40isthenew20

One more thing

2010-07-17T06:30:00.001-07:00

So if your stomach is roughly the size of your fist, why do they even make food this size

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Linn County Fair

2010-07-17T06:29:00.001-07:00

Last night we drove 40 miles north to the Linn County fair to see a rock group I've loved for over a decade, the Gin Blossoms.

First we watched a little bull riding.

Then we went to out seats and watched the Rembrandts play. They were most memorable for doing the theme song to the tv show 'Friends'. Finally the Gin Blossoms came out.

The lead singer is terrific as a showman. We had a lot of fun and stayed up entirely too late.
Anyone besides me like this group?
It was a great way to end a birthday.
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Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-06T18:14:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, the joys of summer camp...

2010-06-27T16:47:00.000-07:00

Thisweek,the kids went to day camp at Camp Wilani. Its a wonderful old fashioned outdoor camp - where kids takea bus each day and learn to canoe, shoot archery, make crafts, sing goofy songs, and get good and tired and filthy.

Emma hated the first day, but as soon as she discovered the zip line on day 2, all bets were off and she was crazy about camp. Vi had lots of friends at camp, and Jakey had some. Overall it was a great start to summer!

A little summer water fight

2010-06-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

Best friends teaming up to cool off and get the boys...

J looks very gotten - look at how soaked that boy is! Twin sister not far behind and still armed.

She may be small, but she is mighty. E held her own with the big kids. She was definately the smallest one there, but she wasn't the wettest!

And home again

2010-06-20T21:54:00.001-07:00

We made it back after a long drizzly day.

First we went geocaching. Although Emma is vertically challenged it pays off for her. She found a geocache here with no effort and long before Glenn and I even knew where to look!

Then we went walking up on top of the tunnel that the Sunset Highway goes through. We certainly got our workout today. Dropped off a big and then took the stairs back down.

You can't see completely how high it went but trust me it was a climb!
Saw Prince of Persia and then tried to get one mote
Geocache at the Portland Library but ran out of time. Guess well hit it next time.

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Welcome to Portland

2010-06-19T20:54:00.000-07:00

For Fathers day we are off to Portland by train. We checked into the gorgeous hotel and we are about to head out into the city.

We went to OMSI and then had dinner at Todais which is Glenns favorite restaurant.
To finish off the evening we are watching Clash of the Titans in our pjs. The next door neighbors are very loud. Hopefully they won't keep this up all night.
As a bonus this is Pride Northwest Weekend. We've seen some pretty interesting people. Seems like everytime we come up here there is a parade for either a protest of a celebration. We are going to try to avoid the crowds by getting an early start in the morning. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:SW 3rd Ave,Portland,United States

Where or where is summer?

2010-06-11T13:12:00.000-07:00

It is June 10 - has anyone seen summer yet? We are at a balmy 58 degrees at 1pm in the afternoon, with a decent amount of cloud cover.

So lets get caught up. We got back from Europe last month, and we've been trying to recover and get back to normal. Vi is off today on a party extravaganza - her bff's birthday is today and they are painting the town together. Luckily nothing depends on weather, so they appear to be having a blast!

So far they have been to build a bear, a pottery painting place and lunch so far. It sounds like so much fun.

Yesterday our youngest, Emma, went to her first day of kindergarten. They have a half hour where they get to walk in and visit kindergarten, meet the teacher, and prepare for fall.

Bonjourno from Italia!

2010-05-08T01:06:00.000-07:00

Well we made it across the pond in a more southern route than we initiially planned. We flew directly to Rome a few days late, and stayed two nights in the apartment we'd stayed at before. Then it was on to Navigator of the seas for almost 2 weeks. We saw ruins, we saw castles, we saw riots and protests, pyramids, and we all got norovirus. Quite a couple of weeks!
Now we are back in Rome, and only a few days away from re-entering reality. `
The most ironic thing? Its raining. If we didn't have shutters and cobblestones outside, I'd think we were still in Oregon from the weather. We did have glorious weather on the trip on the boat. Even Egypt, known for its hot weather, was a mere 95 degrees at the pyramids (considerably cooler than the summer temps of 120-130!
If you want the complete rundown of the trip, you can read our other site - http://powells2010europe.blogspot.com
See you back in the states soon!

Just a little update from the weekend

2010-04-19T15:43:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I am going to be a better writer, I really am! This weekend we were supposed to fly to London (along with about what, 180,000 other people) but the big volcano put a dent in our plans! So instead, we stayed home, did some more packing and repacking, and thought about what to fill our time with. One thing that we were going to miss, was my friend K's son's second birthday party. It was ironic really - I missed his birthday while on vacaion, and his first birthday. Thought I was on a roll overall, but I finally got to go to one!
Anyway, my friend K is a WIZ at cakes, she adds a whole new level to it. Amazing woman. This is this year's cake. The sesame street characters are all made of white chocolate - she made them all, then colored them and sculpted the whole thing.
Violet with one of her pretty faces wearing the birthday boys' ribbon!
Emma was happy to finally be one of the big kids (I guess age 5 is closer to 8 than to 2 in the kid pecking order.) They had a terrific time! Here is Emma on the couch watching me.

A little detour

2010-04-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

Hello all! I'm sorry I've been such a terrible blogger lately. We are about to embark on a big trip, which you can follow at http://powells2010europe.blogspot.com We had actually hoped we'd already be on that trip, but the nasty volcano is holding things up.
I'll be back to check in shortly. I miss blogging!

Long time no post

2010-02-06T17:41:00.001-08:00

Hello long lost readers. Thought it was about time to get back to the blog. Today was the twins' first piano recital. It was pretty cool to see them perform, and utterly amazing to see some of the work the other older students are doing. This one boy is composing, and oh my goodness was he fantastic. Anyway, here are the kids doing duets with their instructor. He is a fantastic piano player in his own right, with several CDs and concerts around the pacific northwest.

2009 Overall was a really hard year, and so we hunkered down and got through it. We spent a month in Portland, and I almost lost the love of my life. All worked out and now we are refocusing our priorities and concentrating on what is important.
One thing that is important to all of us is travel and photography, so we intend to pack more of that into this year. I've cut back my hours at work, and we've booked a big vacation in the spring. More on that later.
Wanna get caught up on pictures? Try http://pileofpowells.shutterfly.com I'll try to post more often as we go!

Let the crazy weekends begin

2009-02-07T14:52:00.000-08:00

February is the month of parties at my house. It could be considered the Powell Social Season if we had such a thing.
This weekend we have two parties, neither of which we are hosting. First up tonight is a Chinese New Years Party, followed by a birthday party for one of my girlfriends who turns 50. They are scrunched together timewise, so we'll be leaving early from one and arriving late to the other.
Next weekend is Jakey's Big 7 birthday. We have rented the science factory here in Eugene for a couple hours on Saturday. They will do a crazy experiement, and then we'll stay late and look at the new photos from the Hubble telescope.
Week after its Bounce Gymnastics for Violet. Then our first giant slumber party with 3 kids over. Wonder how I'll survive 6 kids in one house - owwww.
Pictures to come after we survive the first round of parties...

Tuesday

2009-02-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

Well, in rejoining the blogging world, I guess today would normally be 'Tackle it Tuesday. I'm going to take credit for work I've been doing over time, since I'm battling a thrilling case of the flu.
Trying to maintain 3 years worth of documents for tax records takes up a lot of room. We've been scanning documents at work, and it finally occurred to me that I could scan our home documents and store them much more efficiently as well.
Besides the act of scanning, there is a whole lot of shredding to get rid of 4 years worth of documents and old paper. Every few days I shred a few bags full. It feels good to haul the bags out to the trash, but boy is it a lot of work.
So although I can't give you a visual, trust me that I've shredded four 3" binders worth of paper at this point. I'm still working on it, but more to come...

Out of the mouths of Babes...

2009-02-02T12:40:00.000-08:00

I haven't felt good all weekend, and I was having a bad morning. Violet grabbed me this morning and stuffed a piece of paper in my purse - "Open it at work". This is what I found when I got to work. Made my day so much better....

Holiday Pictures

2009-01-31T07:13:00.001-08:00

The kids in the snow at the lodge, Christmas Eve.
Jakey with his new light saber (I love his face, boy was he happy!)
Jacob on Uncle Darrel's shoulders
The girls after a sledding run.
May the Force Be With You! Twenty years later, Star Wars is still alive and well for our children, go figure!
Emma and the phone Santa got her
The cousins on Christmas Eve, look at how silly we dressed them with elf hats and striped Pajamas!

Catching Up

2009-01-31T06:56:00.000-08:00

Well its the last day of January - hard to believe how fast time has flown. I can't believe I haven't posted on here in 6 weeks!
So Christmas, lets see. We had a fantastic Christmas. We drove to Sunriver and met our family in a big house in the snow. We got there on Christmas Eve, unloaded and hurriedly called the shuttle service to get a ride over to the resort. A bus comes and drives you around there, which with 11 of us made a whole lotta sense!
Anyway, we got to the lodge and walked through the snow to one of the large meeting rooms in a separate building. If you haven't had a chance to go to Sunriver before, its something else. They have lights on all the trees, reindeeer and decor out. With 18" of snow on the ground it was just gorgeous. As we were walking down the path Santa came up behind us with his wife in their golf cart (who knew?) and gave the kids candy and talked to them.
Inside the meeting hall, they had a stage erected. They also brought out hot gingerbread, brownies, apple cider, coffee and hot chocolate. After a bit they invited all the children to to front where they sang songs, acted things out and told jokes. Finally the MC did Twas the Night Before Christmas on stage, at the end of which Santa came out from the chimney. The kids were thrilled.
Probably my favorite part of the evening was the shuttle ride back. There were a ton of people waiting, so we all crammed on. Even Frosty the Snowman and Rudolf got on. My sister-in-laws and I are kinda crazy, so we started singing Christmas carols in the dark with each other. Pretty soon all the strangers joined in. We were lauhging when we forgot words, and so tickled at Emma who at times just sang her own thing.
Came home, chased the kids to bed and tried to get some sleep.
The night was interrupted several times. First time was 3am, when an 'exploration party' stealthly came down the stairs to see if they could find Santa. My brother in law caught them and chased 4 of the 5 kids up the stairs and back to their rooms. At 5am I was awakened as Emma had a bloody nose, which somehow caused an impromptu dance party to erupt in the kids loft. Got them settled down (somewhat) Sister in law had to get them again at 6:30. Finally around 8 we all got up and came down to see what Santa had brought.
Santa, in addition to burying the tree, had brought all of us Nerf Guns. This seemed to be the hit of the holiday. The house had a loft upstairs, and with 2 storys of fighting going on, we were always in some kind of nerf war.
My brotherinlaw had bought a 14 pound prime rib, which he cooked the better part of the day on the outside grill. My other brother in law is a wine guy, so he taught us about wines and brought some great ones.
The kids played in the snow for hours, and more fell each day we were there. One day we took the kids sledding on the sledding hill. Darrell (bil) went down the side that said, 'do not go this way' and took his boys. Emma discovered that she loves sledding once she got the hang of it. Vi was often airborn, but she had a great time. Jakey seemed to suffer for it, lots of whining about it but overall he loved it.
New Years Eve we stayed in. We all stayed up but J fell asleep just before midnight. The girls and I put on silly foil crowns, went out n the deck and blew horns. Before that we had a dance party in my bedroom watching Dick Clark's Rocking New Years Eve on the tv.
This month we took Emma to Portland to have another Echocardiogram done. We met with the pediatric cardiac surgeon and confirmed that Emma will have heart surgery in the summer. Still don't have a date (have to wait for them to open their calendars for summer) but we should in the next month.
Work has been crazy stressful. Budget issues, employee health crisis, lotsof stuff.
Oh, there was one great highlight. Last weekend after 2 long years, the University Theater opened. I've been doing a bit of work on the budget oversite side. Anyway, they bought the house, and invited us to come join them in their gala opening. Gosh it was terrific. The play was Around The World in 80 Days. Afterwards there was a champagne receptin in the new addition to the theater, and then we were allowed to look around. The new scene shop is huge, and so much better. The new costume shop is amazing. IT is 2100 square feet, huge windows, 'green' lights that know when the sun comes out and dim. Lots of space, lots of good work areas. We had such a wonderful time.
Ok, guess that is my six weeks in a nutshell. I'm fighting off a bit of a cold today. Gotta take our dog in for shots, then Vi goes to her bff's house before I take Jakey to go pet snakes, lizards and turtles. I guess they have a big snake you can have your pic taken with. Jakey says he is going for the small snake. I told him I'm sticking to turtles. This will probably reignite his campaign for a blue throated lizard. I'm so petted out with 2 cats and a dog, I think the lizard is a ways off....

