Trunk or Treats and Superheroes

Batman, Supergirl, Wolverine, The Flash and Robin (or Robynn)

This year we had Three Days of Halloween:

First: We went to the Church trunk or treat on Thursday
Second:  Saturday we had a trunk or treat in Lake Oswego with my Mom's Church
Third:  Monday was Halloween. Jon and I had lost our excitement for the holiday by this point but we mustered up the energy and had an enjoyable time trick-or-treating around our neighborhood

The idea to be superheroes came from Boomer.  He wanted to be Wolverine, Jackson chose The Flash, Naturally Sadie was Supergirl, and Jon and I were Batman and Robin. Sadie thought "frick-or-freeting" was the best and wanted to go again the day after Halloween.

My favorite quote of the night was when we were meeting a new neighbor and she asked me "And who is this?", pointing to Boomer.  Not understanding that she was wanting to know which superhero he was dressed as I introduced him "This is Boomer"  to which she quickly responded " Oh, I've never heard of him. They've changed them all since I was a kid"  Super Boomer.  Not a bad name for a superhero.

PS  It is an old folk lore that witches come out twice a year, once in April and once in October.  On Oct 29  I attended a Krav Maga class where I learned some fantastic Israeli self defense moves and got to release my inner witch. We finished class by beating up some padded attackers.  I liked all the moves but you better believe this one was my favorite:

New Family photos

My sister highly recommended a photographer that she knows in Sherwood, Annie Ruden, so we decided to give her a try.  She did a great job (and only charged us 50.00 plus she gave us a CD of images).  I don't think that I looked good in any of the photos.  But that has more to do with the subject material than the photographer.  Loved the kids pictures.  You may be seeing these on a Christmas Valentine's card in the near future.

What to LDS general conference and Potty training have to do with each other?




Here's our favorite potty training book.

Every 6 months The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints has a two day conference where we get to hear leaders of the church speak from a live broadcast from SLC, Utah .  Because the conference is two days (2 hours in the morning 2 hours in the afternoon) and we are mostly housebound those days; we have used general conference as our potty training weekend.  Sadie is just a few months away from turning three and was showing all the readiness signs, so we decided this would be a great weekend to potty train her.  I picked up all the necessary potty training paraphernalia (underwear, juice, treats for staying dry, and treats for going potty) Friday night. It took her awhile to get in the swing of things but she's doing great now.  Hopefully it will be an easy train for us. Hooray; this is our last child to potty train!!!



Sadie's first day of preschool

We are doing a preschool co-op with some other moms/ little girls from church and it was Sadie's first time on Friday.  (It was also my first day of  teaching.  It was a  little like hearding  cats but a lot of fun). The color was yellow so we had all the girls wear yellow.  Don't they look cute!!

Apple Picking

Two weeks ago we went to the gorge to pick apples.  It was a rainy day but we had fun and learned some interesting facts...some of our favorites are:

•The crabapple is the only apple native to North America.

 •2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States. 100 varieties of apples are grown commercially in the United States.

•Apples are grown commercially in 36 states. Apples are grown in all 50 states.

•A medium apple is about 80 calories. Apples are a great source of the fiber pectin. One apple has five grams of fiber.

•The science of apple growing is called pomology.

•Apple trees take four to five years to produce their first fruit.

•Apples are a member of the rose family.

•In colonial time, apples were called winter banana or melt-in-the-mouth.(That was one of our favorites)

•World's top apple producers are China, United States, Turkey, Poland and Italy.

•Apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated. 

•In 2005, United States consumers ate an average of 46.1 pounds of fresh apples and processed apple products. That's a lot of applesauce!

•The top apple producing states are Washington, New York, Michigan,Pennsylvania, California and Virginia.

  In 2006, 58% of apples produced in the United States were produced in Washington, 11% in New York 8% in Michigan, 5% in Pennsylvania, 4% in California and 2% in Virginia.

They also had fresh strawberries (didn't know they lasted this long)
We ended up with 50 pounds of apples and 12 lbs of strawberries

And there is a day in the life of a homeschooler (hence all the apple facts)

Where has the summer gone?

