona and Beezus. There are a few references in it to Portland and it reminded me of something that has been on my list of things to do. Our elementary school used to do a field trip with the 3rd graders to the northeast Portland neighborhood where Beverly Cleary grew up. They took a little walking tour of her neighborhood and went to Grant Park where they now have the Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden. I've been wanting to go there and with the movie fresh in their minds I thought the girls would appreciate it more.

There are three sculptures at the park of characters from her books; Ramona, Henry and Ribsy. Ramona is looking dashing in her rain boots and raincoat with her hair flying.

In the summertime they turn on the water and it becomes a fountain for kids to run through and get wet.

There are plaques around the fountain engraved with the names of all of her books that are set in Portland.

I remember reading Beverly Cleary books as a kid and it was fun to see these timeless characters brought to life. The surrounding neighborhood is filled with places named in the books, like Klickitat Street where Ramona and Beezus live and Westminster Church where Ramona plays a sheep in the Christmas play. We did not have time to tour the neighborhood like I planned but it was fun to visit the park and drive by the house that Beverly Cleary lived in as a child.

I don't know if the girls will be inspired now to read the books but we did start reading Ramona the Brave which has quite a few scenes from the movie. There are plenty more where that came from and it might just temporarily solve the most difficult question known to man.
"What can I read?"

Homemade Oreos

2010-07-21T18:44:00.001-07:00

What do you do when the temperature in Oregon gets up to 100 degrees? Apparently you hole up in the house and turn on the oven. I think 5 years in Oregon has spoiled my kids. They can't handle hot weather anymore. If it gets over 90, they are incapacitated. We have really had only one hot week this summer so far and with the heat comes the age old question "What are we going to do today?" On this day my girls were itching to "make something." So I pulled out my "to try" folder and let them pick out something to bake. They picked a good one. They also picked a bad one because I could not stop eating them. Fortunately neither could anyone else so I had lots of help getting rid of them. I found this recipe here a few years ago and hadn't tried it yet. I'm not sure it is safe to make ever again.

WARNING!!!

Just looking at the following pictures could cause you to gain 5 lbs.

They also made great ice cream sandwiches!

Now I need to go on a diet.

Berry Pickin'

2010-07-13T18:29:00.001-07:00

Summertime is all about the berries around here. I look forward to berry season every year. They are everywhere; in the farmers markets, at roadside stands, and in u-pick farms for miles around. Picking them yourself is obviously the cheapest route and certainly the most fun.
I always pick more than I intend to because it is so addicting!

We started out in June picking strawberries out at Sauvie Island Farms. Strawberry season is the trickiest for u-pick because it is so short and usually falls around the time school is getting out and we are busy. There are still strawberries to be found all summer at the farmer's market, but it is so much fun to pick them ourselves. We were also surprised to find some early blueberries ready to go as well.

We ended up with 6 pounds of strawberries and 2 pounds of blueberries. They did not last long. Many of them got eaten. We made a blueberry pie and some strawberry freezer jam. Yummy!

Look, how pretty are these?

It's a good thing I have good helpers.

This week I was ready for raspberries. We went out to West Union Gardens on Monday. The first time I went to pick raspberries here I was astounded. I had never seen raspberries so big in all my life! They were as big as strawberries and just as sweet. This year I forgot the cardinal rule of berry picking - never pick early in the week because the plants will be picked over from the weekend. It was not a great raspberry day but we got enough to make raspberry freezer jam and got some blackberries too.

Now I am just trying to think of what else I can do with berries so I can go out and pick some more.

4th of July Weekend

2010-07-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

We had a fairly eventful 4th of July weekend. Danford was home, so we wasted no time making plans and getting things done around the house, but mostly getting out of the house.
On Saturday our neighbors kindly took us out on their boat. The weather was a bit on the cool side and getting wet was the last thing on my mind, but somehow the kids don't notice the cold.
Especially this kid. She was one of the first to volunteer to get in.

It did warm up and turned into a nice relaxing day on the lake.

Sunday we got together with a couple of families for a potluck dinner and some neighborhood fireworks. Danford barbecued some ribs, now that he such a skilled barbecue man and we ate lots of good food and had fun with friends.
We skipped the big fireworks display that we normally go to and stuck with just lighting fireworks on our street. It was an impressive display for a bunch of law abiding citizens.

Happy 4th of July!

Dance!

2010-06-29T16:17:00.001-07:00

The first week of the summer is the most stressful for me. It is the girls annual dance recital, and it is four days of activity and busy rehearsal schedules and hair and makeup and driving back and forth and ... well you get the picture.
Three days of rehearsals. Three performances. Three hours long. Yes, it is a 3 hour dance recital!
I am so busy for those 4 days I don't even get a chance to take some good pictures.

The girls love every minute of it. They love the flurry of activity. They love being backstage with their friends. They love the hair and makeup, and of course the dancing

It is fun but I am always glad when it is over!

Going, going, gone...

2010-06-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

Baseball season is finally over, and what a long, strange trip it was. First Cole was out for two weeks with a sprained ankle. No sooner did he come back and it started to rain. And it rained... and it rained... and it rained. Three weeks of rain outs. That's nine straight games rained out. That has to be some kind of record. It was a very frustrating three weeks to say the least.

All bad things do come to an end and when it was finally over we did have some good days for baseball. And Cole's last place team came out in 3rd place after the championship tournament. Not a bad way to end the season all things considering.

Also, I got to play with my new zoom lens.

Day at the Coast

2010-05-31T10:17:00.001-07:00

Do they call it the coast because they do not think it is a "real beach.?" It is certainly not Hawaii, it is true but I am kind of partial to the Oregon Coast. I love a good hot sunny day as much as the next person but there is also something very relaxing about sitting in the sand in my sweatshirt reading a book and watching my kids play in the sand. You can't beat the scenery and when you have a beach a little over an hours drive from home why not take advantage of it as often as you can?

We have been taking advantage of it over the Memorial Day weekend for the last few years. Even though the weather has not been that great around here lately, I was anxious to get out to the coast for a day. It was a little cool at a mere 60 degrees and partly cloudy, but it was not raining and that is good enough for me. Besides, my kids do not seem to notice the cold and they can find plenty to do without getting in the water.

Such as...

Playing football.

Although I think these two need a few lessons. Maybe if they would stop laughing someone could catch the ball.

Just hanging out with Dad is fine for this Daddy's girl.

My personal favorite (besides the reading of course), looking for shells.

Tyler and I found these lovelies.

Flying kites.

Chasing kites.

Flying a kite while riding this contraption.

Of course, you can always dig a hole.

This activity alone could kill hours.

And when you are done with it, build a fire in it.

It's too bad we didn't bring any marshmallows.

If you are feeling crazy, you can get your feet wet.

I think we may have to amputate her feet now.

Heck, she doesn't care she's at the beach.

I mean the Coast.

Pack Rat

2010-05-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

This is my picture of the week. It is the pile of stuff I found under Hannah's pillow.

Hannah is my pack rat. I don't know what to do with that girl. She saves everything! She comes home from school all the time with stuff that she has found on the ground walking home; rocks, broken things, junk that other people have dropped on the way home. She will not let me get rid of any of it.
Today I was taking the sheets off the beds to wash them and I found this pile under her pillow. Don't get me wrong, I knew she had stuff under her pillow. I try to convince her every night to put some of this stuff away, but she is having none of it. It's all special, and she needs it close. Today when I moved the pillow and really looked at the pile in it's entirety I could not believe how much stuff she had under there.

