Catch up time

Since I've let more time pass than I realized since my last post, I have selected a hodge-podge of photos to kind of update you all on some of the funny, boring, yet interesting, aspects of our lives....

This picture illustrates what happens (or what happened a few weeks ago) when a 5th grader asks for help with math and then repeatedly interrupts her father, causing great frustration. This picture actually is a reflection of the end result, the taped-back-together-homework after it was ripped in half (not by the actual 5th grader) and thrown about the living room and the 5th grader went crying upstairs....then amends were made on all aspects of the rather humorous occasion (at least from my perspective).

Simon at Grandpa T's 80th birthday/reunion last weekend.

Lucy can't wait for deodorant either.

Tavin shared a special memory of Great-grandpa T, that of playing checkers and always losing. She surprised us and even herself, she later said, as she wasn't planning on getting up in front of the crowd of 100 or so.

Neighbor Rosie likes when Kevin plays his guitar. Her next favorite hobby is to hang out on my porch and play the doorbell. Then to be dragged away, screaming, by her sister.

The other boys in the house. This is a couple of weeks old, so they're now even bigger. And.....altered.

At the reunion, with my glasses. Her shirt says "Monkey see, monkey do, monkey get in trouble too." It was so appropriate, I couldn't resist. Then I learned I got her the boy version, when I saw the pink girl one. Oh well.

New Puppies!!

Here are our most recent family additions, as of yet unnamed. I have limited time here, for obvious reasons, they've only been here a little over 1 hour.




They are brothers. The black one is definitely the boss already.

Birdies on a fence

I finally caught the pair of Quail on the fence this morning. It really is entertaining when they run along the top of it. They tend to mostly just stand there and survey their surroundings, mainly, where is George? I think that within the next month or two, I should be able to get photos of the little quail, which are even cuter.

Noisy neighbors (and not the human or canine type this time)

We have quite the collection of bird species here in NE Oregon. This was our "lost neighbor" this morning.

I frequently see Quail this time of year, sometimes an entire "squad" complete with a whole string of very small ones trailing their parents. Even better is when they are running across the top of my back fence, but I've never been quick enough to catch them with my camera. This morning however, one was calling quite loudly in out front.

As you can see, the birdy made its way around our neighbor's garage then helped itself right up to the front porch. I did catch a smattering of video so we could hear its vocals, but I can't copy video as of yet.

The only thing this birdy managed to attract was a curious Robin that began responding from my yard. Fortunately for them, George (the cat) was nowhere in sight.

Acquire the Fire, Portland, OR

I just got back from Acquire the Fire (http://www.battlecry.com/pages/atf.php), a youth event that travels nationally to encourage Christian (and other) youth to affect their culture positively and to recognize the media and other "stuff" out there. We also heard some awesome music. :) This is my new favorite band, and I'm surprised. Any adults, you probably will think I have lost my mind, but your kids, well, they'll love this.

The band is "Red", this is a link to their video. Of course they are a Christian band!
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid416542555/bctid155450316

I was never so , um "happy"?, to be on the first row of the "non floor" seats so close to the stage, it actually protected me from the giant speakers that vibrated my entire body Saturday when we heard "Pillar". The other band was "Grits". I am too tired to find a link to them....I had less than 9 hours of sleep over the last 2 nights, so all things considered I'm doing very well! I did have a great time and have decided that being with 22 teenagers isn't any harder than being with my own children! I do have to say that for some of the kids, my children are much better at following guidelines and authority. :)

Color! Finally!

Lucy was delighted to have a friend here since Thursday. Part of my duties as my house was being painted was to watch the baby and keep out of the way. :)


My wonderful friend Kaylene painted the entire lower level of our house for us. I really liked a striped design and didn't even know that she specialized in faux treatments, and was generous enough to give me my favorite wall! :)







We selected a khaki for the base color, used the wine color for the kitchen and dining area.







The kitchen colors are the same as the striped wall, just without a faux treatment. Kaylene started Thursday pm and finished earlier this morning. Talk about fast! Part of her speed had to do with my assignment, which was pretty much to stay out of the way.

This color is "tate olive" and really is not done justice by the photo. I am so glad to be a far cry from the "tofu" color we have been living with, and still have upstairs, for now at least!