A Little Adoption Musing

2008-12-15T20:46:00.001-08:00

As many of you know, we adopted a little girl from China a bit over 2 years ago. Most of the time I am so filled with joy and happiness at our family that I can hardly stand it. I share a lot of pictures in hopes of conveying how terrific we fit, and how great and amazing our three children are. We are proudly a whole Pile of Powells, and we are exceedinly happy at it.
There is a part of our life though that I pray about and fret over. So far at a bit under 4 years old, Emma hasn't asked me about her birth Mommy. I try to talk about it now and again, how there was a mommy in China and how we didn't get to hold her until she was 18 months old, even though we loved her long before that. I tell her about how the very day that she was taken to the hospital and listed for international adoption was the day that her sister in the states said to me, 'Mommy, isn't it time to go get Emma?' We talk about how God makes good fanilies, and how perfect it is to have her in our lives.
I sit sometimes and think about two holes in her heart. One is physical. She has a hole in her heart that we can have surgically corrected in the spring. I've worried it since before I've met her, but we trusted God put her in our lives and that we could handle what was there. With the marvels of modern medicine, its so much easier to know that that hole can be repaired.
There is another hole though, one that I'm not certain how to repair. At some point Emma is going to ask me about her Mom, her birth Mom. I worry about the hole that is left in her heart from not knowing why she was left. I worry that she will somehow see herself as not as good, or not as wanted. I worry about that peice that is missing in her. Its a hole I desperately want to fill, but I worry I don't have the means or the skill.
I wonder sometimes about what the right words are to tell her when she asks. I do't know why she was left. I can guess at some possible ideas, but I don't know for sure.
I as an adult, know that she is the piece that was missing in our hearts. I know as an adult that the difference in our complexions or our hair really are insignificant, that our similarities are so much greater. I catch her searching for her place though - she is starting to pick out children with hair like hers, and when we got our last cat she wanted a 'china kitty' to be like her (either black or siamese, she would take either)
With all these concerns, there are these perfect little moments that set my heart at ease. Sunday night Emma was in her first play - a little holiday number at church. They herd 20 or so 3 and 4 year olds up to stage in costume, and have them sing 3 songs. Emma was excited right up until we went to church, then she sat in my lap as I rocked her worried and sucking on her thumb. I bribed her to go up and sat up front with the twins and Daddy so she'd be sure to see us.
The two women herded preschoolers and assembled them on stage. Emma looked a little distraught as she searched the crowd. Then she saw us. I gave her a big smile, and her face lit up and she smiled the most beautiful grin. Every time she looked at us she got that same grin again. Maybe we can't 'fix' that other hole in her heart, but perhaps that is ok. Emma is amazing just the way she is, and her smile fills up my heart in ways I could have never imagined.

Gymnastics in December

2008-12-14T09:34:00.000-08:00

Saturday we were invited to a birthday party at Bounce - a big indoor gymnatics place. The kids had a great time, here are some pictures...

Catching Up....Welcome to the holidays!

2008-12-07T15:02:00.000-08:00

Well since the jog-a-thon, we've celebrated a few holidays and are fast approaching another one! Its the first weekend of December, and we are officially less then 3 weeks away from Christmas. Hard to believe! Above is a picture of the kids in our church Children's Musical this morning for Christmas. They did a terrific job!

After Thanksgiving we had a nice visit with family and then we went to see Elmo Makes Music at the Hult.

More updates soon!

Jog a Thon

2008-10-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

Today was the annual Crest Drive Elementary School Jog A Thon. Every year the entire student body collects pledges and then sees how many times they can run around the track in an hour. Its a big deal, and really fun to watch.
the kids are bussed over to the high school. Then they all go into the bleechers where they chant "Jog A Thon" as loudly as possible over and over. Then they file out to the track, line up at the start line and they are off!

Each kid finds the 'table' for their teacher, and they collect a colored straw in a plastic baggie that they carry for each lap that they make. At the end we total up straws and write down what they accomplished.

This year Emma and I worked Ms. Stewarts' table with another mother. Emma made one lap. It was FREEZING COLD - a little over 40 degrees and foggy when we started. Somehow the kids were still all excited about the popsicles at the end!
Jakey made 14 laps, or 3.5 miles in his hour. Violet was right behind him with 13 laps (3.25 miles) They did great. Only one other kid in their class beat them.
Of course the down side is that as we sat there, Emma's cold got worse and worse. Her eyes gooped up, her throat got sore-er, and she was toast by the time we were done. A good 4 hour nap when we got home and all was right for Emma (oh to be so young that you can sleep off a cold in half a day!)
Tired kids crashed early tonight.

Fall is here...

2008-09-30T18:06:00.000-07:00

Well school is in session again. All 22,000 students have arrived in Eugene and settled in. The parking lots aren't too bad, but the sidewalks are full, and the dorms are overflowing. I both love and hate this time of year. I love the start of fall, new books, new learning, excitement and independence. I hate the start of fall, stupid drinking, too many lost people calling me Mam....
The freshman class this fall was born in 1990. That means that I could be their Mother. That seems so weird to me.
Overall things are going well. The twins are adjusting to school. The transition has been hard, going day and doing work instead of playing. Emma has really learned to love her new school, and most days practically shoves me out the door.
I had sinus surgery at the beginning of the month, and its been a very long haul. I didn't realize how long it would be, but I still have nights with pain and trouble sleeping, and I think I have another couple weeks before I'm totally 'healed'.
I'll try to post more regularly - oh wait, one more bit of news. We got a kitten!
Pics coming soon.

The Calm Before the Storm

2008-08-23T17:21:00.000-07:00

What a week. Tomorrow morning, the entire Powell Clan arrives on our doorstep. We are excited and we've been working like crazy to get ready. I went to the farmer's market this morning and got blackberries, strawberries and rasberries. I made a berry pie this afternoon, and its downstairs in the fridge waiting for the gang. I'm going to make scones in the morning, and coffee.
I don't know what we are doing yet - we may just eat and visit, we may go watch an Ems game or run to the ocean and run quads in the sand. I guess we'll figure it out when they get here.
Had a bit of excitement with childcare things. Went to where we thought we were going to put Emma, and found out it wasn't the place. Sat and watched and visited for an hour. Turns out the little boy with behavioral issues that used to beat up Jakey still goes there, and they put him in with Emma's age group before and after school. Add to it that they have taken in a pretty severely disabled kid that throws blocks and really needs some one-on-one attention, and it didn't look so hot.
Called the childcare at my work and even though they ALWAYS have a wait list, they had an opening. Took Em over in the afternoon to look and we loved it. She'll start in 2 weeks.
Date night tonight, not even sure what we are going to do but at least we are going to go out!

Texas Here I come!

2008-08-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well I did it, I booked our trip to Texas in the spring. My cousin, whom I've never met, is getting married. I have been close to his mom for years and years - she is probably my all time favorite realative on my side of the family, but we just haven't gotten in the same time zone too often. So off we go, 5 of us on a plane to see the other realatives.
I hope we'll get to catch up with some virtual friends as well, and scope out where my Mom grew up, where my folks got married, and where my Dad taught British pilots during WWII. It should be fun!
Any of you that are familiar with the Dallas area, give me suggestions of what not to miss!

August

2008-08-09T18:17:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe its August already. Violet and I took a spin out to our local farm and bought 10 pounds of pickling cukes. They are brine-ing right now in the kitchen. I'd forgotten it takes 4 days to do pickles! I'm anxious for the other fruits to come out so I can put away some preserves and salsa.
We stopped by the bakery overstock store as well, and metioned we were doing pickles. The girl at the register said, 'do people can anymore, isn't that a forgotten art?" I don't think it is, do you? I know a handful of people here that can and freeze and preserve food, and from the web it appears to be pretty widely spread. There is something so good about knowing where you food comes from, and whwat goes into it.
We took the RV over to the dealership and dropped it off to sell it. Hopefully they will have some luck, although I'm not holding my breath as it is a bad market. We expect an invasion of the family in a couple of weeks, so have a few more chores to get done.
Hope you all have a great week! We'll take pictures of our great canning event Tuesday and post.

Photos

2008-07-30T20:23:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to link to some pictures - our friend Livia shot the kids out at a vinyard outside of town, thought I should share. http://fremouwphotography.blogspot.com If you are local and you want a great photographer, check her out! Jakey, Vi and Emma are down the page a bit, but its worth a look.

Happy Fourth of July!

2008-07-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

Its a 3 day weekend, and it seems wild! Friday we spent the day puttering around doing all the things we'd normally do on a Saturday. We all went and saw Wall-E at the theater in the late afternoon, and then went out to dinner. It was a great movie and we had a lot of fun.
After dinner we came home anbd did a few things here before heading over to campus. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, the 2008 Olympic Track Trials are happening in our town. If you turn on NBC tonight or tomorrow night you can see our school. Anyway, as part of the events, they shot off fireworks after the men's 10,000 meter. We parked in employee parking an walked onto campus. We ended up climbing the outside steps to the student union to watch the fireworks. It was really great.
Tonight we are going to set off our own fireworks. Today we have put away berries in the freezer and I've refinished the teak on 'Dory' the boat. Tomorrow I hope to wash and wax it with the kids help.
Overall things are going well. I'll post pictures of the boat as we get it fixed up. It really doesn't 'need' much anyway, but its fun to bring it back to its beginnings and make it pretty again.

More Loon Lake

2008-07-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

Loon Lake Camping

2008-07-03T06:42:00.001-07:00

This last weekend we went up to Loon Lake, a beautiful alpine lake located about 20 miles from Reedsport along the coast. We took Dory the boat, and we tent camped.
We saw lots of wildlife, Elk, deer, etc. We even saw a few eagles.
We ate smores, we hiked and looked at a beautiful waterfall. We played in the dirt. It was great!

Where or where has my summer gone?

2008-06-12T06:21:00.000-07:00

It is Thursday. It is 36 degrees. What is up with our weather? They say that today we'll get to the mid-70s, but I have my doubts!
This week lots of activity around the house. They are painting the exterior, so I can't go out any of the rear doors as everything is taped shut. The sprinkler guys finished last week, and so now all my exterior plants should be in great shape.
Today the kids go to a Pen Pal picnic. They have been corresponding with kids from another local school, and today after a year of writing they get to meet. After work we all pile in the car and drive to the school for the annual carnival.
Next week the twins finish kindergarten, it seems so wild. They have no school Friday and only 2 days next week, and then they are free for the summer. The year has just flown by, its hard to believe.
Yesterday was an odd day for us too, as we got an unusual email. When I got to work I had an email from our adoption agency, the one that two years ago helped us unite with our youngest, Emma.
At the time we made a conscious decision to get out of the NSN line as the wait time for Chinese adoption was horrible and stretching further. We started looking on special needs list and switched, having approval from our agency for Emma around Mother's Day and receiving approval from China on my 40th birthday.
Well, it seems that they forgot to remove us from the list of people whose dossier went over in late January to China. So yesterday, they sent out an email to everyone who was on that list to let them know about any updates they needed to do since referrals for that group should come out in July. That means that the people in my group who didn't switch waited 30 months - 30! I can't imagine having not had Emma for the last 2 years. What a heartache. As she sits here leaning her little head on my shoulder and smiling at me, I know we did the right thing. An early contratulations to all those Moms and Dads who did decide to wait it out!

This is June?

2008-06-04T21:01:00.000-07:00

IT is COLD outside, what is up with that? It is june, and we are raining and cold. Not much to talk about lately. We are having sprinklers installed this week at the house and so my yard is all torn up. DH picked up the boat last night, so this weekend maybe I can post entertaining stories about our first voyage out. Hopefully it won't be too hard, we've never launched a boat before so I'm sure if nothing else it will add to our humility.
Back to working out. Just about got rid of the 5 pounds I put on during the weeks before the trip and the weeks we were gone. Want to get rid of lots more.
The kids had an awards assembly today, and Jakey got 'Academic Excellence' award and Vi got a'Respect' award. I'm so proud of them.
Vi is trying to decide if she is ready to do the recital she has next week. It will mean 3 hours of rehersal Monday and 3 more hours Wednesday and a 3 hour performance (mostly waiting in the wings) Friday night. I kinda wnat her to skip it, but of course I can't tell her no. She HATES performing, so I don't see this ending well and I don't really want to spend 9 hours of my life next week waiting on this. Bad Mommy.
More soon.