Here is the itemized list (because I know you are interested.)
2 scarfs (one of them is mine by the way)
1 flashlight (incase she gets scared in the night)
2 bottles of lotion
1 hackey sac
1 St. Patrick's Day headband
2 notebooks
1 lid
2 hair accessories
1 piece of leather
2 pencils and a pen
1 pipe cleaner bracelet
a rock
2 small erasers
a bouncy ball
a compass
a necklace
a paper clip
a sticky pad
a piece of felt
some artwork
a box of Kleenex
and a few things I could not identify

How can she even sleep with all that stuff under her pillow?
She is obviously not a princess.

Two Poems for Mother's Day

2010-05-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

Look at my pretty Mother's Day flowers from mom and dad!
And for your reading enjoyment, some Mother's day poetry by Tyler.

Mother's Day Limerick Poem, by Tyler

My mom's a good cook,
She's usually reading a book,
I have lots of fun
She is number 1.
My mom has a good look!

Mother's Day Color Poem, by Tyler

My mom is the color of green.
Green is the color of the vegies that my mom loves to make.

My mom is the color of blue.
Blue is the color of the ocean which my mom loves to go to.

My mom is the color of purple.
Purple is the color of butterflies which are part of nature, my mom loves nature.

My mom is the color of red.
Red is the color of love thats in every hug.

My mom is the color of pink.
Pink is the color of the sunset that makes me feel warm.

My girl knows me well.
Happy Mother's Day!

In Which I Spend my Saturday Afternoon in the ER

2010-05-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

We had an eventful day on Saturday. Cole sprained his ankle playing baseball, which is really a shame because he was having a great game. In the last inning of the game he was running to third and landed with his foot funny on the bag, twisting it and leaving him on the ground in pain. His coach got him a courtesy runner and sat him down with an ice pack. Five minutes later the game was over, his ankle was the size of a baseball, and his coach was recommending I take him to the ER.
Luckily it was not a busy day in the ER and we got right in and were there for about an hour and a half. After some Xrays they determined that it is a bad sprain and he has to stay off it for a few days and certainly can't play baseball for probably a week.
I must say I find it funny that out of all my children Cole is the most cautious and level headed and yet he is the one with the most trips to the ER. Luke was counting up the number of times Cole has had to go to the ER and came up with 5. One scorpion sting, one asthma attack that resulted in a few days in the hospital, one scary allergic reaction to nuts, two staples to the back of the head, and now a sprained ankle. What gives Cole?

Stalking Meeting the Pioneer Woman

2010-04-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

I do not remember how I first discovered the Pioneer Woman. I think I just randomly stumbled across her one day out in the blogosphere and have since been regularly laughing at her confessions, trying her recipes and sighing over her photography. When she published a cookbook I ran out and bought it. When she announced a book tour I waited for her to come to Portland. She did not. Then about a month ago she announced Spring mini book tour and this time Portland was on the itinerary!

Monday night I grabbed my friend Karla and we headed over to Powell's book store, cookbooks in hand ready to meet the ranch wife turned biggest blogger on the block. It started at 6:00 and we figured in about 30 minutes to spare in case it was crowded. Alas, we underestimated PW. There were easily 400 people there. The front entrance to Powell's was packed, people spilling out into the mall entrance. Which was exactly where we ended up. On the steps in the mall looking out over this scene.

Not only that but there were tickets. Tickets! I obviously have not attended enough book signings. They started handing out tickets at 4:30 and stopped at 300. Clearly I was not going to get my book signed, but it was still fun to be there. She was running a little late and I was bemoaning the fact that I was not going to get any closer to her than this when she entered through the mall and walked right by us. My camera was not out of course. I got a picture of the back of her head as she walked by. She did a quick little Q&A session. She is very funny and down to earth and feels just like she could be your next door neighbor.

At about 6:45 they started lining people up to get their books signed. 10 tickets at a time. We had no tickets. But how long could it possibly take? We wandered out into the mall. We got a coke. We visited the apple store. We went home. Karla had a baby to feed. I was feeling conflicted about being with the rest of my family at Cole's baseball game on Danford's last night in town. Not to mention I had to get up at 4:00am to take Danford to the airport. But I wanted my book signed.

Heck, we decided to go back an hour later. The crowds must have thinned out by now, right? Not. They were only half way through the tickets. But there were now empty chairs. So we settled in for the wait. As I was sitting there I realized the extent of this woman's popularity. There were people there from miles around. People who drove hours to see her. With small children. And very supportive husbands. People who still had long drives ahead of them to get back home. And here I was 10 minutes from home. What was I complaining about, I could wait. And wait we did.

11:00pm - I got my book signed!

Home

2010-04-22T09:34:00.000-07:00

We got to have Danford home last weekend after 2 months working out in Pennsylvania. It was a long two months and we only got him for about 3 days, but we take what we can get. We did not go to the beach despite this picture, but I love it because the kids are all following him up the beach like baby ducks and that is basically what it was like at our house all weekend. Wherever Dad went everyone else was sure to follow. Especially Hannah who followed him around like a magnet. I watched him in the kitchen making a sandwich one day and watched as Hannah followed him to the refrigerator to get a few things, to the counter to put them all down, to the pantry to get more things and back to the counter to put them all down. She was right on his heels every time he turned around. It made me smile. It was a good weekend, and not because of anything that we did but just because we were all together. And now we just wait. Until next time. And hopefully we won't have to wait another 2 months.

Look What I Made!

2010-04-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

Today is the annual Soc Hop at our elementary school. Truthfully I would just as soon avoid it, but for some reason it is a highly anticipated event for the girls and it would be cruel and unusual punishment not to take them. I think it is the dressing up.
This year I went a little crazy and made poodle skirts for both of them. I am not much of a seamstress, so unless it involves sewing in a straight line I usually avoid it. Following patterns is right out, so I am still surprised I actually attempted it. Although technically it is not a pattern, it is just a big circle of felt and some elastic. Nevertheless, I am still a little pleased with myself.
Look how cute they are!

The Picture of the Week

2010-04-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

I have come up with a new project for myself. It is ambitious I know, but I have decided that even if I have nothing exciting to write about, I will at least find a photo that says something about my week. A picture is worth a thousand words right?
Here is my picture of the week this week - I love this shot of Cole in the dugout.

It marks the first official week of baseball. The first week of sitting outside freezing my tootsies off for 2 hours on a cold bench at 9:00 on a school night.

Spring Skiing

2010-03-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

We have gone skiing over spring break for four years in a row now. Usually my first impulse is to want to go somewhere warm, but I have always had fun skiing with the kids. This year I struggled with trying to decide what to do over spring break and with Danford gone it had to be something easy for me to do alone with four kids. Skiing did not even cross my mind. Until I mentioned to Danford that it was too bad we could not go skiing this year and he said "well why don't you just take them."
Initially it sounded like too much work, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to do it. So, we headed over to Julie's house for a few days and dragged her whole family with us out to Mt. Bachelor for a beautiful day of skiing. It was such a beautiful day!
I took these four girls with me in the morning.