Here is the illustrious artist finishing up this morning. She refused to look up, so her identity is safe for now.

Thank God for friends! Bless you Kaylene, and your family for sparing you! :)

Furniture finally arrives!!

After at least 1 month of looking, we finally settled on new couches for the living room. We managed to find a good deal for a couple of tables and lamps as well.

You can't see the coffee table, but it is the same pattern as the cocktail table, and the other lamp is identical. Simon wasn't exactly thrilled. As he put it, "They're not mine." We tried to explain that they belong to "us" but it really didn't help.

Each couch has 2 recliners, so I expect we'll soon have drool marks on the leather as we all find them extremely comfortable!

Insomnia (?)

I can't believe I'm awake. Tomorrow is Sunday, and church of course, and I can't sleep. So, since I now have a laptop, I can play downstairs without bothering anyone. I was asleep, but Lucy fussed for a while, and now my brain is awake. Hopefully not for long. I am sipping "sleeping tea", decaff of course, but hasn't worked yet. Too bad tonight's not New Years, I don't plan to be up at midnight tomorrow either!

Sunday Procrastination

If anyone checks the day and time of this posting, it may pique your curiosity. Yes, it is 8 am on a Sunday morning and I am blogging. Yes, I go to church every Sunday, even 45 minutes early. I am taking online classes to attain my BSN (which is just for further education down the road) and have weekly assignments. You may be surprised to know I have 1 due today and need to print of the needed paperwork. Rest assured, I have been thinking about this assignment all week, have done the necessary reading (well, most of it) and the online/CD ROM assessment trainings as well. It's really not hard to just perform a Cranial Nerve assessment on an adult, fill out their assessment forms and submit it electronically. What makes it hard, is when you can't access their site to download said forms in the first place. Annoying.

I also learned something yesterday about last Saturday's hike. Turns out the SAR teams (Search and Rescue) we saw were not on a training. They were looking for a hiker missing since November (hence, the cadaver dogs) and a couple of other hikers that have been missing for several months. I wondered where all the strapping young men (like Nick) were! They must save them for the living, so they can carry them out. :) Congratulations to Nick on his latest rescue assistance involving 2 19 year old maidens in need of help. Seems like a better way to meet people than some others I've heard about!

Lucy has discovered Tavin's barbies. So far, the fascination is only in chewing the feet. Simon is doing very well in kindergarten, he seems to love P.E. the most. Tavin still loves her first-year teacher, and revels in the fact that she plays Christian music very quietly on her computer all day. It is also Tavin's favorite station, so I think she feels like she has a "secret" with her teacher that no one else shares. We received a note from her teacher a couple of weeks ago, telling us how happy the teacher was to have Tavin in her class. On a morning that the class was given an assignment to use a topic sentence and write a paragraph, Tavin wrote about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. The teacher noted that Tavin has the ability to reach her classmates in ways she (teacher) could not. That's good to know, it seems like for the last month all Tavin wants to do is go back to her "old" school, even though I remember things she used to complain about there as well.

Yesterday our family embarked on our first "Family Fun Run/Walk" for a local school group. It was only 5K, and although Lucy was the only one NOT walking it, she was the loudest complainer. If I would have taken pictures, and if I could get them to post here, I would post them. :) Same with my hike pictures, but for some reason, can't upload the things.

Day Trip

I survived, and even enjoyed, a rather adventurous trek into the Blue Mountains on Saturday! It was supposed to be a group of women from church that make up the "Fit Girls" or Women's Wellness Group, whatever floats your boat, but it wound up being only myself and the leader who just happens to be a personal trainer, works at a gym, cycles 50 miles on one trip for leisure, you know the type.

Anyway, it was a really good time, even if it was not 8.4 miles like W.L. and N. venture on, it was mountainous enough! We had beautiful sunny weather without being hot, and I have some lovely pictures of the river, which we followed, and some wildlife. I became immediately alarmed when she told me we were advised to avoid blackberry bushes (I've yet to see any out here) because the bears are stocking up for their hibernation, and not to look up...else we may spot a cougar watching us. I would've been GLAD to look up, but we had to always watch our footing or wind up falling down a steep embankment at times and swimming with the fishes, if you know what I mean. We will pass on the information that the bear we spotted was in the water, less than 100 yards away from the German Shepherds and a bunch of people in the campground. How's that for comforting!!