Home Sweet Home

2008-05-14T05:29:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it home, after the world's longest Mother's Day. We got up at 5:30am on Sunday, ate breakfast and headed to the airport. We flew 10.5 hours to Los Angeles, trekked through luggage, customs and immigration, then headed off to a different terminal and caught our flight to Portland. More waiting then finally home to Eugene at 10pm. Midnight before we crashed. For those of you keeping track, you subtract 8 hours from the time in Britian, so we were up basically from 9:30pm Saturday night until midnight Sunday. Harsh.
I think overall the trip was a success, although it sure is hard traveling with the little people.
Looking back, I have the following highlights to share...
In London, the Courtland Gallery. Its such a little gem at Sommerset House on the Thames. Being able to stand up and really look at great art is amazing. So often in the bigger museums you are forced to stand miles from the art and you just can't see how it is put together. While I was there, the kids had a great time playing in the fountains outside.
In Paris, my best memory is kind of a fluke. We took a boat tour on the Seinne one evenning, which took off from the far end of Isle de la Cite' We were walking back to Isle St. Louis where we lived for the week, and we went by Notre Dame. In the courtyard outside there were performers in the dark. We have a movie of it, I'll try to load it this weekend. They juggled fire to rock music and it was simply magnificent.
In Wales the castles all were lovely, but I guess my nicest time was probably not at a castle. We had tried to see Manorbier, and we were hungry. I saw a town called Saundersfoot on the coast, and we drove to it as the newspaper had a lot of restaurants listed there. Saundersfoot has a little harbor and we parked. Dinner was eaten in a restaurant called 'Mermaid's Quay' overlooking the water. The fish had been caught in the harbor that day and cooked that evening, it was magnificent! After dinner we walked along the path and watched a local woman use a 2 liter coca cola bottle to play fetch with her labrador in the surf. We walked by lots of tiny ships, and it was just wonderful.
My other good memory is really of those rides through the countryside down paved sheep trails. It was fun, felt like an adventure and although stressful it was always great to actually arrive somewhere at the other end. DH did a great job on some scary roads!
We are slowly getting back on the schedule here. More when we hae time.

Castle Marathon

2008-05-10T12:51:00.001-07:00

Caerphilly Castle
The chapel at Avebury

More castles

2008-05-08T13:28:00.001-07:00

Today we went to a HUGE castle, Caerphilly, and then on to one that had been restored into a fairy tale, Castle Coch. I'll post pictures later, but they were grand. They are doing a ton of work on Caerphilly so you couldn't go into very many places, but Castle Coch was just the opposite. I guess someone bought it in the late 1800s and had it redone. They had all kinds of painting done, and they used it as a residence for a while and a hunting lodge. It was beautiful.
Went to Mermaid's Quay tonight for dinner and found a geocache. It was a microcache and it was great fun.
Also drove out to Pernath, and looked at the ocean. I guess James Bond films have been shot here at Cardiff Bay, with him racing a boat out to Penarth.
Have a good night!

Then Anglo Saxons and the Normans

2008-05-07T14:21:00.001-07:00

On to Wales

2008-05-07T14:05:00.000-07:00

After 2 weeks of big cities, we have slowed down considerably on our last day and wandered off the beaten path to what I can only describe as the wonderful, slow, charming country of Wales. I LOVE this place, I can't say that enough.

We rented a car that dh has been bravely been driving on the wrong side of the road. We find the traffic circles quite amusing, as they are everywhere. We rented a Kia van since there are 5 of us and lots of luggage. I think dh is sorry we did. I don't think I can appropriately display the roads here, but I'll try to explain.

Garmin has been a godsend on this trip. Thank goodness dh bought the European maps.
A roads are faily decent usually a lane in each direction and a dashed white stripe down the middle more then half the time. B roads are mostly single wide, but have ample pull outs. Then there are roads with no names, merely referred to as 'road'. A, B and 'road' roads all have high berms on either side of the road, with fences and underneath years of growth.

In the US, if you go down a road and it narrows to a single lane you are pretty certain that the pavement will end in someone's driveway. In southern Oregon, where we both spent our teen years, it often ended on a property with a rather hairy mountain man holding a shotgun and a rotweiller, so we are both a bit shy to go down those types of roads.

Not so here. As we wandered down the road looking for Gellifawr, our apartment/hotel, we made jokes about how we were on a sheeps trail, etc. Lots of turns, no cell service, and lots of farms in rolling hills.

We passed some bigger cow farms, and then we found it. It was an old blue stone 2 story manor house and the corresponding buildings had been renovated into apartments. We were tired, it was late, and I was wondering if we'd blown it by picking the place.

I foolishly didn't take photos inside, but wow. I walked into the dining room and I was greeted by a man in a tie serving people sitting a beautiful cherry tables with white leather chairs, fine crystal and china. Our apartment was huge, with 3 bedrooms, big white fluffy duvets, clear laquered wood floors, and a state of the art kitchen.

Each morning they fed us a full English breakfast. That means cereal, fruit juice, coffee, a basket of fruit, a poached egg, 2 slices of ham, sausage, potatoes, a stewed tomato, mushrooms, and toast. It was terrific.

We spent our time adventuring around western Wales. The first day turned out to be a 'Bank Holiday' and we headed to Newport Shores in search of a geocache and some stores. As we wandered down an A road into town, we came to something I've never seen before. In town people had parked on the side of the road, in a section that wasn't a full 2 cars wide. It was still a 2 way road. We got stuck. We opened the windows, pulled the mirrors in and made it. I kid you not there was not more then 1" on either side of that van. We definately ran against the plantlife over the stone wall on the one side. I didn't actually believe the van would fit, but DH performed magic and made it. I asked him how he was and he said he needed to go home and lay on the bed and twitch for a while

We tried to find a woolen mill that we saw advertised. It didn't have a street address, and we got lost. We ended up on a very narrow lane with high berms and twists. We rounded a corner and found two women pushing baby carriages going for a walk!

I mentioned this to our hostess this morning, and she said to me that she had moved here from Sweeden. They took her out to show her the sites and she has been baffled, since you can't actually see anything with the high fences!

We journeyed north and saw a castle where a princess was stolen away from her husband, then south to the place where she stayed for a few years. Guess she was busy - she stayed long enough to have 2 kids with the guy before heading home. They said they think she had 21 children with 6 different men, guess she was 'captured' a lot!

Today we drove to Kidwelly on our way to Cardiff, for the last part of our holiday. Kidwelly is well preserved and huge. We'll post more pics as we can.

Paris Photos

2008-05-02T23:05:00.001-07:00

May 2nd

2008-05-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

We did better today on the museum front. Got up and braved the subway system here in Paris. Not sure what the hangup was for us as we are usually quite the brave travelers. Of course it was fine. Took the subway to The Museum of Science and Industry and let the kids play for a few hours. Emma woke up with a horrid cold, but we dosed her and took her along to spread germs. I hate that honestly, but dh said we are are not spending the week in Paris in the apartment, and that other kids would get sick regardless so we should go. I caved.
We rode the subway over to the Sacre Couer as well. I did my workout for the day, I climbed all those steps (and there are a million of them) carrying Emma. It was sunny and actually hot out there.
Then we subwayed to the Orangerie, and miracle of miracles it was open!!! I finally got to see my Monet's. They are huge, who would have imagined!
Then we came home to the island, ate dinner and walked to Point Neuf. We bought tickets for the boat ride tonight at 9:30, so we could see the city lights at night.
Today a few more museums and maybe a flea market.

May Day

2008-05-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

We got up early this morning, unfortunately to the sound that someone had an accident in the bed downstairs. So I put everyone in our bed and while dh tried to sleep I did laundry and started reading. Murder in Montmartre is here, and so I've been reading that. Kinda catches the feel of the places well.
Took Jakey down and bought some eggs and snacks, and then made breakfast. Then we were off to find the 'hop on hop off bus'. We road the batobus (water taxi)down to the center of town. We got off near the Orangerie Museum, which we tried to go to on Tuesday. It has a big display of Monet's water lillies and I'm drying to see it. Anyway, today we were there by 12 (it opens at 12:30) so we hung around and hung around along with a growing crowd.
Turns out they are closed for May Day. So strike 2. Walked in and found the bus, and rode it to the Arc de Triumph. It too was closed. Took photos of the outside, and tried to do another geocache. Did I mention we found a geocache near the Orangerie?
Anyway, tried to find a second geocache near the arc, and then rode the bus to the Eiffel Tower. It was a madhouse. Also saw about 20 police cars/vans going through town earlier. I guess there were big protests.
Rode the batobus back to the house and I just ate the most amazing cake. They make this layer cake that is just fantastic. Glad we are walking a lot, I need it to offset the food here!
More pics later.

European Vacation

2008-04-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

Well we are on vacation, after what appears to be a long vacation away from my blog! Thought I'd share some pictures while we are gone.
We went to the Eiffel Tower for lunch and the view, and along the way we met a one legged pigeon that we named 'Peg'. Peg ate more of our lunch then we did (He had a fondness for Baugettes)
In spite of my better judgement, we rode the London Eye. I'm terribly afraid of heghts so this was a big accomplishment. As a bonus I was already sick with a terrible stomach bug, so I spent the time kind of in a haze. Here is a pic near the top.

When we were in London we also went to a lot of other sights, including Westminster Abby. Our theme for this trip is to go to places that are closed or just closed for the day. Here are the kids outside a closed Westminster Abby!

Photos

2007-12-28T06:41:00.000-08:00

Christmas Recap

2007-12-27T06:32:00.000-08:00

We are back from our Christmas getaway. We had a fabulous time. I so wanted to cut back to something that was more about family and less about stuff, and I think that we succeeded.
We drove over Saturday morning to Sunriver - it was snowing pretty well on the pass but the 4runner (which was literally stuffed to the brim with stuff) did fine. Got there and luckily the place was ready early so we moved in. There was about 4" on the ground, and the kids were simply thrilled. We spent our days playing in the snow and the evenings we did different things - Saturday night we did crafts and made all our own Christmas decorations for the tree. Sunday night we made sugar cookies and decorated them. Then we decorated the tree. Monday night the kids put on their new PJs and we read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' and ran out in the snow in our bare feet (a P family tradition according to dh, who knows) It rained a little on Monday afternoon, but then we got more and more snow and so there was plenty for the kids to play in.
I went to the gym over there each day, boy do I love that gym. It feels so decadent. The locker room is really beautiful - lots of gorgeous stone and the spa room has a waterfall, rocks and a ceiling with 'stars' on it. The showers are individual rooms and everything just smells so good. It was so relaxing each day to go work out and then get ready in their room like a spa.
We had brunch with Santa, Mrs. Santa, Rudolf, a teddy bear and some elves on Christmas Eve. It was terrific. They had it at the great hall. It was so great DeNel, as Emma has really changed. She was SO EXCITED this year - just bursting. She was hugging the critters and smiling and jumping up and down. The elves remembered us from last year and were marveling at how much the kids had changed. It just was so great to have them so excited and happy.
We had dinner delivered on Tuesday and it was great. It felt really weird not to cook much of anything, although I did do the breakfast casserole I always do. The kitchen there wasn't really equiped well so it was a good decision, but still a little strange.
Exercise equipment was the theme this year for me - dh got me a dumbbell set I've been wanting and an exercise ball for the house. He also got me some pampering (facial, massage, etc) I'm excited. I'm going to space it out a little. I have a goal of loosing 45 pounds by 1/1, and so I'll reward myself when I reach that one. Then maybe another one at 50 pounds. We'll see.
Christmas Eve was pretty funny - I have to tell you a story. So we were trying to get the kids to bed, and they were resisting. The house had an open floor plan with a loft upstairs with 3 queen beds where the kids slept. It looked out on the living room (and tree) I went up since they weren't settling, and Jakey was laying with his glasses on still looking downstairs. I turned him around, took his glasses off and told him that Santa wouldn't come if he was awake. We set the alarm for 1am and went to bed.
We crawled out at 1am and had a terrible time finding the presents we had wrapped to hide them and unwrap them for the 'from santa' gifts. I stuffed the stockings in the laundry room and we set them all out on the long bench in the dining room, which was on the far side of the tree.
So in the morning I get up at 6am, not a sound from upstairs. I go back to bed. At 7 I get back up. A little whispering but no one comes out. So I go upstairs and they are awake and looking pretty glum. "Hey guys, do you want to go see what Santa brought?" Jakey very solemnly says, "He didn't come" It seems he had been checking over the railing nad saw nothing changed down by the tree, so they had decided that Santa had skipped us. They became dramatically more animated and happy after I said that I had seen he had and they raced downstairs to see what they got. They were thrilled.