They are so funny in their little line formation zig zagging across the mountain.

Sometime in the afternoon, the big girls ditched us and it was just me and Hannah. She had had a little bit of a frustrating morning and by the end of the day she was cruising along so well I had to push to keep up with her. On the last run of the day we ran into the boys who were about to head down a run that was a bit steep at the top. They asked her to come with them and when I saw where they were going I thought she would never do it. Before I even finished the thought in my head, she was on her way and she kept up with those boys all the way down.

I did not see much of these boys all day.

Here is Tyler coming in at the end of the day. She took her time coming down because she wanted to be the last one on the slopes, which she very nearly was.

And here are Quinn and Jonas who I only saw at lunch but they must have had fun on the bunny hill with their Mom and Dad all day from the smiles on these faces.

I don't know why I thought taking them out by myself would be work. Once we are there most of them take off on their own anyway. Now I am just wondering why I didn't go out again on Wednesday.

My New Camera and the February Tease

2010-02-22T10:28:00.000-08:00

Danford gave me a new camera for Valentine's Day. I can't decide whether to be mad at him for spending the money or happy because I really wanted it. My old camera is still pretty impressive, but it is old. A lot can change in digital cameras in seven years and I was still using a lens that was made for a film camera. I can already tell a difference, especially with indoor pictures. My new goal is to learn how to take great pictures with it. That photography class is still on my list of things to do!

I had a good opportunity for some practice last weekend while the weather was beautiful. Evey February we get at least a week of beautiful warm weather. It is a tease to get us ready for Spring, and then it goes right back to being winter and wet. This year we have had some beautiful weather on and off all month long. It was a particularly beautiful weekend last week and the girls dragged me over to the playground behind our house. Hannah has been anxious to show me her monkey bar skills. They were indeed impressive and she now has the blisters to prove it.

They had fun soaking in the sun and I got some good opportunities to play with my new toy.

Because I Know You Really Want to See This...

2010-02-05T11:29:00.000-08:00

Warning: The following video contains some violence and portrays 14 year olds trying to throw eachother to the ground and hold eachother down there. Viewing of these scenes may cause stomach cramps and/or nausea (at least it does for me).

Also, Luke is wearing a singlet (sniggers).

How to Dispose of your Gingerbread House

2010-01-19T11:25:00.001-08:00

Every year at Christmas time we make gingerbread houses. I don't know when it started but we have been doing it for years and now it is a tradition. I am surprised that the boys are even still interested in participating, but they are very good sports especially considering they have to share with a sister.

Luke helped Hannah with this house.

Tyler and Cole made this one.

As fun as all that is, it seems that getting rid of them after Christmas is even more fun.

Starting a few years ago when Luke and Cole got BB guns for Christmas, a new tradition was born.

Yes, I think you know where I am going with this.

About mid January when Christmas is over and done with and all the decorations are packed up and put away the only evidence left of the holidays are those gingerbread houses still sitting on my kitchen counter. We have only to wait for a dry day (this could take a while), set those gingerbread houses carefully out in the back yard... and shoot at them with BB guns.

And don't think it is only the boys who are in on the action.

Even Hannah is a pretty good shot.

They do make lovely targets.

This is also a good way to get rid of the post Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns.

"Roughing it"

2010-01-14T15:55:00.000-08:00

Over the break Danford and Luke went on a "campout" with the young men. And I use campout in the very loosest sense of the word. Is it a campout if you are at a beach house at Nehalem Beach? What if you are sleeping outside but still have the use of indoor plumbing and cooking your meals in an actual kitchen?
I suppose if you have a view like this it doesn't really matter what it is called.

You can just call it male bonding I guess.
It must be rough.

Picture a Christmas

2009-12-26T15:08:00.001-08:00

Christmas morning dawns bright and clear. We slept in until 8:00, which is pretty typical for us but unusual I know. What can I say, our kids are well trained.

After about an hour or so of blissfull preoccupation, breakfast of sausage and scrambled eggs and we are set for probably the quietest and most relaxing afternoon of the year.

Throw in a little baking, and dinner with good friends and all is right with the world.

Merry Christmas!

Dinner with Santa

2009-12-23T22:48:00.000-08:00

It has been many a long year since we took our kids to the mall to see Santa. We took the boys a few times when they were little, but really it seems like a lot more work than it is worth. Really, taking a bunch of kids to the mall at Christmas time? Just shoot me.
This year some friends invited us to go downtown to see Santa at Macy's. This has been a long tradition among a few families that we know. Since many years ago when Macy's had a floor dedicated to Santaland complete with dinner, or breakfast I believe. Now it is just a small room, and dinner is eaten out in the food court, but a tradition nonetheless.
We were happy tag along and nothing beats being downtown at Christmas for getting in the spirit. The kids had fun with their friends and the only complaint was Luke's exclamation before we left, "there is no way I am sitting on Santa's lap!"

In Which I get into the Christmas Spirit

2009-12-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

Last year Christmas came and went and I barely felt it. It was just a blur for a few weeks and then it was gone and I felt like I hadn't really tried to make it merry. This year my goal is to do more family activities in the spirit of the season.

We started with our ward Christmas party which I skipped out on last year because I was just too tired to go. Let me say that this is no ordinary Christmas party sitting around at the church eating treats and listening to the choir (although we did do those things). This party takes place out at a barn owned by a family in the ward. Last year it was newly finished and it is something to behold. With a full kitchen and a big loft with bench seating all the way around, it has become the go to place for our ward activities.

The big attraction this year was the horse drawn carriage rides. Nothing like a little turn around the barn on a crisp December night pulled by this to get you in the mood for Christmas.

My kids rode it a few times and if I were better at using my flash I would have a better picture.

The girls favorite part was vising the animals. Despite my description, this is a functioning barn where people board horses. And what barn would be complete without cats?

Next year I will think twice about skipping out on this event if I am feeling tired. I actually feel like it's Christmas time now.

Thankfull

2009-11-30T20:14:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving is officially over, my jeans are a little tighter, and I am suddenly way behind on my Christmas preparations. That is the nature of Thanksgiving, once it is over the Christmas season is upon us over night.

Here are a few highlights of our weekend in Central Oregon.

1. A view.

Definitely a plus if you have a long car ride. I am particularly fond of this one.

2. Food.

I didn't take any pictures of it, but I do love Thanksgiving dinner. The only downfall is that I kind of miss cooking it and I definitely miss the leftovers in my fridge.

3. Comic relief.

You can always count on kids to make us laugh. When Julie and I came home from our early morning black Friday shopping trip, Jonas asked me why I was wearing a hat. I said it was because my hair was ugly. He took off my hat to see for himself and said, "Oh, you're right!" and generously put my hat back on.

3. Pizza Mondo.

Our favorite place to eat in Bend. We went out for lunch there on Mattie and Lauren's birthday.

3. Quality time with the cousins.

It is always nice for the kids to have a few uninterrupted days together.

While the boys were out hiking, the girls were forced to make their own fun.

They made a snowman family. It's a good thing they are creative. When we finally did get them out of the house to go letterboxing, it was getting dark. It took some time to find the box, only to realize that we forgot all the supplies. Oh well, maybe next time.