Lately I've been noticing the leaves on the trees are starting to turn red.  I'm not ready for fall yet.  But ready or not here it comes. 

I have been a terrible blogger this summer.  Mostly because of laziness but also because I was training for a triathlon.  I am happy to report that I completed my first (and possibly last) half-ironman triathlon.  And I didn't even come in last place.....although I was pretty close towards the end.  I finished in just under 7 hours which is way too long to be exercising.  I think I got 93 place out of 109. 

Here's what else we have been doing this summer:

In July we went to Boise for just under two weeks.  Jon was working (He's got a Maids Franchise there).  We were loving the sunshine!! It was great to get out of rainy Portland for a few weeks. While there we went to the waterpark,  Zoo Boise and rode the paddle boats.  Jackson and Boomer were big enough to ride on their very own boat.

The end of August I was invited to go to The Ashland Shakespeare Festival.  It was so much fun to spend time with some amazing women shopping, eating and watching plays.  It was a soul food trip! l loved everything about it from beginning to end.

The end of August we took a trip to Seattle and visited the Space Needle. We rode the tram and walked down to Pikes Place.  It was a long day for the kids and Sadie fell asleep on Dad's shoulder.  Next time we want to take a ride on the Duck Boats.

Boomer Turned five on August 29 and we celebrated by going to Wings and Waves waterpark at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinville Oregon.  We got a babysitter for Sadie so we could ride on all of the rides.  It was a lot of fun. The slides were all very kid friendly. One of our favorite parts in the location.  Check out the proximity of the vineyard.

Boomer wanted a Star Wars Birthday party so I did some last minute planning and threw together a Jedi Birthday Party.  I'm not sure how fun it was but Jon, the boys, and I have enjoyed hitting each other with the homemade light sabers. (or Light Savers as the boys like to call them).

Jon and the kids spent Labor day  in Quartzville panning for gold with Grandpa Bubbs.  They came home empty handed.  Shoot, I guess we aren't going to get our mortgage paid off this year.  The weather was great and they had fun just being there.

School is here!!!  Boomer is in kindergarten this year. He dropped out of preschool so we are hoping for better results this year.  So far he loves riding the bus and makes new friends everyday. Jackson (and I) decided to do homeschool this year.  We're still working on the curriculum.  Hopefully we can get it figured out before the year ends. We do math and spelling, writing and reading, music and PE and occasional Art and Science. It's been good so far. The best part is that I don't have to wake up to take him to school so I get to sleep in everyday.  Not one of the benefits I was expecting...but I'll take it.

Happy Trails

Sadies 2.5 year old pictures

I found a new love

I used to take my phone and my ipod to the gym....then Jon introduced me to Pandora.  I can listen to whatever music I want and have my phone with me too.  Genius!

Independence day

Busy day for us. It was a flag day (5 customers) Jon put up flags and got the kids ready while I ran a 5k with our ward.  I came in first out of the women (it was a small turnout).Or I should say "I got first place baby!!!" because it may be the last time I get a first place honor. Jon was proud of me until he realized that I am 5 minutes slower at a 5k than I was in high school. Oh well...there's always next year :)

After breakfast at the church we had a neighborhood parade and Jon got to lead the parade (We were dogsitting-so Koda got to lead the parade too.) Followed by a neighborhood BBQ and field games.

Boomer doing the obstacle course

Jackson and his friend Gabriel in a three legged sack race

 

Miss America

Jon, Jackson and Koda

The boys loved the fireworks

After field games, we went to a friends house for another BBQ followed by watching fireworks! We love the fourth of July!!! It was a fantastic fouth!

A late June post

     The first week of June we decided to skip the last week of kindergarten (to Mrs. R's chagrin) and drive to Utah.  Jon wasn't able to come so I had to brave it myself.  I wasn't sure how it was going to be but the kids were absolutely wonderful. My nephew (from Utah) and neice (from Oregon) have birthday's just a few days apart. They both turned 8 the end of May so they decided to be share their baptism (in Utah...hence the drive to Utah)

We stopped in Boise to visit my Bro and Sis-in-law

The Hogle Zoo with" Grandpa-Roo"

I forgot my camera so I bought a cheap disposable camera-- the photos were absolutely inferior but we are happy that we have any pictures.  It was a long drive but we loved spending time with cousins and Grandparents. (more picts to come)

We left Utah on my birthday. I wasn't thrilled about driving on my birthday but I had a birthday present waiting for me in Boise.  I was surprised at how great it was to see my husband after not seeing him for a week.  He drove back to Portland with us.