We hiked in 2 hours then planned to break and snack before returning, but discovered that by allowing our bodies to stop even briefly, we allowed pain to make its unwelcome appearance. So, we just kept moving and really didn't have severe pain until the last 1/2 hour of the 3 1/2 hour excursion. Did I mention that the local Sheriff was there with the SAR (Search and rescue) team conducting a training? And that I saw a bear? Oh and 3 snakes (but not the rattlesnake that we were told was ahead of us, I was kind of hoping to get a picture of that one instead of the bull snake), a fuzzy caterpillar (cute, huh?) and about a bajillion lady bugs all in huge masses and piles. Now I know Ladybugs are harmless, but we did dance around a bit and wig out a little when they flew on us and attached themselves. That made me feel better. Plus, I'm wasn't sore except for ankles and foot pain, from walking on loose rocks and uneven terrain. Sometimes I even moved fast. Someone had to out run the bear. (HA!) No, the only things we had to dodge was a dirt bike, a loose dog, and a cadaver dog. (It was on a leash and well-behaved, but EWWWWWW!!)

Falling Riders

I keep thinking there were things that I wanted to post, and apparently my mind works best late at night when everyone else has been asleep for hours! I doubt I'm the only one in my extended family with this trait. Anyway, my wonderful husband and I attended our first rodeo ever, last week, which is a huge annual event in our vicinity. It got off to a huge bang when the opening parade of rodeo princesses and the queen of the rodeo came galloping out of the pens on their charging steeds, only for the queens horse to fail to clear a low rail, as well as fail to turn as it approached the grandstands, right below where we were sitting....the result: A dethroned queen in a very undignified manner!! I can make light of it you see, because she was ok. Let me mention that I was the ONLY one of my 2 sisters to NOT be a princess of any kind....:) Of course, if I could've been a princess that rode a horse I would've found a way to at least try. The only horse I every really got to ride was an ornery Appaloosa named "Ace" that seemed to figure out very quickly that a 100 lb. 8th grader was not the same as the typical adult male rider it was accompanied too. He didn't mind very well and tried to "rub" me off on the barn eave, as well as on a moving SUV driven by our neighbor. I have some great pictures of action shots, bull riding, calf roping, bronc riding and so forth, using my new digital camera's 12 zoom, I was pleasantly surprised at the focus and clarity....but I will send a couple to my nephews. If I'd have known the dethroned queen was ok, I'd have some of her too!

Dinner Theater

Today is "Friday" for my kids, and for hubby as well. This means an unusual 4 day weekend for everyone. Too bad our only plans are to fix the brakes on one car, and get an estimate on the other! Everything seems to happen in pairs when it comes to vehicles. Earlier this summer it was air conditioning (entire compressors, not just recharging!).

The dinner table seems to be the place where most of my blog inspiration is borne. However, I must say this about Simon; in the van today he opened his backpack and handed me about a 2 inch thick stack of papers, after I asked him if he had been given anything for home. Remember, this is the END of the 2nd week! I found out when school pictures are, they are always in September here and in the spring, school open house is in 3 weeks, fundraiser starts in September, and oh yes he was supposed to bring a "self bag" last week which included items to tell people about himself. Lots of good it does me to be married to the principal! Which reminds me, I wonder where Tavin's stash is? When she comes home with Kevin, things tend to get lost between school and home.

Tonight's Dinner Theater actually began just before we sat down to eat. Tavin was in the yard with my OTHER 3 kids (actually, just neighbor kids that apparently think they live in our driveway) when she came in yelling that George (5 year old neighbor, equal in orneriness to Simon) had taken her wallet into his house, and she was up-SET. Crying even. I reminded her that this was an empty wallet that had remained neglected on the porch for a few days. "But GRANDMA gave it to me!" :) Ok, we knew it was empty, but daddy's instincts kicked in...good for daddy...and he summoned the boy and wallet in a short time. During dinner, I asked Tavin why George had taken her wallet, as if boys need a reason to pick on big-sister-types. She said "George said that I was his girlfriend and I told him I didn't want that at ALL. So he took my wallet to his house." Simon then chimed in, "Yeah, and he said he's my BOSS." Kevin and I did a poor job at stifling our laughs, he actually coughed "Blog!". When Tavin and I had to go to Walmart later this evening, I had to move a jean jacket from behind the car, a boys bike from the front lawn, a plastic glass, markers, and other objects to "their side". At least they don't have a dog.