Writer's Workshop

2009-11-13T10:47:00.000-08:00

One of the things Hannah struggles with in 1st grade is writing. And not just writing but coming up with a topic to write about. She can spend so much of her time thinking about what she wants to write about that she does not get much writing done. She wants her work to be perfect and if she can't spell a word or if she thinks she can't draw a picture of something she will not want to write about it.
One day I was in her class working on a project and the kids were sitting down to write in their journals. Hannah could not think of something to write about so her teacher sent her to talk to me for ideas. I said "Well, we went to the farmer's market on Saturday. We got some corn and some yummy peaches. You could write about that." Hannah thought about it for a minute and said "I can't draw corn."
We are working on this and she is getting better at trying things she thinks she can't do.
Here is one of her writing pieces that she did several weeks ago.

Her spelling takes some practice to decipher. Here is the translation:
Me and my Grandma are kind of pen pals and I love her and that she has stuff for me and her name is Ann and shes really special and nice to me and that she plays games with me.

We are working on spelling and making sentences but progress is progress.

Ghosts of Halloween Past

2009-11-03T15:06:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, I was crafty. That is to say that I liked to make things. After many years of making things that either a) I did not finish or b) I did not like, I gave up on the crafting urge and have not so much as made a scrapbook page for many years. Recently I have felt a slight return to the crafting world (be it ever so slight), mostly because of the cute picture frames I learned how to make and actually like enough to use. But I digress.

One thing that I made that I actually did like were Halloween costumes. When Luke was little I made all his Halloween costumes and in fact would have shuddered to think of sending him out in a store bought costume. Here he is in 1997 in a cute baseball costume that I was oh so proud of.

And in 1998 it was a jack-in-the box that he would probably kill me for if he saw the photo.

In 1999 I cut out and ironed on all those skeleton pieces. Luckily Cole wore it too a few years later.

My personal favorite was the bug attack of 2001 thanks to Martha Stewart.

Once I had more than 2 kids to dress for Halloween it was off to Party C ity for me. Making costumes is fun but making 3 or 4 in one year is too much even for me in my most craftiest of moods.

And so 2003 became the year of the store bought costumes.

Oh, the horror!

Just kidding, they are actually very cute.

Again in 2004 I did very well by Party City.

After a while I get tired of shelling out that much money for Halloween costumes and lately have left them to their own devices. Cole has a collection of black cape like outfits that he uses in various capacities every year.

Last year the girls just wore their pa jamas which made me very happy because it required no work from me.

Finally this year I began to think that I should get creative again. When I asked the girls what they wanted to be Tyler said - "Pebbles Flintstone." I began to construct a Pebbles costume. Turns out it was rather easy and cute. So cute that Hannah took one look at it and said, "I want to be Pebbles!" Tyler of course gave it to her, because she is so very nice. So we started to work on making her into Wilma. Not as easy but also cute.

Turns out that none of the kids these days even know who Wilma and Pebbles are.

It also turns out that I only have enough energy to put together two Halloween costumes max and Cole was left to fend for himself. He just threw on a black cape and sprayed his hair pink. I don't know what he was supposed to be. Luke did not dress up for Halloween but did wear his dirt biking clothes to the youth party, which he has done for the past 3 years.

Maybe if I start sooner next time ... no I probably won't.

Score!

2009-10-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

Tyler dribbles.

She shoots...

And she scores!

October in Portland

2009-10-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

October is one of my favorite months. I am over my end of summer/back to school blues and getting into fall. The days are getting cooler and the leaves are changing. Like this tree in our backyard.

I love it when I start seeing all the colors bursting out on the trees. We have started breaking out the sweaters and jackets. I can start bringing out the soup recipes and the kids are busy planning out the Halloween costumes.

Also on the agenda: fall sports.

Soccer is in full swing for Tyler. She is having a fun season - her team has not lost a game.

This is the first year they have played goalies and have been taking turns being the goalie. Tyler has been anxiously awaiting her turn and finally got her shot on Saturday.

I kept warning her that being the goalie might not be as exciting as she might expect since her team is so good and their opponents do not get much of a chance to score. She spent much of her time standing there watching the game from the other end of the field. You can see Mattie and Lauren watching in the background.

At least now she is convinced that it is not that exciting and will be happier to just get to play.
Also Luke has been running cross country this year. 3 years at this middle school and I never knew they had a cross country team. It's not a very big program and he says he really just wants to run to get some exercise. This is good. It is always good for him to have a physical outlet for his vast amount of energy.

I love school sports. It's so much less work for me. He stays after school and all I have to do is pick him up.

This frees up my afternoons and I can actually make dinner, and sit down and read and eat candy corn.

My Masterpiece Art Studio

2009-09-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

For Hannah's birthday this year I took the girls down to a local art studio to make some masterpieces. I discovered this place a few summers ago and the girls are always asking to go back. I always put them off because really we can do art at home just as easily. But there is something about being in their studio and having all their materials to work with. They can and have spent hours here. And I can't argue that it is nice to leave the mess behind for someone else to clean up.
We bought the mixed medial package and for $10 they had paper for painting, tracing, and enough clay for them to each make something.
Hannah used the light table to trace some cats.

She also used the oil pastel crayons on this piece of black paper.

Tyler wanted to paint and made this beach scene. They also have canvases that you can buy to paint on which would actually be really cool to hang their art work up somewhere. Next time.

Their favorite is really the clay. They rolled it, cut it, shaped it, molded it and...

came up with a birthday cake

and a turtle.

Here they are ready to be fired.

It takes a few weeks to get fired and ready to glaze. When they were ready we went back to glaze them.

This week they were finally ready to take home.

Ta Da! A masterpiece is born.

Toothless

2009-09-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

I love a toothless grin. At about 6 or 7 years old when those front teeth start to fall out there is a short window before the permanent ones start to grow in when each of my kids in turn have sported this toothless smile. Hannah is there now. It doesn't last long and once it is gone you forget they ever looked like that.

Case in point: I barely recognize the girl in this picture. Is it really Tyler? She looks so different and all the more so because she is not only missing the top two teeth but one on the bottom as well. How did she even eat?

It was harder to find pictures of the boys with missing teeth. They were generally only missing one at a time and the new ones grew in so fast. Cole was only 5 in this picture.

Luke was 7.

It's a turning point. One minute they are little and toothless and the next minute the permanent teeth are in and they are suddenly older and it doesn't help that they are in first grade, and it's all day, and they are suddenly reading and writing and then tomorrow ... college!

Ok, that's getting a little carried away. Luckily I have a few more years yet.

The Last Hoorah, or Out Flying Kites

2009-09-07T22:09:00.001-07:00

Summer is officially over and I am sad to see it end. I love summertime. I love it when everyone sleeps in until 9:00am, including me. I love not having to be anywhere much in particular. We can head out to the beach for the day if we want, go to the movies in the middle of the day, go to the museums or out to lunch. I love having help cleaning the house. This was a good summer in that the kids got along well, did not complain about being bored, and were helpful when I needed the house cleaned fast or my truck vacumed out.

I am actually dreading the first day of school. It brings back memories of the anxious, tearfull first days of my childhood. My kids are actually all excited about going back to school (except for possibly Hannah). I will be the only one with the stomach ache tomorrow.