Less then a week till Christmas

2007-12-19T06:28:00.000-08:00

It is Wednesday morning. I have jogged 3 nights in a row - not far, not fast, but I've actually jogged. That in and of itself is totally amazing.
Yesterday was Jakey and Vi's Christmas program at school. They were very very nervous about the whole thing. They did great - sang several songs, got up and even did the hand stuff that went with the songs.
Today is their holiday party, more pictures soon.

The Weekend

2007-12-16T19:36:00.000-08:00

Well it is Sunday night, and another weekend has sped by! Saturday night DH and I had a neat date - we got to go out alone to listen to music. A good friend of DH's is in a band, the Kronikles. They were playing at a small bar in Albany, so we headed up to see them play. They are TERRIFIC! Here are some pics of the group.

Sunday was also a banner day - I tried jogging for the first time in over a decade. I guess all my hard work with the EFX early in the morning has paid off. I jogged a mile at the gym this afternoon! I know, not very far, and certainly not very fast, but I did it. I didn't fall over in exhaustion, I could still hold a conversation, it was great! I also did a 'plank' and lasted 75 seconds.
I'm down 40 pounds as of this morning (yeah!) although I hope to be down 45.5 by New Years so I have some work to do.
Have a great week, more pics as things get recorded.

Christmas Santa Picture

2007-12-12T08:11:00.001-08:00

Thought I'd share this year's Santa picture. Santa is looking younger these days!

The weekend

2007-12-10T06:18:00.000-08:00

Me right before we went out Saturday night - I had to have this dress taken in a bunch to fit (hurray!)
Jakey helping set up Christmas decor outside

Emma decorating

Violet

Daddy and the kids setting up our giant inflatable snowman...

Elf

2007-12-08T08:16:00.001-08:00

The big thing around the internet is to Elf Yourself - here is the link to us minus one child....
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1218823910

Graduation and 19 days till Christmas

2007-12-08T07:51:00.000-08:00

Well last night was the big event. DH walked in his graduation. I got off work early, went home and got the kids. The girls were so cute, they each picked their favorite dress (which unfortunately for them was a very cool springlike dress in each case) and then we bundled up and headed to the show. When we got to the parking lot we were greeted by two men in kilts playing bagpipes. We got settled and listened to the commencement ceremony. The speaker was a local politician who owned the Coca Cola company wouth of us in Roseburg. He talked about the 10 things to make you successful. It was interesting, in that a lot of what he said held true. I of course can't tell you all 10, but they were basically, get an education, keep learning, work hard, play hard, take calculated risks, and don't forget to ask for help.
He was a little long-winded but good.
We went to dh's favorite restaurant for dinner. It is a chinese buffett. While I was up getting food, who should I see but dh's best friend who had also graduated. He had a large amount of family come in and they were dining across the restaurant,but we all stopped to visit for a while. It was nice too, he mentioned to me that he and his wife are both going to start the same diet program I'm on come January 1.
Dh started it a few days ago by the way. When you start there is a pretty drastic weight loss. Even more drastic for DH - he has lost 11 pounds in about half a week. He is very pleased. Like me though, he finds it hard to believe that it works.
I got up and worked out again this morning - took most of this week off as I have been fighting a cold.
Tonight is the big holiday party at DH's work. I picked up my new smaller dress last night at the seamstresses house and visited with her. We have a little holiday shopping to do as well, as we count down to Christmas. I think this will be decorating weekend too - I'll post pics after the weekend of all our activities!

December

2007-12-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

I can't believe its already December, how can that be? Today I woke up with a terrible sore throat and a stuffed up head. Ick. On a more upbeat note, a big problem at work resolved itself today. As I may have mentioned I'm also involved in personnel issues. I had started in on a big one that was fraught with troubles and I expected it would be a long time coming to a resolution. The employee solved my problem by quitting today - hurray!
Still eating right. I am now 13 weeks in and 38 pounds down. Not too shabby! Of course I had salt tonight, and I intend to weigh in tomorrow, so it might not all work out so sweet. Hopefully I won't retain too much water!
What else is new - oh, we bought a Jeep Wrangler this weekend, that was fun. DH has wanted one for a while, and now he has one. Its cute, and ufn to drive. Today his drive to work was through hurricane force winds and flooding, so it was good he had something that could 'boonie crash'.
We spent most of the weekend reassembling our house after our vacation, dooing laundry and cleaning the RV. Tomorrow night I take clothes to the seamstresses to see if she can resize things so they don't hang on me so baggy. Saturday I have a hot date with the hubby at his company Christmas party.
I'll try to be a better blogger soon.

More Pictures

2007-11-26T18:43:00.000-08:00

The girls at the pirate showThe kids at Mickey's house

Jakey, Emma and I on the Jungle Cruise.

Violet with Princess Aurora and Snow White during our 'audience'.

Thanksgiving Week

2007-11-26T14:50:00.000-08:00

Whew, it is good to be home!We have spent the last 11 days in California, seeing all the kid sights in the Orange County and San Diego area, and visiting with friends and family. Let me see if I can recap the highlights for you.

We left on Friday and drove with a stop at a rest stop, arriving in Anaheim in the afternoon. After setting up and cleaning up, we headed over to DH's brother's house for dinner. It was great to catch up and see how our kids had grown. We stayed and visited for hours.

The next morning we were up EARLY and off to Disneyland for the morning. It turns out that Myley Cyrus was filming her Christmas Special. We didn't get up by the stage but we did watch her perform a bit. We rode some rides, had breakfast with the characters, and planned on leaving at noon. Turns out the shuttle service takes a 2 hour lunch, and so we couldn't get back to the RV and on down to San Diego. AFter many phone calls, we changed our camping plans and stayed the rest of the day in Anaheim. When we got back to the RV we changed into PJs and then the kids and I went and watched the fireworks while sitting behind the RV on the pavement.

The next day we packed up and headed south to Oceanside. We pulled into Legoland and spent the afternoon riding roller coasters, and buying legos. Then off to our spot for the night.

The next day we drove down to San Diego and spent the day at the San Diego Zoo. That night we had dinner with my college roommate, Karen, and her boyfriend. It was so great to see her again and catch up!
The next day back to San Diego to the Children's Museum, then we drove north to Anaheim. That was an adventure. Traffic was TERRIBLE, and we took 2.5 hours to travel 50 miles. We got there, set up in 5 minutes, and raced to the Pirate Dinner Show. It was so fun! My niece was even taken up to participate in the show, and the acrobatics were fantastic.

Thursday was turkey day. Up early again for early-entry to Disneyland. We walked right onto the Matterhorn, and we met with Mickey himself. Then we took a nap and spent hte evening with Dh's brother and his family. DH's mom's sister and her husband was over and it was crazy how much she reminded me of my mother in law. It was nice to see them all.

Friday we were back to Disneyland for the day. We snuck over to California Adventure and saw Aladdin (very good) and rode Thunder Mountain and Indiana Jones. While the twins were riding Indiana Jones with Daddy, a cast member approached Emma and I. Em was kinda sad right then and he started talking to us. I guess Disney is doing 'A Year of A Million Dreams' where they give away dreams. he gave us a private audience with the Disney Princesses in the afternoon.

We raced back over at 3:30 and were met by a page in teh ballroom away from the regular 'meet the princess area'. He asked Vi what her favorite princesses were, and then he went away. he came back and told me that they had gotten those two for us. We were taken back to a private room where the two princesses were waiting for us. We sat with them for a while and talked and visited. It was nice.

Dinner that Night was Medieval Times, where I made a memory by giving my dh a black eye! We were lined up to get a picture taken. For anyone not having been to Medieval Times, they give you all these paper crowns to wear. So I felt mine starting to fall off and I reached out to grab it. I connected with DH's eye. It started bleeding and then eventually he got a pretty solid black eye out of it. DH's brother was worried and it was totally embarassing.

Saturday we drove home and got back last night. I weighed this morning and - ta da - not only did I not gain through all the theme parks, families, etc - I have lost a total of 35 pounds!!!! YEAH!!!!!!

So back to work tomorrow. Pictures later.

Tackle It Tuesday

2007-11-12T20:07:00.000-08:00

Well I'm having trouble loading photos right now, but I will get there. For the last week I've been tackling our spare room. We affectionately call it 'the Bat Cave'. Our house is built on a hill and from the street it looks like a one story home. Downstairs under the front of the house is a concrete foundation butted up against the hill. The room that is down there was storage when we bought the place and unfinished. We've been slowly transforming it, but with Mom moving in everything went on hold. Last weekend we went through and hauled tons of stuff to Goodwill, and then I started laying carpet squares. I didn't realize that I had that skill, but now I do. I spent a lot of hours in the middle of the night, but it is done. Now we have a beautiful workout room that I actually WANT to go workout in. If the rest of the house were only that simple! I took pics of the horrible pile, and I will get a shot tonight of the after effects.
Look for pictures tomorrow when blogger lets me upload pictures!

Tuesday

2007-11-06T19:41:00.000-08:00

Just a short update. It is Tuesday, and I've lost 30 pounds. I'm pretty excited about that but every single day continues to be a struggle. I guess some days are more then others really, but they all are a challenge.
This weekend I promised myself that I would workout each morning for half an hour. Easy enough, we had the time change this weekend so 5am is really what 6am was last week. Theoretically I'm just going to work an hour later and its all fine. I got up Monday and did my 30 minutes of high intensity interval trainings (HIIT) and this morning, the alarm went off and I thought, 'Oh, I'll go for a walk later." Then I thought, 'how totally embarassing, I ask myself to do 5 days in a row and on day 2 I'm wimping out?' I got up, and I did it. Burned 380 calories in 30 minutes. I still went for a walk later with my friend, but I kept with the program. Anyway, just a snippet into the life of a heavy girl trying to get lean.
Monday was certainly a Monday in every way. Started the day with poor Emma slamming her thumb in the front door. Went to work and took the van keys so the Nanny had no car so had to run it home. Accidently ran a red light (luckily no one was coming, what was I thinking?)
Today was a better day. Well it was till I got home. I'd been telling Vi that she and I would go look for minature hedgehogs - there is a pet store in town that sells them and we wanted to see a real one. Well its going to be our 'girl' thing. Then she takes the nanny instead, and it totally hurt my feelings. It is hard to share your kids sometimes, not often but sometimes.
As to Tackle It Tuesday, I am tackling some stuff. I'm working on what we call the 'Bat Cave' which is a room where our exercise equipment is stored as were some other boxes. Last weekend we emptied all the boxes, and I've started laying carpet tiles. I have a ways to go, but I'm making progress. I suspect it will take most of the rest of the year to do it, but eventually our workout room will be a pleasant thing to be in.

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T20:21:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to DH's work - they have cubicle trick or treat time each year. Every person who wants to participate hangs an orange pumpkin photocopy outside their cubicle. Its a nice time for people to see the kids and its certainly a safe environment. The adults have fun with it too - different areas have themes. This year the one group of Indian programmers were all dressed like they were wounded with bandages everywhere The one team leader was in scrubs with a stethescope. One man was dressed as William Tell, with an arrow through his head and an apple on top (and lots of cotton with red paint on either side.
We once again decorated over the top, with our blow up wolf arch by the door, a fog machine and screaming casket.
Happy Halloween everyone, let the holiday season begin!

10 Year Anniversary

2007-10-29T06:48:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend. DH and I have now been married over 10 years, and on our anniversary, Thursday, we had quite a day.
I woke up to three roses (which in our secret language means 'I love you') a stuffed duck that sang 'Singing in the Rain' and a beautiful necklace. At lunch I received a dozen more roses and a note that said, "You are my world" Dinner was back at the restaurant that we had our first date at, at the same table with a single rose, just like our first date. At dinner DH gave me a beautiful anniversary ring. Overall it was lovely.
We snuck off Friday to the ocean, and played at the beach. Everyone got sick or had horrible allergy attacks, but it was still fun.

Some pics from this week...

2007-10-13T17:05:00.000-07:00

Jakey in action at his Karate Class
Jakey helping Emma run her one round around the track.