P.S. Lucy is walking! She started just after her birthday. Her lastest mode of communication is what I call a honk without the "K". It's the sound she makes when she is displeased while wrinkling up her nose.

Year #2

I don't know if I mentioned it in my last post, but Lucy had her 1st birthday earlier this month. This means that we have lived here for just over 1 whole year!

Last week was the first week of "back to school" for Tavin and Simon. Since Kevin works at the school they attend, he visits their rooms almost daily (as he does every other room as well) and had the occasion to see a boy in Tavins room "misusing" a chair. Tavin's teacher is a new hire this year, also a first year teacher, but very impressive. Rather than intervene, Kevin decided to just see how the teacher would handle it. Tavin told him later that the boy had to kneel on the floor after his chair was taken away, which is just how Kevin stated he would have handled it. The next day Kevin asked Tavin if the boy had his chair taken away again. Her response: "No, but I did."

AACk!

I can't believe it's been over 2 months! Apparently this online classes thing, plus having all 3 kids home for the last 3 months, has dramatically sucked up all of my free/spare time! ;) Well, yesterday Lucy decided she could walk, and within a number of hours could travel across a room. Today, it's just stand up and walk, turn corners, etc. I think she's been holding out on us! For her birthday a couple of weeks ago we had some friends over for a barbque, then spend the next several days with my parents in the valley. Speaking of "valley people", my little sister, the one that had a baby like 4 months ago, just completed the Danskin Triathlon in Seattle. I know. Sick. Just kidding. :) We are very proud of her, and marvel at her Wonder-woman capabilities.

Simon's first day of Kindergarten is tomorrow, as is Tavin's first day in the 4rth grade. I am just so excited as well! I want to pick out what clothes to wear to be actually almost alone for a morning! Actually, I have a packed schedule with gym, and Lucy's nap (hopefully)...I have to take them tomorrow, since it's also the principals' first day with students there. After that, they'll go with Kevin M,W and Th. No school on Fridays and Kevin has a basketball and prayer group to vie for his early morning attention on Tuesdays, so I am the am transportation, as well as pickup Simon at 11:00. Did I mention they have to be in their classrooms by 7:45 am? And that it's a 15 minute drive? We've been practicing an "almost" school wake-up time for the last week. Since everyone under the age of 10 has been going to bed at 8pm, Lucy has adjusted quite nicely and wakes promptly by 6:30. Another interesting fact: I had Tavin's feet measured today, just to be sure I was getting her the correct size of shoe. The saleswoman used a child's instrument, despite my information of her current "7" shoe size (women's that is), and was "open-mouth shocked" when Tavin's foot was too big for it. On the appropriate adult scale, she was easily into a womens' 7 1/2 size shoe. Tragic for a 9 year old to not get to select "cute" shoes. I think she's matched Grandma! The gal at the shoe store gasped, "I've been a size 7 1/2 since I was 15!!". No wonder she trips over most minimal obstacles!

My first (sort of) attempt at pictures

Ok, this is aggravating. I had a picture and a post and lost it. So, here I am repeating myself. Long story shorter, now: Tavin and I went a-garage-saling. (New phrase that I will bravely put out there.) We found a "wild fire", albeit a small one, that was within 20 feet of a nice neighborhood. We stopped, and watched crop dusters spray the houses and the very fire. We didn't stay to avoid being in the way, (rubber neckers) but did get to see a few sirens, just not where we were. No one seemed to know how it was started. Cool airplanes and very low. Too bad the boys missed it. :)

Whoops...Time is slipping away

Has it really only been 2 weeks since my last post? Seems like I am further behind than that. Well, I've kept some things to myself. Mostly just one, I guess. I am now in my 4rth week of an online RN-BSN program. Things are a little hairy, I have 2 papers to complete before midnight on Sunday. I've already done 2, but there is a lot of reading (abstracts are such a horrible thing! :)) as well as discussion boards that we must participate in. It has paid off to be somewhat of a computer nerd (though not as skilled as other relative) but I can navigate my way around blackboard, powerpoint, as well as attaching documents with ease.