And so here we are making the most of our last few days of freedom out on the Oregon Coast.

We mostly flew kites. This is the biggest one we have and Danford has finally learned how to use it without being dragged down the beach.

Luke learned to kiteboard.

Everyone flew a kite...

Even Hannah.

We also did a little exploring.

And so, so long to summertime...

at least until next year.

Friends with boats

2009-09-02T22:58:00.001-07:00

Last week our neighbors took us out on their boat.

It's nice to have friends with fun toys. Cole tried his hand at driving.

Luke is pretty good on the wakeboard.

I gave it a try too.

And it seems Danford can still waterski.

The tubing was the most popular with the kids.

Tyler kept giving the thumbs up sign to go faster.

Love the look on Hannah's face here.

Two Hannah's.

A swim in the lake.

Thank you Francis Family!

While the boys are away...

2009-08-26T18:39:00.000-07:00

We had some good girl time last week while the boys were gone at scout camp. It is shocking how quiet the house can be with the male half of the family gone all week. We took our time getting up in the morning, ate pancakes for dinner, the house stayed mostly clean and we planned our activities around what the girls wanted to do.

We went to the Zoo. The boys have no interest in the zoo anymore, so it was a good time to go. Turns out the zoo is a good place to go letterboxing. We found 4 letterboxes there. It was fun to have something to look for while we walked and walked.

We also did a little craft project. We covered these composition books with scrapbook paper and decorated them. They kept the girls busy for a while.

We also did a little school shopping, hit the free movies and saw The Tale of Despereaux and went out to lunch.

Of course they were just waiting all week for their cousins to get here. They had fun watching movies, doing fashion shows, going roller skating. Saturday morning we headed down to the Beaverton Farmer's Market.

As for the boys, they had a great week at scout camp.

They worked hard, played hard, showered seldom and generally had a great time. Cole and Sam got 7 merit badges each. Luke got 3 merit badges, did the mile swim and got a climbing award. A very productive week!

Luke & William

2009-08-19T21:40:00.001-07:00

Last week Luke had his friend William in town for a visit. William was Luke's best friend in Texas. They lived in our neighborhood, were in the same primary class and in the same grade at school. Their birthday's were even within two weeks of eachother. This is a rare thing, and I think Luke has missed having a friend like this. He has plenty of friends at school but they are not members of the church and all his church friends are a year ahead of him in school. He doesn't hang out with any of these friends much outside of school or church. This could be my fault because I am not good at making plans to have my kid's friends over unless they are asking. And honestly, Luke is getting a little old to be having his mother make play dates for him.

At any rate, it was really nice for him to have a friend around. We had talked about doing this before and now that they are old enough to get on a plane alone we jumped at the chance to have him. Luke was excited to see him again and I think they had fun gossiping about all their old friends. I hope William had fun. When you ask a couple of teenagers "what do you want to do today?" You don't get much response. I took them to the OMSI and to the beach. The weather report was not good for the coast last week but I decided if we showed William anything in Oregon he must see Cannon Beach. We got about 2/3 of the way there and it was pouring rain. The kids all said I should just turn around and go home, but I was determined to go to the beach. It turned out to be a pretty nice day. The sun peeked out and it was about 68 degrees, which by my standards ain't too shaby for the Oregon coast. The water was even pretty warm and the kids all got wet. It was a good day.

Here they are 5 years ago at cub scout camp. They look so little.

And here they are now, almost 14 years old. Funny how William is almost the same amount taller than Luke as what he was 5 years ago.

I'm glad these two have stayed in touch. Now Luke wants to go to Texas next summer.

Sunriver, Part III

2009-08-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

Part III - Swimming

Although the hiking and biking portion of our vacation may sound like we spent our whole week busy with physical exercise (and we did do quite a bit of that), do not be fooled - we had our fair share of lying around and relaxing too. We spent several days lounging on the beach at Elk Lake and Twin Lakes in the Cascade Lakes area. We liked Elk Lake much better, the beach was nicer and you can't beat this view.

The kids enjoyed floating around on some rafts and paddling around in these boats.

The water was actually quite warm but the air was not quite warm enough to entice me to get in. Don't worry, I amused myself just fine reading on the beach and watching everyone splashing around.

The chipmonks were out in full force everywhere we turned. They were not shy either and we no sooner turned our back and they were all over the picinic table where we left our lunch. One actually ran across Danford's chest as he was lying down with his eye closed. Hannah decided to try and get one to come take a chip off her tummy. She lay really still and waited. One came close but did not take the bait.

And all too quickly the week flew by and it was time to come home. I think we were all ready to get home and rest off the week. We all needed a good long nap. In our own beds!

Sunriver, Part II

2009-08-13T16:02:00.001-07:00

Part II - Biking

Sunriver is a biker's paradise, with 35 miles of trails biking is probably one of the more popular pastimes there. Our favorite is the river loop trail, a 4 mile loop that goes past the main lodge, along the river and past the stables and the marina. It is a beautiful ride and not too long.
We made the loop several times. I did it twice with the girls and we had to stop and visit the horses. They both had a short pony ride. It is just a couple of trips around the corral. It was so hot on this day, I felt sorry for the poor ponies.

If you ride by at the right time, you can watch them take the horses out to pasture for the night.

Tyler really liked the horses. She wanted to ride a big one, but she was not old enough. I think you have to be 10. I have heard that the guided horseback rides are fun.

Another trail that we rode was the trail to Benham Falls. While most of the trails in Sunriver are paved, this one is a mountain biking trail. It is 8 miles round trip and quite rocky in a few places but mostly flat. I was a little concerned that Hannah would find it too difficult, but it is amazing how well she does when she is riding with Dad. Why is it that when she is with me on an easy paved trail she can complain and even stop a few times and refuse to go on, but she rides with Dad on 8 miles of dirt trail and she even has to stop and push the bike up a few hills and not a peep out of her!? Curious.

The trail ends at Benham Falls, and we got off our bikes to walk down a short trail to take in the scenery. The mosquitos were bad this year in Sunriver, but I have never in my life seen as many as we saw once we got close to the falls. We had to walk quickly because if you stopped you found yourself in a swarm. It was so bad that we rushed down to the falls, took a few quick pictures, and ran back to our bikes and rode like the wind to get the heck out of there.

Still, it was a lovely view.

Stay tuned, for Part III.

Sunriver, Part I

2009-08-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

I am overwhelmed thinking about how to document our vacation last week. I have a headache from sorting through over 500 pictures from 3 cameras. How we took that many I have no idea. We certainly kept ourselves busy and had a great time though.

I think our activities can be categorized into three parts hiking, biking, and swimming. And so, I have decided to blog about them in three parts.

Part I - Hiking

We started our adventures hiking at Paulina Falls and Paulina Peak. We took a short trail down to these beautiful waterfalls.

The boys had fun hiking up to the falls.

Here is Luke behind the waterfall.

The girls were a little put out that they had to wait at the bottom.

We also drove up to Paulina Peak where there is a great view of the lakes and the obsidian flow.

We hiked the trail out to the overlook.

A beautiful view.

Another day we went up to Mt. Bachelor. We have been up before in the summertime. It is fun to ride up the ski lift and hike around up top.