Crest Drive Elementary School kids and teachers waiting to start the Jog-A-Thon.

Monday Catch up...

2007-09-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm a bad blogger, aren't I? I just got home from the gym (yeah me) and I thought I better log on and update. Tomorrow night is the mid-Autumn festival, where we will eat round foods and talk about ancestors and stare at the moon with Emma and talk about her other life. I've invited up a girlfriend who just returned from China this summer with her daughter to share in the fun.
We took the train to Portland this weekend for the day. It was a nice trip, and we took the streetcar downtown and then the tube out to the zoo. After the zoo we went to lunch downtown and then I went to Mecca (ops, I mean Nordstroms) and I fondled $600 pumps and settled for a mini-makeover in the makeup department. They were having a 'makeup event' so it was fun.
We also went and spent some time in the Classical Chinese Garden, it was lovely. here was a wedding there and it was really beautiful. We took lots of photos of the kids in the beautiful landscaping.
I'm down 15 pounds (more yeah for me) So far so good. Skinny jeans here I come!

Remodeling

2007-09-17T19:15:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty scarce lately, I know. I thought I aught to let you all in on a little secret. I've started remodeling myself. Doesn't that sound simply lovely. At 41 it finally occurred to me that I've let myself go. I've put so much effort into my family and friends and work and what not, that I haven't spent much time on me.
So two weeks ago I started a medically supervised weight loss plan. Today I went to the gym for the first time since I can't remember when. So far I've lost 11 pounds! I know it's all water but I'm encouraged that the diet is easy enough to follow and reasonable. You eat 7 times a day. Six of those times are small portioned 'snacks' and the 7th is a full meal with at least 20 grams of protien.
I also dyed my hair back to it's original color, and put some effort into the little things I've been neglecting. Funny how life gets away from you and you don't pluck, primp and do all the little things that make you feel like a girl.
Just in case you think I've totally forgotten how to be the self-sacrificing woman, I've also signed on to volunteer at the kid's kindergarten every couple of weeks :) Some things never change!
I'll try to be more consistent in my writings. Today I was super woman at lunch and didn't get a chance to post on my blog. Tomorrow is officially the anniversary of when we met Emma. Today I wrote a letter to Emma's foster parents and sent it to be translated. I'm scooting under the wire, but the service will get it translated and send it and a box of Moon Cakes to her foster parents late next week in honor of the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is traditional to send moon cakes during that time, and I'm glad to do it. I hope that they will again write back and reveal a little more about Emma's time right before she came to be with our family.

A year of Emma

2007-09-11T16:08:00.000-07:00

Well we are coming up on a year now that Emma has been with us - I've been playing with making a slide show to show how much she has changed. I need it to remind myself - sometimes I don't realize what a year can do! Enjoy!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

First Day of School

2007-09-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

Well today was a big day at our household - the first day of Kindergarten! DH, being the amazing man that he is, took off at 10am, and drove the 45 miles home so he could go with me to take the kids to their class at 11:30.
I think that the thing that strikes me the most is how my perspective has changed over the years. Five years ago I couldn't imagine that my babies would ever do anything other then lay there crying and not being able to communicate. Now they are in public school!
I'll post pictures later, when we get them off the camera. I did want to share one little vignette though about the day. After we dropped the kids off I came home and had lunch. Nanny and Emma had gone downstairs, and I could hear them. Emma, being only 2-1/2, has to wait a few years for school but she was pretending to be going today. She was packing her backpack full of stuff. Nanny was doing a great job of playing along.
when I went downstairs I found Emma, still fully dressed with a t-shirt and pants. On top of this she had applied a tinkerbell constume and wings, and her Elmo backpack which barely shut. She had stuffed in a wide array of toys and goodies so she would be 'ready' for school.
All my worries about how she would take being alone with the Nanny were unfounded. She was happy as a clam going to her own pretend school.

Labor Day Weekend in California

2007-09-05T12:42:00.001-07:00

This weekend is a big holiday in the US - Labor Day. We took our one last quick jaunt down to California before the kids start school and headed to our family in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Our family has a condo with a deep water dock, as they are in the process of restoring a boat so that they can go out on the high seas. Right now the boat is beautiful on the outside but needs some finishing on the inside. They have christened it 'the Rubber Ducky' and it is going to sail in a couple of years.

We drove down on Friday, and Saturday we swam and played around their condo. It was HOT.
Sunday we braved BART and rode into the city. The Bay Bridge was closed for repairs and so everyone else was riding BART too - it was crowded! We went to China town. I had always wanted to go, and I needed Moon Cakes in order to celebrate the Autumn Festival. I've been mulling over September in general in my mind, as we are also coming up on the one year anniversary of getting Emma. Anyway, I suspect we'll have a joint celebration of the Autumn Festival and the deay Emma came to be with us. Although it was a terrific day for us, it was a pretty hard sad day for her so celebrating the AF seems smart. Basically AF is a time for families, where everyone goes out and looks at the full moon and thinks of their loved ones. It seems appropriate somehow.
While we were in Chinatown we stumbled across a playground just off on the corner. We stopped to let the kids run off some steam. The playground was full of asian kids, and one woman approached me. She was from China and had adopted her 7 year old from China 5 years ago. She was having nice memories of her own child watching Emma play.
We had some other excitement this weekend as well. We have noticed over the last year that Emma has trouble with how dry our climate is compared to China. This weekend we went somewhere even drier, and boy did she let us know. When Emma hits a dry warm climate, she gets nosebleeds. Not just any old nosebleeds either, but big scary ones at night. They wake her up and she feels like she is in some kind of terrible horror movie. We had one every day we were in California, and our poor family had more sheets to wash then I would have ever imagined. Of course the poor cousins we were staying with had never seen anything like it either, so we'd have 5 kids in our room, one covered in blood and 4 looking scared or crying. Weee.
Other then that our trip was fantastic!
Here are some pics of the weekend for your enjoyment...

Tackle It Tuesday....

2007-08-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

Well today I have no pictures of before (or after) but my tackle for today was....my toes! I gave myself the evening off, and went to the mall. I ate dinner alone, I shopped and shopped (didn't buy much of anything, but it was fun to look) and then I got a pedicure and foot massage. Ahhh, dreamy.
I did buy a few things as well. I bought tap shoes and a dance bag for my little dancer. She starts class in 3 weeks and I talked to the office today and got the list of supplies. Payless Shoe source sells ballet and tap shoes, go figure!
I got Jakey 3 shirts too - even a spiderman shirt that glows in the dark. He took one look at it when I got home and said, 'Mom, I LOVE you' Good to know that it is all about what I bring him!
Nanny had a better day. She even bravely took them to Target. They came home with coloring stuff and itty bitty pigs with velcro feet. They are completely smitten with her (and so am I!) It is such a nice change from prior nanny.
DH set up his tripod and his camera last night before we went to bed, and set his alarm for 2:30am. He got up to film the eclipse and stayed up for a while, trying to shoot the perfect picture. He said the moon was red.
He came back to bed and he calculates got a total of 3-1/2 hours sleep last night before geting up early to go to the gym and work out before work. He was only barely coherant by the time I got home - he had parked the kids in front of Mythbusters and they were happy as could be doing a 'Slumber Party'.
Oh, I also ran the Certificate of Citizenship over to the post office today so now Emma's passport is officially on it's way. Hopefully in 12 weeks she will have her Certificate and her passport back in our house!

The fun never ends...and a great evening!

2007-08-27T19:21:00.000-07:00

Poor Nanny. First full day of work. She decides she is going to take the kids to the park, so they load up in the van. She backs out. She hears a scraping noise. The running board on the passenger side has fallen off except for the front. It won't stick back up. It won't come undone. So she unloads and comes back in. They play, they nap, they play some more. They go outside for a minute to color, and Vi carefully locks the door and pulls it shut. Nanny has not brought the kids. Little did she know what an efficient and safe child I have!
So when I got home all 4 of them were sitting on the front lawn. She felt awful as the house wasn't as clean as she would have liked (it was probably cleaner then I left it for her!)
So as a bonus, the passport office called. They want more paperwork, so I have to call them tomorrow and figure out how to take time to go do that as well. It seems that although the clerk who took my paperwork friday did not want my certificate of citizenship and did consider the birth certificate enough proof, the woman reviewing today did not.
Threw all 3 kids in the tub after that and ordered Chinese food. This week is a big week for us actually. This is the last free week before Jakey and Vi start kindergarten. Tonight is even more special though. I'm so proud to tell you that my dh finished college tonight! He has been at this for as long as I have known him, knocking out a class here and there. He probably has enough credits for 3 bachelor's degrees, but tonight he completes the last one to give him his diploma. He did a degree completely program through a local university here. During the entire 19 months he has gotten all As (3.95 since he got an A- in a class) and I am so proud of him. A lot has been thrown at him during this - he had a retina detachment, cateracts, a 5 car pile up and neck injury, a slip on the ice and a rotator cuff tear, surgery to repair it, adoption in China, the loss of his Mom in our home. Yet somehow through all that my guy kept at it and he did it! I have cards for him and more pride then I can even begin to share. Yeah HUBBY!

An Adoption Video...

2007-08-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

When Love Takes You In - Steven Curtis Chapman
Amy put this up on her blog while she is waiting for her referral (hurry up China!) and it made me cry. The one little girl looks so much like Emma....

>

Passport Time

2007-08-24T09:44:00.000-07:00

Well this morning I drug myself up bright and early, and took all 3 kids to the post office. Doesn't that sound like a fun way to start the day? Although the rest of us have our passports, little Ms. Emma is still sitting with her Chinese passport and US Visa. Since we plan on flying over the pond next spring, we thought we better get a matching passport to the rest of the family!
For those of you outside the US, passport turn around times have grown to amazingly long periods now. Headlines say 3 months, but we've heard rumors of close to 6 months. Since we leave in 8 months, we figured better to be safe then sorry.
Getting a passport in a small town for a child who wasn't born here is an adventure. Thank God we re-adopted when we got home. If you are adopting internationally, when you get home adopt in your state, even if it isn't required. It makes so many things easier, and getting a passport is no exception.
The US issues one piece of paper to prove citizenship when your child arrives in this country. It isn't something you get copies of, it is a single copy. Had we not readopted, we would have had to send our lone copy off with the passport application and been without it for 8-12 weeks or more. This way I gave them an official Oregon birth certificate and off it went!
We got there 15 minutes before the offices opened, and we were 4th in line. By the time their office did open there were 10 of us waiting. I'm glad we went when we did.
So another thing done in our slow planning of our trip across the ocean. Jo, here we come!

The Thursday Thirteen

2007-08-23T06:52:00.000-07:00

Thirteen things in my purse...
1. wallet
2. cell phone/palm pilot courtesy of my gadget guy, dh
3. pen
4. passports
5. passport photo of Emma
6. lip gloss
7. lip stick
8. ticket stub from the last movie we watched
9. change
10. notebook with list of things to do because I still don't use the palm pilot as anything more then a glorified address book!
11. a crumpled up dandelion that one of the kids gave me as 'my flower'
12. Some Susan B Anthony dollars waiting for Jakey to loose another tooth (Or Violet)
13. Emergen-C packets for my vitamins

Not a very creative Thursday Thirteen, I know, but I'm getting back in the swing of things! Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

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A few more Family Camping Pictures

2007-08-22T19:36:00.000-07:00

Keeping up with Nannies...

2007-08-21T20:12:00.000-07:00

Boy, what a week! Last week we had to let our old Nanny go - it became apparent to us that her judgement on things just wasn't what we were hoping for. We'd given her some time hoping she was just green and trying to get the hang of a large house and three kids. Anyway, time didn't help, and so we moved on.
Today we had our new Nanny come give us a trial run - so far so good! It is so hard to switch, although I feel very good about this woman.
Life is pretty dull this week otherwise. Em slept through the temporary nanny yesterday (her way of dealing with stress is to sleep) and today she stayed up all day. We are all working like crazy. This weekend we have our last free weekend before school starts. I still can't believe my babies are entering kindergarten!
Oh, the big news of the day is that Jakey's first tooth came out today. We are all very excited to see what the tooth fairy has in store for our boy.
I'd also post more pics, but Blogger has been so SLOW about uploading recently that I keep giving up after I try for half an hour. Maybe I'll have more time over the weekend!