Last week was the end of school for this year. Sigh. Tavin brought out her 2nd journal for 3rd grade, this one started in March. I sort of flipped through it and found her entry for April 11th:
"Today is my mom's birthday. She is 32. She is old."
As for Tavin, she is grounded. Just kidding. :)
Lucy is so smart, she is not even 10 months old yet and already puts the phone to her ear to try to hear. Simon is still, well, Simon. At his preschool graduation last week, he was the only one to miss a step walking off of the stage. I guess that makes it sound like he tripped, he actually LEAPT from it. That reminds me of his Kindergarten assessment 2 weeks ago. I was helping his next teacher cut out some stuff (after Simon was done of course, I was not in the room for his assessment)and there were 2 girls at the table with the teacher. One girl was struggling, the other appeared to be "smart as a whip". The teacher asked "smarty" to draw various shapes, and when it came to 'diamond', she paused and said,
"I can't draw one, but I have an uncle and he has a 10 year old boy. HE can draw you a diamond."
Then came the letters. She (teacher) said "Now, we know 's' says 'ssss', can you tell me what sound 'a' makes?".
The little gal thought for a minute then asked, "Can 'a' say whatever it wants?". Mrs. Teacher said, "Sure."
"Then 'a' says 'yee-haw'".
"How about 'b'? What does 'b' say?"
"'B' says 'oink-oink'."
That was enough of the assessment, we laughed at that for a long time. The teachers' only comment afterwards, much to her credit, was something like how much she wished she could have a camera there!

A New Perspective for Mother's Day

Last night Kevin had several back to back meetings that prevented him from being home for dinner (actually until 8:30). The rest of us were partaking of a Walmart version of frozen lasagna, which really wasn't all that bad. The conversation turned to upcoming Mother's Day, because Simon had brought home his project from preschool. Tavin made the comment:

"On Mother's Day you get to be the dad." Now I wondered what she meant and thought it may be humorous, and she did not disappoint.

"What do dad's do?" I asked her.

"Sit on the couch and watch T.V.". Surely she must be mistaken! I should've asked her what mom's do. I'm sure Kevin will, after he reads this.

My late afternoon/evening with the kids was anything but QUIET. I decided Tavin needed a "strong trim"...Say haircut to her and she's likely to immediately begin seizing, otherwise known as "coniption fit". Lucy was in the living room, standing up to things, causing destruction of any paper product she could find. Simon was outside dumping copious amounts of catfood onto the back patio (all for the magpies to eat), and Tavin was upstairs checking out the damage done to her luscious mane. I was sweeping up the hair on the kitchen floor, Lucy (who had been placed in the play pen) was LOUDLY expressing her desire to be free, when I called Simon in to remind him NOT to feed the cat. He ran around the house and was effectively stopped and grounded by cement steps. (Luckily for him it was only a flesh wound in his big toe, as he was running with his shovel!) Tavin has began crying loudly upstairs, a true maiden in distress, Lucy is still yelling, and now Simon arrives dragging a bleeding toe wherever he sees carpet or any other stainable surface. This was about the time I contemplated running out of the house screaming myself.

Things did calm down, after about 15 minutes. Later Tavin sheepishly said "Actually I like my haircut." (I had layered it, making it seem like I'd cut a lot off, but she could still get it all in a ponytail. The true test.) So, I did what any smart mother does when she doesn't want to keep monitoring, chasing, cleaning, whatever. I took us all for a DRIVE. We went to an area off of the river, that was designated Wildlife Observatory (quite loosely in my opinion) where I found a killdeer nest and was able to show them the eggs and what the parental bird does to detract would-be predators from the nest site. It was fun. Of course, I also made it quieter by getting ice cream at Dairy Queen. :)

Tavin & Simon Find Notoriety

Last Saturday the local airport had an open house. They were offering free airplane rides to kids ages 8-17, so Tavin was the only one qualified (unfortunately for Simon and all those around him). When it was her turn, she got into the Piper Saratoga, the best plane available that day, along with some Eastern Oregonian reporters. 157 kids went on rides that day and she gets lucky enough to get in a plane with reporters, another boy, and a little girl named "Jimmy". I saw the article Sunday and was greatly relieved that they didn't print a majority of what I'm sure she must've said. :) She did ask them to take her picture and hammed it up, according to Kevin, but only the other two kids actually got their pictures in the paper. Tavin was just quoted a few times, stating that her grandpa was in a plane with her when she was 2 (her dad was actually flying the plane) but Kevin was glad to see "grandpa" mentioned. Now discussions here are finally back to normal after dreaming about "when we can buy our own airplane".