There was still quite a few snow banks up there. The kids had fun climbing around on them. The sun sure does reflect off of that snow. It was almost blinding.

It is a beautiful view from up there on a clear day.

One thing I have always wanted to do is drive down to Crater Lake. It is one of those things that you just have to see, even though there is not much else to do there. It is a lot closer to drive there from Sunriver than from our house, so we decided to make the trip down there. I did not realize how cold it would be. And foggy. As we were driving up to the rim, the fog was so thick we could not see 2 feet in front of us. I began to think it was a wasted trip.

This is what it looked like. 44 degrees and foggy. That is supposed to be the lake behind me.

It did clear up though the further we went and we actually were able to see the lake, which I was begining to doubt.

We got out and hiked down this winding trail to the shore. It was a long way down, but there were some really pretty view points along the way.

Particularly here at this switchback.

To be continued...

Happy Birthday Cole!

2009-07-30T22:23:00.000-07:00

I will be forever grateful that I had the brilliant idea to limit the birthday parties to everyother year. On these off years I am always relieved be able to keep things simple. Saturday night we went out to eat. Tuesday was Cole's actual birthday in which we ate cake and went to the roller skating rink. Much to my surprise the roller skating was a big hit. I was not sure at first if it was a good idea, especially for Cole who spent about the first 20 minutes on the floor and near tears. But in the end everyone had fun.
I could not help but flashback to my youth and rollering skating at Skateland. When I walked in the door I felt like I had stepped back in time, especially with the retro music playing.

Happy Birthday Cole!

In which I get poison oak, Hannah encounters a snake, and we find hidden treasure

2009-07-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

Letterboxing - an outdoor hoby that involves following clues to a waterproof box hidden in a public place (like parks) and containing a rubber stamp and a logbook. Finders stamp an impression of the stamp in a personal logbook and then leave their own stamp in the letterbox's logbook.

My friend Heather introduced me to letterboxing earlier this year. We needed to take our Webelos on a hike and she thought a letterboxing hike would be fun. She found one at the Hoyt Arboretum that was about 2 miles long and had 4 letterboxes hiden along the way. It was a good hike and it was fun for the boys to have something to look for while we hiked.

Since then I have looked up several letterboxing routes in our area to take the kids on this summer. The boys aren't interested, Luke actually laughed at me (teenagers!). Cole had fun when he was with his friends but has no desire to go with his sisters. It has turned out to be a good Saturday activity for us girls to do when the boys are gone all day dirtbiking. They have had a lot of fun with it and it has taken us to some pretty local parks and nature trails.

This is our first letterboxing trip to the Tualitin Hills Nature Trails.

Last weekend we went to Cook Park in Tigard. Tyler was not sure about reaching down inside this stump to get the box out.

So Hannah said she would do it. (Surprising considering #2 below.)

Our supplies.

Some things that we have learned on our adventures:

#1 Wear shoes and socks. For some reason I did not consider that I might have to actually do some work to find some of these boxes and after the first trip when I had to wade through poison oak to get to the hiding place I have decided that flip flops are not appropriate footwear for letterboxing. As carefully as I tried to step around it, I still got a spot of poison oak on my leg that itched for some time.

#2 Sometimes letterbox hiding places are also home to other things. Like snakes. As Hannah discovered when she picked up a box that we found at Pirate Ship park and found a little black garter snake underneath. I don't think screaming and running are in keeping with the letterboxing code of discretion. Luckily she kept her head and held on to the letterbox.

#3 If at first you do not succeed try, try again. Some letterboxes are easy to find, others require some thought and carefull searching. A few times I have been ready to give up when I just had to sit down and think and look around to make sure I have searched everywhere, and suddenly we find what we have been looking for!

Saturday mornings at the Beaverton Farmer's Market and a Strawberry Pie

2009-07-12T18:18:00.000-07:00

I am wondering why it has taken me this long to get down to the Beaverton Farmer's Market in downtown Beaverton. Last summer I was in the habit of getting up early on Saturday mornings to do my grocery shopping and I would visit the Cedar Mill Farmer's Market in the parking lot of my Safeway. I just figured the Beaverton Farmer's Market would be more of the same so I never went. I was so wrong!

The Beaverton Farmer's Market is 10 times the size of the tiny Cedar Mill Farmer's Market!

Last Saturday I dragged my family down there partially against their will. We were all pleasantly surprized at how much is down there. We got a flat of these beautiful strawberries.

We love this guy's tomato's. They have graced the tops of our 4th of July burgers and been made into tomato and cucumber salad several times this week.

Next we need to try these lovely squash and zucchini.

They also have a multitude of flowers.

And food vendors. The girls and I went back there yesterday and tried these crepes. They were running out of batter they were so popular. The Sweet Italy was delicious! Stuffed with mascarpone cheese and topped with berries (they happened to have blueberries on this day) and lemon zest.

Hannah is wearing her mad face because she didn't think she liked blueberries. Turns out she does.

The girls really just wanted to play at the playground and in this fountain.

The Beaverton fountain is a popular place for kids in the summertime. When we first moved here I was shocked to see kids playing in the public fountains. I could not believe that this was allowed! But actually it is quite popular and there are a number of public fountains throughout the Portland area where people go to cool off in the summer. Why they don't just go to a swimming pool I have no idea.

What did I do with all my strawberries you ask? Made strawberry pie of course!

I found this recipe on a blog I frequent called yourhomebasedmom. It reminds us of a pie we used to get at a local bakery that is no more. I have made 4 of these pies now. Two for Father's Day and two for the 4th of July barbecue we had with our neighbors. They came back for more the next day. It is so delicious I am going to give you the recipe. You're welcome.

Strawberry Cream Pie

Graham Cracker Crust:

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (one package)

1/4 cup sugar

6 Tbsp. butter, melted

Combine the above ingredients and press firmly into a 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 375 for 5-8 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Cool.

Strawberry Glaze:

1 cup strawberries

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

1/4 cup water

Crush 1 cup strawberries. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Add water and crushed strawberries. Cook and stir over medium heat until slightly thickened. Strain through a mesh strainer. Cool.

Creamy filling:

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup heavy cream, whipped

4 cups whole strawberries, hulled

Blend cream cheese and sugar. Stir in vanilla. Fold in whipped cream. Spread evenly in cooled crust. Refrigerate.

Place whole strawberries stem side down on top of creamed filling, pressing slightly. Spoon glaze over berries and chill for 3 hours.

Now go. Make some pie!

It's Official

2009-07-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

Baseball season is finally over!

After 4 months, 53 games, two tournaments, coutless practices, and a tanker full of gas we are done for the season. As much as it wears me out at the time, I miss it when it is over.

Cole has actually been done for a month now, but it has taken me that long to get my hands on these pictures and then scan them (which Luke had to figure out for me by the way).

I would love to say I took these pictures, but I cannot take the credit. There is a dad on Cole's team who takes professional pictures. I have never seen him at a game without his whopping big camera and tripod. His telephoto lens is bigger than my whole camera put together.

My favorite are the series shots. Of course his camera will take about 10 shots per second. (And I thought it was pretty cool that mine takes 3 shots per second.)

This first series is Cole batting.