Family Reunion Pictures (finally!) and the County Fair

2007-08-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

Kids at the fair
kids at the fair
Cousins on the boat
Violet at the pool

The weekend

2007-08-19T00:07:00.000-07:00

Today was the last Saturday class that dh has to attend, so I made a play date with a girlfriend and her two girls who are the same ages as my two. Her older girl and Vi have been friends since they were two. We played on a big playground, had an early lunch, and then went for a walk. The two older girls walked hand in hand down the path, it was so neat. I love that they have had a long wonderful relationship already. Julia asked if Vi could come play for a few hours and I said sure. I guess they are plotting their first sleepover already, so I told Julia's Mom that we'd host next month if she didn't mind being ready for a late night drive. They seem young to be ready, but I trust their family and have no trouble with the idea.
I started some new meds today - T3 to treat thyroid. I'm on an incredibly low dose but it does buzz me a bit. I suspect that is why I'm still awake at midnight, you take it every 12 hours and dose #2 was at 9:45 tonight. I need to do that a bit earlier in the evening so I can sleep!
DH has been so busy and stressed out this week that he hasn't had a chance to upload pics yet, and so neither have I. I hope that tomorrow will be better for him. After his class we took the kids to dinner and a movie. We went and saw 'Underdog' which was pretty cute. The kids loved it although Em spent most of the time doing gymnastics on the seat between dh and I. She is such a nut. She has been so giggly and happy all day today. I think the fact I stayed home yesterday made her happy - two days in a row with Mom. Makes my heart ache that I can't stay home with them all the time right now. Maybe in a couple years when dh's schooling pays off.
Guess that is all for now...

A Night At The Fair

2007-08-17T04:45:00.000-07:00

The local fair has come to town, and last night we adventured out to see the sights. Somehow we hadn't taken the kids to any of the previous fairs, so this was their first.
It was a good night for the fair - the high all day had only gotten to the mid 70s, and the air was clear from an earlier rain shower. We ate dinner at one of the long picnic tables erected near the midway, and then walked around checking out chickens, rabbits and goats. We watched a couple baby chicks work on hatching (by far the coolest exhibit at the fair)
We tried to get the kids to go on the Ferris Wheel but Jakey wasn't in the mood. I guess it looked a little too intimidating up close.
Charlie Daniels was playing on the main stage. You can buy tickets to hear the concerts on the main stage but it was apparent that you didn't really need to do that. The view and the sound from outside the stage area was pretty good (and free with admission) We watched one song but country isn't dh's thing.
We went over to the horse barn next. They had minature horses (verycute) and they had freesians and some beautiful draft horses. Jakey was terrified of the horses, but Vi and Em petted them easily.
The kids also got their first taste of cotton candy (big hit although puzzling to Em at first) I'll fill in with pictures soon!

Holiday

2007-08-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry to have been MIA for so long - this weekend was a crazy busy one! Back in February we had the sad task of burying my mother-in-law - a truely amazing vibrant 89 year old woman. We all had worried for years that our family would drift away after that. She was the glue that held us all together we thought. At the party after the funeral, we all agreed that we needed to work hard to keep in touch and stay together. The first piece of that happened this weekend at our family reunion.

We all drove to a campground on the side of Lake Shasta in California for a weekend of swimming, boating, and catching up. We ate big breakfasts around the campfire, swam at all hours, and some of us even sang Karaoke in the evenings.
This is Emma, Glenn and I after a long day of getting dirty and having fun with our favorite baby girl!

This is Emma when I asked her to do a 'mad face'. Too funny!

We arrived on a Saturday, set up and the kids all immediately headed for the pool. Emma made an attempt at swiming on her own so I pulled her out sputtering. The rest of the weekend all the kids followed their cousin Curtis (age 9) around like the Pied Piper, from the playground to the camp and back again. Sunday morning we rented a pontoon boat and took all the kids out for a swim. We ate Tacos in honor of Mom, and stayed up entirely too late relating stories of the folks and of growing up.

I have to tell you, it was a great time. There is nothing quite as heartwarming as seeing your kids loved by their aunts and uncles.

I'll post more pics in a few days, I'm waiting for dh to remove them from his camera!

Tackle It Tuesday

2007-08-07T06:43:00.000-07:00

I don't think pictures will do this one justice. We have 3 kids and 3 kids worth of toys. Over the last year things just started getting piled in the corner of the family room until it became impossible to actually find any toys. It was horrid. So here is the before....

And below is the after. Now we have toy chests that have specific things in them and nothing else. No more frantically trying to find something, no more piling! Of course I'm not showing you the rest of the room - this is going to be a several week long tackle!

Projects Update

2007-08-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

Well we made great strides this weekend on the downstairs. The painting is almost done in Jakey's room, and everyone's dresser is installed in the correct rooms. All 3 kids even slept downstairs yesterday, which was great. Glenn and I greatly appreciate getting our room back!

This is Jakey's new room. He is the king of his castle right before bed on his top bunk, and he LOVES it. You can't see it from the picture but he has carefully put his t-rex to bed in the bottom bunk.

This is a shot of the octopus I painted for him. I need to put some suction cups on the legs yet, but it didn't come out half bad!

These are two overtired little girls in their new room, mad because I told them they had to go to bed. You can see the way the room came out though.
We also spent some time today sorting through the scary clutter that has become the corner of the family room. We sorted all the toys, took 2 huge boxes to goodwill and threw a ton of stuff away. I think they might actually be able to find things in the house to play with now!
Still need to finish that pile, the laundry pile and touching up Jakey's paint here and there. And of course the rest of the house is dirty because we spent all weekend cleaning downstairs!
Have a good night!

Progress Report

2007-08-03T20:33:00.000-07:00

It is 8:30pm, and I'm whipped. I took off work early to get to work on the bed, but they ended up not delivering it until 4pm. Then dh wanted to go out to dinner at this all you can eat chinese buffett (it has sushi, where else can you get all you can eat sushi for $12?) and of course we were out of eggs and a few other staples, so I didn't really get home to work on the bed till late. I did do some more painting today - mostly second coats and touch ups. Tonight Jakey and Vi and I assembled the bunk beds. I suspect these will not be long term bunk beds as they are flimsy. They are fine for now with little kids, but when Jake is a strapping teenager it won't bear him I don't think. Then again by then he probably will hate the thought of bunk beds so I know we'll be fine.
We also had our piano delivered today. It is terrific - in good shape. I was concerned because it was so inexpensive and the light at the store isn't great, but we got it home and it seems fine. I need to get it tuned and then we'll be good to go. Assuming DH and I don't burn out in the morning we should actually get our house back to 'normal' sometime late tomorrow. We have date night tomorrow night too! Our wonderful summer sitter goes back to college in two weeks, so this is our last date night with her. I'm going to miss her! She is coming late so we'll have a late dinner and see a movie. I don't know which movie yet - I'm leaning towards Hairspray or some other chick flick but who knows.
When we get Jakey 'done' I promise to post more pics. I hope that will be Sunday at the latest since I still need to sketch out and paint an octopus. Tonight both the twins are in Jakey's room. Wonder how I'm ever going to get them to separate. Guess I could drag Em's bed into Jakey's room...although it isn't initially what I had in mind.
Have a great night!

The Thursday Thirteen

2007-08-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

Thirteen Things I have to get Done This Weekend

1. Assemble Jakey's Bunk Beds
2. Paint the corner of Jakey's bedroom
3. Paint an octopus on Jakey's Wall
4. Drag the dressers around between the rooms
5. Go to Home Depot and have more slats cut for the antique beds
6. Go by the PO Box and pick up the mail
7. Help DH pick up the RV
8. Drop the 4Runner off at the body shop
9. Buy material to make a fairy tent in the girl's room
10. Go to Church
11. Get laundry caught up
12. Find the things that DH can't in the house
13. Take the kids and the dog somewhere to play

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Wors for me Wednesday and other musings

2007-08-01T12:45:00.000-07:00

Happy middle of the week! It is Wednesday and I desperately want it to be Friday. My sinus infection is still trolling along, mostly because I'm not stopping to take care of it, and I'm just tired.
So what amazing tip can I give you today? I think today I'll share a kid tip. Having three of them at home, I've learned a few things about how to get them moving. One great trick I've learned is the timer. At least at my house, if you say, 'I bet you can't get your room clean in 3 minutes' it is a challenge and a dare that sets the kids off in record time. My twins like to compete with each other which is part of it I'm sure. They often beat the time I suggest, and even if they don't I sometimes say they did because it makes them so darn happy!
Today is a fun filled day of work with another visit with my personal trainer tonight. Then a little more work on Jakey's room before falling into bed and starting over again tomorrow. This weekend we take the 4runner in to the shop to get the bumper fixed (dh fender bender last month) and I get a rental car for the week. I hope they give me something cool!
This weekend we need to finish the three bedrooms downstairs and restore our house to some semblence of order.
I suppose the other thing coming up that I haven't mentioned is the big family camping trip. I married into a huge family - my husband's mother had 4 kids, 13 grandkids and I don't even know how many great grandkids at this point. She lived with us for 2 years before she died in January. While we were at the funeral in Grants Pass in early February we all agreed we'd do an annual summer camping trip to try to keep the family together. We booked a campground on Lake Shasta in California, and we are all set to go.
I'm really looking forward to it. DH's mother gave me her cast iron skillets before she died and I intend to pack them so we can do a big taco feed, which was tradition with her. I think we are going to bring food for that and for an ice cream feed so that hopefully we can have everyone in our campsite each night for a while. DH has been frantically scanning all the pictures that his mother left us in hopes of having some CDs to share when we meet up with everyone. His one aunt, who now is in her 90s, lives near his brother in southern California. We hope she will be able to identify some of the people in these pictures! It also is a good way to preserve them as some of the shots are awfully old.
Guess that is all I have time for on my lunch hour. The work outside my office window continues, and now they have added breathing masks for all the workers. Makes you wonder as we are all sitting here with no protection except 110 year old windows that don't seal. Reminds me of the time a few years ago when the asbestos abatement was going on on our floor and they would leave white footprints down the hallway after they exited the area that had the black plastic taped off to 'protect' us. Gotta love state employment!

Tackle It Tuesday

2007-07-31T06:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, here is the update. First, here are the girl's beds in the girl's room - this is a minor miracle as dh was too busy to help and when we originally assembled them we somehow stripped one of the screws. Being a handy girl I figured it out!

These are the waves I painted on Jakey's walls - I still need to add the white 'crests' but it's a start!

I'm afraid this is going to be part 1 of a 2 part Tackle. The house overall is looking a little worse for wear. Funny how a week of hospital stuff and a big remodeling project in the kid's room kinda cuts out all the other housework!

I am still painting - I will probably spend the rest of this week preparing Jakey's room ready for the bunk beds that arrive Friday. By next Tuesday I'll have a really great looking tackle completed!

And finally, the kid's and Daddy tackled another dirty project - the car! Here are some cute pics of everyone working on the car.

Mariiage Monday

2007-07-30T16:00:00.000-07:00

Well today is the last Monday in the challenge - hard to believe its over almost! What a challenge this week has been too!

That whole 'in sickness and in health' thing is easy to say but much much harder to do when you are living it. Last week was a week where lots of things happened, and I was reminded again why I married my husband and why we 'work.' I also had a few scary hours where I wondered how I would do things if I didn't have him with me to do them. I pray that God keeps him in my life for many many many more years - the look at the alternative was pretty awful. When they called Tuesday night and told me that they didn't think it was a virus and they did think it was something very serious I remember my stomach just dropping. I don't think I slept again until Saturday night in any restful form.

So this week it was mostly a lot of begging and praying for more years, good health, and doctors who could figure things out. I haven't even picked up the book this week about the Power of the Praying Wife.

I guess I mostly see the blessings that came out of this week. First of all, we were given the opportunity to consider some changes in our family, and we were both able to say with a clear conscious that the answer right now is 'no' for us. We didn't shut out the possibility down the road, but right now, we are just the right size. Second, I think dh got a wake up call about some things in his life that he needs to change. Third, we both got a wake up call about our priorities.

Tonight I have an appointment with the personal trainer. One of my priorities both for myself and for DH now is to get in a better state of health. We owe it to our children and to each other.

Hope you all have a great Monday!