Simon had a less than ideal day at preschool yesterday, to say the least, leaving one of his peers with a bloody lip. Oh boy. Why they didn't call me is beyond me, but he spent all of the afternoon in his room, after receiving the merit of his behavior from his dad who was summoned home from work for a brief period. The preschool teacher has a behavior system of "bees" where each child has 6 bees to begin the day. A bee is "removed" for each infraction of the rules, and if they have all of their bees when class is done, they get a piece of candy. (Not my favorite, but works for her.) Yesterday was the first day all year that Simon lost all 6 bees, and reportedly made the remark to the teacher as he was being sent to remove his last bee, "I HATE bees." I chatted with his teacher today, with Simon in earshot, asking her to please call me if/when he loses even 1 bee, so I may speak with him. Luckily for all involved, excluding myself of course, they are done with preschool (pretty school) in 2 weeks.

New Product Find! (to me)

Recently, I was in the valley for the birth of my latest NIECE! I was returning a favor to my ready-to-pop sister by cleaning her bathrooms (which she did for me first) and she gave me these pop-up-wipes..Lysol or something and said they worked well on sinks, toilets seats lids, etc. I was completely sold over to these little babies! No more search for a rag, "Is it safe to clean the faucet now that I used it on the toilet seat?" (just kidding), washing, storing, drying,..etc. So, upon my return to the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE I went to Costco and purchased a package of 3 Clorox wipes. HALLELUJAH why didn't I do this before? I think part of me is still in my younger years of 'this is how we did it then' and now I can part with a few extra bucks to use these puppies to clean the fridge handles, walls (apparently our children believe that if they don't walk with their hands along the walls either themselves or the walls will fall down), high chair and tray, cupboards, microwave door (gave up on the inside), etc.

If the makers of these products ever realize what they've done, they could make a LOT more money! I did have to stop Kevin from taking one to Lucy for clean up of the baby....There is some limits to their use after all. Oh, and I became concerned last night over possible misunderstandings from my previous post. I really want you to know that the poor gentleman with the "episode" was FINE and hence it was only funny because of the kids' response. So, enough of my guilt. I am a good person, and 'dog-gone it....People like me.' Now to go finish cleaning my windows....It is the season of wind and dust again, and the dust becomes DIRT when there is enough of it...Plus my phone just rang. Cousin Steven and his family are headed this way! Yay! That will be fun! (I think I'll wait to tell the kids until it is time.)Better run!

The Quiet Game Strikes Again

I will have to hurry here, I'm trying to get ready to go to Spokane with/not with my husband, who is going there for a job fair tomorrow. My role is to not impede or embarass him (that would be keeping Simon and Lucy away...Tavin is staying at our pastors' house) so he can dine with his administrator counterparts and their relatives that orchestrated this event. Apparently part of his job is, along with the superintendent and high school administrator, to entice young (foolish?) teachers to come out here and practice their new talents in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, being as tomorrow is my birthday (and I will be 25 thank you very much...again)I don't fancy the thought of being alone for 2 full days with all three kids. Plus, I looked into it and there will be minimal extra cost for ME to pay with the proceeds of my "job". And I promised to be independent and not needy of him or his time. (snort)

Anyhow, I remembered something Simon did Friday that reminded me of Uncle Will. Tavin was at the birthday party, Lucy was sleeping, so it was just the 3 of us at the dinner table. Simon wanted gum (a very hard-to-earn prize in this house as Kevin doesn't like to find the deposited chewed pieces in the carpet, amongst other hiding places)so he says "Can I play the quiet game for some gum?".

That, my family and friends, is successful parenting! :) He was quiet for the dinner just to chew gum for 15 minutes before bed IN THE HOUSE. Actually, we bent the rules and gave him gum right after dinner, and then I took him to see "Ice Age 2" which I thought was hilarious. He kept thinking the ads before the PREVIEWS were the movie and laughed at pictures of salon people. Well......