The next series is a pretty awesome catch that Cole made. I actually caught this same play on my video camera, but I still haven't figured out how to get video on here.

This one obviously did not make it in time for the out, but I thought it was a cool shot.

Luke's baseball team was a little like the badnews bears this year, except that they did not win at the end. It is the first year he has been on a losing team, but he handled it pretty well and did not complain. There are actually a few advantages to being on a crappy team.

#1 Luke got to pitch! He was generally only good for an inning or two, but he did not do half bad and he seemed to get a little better each time he got out there. These pictures I did take. (Can you tell the difference that thousands of dollars of camera equipment make?)

# 2 He got to be 1st in the batting order.

At first I could not figure out why the coach would put Luke first in the batting order, he is not the best batter on the team (but don't tell him that). He is however the best base runner! He can steal around those bases like no body else (and I am not just saying that because I'm his mother!)

Here he is stealing home during the last game of the season.

A fitting end to a fun if not successfull season.

Biker Chick

2009-06-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

When I was 8 years old, I would never in my wildest dreams have agreed to trying this...

Or this...

And most definitely not this...

I was shy. I did not like to try new things. I was not good at sports, probably because I was afraid to try.

Tyler is not afraid of anything. She loves to try new things. She wants to do it all; soccer, softball, dance, gymnastics, you name it and she wants to do it. She learned to ride her bike when she was 4 and when it came to trying the dirt bike, she was ready to go. She is a long way from riding hard trails with the boys, but she will get out there and try. I love having a girl who is brave and fearless!

Now the question is will Hannah try it when the time comes?

She says,... maybe.

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

2009-06-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

It's the last week of school!! And the last week of kindergarten.

Hannah has learned so many new things and her vocabulary has grown.

Hannah: Mom, do you know what preoccupied means?

Mom: What does it mean?

Hannah: It means busy.

some time later...

Mom: Hannah, will you come help me set the table?

Hannah: (yells) I can't. I'm preoccupied!

The following week...

Hannah: Mom, I know what robust means.

Mom: What does it mean?

Hannah: It means strong. Or also, when you have to go to the bathroom really badly.

I guess that's one way of interpreting it.

Tyler finishes Softball

2009-05-31T13:41:00.000-07:00

I did not ask Tyler if she wanted to play softball. I had hoped that she would never ask. Having two kids in baseball has been hard enough, three seemed impossible. But she did ask, begged me to play in fact. And so, despite my better judgement I decided to let her try it.

It started out a little rocky. The girls were a little rough around the edges. Sometimes they weren't paying attention, the ball would roll right by them and they would be looking off in another direction, or else there would be three of them running towards the same ball. At one point I was watching a ball sail up into the air towards one girl in left field, when she gave a little scream and jumped back away from it. At that moment I thought "so this is baseball with girls!" It was a little like watching t-ball - painfull. Tyler even asked me the first week, "How do I know when to run to the base?" and "what do I do after I hit the ball.?" And I thought she had been watching her brothers play for all these years.

They came together well though. They even got to the point where they could get three outs in an inning. Tyler loved it and had a great season. She is always asking for someone to go outside and play catch with her now. Her favorite position was catcher. I think everyone's favorite position was catcher. All the girls begged to be catcher.

It was busy though. The last few weeks we have averaged 6-7 games a week plus 2-3 practices. I rarely make dinner anymore and sometimes spend an hour to an hour and a half in the car dropping off and picking up kids after school. Thankfully, yesterday was her last game and her team party.

One down and two to go.

Weekend at the Coast

2009-05-25T11:22:00.001-07:00

Every year I look forward to Memorial Day weekend and not just because it is a holiday weekend and comes close to my birthday (not that I would be looking forward to my birthday). I look forward to it because it is Four whole days with no baseball or any other committments of any kind. Four whole days that we don't have to be anywhere except wherever we want. And where I want to be is at the beach.

This year I got us a room in Seaside for Saturday night and we spent two days out on the beach. It was a beautiful weekend, mostly sunny and temperatures in the mid to upper 60's, which is pretty darn good for May in Oregon.

We left Saturday morning and drove out to Sunset beach which is an area north of Seaside where you can drive out onto the beach. We just load up the back of the truck with everything we need for the day, lunch, drinks, towels, beach toys and park out on the sand. It's nice not to have to carry a bunch of stuff or walk back to the car at the end of the day with tierd kids.

The kids had fun playing catch. Tyler has been working on her catching.

The boys played football.

And baseball.

We flew kites, of course.

And generally digging and playing in the sand.

Saturday night we walked around downtown Seaside. We had dinner and walked down to the boardwalk.

Then Sunday, we went out and did it all again.

Luke doesn't like me taking his picture, but I took some good ones of him.

I think I need a beach house.

A Poem, on Mother's Day

2009-05-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

The Lanyard
by Billie Collins

The other day as I was ricocheting slowly
off the pale blue walls of this room,
bouncing from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.

No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one more suddenly into the past -
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.

I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that's what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother,

She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sickroom,
lifted teaspoons of medicine to my lips,
set cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light

and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.

Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she wispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift - not the archaic truth

that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hands,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

The Last Pinewood Derby!

2009-05-05T15:03:00.000-07:00

And I for one am not sorry to see the last of them. We did go out with a bang though and Cole's car won first place. Danford is quite pleased with himself of course. He has been laboring for the past 6 years to figure out how to build a fast pinewood derby car. Some of them have been pretty fast and others have been disappointing. I really think it is just dumb luck, but he is convinced he has figured out a perfect system and it is all in the wheels and axels. He won't have a chance to test his theory however because this was the last one.

I did not bring my camera so sadly I did not get many pictures, but my friend Heather took some for me. Here is Luke helping with the track. This was a very nice electronic track that we borrowed from a Lake Oswego ward. No one was allowed near it except this guy who was operating it and Luke who brought him the cars and then put them back after each race.

We splurged and bought 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place trophys this year. Here is Cole getting his trophy.

Here is his car which went through a few casualties before it was finished. The wood split when they were cutting it out and they had to start over. It split again when they put the wheels on but it was too late to start over so it had to just be glued. They spray painted it dark green. Danford likes to put a lot of layers of paint on it. At one point it was still sticky and he decided that to get it to dry faster he would put it in the oven - on broil. You can imagine what a good idea that was. It almost ruined it. After they sanded down the bubling mess of paint, they decided that it looked like a camo pattern and they left it.

Here's to being done with Pinewood Derbys!

"Tie-dyed" easter eggs

2009-04-18T20:46:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since we have dyed easter eggs. It has fallen into the category of things that I used to do and am sick of; like carving pumpkins and decorating gingerbread houses. It is messy, it never turns out like I expected and it is a waste of good eggs (or pumpkin, or candy as the case may be.)

This year I saw a great idea for silk dyed eggs and I thought, here is a foolproof, non-messy project. This was not entirely the case. It actually took me some time to cut out the neckties and tie them around the eggs. Then I had to tie a piece of plain fabric over that.

The results were impressive, but I think don't think the fabric was tight enough around the eggs because it left some blank spots. Rubber bands would have worked out better.

The ones we died in solid dye turned out almost as good.

I think the girls were less than impressed with the project because there was very little for them to do.

But they did think they were cute.

Note to self: Next year how about decorating eggs out of construction paper.