Ahhh, Sunday

2007-07-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

Well it is Sunday, and it is not a day of rest. We skipped church as dh still doesn't feel 100%, although he is definately on the mend. I've been painting, which is quite a challenge with all the furniture in there! If DH felt better he would help me move it out, but he just isn't quite up to it so I'm working around it.
We did come to a consensus on the bedrooms, which is cool. The best part is he just agreed with everything I wanted to do (love it when it works that way!)
So we are moving all the kid's furniture in Jakey's room to the girl's room. Eventually we'll bunk the beds in there. That will give the girls 2 matching chest of drawers to store clothing, and since they both have legs it will get them up off the heating vents. Currently the dressers in there sit down on the vents and so you freeze in the winter.
We are going to take the chest of drawers that is in the girl's room and is dark wood, and move it to Jakey's room for his storage. Then everyone has about the same number of drawers for stuff.
We have yet to decide what to do with the other dresser - probably see what family wants to do with it or sell it or give it away.
Anyway, we went over to the second hand furniture store today and low and behold they had a brand new bunk bed in the same finish as the dark dresser for $175. They will bring it Friday. With two mattresses plus the sheets and stuff I bought the total works out to $10 more then what I am selling the guest bed set for. We can live with a $10 cost :)
Meanwhile, a very nice woman came today and gave me cash for the bed set. She and her son are coming in 30 minutes to haul it off. By next weekend I should have Jakey's room totally set, and Vi and Emma's room set. Then I can start working on the guest room. I will post pictures of both kid's rooms when I get them done. I may sneak a midway shot in of Jakey's on Tuesday since it is a Tackle It Tuesday that has crept through the weekend! We'll see.
Oh, as a bonus at the used furniture store, we found a piano! I couldn't believe it. We've been looking at the piano store for a piano (silly us/ and here was the one we wanted for about half the price. We'll have to have it tuned, but they will bring it out Friday as well. DH's Mom had left us a little money when she died and we had set a bit of it aside for a piano. With tuning I think we'll be right in budget.
Dh's sister called and she is bringing up our favorite cousins (her grandchildren) when we go on the big family camping trip to Shasta next month. We are excited, we love spending time with them. The kids will be thrilled to see them and we intend to go down and visit with them again at the end of August, so all togheter they'll get lots of play time.
Ok, more pictures soon. I know the best thing about blogs are the pictures!

Weekends, Pirates Hospitals and Craig's List

2007-07-28T13:10:00.001-07:00

How is that for a title? It is Saturday, and the family is asleep except for me. Funny how that works as I am probably the one who needs it the most. Oh well, life as a wife, its a glamerous job but someone has to do it!
Picked up dh at the hospital this morning after dropping Boo off at the groomers. Brought him home and then my fabulous friend offered to take Vi for a few hours to play with her daughter. So I am one kid down (yeah!) Put one coat of paint on the upper portion of Jakey's room, hope to have it done by Tuesday. Below are some pics of our 'inspiration room' from Disney - Jake is going for a pirate theme.

Now I do have one complaint on this. Notice the bed. It is pretty cute, right? The Disney directions talk as if anyone can purchase a boat bed, and then just paint it black.
After expensive searching I can assure you that Pottery Barn's $1200 bed is the only one I can find. Disney made a very nice $2,000 pirate ship bed, but I can't see spending very much on something that may yet be another short phase that may not last.
So far we have got the upper blue on 3 walls. It is going to take a few coats as it is such a dark color. Jakey sat on his bed and watched me, it was great.
The other good thing that happened is that Friday a family came over after seeing my note on craigslist. We tore out our old deck and have been replacing it with trex. We had a huge pile of old lumber, so my friend said, 'put it on craigslist.' Sureenough, someone actually wanted it and came and hauled it off! One chore done and no sweat.
Still need to work out, go grocery shopping and beat the sinus infection. Tried yoga stretches the last few nights and it seems to help the back...

The Saga Continues

2007-07-26T20:14:00.000-07:00

Wow, so what a day. I went to work and stayed there 7 hours - a record this week! Then dh called and he was as sick as he was before. By the time I got home to get him he was cold and clammy and really really sick. I took him back to the hospital with all the kids, checked him in again and left him once again. The good news is that the doctor on the staff tonight recognized what was going on and offerred us some treatment plans that actually make sense. At this point I'm oddly elated that we have answers to the problems and a way to fix things for him. I think the worst of it was not knowing what was repeatedly making him so ill.
So he started treatment, but they are going to hold him at least a day. Keep us in your prayers, its going to be a long weekend!

What a week!

2007-07-26T06:05:00.000-07:00

This week has been a challenge, and it is only Thursday! I have a charming sinus infection (the doctor says its chronic, lovely!) and my back went out over the weekend. I tried to work Monday but the back pain was too much so I went over and got an emergency massage :) Tuesday I drove Glenn to the hospital and spent the night worrying that something awful was going on. It turned out to be stomach flu, but Tuesday night they thought it could be something very terribly wrong with his insides and scared me to death. The rest of the Powell family spent the night piled in my bed wishing they would call with better news.
Wednesday I woke up and called the hospital, only to find out that he was in the Intensive Care Unit. After some discussion it was revealed that he was there because there were no beds available on the regular floor, but for a few moments my fear went up about 100%.
It is Thursday, and I'm hoping for a break! I sat all day at the hospital yesterday hoping to catch a doctor. My back and hospital chairs are NOT friends. Finally scooted out at 4 and did a quick retail therapy run to the Dollar Store. Then home to collect kids and wait for news from the hospital. Turns out they released him and so I drug 3 tired somewhat cranky crying children over to the hospital to pick him up.
This weekend is quiet. Hopefully someone will purchase the spare bed, we can paint Jakey's room, and Boo the dog will get a bath. Fingers crossed that the evil stomach flu doesn't hit the rest of the familiy!

The Thursday Thirteen

2007-07-26T05:55:00.000-07:00

Thirteen Things about Hospitals

In honor of Glenn's 24 hour stay in the hospital, I thought I'd put out a list of my observations.
1. No one likes them unless they are delivering a baby.
2. Nursing has a rediculous amount of ick factor to it.
3. Cafeteria food at hospitals is borderline awful.
4. In spite of this the employees seem to eat it.
5. The ER Waiting room is full of unusual people 24 hours a day.
6. You can feel like you are dying but only 'Triage' can get you a room.
7. There is never enough parking.
8. Air mattresses sound like jet engines preparing for takeoff and are hard to sleep on.
9. Hospital gowns were never meant to actually cover anything!
10. You must ride in a wheelchair if you have been a patient, you can't walk out ever!
11. Stickers are available in the ER
12. If an alarm goes off on a piece of equipment in your room, it will take forever for a nurse to come shut it down.
13. When you are ready to go home, it takes a long time to get them to release you!
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Works for Me Wednesday

2007-07-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

Let's see, what magic tip do I have for today. Ok, here is one, not very glamerous but it works Do you have slow drains? Take a cup of baking soda and sprinkle it in the drain. Then pour a cup of vinegar down Let it sit 5 minutes then pour boiling water to clear out the drain.

As a bonus, run vinegar through your washing machine once a month, it helps get rid of the buildup and clean the lines :)

Have a good night, more tomorrow. Been a crazy week as dh got the worst stomach flu I've ever seen and so I've been disinfecting like a mad woman!

Tackle It Tuesday

2007-07-23T20:00:00.001-07:00

Ok, here is the before - this is the 'girls room' -isn't it a scary dumping ground? It has been the 'shove it in here' room for quite some time. This week it is going to receive beds, get cleaned up and become a haeven for two little girls. Then next week we'll paint Jakey's bedroom and do his room as the Tackle It Tuesday Project. (I'll do the actual painting on the weekend and let all the kids pile in the girl's room to sleep.

Ok, so here is the bedroom. It isn't perfect, but its a start. Still need to do more on it.

As a bonus after seeing someone's amazing pantry, I dug into ours. I have no 'before' pictures, but here is the after. It looks amazing (and believe me, it was so cluttered you couldn't find a thing before!)

Marriage Monday

2007-07-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

Well today is marriage monday, and I have to admit I haven't done so well this week. DH has had the stomach flu and my back has gone south (oh, and I got a sinus infection) and so overall I haven't been at my sunny best. Some nights I've fallen into bed and just prayed that God keep everyone safe and not much more. I need to get myself well and get back on course. I haven't even read the Power of the Praying Wife in a few days.
I'm afraid I did shift course long enough to read Harry Potter Book 7 in it's entirety in one day. I'm an obsessive reader, and I've been waiting for this book for a while.
I won't spoiler it yet, but I will say that the epilogue left me with more questions. I want to know what happened to some of the other characters. JK explained some of them, but left others hanging. It was a great book, a wonderful read, and the battle scenes were excellent. I also really appreciated that she made the heros real. They had flaws, they yearned for power in some cases but grew older and wiser. It was interesting. So often fairy tales don't tell the truth about human beings, but I believe this set of books really did.

Don't Ya Just Hate It When...

2007-07-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged by my friend Robin for a 'Don't Ya Just Hate It When" 8. That should be easy, plenty of things bug me :)

1. The grocery store all week long has had signs up that say, 'Harry Potter available July 21 at midnight.' When you drive over there at midnight it turns out that they only got SIX copies of the book - who gets six copies? That isn't even a case?

2. Someone cuts in front of you and takes the parking spot you've been waiting for.

3. You go to a playground and another mother is so busy talking that she can't see her kid either risking life and limb or being mean to someone else.

4. Your hubby, who spends every waking moment reading or fooling with his palm pilot, complains that you are on the computer too much (totally blind to how often he is on the computer)

5. You get the house spotless and the dog finds a crayon and chews it up on the carpet

6. You get in what appears to be the shortest line at the grocery store and of course the person in front has chosen an item with no price. To add to complication, the clerk can't find anyone to go check the price.

7. You make big plans to move beds around and move the kids bedrooms and your back goes out.

8. You do a big project at work only to have the people who asked for it decide they didn't need it!

Violet's First Recital

2007-07-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty fun day - Violet had her last day of Dance Camp and had her first recital. I was able to sneak away at lunch and watch her dance. It was really cute. The kids did good for having only had 5 days to learn the choreography. The pace must have been brutal as they learned 6 dance numbers during that time.
We have decided to do ballet classes in the fall.
I never cease to be amazed at how effected I am when I see one of the kids do something on their own. It is such a strange feeling to watch the baby that you held tightly for so long try to do something outside their comfort zone. I find myself longing for them to be really good at what they try. I have to check myself, I can see where the stage mothers come from already! Violet enjoys dance because she has fun. She has wanted to be a ballerina since I can remember.
What I havent' really written about her is that she is a Princess with a capital P. She has felt she is and should be one for as long as I can remember, and the ballet thing fits neatly in with the fairy princess idea.
I think the other thing that brought me joy was watching Violet and her best friend Julia. They have known each other since they were about 1. I worry sometimes that the friendship is waining as they go to different schools. Watching them during dance camp though they were in their element. When the kids had to pair off to spin or do something together, it was Vi and Julia every single time. I hope we can keep that friendship going, I love the idea of them having something for as long as they can remember. Good friends get harder to find as you get older. Julia also envisions a future with ballet, so I suspect we'll keep the relationship going with dance this fall.
Tonight Vi and I did the macarena together in the living room. She was so happy I knew a dance. I even still remember first position from ballet, so I showed her that. Scary what sticks with you.
The other funny thing is that Emma is desperate, simply desperate to dance. She ran onto the dance floor today and we drug her back a couple times. Our Nanny came with us today (thank Goodness) and held Emma to stop her from escaping. I can see that as soon as Em turns 3 she will probably take dance as well. We won't wait as long as we have for Vi.
That is all from the land of ballerinas tonight. 2 hours, 23 minutes till Harry Potter is available, and I'm trying to stay up!

2007-07-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

My thirteen favorite romantic movies of all time....

Married To It
I love this movie - I think it is such a realistic view of how different marraiges can be while still working, and how people at different stages learn different things about life.

Steel Magnolias
A great chick flick if ever there was one - I love southern women, I suppose because my Mom was a southern woman.

Gone With The Wind

Other girls had Cinderella, I had Scarlet. I actually really only love parts of this movie (its so darn long) but I love a strong woman, and Scarlet was one strong lady!

Diary of A Mad Black Woman
Another strong southern woman. I get a bit uncomfortable during the scene where she throws her husband in teh bathtub after his accident, she really releases her anger and it is scary to watch. I LOVE the scene where they go into the other woman's closet and tear it up, and when they cut the couch in half. I suppose the biggest reason I love this movie is the relationship that develops between the main character and the moving man she meets, and the way her brother holds onto his love for his addicted wife and in the end she comes out ok. I know, I know, its a movie, real life doesn't always work out so cleanly, but it is nice to think it does for a couple of hours!