My Great friend Kellena threw me a small party a few days later. There's me getting ready to blow out my "7" candles.

Sadie, Darling, You are smashing!

Pouring out the puffed cereal

Wow..This little girl has been quite the handful...

If we leave her alone for more than a few minutes she is doing something "creative".  Breaking and drawing on books, ripping up pictures (of Jesus among others), drawing on Mom and Dad's bedspread with permanent markers..
I've taken a few pictures to show some of her handywork:

A broken glass



Sweet as can be



YUCK-changing her own poopy diaper





Art work--toothpicks and butter

And that's just the beginning....even so, we love you little curly head!

I'm in the newspaper

It's a terrible picture but I was in the news paper. (Just our small local newspaper..The Wilsonville Spokesman) My cute running partner Noriko is to the left of the group. Click on the link below.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35263664@N07/5755937685/in/photostream/

Queen of the High Road

I am happy to report that I finished the Queen of the High Road half marathon.  It was pretty low key.  The idea is to finish so they didn't care about time.  I finished in 2 hours exactly... Thanks to Noriko, a runner who tried to pass me at mile 4 and I said "I'm sticking with her."  She is a cute Japanese woman with an amazing story.  Ten years ago she was told she was going to die because of an immune disease that was attacking her body.  She only has half of a lung on one side.  Even so..she was definitely pushing me.  What a lady!  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture with her.  Jon did get a picture of me post race.  Notice the cute Tiara's they gave the finishers.

How a 25 dollar bed becomes a 156.00 dollar bed...

Last June we went to the neighborhood garage sale and picked up a bed for Sadie.  The bed was black and missing side rails but for only 25 dollars, I decided I could paint it and add the necessary hardware.

1 black garage sale bed= 25.00

4 cans of white spray paint 6.50 each = 26.00

Side rails= 35.00

Slats= 20.00

-------------------

total 106.00

I proceeded to find a dresser and nightstand on Craigslist which I was told was white but when I got it home it looked a lot more like cream.  So I decided to paint all of the furniture.  Our neighbor is a professional painter and he painted them... plus a shelf for...$200.00 (devide by 4 to figure the cost of painting the bed again =50.00) 

And that is how a 25.00 dollar bed becomes 156.00 dollars. 

(Don't they sell whole bedroom sets at Costco for that price??)

Sadie is loving her new "big girl" bed

I must be out of my mind!

I don't know why I did it but I registered for a half ironman triathlon:  1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, 13.1 mile run.  I'm running a half marathon on Saturday. If I can make it though that reasonably well I might feel better about the triathlon (then again...maybe not.) It's not until September so I have lots of time to train (read: worry). 

Flag Boys

Jackson and Boomer are official entrepreneurs.  With a lot of help from Mom and Dad they started a flag business and we have our first six customers.  A big thanks to our neighbors! Here's the boys putting up the flags this morning.

Our 6 flag days:

Presidents Day

Flag Day

Independence Day

Memorial Day

Veterans Day

Labor Day

Other days to fly the flag are (which we will not be participating in):

New Year's Day, Inauguration Day (January 20)

Lincoln's Birthday (February 12 ) Easter Sunday (variable)
Mother's Day, Armed Forces Day, (third Saturday in May)
Constitution Day, (September 17) Columbus Day (second Monday in October)
Navy Day (October 27),  Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day,
and such other days as may be proclaimed by the President of the United States
as well as:  The birthdays of States (date of admission) February 14 for Oregon

There are pages of rules on correct flag etiquette..Rules which we are probably breaking.. Right now, we have just two rules for the boys: 1)get the flag down before sunset and  2)keep it from touching the ground.  Happy President's Day!