Now I just need to get my kids to eat egg salad.

Spring Break

2009-03-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

Usually when spring break comes around, I have a hankering to be someplace warm. Since Mexico or Hawaii are out of the question, Danford (for three years in a row now) talks me into going skiing and I am always, always glad he did. This year we spent two days at Mt. Bachelor in central Oregon and we could not have picked two more beautiful days to be on the mountain.

On day 1 Luke took off with his cousin Sam for parts unknown and we basically just saw them when it was time for lunch and then at the end of the day. Hannah spent the day in a lesson, so Danford and I were left with just Cole and Tyler for the day.

It was fun skiing with them and they did great. Danford would take off in the front with Tyler right behind him and Cole behind her. They kept right up with him all day.

Hannah did great in her lesson and when I picked her up I expected her to be tierd and grouchy, but she immediately was begging me to go do a run with her. Then she wanted to do it again.

Day 2 dawned, if possible, even more beautiful than day 1.

Tyler was so excited to ski with her cousins.

Which she did, and they skiied together all day. It was really fun to see all the kids skiing together. For the most part Danford stayed with Hannah and Chris stayed with Quinn. I stayed with Tyler, Mattie and Lauren all day and the boys stayed together.

This is what we looked like all day, a little train zig zagging across the mountain.

Every once in a while the boys would show up and stay with the girls for a few runs and then they would take off again.

And then every once in a while the girls would catch up with Quinn and Hannah and ski with them for a bit. Look at the cute ski bunnies!

If we could order up weather like this any time, I would be up for skiing much more often. Julie will have to start charging us to stay at her house and eat her food.

Very soon though, I will not be able to keep up with my kids at all. I will be the old lady sitting in the lodge all day with her book and her hot cocoa waiting for my family to stop by for lunch or a break. I can see it coming. I'll just have to enjoy it while they can still stand to ski with me.

Visitors

2009-03-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a visit from Danford's parents. They had not been here in a couple of years so it was good to see them. The kids enjoyed having them around, especially the girls who enjoyed having someone (namely Grandma) who would play games and read stories to them whenever they asked. They spent most of their time just watching the flurry of activity as I ran in and out running kids here and there. But Danford did take a few days off and drove them up to Timberline Lodge one day. They had lunch and walked around outside marveling at all the snow up there. We also took them to the Columbia employee store where we all enjoyed shopping.
Danny swears this is his last trip, but we will just see about that.

My favorite part about having them here - Edna does my dishes for me every night. Thank you very much!

bye, bye winter

2009-03-04T20:19:00.000-08:00

At least we hope so. As this winter draws to a close (it's premature I know, but one can dream), I consider what a bizarre winter it was for Portland. I never thought we would see this much snow here.

Here are our top 5 things we loved or possibly hated (depending on how you look at it) about this winter (in no particular order.)
1. A 3 week long winter break. (which we are paying for now by the way.)
2. Sliding down our street on rubermaid lids.

3. Building numerous snowmen.
4. Building a snow fort in our front yard big enough to hold two people.

5. The most snow that our family has seen in our yard in... well, since any of our kids were born.

Now, bring on Spring (which is to say rain).

Hannah looses a tooth...

2009-02-25T15:09:00.000-08:00

Finally!

6 1/2 and she finally lost her first tooth. When she realized it was loose, she was in a panic that it might hurt. Then she was worried that she might swallow it. She is such a worrier. Finally two nights ago, we were brushing her teeth and it was wobbling about wildly. I told her to just grab it and yank it out. She looked at me like I had lost my mind, but she did it and it came right out.

She really wanted to leave a note for the tooth fairy. She said she wanted to know where she lived. I talked her out of it for now, but when I was in bed I envisioned writing her teeny tiny notes from her very own tooth fairy. I don't know how I would have explained that to Tyler who recently made a fairy house out of a cardboard box and left food in it for her for three nights in a row. Her friend told her that if she did this a fairy would come to live there and write her a note. I considered writing her a note but I didn't want to encourage leaving food out in her room every night. And honestly, I never really thought she believed she would get a note. But apparently she did because after a few nights she got frustrated and said, "It's not working!" in a very exasperated tone. I felt guilty, but just for a minute because now the shoe box is gone and so are the orange slices.

A Valentine's Day Tradition

2009-02-17T21:57:00.000-08:00

Having fondue at our house on Valentine's Day is like having turkey for Thanksgiving. It is a necessity. My kids start asking me weeks ahead of time if I have the ingredients for our Valentine's Day fondue. Last week I found my grocery list with a few additions to it in Tylers handwriting. She had added strawberries and fudge. Like I would forget! You would think it was the only day of the year I let them eat chocolate!

Our favorite things to dip are strawberries and Sara Lee frozen pound cake. This year I added raspberries and pretzels which were both delicious also. An occasional banana will make it into the mix some years. This year we shared our bounty with some neighbors and we all sat around happily eating ourselves into a sleepy chocolate stupor.

Happy Valentines Day to us!

Next year - I venture into the realm of cheese fondue!

Cookies for Santa

2009-01-25T19:54:00.000-08:00

I know that Christmas is so over, but I have had this incident in my head for weeks now and am feeling the need to document it. It is classic, and frankly I am 100% certain that a year from now I will have no recollection of it whatsoever.

I will be the first to admit that I have never made a big deal out of Santa Clause. Sure I will say things like "Get in bed so Santa will come," or "What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?" But I have never been one to put Santa's name on a present or leave one unwrapped present under the tree for Santa.

So, it is probably no surprize that my kids get confused quickly about Santa. This year Hannah, who is 6, was uncommonly distressed over the Santa Clause issue. She constantly asks me questions like "Is Santa really real?" to which I intelligently give her vague answers like "Well, what do you think?"

Since I was clearly not giving her much to go on she decided to take matters into her own hands and devised an elaborate plan to discover the truth for herself. I found out about this through my friend Kim who overheard an conversation in the car between Hannah and her friend that went something like this:

Hannah: "I don't really think that Santa is real."

Hannah's friend: "What!!"

Hannah: "I have decided to find out if Santa is real or not. I am going to put out a plate of cookies for Santa and one for Mom and Dad. If the one for Santa is gone then Santa is real and if they both are gone then it is still a mystery."

On Christmas Eve, sure enough we had to make cookies. She changed her plans a little and only put out one plate of cookies for Santa and a note that Luke wrote for her and gave us strict instructions not to eat them!

The next morning they were gone - of course! Was she so happy and is now a believer? Of course not, she is as conflicted as ever. I suppose next year we will have to come clean with her, which is a little sad.

Did I mention that I love cookies!

A Work in Progress

2009-01-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

This is something I have meaning to try for some time now. I mean it seems that everyone in the universe but me has a blog now. For a long time though I have let my indecisiveness get the best of me. And questions like, how do I start?, what do I write about?, who will read it?, and what if I can't keep up with it? have plaqued me. No more, it is a new year and time for me to just bite the bullet and give it a whirl. I still don't know what I am doing, but if I don't just try I will never figure it out. I still don't know what I will write about, but that I will have to make up as I go along. Probably no one will read it, but I have decided that that is ok. And as far as keeping up with it, only time will tell. So, for now this is just a work in progress and at least I can say I tried.