Before Sunrise and Before Sunset

These two should go together - they are really a matched set. A great story about the chemistry that can happen to two people in an instant that can change their entire lives. Years later that chemistry holds true, and their lives intersect and reunite.

Music and Lyrics
Sweet show, cute and the look back at the 80s is spot-on. They got the video in the beginning right, and I love how Drew plays this part. It is a sweet watch for a rainy afternoon.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith
This is a violent movie, but it is also a love story. This is the movie where in real life Angelina and Brad found each other. You can feel the chemistry. They are two competitors pitted against one another and it is a turn on!

Hitch
This one has a lot of common sense to it. I always enjoy a good show. I like it when the little guy wins, when love prevails, and when cute men make fools of themselves to prove their hearts. This has it all!

West Side Story
A classic, what can I say? It was a teen flick for my sister and brother's age and it reminds me of the time they grew up. Also it is a nice remake of Romeo and Juliet, and the score is simply terrific.

The Notebook
This should be #1, because it is my #1. I love this movie. I love a good romance, and as I've gotten older I appreciate it when two people stick together forever and don't give up. There are parts of it that remind me of my own teen love - the passion and drive that you have then that is rarely recaptured later in life.

Spanglish
I'm not even sure why I like this movie. Maybe because for once Adam Sandler plays a real person and not some cut-up. Maybe because the romance in it is sweet and innocent. Maybe because I think Tea is a terrific actress. It just struck a chord with me.

Oklahoma

I love musicals, and Oklahoma is no exception. I love so many of the songs on this, and it reminds me of the kinds of things I watched growing up.

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Works for me Wednesday

2007-07-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

Well today's tip is on how to get stinky shoes not stinky anymore. Did you know that the reason shoes smell, especially in the summer, is that bacteria start growing in them? You can kill the bacteria by putting your shoes (or your kid's shoes or your hubby's shoes) in the freezer for half an hour. Freezing them kills the stinky things, then pull them out, warm them up and put them back on!

Tackle it Tuesday Continues

2007-07-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

Today I thought I'd tackle the laundry room. Since we got home from the coast (only one short week ago) it somehow has gotten completely out of control. Ok, it was a bit out of control before that, but look at it now!
So I went in and did an intervention, put laundry away, put the kid's clothes in their baskets for them to put away in the morning, even dusted and threw away a ton of junk. Still need to face off with the shelving unit in there, but at least it 'looks' better then it did!

Hard News to Hear

2007-07-17T18:52:00.000-07:00

When we adopted Emma, we adopted her knowing that she had a small heart defect. We got her in to see the cardiologist almost as soon as we got home, and at the time they confirmed the measurements and information we'd received from China. We were told that in 3 to 4 years we would need to take Emma to Portland and have a minor catheterization surgery to repair the hole in her heart and make her 'normal.'

Today I had a follow up appointment with OHSU, something routine. I didn't think anything of it, and I took Em alone. It was a different doctor today, who listened briefly to her heart and said everything was fine. I mentioned to him that we had noticed her tiring sooner lately, and he dismissed me and said that that symptom would have nothing to do with what was wrong with her. I explained that the last cardiologist had said in fact that it would be a symptom. To appease me I think he finally agreed to take another look.

Now, instead of 3 years, we have 4 months. It seems little Em's heart is working double over time and enlarging. They want to push her surgery up quite a bit and possibly operate on her this fall. He had a very different approach when he came back in to see us and give me the news.

Please pray for our little girl. The other thing he said was that it could very well be an open heart surgery and not the cardiac cathertization that we had been hoping for. He said until we had more complete diagnostics run in Portland we wouldn't know a thing.

It is one thing to know your baby is going to have a problem years from now, and quite another to find out that the problem is at hand and that the solutions are going to be more invasive and scary then you expected.

'

Marriage Monday

2007-07-16T12:35:00.001-07:00

Well it is another marriage Monday, lets recap. A few weeks ago DH and I were definately far down into a valley. We have had a challenging spring, with lots of loss and change and pain. We were taking it out on each other, and I was praying hard that God would give us an avenue to heal through.

Then God sent us to the beach - what a wonderful thing that was, and I found the challenge and I found the book, 'The Power of the Praying Wife" and life has been buzzing along.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through the book, and each night I try to pray for dh about the topic that I read about for the day. Some I already do all the time anyway. I've found myself praying for his safety since we met. Others I hadn't thought to pray about - work, purpose, mind.

I do think it makes a difference. We've been together 10 years as of Sunday. I thanked God last night for giving me 41 years of life, for all the good and the bad, and for giving me a man I could spend the rest of my life with.

Not too bad!

Happy Birthday To Me!

2007-07-16T12:24:00.001-07:00

Well I made it, I'm 41 years old! Ta Da. So far its a quiet day. Everyone at work forgot, which is par for the course.
One of my good friends sent me an ecard first thing and sang me happy birthday, and some of my other friends have remembered. I have a promise out of the kids that they will draw me pictures for my birthday. Both the older ones think we should have a beach party tonight. I had to tell them that Mommy had planned a kind of different party for herself, without them. My best friend and I are headed out for a pedicure and a slice of cake. Gotta love babysitters!
The beach trip was my birthday present this year, so I don't expect much of anything else.
Took Violet over to the first day of Ballet Camp today. She was so excited. Of course I win the bad mommy award on that front. I bring her in to work with me this am all ready for ballet. I am rereading the sign up sheet and I notice it says, 'a sack lunch and snacks should be brought along.' Oh my goodness, a sack lunch? So Vi is the only kid eating Subway for lunch today as that is about what I could pull off at 30 minutes before the class starts and no kitchen.
I keep waiting for her to find her 'thing.' When do you find the thing that you can do that you are mad about? Will it be ballet? It was NOT soccer, soccer was a complete bust. Gymnastics didn't seem as 'fun' as I thought it might be. Swimming is not it. Maybe Ballet will do the trick.
I'll post some pics later in the week. They do a little performance at the end of the week for us.

10 years ago today...

2007-07-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

I met you nervously in person for the first time. You were waiting for me, carrying a single red rose. We ate dinner and we talked. We laughed. We went for a long walk and talked about the things that were important to us. Within a few short weeks I knew you were 'the one'.

Nine years ago I was the walking wounded. My Dad had died, your Dad had died, and within a few months my Mom would die too. You held us both together when it didn't seem like anything could.

Eight years ago we put on our best clothes and drove to church. We rewnewed our vows, in our own church, with only our pastor and a youth pastor as witness.

Seven years ago we had done our first IVF and it failed. I held in the tears after holding our first grandchild till I made it out to the car, and then we held each other and cried and cried like our hearts would never mend.

Six years ago we were in Portland, on a dinner cruise with our fingers crossed. Earlier in the day we'd transfered the embies that eventually turned into our beautiful twins.

Five years ago we were in awe of the two amazing lives we had created.

Four years ago today we were still in awe of the twins, and starting to talk about how we needed to have more children because they were so amazing.

Three years ago today the twins picked the name 'Emma' for the little sister they wanted.

Two years ago today Glenn's mom had moved in with us after we returned from taking the twins to Italy. It was also about 2 years ago that Violet said, 'Mom, it's time to go get Emma' at about the same time as when Emma was taken to the hospital and registered for international adoption. Our paths were headed towards one another even though we didn't know it.

One year ago today we got the word that Emma was ours forever and we started planning our trip to China to meet her.

Last night you didn't skip a beat. You took me back to the place we had our first date, you had arose waiting, and somehow you did it all without me knowing you had remember at all! I love you honey.

My Green Phase

2007-07-13T22:07:00.000-07:00

I'm catching up on all the posts I didn't do last week, in case you are wondering why I'm so verbose tonight. I actually had these done, just not posted.

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I've started looking into green cleaning. It all started innocently enough. Glenn is now calling it my 'Green Phase' but we'll see if it sticks.

I started out this spring going to see a naturopath that a friend reccomended. She is really a terrific doctor, and I think she has made a difference. Anyway, she started talking to me about how important it was to try to eat foods as close to being whole as possible. About how organics are better for you, how there are so many pesticides and chemicals applied to everything we touch now that we are exposed to lots and lots of toxins which can make us feel bad. I've always been a bit of a skeptic so I listened and figured I'd give her way a shot.

Over time I did see a difference, and so I started adding other little things. For a few years now we've had 2 garbage cans. We got the second one when Glenn's Mom moved in and we just stuck with it. We filled them both up each week. It was costing us a ton of money, and we were diligently filling up the landfill.

So we started recycling. We sent back the second can and we rarely fill the one can completely. It is amazing how much stuff can be recycled.

It is only natural after you start looking around at these kinds of things that you look at the chemicals that you use in your home. I bought a book on Green Cleaning, and I figured I'd give the products a try. I'd been using Mrs. Meyer's cleaning products and Seventh Generation Laundry detergents. Little did I know that I could clean most of the rest of my house with baking soda, vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice!

Do we still use plastic - sure we do. I'm storing kid's clothes in it like mad. I'm not to the point of sleeping on organic cotton sheets and what not, but I like the changes we have made. If nothing else we are saving money now with these small changes. Hopefully we are shrinking our footprint as well!

Beach Pictures

2007-07-13T20:47:00.000-07:00

Emma and Vi running in the waves.
The world's biggest club sandwich - we go to a restaurant in Newport called "Shirley's" where they make truely HUGE servings of food. How do you bite on this?
You can't see it very well, but out on Newport docks there are 2 old tires set up on pilings. The leaning one has a group of baby seagulls in it while the Daddy overseas. The waitress said that only one seagull is born each day, I guess they take turns!
At the Hatfield Marine Science Center, Jakey looks for the turtle that simply must be under the shell.
The kids and Daddy checking out the indoor tide pool where you can pet a starfish or a sea urchin.
The kids in front of the mini sub that Hatfield has out front. Hatfield is a division of Oregon State University. They are located right next to the Oregon Aquarium in Newport, and honestly I like them a bit better then the fancier model. They always have an octopus to look at, things to touch, and a great bookstore with wonderful books for you and the kids. They aren't so gimmicky.

Fantastic Friday

2007-07-13T20:41:00.001-07:00

I thought that would be a good title. Nothing particularly exciting happened today other then it ended the world's shortest work week (2 days) You gotta love that.
In about 56 hours I turn 41 - that is pretty exciting. As usual I've been pretty introspective the last few weeks, considering what I want to do differently, what I like about what I've become. One thing I've realized is that I want to be a better wife. I saw on a website about the book, 'The Power of the Praying Wife' and I started reading it. It has really given me a great deal to think about.
I have realized over the last few months that I entertain people sometimes at the expense of others. It is an easy habit to get into the mode of not speaking in a completly loving manner about the ones you love sometimes - when they frustrate you, when you are making a joke about how 'men always do' this or that. The truth is, it colors how I view our relationship, and for that reason I've decided to stop. I've married a really terrific guy, and so I should let people know that.
I'm also giddy because Monday night I've scheduled a babysitter after work. My best girlfriend and I are sneaking out for dessert and a pedicure. I'm so far behind on pedicures, the thought of it is simply lovely!
I went out tonight and bought some plastic bins so I can start sorting and boxing more of the kids clothes. I buy way ahead and so I end up with piles of clothing in different sizes. I've been stuffing them in the girls' room since the girls aren't in it yet, but now that I want Emma to move into her own room, I need to clear it out. This weekend's project is to get some of that stuff boxed and put away.
I'll try to add more beach pictures too this weekend, so stay tuned!

The Thursday Thirteen ( a day late)

2007-07-13T08:14:00.000-07:00

Thirteen Things about Our Beach Vacation

1. We had beautiful weather for all 8 days! (a miracle on the Oregon coast)
2. Boo experienced his first time in the ocean. It makes him bounce!
3. Emma saw the ocean for the first time and loved it
4. We had a great time planning our trip to Europe
5. The kids and I had slumber parties most nights where we put on our PJs early and watched a movie
6. We went to two aquariums
7. We played on the beach and built great sandcastles
8. We spent many lazy days watching the surf and just being a family
9. The rental house didn't look like much in pictures, but they had just redone it inside
10. It had a dishwasher (yeah!)
11. The kids petted a cockatoo (two houses down had 2 of them)
12. We collected lots of seashells
13. I got to sleep in until almost noon one day!

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